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A Weekend Haul: Week of August 5, 2020

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Walt

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Well…six weeks with no actual posts. Tons of partially-typed up "drafts" and such, but…my heart’s just not in it these days.

I’m (as I think I’ve mentioned in the past) fortunate enough that I was NOT laid off–at the start of things back in March, nor in the time since. It’s amazing how much more draining it can be, though, when it seems like "everyone else" is laid off and suddenly has weeks and months of spare time, and my schedule’s stayed the same or been a bit more demanding.

And recent shakeups in comics have hardly been encouraging to me.

Among other things, since the state started "reopening" I’ve not gone back to Wednesdays. DC has screwed that up, trying to force Tuesdays. They’re within their rights, sure, but doesn’t mean it’s a good look and all.

And with state-mandated restrictions forcing stuff…I just haven’t had the heart to "bother with" stuff during the week.

So I still haven’t had a New Comics Wednesday since sometime back in March. And with other life-stuff going on, never got around to weekly-ish posts to "keep up" with these "Weekly Haul" posts and had to intermix stuff to clean up "piles" and trying to read stuff and all that…lost track of what was from which week and all, so…screw it. Documented 2019’s new comics purchases basically in full, but 2020 has had its share of crap and I’m foregoing any beginning-of-the-year goals.

Blah.

On to the weekEND haul, officially stuff for the week of August 5.

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Fire Power has been THE new title for me. It even hit in such a way that I arranged for several friends to also get the first OGN. I loved that we got such a big chunk of story starting out. UNfortunately, it makes the first issue after the "wait" something that doesn’t begin to live up to that. Buuuut…in addition to snagging another copy of the FCBD issue (to now have copies for the friends I gifted the OGN to) I also snagged the "regular" #1 issue. Yeah it’s basically a duplicate of the FCBD edition, but my OCD insisted I get it anyway. "But Walt!" you might be thinking "Don’t you HATE/LOATHE/DESPISE variants!?" These are wholly different editions rather than "variants" and though the content is basically the same, there’s also the events of 2020 screwing with stuff such that I’d rather give Kirman & Co. a bit extra like this than get some random DC or Marvel book that’s just gonna annoy me.

So…FCBD edition, regular #1, and regular #2 of Fire Power. #2 was about half a silent issue which was disappointing to me…but I’m invested enough I’ll be back for #3 anyway, and go from there.

Dark Horse losing the Aliens and Predator licenses is another of the aforementioned discouragements…so you bet I’m gonna support Dark Horse while I can with this Alien: the Original Screenplay adaptation.

Batman #96…I think this marks six issues that I’ve accumulated again but yet to read. Thanks to missing some initial release of Nightwing tying in, I’m flat-out not getting ANY tie-ins for this Joker War thing. And this far, I’m basically finishing out to Batman #100 in a couple months and planning on walking away from there. Satisfy my OCD on the series, but even though DC changed course and apparently is NOT gonna relaunch/renumber to a new #1, I’m still ready to be done. I’m tired of the overhype (perhaps it’s more a certain rumor site’s crap than DC‘s but DC shoulders plenty of blame in my general frustration with them lately).

The newest issue of Usagi Yojimbo–#11–though I’ve lost track of where I left off reading. I’ve sorta folded UY in with TMNT and so it gets a "pass" where other titles wouldn’t.

Finally, snagged the FCBD reprint edition of The Boys #1 to check out.

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Then, seeing that I’d barely crack the $20 mark for the week, figured I’d grab something else, and saw this Marvel-Verse Thanos digest-sized book. I decided if it was $14.99 I’d leave it…but if it was $9.99 I’d get it. Since it’s pictured here and I’m talking about it, I’ll let you figure out the price.

It’s got a handful of random Thanos issues it it; stuff I’ve mostly got in other editions (except a reprint of a Ka-Zar issue from 1998 or so). But whatever…something like 5 issues’ content for basically $2 each rather than the $4/$5/$6+ Marvel‘s pushing for nowadays.

Looks like the coming week is gonna be another "light" week of comics. I suppose that’ll make up for stuff a bit, and for other recent expenses and such.

And I’m definitely increasingly willing to spend more on single back-issues…particularly when they’re issues I’ve known about and/or been "interested in" to some degree for a number of years…or just see that I’d flat-out APPRECIATE them much more than "just some new issues" released any given week.

More on that sooner or later, I suppose.

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The Weekly Haul Catch-Up: Weeks of May 2, 9, & 16, 2019

Posted on May 20, 2019 by Walt

Well, it’s been a few weeks since a Weekly Haul post. I’ve taken photos to do the posts, but real life got in the way of doing these posts themselves.

So, here are 3 weeks’ worth crammed into one!

Week of May 02, 2019

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A very DC week!

Batman and Batman/TMNT III were out May 2nd…as well as the 25-cent Year of the Villain issue. Like its predecessor last year or the year before–the issue is not all that interesting to me, and turns me off more than on to upcoming stuff; especially as I really have zero interest in "The Batman Who Laughs" OR Snyder‘s Justice League stuff.

We’re nearing the end of Adventures of the Super Sons, and who knows what the future holds for these characters. I’ve also gotten behind in reading the various Wonder Comics titles. Even though I recently decided to go "all-in" on them, if I’m already behind and not overly concerned about it…do I really need/want to be buying these titles?weeklyhaul_20190502b

At a visit to a Five Below store, I snagged a copy of the classic How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way. I remember getting this from the library several times as a kid–though it’d been defaced by other borrowers in a rather inappropriate way. Having my own (clean) copy is cool…though after I bought it, it occurred to me that I may have snagged a copy from Half-Price Books previously…though where that particular copy got to, I’m not sure at the moment.

They also had this Hot Wheels Batman classic ’66 Batmobile. It’s basically the only car I really "care" about, NOT being a "cars guy." So, it’s another little trinket to add to the ever-expanding collection.

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Then a couple days after New Comic Day, went with friends to an evening pre-Free Comic Book Day event where they’d brewed some custom beer. I tried the Wolverine’s Canadian Ale, and a friend gave me his empty Cyclops Weak Summer Pilsner bottle so I’d have both!

Week of May 09, 2019

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May 9th was a small-ish week comics-wise. I’m once more falling behind on reading for Detective Comics, which even though I tend to like the writer’s work, leads me to wonder if I care enough to "keep up with" the title, now that we’re past #1000 and it lacks the "excitement" of the "build-up to" that 1000th issue.

I’ve kept up with Supergirl primarily on principle–I think I had all of the Rebirth run, and definitely wanted to support the notion of a series ACTUALLY CONTINUING THE NUMBERING. I’ve yet to read any of the current run, unfortunately, so it seems another one ripe for dropping. And as said above on other Wonder Comics…I begin to wonder if I was a bit premature going "all-in" on the imprint if I’m not gonna get around to reading the things!

It continues to be rather "telling" to me that I’m happy to re-buy (at a premium price) stuff like Annotated Marvels for $8 as that’s "only" double the price of a standard new Marvel issue but it’s an extra-sized thing with even more added content in the annotations..and it’s a known quantity to me, having gotten the original Marvels issues new as they came out back in 1994!

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While at a Gamestop looking for the TMNT: Mutants in Manhattan game for X-Box, I spotted this Batman Funko Pop figure and knowing I’d "eventually" want it, went ahead and bought it so I don’t have to "hunt" it later.

Which is, in itself, another thing I’m noticing a lot more lately–I’m buying way more than I’d typically do, because it seems "everything" so QUICKLY goes "out of print" and "unavailable" that if I don’t buy it on the spot, I won’t be able to (reasonably) do so later.

And that takes a lotta "fun" outta stuff.

Week of May 16, 2019

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…And now we’re to the current/most recent week!

New Superman issue, new Batman issue, and the new Naomi. I’m not into "speculating" on books, and this title is maybe more a driving factor in my reconsidering the Wonder Comics line if I’m not getting around to the reading.

Then there’s the new Immortal Hulk issue. This makes the 3rd issue in a row for the latter for me…though I don’t know that I’ll want to keep going with the series. It’s not really coming off the way I expected, and I’d probably get more from it if I’d read the earlier issues–but if I do those by Marvel Unlimited I might as well do the series that way.

I’ve been digging the Spider-Man: Life Story series, so that’s a "given" for me; and while I was really looking forward to the first issue of Shredder in Hell, I was NOT counting on it being BI-MONTHLY as it’s been so far. At this writing the series should’ve been finished already (or the final issue coming out in a couple days)…not having 2 more issues yet to come sometime later this year!

Despite the being-behind-on-reading, I’m a bit more willing to suppor IDW‘s Marvel stuff. Though even these may be short on my list as the newness/novelty wears off and collected volumes start coming out that put the single issues’ cover prices to shame.

I’m feeling fairly grouchy toward a lotta comics lately…and while much of my frustration is with Marvel, DC is stacking up quite a bit. I’m none too keen on the upcoming Lois Lane or Jimmy Olsen 12-issue series. I’m behind on reading the main Superman and Action Comics titles as-is. And I’m NOT looking forward to the Leviathan "event" about to start. Also put-off by the Year of the Villain build-up (some of that from the 25-cent special having an opposite-from-intended effect on me, turning me off to stuff rather than building my excitement). As of this writing, I just saw some articles on Bleeding Cool with the August 2019 solicitations (and stuff from the Diamond Retailers’ Summit or such) with the upcoming cardstock cover variants (adding $1 to cover price for affected issues!) and that puts me yet further off from stuff.

EVERY SINGLE ISSUE having AT LEAST 2 covers continues to be a turn-off on principle.

Then the way stuff goes out of print and out of stock on collected volumes leaves me cold–recently, I’d thought I could "catch up" on the GI Joe Classic line; but maybe 2-3 weeks after I ordered vols. 7-8 (I had 1-6 from a few years ago) suddenly most of 9-16 is unavailable except from 3rd-party sellers jacking the prices way up for being "out of print."

I had had Game of Thrones spoiled for me from casual posts thrown out on Facebook that went significantly well beyond what I’d experienced so far, so I grudgingly gave up and gave in and though I’m only sequentially to season 5: episode 2, I watched season 8: episode 5, and will probably suck it up and watch the finale. If it’s gonna be totally spoiled for me anyway I might as well AT LEAST get the spoilers FIRST HAND from watching MYSELF!

So there’s that ending–and we’re a few weeks past Avengers Endgame and essentially the ending to 11 years’ worth of Marvel Cinematic Universe films–and The Big Bang Theory just ended–so it feels like a lot of endings lately.

And I begin to consider: maybe it’s time for me to take more of a "break" from comics?

Though I’ll "eventually" have to "play catch-up" anyway for the likes of Superman and Action Comics as I always do; perhaps I need to cut back to just a few things.

Spawn to #300. TMNT stuff. And Tom King‘s Batman, since it seems like NO ONE ELSE even actually does more than 10-20 issues anymore.

It’s not like I wouldn’t have other stuff to read–to catch up on reading–even if I never bought any more comics ever!

So who knows…

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The Weekly Haul: Week of April 17, 2019

Posted on April 22, 2019 by Walt

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Another mixed sort of week! Not huge, not tiny!

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This week has the new Batman issue…I’m pretty sure that makes 2 weeks and 2 issues! Perhaps the title is back on schedule?

Spider-Man: Life Story #2 puts us 1/3 through this series. The first issue was set during the ’60s…this one’s the ’70s and we find Peter in his early 30s.

Naomi #4 is suddenly some big huge Big Deal (stupidly so, it seems). Thankfully, Comic Heaven had no problem with letting me get my single copy for cover price (having already bought 1-3…I’m solely interested as the SERIES, not stupid speculation!)

Then GI Joe: A Real American Hero #261 and Silent Option #4.

And of course, the weekly Comic Shop News.

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The latest round of Walmart 100-page giant issues all hit. I can honestly say that the novelty is wearing REALLY THIN at this point…part of the "fun" is 1. getting the ALL and 2. having them spaced out across the month so they’re not some big, bulky, HEAVY purchase. $30 in one go is not so fun!

Add to that, there’s been NO SIGN at over half a dozen Walmarts across 6+ weeks of the Detective Comics #1000 100-Page Giant. And like Valiant…if I can’t get "ALL OF THEM," then suddenly there’s farrrrr less incentive to even keep up with these. While I might suck it up for the next couple months–get to the #12s for the Batman and Superman ones–if I’m not able to locate the Detective one for cover price, I mayyyy be done.

Time will tell!

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The Weekly Haul: Week of April 10, 2019

Posted on April 15, 2019 by Walt

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Heyyy…look at that! I’ve been forgetting to use, re-use, and/or re-design this handy little logo for this Weekly Haul "feature" I try to do!

Anyway…medium-sized week for April 10, 2019. And for the first time in awhile, I think, it’s straight "big two" in DC and Marvel…though as-is-normal for me these days…Marvel‘s on the short end of things.

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First up, the new Superman and Supergirl issues. It seems rather odd to have Supergirl at such a (relatively) high number compared to Superman, but that’s what you get when you have renumberings/reboots/whatever shenanigans!

Detective Comics is "back" ALREADY…quite a bit of difference from last year’s Action Comics #1000 with a 3-or-so-month gap before #1001. For that matter, Action–which has long been "ahead" in numbering (thanks particularly to its Action Comics Weekly days)! (As an aside–check out Chris’ blog Chris is on Infinite Earths for a run-down in great detail of the Action Comics Weekly period of the title!)

So, by the end of this year…Detective Comics will be "in the lead" in terms of numbering! This issue also sports a new logo! I’m not enamored with it–like a lot of other comments I’ve seen online, it reminds me of the Batman: The Brave and the Bold cartoon logo, and does look like it’d be more at home on a line of toys and/or animated tv show than this comic series. That being said…I think it ALSO seems rather out of place against the current Batman logo, which I may be "used to" but still don’t overly like. To me, the new Detective Comics logo would look a lot better if it better-matched the Batman title…and I’m more than ready for (I say this now, anyway) a new logo for that title.

Next, we have the aforementioned Batman title. I’m not sure if this issue was "late" or what, but I’d swear the two titles were alternating weeks. And here we’re "already" at Wonder Twins #3…and I still need to read the first 2 issues as well!

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On to the Marvel titles…I suppose in my opening comment I neglected to mention that where Marvel has THREE issues I picked up on Wednesday…all three are reprints! Nothing "new!" The Marvel Tales issue features Thanos and reprints Warlock #10 (his original series), Silver Surfer #45 (an issue that I covered a few years ago), and Warlock and the Infinity Watch #8.

Incidentally, going from that, the True Believers Thanos and Gamora reprints Warlock and the Infinity Watch #9…the very next issue. And finally, True Believers Stormbreaker reprints Thor #339.

While I’m getting rather tired of the True Believers heading (I’d much rather $1 "facsimile editions" of these various issues), they continue to show (me) that Marvel is perfectly capable of putting out cheap(er) comics. AND that I overall really care very little for stuff they’ve published over the last 10-15 years (pretty much Avengers Disassembled to present). So reprinting stuff from the ’90s especially, as well as the ’80s and such…that’s where the bulk of my interest seems to be.

Finally, the week’s Comic Shop News features Second Coming. I’m not really sure what to make of it…it’s certainly gotten hype, and I might give it a try; though like most such projects, it strikes me as something probably better gotten as a collected volume rather than single issues. Time will tell!

I’ve found myself "gearing up" again with a couple things. I mentioned Mortal Kombat with last week’s post, and that interest continues. The same week that Mortal Kombat 11 is due out, the first new Magic: The Gathering novel War of the Spark is also due out. I find myself really hoping that even if they don’t "self-publish," that Wizards of the Coast gets back into doing regular novels for their various properties again…at least "core story" things. Maybe there don’t have to be new books every month delving into every side-character’s sibling’s personal history, but at least get a couple new books each year! I’d even settle for published versions of material they’ve released online!

And there’s the Force of Will card game. I loved what I saw with it last year, but it fell to the side due to "real life stuff" getting in the way. I’m not really sure what "sparked" it THIS time around, but I’ve found myself getting some new stuff for it including a couple of "playmats" and such, and even impulse-ordered a "crate" of stuff thanks to seeing it on several YouTube videos. And when I read a description of another item a bit closer, realized that where I thought it included 72 cards, it actually includes 72 booster packs…which is basically two boxes‘ worth. For only a little more than twice what I paid for a "cheapo box" last year, and not much more than what I paid for another box (also last year). So while I may not have much of anything overly "special" from the game…definitely bulking up on cards, and hopefully will be able to get friends to play it with me.

Though I’m also starting to re-consider my outright "boycott" of local gaming store(s). (Been refusing to do business with WPN gaming stores over their pricing of the Jace’s Spellbook product last year). However, even if I "give in" and seek out being able to play Force of Will at a game store, I fully intend to hold to NOT buying Magic: The Gathering product from the game store.

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The Weekly Haul: Week of April 03, 2019

Posted on April 8, 2019 by Walt

April 3rd was a decent-sized week of new comics. Not too huge, not tiny. Several #1s, a couple second (for me, at least) issues, and so on.

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I decided to give Major X a try, after some well-timed "hype" on it and such. Liefeld prompts a certain sort of nostalgia for me, and I was truly curious about the time-travel/meeting with 1991 characters aspect. Can’t say I’m overly impressed with the first issue, though, so it’s a crapshoot on whether I’ll "bother" with #2…probably depends on it being a slow week or not.

Sorta hard to believe we’re "already" at Young Justice #4. Ditto at already being to #9 for Adventures of the Super Sons. This is a series I’ll probably kick myself for…I wasn’t going to want to hunt it down later, but I am ridiculously/embarassingly far behind on reading anything with the title…AND with the Bendis stuff in "present" continuity…this seems something better left for the collected edition for me. …Except I think there’s either already or about to be a "vol. 1" for this series. But it’s a FINITE 12-issue series, so to me, there’s NO REASON only HALF the finite-series should be collected. It should be collected into a single full-story volume at its end. It’s that "collect everything regardless of length of run or PLANNED length of run" that (to me) can really turn folks off to getting single issues, even for something like this.

I’m giving Immortal Hulk another issue due to my curiosity…and wondering about a certain character. Figured I’d try Section Zero #1…I can’t quite put my finger on it, but something with it seems rather familiar to me, and I might be crossing it over mentally with something else from years ago, but I opted to pick it up "in case" so I can check it for myself.

Seems that IDW is again a "major factor" of my week with 3 of the week’s comics coming from them! I’m trying to give these Marvel Action: ______ titles a chance, and support them…especially as it seems like they do NOT have a TON of VARIANTS. And they’re likely far more self-contained than most of Marvel‘s own books, so strike me as being more "fun" and accessible without being involved in this week/month/quarter’s latest umpteen crossover event invasion secret whatevers.

GI Joe: A Real American Hero is–at #260 (or #105/106 from IDW itself) THE core GI Joe book to me at this point. Written by Larry Hama and having continued from the original Marvel series, it is at this point THE absolute longest-running Joe book I’m aware of, period, 2nd longest run for any publisher, where I think IDW itself may be on its 3rd-boot of stuff.

Finally, despite it being rather late, or perhaps because of it, I opted to snag Chandra #2. I’m not overly keen on this depiction of the character and such. But I’m VERY MUCH a fan of Magic: The Gathering in terms of its "lore" and with just a handful of books left to acquire to have the entirety of the in-print editions of the lore, I might as well get this as well.

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It’s cool to see Usagi Yojimbo get the cover of Comic Shop News for this week. AT LEAST with a "new publisher" in the title going to IDW, a "renumbering" is actually WARRANTED. It’s also likely a good jumping-on point for the character. I was highly put-off last year when I tried to jump onto the title and within a couple issues it switched to a new #1 with "legacy-style numbering" included to be a "mini-series" or such. I do NOT look forward to the umpteen variants on every single issue that IDW is surely going to pump out…but I’ll likely be giving it a chance anyway, being at the same publisher now as TMNT, and maybe I’ll "fold it in" with TMNT given the titles’ association through the years.

And there’s an Avengers Endgame previews to presumably push various collected volumes and such related or expected to be related to the film. I for one certainly appreciate these comic-sized ones for being comic-sized…as well as being a stand-alone thing instead of choking or bloating individual Marvel issues. And since I snagged the Captain Marvel one recently, figued I’d snag this as well.

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I also finally "pulled the trigger" on getting these Mortal Kombat figures from Funko. I’d seen them awhile back, and been "curious" about them more recently. I had NOT actually consciously realized they were Mortal Kombat X rather than "just" Mortal Kombat, but there you go. That three of my (if not my three, period) favorite characters are here made ’em a no-brainer.

I’d gotten Raiden, which OF COURSE then triggered my OCD and led to me hunting down the other two. I was able to get Scorpion and Sub-Zero at a Gamestop far off my usual area…but NOT far from where I was meeting a friend for Shazam which made things work out quite well!

shazam_ticket_stubAnd speaking OF Shazam, saw it on Friday the 5th.

I rather enjoyed it, though I’ve pretty much decided that I personally hold Wonder Woman (as #1) and Aquaman (as #2) above it in terms of my favorites of the "modern" crop of DC films (definitely over Suicide Squad, Batman v Superman, and Justice League…though I’ve yet to decide exactly where I hold Man of Steel in there, as I’d originally thought that and taken that one as a standalone property…as well as someone I’d seen it with sparking certain feelings).

I did not care for how New 52-heavy Shazam felt, but overall it was a fun film with plenty of light, humor, and so on; and even though toys had more than spoiled one thing (to say nothing of assumption and expectation from the comics doing so), I actually had had no idea what to expect of the film’s villain, and really dug the portrayal here. While I hope we’ll get Black Adam in a sequel, I’d prefer that before the "return" of this film’s villain. There was even a cameo I rather enjoyed that paid off through the film.

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Filed under: 2019 Non-Review posts, 2019 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

The Weekly Haul: Week of February 27, 2019

Posted on March 1, 2019 by Walt

February ends with a rather small-ish comics week…but we have the ending of The Price, the newest Batman/Flash crossover (after 2017’s The Button) as well as the final triple-digit issue of Detective Comics!

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Detective Comics #999 is out…leaving us just a handful of weeks away from the second DC* title to hit the coveted #1000**.

(* you do recall that DC Comics takes its name from this title, right?)

(** albeit with a 52-issue gap for the New 52 run slotted into place)

The Price wraps up, and I feel like the first three chapters of this–in under a month–have covered more ground than Heroes in Crisis itself! And I have got to get my Action Comics issues pulled together and catch up on my reading, with this Leviathan Rising story that apparently spills into a huge special issue and a couple of spin-off titles later this year.

It’s the completist in me that keeps me getting Heroes in Crisis. Plus, wanting to be able to speak of it from experience and not just take issues with it because of clickbait-articles and such at Bleeding Cool. I’m grudgingly interested in where it winds up, and the true fate of Wally, and to see if there’s really anything to the story, as I do feel like so far it’s basically a ton of flashback, random talking, and hardly any PLOT. It’s also been relatively contained…I know several other comics have tied in but I don’t recall seeing any "logoed" issues with the Heroes in Crisis "branding" or ones that take their identity FROM being a tie-in. The Flash/Batman crossover this month seems to be the largest "tie-in" so far, and a Green Arrow issue last year dealing with Roy’s memorial. I may have missed something earlier in The Flash as I opted out on the post-Flash War stuff with the various Forces.

Like Action Comics, I need to get my issues of Die!Die!Die! pulled together and read. Yet another month where I thought I would have gotten to it, and so I get another issue rather than fall behind if a binge-catchup really does it for me. That said…I’m much more willing to buy like this for something from Image than I would be from say, Marvel, on principle.

Finally, I won’t pass up a 25-cent Aspen sampler. Or most any brand-new 25-cent comic, for that matter.

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I posted this photo to Twitter the other day, but with so few new comics, how about an extra photo for this post?

Here’s what all the Walmart DC 100-Page Giant*** issues look like, brought together!

(*** That I’m aware of existing as of end of February, 2019.)

There are also some of the double-the-price-of-100-pagers 80-page specials that I’ve gotten over the past couple years. The Target-exclusive DC Primal Age and more recent Man and Superman issues are not here, though.

Somehow, it’s already the end of February/start of March 2019! Time is flying…

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The Weekly Haul: Week of February 20, 2018

Posted on February 25, 2019 by Walt

The week of February 20th wound up being a pretty small week for me for new comics…though a bit bigger on other stuff! Let’s get to ’em!

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We’ve got the third chapter of The Price, in Batman #65. And somehow we’re already (seems like it just started!) at #10 for TMNT: Urban Legends!

Then there’s the second issue of Naomi…and the first issue of Sharkey The Bounty Hunter.

I’ve generally enjoyed Millar‘s stuff, so figured I’d give another of his #1s a shot, though we’ll see if I get to READING it or going beyond this first issue.

I’ve "thrown in" on the Wonder Comics line for the moment…it has a lotta promise, and I’m all for Young Justice and Tim Drake being (a) ROBIN again, and we’ll see on these others.

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Given the week was "only" 4 issues, I browsed a bit more and came across this Nexus graphic novel from First for $5…a far superior value to "just" yet another Marvel #1 or #10 or #11 or #12 or such. My earliest conscious recognition of Steve Rude was a pinup image he did for Rune back in the ’90s for the Ultraverse. One random pinup image INSIDE a comic, and his work’s been on my radar for over 20 years as a result. No variant covers, even!

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At the weekend, I did "finally" wind up picking up Mr. Freeze from the DC Primal Age figures at Target. I find I’m a bit MORE interested in these figures since watching the Masters of the Universe episode of The Toys That Made Us a week or two back.

I’ve noticed the last few weeks that Aquaman, Scarecrow, and Joker are the main "peg warmers" of the line, though Mr. Freeze as a runner-up (I’m not certain if I would have gotten him, or Green Lantern, given choice between the two).

I also find myself with an increasing interest in tracking down Raiden, Sub Zero, and Scorpion from the Mortal Kombat line in this scale/style.

Several comics and an action figure wouldn’t seem to be all that much.

Where my opening comment about bigger stuff comes in is in regard to another TMNT purchase from the NECA line of quarter-scale figures!

THAT particular purchase will be covered tomorrow or later this week!

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Filed under: 2019 Non-Review posts, 2019 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

The Weekly Haul: Week of February 13, 2019

Posted on February 18, 2019 by Walt

This week proved to be rather huge for new comics…at least for me, by my own standards! One might even say it was a Giant-Size week!

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Double dose Batman this week with Detective Comics and the Flash crossover. We also have the debut issue of Wonder Twins, which I opted to check out as I’m pretty much giving this whole Wonder Comics thing a chance.

Then there’s the newest issue of Superman as well as the newest Supergirl. And TMNT is into the "final countdown" to issue #100, as #91 hits!

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Marvel actually got me on MULTIPLE issues this week! The usual with Mr. & Mrs. X #8. I "gave in" on Savage Sword of Conan #1…though I’ve no conscious intention of getting #2 and onward. There’s a nostalgia factor here, and I’m willing to "sample" the thing and get the #1 because it IS Conan, and I want to at least have "tried" one issue if I’m gonna be down on Marvel with it. If I’ve never bought so much as one issue, where do I have any authenticity to criticize?

I didn’t even know about Marvels Annotated until the last second. I’m a sucker for this sorta thing…and as a "key" series from my youth, I’m more than willing to "double-dip" with getting this series again, with notes from the creators. Given the story AND visual quality–and this issue has both the original first issue AND the later-published #0 issue–along with the notes, it feels to me like an EXCELLENT (by Marvel standards) value!

Criminal is back and I realize I have yet to read #1. Though I have all the TPBs (I believe) of the series thus far, with this new iteration, I figured I’d give it a few issues as single issues to see if/how it grabs me, AND see what any collected volume may look like, if it’ll be in line with the others, and so on.

And Alien 3 (the William Gibson adaptation) comes to a close. Unless Tristan Jones is doing further covers of the newest Aliens mini, I’m pretty much done with the property as single issues and will opt for the collected volumes.

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And then DC and/or the vendor that handles these at Walmart opted to drop ALL SIX of their MONTHLY 100-Page Comic Giant issues in the SAME WEEK. Even though these are a solid value at only $5 apiece for their size (these’d be $10 through Diamond to regular comic shops)…SIX of them at $5/each still stacks up to a whopping $30!

A mere 8 months into the "experiment" and we already have TWO re-titled/re-numbered books with the Teen Titans book switching to the Titans title, presumably to capitalize on the DC Universe app/service show but other than the logo on the front and a #1 instead of #8, I believe it’s otherwise exactly what we’ve BEEN getting. The same thing with Justice League being retitled to Wonder Woman.

Then we have the new additions of The Flash and Swamp Thing, after "experiment" issues in a Swamp Thing issue last October and a holiday special in December.

Of the original four, only Superman and Batman continue on with their title and numbering.

I’ve a bit of mental "sticker shock" as I look all these over and tally up the costs–seven $5 issues, an $8 issue, and everything else $3.99. At least the Walmart issues don’t have six out every week; and the Conan and Alien3 issues are one-offs at this point. I’m only getting a couple issues of The Flash for this particular crossover with Batman. I jumped back onto Detective Comics for the run-up to #1000, but have yet to decide if or how far beyond #1000 I’m going to go. At the least, I am NOT impressed with the "Decades Variants" and so expect to simply get a single copy of the regular cover edition and let that be that. (Where last year, I got the standard cover, decades variants AND a couple other retailer covers for Action Comics‘ 1000th issue).

Though I’ve been "mid-life crisis-ing" with some purchasing recently…that cannot and will not extend to comics, at least NOT long-term. Huge weeks like this remind me just what a poor value comics truly are, and will push me to all the more drastic decisions regarding what I’ll buy regularly.

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Filed under: 2019 Non-Review posts, 2019 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

The Weekly Haul: Week of February 06, 2019

Posted on February 11, 2019 by Walt

February starts out with a medium week. Not huge, not tiny. Though it’s another with an issue missing from the week before, picked up amidst the bunch!

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While I despise the $3.99 price point AND that DC is NOT doing digital codes with the books regularly/predictably, I think I’m pretty much ‘sold" on the Wonder Comics stuff, at least for checking out the first issue or two for each of the titles. This week had Young Justice #2, which was a no-brainer for me, given the way I enjoyed the first issue. This one didn’t hit me quite the same way, but was still enjoyable in itself!

We get the first chapter of The Price [of Justice] in Batman #64, beginning a 4-issue 2-per-title crossover with The Flash, written by the writer of The Flash (rather than Tom King, the regular on Batman).

From the previous week is the $9.99 Mysteries (of love) in Space, a giant-size special playing off the classic Mysteries in Space title. As a sucker for these giant-size issues, I snagged it. Where I’m "ok" with DC doing $10 issues and NOT OK with Marvel is that DC has the decency to have them be standalone issues and NOT part of a regular series. Get the special, don’t get the special…one isn’t "penalized" by a gap in their collection or feeling "forced" to buy the issues!

Adventures of the Super Sons is over the halfway point of its run; GI Joe: A Real American Hero sports one of THE highest-numbers in American comics (coming behind Spawn‘s #294 or so) and I’m giving these Marvel Action books a chance, if only for the "novelty" of being major Marvel properties published by IDW (and thus semi-immune to gated/ratioed/EXCESSIVE variants and crappy continuity stuff).

Finally, I tend to follow Blake Northcott‘s work, so of course snagged her Aspen Visions: Fathom issue. I think this is a one-shot, but time’ll bear that out, I suppose.

I missed the Man and Superman giant-size special, but hopefully it’ll be back in stock this upcoming Wednesday.

…Which will itself hopefully not be too huge a week, as I’ve had a couple other huge non-comics purchases within the current paycheck, and another planned for the next!

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Filed under: 2019 Non-Review posts, 2019 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

The Weekly Haul: Week of January 30, 2019

Posted on February 4, 2019 by Walt

So after a few weeks of doubling up on what could easily be a weekly post, I’m getting to this prior to the following week’s new releases!

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This was a small-ish week of new comics. Detective Comics has a mere 2 more chapters for the current story arc, and then the big 1,000th issue. Action Comics begins a new arc, and this one "headlines" the cover in a way that I feel like I haven’t seen in too long! (Though perhaps I’m just neglecting to remember something from within a few weeks). And while I believe Heroes in Crisis was slated to be 7 issues and got expanded to 9…here I am at 5 issues in and not much has really happened, other than some characters killed off, only a couple of which seem to even have any real effect on anything outside of this title (Flash and Green Arrow due to Wally and Roy).

At "only" (and simultaneously "already at" #9, TMNT: Urban Legends puts us at about the 1/3 mark for this series.

I was only going to get the TMNT issue of the IDW 20/20 stuff, but picked up Jem on a whim, and the nostalgia of the Star Trek: The Next Generation logo here hit me such that I went ahead and grabbed that 20/20 issue. It proved a too-quick read but not horrible–written by Peter David, after all–and I REALLY dug the art!

Finally, missed out on Naomi #1 the previous week, but was able to snag a copy of it this week, to check out. While I’m loathe to add titles to what I’m buying in general, I’m beginning to wonder if I might actually enjoy this Wonder Comics imprint. I’m at least seriously considering giving the other #1s a shot. We’ll see what happens!

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Comic Shop News is a staple.

The week also saw the "physical" release of Reign of the Supermen, after it having a theatrical engagement and then a stupid "digital-only" "window" of release such that I honestly nearly forgot it was due out!

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Filed under: 2019 Non-Review posts, 2019 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

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