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At the Cost of the Fun of Comics

Posted on January 18, 2013 by Walt

Marvel spiked the price of many of their comics to $3.99 a few years ago, and it was even admitted that it was basically just because people would pay it.

DC immediately drove me away from Action Comics due to lack of REAL CONTENT for its $3.99 price point with the second issue. I’ve now long since left all of DC‘s New 52 titles due primarily to a simple lack of real interest in the monthly product.

IDW‘s standard pricing is $3.99 for everything.

So is Valiant‘s.

Boom! seems to be that way as well.

Image has a bunch of $2.99 books, but between seemingly “written for the trade” or “limited series,” I’d much rather read Image stuff in collected-edition format.

I think I’m back up against a psychological wall again, comic-wise.

At a time when I’m more interested in a bunch of Marvel titles than I’ve been in over a decade…the fact most of those are $3.99 just kills it for me.

And the more I consider, the more I realize that I’m just so psyched-out by how expensive stuff is, most of the fun goes out. When my entire month’s “budget” is blown in 2 weeks and I dread the racking-up of the $3.99 books yet to come for the remaining weeks of the month…it just plain sucks. It’s a stress I don’t need.

And maybe I need to just cut my losses. Yeah, there’s a lotta stuff out there I’d enjoy reading, I’d like to follow, I’m ready to get in with the new #1s on stuff…

Maybe the surgical approach just won’t work, and I need to just hack off entire limbs. For $13 under what I spent this week alone on new comics I could drop to two TMNT books from IDW at the hated-but-exempted-because-it’s-TMNT $3.99 and 2-3 $2.99 books from Marvel (X-Men Legacy, FF, and Thunderbolts).

Wouldn’t be too hard to convince me to add Daredevil to the group–it’s $2.99; ditto for Hawkeye and possibly Gambit as well.

That would still–for a MONTH’S worth of books–be $4 cheaper than this one week’s new books. That $4 would buy me 16 comics from the LCS bargain bin–over a year’s worth of one title, several mini-series, some one-shots/one-offs/special/stand-out issues, some combination.

xomanowarseriesone20120919.jpgI could use the rest of the month to purchase collected volumes–full price or through Amazon. Hit the bargain bins, spend a bit more to fill in gaps in my 1990s X-books and Valiant collections.

Just plain save the money for other occasions.

Comics are supposed to be fun.

But I’m not sure how much fun I’m actually having, at least right now.

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100 Months of Life

Posted on January 15, 2013 by Walt

If my life was a comic, it would be The Life of Walt. Following the trends of the time, the series would have run #1 through whatever, rebooting with a new #1 and subtitle when I went off to college in 1999, as The Life of Walt: BGSU Student. After a short few years and second subtitle The Life of Walt: BGSU Alumni, the series would again reboot for my going off to grad school in 2004 as The Life of Walt: Kent State Student. Following graduation, instead of another renumbering, the series would continue on, and starting from grad school, December 2012 was month #100.

lifeofwalt1to100

I started creating these images partway through grad school, and enjoyed doing so enough that I backtracked, finding older photos to go back from #19 to #1, and in the years since have kept up–for awhile month to month, and “catching up” once or twice a year the last several years.

My dilemma now is: I hate the constant renumbering in contemporary comics, yet #100 would be approximately #384, so January 2013 could simply be #385, and go from there.

Whatever the case–the “covers” above are all distinct images with full-size counterparts on my computer and personal facebook account.

I was inspired by the cover gallery of all the ‘regular’ Amazing Spider-Man covers shown in Amazing Spider-Man #700 several weeks ago.

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My Failure to Avoid Marvel Now

Posted on January 7, 2013 by Walt

allnewxmen005Considering I had planned to simply finish out AvX last year and call it quits for a time with Marvel, they’ve done a great job of keeping me despite that, with this whole Marvel Now initiative.

In fact, at least as far as its impact on me–I’d say the thing’s a huge success.

I didn’t want to buy anything Marvel Now. I didn’t want to be interested. I WANTED the jumping-off point. I was truly looking forward to the excuse to pare back to simply Valiant and TMNT for a few months.

thunderbolts(now)002But I read that darned preview of All-New X-Men, and it hooked me. And I decided to read that first issue of A+X. And the two titles proved a slippery slope into a chunk of Marvel Now for me.

At the beginning of December, I thought Cable and X-Force was due out that week. As I was visiting a friend in Alabama, the only comic shop I had access to was one we found via the Comic Shop Locator Service, and Cable and X-Force was not with the new issues. So, in part due to it being only $2.99, I picked up Thunderbolts #1.

xmenlegacy(now)002A couple weeks ago, my local comic shop put a bunch of Marvel Now issues out on the rack for $1/apiece as “overstock,” so I picked up X-Men Legacy #s 1-2, Avengers Arena #1, and FF #1 to try. For $1 (or 99-cents) I’ll give most any full-size issue a try (I even have a standing order alongside my pull list for $1-and-under specials to be pulled).

While hunting for Avenging Spider-Man #15.1 a couple weeks back, I wound up buying Avengers #s 1-2 to more than meet a $5 minimum purchase for paying with a card at one shop, and then with a slow week last week went ahead and bought New Avengers #1 and X-Men Legacy #3.

avengers(now)002I’m looking forward to trying Uncanny X-Force #1 for the writing–I’ve enjoyed Humphries‘ Higher Earth, and with that ending figure I’ll give his UXF a shot. I’m also looking forward to an Uncanny X-Men focused on Cyclops and Magneto. Despite myself, I even enjoyed FF enough that–as a $2.99 book–I may look for other issues soon.

The trouble, unfortunately, is that most of these books are $3.99; as are upcoming ones.

Two new Avengers books and they don’t even seem to be set in the same continuity, let alone in the same continuity as what I think I’ve observed with the Captain America book.

aplusx003As of present, I’ve tried at least the first issue of 9 titles, with Uncanny X-Force and Superior Spider-Man #1s both forthcoming yet, which will put me up to 11. Toss in the pending Uncanny X-Men and apparently a Wolverine title (not Savage Wolverine), and across a few months Marvel‘s got me at about half the number of books I tried with DC‘s New 52 relaunch. Spread out like this, though…it feels like there’s more room to “breathe” and actually try different titles without being overwhelmed.

Which, in the end seems to be what they were going for, “learning” from DC‘s putting out 52 new titles in one month.

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A peek behind the curtain

Posted on December 23, 2012 by Walt

1oldblogformatWhen I started this blog in 2008, I found a WordPress theme that I liked–Contempt–and in over four years, never bothered to change the theme. Part laziness, mostly as “they” say…if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. But there have been a couple times in there that I’ve considered swapping out the theme for a different one, though I never pulled the trigger.

This weekend I found myself tweaking stuff with the Facebook Page, and after that decided to take a look at themes again–and discovered that Contempt was now “retired,” so did even more digging to see what other themes had to offer. Turns out I have a bit of an expensive tastes–the themes that most caught my attention were premium, and I’m not prepared to throw money at this blog (I’m no Comic Book Resources or Newsarama, after all).

But then I found the theme you’ll now see, and quite like it. It’s allowed me to tweak a few things and clean up the main view a bit. I don’t often like change for the sake of change–but doing this myself, it works. It’s similar to what I started with, but has some differences and since the theme is not retired, I shouldn’t have to worry for awhile about anything suddenly changing one day.

Plus, though it’s not quite 2013 yet, it’s a new look for the new year–possibly the next several.

I have some thoughts for some non-holiday posts the next few days, and once into the new year I hope to establish a new schedule for posts and keep at least somewhat consistent without going overboard.

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Non-’90s Bargain-bin Finds

Posted on December 20, 2012 by Walt

Usually when hitting the bargain bins, I’m grabbing ’90s stuff. Mostly DC and Marvel, and other randomish stuff. But this time, I found some stuff much more recent, from just the last several years, that totally made my day to find.

kenmore20121219a

First, I was surprised to discover several TPBs in the 25-cent bins–so much so that I actually asked if they were supposed to be in there. I recall seeing this Turok book a few years ago, but $14.95 seemed too steep for what it is. Of course, for 25-cents it’s an awesome purchase. The Sigil books are quite worthwhile at the price as well–one for me, one for a friend.

kenmore20121219b

While I’ve refused to pay $3.99 for certain comics, I can’t deny my interest in the Regenesis phase of X-Men stuff. I’ve told myself for awhile I’d backtrack via bargain-bins…I just expected $1-bins, so 25-cent bins I will definitely take advantage!

kenmore20121219d

I have several gaping holes in my X-Men run, that this bunch begins to plug, though just barely. I missed a few years where I was all but unaware of what was going on in this title; I’ve since caught up a bit (a couple of these issues I bought digitally during a comiXology sale a couple months back), but again…25-cents is a steal for issues so recent.

kenmore20121219e

I saw a set of these four Magneto issues at another comic shop a few weeks back–while I don’t recall the price, I think it was around $16…I thought these were $3.99 issues but looking now, they’re priced at $2.99 (further example of Marvel losing up-front sales from me for “training” me to believe anything they put out is more likely $3.99!). I’ve been interested in the title, and my waiting has CERTAINLY paid off here.

kenmore20121219c

Finally, I grabbed the two issues of X-Men Legacy I saw, and for 25-cents can afford to try The First X-Men (heck, if it still has the download code, that alone is “worth” the 25-cents!).

The entire bargain-bin haul for the week barely cost me what any two issues would have cost me new off the rack as recently as this past summer.

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Old is New?

Posted on December 7, 2012 by Walt

20121207-213713.jpgI remember noticing it early in the Uncanny X-Force run: the logo was the classic without the 3-D effect. (And the book was without Cable.)

For me, there’s something about a book’s logo. I can appreciate a new look, or something done to clearly indicate part of a group. I just don’t care for the constant change in a short span of time.

Not even 2 years into UXF, the logo was changed to the Regenesis branding. And beginning with Cable and X-Force under Marvel Now, we’re getting another logo (with yet another for the “new” Uncanny X-Force).

20121207-215446.jpgI noticed comiXology’s Friday sale on the first 15 issues of the original “adjective-less” X-Force (cuz now X-Force, a part of the X-Men family of titles gets its own split to two titles) and 2008-ish Cable run. Already got several of the Cable issues last time they were $0.99, but decided to get X-Force #1 for the heckuvit.

I don’t like paying $2.99 and $3.99 for digital comics…but $0.99 isn’t horrible (except I keep seeing the print edition in the 25-cent bins…) And I guess I’ll pay the $0.75 for the convenience.

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Final Issue! (before a new #1)

Posted on December 6, 2012 by Walt

20121206-125935.jpgI saw this ad, and still can’t believe the whole “Final Issue” bit. Yeah, Superior Spider-Man and all that…but still…I’m not “buying it” and not gonna buy it.

20121206-130033.jpgWhile on the subject of Marvel…I did wind up buying Thunderbolts #1. Partially the novelty–buying THUNDERBOLTS #1 as a new issue–and it was only $2.99…NOT $3.99!

Sadly while I like the art, the story seemed too slow for a first issue…I think I expected something more, somehow.

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Pricing in Context: Thrift Stores And collectibles

Posted on December 5, 2012 by Walt

20121203-153710.jpgI went to what looks like a thrift shop–think Salvation Army or Goodwill or such–but it’s actually stocked with unclaimed baggage from airports.

So most stuff is “used,” some is new, and prices vary from bargain to more expensive/comparable to Walmart.

While there, I came across a small selection of ’90s comics for 99-cents apiece (numerous copies of Ghost: Comics’Greatest World Week 3ish and Deathmate: Black amidst ’em), but all were what I’d consider quarter-bin fare so didn’t buy any.

Most surprising/morbidly amusing I came across this Uncanny X-Force Comic-Con Exclusive set. The store has it priced at $99 (from “$199 Retail Price”). I would value it at most in the $60-70 range and expect it to be in the $30-40 range.

As-is…I simply took this photo and left it on the shelf. I find the $22 price for the Marvel Universe 3.75-inch 3-pack to be rather high, and don’t care these days for Marvel Legends.

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Alien Resurrection: Found!

Posted on December 4, 2012 by Walt

20121203-140243.jpgLast year, I tracked down the Aliens and Predator films on blu-ray. I’m stupidly particular about those cardboard sleeves, which made the hunt a bit more problematic that simply being in stock or not.

I wound up missing only Alien Resurrection, as Walmart and Target don’t carry it and I didn’t want to pay a full $20+ at Best Buy, couldn’t find it at any of the used stores, and an online purchase might not have the sleeve to “match up” to the other 3 Aliens films’ cases.

The other day at Sam’s Club (in Alabama, visiting a friend) I came across the film with the sleeve…for only $10…a great price (especially as I’d expected to pay at least $15 or so) to get this.

Given Joss Whedon’s involvement and seeing hints of Firefly in it (and starting to rewatch the Firefly pilot recently) I might just get sucked back into that, thanks to this.

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24 of 32 years

Posted on December 3, 2012 by Walt

20121203-133836.jpgToday I am 32. For 24 of those years (give or take a few weeks) I’ve been into comics…that’s 75% of a lifetime.

When I was introduced to comics, Superman was 50…Spider-Man was 26, The X-Men 25ish, and the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon had but 1 season.

And now it’s amazing to see comics and their characters through the eyes of a pair of 4-year-old boys and try to remember what it was like to NOT have two-plus decades of comics reading experience, the intricate knowledge of comics’ continuities and universes.

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