This auction is now closed.
The bookcase purge for charity continues! You can see a complete list of all auctions here, in chronological order starting with the latest, here. Full auction details are included at the end of the article, but to bring the new folks up to speed real quick:
Every weekday until Friday, June 5th, we publish a new Shelf Bound article announcing a bind or bound set up for auction.
Each bind auction’s bidding starts when its article is published and ends 72 hours later, so today’s auction will close at 3 PM EST on May 16, 2020.
Bids must be posted in an item’s comment section to be considered for that item; highest bid posted before close of auction wins.
Bids from outside the U.S. are welcome, although shipping outside the U.S. may incur additional fee. Bids posted in currencies other than US dollars will be valued at their USD equivalent.
The winning bidder emails me (greg at multiversity comics dot com) to verify donation particulars, then makes the donation and send me verification.
I send out the bind.
Everyone wins.
30 weekdays. 34 binds. All proceeds going to charity. Sound good? Let’s get to it!
BATMAN BY JIM STARLIN
Written by: Jim Starlin
Drawn by: Jim Aparo, Bernie Wrightson, Mark Bright, Dave Cockrum, Dick Giordano
Inked by: Mike DeCarlo, Steve Mitchell, Bernie Wrightson, Joe Rubinstein
Colored by: Andrienne Roy, Bill Wray
Lettered by: John Costanza, Agustin Mas, Todd KleinPublished by: DC Comics
Collecting:
- Batman #414-430 (Dec 1987 – Feb 1989)
- Batman: The Cult #1-4 (Jul 1988 – Oct 1988)
Additional Material: Original Jim Aparo “A Death in the Family” promo ad artwork
Bind Details:
- Oversewn binding
- Blue cover material
- Blue/white headbands
- White endpapers
- BAT-SYMBOL and DC COMICS stamp used
- Page edges trimmed
Signatures: None
Sketches: None
Bound by: Herring & Robinson Bindery.
The Grim Reaper of comics.
That’s a nickname Jim Starlin may not have set out to acquire, but it’s certainly one that fits. From overseeing the death of Captain Mar-vell in the graphic novel of the same name, to having GL John Stewart doom an entire planet with his hubris in Cosmic Odyssey, to his ersatz-Darkseid creation Thanos finger-snap half the universe into oblivion in, and with, The Infinity Gauntlet, Starlin has presided over a few high-profile hail-and-farewells in his career. But the most prominent had to be putting the crowbar in the Joker’s hand to carry out fan hatred of Jason Todd in “A Death in the Family”, one of the stories included in this bind.
While it’s easy to write Jason off as just a dick (but unfortunately for him, not the Dick the fans wanted) when looking at “A Death in the Family”, reading the comics leading up to the story shows Jason still trying to find his place in the Bat-family. Sometimes headstrong, but other times caring and heroic, like when he comes to Bruce’s rescue in Batman: The Cult. These comics give Jason’s death greater impact because you CAN’T just write him off after reading them. Or at least I can’t.
I also can’t write off the art in this book. From horrifying Wrightson to solid Bright to Jim Aparo giving us as classic a Batman as a Curt Swan-drawn Superman, plus iconic cover work from the Mike’s Mignola & Zeck, this book is gorgeous.
Why You Should Bid
All the material here is currently in print, but like yesterday’s Spider-Man 2099, scattered over several TPBs: one for Batman: The Cult, several for “A Death in the Family”, and at least two Batman: The Caped Crusader‘s for the rest of Starlin’s Batman run.
This bind collects all that material in one place. The “Death of the Family” material came from a version of the original TPB for that story, so it includes the Denny O’Neil afterword written as an in-universe scholarly article by one Aristotle P. Rodor (aka Tot, aka The Question’s Alfred).
I also printed & included a few pages of original Jim Aparo art for ads leading up to the infamous 1-800 ad for “A Death in the Family”.
Continued below
So you COULD take the time & effort to track down the material in original or reprint form, find the Aparo art, print it out, and turn them into your own book via a binder using the techniques & approaches we cover every month in Shelf Bound . . .
OR
you could bid on the bind we’re auctioning today, get the benefit of someone else doing all that work for you, AND do some good for the comics community we all love in the process!
Starting Bid: $25
Auction Ends: May 16, 2020 at 3 pm
Proceeds Benefit: The Hero Initiative
AUCTION FINE PRINT
- This auction ends 72 hours after the date & time of this article’s posting.
- Bids MUST be placed as comments below to be valid.
- Bids order is set by the timestamp given by Disqus. I subscribe to every comment section and receive an email notification simultaneous to the posting of every new comment. That email’s timestamp is what I use to determine bid order & the final bid cutoff time.
- DO NOT TRY BIDDING FOR THE BOOK BY REPLYING TO THE ANNOUNCEMENT TWEET!!!!! BIDS SENT IN THIS MANNER WILL BE IGNORED!!!!!
- Highest bid posted before the end of the auction wins. The winning bidder has 24 hours to contact me via twitter or email (see below) to set up payment. If contact is not made in this timeframe, the winning bid is invalidated and the next highest bid will be the winner.
- Winning bidder will make the donation in the amount of the winning bid to the agreed-upon charity. Upon successful donation and receipt of receipt (hehe) by me, the bind will be mailed out via Media Mail on the following Saturday unless an alternate schedule is agreed upon by all parties.
- Feel free to post any additional questions you may have prior to the end of the auction below; I will do my best to answer them ASAP. Additional and/or specific pictures of the bind are available on request.
- Thanks in advance to anyone bidding on these binds. Good luck!
