Dollar Bin: The Saga of the Man Elf

We are kicking off our series of forgotten comics with this back issue from 1989.

If there’s one outstanding benefit to owning a comic book store, I’d argue it’s the historical pop culture detritus that you find in long boxes.

The Dollar Bin series here on Substack will focus on some of the more outlandish concepts and conceits that we find along the way.

The Saga of the Man Elf was *literally* the first comic that I pulled out of a long box at the Neighborhood Comics Clubhouse (our warehouse and back office) today when I dreamt up this fiasco of a column. The box was labeled with only an “M.” From the back side of the box, I slid my hand in and pulled out this beauty. I knew then and there that a writing franchise was born.

This black and white comic was published by the UK’s Trident Comics with a newsstand date of August, 1989. That makes it one of the label’s earlier publications. Trident also published formative work by Mark Millar and anthologies with luminaries such as Neil Gaiman and Grant Morrison. They were obviously inspired by the new wave of independent comic creators and understood great talent. Which brings us to the Man Elf.

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