So, I'm not sure if anyone remembers, but I created "Best of the West" to showcase the jewels of my personal collection. I only posted under that heading once, and that was to discuss my autographed Obama Spidey comic. I kinda got preoccupied with yard sales, and let's face it - a collect a lot of shit! Anyway, I know my pal Mike enjoyed this feature, and Brian over at Cool and Collected recently asked when we'd see the West Collection. I don't know when I'll ever get around to a full collection post, so the Best of the West segments will have to do for now.

Today's item is a quirky one. If it's your first time reading about me, I worked for Toys "R" Us in a part time capacity for 10 years. It was my first job out of high school, and I just couldn't tear myself away. I fought on the beaches of the Great Gundam War of '01. I waged the storms of the Pokemon Tsunami. I tickled many an Elmo, and I laughed in the face of the fabled NeoPet epidemic. We lost a lot of good men out there.

Before working at TRU, I thought I had a love for toys. I thought I loved toys of all shapes and sizes. Just say the word "toy" and my face would light up. About 2 weeks into my TRU career, I began to realize that I didn't love "toys". I loved "action figures". You see, when you're a customer, you just go right in to the aisle that holds the stuff you like. All the other stuff is just part of the TRU obstacle course. Fuck a bike! If you're serious about cycling, you ain't buying a bike at TRU. And I didn't give a shit about car seats and Pack 'N Plays. No, I just loved aisles 6D and 7D - home of the action figures. Sadly, when you work for the store, you're forced to worry about those aforementioned departments. It didn't matter to me. They could assign me to diapers, bikes, or cart duty - I always found my way back to those 2 aisles.

Now, let me give you a little retail history lesson. In TRU's heyday, it was essentially a supermarket for toys. During the late 90s, it was decided that it had too much of a warehouse feel. So, aisles were partially done away with, as the company migrated towards the "racetrack" layout. In this new floorplan, the guest would follow a winding path around the store, with different "worlds" situated outside the track. There was Boys World, Girls World, Wheel World, etc. Supervisors were now "World Leaders", and the whole thing was supposed to make the shopping experience flow more easily for guests. Only important stores got the full floor plan. My store wasn't that important, so it still retained some of the old signage.

Then, the day after Christmas 2005, old Geoffrey decided that he didn't need us in his empire any longer. It wasn't too bad, though. Let me tell you this: there are few things more exciting than working for a store going through liquidation. No, seriously! I know some former Borders and Filene's employees might disagree, but there are no rules, and you no longer have corporate oversight. We hosted fake radio shows over the PA system, some chick wished cancer on my Asst.Manager because he couldn't process a return. Oh, and a mentally challenged guy came in and started masturbating in the R-Zone! I can't remember the last time my life was that exciting. But the one thing that remained was my love of action figures. It was that love that brought me there in the first place. So, as we were closing the place down, I grabbed the sign for aisle 6D. What I love about it is that it was promoting lines that weren't even really hot at the time, but I collected everything on this sign. If it had Ghostbusters, Batman, and Star Trek, you'd have my toy resume.

So, here it sits in my "office". Before taking it, I had no clue how heavy it would be. It's got to be a good 50 lbs, which is why it's just leaning against the wall. I can't hang that thing, and I'm amazed we've never heard of them falling and killing some kid. It's big, heavy, and doesn't really tie the decor of the room together, but it's my past. Batman has a giant penny, and I've got the sign to aisle 6D. After 10 years of lying about truck shipments, helping lost grandmas, and selling D batteries to lonely single moms, this is my trophy.

Crazy stuff tends to go down at the thrift store, so the thing practically writes itself. If I've got no "stories", per se, I'll just show you some of the latest stuff I've picked up. Unlike other columns on the site, I hope this doesn't get dropped after 1 or 2 posts (I'm looking at you, Best of the West). If ya like what you've read, leave me a comment so I know it's not falling on deaf ears.

So, why "Thrift Justice"? As you know, I'm a big proponent of branding, and I wanted a title with a ring to it. I started out with "Tales From the Thrift", but some dude uses that to post YouTube videos. Then, I thought I'd go with "Thrift Wars", but some hipster chick...uses it to post YouTube videos. So, the brain started working, and it came to me: "Thrift Justice". Let it sink in, and you'll learn to love it as much as I do. So, come back tomorrow for our first installment!

So, today's item is what you see here:

Yes, that's a first printing of the hard to find variant cover of Amazing Spider-Man #583. The first of the popular Obama Comic Cover gimmick, this book sold out quicker than hotels on prom night. Last I checked, I think it got up to about 5 printings, many of which are still being sold above cover price. Well, I somehow managed to get a copy. But wait, there's more! If you look closely, you'll notice that it's signed. No, it's not signed by Big O, himself, but by Marvel Editor-In-Chief and Chief Creative Officer, Joe Quesada. So, how did I snag this comic? Well, it's funny you should ask...

Last year, I went to the New York Comic-Con with a couple of my Diamond friends.  Near the end of most conventions, the Marvel booth has a giveaway panel. This isn't a nice, orderly contest, however.  No, at the Marvel booth, everyone stands around yelling for shit, kinda like those  businessmen watching Jennifer Connelly get it with that double-ended dildo in Requiem For A Dream.  There's a guy (and I really should know his name by this point), who's like Wayne Brady with the huckster showmanship of Stan Lee. The Marvel Minions bring him large, unmarked boxes of stuff, and he just grabs something out. The stuff ranges from big ticket items (autographed books), to dead overstock (Dark Towers hardcovers), to random licensed items (lunchbox, anyone?) on down to Saga books. That's right - I've seen them give away the same crappy promo comic you would've gotten stuffed in your bag at your LCS.

Anyway, I've witnessed this thing quite a few times, so there's generally a formula: "Wayne Lee" generally looks around to see who wants the item most. Sometimes, he might ask a trivia question or ask you to dance for him or something.  He usually goes for the cute kid, the 20-ish girl, etc. In fact, he tends to go for everyone *except* the stereotypical "fanboy". By adhering to this pattern, the Marvel Giveaway Panel may be Marvel's smartest initiative to reach out to a new audience; cater to the young, the women, etc. So, the trick is to save your energy for something that you really want. Nobody walks away with 2 items. Not even that  kid in the wheelchair. If you don't want the Spider-Man sleeping bag, don't even waste the energy to acknowledge it. Wayne's pretty good at scanning the crowd, so he's gauging what you really want. When everyone's jumping up and down like they're on The Price Is Right, you become more conspicuous if you stand still. Wayne notices that, and he knows you're being strategic. Hell, it's best not to even make eye contact with him. Save it for the big prize.

So, I knew all of the above going in, and I used all that to play my hand. I didn't acknowledge the Wolverine baseball cap or the Eternals hardcover. Out of the gate, we knew that the big ticket item was the Obama cover, especially since this was about 2 weeks after the inauguration. There wasn't even a second printing at this point, yet here it was, SIGNED by the creative head of Marvel. I knew they had 5 copies to give away, and those were the only things I went for.

After he had given away the 4th copy, I probably should have gotten discouraged. I mean, I'd been at this panel for about an hour and a half, watching people sacrifice their young for a Hulk pencil sharpener. One thing about me, however, is that I don't quit. I had a good feeling. I had no basis for said optimism, but I really thought I was going to leave with one of those books. I've actually been really lucky in life when it comes to comic-related contests. When I was 12, I won a Batman watch from a Choice Hotels Batman Returns sweepstakes. When I was 13, I won some Avengers/X-Men Bloodties trading cards from a contest I'd forgotten I had even entered. And the list goes on. So, I felt like some of that magic might be in the cards for me for that Spidey comic. My friends were leaving to go to dinner, and some of the booths had even shut down, but I was determined to see this to the end.

Wayne got to the final copy, and made quite a showing about it being the final copy. He paced the floor with it. He'd stop and think about whether the time was right to give it away (he does this a LOT - pulls out an item, gauges the reaction, and then swaps it for a Human Torch backpack once the fever builds). He decided to ask a question: "What's Wolverine's real name?" This, my friends, is somewhat of a trick question. I didn't know which answer he wanted. After all, everybody knows it's "Logan", yet this was after Origin had come out, so the real answer was "James Howlett". Seeing as how he IS the guy from Marvel, I figured Wayne would want the Howlett answer. So, I jumped up and down, screaming "James Howlett!" I could hear a good deal of the crowd going the Logan route, while my fellow fanboys were chiming along with the Howlett chorus. I have to believe that Wayne noticed how I'd played the game. I think he knew that I was there for one thing, and he was determined to make me wait for it. Or, maybe he just noticed me at that point. Whatever it was, he was prepared to make my day. It felt like slow motion, as he walked over and handed me the book. In my haze, I shielded it until I could get out of the crowd, and I quickly put it in my sketchbook for safekeeping. Once I got to an empty corner of the Javits Center, I double-checked to make sure that it was real, and that I hadn't imagined the whole thing. What I saw in my hands was the book that you saw above, and it's been sitting on my makeshift mantle ever since.