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Resumption of X: Purchase #5

Posted on March 3, 2021 by Walt

In my ongoing quest for catching up on the Dawn of X-era X-comics, I had aimed to visit Comics and Friends for the first time in farrrrr too long (first time since stuff started reopening after the initial shutdowns last year) on the Saturday before Valentine’s Day. Unfortunately, I also ran a couple of other errands and found myself having arrived at the mall about 15 minutes after closing time. Whether that was just online-posted closing time I wasn’t sure but I decided to forego hiking through a cold parking lot just to find a gated store and such.

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So I went back Sunday afternoon and had no problem getting in and as hoped/expected, finding a small selection of recent back-issues!

Several more issues of New Mutants and Excalibur starting out.

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Then three issues of X-Men. Couldn’t find anything from any of the other titles that I didn’t already have or have coming soon from the online shops.

But I did notice Juggernaut. While they didn’t have the first issue…they had 2-5, which I snagged with the expectation that by the time I get around to reading the series I should hopefully have been able to find the first issue.

While not strictly-speaking a Dawn of X title, I’ve heard good stuff about it and figure–like Deadpool‘s recently-concluded 10-issue maxi-series–it would be a decent addition to my mass of issues.

Despite these significant purchases, I’ve still got quite a few issues to track down for the Dawn of X-era stuff. But I’d say I’m probably a good 3/4 of the way there, and I think what I’m missing is pre-X of Swords, which means I can at least READ the stuff on Marvel Unlimited, even if I don’t yet have it in my OCD-fueled print collection.

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Filed under: 2021 Non-Review Posts, 2021 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Another Example of the ’90s Doing Gimmicky Covers Better: Avengers #s 379-382

Posted on March 2, 2021 by Walt

While I don’t have sources to cite/link offhand, nor do I feel like digging for any…I can still say that I frequently "hear" (read) the notion that "the ’90s" were SOOOOO horrible with VARIANT COVERS. Or the comparison made of modern "variants" and ’90s’ covers and such.

I make a huuuuuge distinction, though. For as much as the ’90s are known for all sorts of gimmicks and shiny foil holographic die-cut bullet-shot covers…even the most egregious and "aggressive" such programs did not even touch every single issue of any single series. And for as frequent as they appeared, they were NOT so incredibly prevalent as to be able to suggest that every single issue of every single title from every single publisher every single month had some gimmick!

In the ’90s, typically even IF there was some gimmick cover…it was either simply a "gimmick cover" or it was a SINGLE variant…more a different EDITION with one version being a "newsstand" edition and the gimmicked one being the "Collector’s" edition or such.

(I lay out a bunch of such covers in a post from early 2020 displaying the "era of excess" with Super-Blog Team-Up)

ANYway….

I recently came across a 4-issue block of the original Avengers title…issues 379-382. All were billed as a "double feature" with a Giant Man feature as a "flip book."

That is…you had the main/regular issue…but if you flipped it over, the back was another cover image, and you’d read from that side like the other and it’d be like reading two comics, but they’re a single unit!

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So, what really caught my eye with the issues is that the flip-cover is a 4-part image….when you put all four together you get a larger singular image. Fitting both for it being a GIANT image as well as being a "fun" gimmick if you happen(ed) to get all four issues!

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Nowadays…these would absolutely be VARIANT covers. There’d be NO "flipbook" aspect–it’d just be extra-sized with a "backup" feature, and multiple variants covers per issue, with ONE being this.

Or even more egregiously…I would NOT put it past modern Marvel to have all four of these be variants on the SAME ISSUE, incentivising the purchase of no less than four copies of the exact same issue…and they’d do this for multiple characters or costumes. Getting one to buy 16+ comics for a four-issue story.

But back in the ’90s? The price of the given issue was increased fairly proportionately to the increase in content, with the added bonus of the flip-book to let it "feel" even more like a bonus/extra issue, and all that.

Which–if one is already paying an extra price for an issue at all is far better than chasing variants and multiple variants PER extra-sized & extra-priced issue.

These particular copies of the issues?

I paid $1 for the 4-parter. 25 cents per issue…and incidentally, 12.5 cents per cover!

I would gladly welcome back the ’90s and the ’90s sort of covers over this modern deluge of variants. And heck…at least the way MY memories are…it’d even be preferable to the MODERN speculation bubble that’s been bubbling up more and more the last several years, too!

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Filed under: 2021 Non-Review Posts, 2021 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Resumption of X: Purchase #4

Posted on March 1, 2021 by Walt

Visiting Kenmore Komics I was able to snag another 21 issues of the Dawn of X-era X-comics. I think all the issues were a whopping one cent over cover price–rounding that penny from $3.99 to $4 even.

And with buying a bunch, got an unexpected (but welcome) discount on the issues!

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A scattering of issues from Excalibur, Hellions, Marauders, Wolverine, and X-Men…

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Then a good chunk of X-Force, a little over a third of the run!

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And another chunk of New Mutants; about a third of its run! The covers threw me a bit, but as best I can tell, the issues are all first prints and "A" covers, rather than variants. A bit trippy, though on some of those! But somehow reminiscent of what I know of the original series and its art, so that’s fitting, I suppose?

I definitely had not planned on getting so many issues, but I was armed with a checklist of everything I was aware being out so far for the Dawn of X stuff, and basically went through the back-issue bins and I’m pretty sure I pulled every first print "A" cover available!

Since I’m after the issues anyway and going to be spending the money anyway, even with a bigger chunk at once, just as well to go ahead and buy ’em while I actually have the money and rather than dragging the whole thing out…or at least, that’s how I’ve been justifying to myself such a huge outlay of cash lately on X-comics.

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Filed under: 2021 Non-Review Posts, 2021 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

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