April Fool's Punk'd

In one of the posts that precedes this one, a cover scan of the Marvel Milestone Edition of Giant Size X-Men #1 that I recently picked up at the Phoenix comicon was shown. Well, that one was actually one of two copies of this highly-prized comic book that I (kinda' sorta') got recently. The copy pictured above came in the mail from an unexpected source.

My buddy Darrell D knows that Giant-Size X-Men #1 is one – if not the holy grail – of comic books that I dream of having in my collection someday. I was six years old when the book came out and I never did own an original copy. What's more, by the time it became important to me, as well as every other X-Men fan, it was already priced well above my pay grade.

During the second or third week of April, a large manilla envelope came to town with D's return address on its face. I had actually been expecting the arrival of his newest DVD (Red Beans & Rice Vol. 2––did I mention that St. Paco designed the cover?), but the envelope in my mailbox seemed a lil' on the anorexic side to be holding a DVD.

Pimp-struttin' back to my studio apartment, I headed over to the kitchenette and picked up a butter knife from the counter. I slowly sliced an opening from which to remove the mailer's mysterious contents. Turning the envelope upside down, out of the freshly opened slit slid a slightly odd-looking copy of...Giant-Size X-Men #1!? What...the...hell!?

Amongst friends, Darrell D is known for doing things for and giving gifts to his homies that they wouldn't expect. Still, knowing the price tag on this book, my first thought when gazing at the cover behind its protective plastic sleeve was: I haven't done anything to deserve this.

Now, since I ain't the type to jump around like I've won the lotto – even if I have – I didn't jump around like I'd won the lotto. Instead, I patiently peeled up the strip of tape found on the back of the protective sleeve and pinched the book free. As I gingerly flicked back the cover to behold its vintage contents my spidey-sense immediately began to tingle.

I actually own a few issues of Marvel's Giant-Size series and know from years of experience with 'em how a 68-page comic book feels, in terms of its thickness and weight. But the alleged X-Men comic I had in hand seemed really under-sized. That said, I wasn't completely thrown when the photocopied comic book cover was opened to reveal the trap that the dastardly Darrell D had set for yours truly.

Fucking hell. I knew that something was up...that something just wasn't right about the book. But he still got me, technically, and I laughed my ass off for a good five minutes. When I had regained my composure, I picked up the cellular and speed-dialed the culprit. As soon Darrell D heard my voice on the other end he began to belch out a nervous chuckle.

"Ya got me," I admitted, as my voice quickly tripped into a boisterous laugh that the pranker's own laugh quickly echoed.

"Ya got me."