I’ve accumulated quite a few Mighty Mini figures the last couple years or so, however long the things have been coming out.
But until a recent clearance sale at Target, I had only stuck to the Mighty Mini figures themselves.
Along with recent acquisitions of various 12-inch figures…I found these Mechs for Green Arrow and Batman…sized for the miniature figures.
In a certain way, I have to wonder if there’s much more awesome than this. Batman? Giant Mech robot battle suits? As one?
To top ’em off…I found clearanced minis and got a second Green Arrow and second Batman, so my originals can stay with my display of the minis, but also have a copy to go with the mechs, where-ever/how-ever I wind up displaying them!
Tomorrow: The Death of the Super-Blog Team Up!
Forgive this being yet another token/simplistic showing-off-the-shelves post. Tomorrow’s post should more than make up for the last few token posts, as well as hit another point that I’ve been toying with awhile.
The weekly haul became a massive weekend haul due to logistics! I already posted about the books I got, since I didn’t have "regular comics" to pick up this week. Though I neglected to recall how many I had had pulled and would be picking up…plus some bargains!
While I’ve yet to sit down to actually READ any of these, I’m absolutely very much behind the $1.50 price point Alterna is able to achieve with these"newsprint" comics! (And actually, The Chair was only $1!) I believe these are basically serialized versions of previously-published graphic novels…but for the price, I’m all for it…and I love the corner-box stuff for nostalgia and whatnot. THIS is the way "legacy" and "nostalgia" SHOULD run, while being "new" and different and all that. For "only" $1.50/issue, if the thing sucks, it’s still a small investment and I won’t feel cheated the way I would at a Marvel issue costing me nearly three times what one of these cost!
Granted, Marvel does the occasional wave of $1 issues…but these are reprints of prior issues, and only a "first" issue, without the subsequent issues. Still, for the $1 price point, I like getting these True Believers issues, regardless of whether or not I already have the original or a prior reprint.
Given it seemed everyone sold out quickly of Batman/Elmer Fudd I’m quite glad I requested the issue be pulled ahead of time. Newest Superman comic in Action Comics this week; the halfway issue of the Kamandi Challenge, the 275th (!) issue of Spawn, and I believe the final issue (#12!) of Aliens: Defiance (the longest Aliens series ever, I believe, though at least one Aliens vs. Predator series in the ’90s ran about 12).
IDW was a big splash this week with two new TMNT issues for me (though I could not swear as to whether or not both shipped this week or not!); the conclusion of the Highlander mini-series, and "trying" two new #1s in Kull Eternal and Clue (cuz hey, really…a comic about the board game? And there was a movie in the ’90s? I’ll bite…)
Quite unexpectedly and on top of the massive new-issues haul, I found a bunch of issues in the 50-cent bins that grabbed my attention. A couple of Untold Tales of Spider-Man, 3 of 4 issues of Mars Attacks Savage Dragon that seems amusing enough, and a couple shiny issues in The Ray and Shadowman #0 (along with the non-shiny variant).
Then a handful of Magnus Robot Fighter issues from the Acclaim run. I may already have some of these, may not…for 50 cents, I figured I’d snag ’em anyway.
Then the gem of these: Supergirl and the Legion of Super-Heroes #s 18-36! Quite a run of the title from when Supergirl joined the book (I believe #18 was the first) and whether or not #36 was the last issue, that’ still a good 19-issue run to add to the collection!
Also quite unexpected was a 90%-off bin of trades. For mostly under $2 each (I think the Thor volume was $3.50!) I was happy to snag a bunch: much lengthier than a 20-page single issue, and at mostly half the price OF a standard single issue! Even the more expensive one was still less than a standard new issue!
The primary drawback was that yeah, everything individually was a great bargain-price (aside from the new issues)…but man, did they add up fast! This would’ve been a hefty haul even before the new issues…added together, the "sticker shock" led me to cancel a couple of other stops I was going to make. I’d spent quite enough, and that was that!
Now we’re on to (in the U.S.) a weird sort of "holiday" week, where (for me) there is NOT an "extended weekend," but rather coming off a "regular" 2 day weekend, I work Monday, have a day off Tuesday for the holiday, and back to work Wednesday through Friday.
Fun stuff, no?
As usual…hopefully the coming week’s new issues will be a smaller bunch. I have a lot more reading to catch up on than I’ve gotten done lately, which is starting to get a bit into the realm of the ridiculous, unfortunately!
By: Mike W. Barr Colored by: Adrienne Roy Edited by: Denny O’Neil Cover: Michael William Kaluta Published by: DC Comics Cover Date: March 1987 Cover Price: $1.25
Chapter One: Artist: Alan Davis Letterer: John Workman
Chapter Two Artists: Terry Beatty & Dick Giordano Letters: Todd Klein Colors: Carl Gafford
Chapter Three Arists: Carmine Infantino, Al Vey Letterer: Todd Klein Colorist: Carl Gafford
Chapter Four Artist: E.R. Cruz Letterer: Romeo Francisco
Centerpiece Dick Sprang
Chapter Five Artists: Alan Davis, Paul Neary Letterer: John Workman
I’m finding that I’m a bit of a sucker for ’80s anniversary issues. Especially ones like this, where it’s not some round number of an issue, not a bunch of variant covers, not a relaunch or renumbering, not even the culmination of some huge story that’s overly self-aware of numbering. This seems–essentially–to be a nice, hefty, done-in-one full-length self-contained adventure…and it’s not at all hard to see where this could (by present-day standards) be dragged out as some six-issue mini-series (at least) if not multiple 2-3 issues mini-series or such.
But of course that would fly in the face of an anniversary ISSUE. In this case, celebrating 50 years of the title, not Batman himself, though the caped crusader has a definite role in the issue!
What we get here is an extra-sized issue with story elements on multiple fronts, allowing multiple art teams to work on the title, as well as the writer to flex and work with different characters that aren’t strictly Batman or his immediate Bat-group. This issue is from a time much closer to the title’s historical format with multiple characters sharing the title…even though Batman’s been the most prominent character, a number of other characters "came up" through the title, not necessarily related specifically to Batman or stories involving Batman himself.
I’ve been aware of Barr‘s work for a long time…and while I’ve come to know him as the writer of Batman: Year Two, and Camelot 3000, and Batman and the Outsiders and whatnot…I most associate him with Mantra, one of my favorite Ultraverse titles growing up in the ’90s. That a creator of a character I thoroughly enjoyed there also has such a history with Batman has been icing on the cake, so to speak.
I’ve primarily read Detective Comics from #604-onward…very much after the "anthology" format was basically jettisoned and it’s been just another Batman title. So while aware of its history, I haven’t actually read much of that history…at least not while of any age to truly appreciate it (I know I’ve read a number of issues from Grandpa’s collection, back in my earliest comic days, but that was a quarter-century ago!).
Slam Bradley finds himself with a client who’s under the gun–literally. Though Batman and Robin intervene for the moment, there’s more to the situation–and story–and he’s determined to figure it out. What he doesn’t count on is learning of a couple names with prominent ties to the past: Watson…and Moriarty. The Elongated Man–Ralph Dibny–gets involved, with a personal encounter with the villain at hand, confirming what Slam Bradley had learned. We then jump to "the past," and a tale of Sherlock Holmes…fitting to the continuity of this issue’s story, while being simply a new Sherlock Holmes story, and certainly celebrating the title Detective Comics. The various branches of the overall story converge and we get back to Batman and Robin being on the page as all the characters come together…including a rather surprising (to the characters) figure, one that I had actually come to think would not be present in quite the way they turned out to be.
This issue is just over 30 years old, but I still step around stuff a bit. Consider this your spoiler warning.
After this line, I get into "spoilers," as I would if this had not been a three-decade old back-issue.
Batman meets a significantly-aged Sherlock Holmes here. As this was published in 1987, along with being the 50th anniversary of Detective Comics, it was the 100th anniversary of Sherlock Holmes. And with a mention of living conditions and such, and just HOW old the character looks at the end of this issue…it may have been a bit of a stretch to consider a man would live to be over 120 years old (if he was already an adult in adventures in 1887). Of course, 30 years later, this is no longer plausible in the slightest…at least to me. So it "dates" the issue, but in a good way…and it was a pleasant surprise to find that the cover was not JUST a case of being some thematic team-up where both characters appear in the course of the issue but don’t directly interact…we actually get to see Batman meet THE Sherlock Holmes. (Though I’m not gonna get into the meta-stuff of characters recognizing the STORIES but then having the story-accurate character showing up in their midst as a "real guy").
Though there were multiple art teams for the issue, with them being split up across different chapters (instead of several pages here, several there) it really served the story, and kept things from seeming choppy or such. Batman didn’t seem to be in much of the issue, but where he was, he seemed "’80s-accurate" to me; and the other characters (that I’m less familiar with, particularly from this time frame) all work and don’t stand out as contradictory to whatever I do know about them. The cover led me to believe (in conjunction with something I’d read in the past) that the focus of the issue might’ve been a Batman/Sherlock Holmes team-up/adventure. I was initially disappointed, as I thought when I bought the issue that it’d be a team-up. As the issue went on, it took on more a sense of reality, history, and "legacy" that I found intriguing…such that it was simply a treat to have the aged Holmes show up at the end as he did.
There’s a nice "center spread" by Dick Sprang that makes for a good touch, and far out-beats contemporary practices where it would have been a variant cover or a couple of variant covers. It’s just a nice double-page art piece showcasing Sprang‘s take on the characters.
I believe I paid $6 for this issue, against its $1.25 cover price. By contemporary comics’ standards, this was well worth that price and then some. For time it took to read, it more than out-matched contemporary comics, at the "inflated" or "priced back issue" dollar I paid for it. This would absolutely be worth getting out of a bargain bin…and I have no problem with having paid a slightly more "premium" price for it as an actual, priced back issue and not something from a bargain bin. This stands alone as a singular, strong issue, and other than knowing that the characters exist, you don’t really need to know any present-day (at the time) continuity to enjoy this issue; FROM this issue, I would not be able to tell you myself offhand what was going on in issues immediately before or immediately after this issue.
Writer: Chuck Dixon Penciller: Tom Lyle Inker: Bob Smith Letterer: Tim Harkins Colorist: Adrienne Roy Editors: Dan Raspler, Denny O’Neil Cover: Brian Bolland Published by: DC Comcis Cover Date: January 1991 Cover Price: $1.00
I’ve read this issue before. This might even be the third time I’ve read it–I’m not sure at this point. But for this particular read-through…it came about because I wanted the POSTER that was bound into the issue, without having to rummage through a bunch of unsorted longboxes–so I bought a copy just for the poster. But since I was "handling" the issue, I decided to read it…and quite enjoyed it overall, though unfortunately not quite as much as I’d thought I would.
I’m pretty sure this issue picks up essentially from the pages of a Batman issue, as I seem to recall a scene of Tim debuting the new costume before Bruce and Alfred; but that’s clearly already happened by the time this issue opens.
We open on Tim in the Batcave with Bruce; wearing the then-new (but now highly familiar to me) ’90s Robin costume–the red body, wide yellow belt, green pants, tall/dark boots…and the stylized "R"; as well as the two-colored cape: yellow on the inside, the classic yellow; but black on the outside, so he can wrap into it and blend into shadows same as Batman…not "glow in the dark" or such. The two discuss Tim’s readiness TO be the new Robin, in a bit of Tim’s doubt that I don’t quite remember, but fits for the time. Tim decides to further ready himself, now that he’s "passed" Batman’s training is to take his own journey to train with others in preparation for his role. He heads to Europe, where we quickly learn that another figure from Batman’s past is active: Shiva. Meanwhile, Tim finds the master he sought, though some details aren’t as he expected. He gets drawn into a situation that calls for what Robin can do, that Tim Drake can’t, and gains a potential ally, even as he considers what it’d mean to fail, to let down the Batman.
Which is all a grandiose, vague summary of the issue. It’s interesting to consider a number of "firsts" at the time this was released–first action in the new costume, first "solo" Tim Drake adventure, Tim’s first issue as Robin, first issue of any series–mini or otherwise–of the solo-billed Robin title, etc. And I’ll be doggonned if I am aware of any variant covers. Really! All these firsts…and other than (perhaps) a second printing or such, or maybe some kind of foil-y something or other that I’m not consciously aware of at present, this is THE issue. Period. One cover. One issue. A Brian Bolland image.
Story-wise, this is a very solid first issue. Though I mentioned recollection of a scene preceding this, that’s not integral to this issue. We simply pick up on Tim in costume, apparently freshly made officially Robin, and through dialogue get a bit more detail to fill in gaps on his background and our getting here. He’s given a ‘quest’, we’re introduced to threats and antagonists in addition to the self-set challenge, and get drawn into the story.
I said above I didn’t enjoy this as much as I thought I would–it’s a good issue, and fairly enjoyable in and of itself; certainly nostalgic…especially for me. But that’s part of the problem. One of Tim’s first couple cameos before his full appearance in A Lonely Place of Dying was my first-ever Batman comic…this character was introduced AS I got into comics, and is still around. But this issue by itself–not re-reading the lead-up, not having the rest of the issues handy nor the time to read their contents in one of the TPBs, this is just a snippet of early-Tim Drake stuff. And since this isn’t an ongoing series but "merely" a finite five-issue story, there’s less "need" for the kind of hook an ongoing might need…and I think I frustrated myself not being able to just read the whole story handily in one go.
The art is quite good, and rather iconic to me. Looking at this, it just screams "early Tim/Robin" to me. The cover isn’t horrible…but the way Robin’s face is, this has gotta be one of the creepiest-looking Robins I can think of! The costume, cape, etc work…but the face just doesn’t fit Tim. I also like that the "corner art" seems to be a carryover from what I recall offhand of the main Batman issues, cementing this as what it is–its own thing, starring Batman’s sidekick, but in a solo title that does NOT emphasize Batman.
If you find this in a bargain bin–or heck, find it for $2 or under, I highly recommend it! Particularly if you’re a fan of Robin, or specifically Tim Drake. But I’d recommend trying to acquire the entire 5-issue mini-series rather than just this isolated issue.
Unless you want the poster…in which case, that ALONE is worth at least a couple dollars!
I (somehow) managed to forget that I’d ordered this last week, when I opted to buy the Adam West Batman Bust Bank over the weekend. Perhaps I was torn on it and figured I could still cancel the order (I didn’t). Whatever the case…it arrived Monday.
There was also a factor of the price–getting this much cheaper ordering online than had I bought it in a store in-person.
The box is snazzy and not bad as a window-box or whatnot…but you just don’t get the greatest sense of the Batmobile and the figures with everything roped into place inside a brightly-colored box!
Some of the car gets lost in the angles of the box…out of the box, easy enough to just see the car for itself, and the sheer awesomeness that is this car!
Sadly, there’s no flame effect for the back. Atomic batteries to power…turbines to speed indeed.
And while the car is cool enough on its own…it’s even better with its classic occupants!
At either angle, they look good in this!
My only real complaint with the set is that the capes aren’t particularly removable…nor are they cloth, and so it’s hard to get the figures to actually SIT in the vehicle. I had to put Batman’s cape over the back of his seat for the figure to actually sit down in and not be standing up outta the seat.
I am not a "car guy" or such. But if you wanna talk cool-looking cars, or a "dream car" and all that…the 1966 Batmobile is that for me.
As with the Bust Bank over the weekend…I hold that it’s a shame it took West‘s passing to remind me how much he and his portrayal of Batman meant to me–really meant–and while I feel sorta guilty "suddenly" getting stuff like this…I do feel like it’s before the items disappear or otherwise go full-on collectors’-items because of the man’s death. I wouldn’t want to have to "hunt" for these or pay jacked-up "premium prices" because someone raises the price on "Adam West memorabilia" or such.
I’ll leave off with a clip I found while looking for something else, but that I found quite interesting:
Over the weekend, I headed down to Kenmore to pick up stuff that’s been pulled the last couple weeks.
Having learned of a sale at another shop–Hazel’s Heroes–and being much closer to it already being down that far south, I ventured a bit off my usual trail to check out the shop, AND the sale. I was loosely aware of the general region of the shop…I’d just never (since becoming aware of the shop’s existence) had the time while down that way to check it out.
I wasn’t sure going in what the sale itself would be, but the Facebook post indicated it was a "big" sale, and with my present (and likely about to fizzle out) hunt for Trial of the Flash-era issues of the silver/bronze age The Flash series, I was all the more interested, as a sale would bring even too-highly priced issues into a reasonable range, or so I figured.
While I doubt I’ll ever get the whole series, being aware of the Blue Ribbon Digest series, I’ve found I’m interested in those when I find them for a good price. As this sale was, I believe I got both of these for about $1/each.
Pretty sure the same on the TMNT novels. (Beaten to heck, but for the price, well worthwhile for the moment!) The Six-Guns and Shurikens book and Red Herrings I remember reading as a kid. The Donatello: The Radical Robot is one I don’t remember (and apparently there are others for each of the turtles along with Donatello!).
Gotta say…for me, the better value by far is these five books for $5, over, say, Darth Vader #1 (had a #1 in 2015, and now already again in 2017..!).
The way the sale was structured, the $12 Power of Warlock cost me $5 (again, which is the better value: that or a book that just came out this week?) while the other Power of Warlock issue matched the price of a DC Rebirth issue.
The Tales of the TMNT #5 (original run), Batman and the Outsiders #1, and Robin (original mini-series) #1 cost me a whopping $1/each!
The Booster Gold issues also all only cost me $1. I mentally kicked myself when I realized for the pricing I missed grabbing #s 0 and One Million; fortunately, I shouldn’t have much issue finding my #0 from my Zero Hour stuff last year, and already found my One Million from last October. The #1 was a "convenience" copy (and for $1, even, beautiful piece!).
Then, I noticed some boxes of magazines before I could check out. My curiosity got me, and on investigating, found that there was quite a run of old Wizard magazines! Fortunately, despite thinking it wouldn’t even matter, I’d taken a couple photos of my Wizard shelf in lieu of writing down missing numbers. So, I was able to pull something like 25-26 issues to fill in gaps in my existing run of the magazine…plus several issues that I just want a poster out of and for the price, no sense passing them up–these all had an older $3 sticker on them, with a newer $1 sticker.
Since the sale was that stuff up to $5.99 was $1, I expected I was just gonna be paying $1 per Wizard…but the store owner gave me the stack for 50 cents an issue!
So all told, for roughly the price of 9 standard, modern Marvel issues, I got 30 issues of Wizard, most of which fill in gaps in my existing collection (rather than just cheap duplicates), a couple of old Power of Warlock issues, three TMNT books I haven’t seen available anywhere in over 20 years, a couple of (relatively rare) Blue Ribbon Digests, and a few other issues!
Sure beats the heck outta most conventions!
Finally, while I was at Kenmore, on a whim, I made a non-comics purchase: a Batman bust bank of the Adam West Batman. A bit more than I might’ve wanted to pay, and DEFINITELY a shame that it took the man’s death last weekend to remind me how much I do actually appreciate his Batman and all that. But I was interested, and opted to get this since it was NOT any kind of "special order" or such, and not a case of anyone profiting off Adam West‘s death! (As, sadly, I suspect Batman ’66 stuff may soon be).
Over the weekend, I wound up getting quite a bit of stuff! Granted, some of it was ordered and arrived over the weekend, but still much more than a usual weekend might be!
I stopped by Comic Heaven looking for Trial of the Flash issues, with no luck on those. but I did score an anniversary issue of Detective Comics that I think I may have heard of but don’t think I’ve ever read.
Then I found several books more than 50% off in bargain bins I hadn’t realized had been "restocked." (One actually may have been on a bargain shelf display, come to think of it). These, plus a booster pack of Star Wars: Destiny (a dice and cards game) where I got a rather pricey rare card (or "legendary" in game terms) cost me LESS than what the Black Vortex would have cost at cover price!
And it’s kinda hard to believe that there are 75 issues of Savage Dragon across just three of these Savage Dragon Archives paperbacks. (They’re basically like Marvel‘s Essential or DC‘s Showcase volumes–phonebook-sized black and white reprints of series). I remember (among other issues prior) getting Savage Dragon #75 as a new issue and being astounded at how long Larsen kept the result of that issue going at the time. And I’m quite interested in snagging the other Archives volumes as well.
Then, I took a friend across town to Carol & John’s, where we were unfortunate enough to be there during Winston‘s nap-time. Being cat people, though, we totally understood not waking the kitty!
I snagged the new Marvel Comics Digest starring Spider-Man, and picked up Bane: Conquest #2 which I’d missed/not seen prior (oops!).
At a Books-A-Million, I snagged a Spidey treasury edition…for $3.97 and jumped on it (hey, 5 Marvel issues’ content for a whopping $3.97–cheaper even than a single issue–is a price point I’m willing to sample something at!)
Also at the Books-A-Million, I found a copy of the (I believe out of print) Gambit Classic vol. 1 for a mere $6.97–seven issues’ content for barely $1 each, and did I mention that I’m pretty sure this volume is out of print? I think its contents are somewhat duplicated in other stuff, but the ’90s fan in me was ecstatic to find this for the price (though I’ll probably pay at least triple this for the second volume if I ever come across it or hunt it down).
And rounding things out, I’d put an order in with InStockTrades for a few books, sliding I think just a few cents over the minimum threshold for free shipping. And though the box arrived with a hefty dent and outright HOLE in its side from the mail system…since InStockTrades (UNLIKE Amazon) ACTUALLY USES GOOD PACKING PRACTICES, my books were UNHARMED. Additionally, because of actually being packed well, they arrived in new condition, as ordered–something Amazon flat-out REFUSES to do!
Next is to try to hold back a bit, though there are a number of other books and such that I want. It’s just kinda sad when a random visit to a couple comic shops and a bookstore (and an online order) yield better deals and more plentifully so (that interest me, anyway) than a convention.
We’ll see what this week’s new releases hold, and if/when I get another chance to sit down for some major, marathon reading!
It was quite outta the blue, getting a message from a friend yesterday. Adam West passed away…
Great. Thanks, 2017. And an image of some posts I’ve seen the last couple months about how "2017 is worse than 2016" or some such–presumably referring to "celebrity deaths" and the like.
This was outta the blue, yeah, but while surprising, at the same time, somehow not shocking. Unwelcome, yes. Undesired, certainly. But he was old, right?
I flipped over to Google, and keyed in simply "Adam West," not wanting to prompt any false stories of death or such. Perhaps it’s a hoax, right?
Nope.
Too many results, saying that he’d indeed passed.
He was 88. Short battle with leukemia.
I had just made plans to meet up with a friend for awhile, and had an urgent family matter to attend to, so didn’t sit or dwell.
While at a comic shop, saw that they had Batman on–the ’66 series’ movie–and wound up loitering a bit with that. Enjoying the campy stuff, musing over the typical stuff–a bat ladder? Bat shark spray? Bat copter? But it was what it was.
As a kid, I never understood my parents’ seeing humor in the show or ridiculousness in it.
As a kid, I took it seriously. It was Batman. I’m sure I knew it was dated, yeah, it was from decades earlier! (~24-25ish years at the time, barely half the series’ existence as of now in 2017) But it was stillBatman.
I got slightly choked up seeing this, when a friend sent it to me yesterday.
He’s gone on.
We’re still here. We remember the actor, and what he meant to us–if not personally, then at least as Batman, as a hero, as that figure we’d watch on the tv screen.
Mr. West meant a lot to more people than I can imagine.
I said to a friend that some part of me half-thought he’d live forever.
Knowing of Stan Lee having "health issues" the last several years, seeing all the celebrity deaths in 2016, I kept expecting to see his name amidst others.
Part of me (morbidly) still does. Certainly don’t wish it, just sadly expecting it, statistically.
But Adam West?
It hadn’t really even occurred to me that we’d ever lose him.
I think back to a few years ago, I went to a Wizard World in Columbus, Ohio, with a couple friends. We got to see the ’66 Batmobile (albeit from outside its display area).
I got to see it "live," "in-person."
After a restroom break, I was asked if I’d seen Burt Ward in there–apparently he (and a couple bodyguards?) had entered shortly after me. No, I didn’t see/consciously know he was even in there while I was til after the fact…but that’s my claim to fame: I got to pee with Burt Ward.
And we also got to attend a panel with the two as the focus. Adam West and Burt Ward. They talked to us, the audience, for a bit, and then did a Q&A session. Plenty of people lined up for it, there were plenty of questions, and the two men easily filled the allotted time for the panel.
I think it was this panel that I first learned of the two and their "rivalry" on set, trying to crowd each other out of the shot or otherwise steal the focus of the camera.
Flash forward to last Fall, and the animated movie The Return of the Caped Crusaders–it was an interesting thing, hearing the familiar voices, but knowing they’re all significantly "older". I first learned of the film then-coming-up because relatively recent to that point, I’d become ‘friends’ with Ward on Facebook.
I remember back in college, when I watched the ’66 film for the first time in a number of years, and found it so extremely hokey and off-putting. PARTICULARLY that the Bat-Copter goes down, and there’s CONVENIENTLY some mattress sale going on in the parking lot immediately below the distressed machine.
I–like apparently many–had my phase of finding the series distasteful and such an artifact of the past.
Several years ago, though, I was ecstatic when I learned we’d be getting the series on DVD/home release. I got the first season pretty early on–but could not begin to justify the steep price on the entire series all at once. Somewhere along the way after that, I got the first part of season 2. And then I think it was "Black Friday 2015" or otherwise some online/promo-pricing I got the second half of season 2 and season 3…so I functionally have the complete series on DVD, just without all the bonus-premium-EXTRA-extras from the single-box full-series set.
And I haven’t watched much yet, but I’ve liked just having the option. At whatever point I’d choose, I can pop a disc in and watch whatever episodes strike my fancy. Or at least, I can look up where they’d be and try to find the appropriate disc to do so.
I never met West in person. Never got anything signed, never talked to him, etc. He wasn’t/hasn’t been on my "bucket list" of individuals I would like to meet someday and all that.
Perhaps I took stuff for granted.
Perhaps it was simply not considering losing the guy.
I’ve often "wondered" at people seeming personally, deeply affected by celebrity deaths. Yeah, I get the significance but few have "meant" as much to me.
Despite the time, the years since the show was first on and all that, there was something to Adam West as Batman, and knowing he was still "out there," still around, still making appearances, doing voicework, etc.
But he’s gone.
And as I see numerous posts from fellow bloggers, fellow fans, friends on Facebook, etc…it hits home. This is a big one. I’m saddened at having learned of his passing. I’m sad, perhaps overly selfishly so, that I’ll never have another opportunity to "meet" him. No more Adam West AND Burt Ward.
A hero–an actor who played a hero–is gone. Someone who touched millions of lives, mine included, has gone. Whatever metatextual stuff there may be…that’s a part of my life now gone, someone who was ‘always there’ even if I never noticed, or rarely did.
I watched a couple segments on YouTube about his passing, and was ok.
But then there was that transition noise into the theme music, and tears filled my eyes.
But y’know?
If I’m this affected, if we’re this affected, millions of us as fans past and present, old and new and all that–we’re hurt at this loss, we feel a loss in our lives?
I can’t imagine it for the family.
There are loads of cliché words to be said (that I won’t); but it’s TRUE: I can’t imagine what it must be for them, losing someone close to them, that actually IS a part of their lives, by blood, by family, and not just someone that played any of a number of characters that impacted us.
What can I truly say? I can’t even organize my thoughts. This whole post is stream-of-consciousness…I wasn’t even gonna do this post. But that’d be to somehow do the whole head-in-the-sand thing, or in trying NOT to do/be something, I’d DO/BE that.
I’ve been a Superman fan practically my whole life, back to some of my earliest conscious, consistent memories. But next to Superman, next to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, there was Batman. Michael Keaton, yeah, and Adam West. Keaton was one version, a couple hours, a single movie, then two movies.
Adam West was hours upon hours of continuous stories of daring-do and such.
Despite hopes for a "small" week, found this to be a fairly large week, particularly with a couple of high-priced issues I hadn’t consciously planned on, particularly for the prices!
Of course, the weekly Superman issue. Then, because it was there, snagged the Superman & Bugs Bunny issue/volume. $8 and I believe it reprints a 4-issue mini-series…so functionally $2/issue for a full story in one go? You betcha! And of course, Captain Atom and Predator with new issues this week.
I went ahead and snagged the Batman issue rather than waiting for my DCBS bundle shipment, having had stuff spoiled a bit thanks to Bleeding Cool, and figuring I’d want to read this sooner than later for myself instead of just going on second-hand information.
And I hadn’t known anything about the Steve Trevor issue–I actually thought it was some new series or mini-series, so didn’t want anything to do with it. Plus, I simply never cared for the character, period, til seeing the new Wonder Woman movie this past Friday. And with it being a one-shot and NOT jacked up to $4.99+, I opted to give it a shot. Though the presence of an alternate cover–such that I had no idea which cover was the variant and which was the "regular" nearly drove me to put it back and pass on it entirely.
I did pass entirely on Magnus #1 because there was a B cover and a C cover, but no A cover, and I hadn’t realized it was out this week to request it be pulled as I did a couple of the other issues! (Publishers: you LOSE people like me by conditioning me to "accept" variant covers’ existence, but then messing me up when I at least attempt to stick to the "A"/non-variant/regular/advertised cover and ALL that remains are variants withOUT even the "original"/actual/real cover!)
With The Batman/TMNT Adventures wrapped, the "cartoon" TMNT series TMNT Amazing Adventures is back with (presumably) a mini-series…perhaps in lieu of an ongoing as stuff on the "2012 series" starts to wrap up with the final season (I believe) presently airing and all that. And I’m definitely on a Spawn kick at present…barring price increase or my getting hosed over a variant or such, I’m mostly intending to dig in and stick through #300 at least.
I didn’t even realize it til I got it home, but this issue of Reborn was $5.99! I think had I realized that, I might’ve passed on the issue for now. I’m not certain that I have all 5 previous issues–I might be missing an issue–but having "most" of the issues, I simply figured hey, next/new/final issue, why not? Though I’ll grant it a LITTLE more leeway than I would Marvel at this point, as they’ve totally "abused" the extra-priced issues. And I’ll gladly take an extra $2 for presumably twice the content, or at least an extra 50% of content, especially if it means holding to the established number of issues, even if they had to expand the page count (again looking at Marvel primarily for tacking extra issues on at the end of event series).
I also noticed that Batman: Dark Knight III finally had its "final" issue out, which itself is a DC book that added an extra issue (as I recall, it was supposed to have been an 8-issue series, not 9).
Then, for good measure, apparently, as I approached the register, I saw three stacks of books. Curiosity got me and I looked at the price stickers: $1.00! So for the price of 1 DC Rebirth issue, snagged two hardcovers and a paperback collected volume. No idea, for example, if the Zombie Christmas Carolis a Marvel Zombies thing, or just a zombie theme applied to the classic Dickens tale (thinking the latter), and I know I don’t have the other two, so at least they’d be "something" to read someday.
It’s been a fantastic year of movies already, and some of them are starting to come out for home release. Logan a couple weeks ago, and now the live-action Beauty and the Beast.
And just because I had it in my ‘camera roll’ as I was transferring stuff for this post…a photo of my 43 or so Supermen at the moment. Once/whenever I get new bookcases assembled and stuff re-arranged, I’m pretty sure these guys are gonna have to split up–it’s getting harder to add new ones, and I’m not too keen on the statue straddling two bookcases, nor of "hiding" it amidst dozens of alternate counterparts.
While everyone else is covering Wonder Woman‘s opening weekend (I saw the film and thought it was fantastic, far more enjoyable and such than Man of Steel or Batman v Superman, and above Suicide Squad) I’m gonna continue on for now. Maybe I’ll write up lengthier, more in-depth thoughts, maybe not.
Prior to seeing the film, I made it to Kenmore to pick up my pulls, and after earlier in the day seeing a staff photo with the statues in the background (and still annoyed that someone bought the Robin statue I had intended to buy a week or two before I went to buy it) I opted to splurge big-time (for me) on this Superman statue.
This is my first statue, at least as I’d consider stuff to be statues. I suppose the Super Powers Robin and Super Powers Superman that I have might be considered some sort of statue, but I don’t count ’em as such.
The box for this Icon Heroes Superman says "collectible statue paperweight" and I don’t quite get where "paperweight" comes in, but whatever. This is larger than any other Superman I’ve yet got, heavier, and has a base, and is very much a statue in my book!
Though the face is a bit generic, and the "S" seems to be more New 52 to me offhand than not, it works (and the costume is more the classic–including the trunks!). I like the pose, and the "movement" of the cape…that it’s not just "flat" hanging off him.
The "detail" of the yellow S on the back of the cape doesn’t seem to be a sticker, but does not seem to be "painted" on…probably some sort of transfer. No bother, though–it looks good to me!
Comics-wise, had Letter 44, Highlander: The American Dream, and TMNT Universe on my pulls, and couldn’t remember if I’d had Aliens: Dead Orbitbut managed to grab that from the shelf. And seeing this other Spawn cover (an updated take on the classic, original #1 issue cover), I bought it to pair with one of my copies of the original first issue for my wall. I’m treating it functionally like buying a small print, and not as a variant cover; regardless of nitpicking on words, though–it’s going to be displayed and not just simply be filed into some box o’ variants or such.
I also snagged the Wonder Woman Day issues–a reprint of the first issue of the Rebirth run, and a chapter of SuperHero Girls: Summer Olympus. (Then on Saturday, I also snagged the cardboard tiara and bracers for a friend’s daughter from Comic Heaven along with an extra copy of the comics to go with ’em.)
I spent a whopping $1 from the 25-cent bins on a couple older comics–The Flash and Brave and the Bold, then a ’90s Justice League Quarterly and the newsstand edition of Batman #500.
Attending the Lake Effect Comic Con on Sunday, I completed my (now-vintage) original set of TMNT: City at War for the same price as some Marvel contemporary #1 issues. And got the X-Men Forever 2 volumes as a 3/$10 deal.
I also snagged this Marvel Treasury Edition of Superman and Spider-Man for a whopping $5.
This is a bit of a "novelty" for me–I believe the only other "treasury" type issues I have are far more recent–a reprint of GI Joe #1 a friend gave me, and an IDW edition of TMNT #50.
I got this Batman at a Barnes and Noble, and a Wolverine I had ordered arrived.
While at the Lake Effect Comic Con, I found a dealer than had a large selection of these Pop! figures…but they all seemed to be marked up quite high–far above anything I was willing to pay. I feel "vindicated" (so to speak) on having ordered this Wolverine, and I bought the Batman in a foolish sort of passive-spite, being able to get it at a "regular" price.
Overall, an extremely expensive weekend, particularly with some other stuff I’d ordered (and forgot about).
Here’s hoping this week’s new comics are another very light load!
Comic Reviews by Walt 