BOB ROZAKIS TURNS 73! The DC Bronze Age stalwart recalls riding the roadways and bringing comics to the masses…
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UPDATED 4/4/24: Bob Rozakis turns 73! Perfect time to “reprint” this golden oldie from September 2017 that ran as an exclusive preview of Back Issue #100. That ish is still available digitally, by the way, so click here if you want to order. It’s one of my fave issues. Learned a lot from it. Dig it. — Dan
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Do you know what the DC Comicmobile was?
It was, as its name suggests, a van decked out with DC logos that was staffed by Batmaven Michael Uslan and, later, Bob Rozakis, that hit the roads around the New York metropolitan area in the summer of 1973, selling comics.
Dammit, I wish I’d known about it at the time. Y’know why? Because the friggin’ thing would hit Ocean Township, N.J. — where I lived — and I had no idea at all. Had I known, at the age of 6, I would have begged, begged, begged my Mom or Dad to take me. (It also used to visit my mother’s hometown of Bradley Beach, just outside Asbury Park, where we used to go to the beach — a lot.)
Why did it spend time at the Jersey Shore? Well, that’s where Uslan’s from.
Can you hear the frustration in my voice? Sigh. I mean, really…
Anyway, it’s a good thing I can read such a great chronicle by Rozakis of the travels and travails of the Comicmobile in editor Michael Eury’s Back Issue #100 — which is, fittingly, celebrating its milestone issue with a look at Bronze Age fandom.
Since so much of 13th Dimension is geared toward said fandom, I take particular joy in sharing this excerpt with you. And there’s so much more too: Just check out the table of contents:
Back Issue #100 ships 9/13, but check with your comics shop because some places get it at different times. (Some will get it as early as 9/6.) As always, you can also order it directly from TwoMorrows.
Now, dig this virtual ride in the DC Comicmobile:
Wanna see the article all big-like? In your desktop browser, simply right-click the page and choose “Open image in new tab” from the pop-up menu. Select that new tab! Now it might still look small, but if you click it, it will expand in size!
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MORE
— Dig These 13 Groovy BOB ROZAKIS: ASK THE ANSWER MAN! Columns. Click here.
— Why ROBIN Has Endured for 80 Years, by BOB ROZAKIS. Click here.
September 13, 2017
I was one of Bob’s regular customers — and I got quoted in the article! Bob was wrong about one thing, though. He did have one customer who (to this day) never bought a single issue of Plop!
November 19, 2020
Sol Harrison ( I read) wanted to jab a comic book in every kid’s hands. We were reading these comics way back in the 70’s also in Far-far away east countries( India). Maybe Sol just did not know this, while leasing the van for selling the comics in new jersey. There was this market Sol couldn’t even imagine at that time (and he shouldnt). I can consider myself lucky reading these ‘far away Land magazines & comics’ which would also eventually shape my life the way it is . Missed the travelling van -big time 😉 .
Just my 2 cents.
January 17, 2022
Warms my heart to see our beloved Comicmobile remembered so fondly! And I drove it in Ocean Township, Bradley Beach… maybe Belmar.
April 4, 2024
Bob thanks so much for this wonderful story! I was a teenager in the 70s and I THINK I remember seeing a reference to the Comicmobile somewhere back then! Wish it had made its way out to Wichita, Kansas! (I’m betting Plop sold well because of the gross out covers!)