Bart Sears Rare Finds #1

As a sister to the 'Guess what the Postman delivered today' entries, I thought I'd pull out of my vast Bart Sears collection the items that are perhaps a little bit more difficult to come upon than your average comic. So here is the first entry into a new series titled, simply, 'Rare Finds.'

And why not start off with a piece of Bart Sears memorabilia that is so incredibly rare, that I have only seen it come up for sale two times, one of which I purchased, though I may have missed the odd sale, however unlikely.

Guessed what I'm talking about yet?

Of course you did!

I was well pleased when I received this in the mail some time in the year 2000 (somehow I forgot to mark down when I received it, strange for me). I'd been looking for it ever since I'd known of it's existence, some years previous, and when it came up on eBay, I bid way high, there was absolutely no way I was going to let somebody else win this, no way!

The Wizard Comic Book Binder was manufactured in 1993 by both the Wizard magazine gang and Pro Gard, an association that spawned several fine comic protection and storage products.

The image, obviously by Bart, is taken from his tutorial in Wizard #16. It features the first incarnation of everybody's favourite metalloid, Brute. He's the first incarnation because, as you can see, he's sporting his original hair style, the Kirby-esque black spots. This would be his hair-do of choice for several years until Ominous Press came into reality and he changed his style to the more recognisable energy burst.

The binder itself is a 3-ring binder, there are no other features to it really, no pockets, no sleeves, nada.

Bart has a copy of the binder himself, and he also had a production sheet of the material used to cover the binder, image and all. Bart very generously signed it and gave it to me in 2004 when I was visiting him for the first time. I've never seen it in this form before or since and it is doubtful it exists anywhere else.

So there you have it, the Wizard binder, a rare find indeed.

Stay tuned for more rare finds from my Bart Sears collection in the form of the Eclipso Shelf Card, Comic Shell backing board and so much more.

Tell your friends.