That next weekend, my family had some reason to journey down to the South Shore Mall in search of some time or other that couldn’t be so easily procured closer to home. This was fine by me, as I’d earlier discovered that the mini-strip mall that was adjacent to the main South Shore Mall structure was the home to the Batcave, an early comic book specialty store. The Batcave (later Long Island comics after the coming of the 1989 BATMAN film prompted a cease-and-desist letter concerning the name of the store) operated for decades. It was still in the same location when I moved back into the area in the mid-1990 and only relocated elsewhere at the end of the millennium. Comic book stores were still rare items in these days, so a chance to go to one was a rare opportunity for me. The Batcave stocked both new books (which they tended to get in a week or two before the mainstream outlets) as well as a voluminous number of back issues.
One of my take-aways from this trip to the Batcave was this copy of MEET THE DEALERS. While it’s mostly been forgotten today, MEET THE DEALERS (later COMIC NEWSLINE) was a monthly newspaper fanzine that previewed the events in upcoming comic book releases as well as some broad coverage of media events, such as the impending STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE in this edition. It was also chock-full of ads for back issue dealers, which was its primary purpose, at least at the outset. I’m pretty certain that I was given this copy of MEET THE DEALERS in my bag along with my purchases as a freebie. The Batcave was a regular advertiser in the publication and may have had something to do with publishing it. Pretty much the only place I ever saw copies of MEET THE DEALERS was at the Batcave.
But upon cracking it open, I was immediately captivated by the previews of upcoming releases, which included a whole bunch of reproductions of covers that I wouldn’t get to see in real life for another couple of weeks. I was already making my own homegrown comics by this point, so I was increasingly interested in how the sausage was made, so these behind-the-scenes pieces fascinated me. Interesting to look back in retrospect and see what stuff didn’t come to pass: Archie Goodwin didn’t wind up taking over writing FANTASTIC FOUR with #218, nor did Al Milgrom and Jo Duffy become the co-editors of the series, for example. But this assortment of information and previews of upcoming covers made me excited about all sorts of upcoming developments. At a time before the Internet, or Previews, or any other regular source of upcoming comic book news, getting this was like a gift from the Gods.
There was also a completely oddball serialized strip that ran in MEET THE DEALERS called Reel Man, produced by a cartoonist named Mark Riedener. it was about a guy who was fused with a movie projector in a freak accident that turned him into a film-based super hero. The strip was neither especially well-written or well-drawn, but it was still light years ahead of my own creative efforts, and so I studied it closely. It felt like doing something along these lines was a goal that was within reach. Far as I can tell, Mark Riedener never made it into the field professionally, but he still posts pen-and-ink artwork on Instagram all these years later, though not about super heroes or movie topics.
So getting new copies of MEET THE DEALERS/COMIC NEWSLINE became a bonus to my infrequent trips to the Batcave. (I remember even getting a few older issues, copies of which were still in the store.)
The Tom Brevoort Experience 
It always amazes me when huge companies bother with a small store etc. about infringement rights, how do they even find out about it? Not like they could do a google search back then. I remember the first time I went into a comic specialty shop and saw the new issues almost a month earlier than where I had been getting my comics up till then.
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It was probably easier for DC or Marvel to know about the existence of a comics store in Long Island than in, say, Nebraska, because there’d be people who worked for the company living there. Also, an operation like MEET THE DEALERS got advance art and news from the publishers, who’d almost certainly get copies in return, so they’d notice the advertisers, too.
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I never saw a copy of MEET THE DEALERS — for me, it was discovering THE COMIC READER and shortly thereafter, THE COMICS JOURNAL, that fed my need for advance information about what was coming in the comics, and a glimpse behind the scenes at the workings of the publishers.
Al Milgrom and Jo Duffy editing FF, huh? I’d have liked to see that. Instead, it went to Jim Salicrup, and he did just fine, I’d say.
And back around then it seemed like Marvel really wanted Archie to write some regular Marvel title in addition to STAR WARS, but he either didn’t have the time or didn’t really want to do it, because they never seemed to last long if they got started at all. But he must have had an interesting contract with Marvel, since he kept having stories published at Warren at the time.
[And at DC, though I’ve got to figure those were inventory stories that had been in the drawer for a while.]
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When I got into new comics seriously in the early 80’s I was lucky enough to be able to get into Harvard Square, where The Million Year Picnic was located (I frequented several other comci book stores as I learned of them and in time bestowed my patronage on Comicopia). It was there that I first saw and bought The Comic Buyer’s Guide. I subscribed some time later and read it regulary until my interest in comics was replaced by other things. At a later point I also started buying DIanmond’s Previews.
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