At McKay's Books

 At McKay's Books

A couple of weeks ago, with sweltering conditions in Central Virginia, it was too hot and uncomfortable to do anything out of doors. So I thought I'd drive the 100 minutes to McKay's Used Books in Manassas and see what was on the shelves.

Of course, the never-ending construction work on repaving Route 28 in Manassas, from Route 619 to Godwin Drive, added another 15 minutes to the drive there (and 20 minutes to the drive back). So each way, it was closer to two hours of driving.

Crouching and squatting among the shelving at McKay's left me with a thin coating of sweat.....I can't figure out how the women patronizing McKay's wear long-sleeved tops because it's too 'cold' inside........ 

But my perspiration yielded rewards: I was able to find, nestled among copies of 'Bitch Planet' and 'Black Science' graphic novels, some rare, vintage Euro comics for reasonable prices (i.e., under $5 each):

XIII is a French-language adventure series that emerged as one of the more popular and celebrated bande dessinee of the 1980s. 

In the U.S., in 1989 - 1990, Catalan Communications released English versions of the first few volumes in the series.  

'Deep City' (1986) is another Catalan Communications English translation, this time of an Argentine noir comic, called Evaristo, from artist Francisco Solano Lopez and writer Carlos Sampayo. 

Lopez is best known in the U.S. for his work on the 1950s Argentine sci-fi comic strip El Eternauta, reprinted in English in 2016 by Fantagraphics as 'The Eternaut'.

Garth was a sci-fi comic strip that appeared in the U.K. newspaper The Daily Mirror from 1943 to 1997, with more sporadic appearances thereafter. This Titan Books compilation, published in 1984, features strips from 1971 and 1972, illustrated by the celebrated artist Frank Bellamy. 'The Cloud of Balthus' is one of only a few compilations of the Garth strips that have been released in the past five decades.

After completing my shopping at McKay's, I went next door to Ollie's Bargain Outlet, where the temperature inside was close to 80 degrees. I was soaked in sweat by the time I left, but I was able to score some exotic styles of cheese doodles and other treasures........although that might best be the topic of another posting........