Word got out today that Viz is reprinting the Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past comic adaptation serialized in Nintendo Power through 1992. The comic, drawn by legendary manga-ka Shotaro Ishinomori (Kamen Rider, Cyborg 009) was a pretty big treat for Nintendo fans largely deprived of supplementary game materials from Japan.

Though I’ve come to appreciate the comic collection more over the years, I initially wasn’t a big fan. Given my sporadic Nintendo Power collection, I was forced to read the story backwards. And, frankly, the artwork got a bit, er, rushed towards the end of the story.

However, the comic as a whole looked a bit brighter once I secured the original book collection printed in 1993. That particular acquisition was an adventure: I won a bid for the book on eBay, and almost never received it.

See, I put in the winning bid and paid my two bits. Then I waited. And waited. The follow-up from the seller never came. I sighed and declared myself the victim of a scammer. I stopped just short of printing up a rubber stamp to commemorate the event with markings on my wall (what would a rubber stamp visualizing “suckered by an internet scammer” look like, anyway?).

Some weeks later I received an email from a stranger basically asking me, “Hello! Did you order something from Person X and never receive it? Yeah, he’s basically a big fat thief. A bunch of us are going in on a private detective. You want a piece of this?”

Oh, uh, sure!

Long story short, these nice people did all the heavy lifting and ferreted out the scammer, who was allegedly wallowing in a living room stuffed full of undelivered eBay crap. My Zelda comic collection was there too, waiting patiently to be sent to its promised home. It was mailed to me. I promptly bathed it, wrapped it in warm towels, and gave it hot chocolate.

There you are. The story behind my bound collection of Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past comics. If you don’t own it, Viz’s reprint will be available on May 5.

Hopefully the (even better!) Star Fox comic will also be rounded up, lassoed, and delivered unto us nostalgia fanatics.