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Recent Infinity Acquisitions: Jim Starlin Collection Expanding

Posted on February 7, 2017 by Walt

I recently listened to an episode of Comic Geek Speak about the Silver Surfer, Captain Marvel, and Adam Warlock. While I at least knew of a lot of the stuff, it was quite cool hearing stuff again, all in one chunk (well, across 2-3 listenings). But I hadn’t really consciously connected just how truly important Starlin‘s work has been to the Marvel universe (particularly cinematically). Though I already had most (if not all) of his Marvel work that I own shelved in its own section.

But the podcast got me really anxious to “finish” the Thanos “Infinity Trilogy” of OGNs, as well as get The Infinity Entity since I’d been aware that was a sort of “between books” story. And then the inside-cover ads for related volumes reminded me of the Thanos vs. Hulk volume.

starlin_infinity_trilogy_OGNs

So all told, I added three new volumes to my collection in short order (having already acquired the first two a couple/several months ago at a significant bargain). And for the moment I believe the only real, major piece that I’m missing now is the new-ish Captain Marvel by Jim Starlin volume, much like the Warlock by Jim Starlin volume. Though I’m pretty sure that volume is likely mostly a re-branded packaging of The Life and Death of Captain Marvel. (EDIT: same contents, with the addition of “material from DAREDEVIL (1964) #105 and LIFE OF CAPTAIN MARVEL #1-5.”)

I’m really not interested in the non–Starlin stuff with Infinity and Thanos and such. And while some stuff in this particular subcollection isn’t all Starlin (latter issues of The Infinity Watch, for example) this is a key subcollection for me, with a shelf all its own.

Helped out by a large plastic bank I got a couple years ago that makes for a rather awesome shelf, in my mind!

starlin_collection_january_2017

(Guess this post would also qualify for my “Showing off the Shelves” stuff, too…)

Filed under: 2017 Non-Review Posts, 2017 Posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Newest DC Omnibus: Brave and the Bold Bronze Age vol. 1

Posted on February 6, 2017 by Walt

There’s a danger with seeing something available for pre-order well in advance, at a massively-discounted price.

Case in point? Batman: The Brave and the Bold – Bronze Age Omnibus vol. 1.

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I apparently pre-ordered this some time back, for a great price…but completely, totally forgot about it.

And then I received a notification from Amazon. My “order” had shipped.

…Oops.

I would not have preordered it if I wasn’t interested…but I had not consciously planned for the book, nor even remembered it was due out…and did not note it in any stores.

I’ve been increasingly interested in the _____: The Golden Age and _____: The Silver Age volumes in paperback…but hadn’t really figured to snag any of the hardback Omnibus volumes.

Guess there’s a first time for everything, though!

Filed under: 2017 Non-Review Posts, 2017 Posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Toys in the Wild: Avengers 2017

Posted on February 3, 2017 by Walt

One thing that tends to keep me from "buying in" on a toy line is perceived longevity. I "bought into" a line of DC toys that never took off, despite my thinking it would. I attribute that to inconsistent availability as well as inconsistent (over)pricing.

Similar with other movie-based lines for the Marvel films…they seem to be dumped by stores not long after the films, to make way for the next. Alternatively, there also seems to be a shuffle of "generic" lines meant to bridge the films–tying in without being solely for only one film.

I attribute this new Avengers line as being another of those. Thus far I’ve not seen a Thor figure, though I’ve seen the four others. (Come to think of it, no Hawkeye or Vision or Scarlet Witch, for that matter).

I’ve been seeing these, offhand, for about $8…making them a full $5 cheaper than their slightly smaller counterparts in the 3.75" figure line, whatever Marvel wants to call it this year.

I’d almost be tempted to snag these (hey! female representation via Black Widow!) but I’ll wait and see if we get any villains for the line.

Assuming, that is, that Marvel remembers that there are villains for heroes to oppose, rather than relying primarily on hero-versus-hero for major stories. But then, these are toys, not the comics.

I’d far prefer a line of X-Men toys like this, though…

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Perhaps we’ll get some other figures later this year for this line.

Heck, I’d be curious to see what we’d get for the Infinity War stuff next year, and what sort of representation we’ll get of Thanos. And thinking on films…why are we getting these now, instead of, say, Guardians of the Galaxy figures?

Filed under: 2017 Non-Review Posts, 2017 Posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Toy Chronicles | Tagged: , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

The Weekly Haul: Week of February 1st, 2017

Posted on February 2, 2017 by Walt

This week proved to be one of the largest "cheaper" weeks for me in terms of new comics.

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The usual Superman issue, and The Fall and Rise of Captain Atom. And of course, not gonna pass on 25-cent new issues…even something like Vampirella that I’d normally avoid (except the Vampirella/Aliens crossover not too far back).

As part of a store promotion, snagged Jupiter’s Legacy (and hoping I don’t actually already have it!). Saw the low $1.25 price point on the Toy Chest thing and decided I wouldn’t mind looking through it…especially with now being on the hunt for a certain Robin statue.

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As a combination of Image-promotion and the Image graphic novel, got these issues and the book "free" (at least a $13 value at cover price).

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And perhaps the highlight of the day, got to see Winston briefly, having expected him to not be around with all the foot traffic of a Wednesday/New Comic Day. He was watching for potential customers, and doing an excellent job of it!

Filed under: 2017 Non-Review Posts, 2017 Posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Toys in the Wild – Tales of the TMNT: Super Shredder

Posted on February 1, 2017 by Walt

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Several weeks ago, noticed some new TMNT toys at a local Target. They did not have all of the toys for the wave, but enough to inform me that 1. this seems to be "the" wave/theme for the year (the way the Dimension X wave had been previously) and 2. There’s a new DVD "movie" coming later this year.

While I appreciate the notion of a "movie" and some figures to tie in, I’m not all that keen on it providing for basically "just" another variant for all the turtles, along with an uglier-than-the-others Shredder.

I’m also increasingly discouraged at the absolute "love" for the ’80s animated series and seeming complete snubbing of the 2003 animated series…plus the complete lack of figures based on the IDW comic series. Or in this case, "borrowing" the "Super Shredder" concept from the TMNT II: Secret of the Ooze film (the one I associate as swerving more to the cartoon after the first’s close comic-basis).

As such, I probably won’t be buying any of these…though I could change my mind, especially once I’ve seen the movie.

Final thought before the "gallery" of figures: they all have the same card-back. There’s no "profile" for individual characters or such…nothing from the cards themselves to distinguish which character they’re from. This is something that to me takes away from the "production quality" or "presentation quality" of the line as a whole…like they’re just making generic figures, with a generic card, and tossing them out there. But I guess that’s also a topic for some other post, perhaps.

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Still, though I don’t plan to buy any of these, I certainly applaud the use of the Tales of the TMNT phrasing/title as homage to the original comics. And for changing things up a bit.

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Filed under: 2017 Non-Review Posts, 2017 Posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Toy Chronicles | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Token Monday Post

Posted on January 30, 2017 by Walt

I don’t even know what I truly want to say at the moment. I’m frustrated. I’m getting so incredibly sick and [redacted] tired of politics and demonization and just simply the flat-out Hate I’m seeing.

I tried pulling up Bleeding Cool Sunday evening, and half the stories at the top of the comics sub-section of the site were protests and such.

If I wanted to see "news" and "coverage" of stuff like that, I’d go to a "news" site.

NOT a comics specific site.

I want some escape from all this crap…not to see it racing into my "comics life!"

Maybe it’s time for a personal "blackout" or something soon.

Maybe I’m just venting and will keep up the usual posts.

But for today, this is my token post, to have a post for the day.

Filed under: 2017 Non-Review Posts, 2017 Posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

JLDark and Early Digital: Really?!?

Posted on January 27, 2017 by Walt

I saw this ad this week, for the new Justice League Dark animated movie. And at first glance, I thought I had missed its release–despite being in a Walmart on Tuesday and actually looking at the movie section and new-release endcap without anything jumping out at me.

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But no…I didn’t actually miss it. I realized the ad says on digital January 24.

I swear, every time I see ads like this, they just make me more and more angry, and less and less likely to buy anything new in the way of movies.

Bad enough the high price and shrinking "first week discounts" (if any) the last several years.

But this "digital-only" "window" just bugs the crap out of me.

Is there anyone who is REALLY just so desperate to see something like this, that they’d rather pay the $20ish for digital ONLY when a "mere" TWO WEEKS later for that SAME PRICE they can add blu-ray AND dvd to their stock?

Maybe if the digital version was say, $10, I’d consider it. I’d wait this one out on principle if I didn’t know myself and OCD on these. With the voice cast, content, and having all the previous such animated releases since the line started back in 2008, I’d kick myself for "missing" the thing.

But I’ve already gotten to where–despite loving them in the theater–I refuse to buy Marvel MCU movies; the way they screw around with "formats" and "combo packs" shut me out years ago.

Filed under: 2017 Non-Review Posts, 2017 Posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

The Weekly Haul – Week of January 25th, 2017

Posted on January 26, 2017 by Walt

At least for Wednesday, this was another "basic" kinda week. Nothing really extra or spectacular…just a huge week OF new books!

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The usual Superman issue-of-the-week with the new Action Comics issue. The premiere issue of the Kamandi Challenge hit. While I was hoping for something squarebound and less expensive, for what it is and everything else they’ve had so reasonably priced, I’ll give DC a "pass" on the extra-sized $4.99 issue. And speaking of "passes," since I’m double-dipping for the immediate read, I grabbed a variant of Batman/TMNT Adventures so at least I have some variety. Finally, the last (I think) of the JLoA ___ Rebirth issues that I neglected from DCBS.

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Then the "indie"-ish stuff. Surgeon X #5, though I can’t find #4 and think I might’ve actually intended to let the series go to wait for a collected volume. Oops. And part of me was gonna let Reborn go for the same reason…finding out it’s "just" a "limited series" rather than an indefinite ongoing was quite disappointing. And again for the heckuvit, decided to "try" Loose Ends #1, since the "A" cover was present and I didn’t have much expectations, and it’s a "new series" and #1.

Finally, of course, is the newest AvP issue in the Life and Death mega-arc.

So the week’s added a fair number of "imminent reads" to my alarmingly-quickly-growing "to read" pile, and I’m thinking a lot about what to cut back on sooner than not, given reading habits of the last half-year or so.

Time shall tell!

Filed under: 2017 Non-Review Posts, 2017 Posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Showing off the Shelves: X-Men January 2017

Posted on January 24, 2017 by Walt

Today, I’m showing off my current X-Men shelf configuration, with some volumes "weeded out" for present, possibly permanently, or to be added back in once I expand my shelving, which my collection has pretty much outgrown at the moment.

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One of my earliest collected volumes ever was that original The Essential Uncanny X-Men 1 that I bought right before leaving for college back in 1999. Obviously, my X-collection has grown significantly in the last 17 1/2 to 18 years!

I have stuff largely in chronological–or near-chronological–order, moving through the franchise’s history, with this first shelf pretty much covering 1963-1994-ish.

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Picking up in 1995, this second shelf pretty much takes us through the later ’90s, early 2000s, Morrison, Whedon, and up to 2010 or so.

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And moving beyond Second Coming and the Fraction run, a bunch of the miscellaneous/skinnier volumes taper off the X-Men proper, and get into other stuff…primarily Wolverine and X-Factor.

Of course, with Marvel discontinuing the Essential line in favor of the Epic line, I may eventually be swappign out some of the Wolverine and X-Factor stuff, or pay inflated prices to fill the Wolverine run in. Time will tell!

The X-books are–next to Superman–the most significant part of my entire collection, and certainly out-do the rest of my Marvel collection; while not exact, I’d say these account for at least 35% of my entire Marvel collection.

Impressive as they can be…knowing the "gaps" in content from the various X-Men oversized hardcovers and omnibus volumes…I find it kinda hard to imagine sticking just to the omnibus/OHC format…there’s so much more to be had by combining the formats. That said…I’d be interested in the Inferno and Inferno Crossovers volumes if I could get them relatively cheaply…though more immediately I’ll probably be content to just get the paperbacks as those’ll be much cheaper, period, and there are several other paperbacks that I want that do not (to my knowledge) have hardcover counterparts…including several Gambit volumes!

But that all gets off on other topics (like "wishlists")…

Filed under: 2017 Non-Review Posts, 2017 Posts, 2017 Reviews, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Showing off the Shelves: Captain America and Black Panther

Posted on January 23, 2017 by Walt

While there are several Captain America volumes I’d still like to get sooner than not (Captain America vs. Red Skull, the Fighting Chance volumes), for the most part, I think I’m just about where I’m good for now with the character.

showing_off_the_shelves_captain_america_and_black_panther

Of course, the "core" of the collection is the Brubaker Omnibus volumes, collecting about seven years of his work on the character.

And because it’s its own thing and on the shelf immediately preceding the Cap books…I did not crop out the Black Panther by Christopher Priest 4-volume series collecting that series’ run. Though in typing that…it reminds me that there’s also the Captain America and Falcon by Priest volume out there that I’ll want to track down as well…

I’d certainly enjoy a Captain America by Mark Waid omnibus, whether it includes pre and post Heroes Reborn material, or just post. Heck, it’d be great to have a single volume of the Fighting Chance story instead of two half-length volumes.

But it is Marvel, so…yeah.

Anyway…with the addition of the Return of the Winter Soldier Omnibus, this is my current (as of January 2017) Captain America collection.

Filed under: 2017 Non-Review Posts, 2017 Posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

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