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New Books and New Munchkin!

Posted on April 19, 2016 by Walt

Finally pulled the trigger on a couple books, ordered another while doing so, and picked up a new game set over the weekend!

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I’ve been somewhat looking for Meltzer‘s newer book The President’s Shadow since last year sometime…and a much increased interest since finishing the previous book–The Fifth Assassin–earlier this year. I’ve been holding off on the second volume of Batman Earth One due to its price and being such a relatively skinny volume for its price compared to other books. And I’d already been considering the Wonder Woman Earth One book, and was totally “sold” on it the other day reading Jess’ coverage at her blog, Holy Comics, Batman!. Now the challenge is on for when I’ll get the comics read, as I’m presently tearing through a new Tim Lebbon Predator novel.

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An old college buddy alerted me to the existence of Marvel Munchkin the other day as well, and after stewing on it for a bit, I decided I very definitely wanted to pick this up. (All the more as it is due to have two expansions itself this year, so I didn’t want to get “behind” on it, and it’s a game I anticipate being able to play with friends more frequently than most games I’d seek out).

I’m not thrilled at–yet again–the lack of X-Men stuff, but rather than be nitpicky with this particular product on that front, I choose to look at this as supporting the Munchkin brand more than a mutant-less Marvel.

Filed under: 2016 Non-Review posts, 2016 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

The Weekly Haul – Week of April 13, 2016 (main haul)

Posted on April 15, 2016 by Walt

A day late, went through the LCS on lunch Thursday, and wound up with a pretty good haul.

Firstly, I found the Superman/Wonder Woman issue I’d hoped to find on Wednesday; and then my usual stuff.

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Everything else is either pull-list (Spawn added the other day–I’ve decided to stick with the title for awhile in support of the $2.99 price point, lack of promiscuous variant covers, and maintaining its numbering for 24ish years.

A couple $1 books, TMNT stuff, Letter 44…and the $6 Image Firsts Compendium vol. 2 (like the 1st volume, this has 9 issues, making each $1.50…only slightly more than a digital “sale” price and it’s a physical print-product, a thick volume.

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As is fairly usual (despite really running out of storage space) I raided the quarter-bins; found a dozen issues of Dragonlance. At least several are duplicate issues, but finding this many, I snagged ’em all to avoid any of them becoming “grail issues” in the future.

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Snagged several other “random” issues for the sake of getting them for 25 cents. Due to a comment from a fellow comics blogger (Chris is on Infinite Earths) I bought a convenience-copy of Uncanny X-Men #308…20-something years old, and still “only” the price of a cheaper contemporary issue and no worse than “just” buying any other issue of something new.

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I’m pretty sure I already have the Chaos Effect issues, but for 25 cents each, no sense passing them up. The Spawn issue caught my attention, and then I noticed several other issues of these Fan Editions…looks like they came with a magazine back in the ’90s (much like Wizard or Hero Illustrated…I passed on some others that weren’t sequential nor included a #1.

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And finally, the prestige-format Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown mini. I’m not sure if there were only 3 issues, or if there’s a fourth one…but again, for the price, wasn’t going to pass it up.

Next week may be a small week single-issue wise…though I’m finding myself unfortunately more than a little interested in some of DC‘s #50s…as well as feeling a pull back to the Superman family of titles that I’ve been away from maybe the longest time ever now.

And an extremely expensive purchase looming that I’ve had in mind for about eight months.

Filed under: 2016 Non-Review posts, 2016 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

The Weekly Haul – Week of April 13, 2016 (side haul)

Posted on April 13, 2016 by Walt

Due to some real life stuff going on this week, I didn’t make it to the usual shop today…but did stop off to check on last month’s Superman/Wonder Woman issue (as I belatedly acquired and read out-of-order Superman #50 and Action Comics #50).

Unfortunately, they did not have that issue…but they did have the “free” edition of the Captain America 75th Anniversary magazine, the DC Previews for Rebirth, and I decided to pick up a couple other issues.

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If I’m going to wind up getting caught up on Superman, might as well “keep up” for a couple months here before Rebirth. And figured I’d try the first issue of Xena…never actually watched the show, but figured this is a #1, I’ll give it a shot.

And then the Cyborg issue caught my attention with Captain Marvel on the cover (The Big Red Cheese will always be CM in my book, whatever they choose to “officially” call him, particularly in the/post New 52!). For “only” $3, I can handle a random one-off issue. I’d considered catching up on The Coming of the Supermen, but I just so entirely do NOT enjoy the Fourth World/New Gods stuff that I’m not even interested in reading it anytime soon.

I’d also forgotten about Justice League vs. Teen Titans being out this week, so snagged that…including the no-longer-Best-Buy-exclusive figurine pack. More expensive than I remembered these being in the past, but kinda paying for the figurine that comes with it.

The “regular”/”main” haul should come tomorrow…or Friday. Time’ll tell!

Filed under: 2016 Non-Review posts, 2016 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Chasing Back Issues: Guy Gardner: Warrior #29

Posted on March 21, 2016 by Walt

There was a time that I figured I’d never be one to dig through back issue bins and multiple shops just looking for a random issue. Years of great quarter-bin finds and other bargain-bin acquisitions had somewhat numbed me to the notion of paying more than $1 for any given ’90s comic, having come to see most as merely 25-cent fodder.

More recently, I’ve specifically sought out an issue of Adventure Comics because of an ad for it in an issue of The New Adventures of Superboy. I bought a DC Comics Presents Annual due to some talk of the series on a podcast. I’ve sought out "random" issues of a couple other titles due to podcast discussions on them. I tracked down Green Lantern #81 for never having seen it in a quarter bin and wanting to finally read it. And so on.

And really, it’s been awakening this suppressed "joy" of the search (and finding) of certain issues. Thus far, it’s been more success than not, and really is very enjoyable to go into a week with a specific issue of a specific series in mind, and with a single trip through a handful of shops I frequent, find that issue. No ordering online and paying shipping and waiting; just finding the issue, being quite agreeable to the asking price (and it’s right there on the issue, no taking it to a counter and someone looks it up in a "price guide" NOW THAT someone is actually interested in purchasing it).

And in a post on his blog, covering the issue, Chris really piqued my interest in a Guy Gardner: Warrior issue the other day. If I already have the issue somewhere, I don’t recall it, and being intrigued, I went into a nearby shop over the weekend not truly expecting them to have the issue.

They had about half a dozen issues from the entire run…including this one, #29, that I was specifically interested in. And while I was thinking I’d prefer the newsstand cover, finding the "deluxe" "collector’s edition" for under $4 was quite pleasing.

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The price was all the more agreeable as it’s only 55 cents more than the cover price…and even adding in TAX, I only paid $3.75 for the issue.

To put that into perspective: I had a specific issue of a specific series in mind, that was published more than two decades ago, with a typical-’90s "enhanced cover," and I was able to walk into a comic shop and buy it–bag and board included–with tax–for 25 cents LESS THAN a modern 20-page Marvel or DC comic.

Instead of "just" "the latest issue" of something, I specifically sought this out, wanting it…and that wanting it, knowing it would NOT "just" be available at any/all comic shops on a rack prominently displayed…well, that just adds to the satisfaction of the purchase.

Yeah, I may still hold to EXTREMELY RARE exceptions to not paying more than $10 for any given comic, period…but I’m certainly more thoroughly enjoying back issue hunting than I would have thought, and continue to find myself enjoying back issues much more than most any new comics Marvel or DC are currently publishing.

Filed under: 2016 Non-Review posts, 2016 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

The Weekly Haul – Week of March 16, 2016

Posted on March 17, 2016 by Walt

Not much to show off this week–though I did raid some quarter-bins and found some Firestorm and DuckTales stuff. Just the new stuff for tonight!

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The IDW Greatest Hits and the DC Comics Essentials issues are $1 comics, pulled for my standing “$1 or less promo-priced stuff.” I enjoyed the first issue of Power Man and Iron Fist enough to get this second issue. While it’s enjoyable enough, I’m not sure if I’ll last even the entire first arc…but as long as the issues continue to come out on otherwise relatively light weeks and Marvel hasn’t done anything to overly tick me off on some “principle” or another, I’ll take it issue by issue when I see it on the rack.

And seeing/holding the issue (literally weighing it as I considered), I decided the $7.99 for Legends of Tomorrow #1 was worthwhile as a first issue. Once I read it I’ll decide if I’ll continue with subsequent issues, probably taking it on a month to month basis. But so far, the Firestorm story was 20 pages, and I’m pretty sure the Metamorpho one is close…not sure about the other two; but as a squarebound thing with the title/number on the spine, it’s a shelf-ready thing, and if it packs two full-length features plus a couple more, it’ll at least “match” 20-page $3.99 comics and prove the better value.

I’m not sure if they’re late or just not stocked where I’ve looked, but I’m also rather interested in IDW‘s Deviations issues…I forgot to check if the TMNT one was ordered under my TMNT pull request, but absolutely want that if no others.

It’s nice to hit two comic shops and walk away with a handful of new issues and a stack of 1980s’ stuff for about–or less–than the price of only several more current comics. And looking here…ignore the $1 “promo-priced” issues, and the only new stuff is a thick anthology book from DC that I’m trying, and only the second issue of a new Marvel book that however “fun” it is I probably wouldn’t miss if I did skip it…while I’m moving more and more to buying back issues–random catch-my-attention and specific issues–and cheap/clearance/etc. collected volumes, most of which reprint material from the 1990s.

But that’ll probably be a topic for another post…

Filed under: 2016 Non-Review posts, 2016 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Cereal Comics: Dawn of Justice

Posted on March 15, 2016 by Walt

I really wish they’d do it more often, so I was quite glad to see that DC has a new round of comics in General Mills‘ cereals…and of course, this round makes perfect sense…though I think it should have been a bit earlier, as I’d be interested to have all four issues before the movie hits next week.

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I bought two boxes of cereal while getting groceries tonight–Lucky Charms and Honey Nut Cheerios–and gladly got two different issues, including #1.

I know these are throw-away stories, no bearing on continuity and such, but the kid in me is absolutely, completely thrilled at these…given the lack of this sort of thing when I actually was a kid. (Some may remember the The Untold Legend of the Batman mini-comics that I believe were cereal-prizes in the early/mid-1980s, but I missed that by at least a couple years).

While the stories may be throwaway…the creative talent isn’t…or at least, not as much as could be! From the start, the covers are impressive–Gary Frank and Rod Reis art–and it looks like different writers for each issue–Jeff Parker for #1, Marguerite Bennett for #3, and other creative names involved that I at least recognize.

I’ll need to figure out where my others went to…but for now, I’m (obviously) going to be seeking #s 2 & 4 of this…and I’ll be well-stocked on cereal for awhile, too!

Filed under: 2016 Non-Review posts, 2016 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

The Weekly Haul: Week of March 09, 2016

Posted on March 11, 2016 by Walt

This has been a HUGE week for me with money spent, well beyond any usual “preference,” purchasing the DC: The New 52 Zero Omnibus for over $100 cheaper than cover price, as well as the hardcover Graphic Novel + BluRay + Digital editions of The Death of Superman and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.

And of course, some “regular” stuff in the mix.

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After last week’s huge bargain-bin haul of Green Lantern stuff, I also tracked down a newsstand edition copy of GL #81–the “funeral” issue for Hal Jordan, that had (at least via quarter bins and price I was willing to pay) eluded me since its release some 19ish years ago.

This week, curious if the usual LCS had a non-barcoded newsstand edition or better condition copy, I found that they did not…however, they had the “Collector’s Edition” for “only” $6. For only $2 more than a contemporary comic, coming with the bag and board, cardstock cover with enhancement and being a nearly two-decade-old comic that I have NOT seen all over the place…I barely hesitated.

My actual pull-list books for the week consisted of the three TMNT books here–the series based on the animated cartoon series; the final issue of City at War done in color, and the latest issue of the Batman/TMNT 6-issue mini (clearly a DC-driven product, as IDW doesn’t seem capable or willing to do anything longer than 4 issues at a time for anything “current”/”new”).

And seeing my obvious interest in the ashcan, I was given the Aliens: Defiance ashcan, previewing the upcoming Aliens series with art by Tristan Jones (whose work I’ve enjoyed on a number of other projects, chiefly Mirage TMNT stuff before the sale to Viacom).

If you’ve read many of my reviews, you know I’ve groused in the past about multi-page “previews” of upcoming books “padding” whatever the current issue is that I’m reading. I’ve also suggested I’d rather companies do some separate “preview issue” each week or month rather than stuff a quarter of an issue into other books so that if I buy a new book it feels extra thick and is disappointingly short, and when I buy something that was previewed, I’m only getting 3/4 the value sine 1/4 was already given away.

Ashcans are a great way to get around that, and I’d fairly willingly pay for some, if only for the novelty. If they can be just given away, all the better! This one I actually read cover to cover, and enjoyed the art–one of very few times the art is more of a draw for me than the story. (Though being an Aliens project, I’d’ve already been interested; Jones‘ art ensures my monthly purchase of the thing).

We’ll see what next week holds, I guess…though hopefully it’ll be a far cheaper week…

Filed under: 2016 Non-Review posts, 2016 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

New 52 Zero Omnibus

Posted on March 10, 2016 by Walt

One large part of it being rather disconcerting randomly purchasing the Dark Knight Returns/Death of Superman hardcovers the other day was that I was already planning on another large purchase: the DC Comics New 52 Zero Omnibus.

An employee at Half-Price Books had recently–in asking if I was on the marketing list–mentioned their huge sale coming up with the daily coupons 20/20, 30/30, 40/40 and 50% off.

I was unwilling to pay even HPB‘s price on this particular volume…but take an additional 30% off? That brings it very much into worthwhile pricing territory!

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I drove out of my way after work specifically to get this, figuring copies were fairly limited and others might take advantage of the sale the same way I intended…so I bought it with a 30% off coupon, rather than wait a couple more days for 40% (and I’d be shocked if any remain by Sunday’s 50% off). All told, I saved over $100 off the cover price of this thing, and 70% off total between the already-discounted price and the coupon, with some tax thrown back on.

While I’ve no idea when I’ll get around to reading from this, it (and the Villains Month Omnibus I got last year) are especially appealing to me for the issues largely being one-shots (to my understanding) even if they serve an ongoing narrative…so while this has but one single issue from any given title of the 52 or so…it’s still a bunch of issues that I’d hope I can enjoy well enough on their own one at a time.

Now, I guess there’s just a matter of finding that Futures End Omnibus and waiting to see if they do an omnibus of the weekly series. And for around the price I paid for this, I would not be opposed to the #1s omnibus.

That said…there are loads of other books I’m interested in and want to get in the near-ish future…but I’ve gotta try to back off the spending a bit, with some personal stuff going on. I’d been looking forward to this one for weeks, between spotting it at a HPB and then weeks after that learning of the upcoming sale and resolving to get it–if available still–using a sale coupon.

Filed under: 2016 Non-Review posts, 2016 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

The Weekly Haul: Week of March 02, 2016

Posted on March 7, 2016 by Walt

Last week proved to be a tiny week for NEW comics, but a large week for quarter-bin stuff. The only NEW comic I purchased was the first issue of a new Predator series…that apparently starts off a new "cycle" of minis to be an overall larger story in the style of 2014’s Fire and Stone books. Whether I’ll stick with singles or wait for the "inevitable" collected volume remains to be seen. I’m guessing this will be separate from the new Aliens series kicking off soon with art by Tristan Jones.

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There were also a couple of free "ashcan" comics from IDW…I won’t tend to pass up "free," though I was a bit disappointed to realize I’d already missed the first issue of the one at least…sorta defeats the purpose (to me).

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Hitting the quarter bins, I found a lot of great stuff. Several Green Arrow issues, including the first, and #100–which is an issue I’ve long been curious about, but never found in a quarter been, but never’ve been curious ENOUGH to seek it out otherwise. (Or if I have found it, I sure don’t remember it).

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The New Titans arc Who is Wonder GIrl? and its epilogue…much cheaper this way than some out-of-print, jacked-up-because-it’s-"OOP"-paperback…and less than half the cost of a single new comic.

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Several of these have some water damage/wrinkling, but again…to get Kingdom Come as well as The Kingdom for half the price of a single issue of something new is not bad at all.

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For the convenience-of-a-reread factor and nostalgia with it being present, I snagged another copy of Batman: Year 3.

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Ditto for A Lonely Place of Dying, since the three Batman issues as well as both of the The New Titans issues were present. No fuss, no hunting.

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Just for kicks and all three chapters being present, snagged The Penguin Affair. I’m fairly certain I’ve read this before, but I don’t consciously remember it.

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For the randomness of ’em, snagged Legends of the Dark Knight #1 and the Batman movie adaptation (this is the prestige format edition). I thought it was cool seeing the original Marvel Knights issue of Daredevil #1…the issue was a big thing for me when it came out, getting to jump in at the start of a Daredevil series at #1, and loved the art! Finally the Total Justice issue grabbed my attention as being based on the toys…though I neglected to realize it was a mini-series, so I’ll have other issues to (eventually/maybe) track down.

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Some "late" Solar, Man of the Atom issues from old Valiant. While my feelings toward current Valiant have soured big-time, I’m still half-heartedly looking to finish my "reading copy" collection of the original runs.

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And then along with those Green Arrow issues, got a bunch of Green Lantern. I added another 10 or so issues to this bunch the next day from quarter bins at another shop; and after all these years, finally located #81 in a back-issues bin at a third shop (I paid $3.99 for it–again, not a huge deal given its age, scarecity and NOT exceeding what I’d pay for a questionable "new" comic).

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Given the size of the stack–80 issues–rather than hassle with multiple bags and such, I bought a shortbox for the transport (and I can always use more boxes, so the only "harm" is in the timing and being an extra $5 I wasn’t planning on going in).

I’m really getting the "back issue bug" lately, and with finding Green Arrow #100, tracking down Green Lantern #81, buying a couple pre-Crisis issues (Superman and a DC Comics Presents annual); buying the Adventure Comics issue last week, I’m thinking that all the more, I may shift toward hunting back issues. Of course, while I can justify quarter-bin copies as duplicates for convenience, I cannot justify paying several dollars for an issue that is or likely is a duplicate, so I’ll need to really get the body of my collection sorted and modify some checklists to make sure that as I pursue older books, I’m not chasing issues that are merely hiding in one of my existing boxes.

Filed under: 2016 Non-Review posts, 2016 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

The Weekly Haul – Week of February 24, 2016

Posted on February 24, 2016 by Walt

Another week, another haul…

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I keep saying I’m not buying anything from DC, and yet there’s Superman: Lois and Clark, on its fifth issue now, that I’ve actually been following. I’ve seen several ads for the Coming of the Supermen book, and that cover just really stood out to me. Love the logo–the yellow and red, the nearly-classic costume (“modesty shorts” included), the fact that it’s a Neal Adams book…ok, I’ll check it out.

I’d wondered at the lack of TMNT Color Classics last week…but as I’m behind on reading that, it didn’t bother me; though it meant TWO TMNT books this week.

Though I’m not much sure what to make of Spawn of late, there’s “something” to  Erik Larsen‘s involvement WITH McFarlane, on one of THE original Image books, as well as the fact that the thing has–for more than TWENTY YEARS–maintained its original numbering with no reboots, no renumbering, no shenanigans.

And finally…I recently read an early-1980 issue of The New Adventures of Superboy that had an ad for that issue of Adventure Comics, and it struck me as interesting, so I decided to “look for it” at the LCS…and found it. There was one in better condition for $4, but since I just want to read the thing, I was happy to pay a mere $1.50 (a 375% markup on cover price) (that’d make a $3.99 comic basically a $15 issue).

While I’ve stuck very tightly to the quarter bins and such…I’m increasingly interested in specific back issues, and find that if I’m specifically interested in it, and it’s $4 or less, I’m typically cool with it–if I’ll pay $4 for a SINGLE ISSUE of something “new,” why not pay the same or less for something specific that’s 10, 20, 30, even closing in on 40 years old?

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Whenever it was that The Usagi Yojimbo Saga vol. 1 was published–I recall seeing it and being quite impressed with it…especially for its size! I believe the “original” collections were $13-15 each…and the new vol. 1 collected THREE of the previous volumes…at a much larger size…for less than cover price of two of the older editions. Though it went on my mental checklist to buy, I didn’t get around to it and then vol. 2 arrived, then 3….then 4, then 5. So I finally sucked it up and ordered the first four (for a significant discount through InStockTrades), figuring the latest (5) should be in print long enough I can maybe hold off a bit.

I’d planned on adopting Usagi as a character to focus on in 2011, though that didn’t end up working out as planned.

Just over half a decade later, I’m far better prepared materially…if not with the time to jump in on the actual reading quite yet.

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Over the past weekend, I was treated to playing Boss Monster and Boss Monster 2 with a couple friends.

I thoroughly enjoyed it overall, and while I’d been planning to purchase the game several times in the past, actually getting to see stuff again, and the new “limited edition” of the second, I opted to “pull the trigger” and buy the two. There’s a third “mini expansion” but I had to show a LITTLE restraint…especially having ordered the Usagi Yojimbo books and another purchase I’d made over the weekend.

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The game certainly taps a major bit of nostalgia for me…and I absolutely love the packaging design on both boxes, as well as the “variant art” sleeve for the 2nd one!

And though I usually hate “variants,” in this case I am perfectly ok with it: because it’s a paper sleeve that the box slides into. I could ditch the sleeve and just have both boxes exposed; or I can use the sleeve, but I still get to enjoy the box itself when I’ll have stuff out to play.

(Similarly, for a comic, if they’d ever go back to the “double covers,” then whichever is “on top” I would either have the cover I want for display or could rip the top one off leaving the one I want exposed.)

Filed under: 2016 Non-Review posts, 2016 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , | 2 Comments »

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