2016 Non-Review posts | Comic Reviews by Walt

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The Weekly Haul – Week of October 12, 2016

Posted on October 13, 2016 by Walt

This week proved to be another "small" week for me, though also "key" and "expensive" in others.

Firstly, yet another week with a new Superman comic (Action Comics, specifically)…I’d have to dig back, but I’ve gotta be getting close to the half-year mark of the week-to-week actively wanting to get the next Superman-related comic out that week, just for the next bit of story. And unlike even the New Krypton stuff (which PALES by comparison to Rebirth!), this is a FUN excitement, a new/updated status quo that I like and am not just going with. And rather than tease me with pseudo-triangle-numbering, the two main Superman books are just coming out, telling solid stories, and now with this issue of Action we’ve even got footnotes again–referencing the sister title (Superman) as if BOTH TITLES are actually taking place in the same timeline, part of the same universe, etc! We also get a nice reference to another series that means next issue will be interesting as well…

I was going to hold off on Supergirl, but that cover just grabbed me! Not so much the rendition of the character herself (this art style is not very much to my liking for her) but the Cyborg Superman, and the promise of potential that it holds in that image.

And I pulled the trigger on the Hellblazer volume to get that outta my system…I don’t think vol. 15 is due for another few months, and unfortunately, I worry too much about stuff going out of print these days, thanks to Marvel refusing to keep anything in print all that long or predictably. This volume is also a bit more of a "key" volume than I’d considered initially.

With Hellblazer vol. 14: Good Intentions, these new editions have fully caught up to where I came into the series back in 2001 (just over 15 years ago!). This single volume combines three previous paperbacks, as it collects Hard Time, Good Intentions, and …Freezes Over. Sixteen issues in one volume; three story arcs…plus material from Vertigo Secret Files: Hellblazer.

Now begins the steady march through as the new editions finish, and hopefully over the next several years, we’ll get a full Hellblazer library of volumes that actually look like the single series that they are, and allow one to–in this format–have the entirety of the 300-issue 25-year series.

Even if the new, numbered editions do not end up spanning the entirety of the run…I do have–with the probable exception of the Hellblazer: Bad Blood mini–the run between the new editions and the smaller "original" editions.

Filed under: 2016 Non-Review posts, 2016 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: Action Comics, Azarello, comic books, Constantine, DC Comics, Freezes Over, Good Intentions, Hard Time, Hellblazer, John Constantine, new comics, new comics day, Rebirth, Supergirl, Vertigo | Leave a comment »

The Weekly Haul – Week of October 5, 2016

Posted on October 6, 2016 by Walt

This week I made it back to my usual comic shop, where I had no problems with getting any of the issues I was after, nor problems with "the wrong cover" in cases of variants, etc.

I even decided to try a new Image title for the heckuvit because I’d not been immediately put into a sour mood over variants.

I keep thinking what a great feeling it is, actually looking forward to a new Superman comic each week, whether it’s Superman or Action Comics–basically back to a "weekly" thing for me. Sure, you have different creative teams telling their own in-title stories, but it’s the same, familiar character in both and fails to come off as entirely different versions of the character!

I’m not thrilled at the $4.99 price on the TMNT Universe series…I think I thought the first issue was oversized or such. However, I’ve long held the TMNT up as an exception, so it’s basically the one book I will NOT drop or refuse to buy over the price point…I DO retain the right to complain about the pricing, though and "make noise" about it! That said, I’m digging the main story…just not so much the "backup" bit.

I believe I’ve "topped" my previous stint following the Spawn title now…I’m right around the 1-year mark now following the title this time, where I think the longest I’d gone previously was 6 or 7 issues (maybe 8 or 9). I think I’d read that this would be the final issue with Erik Larsen on art, which is a bit of a shame, but we’ll see what comes next. I do think something as simple or "arbitrary" as the title’s price jumping from the current $2.99 to $3.99 would be immediate grounds for me dropping it–part of its appeal that got me going on this run was THAT it’s $2.99 and high-numbered; from before any announcement of Rebirth or reverting Action and Detective Comics to "legacy" numbering.

Finally, Moonshine caught my attention from recent hype online (though I never once clicked on or checked out ANY "previews!") and for being a #1–because it is a wholly new, brand-new, not continuing from anything, this is the cold opening, absolutely the beginning of the story, first appearance of the title, characters, story, etc first issue. AND the $2.99 price point. I was curious given the creative team–I’ve read the first volume or two of 100 Bullets and liked it, and have heard little but good about the creative team in terms of that title…so figured I’d check this out. I don’t think I want to go "on the hook" adding it to a pull-list given my life right now…but I’m inclined to check out the next issue. Pretty sure this will–like so many others–read much better in a collected edition, BUT with Image‘s $9.99-first-volumes, for about the price of 5-6 issues, I can still buy the first couple single issues and the collected volume without doubling up on price anywhere.

In addition to these issues and several others I doubled up on for immediacy, my DCBS September box arrived, with all of the September-shipped Rebirth issues.

I also snagged 18 25-cent books from the quarter-bins; mostly DC post-Zero Hour #0s and a couple other things that caught my eye. Slightly regretting not doubling back through the boxes for the One Million issues, but I really need to go through my boxes and figure out what exactly I’m truly missing. (I’m more likely to get to the #0 issues sooner for this blog than get to reading the One Million issues).

Yet another solid week, though I expect next week will be relatively small, primarily the new Action Comics issue.

Filed under: 2016 Non-Review posts, 2016 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: Moonshine, new comics, new comics day, Rebirth, Spawn, Superman, TMNT Universe | Leave a comment »

Remembering a Kitty

Posted on October 4, 2016 by Walt

Kayla had a documented birthday, and the novelty of that and the impact it made on me (barely 11 at the time) stuck with me, cementing the date in my memory. October 4th, 1990. She was basically 15 months old when we got her in January of 1992.

We had to say goodbye to her in early May 2010. While I’d known we didn’t have much time left with her, the exact timing still came as a shock, and crushed me. She’s still with me, often in thought, often in memories. One of extremely few constants in my years of life.

But it’s not the loss I’m noting here…it’s her life. Though I have far too few photos of her, those I do have are too many for a post like this. I’ve selected a quick few to share. I’ve probably shared at least some of these previously, but I do so in the moment today without regard for prior sharing.

In one of my "go through a bunch of longboxes" projects in October 2009, Kayla joined me, curious about all the activity (if not just seeking attention/company…we were the only two living soul in that house at the time). I had the boxes piled around, and she seemed to have a great time climbing around, checking them out. Kayla rarely would allow any box (or bag or other container that she could get into) last long without her getting into it or on it (or both).

At one point, I’d left a longbox open without a lid, and she found it, and loved the texture of the comics–she hunkered down and pawed madly at ’em. Some folks might’ve been horrified at the cat doing that to their comics…but me? I grabbed the camera and caught her in the act, comics be darned. My kitty was engaging with the comics.

Now, back in the early 1990s, there were a bunch of "local one-day events" for comics, including a "First Thursday of the Month" recurring event, held at a local hotel. I’d convinced Dad to take me several times, and one of those times, I found what was at the time a true treasure for me–a $6 copy of Wolverine #1.

Turned out it was a bit water damaged, hence the price at the time. Still, I had Wolverine #1!

HAD.

Kayla did not approve, and one day, I found the issue laying out on my bedroom floor.

Kayla had pooped on it.

Even though it was in a bag/board…I threw it out. I’d not been happy with the waterlogged nature of the thing anyway, so she did me the favor of providing an excellent excuse to trash the thing. (I later obtained a much better-condition copy for a whopping 25 cents!).

Here she is kinda looking up at me taking the photo.

And here she’s simply settled in by her ‘feeding area’…in the later years, she’d sometimes sleep here…it was an out of the way corner where she wouldn’t be bothered; she had the cool floor and often a sunbeam…and she was already by the food and water.

I really like this photo of her in a recliner. Big ol’ chair, small little cat. Like a throne. And she was definite royalty, at least to me.

This one’s not the greatest photo of either of us…not my best, and she’s turning to squirm away from being held as the photo was taken. But it’s one of extremely few photos that I have where I am actually in the photo WITH her, as I’m 99.9+ percent of the time the one doing the photography with cats…

This one’s also less than wonderful of me, but has me holding Kayla. She was a ‘purebred’ Himalayan…but I’d swear she was part ‘Ragdoll’ the way she’d let me pick her up and she’d just go with it, totally chill. (By contrast, present-day, I pick Ziggy up and he squirms almost immediately to be put back down).

I could pick Kayla up randomly, and she’d just settle into my arms–even when I’d pick her up and hold her like this on her back.

Miss Kayla Krystal. October 4, 1990 – May 10, 2010.

Today is the 26th anniversary of her birth. And as far as I can tell, and as far as I did my best in my part to do so, she had a great life…19 1/2 years, just over 18 of which she was part of my life.

Filed under: 2016 Non-Review posts, 2016 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: cat loss, cats, cats and comics, kayla, pet loss, pet memorial, remembering my cat | Leave a comment »

Way to Miss the Point, Amazon!

Posted on October 3, 2016 by Walt

I’ve been in a fair bit of a "fight" with Amazon for nearly a week, now, this time around.

On Monday, September 26th, 2016, I placed an order for the newest Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide (Vol. 46). I don’t usually buy these, certainly not as an annual thing, but the other one I have is from mid 2011, PRE-New 52, and I figured I could handle one every half-decade or so in terms of owning.

More specifically to be able to know "Guide Value" for various books that I’d be interested in as I look toward the "back issues" side of things on an increasing basis…and unfortunately, far too many comic shops don’t bother to "price" their stock, leaving the poor customer unable to actually KNOW what price they’ll be quoted at the counter, and surely impacting what they’ll try to or consider buying. Buuuut that’s a topic for another post.

Anyway. I am an Amazon Prime customer. That means that I pay the annual fee, to be a part of Prime, and I do so for the physical shipping, to get stuff shipped "free" with 2-day/ASAP shipping. It may be labeled as or considered "free," but it is paid for by paying for the year TO BE a Prime member.

Nowhere that I have seen or heard of, does it include anything regarding some sort of "lesser" form of shipping as a result.

So, order placed on Monday, 9/26. Item arrived Wednesday, 9/28. The book’s damaged because it is over 1150 pages, very thin paper, and heavy. Since it was NOT packed to remain immobile…it slid around and was damaged in transit (beyond any damage prior). I requested a replacement immediately.

The first replacement arrived two days later, 9/30. This one was in the same sort of mailer, but with gaping wide openings (it was NOT properly assembled) and I could see daylight THROUGH the thing as well as clearly see the book contained within. Which was, of course, damaged in transit.

I immediately requested another replacement, once again citing the damage and leaving "packaging feedback" about the issue with "heavy book + room to move = damage" and waited.

The second replacement (3rd copy) arrived the next day, 10/1. The mailer was slightly better-assembled, but I could still check out the book without even opening the package…and the book was damaged. I requested yet another replacement.

Meanwhile, I’d separately ordered a Green Arrow tpb, which arrived separately on Saturday. That one was in a flimsy yellow bubble envelope a good 50-75% larger than the book…and with no inserts or markings, it was folded and stuck into the mailbox. (So it earned a replacement-request as wel!)

The second copy of the Green Arrow book arrived the same way–overlarge flimsy envelope, folded and stuck in the mailbox.

It was then that I realized I had not seen any notification of the replacement of the Overstreet book being on its way…it was still held up in some hold status, apparently for my having requested multiple replacements.

When I contacted them about it, through their site, through their process, as a question on the item checking on "Where’s my order"–I was told that they would issue me a refund, please send the other books back.

To which I complained that it is not a satisfactory resolution–I’m now out a week of time (I could’ve bought the book from two different bricks-and-mortar stores and had a satisfactory CONDITION copy long before this). And to make me do the administrative thing of juggling receipt of packages and re-ordering, and then my own printer/ink/paper and gas to drive packages to a drop-off, and after 8+ days be back at square one? NO!

Their response to my continued explanation of the situation and emphasis on the fact that the book keeps arriving damaged because they refuse to use packing material and a proper sized box?

They made it entirely (temporarily) unavailable for sale "while they investigate the issue."

HELLO! 1. use a box 2. put packing peanuts or crumpled paper or several air pockets or foam or stick it between a couple sheets of cardboard, shrink-wrap that and toss it in the box, where the book itself will stay put, and any banging/beating suffered will be by the cardboard and not the book that I have paid for.

Halting their sale of the book entirely is so totally, completely missing the darned point!

Supposedly they’ll "resolve the issue" within 7 days; I can only imagine they’ll find that their stock is in undamaged condition (it’s getting damaged in transit for their inadequate packaging process).

Meanwhile… wonder if any of those 3rd party sellers will jack their prices up significantly, thinking the thing is outta print?

And my apologies to anyone else who might’ve been planning to order this from Amazon right now and using Prime shipping. It seems I’m the reason the book is (temporarily) not available for purchase through Amazon itself at the moment.

Filed under: 2016 Non-Review posts, 2016 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: amazon, Amazon damages, amazon prime, comics, complaints, Damaged books, Overstreet, packaging, Prime, shipping | Leave a comment »

The ’90s Revisited: Zero Hour

Posted on October 2, 2016 by Walt

I recently (finally) finished covering the entirety of the Zero Hour: Crisis in Time event…DC‘s 1994 event/crossover. While my posts spanned July, August, and September 2016, I’m endeavoring to have several points in this blog to gather them together and keep them accessible. This is one such post. Below is a "grid" of the covers, linking to the Page indexing this. Below the grid are text links to the individual posts (same as indexed).

Filed under: 2016 Non-Review posts, 2016 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: 1990s, comic books, Comic Reviews, Crisis in Time, Crossovers, DC Comics, Evens, The 90s, The 90s Revisited, Zero Hour | 1 Comment »

Weekend Ranting (October 1st Edition)

Posted on October 1, 2016 by Walt

Though I’ve been sticking to Monday to Friday posting, I’ve had some thoughts increasingly building up that haven’t quite been making it into standalone posts. So, here are some things that’ve been on my mind lately.

And remember–this is just me, some random guy who has been "into" comics for 28 years, blowing off some mental steam.

Marvel‘s doing Artist: TBA variant covers. and Super-secret Artist 1:1000 variant covers. And ridiculous needs-an-app-and-loads-of-entered-data-to calculate-eligitiblity variants. Y’know…bad enough, doing variants AT ALL. But if you don’t even have the artist(s) lined up and so you’re announcing variants MERELY for the sake of VARIANTS…you suck! Back in 1992 in one of THE doorbusting-est instances of a comic going on sale, I have the number "750" stuck in my head as the number of copies of Superman #75 I heard was ordered at ONE shop. Launching a continuation of a (now) year-old mini-series and having a 1:1000 cover? What the heck?!?
Marvel hyping a new Star Wars series…but it’s Star Wars: Classified. Look…either you bite the bullet and SPOIL some sort of surprise-ending to something, some otherwise "surprise development," and you just take the backlash OF spoiling something, by soliciting some spin-off series. OR…give it a rest! Give it a break! Let the series or event or whatever CONCLUDE, and THEN solicit/hype the Next Big Thing. Yeah, you’ll have a 2-month gap, but if people are really, TRULY clamoring for it…allow some time for ANTICIPATION to actually build. For some finality of something before to sink in. To get the word out that hey! There’s actually more coming, that’s not the end of everything. Just the end of a story!
Variants, PERIOD, are no longer special. Regardless of my personal dislike of variants, I can at least accept/acknowledge the choice to use them for "special occasions." Say, a #1 issue, or the start of some new storyline (oops, if we’re talking Marvel, that’s one and the same!) or some other big deal. But when every single issue of every single series seems to have a MINIMUM of two different covers, then there is NOTHING SPECIAL about them. It’s actually MORE SPECIAL and UNIQUE to find any comic for which there is ONLY ONE PUBLISHED COVER. I mean, How freaking ridiculous is that?!?
#1 issues are the same way. When there are 3-4 #1s for an otherwise "ongoing series" in the course of 2-3 years; when it takes a combination of 3+ "series" just get to 60 issues… it’s not special. Either that #1 indicates a to-be-short-lived mini-series which will be far preferable in a collected volume…OR it means that I have absolutely NO REAL IDEA what issue I would go back to if I wanted to read something immediately preceding it…since despite this #1 on the cover, I can lay decent odds on it being functionally a #10 or a #29 or some such, being the next issue published with a title and creative team and no greater gap in publication than any other issue-to-issue time (#3 to #4, #27 to #28, etc).
The constant cycle of events…particularly the line-wide events. And I’m looking primarily at Marvel on this. Hardly halfway into Secret Wars (Summer 2015) they start the hype/push for a big round of renumberings/relaunches. But the event is "delayed" and the relaunches go out anyway. Then, by the time that event book finishes, they’re already starting the hype on the NEXT event, Civil War II (Summer 2016). And then prior to THAT event even finishing, they’re already rolling out…ANOTHER ROUND of renumbering/relaunches! With delays and such, didn’t Secret Wars functionally run at least 8 months? Add to that what I believe is functionally at least 8 months of Civil War II, and even IF there was a whopping four-month gap between the two, you have 16 out of 20 months with an ongoing major event story! (80% of your time with ongoing events).
I got suckered on it twice when Marvel kicked off their new Star Wars line, paying the inflated $4.99 cover price for a #1, though in my own defense, I checked to make certain subsequent issues were "regular price" at $3.99. Star Wars, though. Bigger deal, something special, allegedly-extra-sized issues, big splash, whatever. But the move to it seeming virtually standard that a #1 will be $4.99 or $5.99?!? You’re already losing me on yet another freaking #1 issue…but then you want to have it $2 above a DC #1 if not TWICE AS MUCH as a DC #1?!? Fool me once, shame on you. Keep it up, I see what you’re trying to pull, and even something I’d otherwise BE interested in or consider supporting on principle, you keep me away. (Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows)
Convention Exclusives. There’s that saying of "leaving money on the table," right? And while I can "get" and "appreciate" marketing psychology and stuff for supply and demand and hyping stuff up…when you create product SOLELY to sell at a convention when you KNOW DARNED WELL that there are NUMEROUS people that will NEVER BE ABLE TO ATTEND a convention (and that numerous people BUYING your product AT the convention are doing so SOLELY to "flip" the product on the secondary market)… it sucks. Just make stuff available to people who will pay. Sell it through your site. Take pre-orders and produce to that. SOMEthing.
"Convention book stock." I get that part of dealers going to conventions involves selling to audiences they don’t usually have, with probably hundreds if not thousands of bodies that have never/will never set foot inside their actual store…but bringing stuff to the convention gets product in front of eyes and likely sales otherwise not possible. BUT… to me, it seems like "everyone" tends to have the SAME STUFF. Virtually EVERYONE has bins and bins and BINS of Marvel Premiere Edition hardcovers, typically $10/ea (having had $19.99, $24.99, or $29.99 cover prices). Very little DC product, period, and typically not in flat-price bins.
"Convention singles stock." Recent comics marked up $1 from cover price (new/last few weeks’ issues, with SOME at cover price if there’s been no real "hype" or such). $1 bins of overstock from the last 5 years. MAYBE discounted stock from a few years prior, virtually nothing from the 1990s, and virtually no 50-cent or 25-cent bins with any sort of "runs." When there ARE 50 or 25 cent bins, nothing is remotely in order, it’s all just a mash of stuff thrown together. A convention is basically a one-time thing: I get to look at the boxes NOW, and that’s it. Not worth the hassle…compared to a shop with a regular stock that I can check back every week or so for new stuff or decide that yeah, that bunch of Action Comics issues? I’ll snag those and then see what’s missing and go from there.
Final thought for now: Communication is key. If you’re running a convention and accepting applications for press passes, and state that someone will be in touch "within a few weeks of the show," that implies "a few weeks AHEAD OF the show." Two days ahead of the show, I realized 1. hey, the show is THIS WEEKEND and 2. I never DID hear back from them, guess I didn’t qualify for a press pass. So, I went back to check admission prices and such–maybe I’d want to go anyway. But Given that I’d be going alone, simply as me/myself, AND paying admission and facing the above couple points? I decided it would NOT be worth my time/hassle/etc. 4:50pm the day before the show I finally get a response…but I’d already planned my weekend as NOT including the show. C’est la vie.

Filed under: 2016 Non-Review posts, 2016 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: comic books, comics, conventions, DC Comics, MARVEL, relaunching, renumbering, variants | Leave a comment »

The Weekly Haul – Week of September 28, 2016

Posted on September 29, 2016 by Walt

As far as visiting a comic shop goes, this was another "small week" for me…with actually only one totally new-this-week issue!

Action Comics has remained an immediate-buy for me, even when it’s out the same week I expect the monthly shipment from DCBS. For "only" $2.99, the title has remained thoroughly enjoyable to me and well worth the immediacy to get to read it day of release.

At a friend’s recommendation, I’d checked out Teen Titans last week, though it was actually from the week before, with it following up on the situation with Tim Drake. But much as with Justice League #52 with the Lex Luthor "prologue" to the current Action Comics run, I wanted a copy in print to file with all my Rebirth stuff. (I passed on the Teen Titans: Rebirth issue as I’m expecting the DCBS shipment in the next couple days and figure I could wait a couple/few days rather than double-purchase numerous extra issues).

Finally, in part listening to a podcast with folks discussing the Mike Grell Green Arrow run, I decided to snag the first volume. I know there are already at least 5 or 6 volumes, with a 6th or 7th solicited for December, so I know it’s a good series of volumes with plenty available…not like I’ll get stuck only being able to read 1 or 2 before having to resort to singles or such. While not the "fat volumes" I’ve been preferring for late-’80s/early-’90s reprints from DC, at the smaller issue count, it has a smaller price…so…c’est la vie.

$21 for an all-DC purchase of a 6-issue TPB and 2 new/recent issues…where the same would likely have been $30ish for a Marvel purchase.

Filed under: 2016 Non-Review posts, 2016 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: Action Comics, comic books, DC, DC Comics, Green Arrow, new comics, new comics day, Red Robin, Teen Titans, Tim Drake | Leave a comment »

The Bebop Three – TMNT Toys

Posted on September 28, 2016 by Walt

Cleaning out a storage room, I recently came across one of my oldest original TMNT action figures: Bebop.

I’d love to re-find my Rocksteady, as that was THE first figure I got, back in those dark days when numerous stores that didn’t even deal in toys had the TMNT figures, but no one seemed to have ANY of the Turtles themselves.

But that’s probably more a topic for some other post.

For now, I present the three incarnations of Bebop that I am aware of presently represented in action figure form (and not counting the oversized supposedly super-poseable figures or mini/vinyl figures…just the "standard" action figures).

Front and center is the original, who honestly–the more I look at him–just looks really weird to me at this point. On the far right is the 2016 live-action movie version. And back on the far left is the "current cartoon" version.

It’s interesting enough to me to compare the three. The original is…well, the original. A new character created specifically for the then-new cartoon series, a mutant/animal character to be non-human, for the physical violence (same as the Foot being robots, so it was not actually ninja animals beating up on humans). Mutant warthog, various accessories and such playing off the "wackiness" of the toy line, etc. Aside from the face, a muscular, bulky character that one probably would NOT really want to mess with.

The movie version takes the bulk to a different extreme, giving the image of say, a significantly overweight biker or such with this huge beer gut and too-small vest with no undershirt…if not just some "fat slob" and such (foregoing any comparison to bikers).

The current cartoon version is a much smaller, slimmer and aerodynamic image that retains the mohawk and gshades but otherwise quite a different interpretation.

Forgive the possible mental imagery, but the cartoon version seems to answer the question of "what if 1980s Bebop and Movie Bebop had a kid?"

Meanwhile, I would love to have "regular sized" TMNT action figures based on the IDW version of the characters. Those comics are what finally got me to "accept" Bebop and Rocksteady as "valid" characters as an adult, having come to see them as nothing but ridiculous, pointless, and dumb prior to the new IDW incarnation.

Filed under: 2016 Non-Review posts, 2016 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Toy Chronicles | Tagged: action figures, bebop, Classic, Ninja Turtles, Ninja Turtles 2012, TMNT, toys, Vintage | 1 Comment »

New Books And How They Could Have Been Better

Posted on September 27, 2016 by Walt

Taking advantage of an online discount, I snagged several volumes recently that I was really quite interested in…if not entirely "justified" in ordering.

I’m at least the previous volume behind in reading on The Walking Dead. But I really did not want to let myself get away from "keeping up with" the series in collected volume format…and I can definitely see sitting down and binge-reading several in one go, my periodic binge rather than slogging through issue by issue.

I’d heard really good things about Titans Hunt, and rather than track down 7 or 8 issues at $3+ apiece, I waited a couple extra months for the collected volume. While I certainly do NOT disapprove of it also containing an issue of New 52 Justice League along with the Titans: Rebirth issue…it kinda makes the Lois and Clark volume look a little light by comparison.

I thoroughly enjoyed Superman: Lois and Clark as a series before I had any inkling of a Rebirth or this Superman (the closest to "my" Superman I see in modern comics) "taking over," and was quite thrilled that "even though" the series was retroactively a "mini-series," it was leading into the character taking over the main books.

But honestly…if Titans Hunt can include two additional issues beyond its core-titled run…why the heck did this Superman volume not contain Convergence: Superman #s 1-2?!? The inclusion of just those two issues would have pretty much made the volume as perfect a collected volume as I could imagine.

I have no desire to buy one of a bunch of other TPBs "just" to have those two issues on my bookshelf. I might have to just bag the Convergence issues and slip ’em in between this and whatever’s on the shelf next to it.

Filed under: 2016 Non-Review posts, 2016 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: books, comics, Convergence, Dan Jurgens, DC Comics, Lois & Clark, Lois and Clark, Rebirth, Road to Rebirth, Superman, Titans Hunt, tpb, Walking Dead | Leave a comment »

TMNT Toys – Armaggon

Posted on September 26, 2016 by Walt

For me, at least, looking at the TMNT toys has become boring and stale–already having all the figures I’m interested in, or not willing to play the hunting game to get several that as a group justify each other (such as the frogs and I just can’t get behind this version of Mondo Gecko, and I’m still waiting for Man Ray…)

However, the other day I stumbled across one that I hadn’t even thought about being made (or had forgotten), but is truly a no-brainer for me on getting–I didn’t want to spend the money just then, but dreaded the hassles and gas money driving all over the place hunting it down later:

Armaggon.

Granted, the toy is based on a derivative version of the actual character I’d want, but it’s better than nothing.

The character was a villain introduced in the Archie TMNT Adventures continuity, first in a fight with Man Ray and then a 3-issue story The Future Shark Trilogy. The character was also revealed to have been working with a version of Shredder and another villain, Verminator-X (also from the future)…all of which was part of a relatively long-running element of the "future turtles," including the Cyber Samurai TMNT.

I always liked the villain, and was rather disappointed at the version concocted for the current tv series.

Still, as said–better something than nothing!

Here’s the front of the packaging…

and here’s the "profile card" for the figure–I’m glad they’re still doing these on the backs! Not as cool as the file cards on the 1980s/1990s line, but again, better than nothing!

And the full card back. I’m reminded that I still have not picked up any version of Rahzar…though with no Tokka equivalent, not as much interest. Plus, I already got Dogpound, so…yeah.

I wouldn’t mind getting Mondo Gecko eventually, I just don’t like this version of the character. Similar for Napoleon Bonafrog.

Of actual interest to me on this cardback, though, is a human version of Karai, that I’d actually be interested in owning (unlike the Karai Serpent released in the past).

Kinda hard to believe this line’s crossed the 4-year mark!

Hopefully we get some more new figures, and hopefully it is not hurt on the whole by the "integration" of the movie line…

Filed under: 2016 Non-Review posts, 2016 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Toy Chronicles | Tagged: action figures, archie, Armaggon, nickelodeon, Ninja Turtles, playmates, TMNT, TMNT Adventures, toys | 1 Comment »

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