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The Weekly Haul – Week of July 12, 2017

This was a pretty good week’s haul…fairly straight-forward, a couple special orders and a book from last week, and some surprise quarter-bin finds!

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The usual Superman issue for the week in Action Comics. The appropriately-shiny cover for Dark Days: The Casting. A #0 issue for Mage: The Hero Denied (which has me really interested in acquiring the earlier Mage stuff!) Special-ordered Calexit #1 cuz hey…I’ve got my views. Beginning to (against initial plans and judgment) accept The Sovereigns…might be the third iteration in about as many years from Dynamite of the Gold Key characters…but at least they haven’t screwed me on the "complete story-run" if I just buy one of each issue (yet)! (Unlike Valiant).

And the second-to-last issue of Letter 44…which means I’m one issue shy of having a complete run of something like this…and at 35 issues…I think that’s some kinda record for me!

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I’m giving these Atari comics from Dynamite a shot…a bit for the nostalgia, a bit for the weirdness, a bit cuz hey…at least they’re new to me and not pulling the crap that Marvel does!

…and yet, I’m still getting the $1 True Believers issues. I like most of these reprints, even if some of the $1 reprints are of 25-cent books. Or of stuff I previously wouldn’t touch, period (Brand New Day).

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Then there’s the weekly Comic Shop News, which I don’t usually showcase in these posts, but why not? It’s part of the weekly haul! Special-ordered Riverdale Comics Digest, which I believe reprints four or five of the #2 issues of "New Archie". I saw in the indicia that this is published four times/year…so quarterly. I really hope this lasts quite awhile…cuz I’m very willing to pay $6 for 4-5 issues’ content (and only one freaking cover!!!) rather than $3.99 per issue with umpteen ridiculously-plentiful variants!

And though I have yet to acquire any of the starter-packs…another Star Wars Destiny booster pack, because hey…I can justify one pack at a time here and there, while I’m not gonna load up on a bunch of them all at once! And once I do get starter packs, I’ve got a few extra dice and cards to customize the game.

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And finally…found on top of the quarter-bins (and asked someone who was already going through the bins if he’d pulled them–he said no, they were not his), some more digests. I’m not terribly concerned about the condition at this point…just figuring as I come across these sorts (especially cheaply) I’ll grab ’em…maybe eventually I’ll make a concerted effort to hunt them all down. For now…I’ll just add to the collection!


And thus, another week of comics. A mix of publishers and genres…ongoing and one-shot and such; even a mix of formats.

Not a huge week, but not a tiny week; far less sticker shock than recently!

Um…Oops? (Or, The Unexpected Quarter-Bin Haul)

Apparently there was a snafu with Diamond and shipping this week in the US, with the holiday and all. I’m not sure actual details, but with Carol and John’s doing New Comic Day on Thursday, I decided I’d stop by real quick, see if they had one issue I was after. And maybe I’d find a second issue for the heckuvit.

I was gonna be in-and-out real quick, buying maybe 2 comics, if that.

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They’d put out several longboxes of 25-cent comics. After half-heartedly flipping through one, I decided to take on the next, and then a couple more. I had a decent stack going.

Then another longbox was brought out. So, sure, I’ll look through that. Then another.

Bought my stuff, they gave me a box to cart them out in…and here’s another longbox, with the promise of yet a couple more.

Ultimately, I bought 148 comics…only 1 of them "current."

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And on getting home Thursday night, I had a package waiting for me: my latest InStockTrades order.

While I’m waffling on how I feel about the "deluxe hardcover" treatment for Action Comics (as opposed to a "thick" paperback), it’s still a cool volume. And as far as I know, these are the only two Flash by Mark Waid volumes out thus far, and two excellent additions to my Flash shelf.

Finding time to read ’em all, though…that’s gonna be another thing entirely!


With the extra purchasing this week and last, though…I totally blew whatever might have become a "convention" budget or a "sale" budget, so I plan to attend to the recent purchases–and hopefully some solid reading–and am foregoing a convention that would be little fun anyway going alone, and a sale that…well, I’d surely spend way too much at (given half a chance) and other expenses that’d be involved.

C’est la vie and all that. Another week closing out…and we have the new Spider-Man film!

The ONLY trailer(s) I have seen for it thus far were theatrical–and really, I think it’s only one, and was before Wonder Woman or Guardians vol 2. I know OF some stuff, from casting to images forced in front of me…but by and large, I’ve managed to avoid stuff, and intend to continue to do so, even if it means trying to "stay offline" for the day or such.

Sonic, Archie, and Mini Metal Figures

I’m not sure how widespread the store is, but there are several instances of Ollie’s in northern Ohio. They’re a "closeouts" store with remaindered stock and whatnot that varies depending on when you’re actually there. For me, often the greatest finds are books, comics, and occasionally toys.

On a recent visit, I noticed a stack of graphic novels I’d seen before, and figured their stock had waned considerably since the last time I’d ben there.

Then I noticed a bunch of new "comics packs" for kids that looked interesting–a couple of them had volumes of Sonic Archives included.

After looking at a bunch, I found two packs that had stuff I wanted, and got them for $5 each–with 5 "comics" in each pack, that meant they were functionally $1 books.

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What most had my attention for actually purchasing was the $10 Archie books included, plus each pack had two of the Sonic books. (Each pack had a Garfield comic and a Sonic comic in addition, but are functionally throw-away for my interest).

Each of these Sonic Archives digests would have been $8 buying them new, and the Archie books $10 each. $10 got me all 6 books–a $52 "value."

I read a couple stories from the Archie Comics Super Special before I realized I’d started…so much for just flipping through! I guess the Archie/Valerie (of Josie and the Pussycats) romance was particularly interesting given Riverdale.

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And a Walmart I was in had these Nano Metalfigs for 97 cents (think Hotwheels pricing!) and I got a kick out of them. They had a couple different Batman figures but I didn’t care for the design, especially without companion Superman, Wonder Woman, etc. pieces.

The Spider-Man and Hulkbuster Iron Man are cool enough that I snagged them.

Then, since they had all 3 of the kids, got Harry, Ron, and Hermione from the Harry Potter group.

These would totally be at home in a $1 store, and I’d totally get more if there was more selection!

Then again, I don’t exactly "need" even more miniature figures/figurines to take up shelf space. But these would also likely be handy as boardgame piece substitutes and such, and I am a sucker for such miniatures…

The ’80s Revisited: Detective Comics #572

detective_comics_0572The Doomsday Book

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

dick_sprang_remembers_detective_572

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.

Highly recommended!

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A Glimpse of the Art Wall

I finally managed to work out lighting and an angle to get a photo that–though it doesn’t manage to show off everything actually hanging–at least shows off a bit more of the size and "shape" of my "Art Wall."

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Basically, it’s one of the walls of the staircase down to the basement. I started out just pushing pins into the wall to hang a couple frames for safekeeping–it was gonna be temporary placement–but then I started adding more frames, as I found ones that worked very well for holding posters from old ’90s comics and such–from Batman issues, Robin III: Cry of the Huntress, and Reign of the Supermen as well as others. I’ve also placed some frames with comics–particularly variants that were actually display-worthy "prints" to get and such.

There’s no real "order" to the wall, as I pretty much just keep adding toward the bottom of the stairs as I find/frame something new. I may eventually get to where I replace some posters for other stuff, and might swap out the comics to keep the wall more of an "art" wall than a "show off comics" wall…but time will tell!

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This second photo’s another attempt to capture an angle of the wall…this time from the top of the stairs looking down.

I feel like the photos are really crummy compared to what I’d usually post…but these frames are basically a sheet of glass over the front, and are quite reflective at certain angles: so with better lighting, there’s more glare and reflection than viewing the actual art. But actually walking down the stairs, it’s easy to see and enjoy the art.

Just one of those things, I guess, where the real-life experience can’t be duplicated with photos online…c’est la vie and all that!

The ’90s Revisited: Robin #1

90s_revisited

robin001Big Bad World

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.

robin001_posterThe 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!

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The Weekly Haul – Week of June 21, 2017

Well, this turned into a far larger week price-wise than I’d had any intention of…of course, a lot of that goes to some deals, and a couple more of DC‘s $4.99 DC/ILooney Tunes books! And a back-issue.

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Of course, the weekly Superman book–in this case, this week it’s the actual Superman title itself…pretty much concluding the Black Dawn story in an "oversized" "anniversary" #25 issue. Then we have Lobo/Road Runner and Wonder Woman/Tasmanian Devil which, so help me, intrigue me. Super Sons has another issue–I need to make sure I’m caught up to the previous issue. I think I am, but I’m not 100%.

Then just for the novelty of it AND so I won’t have to HUNT for the first issue later, SwordQuest as I’m just curious how the story really will go after the #0 issue…though I don’t like the $3.99 price point. I’ve been getting God Country, and probably should have just waited for the collected volume, as I don’t think I’ve actually read #3 to present.

And finally, because of that darned cover, and figuring if nothing else it’ll go with the last #1 Darth Vader I bought, I figured I’d give the thing a try, now out of the "first week sales figures" range and all that, and it was there, and still cover price. I did NOT, however, buy #2 that came out this week.

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As expensive as three $5 issues and several $4 issues were…I’d had no expectation of finding any great deals on more collected volumes. But for less than the price of 2 Marvel issues, got the oversized hardcover of Wolverine: Sabretooth, collecting two stories. While I’m not the biggest fan of the stuff, it’s still Wolverine, the actual, genuine, regular, true, original character.

Then for roughly the same as seven Marvel single-issues, got the three volumes of Excalibur Visionairies: Warren Ellis. I don’t know if I knew these existed, but all three available together and for this pricing…I couldn’t pass ’em up. And hey…they’re all ’90s or early-2000s X-stuff…especially the Excalibur volumes.

These even put Half-Price Books to shame…and really put convention pricing to shame.

All in all, a big week and plenty of reading to do, and I’m still a hugely long way off from ever catching up. Such is the life of a comic person, I guess…

The ’90s Revisited: X-Men Series 1, Cards 10-18

Here we get into several of the characters I know a lot better, and definitely associate with the ’90s…though also one that I remember by name, but at a glance don’t even remember any details!

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We also see where this set seems to pre-date the "consciousness" of cards like this likely being stored in 9-pocket pages and the "use" of that structure. Given one page late in this series, they weren’t entirely without that, but having just one "landscape" card amidst eight "portrait" cards doesn’t exactly work well for the aesthetics of the "page"…

010a

Lockheed’s had a number of looks, and seems a bit malleable…at least to my conscious mind. This image makes him look a bit larger–so it’s the "conscious" knowledge of his being smaller that I can know that.

010b

I’d swear I’ve seen images of Lockheed on Kitty Pryde’s shoulder like a parrot…but 55 lbs? That definitely stretches stuff a bit. I don’t remember much detail of the character over the years, but this card’s info doesn’t seem to be contradictory to anything…just a bit outta date. And I knew how he got his name, but forgot til re-reading the card. I probably knew that originally from this card. Or Wikipedia.

011a

Given Xavier’s place in the X-Men story, I’m surprised he wasn’t the first card…but then, they’re not going alphabetically nor in order of first appearance and not even by team, so…yeah. This is a fairly typical image of the character, and though I have fond memories of the look (with the golden hover-chair) it seems so dated now, afer getting used to the character in actual wheelchairs or with his legs restored.

011b

Xavier’s description here is pretty generic…and certainly precedes Onslaught, the Illuminati stuff, and obviously the likes of AvX. Though I suppose as I think about it…those added a certain depth the character hadn’t had…even if retcons get old and stale fast.

012a

I’m sure I’ve seen this image–or at least the pose–a number of places other than this card. It’s typical Jim Lee, typical of this character (at least in this ’90s incarnation), etc.

012b

…but no mention on the card of her past, or that this (apparently) isn’t her original body and whatnot. I’m fuzzy on the details, not having read the "Siege Perilous" stuff first-hand as yet, even after all these years.

013a

While I’m sure I was aware of the character before then, I feel like most of my conscious memory of Domino came after the Age of Apocalypse stuff, in the Cable title. This image of her seems a bit harsher and more generic than what I picture in my mind when I think of the character.

013b

This card pretty much sums up what I’d be able to say about the character, despite remembering her from those issues of Cable. And I would not have been able to cite her first appearance or tell you offhand that she’d first appeared in New Mutants #98. This description seems "typical ’90s," as is fitting.

014a

My conscious introduction to Storm was the ’92 X-Men animated series…that look, and that voice are the definitive Storm for me. This card’s image is fairly typical for what I’d think of with the character, except I wouldn’t have recalled her cape having the purple tint or the gold trim.

014b

Nothing stands out much for this card (though I’m noticing the weights of characters seems rather questionable). Her "X-tra Fact" is something I don’t think I’d consciously realized until a recent-ish Nightcrawler series. I have the feeling by the time I’m done offering commentary on this series of cards, I’m gonna be thoroughly kicking myself for not (yet) having gotten to the bulk of the Claremont run.

015a

Meggan…ok. Blond Siryn? For all that my memory has on the character at a name and image.

015b

Huh. Ok, interesting–and here’s a character I’ve learned about by going through these cards. I also like the X-Tra Fact…that’s the sorta detail I definitely took to heart as a kid, and would hold as relatively "absolute" in terms of continuity.

016a

Feral! This is the character I previously couldn’t think of, that I always mix up with Wolfsbane! Two female were-wolf-like characters, X-characters at that, with association with X-Force…no wonder I’ve mixed them up!

016b

So, I probably mix up the names, but most often would think of Wolfsbane, when it comes to the two characters. More details here that I’d hold as certain and be disappointed to not see reflected in a generic, casual appearance of the character involving any kind of action or such.

017a

Now, Cyclops. Possibly my favorite X-character, and this is by far my favorite costume…though I’d swear I never consciously took in all the pouches in the early ’90s. I like the blue, and the gold; I’ll grant that the shorts are rather dated, but the contrast of yellow and blue–evoking prior costumes while becoming iconic for the ’90s–just works for me!

017b

This is another fairly generic description…and it’s quite interesting to see how MUCH the character has grown and changed since the early-1990s…though I really have NOT cared for what’s been done with him since AvX.

018a

I have a mixed bit of thought on Gambit…but he remains one of my definite favorites of the X-Men, for his role in the ’92 cartoon and the Fabian Nicieza series from ’99ish. This is a classic sort of look for the character, and the one I prefer…regardless of how dated or "’90s" it is.

018b

Interesting. Remy Lebeau. I just think of the name with the character…so to consider his name unrevealed (in any form) is a bit odd…but then, he was introduced at most two years before this card was printed, and I’ve been myself aware of the character for most of the last 25-ish years!

I’m more aware OF the "early" stuff with the character, not having actually read his first appearance as yet and "met" the character via the animated series, and he’d already undergone some development well before I realized how "new" a character he was at the time!


Here’s my last post, comments covering the first 9 cards of this series.

The Weekend Haul – Weekend of June 16-18

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.

weeklyhaul_06142017b

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..!).

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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!

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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!).

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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!


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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).

More for the "Art Wall" – June 9th

I think I started what’s become my "art wall" back in January or so. Basically, I’d had some small posters in these "gallery frames," and I decided to put ’em up on a wall, using push-pins. Then it occurred to me that some older posters I had that I was having trouble finding frames for would work in these by flipping the "backing board" of the frame over to essentially provide a "black border" and I could simply position the smaller poster within the area.

This ended up working for a bunch of old posters that had come from comics–bound in the middle of whatever issues, where I’d not found any reasonably-priced option before.

And long story short, I started adding more to this wall such that I’m actually sorta concerned it’s gonna fill up before I’m ready!

One of these days I’m going to attempt to get some photos of it for this blog, but at present, I’m having a major issue with reflection off the glass in everything, such that at the angles I’d need for the camera, I’d wind up either showing off a restroom, or otherwise have too much showing too clearly in the reflection and not enough of what I actually want the photos to show.

However, at the correct sort of angle I’m able to minimize reflection and glare…so here I’m showing off several that I’ve recently put into "gallery frames" but have yet to actually get put on the wall itself.

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Got the Voltron poster at the Lake Effect Comic Con last weekend; they also had this Riverdale poster, though I’d gotten mine at Kemore weeks ago. I hadn’t actually watched much of Riverdale at the time, but now have finished the season (thanks to Netflix!) and quite enjoyed it, despite the massive departures from the source material. That’s a subject for another post, though for now–I’m hoping the series gets a second season, and look forward to seeing what they do with it!

And I’ve yet to watch more than a few minutes or an episode or so of the new Voltron–I’m more familiar with Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, and far prefer the original Megazord…but can’t deny simply enjoying the notion of the individual machines joining together to form an even bigger one, and I’m close to giving in and buying some of the toys, though I’ve thus far held off the temptation. But as a poster and liking the image, well worth putting on the wall!

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Then, at half the price of specific comic-sized frames, I’ve found that these "document frames" work very well for single-issue comics that I want to show off. As I’ve said in previous posts, this is where I’ll give in occasionally on variants–treating them as "prints" to be hung on a wall and displayed, not merely owned and filed away in the abyss of an accumulation I call my "collection."

I’m not sure how well thicker issues or squarebound issues/annuals would fare like this…but since I’m not big into variants anyway, it’s not something I expect to really have to deal with.

I have some other issues I’m thinking of framing in this way, though…but this sort of gets into different territory than the posters and prints. I suppose that’s a matter for some other time, though.