This past weekend was a holiday in Canada, so my girlfriend J. and I decided to take some time out to visit family up north. Here are a smattering of comic-related occurrences from our 36-hour jaunt.

- My Dad hands me a gift bag with the movie version of the Fantastic Four on it. He bought my brothers and I a bunch of Fantastic Four stuff when the movie came out because I Was Ben co-writer Gary was cast as an extra.

- The gift bag holds a copy of The Marvel Encyclopedia, which is like a hardcover OHOTMU. The first entry I read has a mistake. Nerd!

- Dark Horse Comics, the only comic book store for over 150 km in any direction from my Dad’s place, seems to have finally closed down. We knew it would happen some day, but it still makes me a little sad.

- J. and I scoop a handful of pre-1985 Archie digests from the used bookstore. Cottage country is the best place to find them. I’d guess that at least 3/4 of my hundreds of digests are from this one store.

- My Grandmother gives me three Gold Key comics she has stored in a suitcase otherwise filled with very sentimental family documents. I have no idea what an issue of Super Goof is doing nestled beside photos of my Grandfather from his time in the service.

- J. and I pick up two hitchikers. One of them asks us how many kids we have. We tell her we don’t have any. She tells us she assumed we did, considering the Fantastic Four bag and the abundance of Archie digests.