In this episode of the podcast, we welcome a special guest, friend of the show, and longtime customer of Mint Condition: Rich Kranjac. We talk all about what got him into comics, monsters, and music, what some of his favorite comic covers and artists are, how he found the store, why he started collecting CCG comics, what he is collecting now, and much more. (Phew! We covered so much ground!)
00:00 James introduces the show with lots of fanfare for our guest Rich Kranjac. We kick off by talking about how the different ages of comics match the different ages of Mint Condition, as well as the different types of comic book stores that weren’t like Mint, when and why Rich stopped collecting current books, and what he is collecting now.
8:26 We ask Rich what his secret origin is with collecting comics and things in pop culture. He shares how his uncle introduced him to Godzilla, monsters, music, and comics and reveals that the first comic book he remembers is Swamp Thing #11.
13:45 Chris asks Rich if he misses the comic collecting experience. Rich reminisces about going to Mint and he talks about what he is doing now. He shares how his co-workers are into comics, some Avengers and X-men recommendations, and we land on a Hoopla sponsor/ non sponsor plug.
21:44 We talk about digital comics, reminisce more about good times at Mint, and then start delving into Rich’s knowledge of comics.
27:31 James asks Rich to name his favorite comic book covers and artists, which in turn opens a discussion about Rich as a writer and composer of music, the Mego Lizard figure, the art of John Romita Sr., talk about the Green Goblin, and the classic Amazing Spider-Man covers 39 & 40.
38:45 Rich talks about how he found Mint Condition. This opens up a conversation about Rich’s wider history of collecting comics and how Joan Gross taught Rich about grading comic books. Rich talks about the different things CCG looked for when grading books; Joe talks about how Rich taught him how to grade books.
50:00 Rich talks about buying comics from Michael Jan Friedman and what we learned from Looney Tunes.
57:09 James asks Rich why he switched over to getting graded comics. After answering, Rich talks about buying Spider-Man #1, how Rich’s father was also a fan of comics and then Rich shares some thoughts on the MCU, which leads to us wrapping up the podcast by reminiscing (even more!) about Mint.
