“Yeah, snow…It’s THAT time of year. Beau Ho, HO!”

by Beau Smith

One of the best Christmas gifts I ever received was a simple one. One year I opened up one of the colorfully, wrapped boxes and found in it 200 Silver Age Mylar bags and 200 backing boards. Now, most folks would open this and say, “Yeah, thanks.” Happy to have them, but nothing really special, right?

Wrong.

I kinda thought the same thing when I opened them, but after all the Christmas gifts were sprung, food eaten, and guests gone, I settled down and figured I might as well start shoving my childhood collection of Silver Age comics into the bags and boards.

I hauled out various long boxes filled with my comics from childhood; the comics that truly formed my relationship with comic books. I had to pick 200 comics to insert into the safety of the Mylar and cardboard. This wasn’t gonna be as easy as I thought.

The Incredible Hulk #181

I started going through the comics one by one. At first I thought I should choose them on worth according to the Overstreet Price Guide, so I started looking them up. Well, that made me discover that a lot of these comics had great sentimental value to me and that trumped the collector’s worth. Granted, I placed my Incredible Hulk #180 and #181 in bags and boards, but left out my Fantastic Four #4 and placed my M.A.R.S Patrol Total War #1 in the bag and board instead. The M.A.R.S. Patrol meant so much more to me. I must have read that comic a hundred times and drew scenes from it on my school notebooks more than I did homework. (Big surprise there, eh?)

Captain America #113

Each book I looked at brought back incredible memories for me. I also ended up re-reading some books that I hadn’t touched in years. I started writing down a list of issues that I was missing and needed to pick up, and I even found a note from one of my old Jr. High girlfriends in one of the comics! (Captain America #113)

A task that I thought might take an hour ended up taking me well into the early hours of the morning. Plus, it wasn’t a task, it was a reunion with old friends that truly needed visiting. Those 200 bags and boards ended up being one of the best Christmas gifts I’ve ever gotten, so simple and yet so fruitful.

That small gift ended up making me look forward to each “Mylar Mission” after that. Each time I get to reunite with my memories and also create new ones with more recent comics. As Christmas day bears down on us (in a very good way), I suggest that you think about giving some bags and boards to that comic book reader that you know. It might just end up being the best gift they ever had.

“More Gifts For MEEEEEEE! Merry Christmas!”

Merry Christmas from all of us here at The Flying Fist Ranch! (And have one of those Happy New Years to boot.)

Your amigo,

Beau Smith

The Flying Fist Ranch

www.flyingfistranch.com