JUNKIN', PICKIN', DIGGIN' & THRIFTIN' with my 'Better Half'

Well, I have officially reached that age where I experience great enjoyment in spending my weekends in dirty, filthy and sometimes, REALLY foul smelling establishments, searching through other people's discarded treasures for that one special item that makes the hair on my neck stand straight up...pleading to come home with me.

Recently, we went to one of our favorite haunts in Simi Valley, California called FISHY FINDS. It's the kind of place to go if you like to 'dig'. Be prepared to spend some time there...and don't go if you're claustrophobic like me....

I usually bring VLAD along for  these types of excursions, to keep me company/entertained while my wife goes off on her adventure...

My goal, during these outings with the wife, is to find books-mainly books about art or vintage children's picture books. When I find one, I usually get all tingly in my naughty bits.

VLAD was all excited because he thought he found a six pack...but unfortunately the bottles were empty. He was kind of pissed.

Luckily, we found some full bottles of 'vintage' liquor so he was happy..But he drank a little too much and passed out on top of some LINCOLN LOGS, so I left him there for awhile and did some diggin'.

Being part-Greek, VLAD has a 'thing' for Lamb...and it's kiss, woke his sorry ass REAL quick...if you get my meaning.

VLAD was beginning to piss me off. He was constantly getting himself into, let's just say,"inappropriate situations'. I was afraid we were gonna be banned from the store. The little prick can't hold his liquor, and shit like this always seems to happen! 

He couldn't find a lampshade that would fit, so he opted for some horns instead..he thought he was sooo damn funny.

He begged me to buy this box...he said it would be a perfect place to store my collection of vintage New England Postcards. I told him to stop being such a little prick, and to shut the hell up.

What I really wanted to buy, were these Clown Candles! NOT so much for the candles, (even though they were cool as hell) but for the packaging! I LOVE vintage packaging, the weirder the better. Let's face it, this had it all. Creepy Clown art AND the actual candles!

Unfortunately, I didn't buy them. WE were going to other places that day, including my favorite used book store, so I decided to hang onto my money...But if it's still there next time, it's coming home with me! I just need to find the perfect spot in my office/studio.....amongst all the other shit, crammed in there!

 

I wanna say I 'discovered' PLOP! when I was in the 4th or 5th grade...around the same time I saw my first  issue of Swamp Thing.

I was over my friend's house and we were snooping through his older brother's stuff, when we came upon his stash of Playboys and comics. While my friend was all excited about the Playboys, it was the collection of comics that excited me. You see, I had already discovered my Dad's collection of Playboys months ago, and looked through them like a deranged maniac-so, I wasn't as excited as my friend. My attention was focused on the giant stack of Horror/Sci-Fi comics in front of me. I was a 'Monster-Kid' and not into super heroes like my friends were, so I never really bought comics. But that all changed when I saw issue no.1 of Plop! It was the right amount of creepy weirdness and at the same time, very familiar. At that time I wasn't really aware of adits' names when it came to artwork etc. BUT, being an avid reader of MAD magazine, I DID recognize the styles of artwork that appeared within its pages. 

Sergio Aragones, Basil Wolverton, Wally Wood and Bernie Wrightson would soon become heroes to me, and as I grew older, I would start to collect the comics they created. 

It would take awhile, since we didn't have a comic book store in my hometown. My mania wouldn't begin until I went to college in 1984 to the City of Brotherly Love: Philadelphia, and discovered Fat Jack's Comicrypt! It would be here, that I would buy 'back issues' of all the comics I missed out on when I was a kid. I bought up old issues of Plop!, Swampthing, House of Mystery, House of Secrets. I was able to collect 22 issues of the original 24 issues of Plop! (Someday I'll get the 2 issues that I am missing, so I can have a complete set). I reread these silly comics every few years and still get a kick out of them...I still feel like a 11-13 year old idiot.

Here's Issue #1 PLOP!-enjoy