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My End-of-May Bargain Acquisitions (part 1 of 3)

Posted on June 3, 2013 by Walt

A couple weeks ago, I went to the comic shop with the intent of buying just two comics. Of course, I just had to look at the bargain bins. And long story short, I wound up walking out with this box of comics…

boxinsteadofbag

The core of the bargain-bin purchase (other than the new comics, I’ve stuck to the 25-cent bins) was the majority of Batman #401-491; a solid run from #432-onward:

batmanmostof401to491

I also scored a handful of Detective Comics issues…a couple from earlier in the run as well as some early 600s+. This was a small-ish stack, but until now, it’s seemed MOST of my “main title” Batman acquisitions have been Detective.

detectivestack

I snagged the entire Camelot 3000 run since all 12 issues were there. Been meaning to read this in one format or another for awhile…this should help accelerate my getting around to reading it. And definitely can’t beat the price. Nothing like finding an entire maxi-series for the same price as (or less!) than most current comics.

camelot3000

I grabbed these 6 Brave and the Bold: Green Arrow/Butcher/Question issues since it looks to be the entirety of a mini-series. While I’m not a fan of mini-series for newer comics/off-the-shelf purchasing…I quite appreciate them when I find complete minis in the bargain bins.

braveandtheboldmini

I figured I’d fill out a new copy of my Comics’ Greatest World collection…here’s the “regular edition” Sourcebook, as well as the Dark Horse Insider “magazine” with some stuff about CGW.

comicsgreatestworldpitbullsghostmonster

More Comics’ Greatest World:

comicsgreatestworldrebelmechatitancatalyst

…even more Comics’ Greatest World:

comicsgreatestworldbarbwiremachinewolfgang

A complete mini-series..and this’ll go well with my expanding on my ’90s Superman collection, as it’s a “tie-in” mini of sorts… I don’t consciously recall knowing about this series, even back then. So finding the entire thing in one place…for half the cost of a $2.99 comic…another great find!

starcorpsmini

For the price and starting at #1, grabbed these first seven issues of Sandman Mystery Theatre:

sandmanmysterytheatre1to7

Another complete mini-series. No clue what it’s about, but it’s early Vertigo, and it’s a 4-issue mini, so why not?

millenniumfever

And yet another complete mini-series. Notice a trend? Same as above: no clue the premise, but all 4 issues and it struck me as also being “early Vertigo” even though it doesn’t seem to carry the logo…

misteremini

Along with the “runs” and complete minis, I snagged some randomish issues, including two different printings of a glow-in-the-dark Ghost Rider issue, and a Spider-Man issue with Thanos:

miscbargainbins0515

 

 

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Recent ‘Tec From the Bargain Bins

Posted on February 11, 2013 by Walt

A couple weeks ago, I managed to snag quite a few mid-late 1980s issues of Detective Comics from the bargain bin…including three of the four issues of Year Two. This leaves me on Detective with tracking down that first chapter of Year Two, and the run leads into my earliest experience with the series–and fills in a huge gap up to Knightfall/etc.

tecrun01

tecrun02

tecrun03

tecrun04

tecrun05

Continue reading →

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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!

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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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X Marks the Spot

Posted on November 20, 2012 by Walt

I recently bought a longbox of mostly X-books, which proved to be a significant step toward shoring up gaps in my 1990s’ X-books runs.

For the first time ever, I finally (FINALLY!) have all three issues of the Astonishing X-Men mini in one place at the same time. I got the first two issues back in 1999 when they came out. Unfortunately, the only comic shop I had access to when I first went off to college either didn’t get or sold out of #3.

I eventually got to read the final issue when I found a copy of the TPB of the mini. Sometime in the last several years I got a copy of #3. Unfortunately, I’d had #s 1-2 somewhere else and they’ve disappeared. Finding all 3 in the bargain bins for only $.75  total means I’ve still paid less than I’d’ve paid for the 3rd issue at cover price.

astonishingxmenissues

When I first bought The Search for Cyclops, I wound up with 2 issues of one cover style and 2 of the other. I now have a unified-looking complete mini.

Aside from other issues I have with variants, one of my main things is I like when (especially for a mini-series) the covers all look like they belong to the same series.

searchforcyclops

I remember Avengers Forever, and thus being interested in “the X-Men counterpart” when it started. But I actually only wound up with 2-3 issues of the series. Finally have the whole 6-issues series to read.

It’s slightly amusing now to know that–like Astonishing X-Men–there are multiple series of the exact same title that are completely unrelated, apparently used because they really liked the title…

xmenforeverissues01

xmenforeverissues02

I also realized this past Saturday that–quite without the intention of it–I had acquired the first appearance of Jublilee for a whopping 25-cents. Now if only I could be similarly lucky to find Uncanny X-Men #266 in a bargain-bin…

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Still Continuing the Valiant Journey

Posted on November 4, 2012 by Walt

I’ve continued to build my Valiant (1990s) collection, picking up issues here and there.

Last weekend, I received a postcard in the mail from the local comic shop about a Halloween one-day sale:

Halloween one Day Sale Postcard

Given the previous sale and what I snagged, I looked forward to the sale. Fortunately (or unfortunately–Superman: Earth One vol. 2 had to wait), I wound up finding a bunch of issues for most of the titles I’ve needed holes plugged, though I’m still missing more comics than I’d like (but I’m closer to a full run than not, now).

Valiant Comics (2012.10.31)

And while I’d figured I’d be juggling a couple large paper bags, the store owner (as usual) makes an awesome deal even sweeter, giving me an old/used shortbox to lug the comics home in:

Valiant purchase in shortbox

So now I have to integrate these into my Valiant collection and verify a few issues that I may have neglected to note one way or the other before the Akron Comic Con next weekend.

Unfortunately…I have the suspicion that what I’ve noticed for several years now will hold true: comic cons are put to shame by my LCS’ bargains/bargain bins.

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The $3.99 problem revisited

Posted on October 5, 2012 by Walt

At $3.99 an issue, $8 buys me 2 new comics. Or, this week, with extra pages in Avengers vs. X-Men #12, that was 1 @ $4.99 and Higher Earth was 1 @ $3.99–$8.98 spent for just two comics.

But for another $8, I got quite a haul of cool “old” comics.

The gems of the bunch were these three #1s from 1997: Heroes for Hire, Thunderbolts, and Ka-Zar. HFH and Ka-Zar didn’t last all that long–but Thunderbolts has lasted pretty much to present-day, though that history is soon being negated for Marvel Now. Still…it’s highly gratifying to (though it’s 15 years after the fact) finally own the first issue, and moreso for only 25-cents!

01

Also snagged a few other early issues of Thunderbolts. I jumped on the title around #19 back in the day and followed it up til a few issues into New Thunderbolts before it eventually reverted to “original numbering.” I’m now about 10 issues shy of the first 18 issues, which I look forward to reading as one big chunk someday.

02

Recently picked up several of the X-Books’ Flashback issues. Seeing these in the quarter-bin, figured they’ll be fun reads. The Hulk issue looks really familiar–I might actually have snagged that years ago, or somehow already read it; but for $.25 I’ll take the chance.

03

Six more issues of Mage: The Hero Defined–this puts me at 9 out of the 15 issues…though I’ve discovered that apparently this was to be the middle section of a trilogy, and there’s another 15 issues of The Hero Discovered and (someday) The Hero Denied. Not exactly the level of the Marvel Numbering Shenanigans, but sorta frustrating to learn an entire series is actually not the beginning of the story.

04

The Man of Steel issue was great fun; couldn’t see just passing that up. Not sure of the Galactus issue is a one-shot or the first issue of a mini-series…but it’s another issue that hey–for a quarter, I’ll check it out. And the Astro City issue is a reprint of the Wizard-produced #1/2. This has the original “The Nearness of You” story that is probably my favorite single Astro City story, and is reprinted in one of the AC TPBs. Finding a single issue and getting to re-read it for only a quarter? Great stuff.

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Finally, since the entire 8-issue series was there, figured I’d check this out. I’ve heard of Elektra: Assassin, and this predates a lot of the 90s/2000s stuff that was done with the character, so could be interesting. At the least, $2 beats the heck out of any collected edition–TPB or HC.

06

The Elektra series, the Thunderbolts issues, the Mage issues, and the others–32 issues in all–only cost me $8. For the cost, that’s a bonus 30 issues on the cost of two.

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What do you mean it’s almost February?!?

Posted on January 18, 2012 by Walt

After a long hiatus, I’m back for a fluff post, sharing some of the goodies I just snagged from a bargain bin. 63 comics for less than the price of 4 Marvels.

I’d read Green Arrow: The Wonder Year almost a decade ago for a comics class I took. That was in a collected-edition, though. And come to think of it, this MIGHT be the second time I’ve purchased this mini from a quarter-bin; I have most of the first 30ish issues of the ongoing Green Arrow series this led into.

greenarrowwonderyear

And I recognized this Cap mini-series from around that time, as well…I may have bought the first issue as a new issue back in the day…maybe the whole mini, but not being sure, and certainly to avoid the issue of rummaging through dozens of boxes, snagged all three issues:

capdeadmenrunning

Realized there was a full run of the 8-issue Green Lantern Corps Quarterly, and given the sheer size of the issues and being a run…right up my alley:

glcquarterly

While NOT QUITE a full run, Blue Beetle 1-20 were all present, and given this price for the singles, far FAR cheaper than trying to get the trades:

bluebeetle1to20

Then I noticed some Justice Society stuff. And sure enough, speaking of full runs…the 1991 JSA series:

jsa1991

And the 1992 series:

jsa1992

And of course the characters’ return in the 1999 “mini-event” or whatever it was:

jsa1999

…plus a handful of other random issues I neglected to put back. As it was, I put back probably another 40+ issues that I now regret: a lot of the “Secret Files and Origins” type specials from throughout the mid/late 90s and early 2000s for Batman, Flash, and JLA. But considering I walked away with such a significant run of Blue Beetle, and the three JSA series and whatnot…I’m a pretty happy camper.

‘course, I’m only vaguely aware that Batman #5 was part of my stack of new comics and Ghostbusters #5.

Wondering more and more what it might be like to just drop new comics altogether, and instead raid quarter bins and such. Far better value on the older stuff…especially from this comic shop!

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Old vs. New: Quarter Bins vs. New Comics Rack

Posted on March 24, 2011 by Walt

This week was another where I managed to score some cool stuff from the quarter bin of my local comic shop. Sad thing is, it also continues to pound home just how EXPENSIVE current comics are. 2/3 of my final cost was the tiny stack of new issues, dwarfed by a huge stack of almost 60 issues that totaled roughly HALF the cost of the other 7 issues (one of which was a $1 comic).

Sharing the awesomeness…

Picked up where I left off a couple months ago, adding to my Silver Surfer run:

2011.03.23.001

And getting a great start on my early post-Crisis Flash run (no pun intended):

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Some early 1990s X-Men issues (two editions of Bishop’s first appearance…not sure if the one is the first print or 3rd or later; the gold cover is the 2nd print:

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The GI Joe/Transformers full 4-issue mini, and 4 of the first 5 issues of GI Joe Special Missions:

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Couple shiny issues, Infinity Gauntlet #1, and the first issue of the “new” X-Factor:

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The entire stack of quarter-bin awesomeness compared to the new issues:

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The new issues:

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Quarter-Bin Awesomeness

Posted on February 5, 2010 by Walt

As you can see by the photo here, we’ve got Batman #497 (the issue where Bane broke Batman (Bruce Wayne)’s back during 1993’s Knightfall arc. That midddle issue is Wolverine #1, from the original ongoing series from Marvel in the late-1980s. And rounding things out is Spawn #1 (FIRST printing, even!).

Going back 16 years, we’d have the April-1994-cover-date’s issue of Wizard Magazine.  The price guide in that issue lists these as:

Batman #497 – $9.50
Wolverine #1 – $30.00
Spawn #1 – $12.50

Did I pay $52, you wonder?

Nope…I paid a mere $.75 for the lot of ’em.

Speaking of price differences…compare these two stacks of comics:


On the left is a stack of 88 issues of Wolverine, Batman #497, and Spawn #s 1-2.

On the right…is a stack of 8 issues, new this week.

That huge stack?

$6 less than the tiny stack of this week’s new issues.

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