3/26/2007

The ballad of Pepe and Mr.E

I.
People like us always have suppliers here and there and mine is called Mr.E. I mean don’t get me wrong, I’m quite used to doing it through the regular channels: The bookstore I go for the TPBs and the HCs is one of the biggest, best in the city. Or the state, or the country I don’t know.
But certain regular cravings of ours just have to attended via illicit suppliers, ‘em Han Solos hauling in crates and crates and crates of tax-free stuff under the Millenium Falcons of their airmails.

I have no idea how the hell did I ever stumble upon Mr.E but I recall being very unhappy with my then-current dealer. I remember reading somewhere-posted somewhere on the Internet- “If you want some great XXXXX just e-mail Mr.E at XXXXX”- so I e-mailed Mr.E and did some very small-scale business. Everything went ok and that first outing led to another. And another, and another, etc.
Slightly more than one year ago I switched suppliers full-time and transferred all my regular stuff to Mr.E- and boy, for a local he is very reliable.
In fact, Mr.E is probably the most reliable dealer I’ve ever dealt with and I’ve never even seen his face- it’s all very sub-rosa and stuff. It’s done strictly by e-mail:
Mr.E (his name actually is Mr. E****!) e-mails me saying he’s got XXX, YYYY, ZZZZ (ad infinitum) for me, then I e-mail him back once I’ve sent him the dough.

One time, I goofed up with the internet banking as I usually do and ended up not wiring him the money but the goods were delivered anyway and Mr.E never said a word about it (of course I paid up once I’d realized what I’d done).


II.
M**** on the other hand found this guy Pepe on eBay and Pepe sends out his stuff with crazy things in Spanish written over the packets- Juguetes usados is my favorite. An Pepe is very fast. Most times, anyway.


III.
Mr.E pops in my inbox for the second time this month- He’s sort of like Mr. Mxyzptlk in the sense he sticks to his deadlines- and lets me know he’s got the following stuff:

52 #44
52 #45
52 #46
THE BRAVE AND BOLD # 02
THE FLASH: THE FASTEST MAN ALIVE # 10
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #06 COVER "A"
JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #06 COVER "B"
JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #04 COVER "A"
JUSTICE SOCIETY OF AMERICA #04 COVER "B"
TEEN TITANS # 44
UNCLE SAM & THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS #08

(I do the covers A-B thing with my comics mostly because I can, which is fun in a Kali Yuga sort-of way)