![]() The front page of the Life & Leisure section from The Arizona Republic newspaper on March 23, 1989, featured this interview with Todd McFarlane. This was quite exciting news, to be sure, but it was easy to keep to myself since I knew almost no one who would have known who McFarlane was. When Ken hung up, he looked at me and said, “You are sworn to secrecy!” He then told me that McFarlane was coming for a store signing that spring and that subscribers like myself would get a special poster signed by Todd, whether they could make the event or not. That was when I realized he was talking to the one and only Todd McFarlane. At the end, he pulled out a copy of The Amazing Spider-Man, #315, which was the most-recent issue at the time, to look up the circulation figures in the statement of ownership in the back, and said he’d be happy to pop a few copies in the mail. He was having an animated conversation with someone about flying in for an event, weekend accommodations, etc. One day in January 1989, Ken was on the phone when I walked into the store. He had office hours on Saturday morning, so after my appointment, I’d head over to AAA Best. I had braces at this time, and at least once a month would come up to Scottsdale to have the orthodontist adjust them. The cover to The Amazing Spider-Man #315 (May 1989) by Todd McFarlane, and the statement of ownership in that issue, which puts the title’s average paid circulation for the previous 12 months at 271,100 copies per issue! She thought it was kind of cool and even read some of the books - she liked McFarlane’s Amazing Spider-Man - when I’d acquire a new stack of stuff. She was starting as a freshman at U of A, but I was so insecure about my comics habit that I didn’t tell her about it until we’d been dating a few months already. I had a new place to live in a different part of town, but I also had a car and a girlfriend I met in traffic school that summer. I kept my subscriptions with AAA Best even when I went back to school in Tucson that fall for my sophomore year. His reply was something along the lines of “No way! You gotta grab a bowl of cereal and stay up all night reading them!” I once was checking out with a large stack and as he rang them up, I said it should keep me busy for a week or so. I looked forward to visiting the shop as much to talk with him about comics as to buy my weekly stash. Ken was quick to spark a discussion and recommend new books based on what he knew you liked. I still visited other stores, most notably All About Books & Comics, during this time. The latter was, of course, drawn by Todd McFarlane and was taking off like a rocket. This also was the summer when Marvel experimented with twice-monthly publication of its top titles, which included X-Men and The Amazing Spider-Man. Cover art by Walt Simonson (and friends). The other book I recall grabbing, either on that visit or one shortly thereafter, was Marvel Comics Presents #1, with that cool Walt Simonson wrap-around cover. I distinctly recall Excalibur #1 was just out and I scooped it up ASAP to flip through the lovely artwork by Alan Davis and Paul Neary. The store occupied a long and narrow space at the end of a strip mall structure. On that day, Ken was busy sorting and the new issues were just laid out on a table in near the front entrance. ![]()
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