• March 2026
    S M T W T F S
    1234567
    891011121314
    15161718192021
    22232425262728
    293031  

  • On Facebook

    On Facebook

  • Archives

  • Categories

  • Comic Blog Elite

    Comic Blogs - BlogCatalog Blog Directory

A Look At the Bookshelves

Posted on August 15, 2013 by Walt

The last several years I’ve been keeping “recent” books separate from the main collection–they’re more convenient this way for me. Until this week, they were in any which order, and I kept finding myself wondering where, exactly, I had stuck something…so I finally got around to organizing three shelves’ worth of graphic novels.

dcshelf_full

Above: the full “DC Shelf,” which includes the handful of non-big-name stuff.

dc_01

Vertigo and Batman stuff…

dc_02

Superman…

dc_03

The rest of the DC stuff, primarily Flashpoint and Green Lantern stuff.

indy_stuff

These are recent non-DC/non-Marvel (and non-TMNT/non-Valiant) books…

marvel_full

The “Marvel shelves,” primarily Marvel but also my IDW-TMNT and Valiant stuff. The GI Joe, Dark Horse Heroes, and Aliens book got moved to join the Transformers and Highlander books so I wouldn’t need to use bookends.

tmnt_valiant

I love the TMNT Ultimate Collection volumes…just waiting for the fifth/final in that series to come out. I have yet to snag the Valiant Classics Shadowman volume, and may “upgrade” the current Valiant when the hardcovers for those start coming out later this year (if I recall correctly).

marvel_01

I continue to be amazed at how much Marvel I get in bookshelf format, and how much of it is “older.” A lot of Marvel volumes I’ve bought for anywhere from 50/60% off cover price to a mere $1-$3 apiece.

marvel_02

And I think part of why I have so many Marvel books compared to DC is the seeming constant “liquidation” of Marvel stuff, and the sheer plentiful-ness of cheaper volumes pretty much anywhere I go. Good and bad, but that’s a topic for another post.

marvel_03

Though not all that much a fan of the Ultimate line these days, I don’t mind checking ’em out when I can get a $25 hardcover for $3 or so. However, I’m actively looking to fill in my Ultimate Spider-Man run…just need vols 6-9 and I don’t know if there’s a 13 yet.

marvel_04

I’m definitely interested in tracking down other “major” X-event volumes…most specifically the Age of Apocalypse Omnibus and the Fatal Attractions volume…along with X-Force vol. 2.

Lately I seem to be back on the single-issue bargains train, working on filling out a number of “sub-collections” like DC ’90s Events (Armageddon 2001, Zero Hour, One Million) as well as Classic Valiant and Ultraverse, ongoing Bat-family books from ’86-2011, and ongoing X-titles 1990ish to 2003, with Uncanny X-Men to 2011 or so. But again…that’s for another post.

Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments »

Completing Action Comics…and the Regular Wednesday Haul

Posted on August 7, 2013 by Walt

The other day I considered driving across town to check another comic shop in my eagerness to “complete” my “From Crisis to Crisis to Flashpoint” run of Action Comics.

I reviewed Action Comics #890 just over three years ago, but with other stuff going on at the time, that wound up being my last issue of the title; I took the plunge and just dropped all the Superman titles altogether, gravitating toward non-DC (and non-Marvel) books. I returned the next year for #900 for the sake of it being the first-ever legitimately-made-it-to-900 American comic, and then stuck around for 901-904 as the series’ end heading into The New 52.

action890891

Of course, three years’ time means #890 is buried somewhere in one of many longboxes, and to expedite reading the entire Black Ring saga in one go, I simply purchased a new copy of the issue (satisfyingly enough, these several years later, at a mere PENNY above cover price…WITH a bag and board!).

#891, though–the “treasure” (so to speak)–completes my run. I now own #583 (Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?) through #904 (Reign of Doomsdays) and the end of the pre-New 52 DC Universe.

gambitxternalsbargainbin

I still flipped QUICKLY through the bargain bins to see if anything “new” or interesting caught my eye. I did spot a couple of the Age of Apocalypse minis, but as usual let ’em go (I’m not interested in hunting individual issues). However, seeing all 4 of Gambit and the X-Ternals I pulled ’em. Not bad, considering it’s an entire mini-series for a whopping $1!

Assuming I can do so for 25 or 50 cents an issue, definitely interested in seeing how quickly I can build another full set of the original Age of Apocalypse…though I might go as high as $1/issue for X-Universe, as I rarely see either of those issues in bargain bins.

august072013haul

…and the main haul of the week: Higher Earth #9 (final issue), Cyber Force #5, Legends of the Dark Knight #11, Shadowman #9, and Quantum and Woody #2.

I’m rather non-plussed at Higher Earth…this issue was (based on original solicitations) due out in January…7-8 MONTHS ago! Even Hypernaturals has since ended at #12, and I believe IT got its start after Higher Earth. Until very recently when #8 showed up, I actually thought these issues had already come out, as I pretty much put them aside in frustration at the cancellation.

Cyber Force I’ve been picking up but not reading…I believe this issue completes the first arc, so now I’ll read. (And given the series has been pushed as “free,” or in the case of Kenmore, 50 cents, I’m all for a ~$2.50 5-issue story!).

I’ve decided to jump on the print editions of several of the DC Digital-First titles…caught up on Legends of the Dark Knight #s 8-10 this past weekend (a shop had all 3 at cover price), just in time for this new issue.

And of course…I get all standard-cover Valiant issues.

Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Another Weekend Haul

Posted on August 5, 2013 by Walt

Last week–despite my best intentions–I still wound up with quite a haul of primarily bargain-bin comics. At least at Kenmore I kept my bargain-bin stack to the cost of one single “new” comic.

kenmore01

Because they were “there” and #1s, snagged Classic X-Men and The Question for a re-read/convenience factor. While I loathe variants in general, for a single 25-cent piece, I snagged the Shadowman 8-bit variant–worst case I could tear the cover off and put it up as a poster or something somewhere, for that pricing!

kenmore02

I also snagged a couple more Zero Hour issues, a DC One Million issue, and the first issue of Joker: Last Laugh.

kenmore03

Probably best of all, snagged 5 of the issues I was missing from Action Comics, when I intentionally dropped the Superman titles several years ago due to pricing and frustration, though with intent to “later” pick them up from bargain bins! $1.25 for the five issues, and three of these at least were originally $3.99 apiece!

comicheavenanniversarysale

Comic Heaven was having an anniversary sale, which included 30% off back issues. Having already snagged those other 5 issues of Action Comics, I decided to try my luck on filling in the rest of my “missing” run…found 3 of the issues. I also found a shiny-cover variant of Superman #150 that I don’t think I even knew existed until I saw it flipping through the back-issue bins!

The next day at Half-Price Books, I found Action Comics #900 (standard edition) for 50 cents, and saw the Superman/Batman annual, and for 50 cents decided to toss that on the stack.

halfpricebooksmentor

Also at that Half-Price Books, I snagged 2 of the 3 issues of Thunderstrike that I’m missing from the original 24-issue run (I’m now only missing #16!) as well as an issue of Ultraforce I was missing (love having my checklist in my phone!). I liked the cover of the Warlock issue and picked that up–possibly a ’90s Revisited post down the line in the not-too-distant future?

Later that night on a whim, I stopped in at a second Half-Price Books location just on the off-chance that they might have either of the two remaining issues of Action Comics that I’m after. Sadly, no such luck.

bloodlinesoutbreak

However, I did notice a couple Bloodlines annuals. Started to flip past ’em, but they kept going.

bloodlinesdeathstorm

…and going (and look! Demon Annual #2, first appearance of Hitman!)…

bloodlinesearthplague

…and going. Quite a few of these…but what about the Bloodbath mini that capped off the whole thing?

bloodbath

Yup…looked like this was the entirety of Bloodlines, INCLUDING Bloodbath. And though I have mixed feelings on ’em, I’ve been rather interested in tracking down several of these Annuals “events” from DC along with all these years later the Zero Hour event tie-ins. I’ve since gone through a checklist and sure enough…for the price of 3 current $3.99 books, got the entire Bloodlines event in one go. No piecemeal gathering, no shipping from mail order, no expensive convention.

And all of this for well under half of what I’d expected to spend for the weekend before other plans went awry.

Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Valiant: Coming in August

Posted on July 4, 2013 by Walt

I don’t like variant covers, I don’t like 5-5+ page “previews” of other comics in the backs of my books, I don’t like $3.99 as a price point, and I don’t like “clumping” or “clustering” of books.

But I’ve stuck with Valiant for over a year now, and despite some practices I don’t like, they do a lot right.

And one of the things I really like is that the backs of their comics keep me apprised as to what’s coming out when, showing cover imagery for the next month’s books.

I find this to be a rather attractive design, and as a person who is presently maintaining a pull list that includes “all Valiant single-issues,” informative. When–across the prior month–I see these images regularly, I know what I’m looking for when the issues DO come out, and there’s a certain familiarity that I like.

Though these can be a bit spoilery (at least in who’s gonna show up or survive), that familiarity means when I get to a new issue, the cover’s not a surprise, but I don’t have to have read solicitation text for it, either. And sometimes I find myself guessing at what’s going to be going on in an issue or otherwise just looking forward to it because of the cover imagery.

valiant-coming-in-august

For example, that Bloodshot image looks very interesting, I like the coloring, and I’ve got time between these back covers and the inserted checklists that’ve been coming with some issues (whether packed that way or the comic shop tucking them in, I’m not sure) to come to really associate that Bloodshot image with the #0 issue, which goes a way toward making it somewhat “iconic” without being some chromium/foil-enhanced anything.

I also find myself quite amused lately at the Archer & Armstrong covers, as they seem to carry a certain sort of “humor” to them, given what we know of the characters, and that alone adds a little extra something to the title. Seeing the image so small, I look forward to the “full size” cover, and it keeps me wondering just how literal the cover may be–will that scene be in the book, or is it just drawn as a parallel to the book’s story?

And frankly, these collages “do” a lot more for me than any other ad on the back of a comic; sure, they’re not getting the outside advertising dollars for this house ad, but they gain a bit of good will from me as a reader, and set themselves apart from being “just” another Marvel or DC.

Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Batman/Superman #1 [Review]

Posted on July 1, 2013 by Walt

batmansuperman001Crossworld

Writer: Greg Pak
Artists: Jae Lee, Ben Oliver
Colors: June Chung, Daniel Brown
Letters: Rob Leigh
Cover: Jae Lee with June Chung
Associate Editor: Rickey Purdin
Group Editor: Eddie Berganza
Published by: DC Comics
Cover Price: $3.99

I bought this issue to meet a credit card minimum. Of everything on the “new” shelf, it was the only thing that really grabbed my attention for a one-shot purchase with potential. Other than setting this apart from the Loeb-launched Superman/Batman from a decade ago, I do find myself mildly curious as to any significance to the title, having Batman listed first. At least BOTH characters are spotlighted on the standard cover…you don’t have to track down two covers to get both title characters in one shot.

Unfortunately, it was a lot more disappointing than I expected. I’d avoided it on Wednesday–I just had zero interest in it from the start. ANOTHER “Superman meets Batman for the FIRST TIME” story. And that’s where it goes wrong; where I go wrong. I am absolutely NOT the “target audience” for this book: I’m bored and put-out by the New 52 at this point…and to ME, the “first meeting” between Superman and Batman happened “One Night in Gotham City” in the 1980s’ Man of Steel #3.

Leaving nostalgia and such aside, I have a real problem with a young Superman–Superboy???–being so…arrogant, angry, violent. To say nothing of the fact that I did read the first-ever New 52 issue, Justice League #1. And I’m recalling a scene in which Batman and Green Lantern talk about some alien in Metropolis, and meet Superman “for the first time.” So that makes this issue essentially a fairly big plothole to a casual such reader as myself.

Clark Kent visits Gotham, and realizes he really does not fit into this dark city. When he confronts some kids bullying another, he meets a drunk, stinking boy billionaire with more street sense than he’d’ve expected. Turns out Clark was looking for Bruce, to see what he knew of several Wayne employees murdered recently. The two part on neutral terms, neither impressed with the other. The murderer strikes again, and Batman leaps into the fray, surprised at the identity…before Superman busts in, throwing around violence and making a bad situation worse. Another entity joins the situation, and just makes things confusing…though that seems to set up what may be the plot for the next few issues.

Visually I’m not all that impressed…Lee‘s art is not particularly “up my alley,” it’s very stylized and just not what I would choose. Because it’s so…what it is, this feels like it ought to me some sort of Elseworlds book, or some intercompany crossover in the vein of these characters meeting the Aliens or Predators. I’ve never really cared for the jeans, t-shirt and cape get-up for Superman; the look is done no favors here, in my eyes. There’s also something to the way Lee depicts the “S” that bugs me–like it’s trying to be a mash-up of the overly-lined Man of Steel film logo and the more stylized Superman Returns film logo.

Lee‘s art gets the job done, though…even depicting the violence fairly disturbingly (something Lee‘s style does well with). So while it’s not my cup of tea and I have nitpicky issues, I won’t fault it too heavily in and of itself.

I don’t care for the art shift toward the end of the issue. It fits reasonably well given the shift in scenery and all–but I find myself wondering if this is an issue of timing or a planned function to serve the story itself (or just happened to work as it is).

The story itself roughly fits a fairly standard mold for these characters…the idea that while they come to work together when more seasoned at the whole “super-hero” thing, they clash in the early days of their careers is not new. What little I know of the New 52 incarnation of Superman kinda fits, though again I don’t like it much. Batman I’m less sure on–this Bruce Wayne sorta fits with Year One, and probably perfectly fits with the upcoming Zero Year stuff. Given Clark’s readiness to cut loose with his powers it’s sort of astonishing that he doesn’t (seem to) recognize Batman as a mortal man and “reveal” him or at least peek under the cowl with X-ray vision. (Then again, I realize I don’t know the origin of this version of Superman, so maybe he didn’t have access to that power yet).

All in all, I imagine that if you’re a fan of Jae Lee‘s art, of the New 52 early Superman, and/or Pak‘s writing, and have no particular “attachment” to ’80s/’90s Superman and Batman, you’ll probably enjoy this. You might have to overlook that this is yet another $3.99 book…but hey? $2.99 seems to be an exception rather than the rule, these days.

Filed under: Batman/Superman, DC, New 52, The | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

10 Favorite Superman Covers

Posted on June 21, 2013 by Walt

I’m not much of an art person when it comes to comics–I tend to prefer story over art…but that’s not to say that art doesn’t play a huge factor! And through the years, there have been a number of Superman comics whose covers have particularly stood out to me, for one reason or another. In this series, I presented 10 of my favorites and why they are favorites. Click the covers below to go to the original posts.

01  02  03

04  05  06

07  08  09

10

I posted this series for 10 days from Wednesday, June 5 through Friday, June 14–opening day of Man of Steel. Click any of the covers above to see the full post for that issue.

Filed under: Favorite Superman Covers, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Favorite Superman Covers: Superman: The Man of Steel #37

Posted on June 14, 2013 by Walt

I’m not much of an art person when it comes to comics–I tend to prefer story over art…but that’s not to say that art doesn’t play a huge factor! And through the years, there have been a number of Superman comics whose covers have particularly stood out to me, for one reason or another. In this series, I’m presenting 10 of my favorites and why they are favorites.

A Superman cover dominated by Batman…Batmen, rather. There’s something to that contrast that in and of itself makes this stand out for me. Also that this was–as I recall–one of the earlier tie-ins to the Zero Hour crossover…which I’m thinking was my first real “comics-universe-wide” such experience.

There’d been Eclipso: The Darkness Within and Bloodlines, of course…but this was a story that was taking place in the actual, regular (“real”) issues of the actual comics and not something constrained to special Annual issues.

supermanthemanofsteel037

But there’s also just something about Superman facing all these Batmen that’s…fun. This also would have been a time where I’d become aware of the lengthy history of the characters, and through Grandpa’s old comics, and library reading, I’d’ve even been aware of many of the versions of Batman on this cover.

I’m aware of a poster–double-sided, I believe–that promoted this issue…with a flip-side showing Batman surrounded by Supermen. Said poster can’t be easy to find…but would be a welcome one to have.

Filed under: Favorite Superman Covers, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

This Week’s Superman Haul

Posted on June 13, 2013 by Walt

Though I’d consider Superman my favorite comics character–and one with whom I have the most “history” (other close rivals being Batman and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), it’s been a long time since I bought any new Superman comics.

But this week, I picked up Superman Unchained #1, got the free All-Star Superman #1 reprint, and from the 25-cent bin, snagged a copy of the 2nd print of 1992’s Superman #75–the Death of Superman.

supermanweek06132013

Not a bad haul for the price and page count!

Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Favorite Superman Covers: Adventures of Superman #463

Posted on June 13, 2013 by Walt

I’m not much of an art person when it comes to comics–I tend to prefer story over art…but that’s not to say that art doesn’t play a huge factor! And through the years, there have been a number of Superman comics whose covers have particularly stood out to me, for one reason or another. In this series, I’m presenting 10 of my favorites and why they are favorites.

While I do know this cover is based on/an homage to the silver-age Superman #199, this version is what I remember, and is my favorite of the two. While I don’t remember the exact time, I do remember pulling this off a spinner rack at a Kmart, and I even think I remember choosing this over the comic adaptation of the Tim Burton Batman film…though that could just be blurry memory/timey-wimey stuff.

adventuresofsuperman463

Continuing the observational trend…this would make a great poster…a simple yet dynamic image, seeing Superman and Flash take off. I also think it’s quite likely that this was one of my earliest exposures to the Flash as a character–certainly it’s the earliest distinct, clear memory I have of being aware of the character.

The color scheme–especially the red and blue against black–makes the cover stand out in a way that others don’t…at least for me.

Filed under: Favorite Superman Covers, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Favorite Superman Covers: The Man of Steel #1

Posted on June 11, 2013 by Walt

I’m not much of an art person when it comes to comics–I tend to prefer story over art…but that’s not to say that art doesn’t play a huge factor! And through the years, there have been a number of Superman comics whose covers have particularly stood out to me, for one reason or another. In this series, I’m presenting 10 of my favorites and why they are favorites.

This is another issue where I’ll take the variant over the standard, but only just barely. While I’d typically prefer the standard cover for “fitting in” with the trade dress/visual style of the rest of the series, this one’s just got a bit of an edge with the iconic shirt-rip, and the shiny-ish silver for the title.

manofsteel(1986)001a

The image is also quite fitting with the caption–The Legend Begins!–as Clark switches to the Superman guise to do his thing. First appearance of this version of Superman, to best of my knowledge…so this could be the first time he DOES the shirt-rip, if you want to think of it that way.

I also can’t fault this being a variant, as–if ANY issues warrant them–the beginning of a whole new continuity for Superman, a new introduction to the character…and as far as I know it was only for this first issue, and not multiples on every single issue…it works.

Filed under: Favorite Superman Covers, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

« Previous Page — Next Page »