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Recent Acquisitions

Posted on August 21, 2015 by Walt

It’s been an interesting week with several things ‘converging’ for me: a forgotten pre-order item, a purchase substituting for a convention, and my largest single “back issue” purchase ever.

First off, last weekend I happened to to see a link on Facebook to some group called Something Valiant. I clicked through, and found some stuff involving classic Valiant stuff, so did not immediately click away.

I noticed a post offering Harbinger #s 2-5 for a very reasonable price, shipped–and messaged the poster to inquire if they were still available (not seeing any comments on the post). They were, so arrangements were made.

harbinger_90s_2thru5

Easily my biggest “back issue” purchase in this regard–for what I paid for “only” 4 issues. However, considering I’d expected to pay significantly more per issue and not get them all but dropped in my lap from one source, I’m very happy with the purchase, and will certainly reach out to this seller again in the future as I whittle down my “missing” list of classic Valiant.

Another surprise arrival this week was the new Hellblazer volume.

hellblazer_tpb_11

This is the 11th volume in this incarnation of the series, reprinting it from its start including key tie-ins and such, and incorporating a numbering so it’s not just a bunch of random volumes.

hellblazer_tpb_thicknessIt turns out that I apparently had pre-ordered this from Amazon several months ago and forgot about it. So when it showed up, it was a very pleasant surprise.

I continue to be quite impressed with the size of these volumes, particularly for the cover price. Though this would easily be a $40+ volume from Marvel, this one carries a $24.99 cover price…and thanks to Amazon I got it for less than $12.

Though I grouse about Marvel‘s pricing, they make up a significant chunk of my graphic novels collection due to various clearance and blowout sales and such through the years, as well as having a lot of stuff I’m truly interested in.

A couple years ago, I was quite impressed when I came across the X-Men: The Age of Apocalypse Omnibus at Carol and John’s. It was very far out of my price range, though more recently I’d lamented realizing it was out of print, and so had been jacked up astronomically beyond my price range by “third party sellers.” So when I more recently learned of the Age of Apocalypse Companion I didn’t even consider pre-ordering it from anyone…no sense having the companion volume without the main.

age_of_apocalypse_companion_omnibus_01

I was listening to a recent episode of the Collected Comics Library and learned that there’s to be a new printing of the main omnibus in the first part of next year, in time for the new movie. So, rather than beat around the bush and put it off, I found a mostly-reasonable price online and bought this volume, knowing I’ll be able to pair it up in the spring (and for what that’s gonna cost me, I certainly would not want to be trying to buy TWO omnibii nor “risk” this one going out of print!).

Plus, I had decided that I was not going to be attempting to attend a particular convention I had been considering, so with gas money and admission I would not be spending, as well as other random purchases I would not be making…I was able to justify (to myself) this rather large singular purchase.

age_of_apocalypse_companion_omnibus_02

If you look to the right in the photo above, you’ll see a quarter leaned up against the volume–showing just how thick this companion edition is.

And below, it currently has a place on a shelf with the last Omnibus I’d bought, as well as the recent TMNT by IDW hardcover.

tmnt_cap_aoa_hardcovers

Filed under: 2015 Non-Review posts, 2015 posts | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

TMNT Amazing Adventures #1 [Review]

Posted on August 20, 2015 by Walt

tmntamazingadventures001Story: Landry Q. Walker
Art: Chad Thomas
Back-up Story by: James Kochalka
Colors: Heather Breckel
Letters: Shawn Lee
Edits: Bobby Curnow
Cover: Jon Sommariva
Published by: IDW
Cover Date: August 2015
Cover Price: $3.99

We open on the turtles out in the city following up on a rumored sighting of Doctor Cluckingsworth. They’re soon surprised–and defeated by the same. Enlisting Splinter’s aid, they soon learn they were (and are) actually facing an old entity known as Zodiac. The turtles and Splinter find themselves forced into an alliance with the Shredder (after an obligatory fight) but soon find themselves at the mercy of a number of familiar antagonists under the control of the Zodiac and face the loss of one of their own.

Perhaps that all sounds a bit dramatic–and it is. Yet at the same time it’s also a bit simplistic…especially as I’m not much of a fan of the “mutant of the week” theme that seems to run with this particular incarnation of the turtles (compared to the ongoing serialized continuities of the 2003 tv show and the current “main” IDW series).

But this isn’t exactly aimed at me. This seems very much aimed at younger readers, and fans of the current Nickelodeon tv show. However, as with its predecessor (TMNT New Animated Adventures), this plays a bit on my nostalgia factor. This is a separate series from the “main comics version” of the turtles, based on the characters as they appear in a still-putting-out-new-episodes animated series. Where the old Archie-publilshed TMNT Adventures quickly diverged into its own continuity entirely, this seems to hold closer to tv continuity.

Given that…I dig the art on this issue. The characters are all clear, consistent, and are definitely comic-book-characters. This looks like a comic book, and not some adaptation. The visual style is its own thing, though the character designs are obviously the current tv versions, with certain key things about the various characters apparent. That’s to be expected given what the series is, and I consider that a very strong positive that everything is obvious while not trying to be something it’s not.

The story is relatively simple, but quite solid. As a new #1 and thus introductory point, I rather enjoy that so many familiar characters were pulled in (if only as cameos) while also seeming to introduce an entirely new character in Zodiac. I suspect this will make the issue that much more accessible to existing readers and fans of the tv show, as well as–this being a first issue–serving to quickly show off a number of the colorful mutant characters that are part of this universe.

The voice of the characters rings true and I like having an apparently-new antagonist not given a goofy name by one of the turtles.

Unfortunately, the story is cut dreadfully short at a mere 16 pages, apparently to make room for a very uninteresting-to-me backup story. This basically involves Mikey trying to volcano-roast a pizza, and the turtles then conveniently discovering an actual volcano underground, and generally acting (to this mid-30s adult) overly childish and stupid.

The backup story’s art does not look at all like “professional quality” art, and standing strictly by and for itself looks absurd next to the main story. There’s nothing to contextualize the piece, to say if the artist is a kid, or if they’re going for a certain look, etc…and while I usually am rather welcoming to alternative artistic interpretations of the turtles, I feel like losing 1/3 of the content pages to this was a waste of space and cover price.

All in all, Walker‘s lead story is good, and I’m interested to see where it goes (and whether it is only a 2-parter or something a bit longer). For a younger reader, this would seem to be an excellent jumping-on point, and certainly worth and adult buying them a copy.

The price and loss of story to the backup gives me serious pause in regards to this title, though I’ll give it another issue or two to see if the backup thing is a regular part of this series and where that quality goes. I’ve enjoyed Walker‘s work in the past, so that’s going to be the core draw for me on the series…it just sucks to consider paying $4/issue to “only” enjoy a lead feature instead of having the entire issue be up to the lead feature’s quality/interest.

As a first issue, definitely recommended.

Plus, hey…it’s TMNT. More fun than plenty of other stuff out there.

Filed under: 2015 posts, 2015 Reviews, IDW Publishing, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW), TMNT New Animated Adventures (IDW) | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

The Weekly Haul – Week of August 19, 2015

Posted on August 19, 2015 by Walt

As new comics go, this was a very small week, with only two new TMNT books:

weekly_haul_20150819a

I also hit the quarter-bins, where along with far more X-Men books than I’d had any intention of buying in one shot, I also snagged a couple of key Superman issues:

superman01s_and_aos424_quarterbin

Being what they are, and for the price, I wasn’t gonna leave these sitting in the bin. I have tentative plans for one of the Superman #1s and Adventures of Superman #424 for sure.

Hard to believe TMNT is about to hit its 50th issue. I’ve been keeping up with it since #1…

Filed under: 2015 Non-Review posts, 2015 posts | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Finishing the Story: A Redeeming Price on DC’s Convergence

Posted on August 18, 2015 by Walt

The other day, I very nearly walked out of the Mentor Half-Price Books empty-handed. Several collected volumes caught my attention on the shelf–but each was priced ABOVE cover price. A used books store, named HALF-PRICE Books, and they just randomly price books ABOVE cover price because it’s “out of print.” Yet, isn’t that the POINT? It’s a bunch of USED, old books, that probably are NOT just available walking into the local BAM, B&N, or even Walmart/Target.

But that’s more a topic for another post.

HPBhaul_convergence_0_to_8

This HPB location has a $1 default price, unless specifically priced with a higher price on a bag or bag/board.

BUT…they also had several “sets” in a box, and I flipped through, curious about what OUTRAGEOUS prices they’d have, if they’re already considering 25-cent comics $1.25+ individually.

I noticed this set, and pulled it out, VERY curious…and was rather surprised to see it priced ONLY $15. DC‘s Convergence…#0 and #1-8.

Three of the 9 issues were cover price $5 ($4.99). That’s $15 right there. The other 6 issues were $4 ($3.99), so that’s $24. $39 in cover price, for a series from only 3-4 months ago, complete set in one place…no hunting through multiple stores and paying full price all the while.

Less than half-price. Best yet, the full set CHEAPER than it would cost me to buy the single issues I was missing. And I held off on ordering the collected volumes, because the main thing I wanted was to actually finish reading the full “core” story…but if I’m getting that, I want it to match the other collected volumes…which means a much longer wait for the hardcover to be swapped out for a paperback edition.

Now, I”ll just get to read the story, and the heck with the Convergence collected volumes for awhile.

Filed under: 2015 Non-Review posts, 2015 posts | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Adding Another Lego Mech: Hulkbuster Iron Man

Posted on August 17, 2015 by Walt

I spotted this in a store a few weeks back, but left it. Seeing a lot of Lego stuff clearanced out of Walmart and Target lately, I figured I’d better snag it while I can, before it becomes some nightmarish “out of production” hunt.

lego_hulkbuster_box_a

I’m a definite fan of the various Lego Mechs, so this is RIGHT up my alley.

lego_hulkbuster_box_b

The minifigs aren’t a bad bonus, either…a few pieces of the set going to those, and the contraption for Hulk…but the vast majority being for the Hulkbuster mech…not a bad purchase.

There’s a Batman set with a Bat-mech, but that’s about $20 more expensive and has enough other stuff I’m not interested in building/having, so I have not been able to talk myself into buying that as yet. But then, though it’s cool, it doesn’t have MUCH based in my Batman familiarity, either…whereas the Hulkbuster suit was in the most recent Avengers movie, and it just makes sense for Iron Man to have a giant oversized mech suit.

Now I just need to find time to actually get the thing assembled!

Filed under: 2015 Non-Review posts, 2015 posts | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Cover Gallery: Factor X

Posted on August 14, 2015 by Walt

Amidst all the reviews and such, for me (at least) sometimes it’s just really fun to look at a bunch of comics’ covers together, whether it’s admiring a run of a series, or seeing a full story, or some other ‘theme’. Here are the covers to the Factor X issues from the original Age of Apocalypse event in 1995 (and as a shameless plug, click on the cover and that should take you to my Age of Apocalypse Revisited coverage of the issue).

 

factorx001 factorx002
factorx003 factorx004

Filed under: 2015 Non-Review posts, 2015 posts | Tagged: , , , | Leave a comment »

The Weekly Haul – Week of August 12th, 2015

Posted on August 13, 2015 by Walt

This was another small-ish week despite a large “side purchase.”

weekly_haul_20150812a

I’d not been certain, but apparently I actually had left Letter 44 on my pull list. Oni has been good to me relatively speaking, so no problem there.

Marvel FINALLY has another issue of Secret Wars out.

I got the Lazarus volume for a whopping $1.00. Given I grab virtually any promo issue at $1, and I do have vol. 1…this was a virtual no-brainer.

Finally, though I’d hoped to snag the new Spectre vol. 1 paperback, that wasn’t in stock, and I haven’t read Nightwing vol. 1 yet so no sense getting vol. 2, and I spotted this Superman volume (The Power Within), which reprints the Superman thread from Action Comics Weekly #s 601-641 and several other issues. As a definite fan of this era of the character, I opted to go with it.

Along with these, I raided quarter bins at two shops for a stack of #1 issues. Also snagged a bunch of other issues that caught my attention. I normally don’t like pulling a bunch of #1s for the #1 on the cover, but this was the start of a project I’ll be able to talk about in a few weeks, that I’m hoping yields some fun results…particularly as it’s costing ME and has nothing to do with any kind of profit (nor attempt at profit).

Filed under: 2015 Non-Review posts, 2015 posts | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

The Next Grail – Uncanny X-Men #266

Posted on August 12, 2015 by Walt

uxm266directI already have most comics that I truly, SPECIFICALLY want. A lot of my bargain-bin finds and such are things that I’ve been aware of, had some interest in, and are cool to GET, but not typically specific, "key" issues that I’ve specifically sought.

As I fill in general holes in my collection with various series, I’m certainly going to get down to where there will be just a few one-off issues here and there that I’m after.

Having recently acquired Spider-Man vs. Wolverine, and the first chapter of Batman: Year Two it got me thinking. My next "grail" issue has got to be Uncanny X-Men #266–the first (full?) appearance of Gambit. I don’t seek it BECAUSE it’s his first appearance…it’s just that because it IS his first appearance, it has never been something tossed into a bargain bin and so has never randomly entered my collection that way.

But not having this issue is a singular hole preventing me from having a run from Inferno through well past #400, and my eventual aim is to fill in to have a complete run from Inferno to 544 or whatever the final issue was before the Schism relaunch alongside Wolverine and the X-Men. All of the other issues are simply a matter of the odds of finding the issue, given the time periods and quantities.

I have no intention of getting #266 to flip or make any profit on. And where a lot of things I’d be content with a reprint, the only reprint in single-issue format that I’m aware MIGHT exist would be one of those black-border issues that used to be packed into the original Marvel Legends action figures. And I truly don’t want a reprint, simply because ALL my other issues in the run are standard/first print issues, to my knowledge (if there are any second prints, they’re the kind that don’t have any cover variation).

As such, even though I do really specifically want the issue, I’m not willing to pay Big Money for it. In 27 years, I have NEVER paid more than $10 for a single-issue comic book. However, I do have to be reasonable: for any kind of halfway-decent copy of this–even "just" a "reader copy" condition WOULD pretty well be a "steal" for $10 or under. I feel (personally) that $20 would be quite reasonable and "fair" for a decent-condition/reader-copy of the issue. The more I pay, the better I’ll expect the condition to be. But I’m by no means looking for a "near-mint," "mint," or high-grade slabbed edition.

I just want it for my collection, as the only hole in an otherwise 150+ issue run, toward a nearly 300 issue run.

And given that this is a KEY "key book," first appearance of Gambit, and the maybe/maybe-not pending Channing Tatum Gambit film looming and such…this would be a worthy issue to be an exception to or break down my $10 "limit" that I’ll spend on single-issues.

Filed under: 2015 Non-Review posts, 2015 posts | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

New (to me) Comic TV on DVD

Posted on August 11, 2015 by Walt

Target has a buy one, get one 50% off sale going on this week on select titles. That’s on top of some select one-off discounts. As such, the first two seasons of Arrow worked out to be slightly over the price of three single-issues apiece. Powers was a lot more pricey and bought before going to Target.

comic_tv_seasons_fall_2015_01

I definitely see things lining up to replace cable tv for me this fall. Between seasons on dvd/blu-ray, and digital iTunes purchasing a la carte, since I virtually never keep up “live” with anything anymore, it’ll be a lot cheaper overall than what cable costs, as well as a heckuva lot more portable.

On top of these, newer seasons will be coming out in several weeks and then across a couple months.

Even if they exceed what I’m willing to spend…these Arrow seasons “prove” that all I have to do is wait, and eventually they’ll be on sale for what I consider a very reasonable price (~$20ish and under).

Filed under: 2015 Non-Review posts, 2015 posts | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Wooden Comic Covers…for Decoration

Posted on August 10, 2015 by Walt

giant_comic_cover_signs_01bSome time back, at a Meijer, I happened across a display of large wooden wall decorations–comic covers. One of them was the “newsstand edition” Superman #75, and being such an iconic piece, I bought it on the spot.

There were other covers, but none of them particularly appealed to me…while others just baffled me as they did not seem all that “iconic” to me. Giant-Sized X-Men #1, a number of the early Marvel #1s, a good number of DC #1s, sure.

I put the thing on a shelf as a quasi-background piece behind some of my old Marvel Legends build-a-figures and oversized Heroclix figures and all but “forgot” about the things.

And then not far apart, I came across one of these for Adventures of Superman #423, and Man of Steel #1. Being two of the first four premieres of the “post-Crisis” Superman stuff, I bought the Adventures of Superman one…but could not find the Man of Steel one again for awhile. I finally located it again at Hobby Lobby, but a sale that had been going on was over, and I had no interest whatsoever in paying full “regular” price for the thing, so I decided to just wait, and try to notice when there was a sale again and hope it was still available.

giant_comic_cover_signs_01

Tonight I found myself near a different Hobby Lobby, and decided to pop in, figuring if nothing else, maybe I’d find a magnet for my overhead bin at work, and confirm that the section of the store with the comic stuff was indeed not on sale.

Turned out…it is. “Mens’ metal and wood wall hangings” 50% off. Including the various wooden comic covers as well as the various smaller metal versions, and enough stuff that I easily could have blown $500 given the spare finances and available wall space to justify ’em.

50% off put the Man of Steel piece exactly in what I’ve come to see as reasonable pricing, and I decided to flip through the other ones to see if there were any appealing Marvel ones. The last piece behind everything, though, was the original Superman #233…itself a highly-iconic image, so I figured why not? Two for the price of one.

Now, I’m very interested in these for Superman #1 (1986) and Superman: The Man of Steel #1 (1991) if they even exist. Despite being iconic, I’m not all that interested in the Golden Age #1s–Action Comics, Superman, Batman, Detective Comics #27, anything Wonder Woman.

Marvel-wise, I’d be most interested in 1990s stuff–X-Men Alpha or Omega, 1991’s X-Men #1 or #30, Captain America #1 or Thor #1 from the Heroes Return period…maybe a handful of others.

Though these are smaller than posters, they’re far more durable and sturdy, and I just really like them. I look forward to getting them hung, and perhaps in a later period of life, making use of them in a “man cave” or a Single Guy’s living room as actual “art pieces.”

Filed under: 2015 Non-Review posts, 2015 posts | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

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