• December 2025
    S M T W T F S
     123456
    78910111213
    14151617181920
    21222324252627
    28293031  

  • On Facebook

    On Facebook

  • Archives

  • Categories

  • Comic Blog Elite

    Comic Blogs - BlogCatalog Blog Directory

Unexpected HPB Find

Posted on April 25, 2016 by Walt

I’d’ve sworn I recently saw a copy of Teen Titans Earth One at a Half-Price Books, but did not see it in Mentor last weekend. So this past Friday, I made an extra point of stopping at the Mayfield one to see if perhaps it’d been there. No such luck on that book…but I did find another book that I wanted, was a no-brainer on purchasing, but which I had not even consciously considered finding.

batman_from_the_30s_to_the_70s

While far from the best condition imaginable, for a mere $15, I consider this quite a treasure! This is a hardback (I believe there were both the hardback and a paperback edition), and after hearing some discussion of this (or the Superman counterpart) it was briefly on my radar, though having zero intention of dropping $40+ it quickly faded.

So the $14.99 on this totally spoiled my intent of getting in and out quickly and for roughly $10.

The trouble now is…I really want the Superman volume all the more.

Filed under: 2016 Non-Review posts, 2016 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Finishing the Story: A Redeeming Price on DC’s Convergence

Posted on August 18, 2015 by Walt

The other day, I very nearly walked out of the Mentor Half-Price Books empty-handed. Several collected volumes caught my attention on the shelf–but each was priced ABOVE cover price. A used books store, named HALF-PRICE Books, and they just randomly price books ABOVE cover price because it’s “out of print.” Yet, isn’t that the POINT? It’s a bunch of USED, old books, that probably are NOT just available walking into the local BAM, B&N, or even Walmart/Target.

But that’s more a topic for another post.

HPBhaul_convergence_0_to_8

This HPB location has a $1 default price, unless specifically priced with a higher price on a bag or bag/board.

BUT…they also had several “sets” in a box, and I flipped through, curious about what OUTRAGEOUS prices they’d have, if they’re already considering 25-cent comics $1.25+ individually.

I noticed this set, and pulled it out, VERY curious…and was rather surprised to see it priced ONLY $15. DC‘s Convergence…#0 and #1-8.

Three of the 9 issues were cover price $5 ($4.99). That’s $15 right there. The other 6 issues were $4 ($3.99), so that’s $24. $39 in cover price, for a series from only 3-4 months ago, complete set in one place…no hunting through multiple stores and paying full price all the while.

Less than half-price. Best yet, the full set CHEAPER than it would cost me to buy the single issues I was missing. And I held off on ordering the collected volumes, because the main thing I wanted was to actually finish reading the full “core” story…but if I’m getting that, I want it to match the other collected volumes…which means a much longer wait for the hardcover to be swapped out for a paperback edition.

Now, I”ll just get to read the story, and the heck with the Convergence collected volumes for awhile.

Filed under: 2015 Non-Review posts, 2015 posts | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Fantastic Friday Find – Spidey & Wolverine

Posted on August 7, 2015 by Walt

On a whim, I stopped by a Half-Price Books…where despite extreme frustration with their pricing for comics I decided to flip through a few. This issue stood out immediately, and out of simple curiosity, I pulled it to see what exorbitant amount they wanted for it, given their other ridiculous prices on single-issues.

spiderman_versus_wolverine_from_hpb

The price sticker read $1.50. I looked closer to make sure I wasn’t misreading a 7…but yeah, it was $1.50. A whole dollar under cover price, less than half the cost of a contemporary Marvel, yet this issue is nearly 30 years old.

I’ve been aware of this issue for more than twenty years: it’s an issue a friend and I discovered in 1992 or 1993, but weren’t able to get as we couldn’t find it anywhere for a reasonable price.

It had actually come back to mind for me recently as an issue to specifically look for…but this saved me the hunt, and was significantly cheaper than the up-to-$10 I otherwise would have been willing to spend.

Though I’m excited to finally get to read this, I do have a couple other reading projects ahead of it…but just having this issue after all these years is fantastic!

Filed under: 2015 Non-Review posts, 2015 posts | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Not-so-Half-Price and Original Unity Saga TPBs

Posted on January 28, 2015 by Walt

I recently visited a Half-Price Books outside my usual stomping grounds to find a significantly better graphic novels collection than I’m used to at the two that ARE in my usual stomping grounds.

BUT my recent and ongoing complaint of their playing "collectibles dealer" over "used books at half price" store stands.

unity_and_cable_20150124

I was originally quite thrilled to find one of the Superman Chronicles volumes I’m missing. However, the $14.99-cover-price book was marked at $19.99 with a note on it "Out of Print." I don’t know if it actually IS–I’d swear my copy of vol. 1 sports DC’s NEW logo while my copies of later volumes carry the old–but it’s a USED book, not pristine condition or such, so bad enough it’s not half OFF, but far worse that they added a quarter of the cover price to the final asking price!

I was lucky enough to find the Cable hardcover I’ve been looking for (for at least a couple years now)…LONG out of print, but apparently someone MISSED that, because IT was actually half-off cover-price.

And I found the four-volume Unity Saga series of paperbacks from the original Valiant. These were "full price" (actually about 4 cents above cover price), but given what it is and that I *have* seen these going for much more online when I’ve looked in the past, I couldn’t quite bring myself to pass up the set.

As paperbacks go, I think I might have all the volumes the original Valiant published. And these were worthwhile as I can’t see them getting reprinted due to rights issues with Solar in particular.

Unfortunately I didn’t find any of the books I specifically was looking for–X-Men vs. Apocalypse vol. 1: The Twelve, X-Men: The New Age of Apocalypse, or the more recent Age of Apocalypse that spun out of Uncanny X-Force.

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

Acquiring The Superman Files

Posted on October 10, 2014 by Walt

I vaguely recall “hearing” about this book last year and being mildly interested, but due to price never followed up with it. I saw it again several weeks ago at a Barnes and Noble or Booksamillion “on sale” for about $40 or $50ish, but still passed on it.

supermanfiles_photo01

Then a couple weeks ago I saw it at a Half-Price Books, but passed on it due to financial constraints…mainly tied to all those 3-D covers from DC.

Not blowing all my “extra” cash on those this month, I stopped in at Half-Price books tonight, figuring if they had it, I’d get it…otherwise I’d suck it up for losing out on it for the price.

supermanfiles_photo02

They did, and I bought it, and now quite look forward to reading through it!

Based on flipping through and noticing an “about the author” (the guy who “helped” “Brainiac 5”)…looks like it’s the same author of The Batman Vault. Which is neat, as I’d already thought of this as being a similar sort of thing.

And given I’d consider myself more a Superman fan than Batman fan…just didn’t seem right to pass on this when I didn’t on that!

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

« Previous Page