I haven’t done one of these in a while. This collection is actually from two separate pickups on two separate dates. The comics are from Ollies, one of those big discount stores full of totally random stuff. Our local one seems to stock a lot of cool books and an odd assortment of comics.

The trouble is their comics are random, which means I often find things like that DMZ book, which is Book Two of a multi-part collection. They didn’t have Part One. I’ve actually read quite a bit of DMZ online, so I know I like I,t so I didn’t mind buying Part Two (with the hopes of finding Part One somewhere down the line) but they have lots of other books like that where I haven’t read the first ones so I don’t know if I like it or not…

The books and the movie are from a couple of thrift stores/used book stores we went to this past weekend. You gotta love those Hard Case Crime covers!

A couple of days ago, my wife went shopping. This is not unusual; she likes to shop. This particular day, she went to a store called Ollies. It is one of those big discount stores that buys all kinds of random stuff in bulk and then sells it cheaply.

She texted me a couple of photos. They had some comics for sale. I wasn’t interested in most of them, but some Batman comics looked interesting. As well as a few others.

I was cooking lunch at the time, a hamburger. Knowing she was currently at the store I knew I had to make a decision quickly. I did a little searching, looking for reviews of the books, and told her I wanted a couple of them. Then she texted me more photos. And then more. I burnt my burger.

I searched for some more. Sometimes I just looked at my own list to make sure I didn’t currently own the books she was sending. I narrowed it down to a few Batman comics and was all set.

Then she sent me a picture of Bob Dylan. He was young in the pictures, all fresh-faced and curly-haired. But there was no title to it. You can see the book I’m talking about above, but the one she sent me didn’t have the insert photo with the book’s title.

I’m trying to make it a mystery but the title is already spoiled. It is Bob Dylan: Mixing Up the Medicine, a book about the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa. It comes with all sorts of essays about Dylan and some wonderful photos and descriptions of many of the thousands of items currently residing at the Center.

I’ve been to the Bob Dylan Center and it is awesome. It is also crammed full of stuff. More than I could really take in during my visit. The book will allow me to really dig into so much of what is there, and will no doubt make me visit it again soon.

I’ve seen the book advertised many times and always wanted to buy it, but it retails for $75 which is a bit out of my price range. My wife got it for $20.

I can’t wait to dig in.