Hickman | Comic Reviews by Walt

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Resumption of X: Purchase #9

Posted on March 16, 2021 by Walt

This purchase was part of a MUCH larger purchase overall…at the Winston World sale at Carol & John’s the weekend of March 5-7.

I had attempted to attend the March iteration of that show I went to back in October, but they were "at capacity" before I even got there with no signs of that changing and a long line down a hall, through the lobby, and down another hall in the hotel, and that with a $5 "cover charge" to even gain admittance.

So I went to CNJ instead…and wound up spending my entire "show budget" on primarily X-back-issues…current AND back to the ’90s.

With these nine issues…I’m now down to missing Excalibur #12, New Mutants #s 13 & 16; X-Force #s 3, 4, 8, & 13; Wolverine #6; and Hellions #s 3 & 5.

That’s about 33% less than the number of issues I bought in one go back in early February.

Of course, that excludes Deadpool 2-9 of the latest run…but I don’t count that the same way as it’s not a "branded" Dawn of X/Reign of X title with this semi "digital"-looking style to the logos.

And several of these missing issues are early X of Swords chapters…where I’ve passed on 2nd prints. I do want first prints…the "actual" issues, all the way through…it’s my OCD and desire for consistency.

But with the comic shops in the area not having them…I had counted on the comic show to find more…and I suppose now we’ll see how things are for one in the area next month and how compatible that is (or is not) with some real-life situations going on at present.

Filed under: 2021 Non-Review Posts, 2021 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, Resumption of X | Tagged: cable, collecting, collecting comics, comics, Dawn of X, Deadpool, Excalibur, Fallen Angels, Hellions, Hickman, jonathan hickman, Juggernaut, Marauders, New Mutants, Reign of X, Resumption of X, Wolverine, X of Swords, X-Factor, x-force, x-men | Leave a comment »

Resumption of X: Purchase #8

Posted on March 15, 2021 by Walt

Another Lonestar (mycomicshop.com) purchase netted another 11 issues of the Hickman-era X-books. 10 shown, as I promptly after that bought one of the same issues, totally having forgotten to mark it in my ever-dwindling checklist!

Finished off the Fallen Angels 6-issue mini or whatever it was. It sounds (from what I gather from Chris Sheehan (Chris is on Infinite Earths / X-Lapsed)) that the current Hellions is largely a continuation of this book, possibly "rebranded" or some such (my phrasing, not his). Either way…nice to knock an entire run off the "missing issues" checklist!

And then four of the five Giant-Size X-Men books from last year; got the Nightcrawler one from Midtown as detailed in my previous post in this series of "Resumption of X" stuff.

Annnnd Juggernaut #1, which completes that limited series. I suppose one thing about such an "unconnected" series is that whenever I go to read it I’ll probably binge the entire series, rather than trying to read through in roughly publication-order hopping across 6-10 books.

Nine purchases in–7 of them ranging from "large" to "huge"–and that being after buying 2/3 of X of Swords in one go–I’m down to a pretty-manageable list of missing issues from this era of X-stuff.

As of this typing (though not sure when this post will go live) I’m a few days out from a possible comic show that I’m hoping might allow me to pretty much be totally caught up to current.

So as always…time will tell for what’s next. Suffice it to say that I think the primary binge-buying is done, now, outside of what I might be able to get at the show–I’ve exhausted what I can find at four local comic shops and two major online shops…which pretty much leaves stuff like a show or otherwise happening across issues.

Resumption of X: Purchase #7

Posted on March 9, 2021 by Walt

Here we are…another post in my series continuing to chronicle my "Resumption of X"–the ridiculously-(relatively)-quick resumption of collecting X-books from the Hickman era and trying to be "caught up to current" all the way back to HoX/PoX.

This was a small order I somewhat gritted my teeth on, ordering from Midtown. Three $5 issues PLUS shipping. I feel like it’s too few issues to place an order–with shipping amounting to 25-30 percent of the entire order!

But the Giant-Size X-Men: Nightcrawler issue was the only one that Lonestar did not have of those 5 specials and for roughly cover price. And they’re a bit on the "older" side, where as with the other #1s…it was Midtown to the rescue in being able to get them (and first prints/regular covers at that!) for roughly cover price!

So the same followed for Hellions #1, which I had missed when I did the earlier order with the #1s for the first wave of titles. And Deadpool as an "adjacent" title (much as Juggernaut and X-Men Legends…stuff typically tied to X-stuff but not necessarily branded with the trade dress/style/etc of the main Dawn of X/Reign of X titles).

As mentioned above about Lonestar, I was placing orders with them as well as Midtown, and that order should be the next post in this series.

Resumption of X: Purchase #6

Posted on March 8, 2021 by Walt

In the ongoing "Resumption of X" I’m chronicling the material actuality of my trying to as quickly as possible catch up on the Hickman-era/Dawn of X family of X-titles.

Here’s another purchase from Comic Heaven, with what I call "priced back issues" (that is, comics bagged/boarded, priced, and filed in longboxes–as opposed to "recent back issues" that are still out loose on the "rack" or such simply at cover price).

This time, snagged a couple more issues of the Hickman "adjectiveless" X-Men core title…as well as another issue of Excalibur.

Unfortunately for me, I had neglected to mark in my phone’s checklist that I’d already ordered the X-Men issue with Mystique on the cover, so…oops. I’m not too keen on some of the duplicates I’m winding up with between mistakes like that, and variants/2nd printings.

But with a couple more online orders supplementing what I’m able to get at the LCS, and looking at another local show coming up, I’m thinking even if I can’t score any "grails", I’m wondering if I might be able to be "caught up to current" on this era of X-books by April?

Time shall tell!

Resumption of X: Purchase #5

Posted on March 3, 2021 by Walt

In my ongoing quest for catching up on the Dawn of X-era X-comics, I had aimed to visit Comics and Friends for the first time in farrrrr too long (first time since stuff started reopening after the initial shutdowns last year) on the Saturday before Valentine’s Day. Unfortunately, I also ran a couple of other errands and found myself having arrived at the mall about 15 minutes after closing time. Whether that was just online-posted closing time I wasn’t sure but I decided to forego hiking through a cold parking lot just to find a gated store and such.

So I went back Sunday afternoon and had no problem getting in and as hoped/expected, finding a small selection of recent back-issues!

Several more issues of New Mutants and Excalibur starting out.

Then three issues of X-Men. Couldn’t find anything from any of the other titles that I didn’t already have or have coming soon from the online shops.

But I did notice Juggernaut. While they didn’t have the first issue…they had 2-5, which I snagged with the expectation that by the time I get around to reading the series I should hopefully have been able to find the first issue.

While not strictly-speaking a Dawn of X title, I’ve heard good stuff about it and figure–like Deadpool‘s recently-concluded 10-issue maxi-series–it would be a decent addition to my mass of issues.

Despite these significant purchases, I’ve still got quite a few issues to track down for the Dawn of X-era stuff. But I’d say I’m probably a good 3/4 of the way there, and I think what I’m missing is pre-X of Swords, which means I can at least READ the stuff on Marvel Unlimited, even if I don’t yet have it in my OCD-fueled print collection.

Filed under: 2021 Non-Review Posts, 2021 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: cable, collecting, collecting comics, comics, Dawn of X, Deadpool, Excalibur, Fallen Angels, Hellions, Hickman, jonathan hickman, Juggernaut, Marauders, New Mutants, Reign of X, Resumption of X, Wolverine, X of Swords, X-Factor, x-force, x-men | Leave a comment »

Resumption of X: Purchase #4

Posted on March 1, 2021 by Walt

Visiting Kenmore Komics I was able to snag another 21 issues of the Dawn of X-era X-comics. I think all the issues were a whopping one cent over cover price–rounding that penny from $3.99 to $4 even.

And with buying a bunch, got an unexpected (but welcome) discount on the issues!

A scattering of issues from Excalibur, Hellions, Marauders, Wolverine, and X-Men…

Then a good chunk of X-Force, a little over a third of the run!

And another chunk of New Mutants; about a third of its run! The covers threw me a bit, but as best I can tell, the issues are all first prints and "A" covers, rather than variants. A bit trippy, though on some of those! But somehow reminiscent of what I know of the original series and its art, so that’s fitting, I suppose?

I definitely had not planned on getting so many issues, but I was armed with a checklist of everything I was aware being out so far for the Dawn of X stuff, and basically went through the back-issue bins and I’m pretty sure I pulled every first print "A" cover available!

Since I’m after the issues anyway and going to be spending the money anyway, even with a bigger chunk at once, just as well to go ahead and buy ’em while I actually have the money and rather than dragging the whole thing out…or at least, that’s how I’ve been justifying to myself such a huge outlay of cash lately on X-comics.

Resumption of X: Purchase #3

Posted on February 24, 2021 by Walt

While I shared this in my "Weekly Haul" post for February 10th, I realized it deffffinitely fit this series and should be called out as its own thing! Especially with utilizing a number of comic shops to track down as many of these issues as I can as "recent back issues" or roughly-cover-price back issues!

At Comic Heaven, I was able to snag 7 recent back issues–Marauders, Excalibur, and Hellions issues–as well as a couple of "priced back issues" bagged and boarded in the official back issue bins for about 25 cents above cover price (which to me covers the bag-and-board!)

Though apparently I did overlap on Marauders #17…oops! I guess that could be worse, and I’m not too concerned in the grand scheme…especially considering how much I’m spending lately to try to catch up on 16-18 months’ worth of an entire family of modern titles in very short order!

While I can largely go with publication order for the first six issues of the initial wave of titles, I’m honestly not quite sure what issues of which series take place after or during X of Swords–with stuff like (I believe) New Mutants having only a single issue in the mix, while other titles may’ve had 3 or more issues in the crossover.

I suppose I’ll get that figured out eventually…part of me is eager to dive into post-X of Swords reading while part of me wants to fly through/catch up TO the event from the beginning before going forward.

If nothing else, I imagine i’ll at least be following Chris Sheehan and the issue order he takes for his X-Lapsed podcast covering every. single. issue. of Dawn of X (and then some!).

Resumption of X: Purchase #2

Posted on February 23, 2021 by Walt

In tandem with an order placed with Midtown Comics, I placed an order with Lonestar Comics (mycomicshop.com) for a number of other Dawn of X/Reign of X issues.

Three issues of Wolverine, including the first! And six issues of Excalibur…though I didn’t realize the one issue was a 2nd print. Sort of annoyed with myself but could be worse I guess. Also some double-dipping where i’d been "forced" to buy variants or 2nd print for X of Swords issues just to get ’em at all.

I get particularly annoyed with variants and covers that don’t look like their marketing and such…and not at all keen on "settling" for 2nd or later prints, especially when the firsts should be around overall!

Five issues of Marauders, and four of X-Men. I don’t think I’d realized any of the actual X-Men issues had tied in with the Empyre thing…I thought it was an Empyre: X-Men mini-series separately. Or maybe there was that as well as these. I dunno…I’ll figure it out eventually!

Finally, the first seven issues of X-Factor. Definitely a big chunk, but very cool to be able to get the whole series thus far. (At least, I think it’s the entire series thus far!)

I definitely like the logo on this one as well. It keeps the Dawn of X style but is a definite callback to the classic original series.

25 issues and another expensive chunk down…but issues being at cover price or under was again a definite advantage here!

Resumption of X: Purchase #1

Posted on February 18, 2021 by Walt

A couple weeks back, I took the plunge and bought a bunch of X-issues from the X of Swords crossover. I suppose for this post series, that’d make it the "Resumption of X: Purchase #0".

I ended up deciding to start looking at exactly how hard it would really be to dive in and "catch up" on the single issues for the current iterations of the X-titles; the Dawn of X or Reign of X or whatever.

Just out of curiosity as to just HOW MANY printings there’d been for the first issues of the initial series and recalling numerous reprints with House of X/Powers of X and such…I found that several of the first print, regular cover issues were available for slightly under cover price at Midtown Comics…so I decided to put in an order.

I’d already had X-Men #1…after the two HoXPoX minis, I bought the single issue before throwing in the towel over pricing and info pages and all that…as well as stuff being so drastically different from "my" X-titles.

Here are four more of the #1s from that initial wave of books–X-Force #1, New Mutants #1, Excalibur #1, and Fallen Angels #1.

Of the "first wave" of #1s that I recently (re)read via Marvel Unlimited, by far my favorite was Marauders #1. I’d already pretty much decided that I was at least interested in tracking down that first issue in print and possibly the rest of the series for the heckuvit.

Here are seven issues of the series–more than a third of its run so far–which put me closer than any of the other titles to a full run to present.

11 issues…while cover price or slightly under, definitely showed me that this "Resumption of X" or catching up won’t be cheap. But seeking "retail therapy" lately this has been a good focus. And while I’m NOT much of a "thrill of the hunt" kinda guy, there’s a bit of excitement at diving fully into a line of comics and being able to "score" first issues and such at cover price rather than inflated prices and hunting for any but excess variants.

Bought it For the Cover: X-Force (Dawn of X) #14

Posted on January 22, 2021 by Walt

Here we are with another Bought it For the Cover post in the same week!

(Well, to be perfectly transparent, it was the fact of having TWO of these that I even noticed/considered a pattern and said pattern seemed ripe for a "feature," so…yeah.)

Bought it For the Cover Archive:

Bought it For the Cover: Amazing Spider-Man #54

As is sometimes the case on "smaller" weeks, I’ll take an extra look at comics to see if/what catches my eye, to try to allow a bit of serendipity to remain. All the more as I’m increasingly discouraged by the newest stuff from Marvel and DC, and the lack of "ongoing-ness" of titles, and yet also a bit of nostalgia and "missing" being able to just browse and come across something new.

In this case, I was curious about the X of Swords thing and browsing the section of the recent-back-issues rack.

I noticed the "trade dress," I think, for X of Swords where the story title was at the top of issues and the actual series’ title was lower/at the bottom of the cover. Sorta makes the event/crossover story dominant and the actual titles secondary…which "works" for me, at least for NOT being particularly invested at the moment.

I’m sure what FIRST really caught my eye for this particular issue was the familiar-looking depiction of Wolverine…while it reminds me a lot of the way the character appeared in the ’90s, albeit reined in a bit. Even NOT being able to see the claws for what I could see of the cover in the rack, I recognized Wolverine. And he’s holding some sort of blade (hey, X of SWORDS!) reflecting other characters.

While it’s hardly the most dynamic of covers, it’s certainly "iconic" in its way–to me, at least. But also like Amazing Spider-Man #54, I think it sparked a bit of memory to an older comic.

Specifically, Incredible Hulk #340.

While the images are not nearly as similar as on the Spidey issue, the prominence of Wolverine’s face and a blade reflecting someone is there. Loose? You betcha. Relevant? Duh.

And again…this is NOT a first issue, nor is it the first chapter of a new story. It also is not–to MY knowledge up to/as of this typing–an issue with any particular hype or specific anything. It’s essentially JUST "another issue" of some series; a latter chapter, but not penultimate or finale of a crossover/event series, not a series I’ve bought any prior issues for, read any issues of, and so on.

It’s isolated.

It’s the cover that caught my eye, drew me in, and I wound up liking it and bought it.

Perhaps BECAUSE I 1. liked it and 2. it’s NOT a variant cover.

I’ve yet to read the issue. And it may languish as too many other issues also do–bought but unread for awhile–despite initial enthusiasm and being interested enough to purchase the thing.

But as with other issues that will get their own Bought it For the Cover spotlight…the main thing is that the cover catches my attention, I like the cover, and buy the issue due to liking the cover…AND it’s NOT a variant.

The 11th Dawn of X volume should be out by the time this post goes "live," and that’s the way I’m choosing to follow this "era" of X-Books generally…all the more due to so many variants and multiple printings and speculation and seeming so tied together that one has to be all-in…not to mention annoyance at Hickman‘s (or inspired-by-Hickman) white-space and credits pages and infographics and such that I’d rather buy collected editions than be annoyed at the individual page-counts and wastes of space in single issues.

I don’t know if X of Swords will simpy be contained within (multiple?) volumes of the anthology-style Dawn of X paperbacks or if it’ll be its own Omnibus-sized thing. With 22-some chapters, though, it seems ripe to simply be contained in 4-ish DoX paperbacks.

Time will tell. Meanwhile…this issue will either need to be read, or find itself orphaned in a box somewhere for awhile.

Filed under: 2021 Non-Review Posts, 2021 posts, Bought it For the Cover, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: Bought it For the Cover, comic covers, Dawn of X, Hickman, variant covers, variants, Wolverine, X of Swords, x-force, x-men | 1 Comment »

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Bought it For the Cover: X-Force (Dawn of X) #14

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