Comic Reviews by Walt

This past weekend saw my first "mega-haul" of the year, with a combination of Half-Price Books and a trip to the main comic shop, with freshly-stocked bargain-bins!

At HPB, I snagged the long-outta-print trade-paperback-sized paperback edition of Batman: Knightfall. This is the Barnes and Noble "exclusive," which makes it all the more "rare" with ALSO being "out of print"…yet the thing was priced at a mere $8…HARDLY a "collectible" price for a book in such great condition all these years later! So much for consistency, I guess…their loss, my gain!

I also snagged the Alien: The Illustrated Story because it’s…well, Aliens. I’m a sucker for this stuff, and while I am thinking there’s a more deluxe/hardcover type edition of this available, for the price and being in-hand, I didn’t want to pass this up.

And finally, since I (thankfully) had "inventory" photos of my phone, I was able to determine that I did NOT yet own Dark Victory (It’s Long Halloween and Haunted Knight that I already owned)…and since I’ve intended to complete the "trilogy" for ages now, I figured I’d get that marked off the list.

At the comic shop, there was a shortbox of TPBs marked 80% off. I was flat-out astonished to find this Superman: Eradication! volume…honestly did a double-take, and checked my ‘inventory’ to make sure I wasn’t crossing this with something else. But sure enough…this truly is the book I’ve been wanting for ages now, and unable to find for a reasonable price anywhere–in person OR online. And then just because it’s Dan Jurgens, Booster Gold, and at 80% off, the price of a single-issue of a current Rebirth DC comic, I also snagged the JLI vol. 1 paperback.

I also got the latest issue of Spawn (pull list!), which I think puts me at about a full year of having the title on my pull list…a feat the title has never before done!

The TMNT issue I actually picked up at Toys R Us…it was some sort of Mega Bloks promotional issue that I’d been unaware of. Disgustingly, even this has a variant cover (I only saw this "regular" cover available, happily–I’d’ve been highly annoyed to ONLY be ABLE to get the VARIANT). Ridiculously-priced for what it is…but something about it struck me as something that would gnaw away at me if I did not get it, knowing it existed and I could get it FOR the same "cover price" as any other TMNT issue from IDW.

And then we get into the 25-cent bin haul, after the cut…

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The four-part Krisis of the Krimson Kryptonite story; minus the Starman tie-in. Not sure if I’ll hunt that down or not…I think I might already own it. There were two copies of Superman #50…I convinced my friend to get the other.

Got these two (yet again) for the heckuvit. Love these covers, and for 25 cents…I’m a sucker!

The complete 3-issue mini-series of the movie. I have a few older Transformers comics, not sure if I’d had these…for the price, and the movie being just a bit over 30 years old now, these grabbed my attention.

Some randomish stuff. Saw quite a few Shazam related things in the mix. I’m pretty sure Id seen the The Life of Captain Marvel before, but couldn’t remember if I had any of the issues or if this was a one-shot; turns out it has a couple issues’ worth of the classic Captain Marvel series…content I’d read just in the last couple years or so.

I don’t truly know what issues I have and don’t of DC Comics Presents…except that I know I’ll want to collect the entire run, eventually. I’m certain I’ve read the contents of these two issues, assuming I correctly recall their inclusion in the Superman vs. Shazam paperback I found several years ago.

And then just for the novelty and randomness of them, for the late-’70s/early-’80s, these four issues. Pretty sure I’d paid a "full back-issue pricing" for the DCCP Annual, but hey, an extra copy for 25 cents isn’t bad!

Along with the DC Comics Presents, I will not be at all surprised if I eventually seek to collect a run of The New Adventures of Superboy, so finding a few issues adds to that subcollection.

Random Silver Surfer stuff…prime finds (to me) for 25 cents apiece!

This is the second time in the last couple years that I’ve come across Spider-Man versus Wolverine #1 (a one-shot)…and I think I’ve paid $1.25 total now, combined for the two copies; after 20 years of never finding the thing for a reasonable price. (There’s a paperback out soon that includes the issue, so perhaps that’s tanked its value/"rarity"?) I grabbed the Amazing Spider-Man 258 assuming that’s the issue where Peter splits with the "alien costume," and my friend commented on recalling #259 as being when Spidey got the other costume back, so I added that to the pile, not actually realizing the two were sequential at the time. And the other issue I assume is the "proposal" issue, which would be worth a read.

Despite being extremely underwhelmed reading #2, I’m still determined to assemble a run of Valor in its entirety (as well as the Eclipso series that also spun out of Eclipso: The Darkness Within).

Either Déjà vu or I have the What If… issue already…but again, as always…for only 25 cents, if I’m interested, I’ll buy it now. The Classic X-Men grabbed me for the cover.

And Uncanny X-Men #193 is particularly impressive as a double-sized anniversary issue. Here, they were celebrating 100 issues of the All-New, All-Different X-Men…but they didn’t have to plaster any giant #100 on the issue; no fancy cover markings or gimmicks; no renumbering; just a double-sized issue! Sadly, that shows just how ancient the issue is compared to modern Marvel.

And finally…a couple of "shiny covers," and otherwise stuff that for 25 cents is well worth getting!

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And to put these back into perspective… ALL of these 25-cent issues COMBINED cost me what THREE normal, regular non-shiny, non-rare, non-out of print, non-cool, non-interesting, non-relevant, non-nostalgic CURRENT Marvel single issues would cost me.

This haul is EASILY the vastly-SUPERIOR purchase, to me, regardless of duplication of stuff I may or may not already own.

And at this rate, I’m also headed for near-immortality…if we go with the notion that I refuse to die until I’ve read every last comic I own!

Filed under: 2017 Non-Review Posts, 2017 Posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: '90s Comics, 25 cents, Alien, bargain bins, Batman, comic books, comics, Dark Victory, Eradication, knightfall, Spider-Man, Spider-Man versus Wolverine, Superman, Wolverine |