It’s amazing how life gets busy at certain times…and how that can be exacerbated by having the computer one has been primarily using for years suddenly decide to freeze up and then refuse to ever boot up Windows again.
Combined with a couple other things going on, and rather than separate posts, let’s cover "The Weekly Haul" stuff from the past couple weeks AND Halloween Comicfest!
Week of October 24, 2018
Last week had the foiled edition of Action Comics #1004…and I finally pulled 1001, 1002, and 1003 together and caught up on reading! I have to reiterate how much I’ve liked this low-key "stunt month" that DC did this year, where the foiling did not add to the regular price–$3.99 books stayed $3.99, so it’s purely cosmetic. And as a "stunt month," it’s not like it was all over the place. And the best part is that the fancy covers are the main, primary cover and NOT some variant!
Extra dose of TMNT with the second Macro-Series issue, this one focusing on Michelangelo; and the sixth issue of TMNT: Urban Legends, reprinting the 6th issue of the old Image series!
Then the newest issues of Aliens: Dust to Dust, of Flash, and Die!Die!Die!…where I have some collating and catch-up reading to do!
Week of October 31, 2018
This week is a "fifth week," and so definitely a bit smaller. DC‘s second issue of Heroes in Crisis hit, apparently a week "late." I was not 100% on picking this up, but especially with being a small week, and I’m now leaning toward "grudgingly" picking it up, if only for morbid curiosity…but perhaps just as much so that I can read it for myself and evaluate it for myself. If I don’t like it, at least I’ll get that for myself. I don’t like it so far, but it feels like it’s got some weird sort of potential. I’m also willing to "support" it with it not having umpteen branded official tie-in chapters (so far), unlike the marvelous competition.
I’m digging the main Batman title of late, having jumped back into current reading with The Gift and the run-up to #50; loved the Freeze story, and just keeping up. As a fifth week, figured what the heck? Been ages since a Secret Files [& Origins] issue, so curiosity (and the foil cover) won me over. Plus…it’s Batman.
And I’m definitely enjoying the True Believers What If..? issues–most of them, I have not read before, so they’re particularly fun for only $1.00, where so many of the True Believers issues are reprints of stuff I do already have and/or have read. This What if…Legion had Killed Magneto? draws from the original Age of Apocalypse stuff from 1995. (And I’d meant to ‘cover’ the issue several years ago when I covered the entirety of that original Age of Apocalypse saga, but never quite got around to it then.)
Finally, snagged some Hordes minis to go with others I’ve bought…I have a good-size selection of these now to assemble, prime, and paint, which could be a way to pass a few weeks coming up or in 2019.
Halloween Comicfest 2018
While it seemed there were more officially-branded Halloween COmicfest issues than ever this year, many were "mini-comics" or "ashcan-sized," and at least from the covers and being backed up on plenty of other reading and considering last year’s issues and maybe prior years…I opted just to snag these. I wasn’t sure what to make of the Adventures of Aspen Mascots but it looked fun; definitely up for the Hellblazer reprint (especially while DC otherwise doesn’t seem to know what it wants to do with the character) for the 30th anniversary. And the completist in me didn’t want to pass on the Rise of the TMNT mini-comic, though I’m not fond of the tv show from the premiere episode.
As a far, Far, FAR superior value to me than contemporary Marvel #1 issues, for the same price, I snagged both of these issues of the older Captain America series from the 1960s. My grandfather (who helped get me into comics 30 years ago) had at least one of these issues, though I can’t remember which (and pretty sure he didn’t have the other, as I always mixed up the cover images in my memory). So there’s sentimental value in getting these copies if only for that.
Going through $1 bins, I ended up opting only to get the Tales of the Marvels issues. There’s just not much in the way of Marvel stuff that I find worthwhile outside of 25-50 cent bins…but especially at the moment due to personal stuff going on.
The Gobbledygook issue will go into my TMNT collection; it was a nice find for 33% off, which put it cheaper than any modern Marvel issue.
I snagged about $4-$5 worth of 25-cent bin comics. These Battlebooks ones stood out to me immediately for the tradedress…I love the way the white/red of the main logo pops and the characters on top of the crisp black background. These are a bit of nostalgia for me–I remember when these first came out! I think I’d originally gotten the Citizen V one, and can’t remember what the other one I picked up was.
These were a sort of game, where (with rules as described on a couple of inserts included in the issue) two players would have the characters "fight" and the results were determined by grids of statistics on the various pages.
They were more interesting than they sound, but are definitely at best value for 25 cents for the artwork. Still, fun finds!
I have fond memories of the Slingers title. I have yet to actually read the various Spider-Man issues where Peter Parker took on the four alternate guises (Ricochet, Prodigy, Dusk, and Hornet). But when this series premiered, I went with the Ricochet edition, and followed the series to its conclusion (12 issues and a Wizard #0 issue, if I recall correctly).
As I recall, these were variant issues–the beginning and ending are the same in all four issues, but there’s a several (8? 12? 16? I honestly don’t recall as of this typing) page sequence in each issue that is character-specific, where the Slingers split up, so the Ricochet issue follows him when the four split, while in place of those pages, the Dusk issue follows that character instead.
I absolutely would not want this being done with modern comics at modern prices, since it would be vastly over-used very quickly. But now nearly 20 years in the past and available in 25-cent bins, I find this a fun sorta thing–especially getting all 4 issues for only $1.
And that’s it for October. Here’s hoping November’s a good month! Hard to believe we’re nearing the end of 2018 already…but then, lately it’s hard to believe it’s 2018 when sometimes I feel like I still so clearly remember stuff from 1999, or 1998…that I was self-aware even 25+ years ago (and that all these years later, here I am still into comics as much or more than ever before!)
Filed under: 2018 Non-Review Posts, 2018 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: #NCBD, Action Comics, Aliens, bargain bins, Batman, DC Comics, DieDieDie, Dust to Dust, Flash, foil covers, halloween, halloween comicfest, Heroes in Crisis, IDW, Macro Series, new comics, Ninja Turtles, Secret Files, Stunt Month, TMNT, Urban Legends, weekly haul, What If? | Leave a comment »
For me, this is a mixed bunch. My favorite of these five specials is the Betty Cooper Confidential–probably because it seems best suited to the format. It read very much like a short story from one of the Archie digests I’d buy in the checkout lane at Walmart or some such. Even this is largely a preview for another book, though. The story–which has Betty’s diary blown away on the wind and then recovered in pieces by her friends–is one of those that plays all the characters as being friends, with far less competition or other conflict between them than in other stories. Given this is a light-hearted piece, that works fine. I’ve never been a great judge of a good age group for Archie books…but I’d say this one’s quite mild and safe for any age that’d be interested.
The Popeye comic features a reprint of what seems to be a classic serial in which Popeye & friends encounter a “ghosk” on their ship. There’s not much to it, but it’s definitely got the feel of the old Popeye cartoons I’ve recently exposed myself to. I can mostly hear Popeye and Olive’s voices in my head as I read this, but there’s something distinct to these pages–they are not simply an adaptation nor exact source material for any of the cartoons I can recall. The Ghost theme seems chosen for Halloween (where these specials are intended to be available for giving out)…but the few pages we get does not give a complete story, and just seems to end after giving up several clues and a likely reveal, though no real details or context. Still, it’s a good sampler for what Seeger’s classic strip is like, and for seeing Popeye in comic panels rather than in motion on a tv screen.
The Star Wars issue is a brief story that sees Han and Chewie wind up on a planet in need of fuel, and discovering undead inhabitants doomed to relive the accident that claimed their lives. In a way, this story feels rather out of place for what I’m used to with the Star Wars universe. At the same time, it’s also plausible given the suspension of disbelief one needs in order to believe in aliens, space ships, and The Force. We do get a “complete adventure” in these pages, which is nice–it’s just a quick slice-of-life sorta piece detailing this one particular incident the characters faced. I couldn’t say how it holds up to Star Wars canon, but it’s certainly worth the couple minutes it takes to read!
I’d expected the Casper/Little Lulu to be my least-favorite of all of these, but it has some slight charm to it. I don’t particularly LIKE it, but I can appreciate the strips for both characters for what they are–classic strips that were well-known in their time (I at least know OF the characters, even if I can’t tell you much of anything else other than what you see in this issue). Like the Popeye issue, this is interesting as a classic of comic strips, but if you’re not interested in the characters going in, this probably isn’t going to do anything to change your mind.
Finally, the Domo issue–which was sitting next to the just-released full-sized volume of the same title (Domo: The Manga) feels very much like a previw and nothing else. I’m not even sure what to make OF Domo or whatever the character may otherwise be called. I’ve seen the image of the character represented in various elements of pop culture, but know even less about it than I do Casper. The stories contained in this issue don’t really make sense to me, and I’m relatively certain as such that I am not at all the target audience. If you like Domo, this might be worth your time. If you don’t…then don’t bother with this.
Comic Reviews by Walt 