• February 2026
    S M T W T F S
    1234567
    891011121314
    15161718192021
    22232425262728

  • On Facebook

    On Facebook

  • Archives

  • Categories

  • Comic Blog Elite

    Comic Blogs - BlogCatalog Blog Directory

The Weekly Haul: Week of March 14, 2018

Posted on March 15, 2018 by Walt

This week proved to be another relatively small week (thankfully!). It even allowed for a “priced” back issue.

weeklyhaul_03142018a

This week sees Action Comics #999 (no, that’s not a typo!) We now have something like six weeks until #1,000 hits end of April. Then the newest issue of Detective Comics, and a freebie in The World of Krypton. This issue is “sponsored by” SyFy trying to drum up support for their new tv series Krypton; the issue reprints the first issue of the Byrne mini-series of this name.

I enjoyed Sideways #1 enough to pick up the second issue…I’m cautiously interested. Then we have the newest issue of Mister Miracle, and the final issue of Ragman (billed as 12 and 6 issue series, respectively!)

The newest issue of DuckTales from IDW, based on the new animated series. IDW is gonna be SOL on me–I’m not putting this on a pull list–I haven’t been reading, haven’t kept up with the actual animated series, but don’t want to catch up and then be missing issues or have to hunt them later. BUT…as soon as an “A” cover is NOT available or I accidentally buy a non-standard/”A” cover, I’m done on principle!

I’m amused by these Venom True Believers issues; even though I do have Lethal Protector #1 (and handy, even, too!), I’ll be interested in comparing the two versions.

Finally, as a “priced” back issue, picked up Action Comics #40 from the New 52 run (aka #944 or so). That leaves me with just a handful of issues to look for as early as this weekend if I make it to a local “convention.”

Here’s hoping next week is a small one, as well!

weeklyhaul_03142018_blogtrailer

Filed under: 2018 Non-Review Posts, 2018 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Rearranging Some of the Toys (Early March 2018)

Posted on March 13, 2018 by Walt

Over the past couple weeks, I’ve been working on re-doing my comic-space in the basement. New/additional bookcases, sectioning out the space, and to do all that has involved (temporarily) packing up a bunch of the non-book stuff that found a home on shelves over the previous 2 1/2 years or so.

Though I’m still "in-process" with it all, here are some photos of stuff that either didn’t get "packed away" or has found its way back out.

"Showing off some shelves," if you will.

toys_march13a

Some of my Heroclix oversized figures. "Plastic statues" for lack of other description. I think Galactus remains my favorite, though I like Spectre, the Sentinels, Dark Phoenix, and Sinestro with his yellow construct, as well! (If I didn’t, they wouldn’t be here on display!)

toys_march13b

I have two different Mongul figures. The one on the left is from a line of DC/Superman toys some years back; the one on the right is (I believe) a DC Direct figure. I think this sculpt was re-used for a Sinestro Corps version…mine’s from the Infinite Crisis series, offhand.

The Galactus figures are from the 1990s SIlver Surfer line; Funko‘s Marvel Mystery Minis; and the old iteration of Mighty Muggs, respectively.

toys_march13c

Kilowog is a DC Direct figure, one of my favorites! Hulk is a Marvel Legends figure. The Skrull Giant Man is from the Marvel 3.75" line–I believe he was a Walmart-exclusive giant figure. This Galactus is the Marvel Legends build-a-figure, when these were large and special and cost less than half of what Marvel Legends figures go for present-day.

toys_march13d

I continue to add to the "Thanos collection," most recently adding the finally-taken-out-of-packaging-after-several-years Marvel 3.75" iteration and the Lego mini-figure that I got the other day.

I have a lot of other toys/figures/etc. that I’ll likely show off in the near-future as I continue the re-arranging project. I’ll also almost certainly show off the up-to-date graphic novel collection/library, and maybe even an overall "tour" of the basement space. Time shall definitely tell!

toys_march13_blogtrailer

Filed under: 2018 Non-Review Posts, 2018 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Toy Chronicles | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Fantasticon and B&N Haul from March 10, 2018

Posted on March 12, 2018 by Walt

Over the weekend, I attended a local-ish convention–Fantasticon, in Toledo/Ohio. I went with several friends, stuff was good, and got a few things, and then more at a Barnes & Noble we went to after dinner.

fantasticon2018haul_03202018a

Probably the main thing for going was that Dirk Manning was going to be there. Always great to see him…probably the best creator I’ve interacted with over the years in terms of enthusiasm, approachability, and all that.

And having just debuted it in the last couple weeks or so, I was able to get a couple copies of Hope #1 by him and K. Lynn Smith (one for me, one for a friend). Busy rest of the weekend so haven’t read it yet, but I hope to have a review up in the near future!

Then there was a randomish back-issue-bin-dive where I came across a still-sealed black-bag-edition of Superman #75–the Death of Superman issue. (Yeah, that issue!). It was marked $3, and cost $3, and is the first copy of this edition that I’ve bought in over 25 years. The bag’s a bit wrinkly and some color damage to it like it had stuck to something or something had stuck to it…but darnit, for $3, the stuff inside is more than worth it, and I very definitely intend to open this thing…perhaps that will also be a near-future-ish post!

fantasticon2018haul_03202018b

Outside of (re) meeting Dirk and getting that issue of Hope, my "back issue comics goal" was several issues of New 52-era Action Comics…which wound up being a miserable failure. Ditto for issues of the Marz/Banks early-Kyle-era Green Lantern run.

However, I did find a run of Green Lantern: Mosaic…that when combined with the issues I got a couple weeks ago, give me a complete run of the 18-issue series, right here, right where I know where all eighteen issues are right this moment together.

gl_mosaic_18issues

To some degree, this is a small culmination of 23+ years, having been aware of this series from a friend getting issues from #1 back in 1992. I wasn’t immediately interested myself until later in the run or shortly after. Though I’ve often seen #1 or a handful of issues, I’ve never in all this time (until now) managed to come across or assemble a complete run. From these last several weeks, I now definitely have at least 3 copies of #1, if not more…and certainly several duplicates…but at least I have a single, full run now in one place and I am comfortable not having any further inclination to buy more copies of any of the issues!

fantasticon2018haul_03202018c

For less than the price of two modern Marvel comics, snagged this Emerald Twilight Parallax figure from the Kenner Total Justice line. This was basically half the cost of a contemporary 3.75" figure, cheaper than basically any "basic" figure, period, these days, and 1/3 the cost of a DC Multiverse "full-size" figure. I’ll need to get this outta the packaging before I change my mind…he’s gonna look quite good against a backdrop of my Green Lantern shelf!

fantasticon2018haul_03202018d

I’d long since resigned myself to never getting the Thanos "mini-figure" from Lego as I was not spending the money for the set that he came with, and I wasn’t even gonna begin considering "online prices" for a single figure, as any reasonable price would be obliterated by factoring in shipping. But finding this large mini-fig for the price of only 2 modern Marvel comics was a no-brainer for me…especially as I’m keen on Thanos at present, anyway!

fantasticon2018haul_03202018f

At a Barnes & Noble, found these three Funko Dorbz figures of the TMNT in a $2 bin on clearance. Quite disappointed not to have found all 4…but these were the ones that were present, and my friend even did an extra dig-through to make sure I hadn’t overlooked it!

fantasticon2018haul_03202018e

And then, partly because they were half-off so I could get both for the price of one, I got Sam I Am and his friend cuz…why not? I’d considered getting them a couple other times, and found them individually other times without the other; and figured I’d wind up kicking myself if I passed on these.

fantasticon2018haul_03202018g

Turned out that these were also only $2 apiece. Since they’re usually $6+ each, and I didn’t have any of the DC and am still missing several of the TMNT, 8 boxes worked out to be like buy-3-get-5-free (but slightly cheaper).

Of course, me being me, my first choice would be wanting Superman, and then ideally blue-and-grey Batman, Flash, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Green Lantern, and Martian Manhunter. For the TMNT I was most interested in Bebop, Casey Jones, or Splinter.

fantasticon2018haul_03202018gb

I wound up with three specific ones I was interested in most, and glad to at least have gotten a Batman to go with Superman and Wonder Woman. April O’Neil is a duplicate from the TMNT wave; and I’m not thrilled with Power Girl, and would have a number of the other minis ahead of Black Manta and Harley Quinn. But for the cost, it was well worthwhile (though also means I probably won’t buy any more as I now have extremely-high odds of getting a duplicate!).

All in all, including admission and the Barnes & Noble stuff, I spent about $8 more than what it would have cost me just to get in the door into Wizard World Cleveland had I gone to that the weekend before.

So…not bad at all!

fantasticon2018haul_03202018_blogtrailer

Filed under: 2018 Non-Review Posts, 2018 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Toy Chronicles, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

The Weekly Haul: Week of March 7, 2018

Posted on March 8, 2018 by Walt

This week ended up being a relatively small, simple week for me as far as new comics go.

weeklyhaul_03072018a

New Superman issue, new Batman issue, 10th issue of Bane: Conquest (of 12). I nearly missed noticing Rogue & Gambit. I gave in on “hype” for trying Kirman‘s new title Oblivion Song. Having quite enjoyed the animated series in the ’90s, I’ve been getting The Tick‘s new series.

And seems we’ve got a new wave of True Believers issues this month for Spider-Man and Venom. I snagged the re-purposed reprint of Amazing Spider-Man #300, billed here as Venom vs. Spider-Man. I was pleasantly surprised at the thickness of the issue, especially for “only” $1! (and for better or worse, this is probably the ONLY way that I’m gonna own a single-issue edition of Amazing Spider-Man #300!)

Fresh Start: No More Marvel

I did notice that X-Men: Red #2 was out…after so-so feelings from the first issue, I was considering getting #2 and giving the series a chance. The same goes for Avengers: No Surrender. After pointedly getting the issues for 6ish weeks running, I stopped cold-turkey. I am so incredibly sick and tired of Marvel‘s absolute unwillingness to stick with ANYTHING for more than a few months. In this case, they announced yet another mass renumbering to start in May, with a new Avengers #1, and Venom is renumbering, and a bunch of other titles. Rogue & Gambit is a 5-issue mini-series to my knowledge, and I’m treating it as its own thing, being a definite fan of the characters…and a definite “sentimental value” to it. And I’m willing to buy reprints like the 300, because it IS a reprint, is an issue I do not own, it’s an issue I have not read, and it’s “only” $1! Best of all, these reprints do not themselves have variant covers on release (and as reprints themselves I do not consider them variants, given the True Believers banner).

I feel like I should have totally, completely stuck to my guns regarding Marvel, but opted to sorta “buy into” a little bit with Legacy and had some now-obviously highly-misplaced “faith” that they MIGHT ACTUALLY “stick with” the “legacy numbering” even if they did other stunts and such.

However interesting stuff may look, however appealing, I’m trying to force myself to just be DONE with them. No Infinity Countdown, no Hunt for Wolverine, no X-Men: Red, no Avengers: No Surrender, no Astonshing X-Men. No Fresh Start for me. I’ll finish out Rogue & Gambit, I’ll perhaps snag reprint editions in True Believers, but as far as new/current stuff with Marvel…I intend to be done!

weeklyhaul_03072018_blogtrailer

Filed under: 2018 Non-Review Posts, 2018 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

The Weekly Haul: Week of February 28, 2018

Posted on March 2, 2018 by Walt

This week’s another moderate-sized week…certainly not tiny, but not as big as some. Of course, part of that came from leaving several titles that I’ve bought out of habit but I’m so ridiculously far behind on actually reading that the issues–if I opt to catch up–will probably be bargain-bin-fodder by the time I’d get around to where I’d be ready to read them anyway.

weeklyhaul_02282018a

Action Comics #998 means we’re a mere TWO ISSUES from the big #1000! I’ve been looking forward to The Terrifics for awhile, and glad to see it finally make it out. I think one thing I like about it over the likes of Silencer and Damage is that it actually uses characters I’ve read before, albeit in a new way…WHILE introducing other stuff. Then there’s Detective Comics #975, another title approaching #1000. THen the latest issue of the 6-issue Demon: Hell Is Earth mini. The latest TMNT issue–#79, chapter 4 of Invasion of the Triceratons. And a 25-cent Primer issue from Aspen. 25 cents, of course I’m gonna snag it!

weeklyhaul_02282018b

Then there’s GI Joe: A Real American Hero #s 248 and 249…the “A” covers. I’d snagged #s 246 & 247 a couple weeks back on a whim, so finding an actual “A” cover in stock (as opposed to a “B” or “RI” cover!) for #248, got that AND the latest new issue in #249…just ahead of the big #250 issue!

And while the cover alone would have caught me anyway, knowing ahead of time from a TwoMorrows Facebook post last night that the new Back Issue deals with editors, I was interested in it for content and so went in actually looking for the issue.

weeklyhaul_02282018c

And then there’s the new issue of Previews, which partly showcases on its cover the reason I’ve once more dropped Marvel–they can’t even make it 6 months from real-world-release to announcing the NEXT “Big Thing” or “relaunch” or renumbering-but-it’s-not-a-reboot or whatever. (Whether it’s an actual EVENT series or “just” an initiative…it seems like they are entirely incapable of real-world-time having one thing actually finish before announcing/rolling out the hype-machine on the next thing!)

That said, it’s a new big catalog of comics coming up, and a sort of time capsule for down the road.

And that, for now, is that…the weekly haul to close out February 2018!

weeklyhaul_02282018_blogtrailer

Filed under: 2018 Non-Review Posts, 2018 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

A Quarter-Bin Haul: Week of February 21, 2018

Posted on February 26, 2018 by Walt

Perhaps a bit reckless on the spending after just being laid off, I spent awhile digging through quarter bins that I hadn’t in a long time, and got quite a haul. Of course, for all these comics from that quarter bin dive…it was still (in itself) LESS money than the new comics. And less than buying a mere SEVEN new Marvel issues, or only 9 new DC issues. Far more available to read, to fill in holes in the collection, to have conveniently handy for a bit til they disappear into boxes, etc.

weeklyhaul_02212018c

I’m not actually sure what The New Wave is, but I’m certain that my brain keeps trying to think Nextwave. Since the first few issues were present, I was able to snag 9 issues…enough to definitely check things out and see what I think of ’em, assuming I ever get around to the actual reading of these.

weeklyhaul_02212018d

And a complete run of The Man of Steel? Yeah, why not? I may want to revisit this series this spring anyway, given the current stuff.

weeklyhaul_02212018e

I feel like I recall Batman: Sword of Azrael #1 going for $40ish at one point. So scoring all four issues for a mere $1? Excellent! I still really like that first cover. Anecdotally…I originally bought #1 "off the stand" as a brand-new issue (though it was awhile before I ever got #s 2-4). I’m less sure, but thinking I’d had the choice of it or Vengeance of Bane and chose Azrael.

weeklyhaul_02212018f

And a complete 4-issue mini-series of Black Knight? Why not?

weeklyhaul_02212018g

Some classic Sword of the Atom specials, and the three issue Tales of the Green Lantern Corps mini. Can’t remember if I already have any of the Sword of the Atom specials, but I do have the Tales of the GL Corps mini already.

weeklyhaul_02212018h

Same goes for Guy Gardner Reborn and the Justice League America #70. The Justice League International Special issues are new to me, I believe, and interesting pieces, at that!

weeklyhaul_02212018i

Finally making a bit of headway on Green Lantern: Mosaic. I really need to figure out now which specific issues I’m actually still missing, as this gives me a solid 1-9, and I think I have #18 or so (whatever the final issue was), meaning I should have 8 or less issues to track down now!

weeklyhaul_02212018j

A nice mini-run of the early Kyle Green Lantern issues; I’d previously found a decent run that I believe was missing these, so between that, these,and what I already had, I should have most of the first 60 or so Kyle issues.

weeklyhaul_02212018k

While there were several missing issues, I don’t consciously remember this 2-part Parallax View story, but I’m eager to read it, even "out of order" and "out of context" for now! And while contemporary Valiant is on my $#!^ list, they didn’t do "original Valiant stuff, so I’m still somewhat interested in that run. And hey…Unity #0… not a bad issue, I don’t think, to pick up for only 25 cents!

weeklyhaul_02212018l

If other "early issues" of JLI and JLE were in the bins, I did not see them with the #1 issues, so I don’t feel as bad about "just" grabbing the #1. They go well with Justice League Quarterly, which I did find several subsequent issues! I’m not sure if there were only these 7 offhand but I don’t think I remember this title being around when I was getting into the main JL:A book around the Death of Superman.

I do like those first issue covers…a fun sorta "running gag" for this era of the title(s), somewhat revisited with the recent Omnibus volume.

weeklyhaul_02212018m

Then there’s Breakdowns, which was mostly present.

weeklyhaul_02212018n

A couple missing issues of JLE, but if I can find those in the near-ish future, this may be a good binge-read! Then there’s Jurgens‘ first issue on the title, with the "new" post-Breakdowns status quo that included Superman and Maxima.

weeklyhaul_02212018o

With getting Starman #1, I might actually have the full series now. If not, I’m only missing a few issues! Forgotten Realms appealed to my D&D nostalgia/curiosity of this era of the TSR comics. Superman #1 for the nostalgia, and to go with The Man of Steel issues. The confrontation with Supergirl shortly before all the Death of Superman stuff appealed to me for the "convenience copy" factor; same for the first issue of her post-Return mini (which did not seem to have its 2-4).

weeklyhaul_02212018p

I’d have to research if the gold-ink cover of Crisis #1 is a first print or not; offhand I’m thinking it’s a later printing, being in the quarter bin. The "key" issues 7 & 8 (Deaths of Supergirl and Flash) were missing.

weeklyhaul_02212018q

But outside of 7 & 8, I was able to snag the entire series. I’m pretty sure I have #7 somewhere…but I’m not sure about #8. I’d definitely be interested in a "cheapo" copy of #8 as a "reader copy" or such, just to have the issue. No need for "near-mint" for me.

weeklyhaul_02212018r

All that DC, and only a scant handful of Marvel issues. And one is a crossover with DC! The X-Men/New Teen Titans crossover…and this may be the best-condition I’ve found of the issue, for only getting it from bargain bins! I was rather surprised at the Contest of Champions being 25 cents..perhaps it’s a later printing, or maybe it’s that the thing’s not in great condition (but hardly "poor" condition). Shogun Warriors was interesting just for beign a #1 from this period. The Incredible Hulk issue looked like an interesting one-off to read. Avengers #1 (the first of about a dozen now in my "comics reading lifetime"!!!) for the heckuvit since it was there and 25 cents; same for the Heroes Return iteration of Captain America #1 (the second of about a dozen such #1s for that title in my "comics reading lifetime").

weeklyhaul_02212018_quarterbin_blogtrailer

Filed under: 2018 Non-Review Posts, 2018 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

The Weekly Haul: Week of February 21, 2018

Posted on February 23, 2018 by Walt

This week’s new haul was a somewhat medium-sized one: not as small as might be "ideal," but not ridiculously huge…in terms of new comics. I’ll detail the large quarter-bin haul in another post!

weeklyhaul_02212018a

New Superman and Batman issues; as well as Super Sons, Justice League, Wonder Woman/Conan…and maybe the top of the week: Batman/TMNT II.

weeklyhaul_02212018b

On the non-DC side…the seond to last issue of The Mighty Thor‘s arc The Death of the Mighty Thor. I bought in with the 700 issue last year, and decided I’d follow the arc…and we’ll see from there. Of course, with Marvel now announcing YET ANOTHER RELAUNCH/RENUMBERING INITIATIVE, I’m pretty much done with them. I grabbed the Infinity Countdown: Prime for Wolverine (the real Wolverine: Logan, the character introduced in The Incredible Hulk, that joined the X-Men, that had his own 180-ish issue series before all the renumbering shenanigans). I have no intention of actually following the event itself, but if I’m gonna grouse about stuff, I can at least get some actual reading in!

Maestros I need to actually read…five issues in, and I’m just hoping it’s worthwhile. And finally, the weekly Comic Shop News.

Outside of these…I had extra time available to me that I haven’t in a long while, so (perhaps recklessly, but that’s a discussion for some other time) I dug through quarter-bins, and found a lot of great stuff that I ended up getting…which will be the basis of a later post!

weeklyhaul_02212018_blogtrailer

Filed under: 2018 Non-Review Posts, 2018 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

More Life Changes and More Unknown Future

Posted on February 20, 2018 by Walt

Six weeks shy of my 9-year anniversary with an employer, I was laid off back in 2016. 4 1/2 months later, I began a new job.

Now, last week, again completely outta nowhere, I was called into my manager’s office where I was informed that I was being laid off, effective immediately.

position_eliminated

It’s yet to set in overly much; immediate necessities have been set into motion and addressed.

Something’s different this time around; I can’t really put my finger on it.

It’s discouraging…maybe all the more because I was told it wasn’t something I myself had done or had not done. At least if I had done something, I’d have something to work on improving.

But I’m not putting stuff out here much beyond what I’ve already said.

Still, it’s a significant "life event," that I fear exemplifies "the new normal," where instead of one being able to just get a job, give their all and loyalty to one company, they’re just signing on for some temporary-yet-indeterminate time.

Much as too many comics have been: instead of going indefinitely, hundreds of issues in a run…now most comics only go so long before being put on hiatus and then renumbered as a new run.

Blah.

more_life_changes_blogtrailer

Filed under: 2018 Non-Review Posts, 2018 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Some Reflecting on Recent Phoenix-y…Stuff

Posted on February 16, 2018 by Walt

phoenix_resurrection_0005I’d had high hopes for Phoenix Resurrection/The Return of Jean Grey series. I was especially looking forward to the return of the character, period. But this 5-issue "event comic," quasi-weekly series gave me two $4.99 books with three $3.99s tossed in, and other than "Psychics disappear, X-Men encounter several foes thought dead, and find out Jean is living in a Phoenix-created artificial reality," not much seemed to really happen. Add to that some half-arsed (to me) marketing about a Jean Grey tie-in issue where I thought I had missed something at the start of the ‘event’ and then made darned sure to grab when it actually came out the week of the finale, and I wasn’t overly keen on it.

Then for that supposed-tie-in to basically have nothing at all to actually do with the Phoenix Resurrection series/event itself, it’s like…why, exactly, was I just conned into buying the final issue of a series, when it’s not the end of the character, not about the character I wanted, and doesn’t offer anything meaningful to my reading of the earlier issues of Phoenix Resurrection? It seems that the Psych Wars arc had stuff earlier that did pertain to Phoenix Resurrection, and I didn’t get those; but this is tangential at best.

jean_grey_0011Once several issues were out, I wasn’t going to "just" hold off for a paperback–gotta give Marvel "credit" for that–pumping this out as a weekly thing rather than monthly. Rather than "have to" wait even just a couple months for a collected edition, seemed simpler to just continue with the singles, getting to read the serialized story closer together at least. But there’s also the fact that we knew blatantly from the start well before the first issue even hit that yes, this WOULD actually have the REAL return of the REAL Jean Grey…so it’s not like it was, say, a decade-later third mini to go with Phoenix: Endsong and Phoenix: Warsong, where we could "wonder" if it would actually end with Jean back among the living or not, or leave her dead. Like reading something called The Death of Superman, you know the outcome…and so the journey there, the details become all the more important. And for me, frankly, this series failed to deliver on that. Nothing much in it was singularly memorable, really; except the confirmation that yeah, Jean’s back, and a brief cameo near the end of the final issue..

We had the surprise of a temporarily-resurrected Cyclops (and then being left with a corpse, not even "just" the renewed absence of the character). Sure, Jean wanted "one last talk" with her husband/former husband/whatever they considered themselves. But how fitting would it have been to have also brought him back, with her? Resurrecting her, bringing him back, them having to learn to deal with each other again after how things were going with them just before her death, to say nothing of the actions Cyclops himself took after M-Day and AvX and all of that? (‘course, with Xavier apparently being back, too…almost seems "no harm, no foul" or such…) But it was basically "just" a cameo.

jean_grey_10_psych_warsI suppose I figured with a weekly 5-issue series titled with The Return of Jean Grey, we’d get MORE in the way of a contained "struggle" with her of simply being back; like they’d find her during issue 2, have 3-4 with stuff going on and her re-meeting the still-living, and perhaps by 5 have some big crisis come about because she IS back, where she’d have to face it and maybe face the likelihood of being killed again or something. As such, with the various X-characters dealing with missing psychics, the appearance of characters thought dead, etc. it seems like this would have worked far better as a bunch of subplots perhaps scattered across several titles, that would all then lead together into a one-shot issue; where the characters–having been brought together by events–would be there, and Phoenix Resurrection #5 could have been the oneshot or whatever.

A couple weeks back–the week after Phoenix Resurrection #5–I saw a lone copy of Jean Grey #10 remaining, and flipped through it and saw Phoenix stuff, so went ahead and bought it, feeling rather curious/suspicious. Sure enough, that one issue, not even branded as part of Phoenix Resurrection, had more conflict with the Phoenix Force and such, was more satisfying (BRIEF though it seemed!) than the entirety of the actual Phoenix Resurrection event/mini-series.

xmen_red_0001Then there was X-Men: Red #1. A bit larger physically, and $4.99 as a single issue…like last year’s X-Men: Prime, X-Men: Gold, and X-Men: Blue #1s. It’s got Nightcrawler, and our returned "real" Jean Grey, the adult, original, non-time-traveling character. Something to the issue as a whole has me considering getting #2, though I was not overly impressed with the issue or this newer take on Jean. I wanted her back as part of a team, back interacting with Cyclops, Wolverine, and various other ’90s mainstays…or something. On the five issue mini-series and now "headlining" a new series…I’m not seeing anything but "nostalgia" to "sell" me on the character. Like…great, now she’s back, but now what? What makes her singularly interesting and worthwhile TO get this sort of treatment?

I guess time will tell.

some_reflecting_on_recent_phoenixy_stuff_blogtrailer

Filed under: 2018 Non-Review Posts, 2018 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

The Weekly Haul: Week of February 14, 2018

Posted on February 15, 2018 by Walt

Along with recent toy hauls and Ollie’s hauls, this week was a big comic week! I almost held off on some issues, but figured I’d just end up spending the same–or more–trying to hunt a bunch of stuff down later, or outright forget stuff that I didn’t want to. So…got a bunch of stuff, and here it is!

weeklyhaul_02142018a

I probably should have held off on the Metal stuff. I never intended to wind up so far behind on reading, but at this point, I’ve read up to #2 or so and none of the tie-ins. The shiny covers are also wearing a bit thin…yet, I still appreciate them as identifying markers for the series and its official chapters (i.e. not tie-ins). We’re just a couple issues/months away from Action Comics hitting #1,000. Sideways actually looks interesting, so I figured I’d pick that up. Detective Comics is another regular for me, and I’ve been trying to keep up with several of the mini-series such as Ragman and Deadman.

weeklyhaul_02142018b

I need to "stabilize" what extraneous DC books I’m keeping up with. I’m pretty sure Titans and The Flash are ones I’ll want to–emphasis on Wally West, and with the upcoming Flash War stuff.

Avengers: No Surrender as a weekly and hopefully having something to it. I’d much rather follow a single weekly than multiple separate titles. Though my math was definitely off, if this is a 16-week thing, it’s gonna end at #690…not #700!

Invincible concludes, so figured I’d pick that up to read. Eventually, someday, I’ll get caught up on the entire series. Especially as this caps it off and it’s a finite run.

I’m a fan of Tristan Jones‘ art…he’d posted some stuff on Facebook about this Lazarus issue out this week. I figured I may’ve missed earlier ones, but what the hey…now being aware, I’d grab this one to jump in. D’oh! It’s a 6-issue series, and this is the 6th issue. So, I’ll either have to backtrack on single issues, or nab a collected volume down the line.

weeklyhaul_02142018c

A Valentine’s Day promotion: draw a card from the bucket, and win something. Some free comics from the bargain bins, a graphic novel from the half-off bins, might’ve been other stuff. I drew one for a graphic novel from the half-off bins, and chose this Ultimate X-Men vol. 2. $30 cover price, in the half-off bins, $15…definitely an excellent "door prize" or Valentine’s gift.

weeklyhaul_02142018d

Thanks to a #SciFiJanuary post over at The Crapbox of Son of Cthulhu, I was interested enough to snag this Trekker Omnibus. It’s a little bit beat up and some slight curl to it…but for the price, and very pleasant surprise of its very existence, an absolutely excellent addition to my collection!

And Comic Shop News has had Superman on its cover two weeks in a row now…quite a nice change of pace!

weeklyhaul_02142018_blogtrailer

Filed under: 2018 Non-Review Posts, 2018 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

« Previous Page — Next Page »