The Most Valuable Comic in my Collection
By Dan Brown The most valuable comic in my collection? That’s easy. It’s Flaming Carrot No. 1. How much is it worth? I have no idea in terms of dollars and cents. But I do know what it’s worth to me. That’s because I have so much emotion invested into the 36-page publication from 1984 that was originally priced at $1.70. To me, it is literally priceless. So valuable it’s beyond value. That’s because it was one of the first gifts given to me by the woman who would become my wife. It is so precious since it’s one of the most thoughtful gifts I have ever received. Here’s the story. Amanda and I met at work in April of 2003 in the CBC’s Toronto newsroom. I fell for her quickly. So when she got a job offer soon after on the East Coast, I knew I couldn’t stand in her way. Besides, I had done a tour of duty at a couple newspapers out East, and Amanda was at a similar stage in her career as a journalist. I knew it would be a good move. So when she moved to Halifax for six months, we promised each other we would make our burgeoning relationship work somehow. Remember, this is a time before Zoom. There was much less infrastructure in place to support long-distance couples. Leap ahead to July of that year, when I have my birthday mid-month. I get a package delivered to my apartment door that I know is from Amanda. As I open the box, I had zero notion of what was contained inside. There it was – a pristine copy of Flaming Carrot # 1. If I didn’t know it before, I knew at that moment: This is the woman for me for life. She knew I was into comics. We had talked about that. A few weeks before, she had asked me what I thought was an innocent question, “What’s your favourite comic book?” She had somehow found a copy online and had it shipped to me. Keep in mind this was before you could get pretty much any product via the web –this had taken careful planning and a lot of effort. I had explained to Amanda how I liked Flaming Carrot because the Bob Burden-created title is a spoof of traditional comic books. I don’t know if I got its surrealistic flavour across to her. Then, shortly after that delivery, my birthday arrived. It was a Saturday. Just another day of dreaming of my baby on the far edge of the country. There was a knock at the door, and I got up to answer it. There, standing in the hallway was Amanda. She had surprised me by flying home from Halifax without telling me. It was the kindest, most romantic gesture anyone had made for me. That copy of Flaming Carrot No. 1 is now on the wall in our living room, along with a number of other comics from my collection. We survived our six-month separation. We thrived. We got married five years later. In 2009, we bought our first house together. We’ve adopted many animals since then. Now, every time I look at Flaming Carrot’s debut issue, I’m reminded of Amanda’s generous and thoughtful nature. That comic, to me, is pure love. What is the most valuable thing in your comic collection? I would love to read all about it in the comments. Dan Brown has covered pop culture for more than 34 years as a journalist and also moderates L.A. Mood’s monthly Graphic-Novel Group book club.
