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The Weekly Haul: Weeks of January 02 & January 09, 2019

Posted on January 14, 2019 by Walt

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Despite my best intentions, starting 2019 out with doubling up on the "Weekly Haul" posting. Some planned changes/updates with logos and such also hasn’t happened yet for the blog, so rather than a hard break with the year, stuff’ll just roll out as it rolls out! Even this post’s "logo" above is not the final version, but I was messing with stuff the other day and decided I’d toss it up, whether it gets used just this once, or becomes a regular. If you’ve any thoughts on it, feel free to leave a comment!

Week of January 2nd, 2019

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The first week of the year started out pretty small, with only a handful of issues. I don’t recall, nor do I care to check back, but I’m not sure if we had an issue of Heroes in Crisis in December, even–of course, this is only by a week, so negligible, but whatever. Much as I’ve liked this writer’s Batman stuff, I’m really not caring for this event…it doesn’t feel like anything’s really HAPPENING. Or not enough per issue. But 4 issues in, and it NOT being $4.99, nor has it slipped to some bi-monthly (or less-frequent) schedule, so I’m probably in for the entire thing at this point…if only to see what comes of it.

It also seems that Action Comics slipped slightly…with #1001 having come out in July, January should see #1007.

While it’s fitting that Marvel (in particular!) honor Stan Lee…it appears to me that they’re only doing so by removing the logos but keeping regular images for covers. To me, that just makes these look like DC variants, and since the cover images don’t incorporate his likeness in any way or such, and it’s not like they’re putting the black memorial band OVER a logo. And given his own large/over-the-top/grandiose-ness…it seems to me a disservice to hide the big, bold logos and such of the characters that directly or tangentially are here because of him.

And Marvel sure wasted NO TIME rushing a ton of Conan stuff out. Much as they did four years ago with Star Wars. And frankly, that really puts me off quite a bit; as well as apparently having a couple more series debuting soon, and just…flooding the market. I opted to get this first issue just to try, but haven’t gotten around to reading it, and have yet to hear anything all that good about it.

Week of January 09, 2019

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This week was definitely a bigger week with more stuff out…though it also annoyed me to a certain degree.

Firstly, we get the premiere of the new Young Justice series with the new Young Justice #1. I quite enjoyed the issue, and look forward already to the next!

This is a Batman week, with both Batman and Nightwing out. I need to catch up on READING Nightwing OR just cut my losses and drop the title. Time’ll tell on that.

We’ve got the premiere of the new iteration of Brubaker and Phillips‘ Criminal title. I’ve enjoyed what I’ve read of this title in the past (and particularly remember the 10th anniversary issue!) so definitely giving this issue a shot…though I’ll likely trail off and wind up going with the collected editions. Again…time’ll tell.

The week had TWO issues of Aliens stuff. The conclusion of the 4-issue Dust to Dust mini. and the 3rd of (I believe) 4-issue adaptation of Gibson‘s screenplay for Alien3. I’m pretty sure I’ve wound up with variant covers for both series, just trying to get issues, and Dark Horse is back to the seemingly-rigid 4-issue cycles, so I’ve pretty much decided that for the multiple variant covers every issues and preferring the full(er) stories I’ll get the final issue of this Alien3 thing and then I’m done with the single issues. "Nostalgia" might prompt me to go against this if they do another Fire and Stone or Life and Death-style saga, but otherwise, at least collected volumes don’t USUALLY come with a bunch of variants!

And finally, we’re halfway through Adventures of the Super Sons now, and I have got to get the previous series and all 6 of these pulled together to get caught up on my reading.

I’m really looking forward to the new TMNT: Shredder in Hell mini that starts with the week of January 16th; as well as getting Bendis‘ "backstory" filled in on Jon Kent’s missing time between the end of the Rebirth stuff and his run (or the flashbacks, technically, from Bendis‘ Man of Steel).

And depending on how the week shakes out, I may do a couple other posts soon for some other acquisitions of "stuff." As I’m repeating through this post, though…time will tell!

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The Weekly Haul: Weeks of December 19 & December 26, 2018

Posted on December 31, 2018 by Walt

Final post of 2018!

Let’s catch up on the final two "Weekly Hauls" at least as comics go.

(I had planned to do a more introspective/retrospective post to end the year, but time’s gotten away from me…so perhaps I’ll do something early-ish in the NEW year. Time will certainly tell!)

December 19, 2018

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The Wednesday before Christmas was a pretty small week, at least for me. We had the newest issues of Batman and Nightwing. I’ve unfortunately fallen several issues behind on reading both titles again, which is definitely a bad sign for Nightwing. And after stuff with shifting creative teams apparently, conflicting intended arcs/direction and so on…where I’d viewed #50 and the post-shot-in-the-head stuff as a jumping-ON point…I’m leaning toward letting the title go and see where it "winds up" and backtracking via collected volumes "eventually" or some such. Batman itself should be a decent mini-binge-read early in the new year.

I also need to catch up on GI Joe: A Real American Hero reading again. With the multiple continuities/reboots/etc since the Marvel series, but this picking back up from the Marvel #155 and being the continuation of that, by the original creator Larry Hama…I truly view this as THE actual, real, true GI Joe series. The fact that IDW has now put out at least 103 sequentially-numbered issues speaks to a willingness to actually allow the longevity, as sell as respect for the legacy of this particular "run" and the creator and such…and actually gives me hope that TMNT might also be afforded a similar thing. Tie-in specials, mini-series, etc. give plenty of chance for #1s, and the Hasbro-verse rebooting/renumbering/whatever (I’ve not been following closely) would seem to do the same.

Then there’s the latest issues of TMNT and TMNT: Urban Legends. The TMNT issue is a "Christmas" issue, both set within ongoing continuity and yet a somewhat standalone issue, a Christmas special within the regular, actual numbering. I don’t remember if they did one last year, but I believe it was two years ago that they did…and I’m liking that. Urban Legends continues to be cool because it’s old/"classic" (-ish!) TMNT material that I’ve long been aware of but never had a chance to check out myself firsthand. Having it in color is cool, though I’d still like to someday track down the originals.

December 26, 2018

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December 26th being the day after Christmas, and being the Wednesday between Christmas and the start of the New Year, made for a very small week. I ended up just getting the Marvel Action: Avengers #1 and Die!Die!Die! #6. As with the previous issue of the latter, I need to pull my issues together; I should have checked to see what the first collecgted volume would contain, at least.

On the Avengers issue, I have the same logic as the Marvel Action: Spider-Man: I’ll support this IDW-published thing in part for being "only" $3.99 for a first issue, as well as NOT having a ton of variant covers! Also, it’s a bit of a curiosity.

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Ollie’s apparently got more shipments of cheap cast-offs from Marvel and DC (January 2018 started with a big haul, and expanded into February just before I was laid off. Now we’re ending the year with even more.

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Not quite the haul the year started with, but still quite the haul for the prices! In typical fashion–even away from Diamond, though–the Marvel stuff was "premium-priced" several dollars each over what similarly-sized DC books were!

A bit discouraging, though, as the prices are great, but this non-Comics-specialty-store chain gets stuff at prices that actual comic shops can’t really touch in most cases. And comic shops likely would NOT be putting permanent stickers on the volumes. Buuuut you get what you pay for!

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The Weekly Haul: Week of December 12, 2018

Posted on December 17, 2018 by Walt

This past week was a rather large week, especially as single issues go. Maybe not huge, but large.

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Supergirl hits its 25th issue, which is an extra-sized $4.99 issue. Considering the series had apparently been cancelled for several months but came back with the existing numbering has been a huge selling point for me…and I’m willing to turn a “blind eye” to a $4.99 #25 much more than I am a #1! Though I’ve skipped several months’ worth of Detective Comics, I’ve opted to get back in for the run-up to #1,000. We’ll see what I think on that after I get around to actually reading #994, though!. While it seems most often that DC saves up its annuals for a 5th week, we get the Batman Annual this week, and it is another $4.99 issue. Again, I’m willing to accept that as this IS an annual, a special issue, and not intended as the premiere issue for a new series!

Then there’s the second issue of the Alien3 adaptation from William Gibson; I haven’t read the first issue yet, and actually need to figure out where it wound up. I probably “ought” to just wait for a collected volume at the rate I’m going, but then, I’m also preferring oversized stuff to skinny-as-heck paperbacks that fit in a comic bag and board that my regular comics fit in. I need to consolidate my Mr. and Mrs. X issues and read…but as a fan of Rogue and Gambit, and of Rogue and Gambit, it’s one Marvel series I’ll actually support. And at least conceptually, their being married is a welcome change, to me! And no particular interest for me in an Archie-published Archie special…buuuuuut it’s “only” $2.99 compared to virtually everything ELSE Archie publishes these days being $3.99 with umpteen variant covers. So I definitely wanted to support the $2.99 price point!

I’d jumped onto Spawn several years ago for the same reason: supporting something with a $2.99 price point! I suppose I ought to check on the price of the main title…and while I’d assumed this Spawn Kills Everyone was $2.99, it’s actually $3.99…and the first issue of a 4-issue mini-series, apparently. Still…I’m ok with it, given virtually everything else is $3.99, so not like it’s standing out, and “at least it’s not a Marvel.”

And as always, the TMNT stuff has long been my “exception” on stuff…including pricing. $7.99 for each of these “prestige format”/squarebound Macro-Series issues doesn’t really phase me. The more good, in-continuity quality TMNT content from IDW, the better!

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And speaking of TMNT…oh, here’s Chloe! Sarah photobombed last time…apaprently it’s Chloe’s turn! She did not care that I was taking photos for this blog…she saw me there, and insisted on some attention!

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So, speaking of TMNT…I don’t even know what to make of this Rise of the TMNT cover. And despite virtually everything else published by IDW having at LEAST one variant, I don’t believe these have had variants. I don’t really care about this series…but have to admit to the “habit” aspect, and knowing that it’s still actually TMNT content, and I’d kick myself if I had to “hunt down” “missing” issues later, so I’ll just get ’em as they come out and be done.

Finally…after however many weeks/months, we get the second issue of Batman: Damned. [ok, it’s been 12 weeks since #1 came out.] 12 weeks…3 months. I don’t remember the original schedule, but I think this is at least a MONTH late, maybe 6+ weeks. I got the first issue out of curiosity—DC Black Label, a new Azzarello/Bermejo piece involving the Joker; the magazine-sized format…and if it wasn’t for all the stupid online “HYPE” I never would have even noticed a certain anatomical portrayal graphically present. Having the first issue and not hating it, I got the second issue; and as I believe it’s to be a 3-issue thing, I’m quite likely to also get the third/final issue as well.

Along with these issues, I also during the week snagged the Thanos Mighty Mugg figure from Hasbro. I’ve previously passed on all of these due to how small these are compared to the original line as well as not caring for the “gimmick” of the multiple faces. But hey…this is Thanos, so I went ahead and got it.

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And speaking of Thanos…thanks to an online sale from Hot Topic, I was able to get a significant discount on the Thanos-on-his-throne Pop vinyl…with FREE shipping by having it delivered to the local Hot Topic at the mall. Unexpectedly for me, Hot Topic also had a sale going of buy-1-get-1-50%-off for everything in the store includingPops. I happened across the Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers White Tigerzord, which I would have bought “anyway” just for what it IS. That the store had the Grindelwald-and-Thestral already marked down 50%, and eligible for the further discount, it made for quite the “steal.”

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Aaaaaand that’s about enough for this week.

Two more New Comic Days for 2018…that means this was the 50th. And the final will be “interesting,” falling as it does the day right after Christmas…I’m not even sure what (if anything) will really be out that week or if it’ll warrant its own trip to the comics shop(s).

Time will tell…and we’ll see what the week of the 19th holds!

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The Weekly Haul: Weeks of October 24 & 31, 2018 and Halloween Comicfest

Posted on November 2, 2018 by Walt

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

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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

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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!)

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The Weekly Haul: Week of October 3, 2018

Posted on October 5, 2018 by Walt

Another week, another batch of new comics! (and stuff).

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Batman, as usual. #56…means it’s been 6 issues (3 months biweekly) SINCE the infamous Wedding Issue with #50. While I’ve "kept up with" the reading of this title since the Booster Gold arc that began in #45, all the hubbub with #50 and it coming off like the end of "Act One" has made #51-onward feel like a new series in its own way…just (UNLIKE virtually every Marvel title ever) without the renumbering after #50.

I need to catch up on the Super Sons, but knowing I’d eventually be wanting the single issues, it’s easier to "keep up with" than to hunt down later for "everything." And then Die!Die!Die! gets another issue to keep me going (or not).

I was "on the fence" with X-Men Black: Magneto for a number of reasons–$4.99 price, being a one-shot, I don’t plan to get an X-Men Black ongoing, I’m not "current" with most X-Men stuff, I’m not buying 5 issues for the Apocalypse story, etc.

But then I saw Chris Claremont‘s name, and figured fine…with it being a larger issue AND only a one-shot and being a (RARE these days) Claremont issue, I’d give it a chance.

I’m a bit of a sucker for the promotional "magazines," hence the Marvel Universe one here. And hey…free! (at least to me, and though I don’t plan to get into the new/weekly Uncanny X-Men, on the chance something in print could convince me, it’s worth letting the comic shop pay to get something in my hands that might "sell" me on a weekly).

Finally, last week’s and this week’s Comic Shop News. I remember when these were numbered in the 300s…that means I’ve been seeing them for at least 1,000 weeks!

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Several of this week’s DC issues had shiny, foil covers! I was tempted with one of the New Age of Heroes issues just for the shiny cover (DC, shiny cover, ONLY $2.99…) but then I realized the Batman one had the shiny cover, and since I was getting it anyway, that satisfied the urge for a shiny cover.

I saw a couple Facebook posts about them, and seems it’s for their "annual" "stunt month" thing. Looks like at least a couple other issues I’d be getting anyway will have the foiling, so I’ll be content with what I’m getting anyway. I’ve no intention of going out of my way for these! (But absolutely give DC credit for NOT bumping these by $1 cover price just for the foil!)

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And I recently made my first purchase through a Facebook buy/sell/trade group. Someone was getting rid of a bunch of stuff. Seeing what was being asked for for Star Wars vol. 1 and Darth Vader vol. 1 and vol. 2, I’d figured it was reasonable for any single volume. That it was for all three AND included shipping…I jumped on the deal!

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Suffice it to say that including shipping, it was like getting a discount on Star Wars vol. 1, with both of the Darth Vader volumes as pure bonus! They came with an extra plastic cover over the dustjackets–I’m not sure if I could remove these…frankly, if these sorts of covers were cheap and easy to handle I’d consider them for most of my dust jackets on stuff I own!

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A local Walmart had these Power Rangers Legacy Collection helmets on clearance. I’ve had my eyes on these for most of the year. Getting both for less than the original price of either individually made them very well worthwhile.

I might do a separate post on the topic in more depth, but in brief: today (Friday, October 5, 2018) the newest Magic: The Gathering set–Guilds of Ravnica–is officially available/on sale, presumably at local game stores, but also at Walmart (and presumably also Target).

The Power Ranges helmets are a much better, more "tangible" value than 4 "random" booster packs of presumably* crap-physical-quality cards that more than likely would not have anything "special" in them. Knowing I was going to willfully stay out of buying this set on principle, I spent less on other stuff I’m happier with and have already gotten more entertainment value (and much more to come yet) out of than opening some boosters and putting some cards in a box or such.

There’s that old thing that works out to "For want of a nail, the kingdom was lost." For want of $20 (Jace’s Spellbook) I want little/nothing to do with "the local game store" and have near-zero use/need for Magic cards now.

We’ll see how fired-up I get in the near future on stuff, as to whether or not this gets expanded into a new post!

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The Weekly Haul: Week of June 27, 2018

Posted on June 28, 2018 by Walt

This week’s proved to be a rather small (though more expensive for its size) week.

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The new Man of Steel issue…which, while it has a nostalgia-inducing cover evoking the nearly-26-year-old Doomsday / The Death of Superman story doesn’t so much as mention or touch on that story whatsoever. Flash 49, part 3 of The Flash War. And due to "hype" I snagged the Teen Titans Special…while it may be a bit of a turning point, I do NOT feel like it lived up to any of the hype at all.

Marvel has stupid-ridiculous prices for its single issues and collected volumes. But 6 $3.99 issues and 1 $4.99 issue in a $19.99 paperback is (comparatively) not bad. So I went ahead and got the Thanos Wins tpb. I suppose it’s also a way to support this straight to PAPERBACK thing, rather than going to hardcover first and THEN "eventually" paperback. ORRRRRR I flat-out missed the hardback, so…whatever.

Then because it was on sale, I picked up Hulk: World War Hulks for a whopping $5.99. Something like this–a deluxe/oversized hardcover, good and thick…for basically the price of a single Marvel issue? I’m there.

It’s also helpful finally updating my phone’s photos-of-my-shelves inventory so that I could look and confirm this wasn’t a duplicate, as I recognized the cover. But that’d be because half the cover is from Fall of the Hulks: Alpha that I reviewed some years back..

Next week will be ‘interesting’ with New Comics Day being July 4th…or Independence Day here in the U.S. and stores being open due to DC and Marvel putting out key issues that’ve been highly hyped, and no one shifted to this past week or July 11th, and Diamond didn’t push by a day for stuff to be on sale on Tuesday or held til Thursday.

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The Weekly Haul: Week of June 13, 2018 #NCBD

Posted on June 14, 2018 by Walt

This week’s haul is a rather large one–at least for lately!

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The latest Man of Steel issue; the 2nd chapter of Flash War (Read Blake Petit‘s review of that over at ForgedBy4!), and the latest issue of Mister Miracle.

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Against better judgment and preference, I went ahead and grabbed Hawkman #1, just to "try." Same for Plastic Man #1. I’m trying to avoid mini-series from DC lately and in general, but something to it had gotten my attention and I figured with getting various other #1s as well, why not?

Giving in to the "hype" I’d pretty much decided to check out The Magic Order; and I think I’d seen something about a premise to Stellar #1 and decided to give that a try. I’m all for Image #1s, but since I far prefer Image collected volumes, these are–again–"just to try."

I’m pretty sure I’ve "let go" on Oblivion Song; I’d tried the first issue, bought the 2nd and maybe the 3rd…but that "maybe the 3rd" and not recalling if I even actually read #2 is enough reason to stop buying. Maybe I’ll get a collected volume, maybe I’ll catch up… but if it didn’t grab me enough to keep up with and such, not something I need to be following in single issues!

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Both cats–Chloe and Sarah–played photo-bomber when I tried to get the usual photos for this post. Here’s Chloe checking out the #1s–she was laying on the stack, but let me spread them out for her, and she stayed put for the photo.

I know I say it most of the time but…here’s hoping next week is a small one again!

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The Weekly Haul: Week of May 23, 2018 #NCBD

Posted on May 24, 2018 by Walt

This week proved to be a rather small week comic-wise, which allowed for me to make a purchase I’d eyed last week but held off on financially.

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First off, IDW is reprinting the original Image run of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles under the subtitle Urban Legends. This is a sort of “forgotten volume” a la Devil’s Due‘s GI Joe series, itself having been reprinted some years back under the Disavowed subtitle. Per usual, the TMNT are an exception to my usual rules for pretty much anything/everything comics–I will “double-dip” at least on this first issue, eventually going with both the A and the B covers–the B covers apparently being the “original” cover images. Since the rest of the Color Classics had the “original” cover image, if nothing else, it might simply be my exception by way of me actually going for the B covers where the rest of the time I try to go exclusively with the A cover.

From what I can tell, this week’s Detective Comics caps the Rebirth run on the title, and I think the title passes to (a) new creative team(s) with the next issue and going forward. As such this might be my last issue until #1000 as I’m so far behind reading anyway that I’d just as soon wait for collected volumes until then, but already had enough of this run to want to keep going, and having assumed the creative team was going to be on the book longer.

And we finally have the start of The Flash War, which I “should have” passed on, but figured I’d get even though I’m far behind on reading Flash stuff, and actually had finally “let the title go” when this story was hyped a bit but didn’t actually materialize! Now it’s here, but I might wait for the collected edition for anything past this issue.

I picked up the Executive Assistant Iris Primer and the new #1 on being 25 cents and writer Blake Northcott‘s name, respectively. I don’t remember if I knew she would be writing this, and certainly didn’t remember or recognize that it was going to be out this week… a well-timed post on Twitter Tuesday (or maybe Wednesday morning–I can’t actually remember and it’s not important enough to go look it up) put it on my radar. AND since the “A” cover was available, rather than a B or any OTHER cover.

And though I’d seen it last week, I passed on Myth Adventures One. But having the week to consider, and this week being a smaller week, for the price of  2 1/2 standard-price comics, I got this graphic novel edition–33ish years old–collecting the first four issues (and in color!) of Myth Adventures. (And as I said regarding my purchase of the single issue #10 back in March, I must blame fellow blogger Michael Carlyle, writer of The Crapbox of Son of Cthulu firstly for “inspiration” to get that issue, and then his recommendation of the series that helped prompt this purchase). I also like that its size should be a nice match to the original TMNT color editions.

Finally, this week’s CSN and a checklist for the issues leading to/including the Bat-Wedding and Catwoman #1 this summer.

All in all, I feel like this is one of the highest-quality weeks for me in awhile; with most of the issues being stuff I can/will dive right into reading. First issues/primers/start of stuff, and even the Detective Comics issue I’ll probably read despite not being current with reading the series…like losing track of a tv show but watching the finale to at least have that experience rather than trying to avoid spoilers or being spoiled without context of the episode/issue itself.

I believe next week (finally!) kicks off the new Man of Steel weekly, and I’ve yet to decide if I’m going “all in” on the Bat-Wedding stuff or if I’m just sticking with the core Batman title, as I know the tie-ins will be a collected edition in several months.

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The Weekly Haul: Week of May 16, 2018

Posted on May 22, 2018 by Walt

Another week has flown by in quite a hurry!

Here’s the stuff from the week of May 16!

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The Superman Special to cap off Rebirth and pave the way for Bendis‘ takeover. Batman has the conclusion to the Booster Gold 3-parter. And after what feels like a bunch of months, New Challengers finally premiered. But I’ve since learned that it’s apparently “only” a 6-issue mini-series, which is really annoying to me as I’ve been SPECIFICALLY trying to AVOID new mini-series, as backed up as I am on reading and minis being concluded before I even get to reading the singles.

I’m even months behind on reading on both TMNT and TMNT Universe.

I continue to like the $1 reprints from various publishers. Marvel has actually reprinted two very “iconic” (to me) issues in the current round of Wolverine issues, under their True Believers #1 banner. (Reprinting X-Men (1991) #25 and Wolverine (first ongoing series) #90.

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Hitting bargain bins, I thought I was grabbing all four issues of the Secret City Saga but in opting to NOT buy duplicates, I apparently grabbed TeenAgents #3 instead. The Legend of the Shield issue grabbed my attention by the cover, and since all four issues were present I grabbed the Legends of the Legion.

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I pretty much do not pass up Superman #75 in the bargain bins. In this case, a copy of the 2nd printing of the “Newsstand Edition.” I distinctly remember this Kamandi: At Earth’s End issue from 1993ish because of the Superman cover.

I don’t recall being consciously aware of the Dino Island comics offhand…but it’s by Mirage and Jim Lawson, so had my attention for the TMNT connection!

And then because there were 6 issues in a row…snagged the first volume of Rune, #s 1-6 for less than half the cost of a standard new comic.

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Finally, rounding things out, grabbed a Lady Pendragon #1…no idea at this point which iteration of the series this was–I remember there being several brief minis–but a bit of nostalgia there. And since it was in the quarter-bin, grabbed Savage Dragon 232 since I think I left off around #230 or #231 with buying regularly, as I’d fallen behind on my reading.

And apparently an extra copy of Rune #1 made it into the stack. But hey…an extra copy of Rune #1’s better than doubling up (or more) on new issues with variant covers!

Here’s hoping the new comics for May 23 are a small bunch and nothing too plentiful.

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The Weekly Haul: Week of May 9, 2018

Posted on May 10, 2018 by Walt

Offhand, this might be the smallest week for new comics that I’ve had in a year or more…and that’s with “taking a chance on” two of the issues!

Here we go:

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Still keeping up with getting Detective Comics. If nothing else, if it keeps to the biweekly shipping, we’re less than a year from that hitting #1000. Otherwise, could be a couple more years.

I feel like it’s been awhile since seeing a Spawn crossover like this…so figured I’d at least get this first issue of Medieval Spawn/Witchblade. Maybe it’s a one-shot, I’m not actually sure. It’s Spawn, and it’s only $2.99. And that’s what got me following “modern Spawn” in the first place–it was a $2.99 book even as Savage Dragon had gone to $3.99, Marvel was defaulting to $3.99 when they didn’t have some lame “excuse” to do $4.99 or $5.99+; and shorly prior to the start of the Rebirth stuff, even DC was mostly $3.99!

I “took a chance” on Sideways #4 as I’m not actually sure if I got #3, or if I’d pulled the trigger on letting the title go. And I “took a chance” on Oblivion Song as I was pretty sure I was gonna let it go, but not yet having read #2 from last month, I don’t wanna have to “chase” the darned thing if I get to it sooner than not.

I don’t know if I’ll make a separate post of it later or not, but I guess I’m already sorta getting to it with my phrasing above: I’m finding that DC even has squandered a lot of the “good will” they’d built up with me.

I feel like the Action Comics and Superman specials’ existence suggest that the creative teams were not actually ready (or quite ready) for their runs to end, but The Powers That Be wanted to clear the deck for bringing Bendis in and try to mirror 1986’s Byrne relaunch of the Superman stuff. It’s too soon for me to judge on his stuff, but with the Action Comics piece and last week’s DC Nation piece, I’m feeling stuff as being a lot more For Tomorrow (the Brian Azzarello/Jim Lee 12-issue run back in 2004) than Byrne‘s Man of Steel (1986ish).

Justice League apparently going to a new #1 after the 4-part weekly No Justice has made that title rather “lame duck” for me, and I’m feeling increased trepidation toward the longevity of DC‘s other titles outside of Action and Detective getting to keep their Rebirth-to-present numbering. It’s a little late to go back to any original numbering with only one chunk breaking it up, as Action and Detective both have; most other titles that would be ‘worth’ ‘legacy’ numbering at minimum have two breaks (New 52 and Rebirth).

And though DC seems to have taken steps to differentiate their variants from the regular editions, and in the back of my mind I think I saw something somewhere about them re-evaluating the every-single-issue-must-have-at-minimum-2-covers thing, even if that’s the case it’s a bit late.

I’m so burned out on variants and renumbering, period, that I just want to wash my hands of even being exposed to the stuff.

I followed Metal and its main tie-ins, but got behind after just a couple issues…and have yet to “double back” to actually read the things…and at this point by the time I do, the collected edition will likely be out.

I realized shortly before starting this post, that we’re basically AT the 2-year mark for Rebirth, and as I recall it, we were told there’d be a 2-year through-line of stuff; that it would essentially be a big two-year story. But here we are, 2 years later, and Doomsday Clock has switched to bi-monthly, extending it by another year or so…and since it seems that IT is the vehicle by which the stuff begun in the Rebirth special will wrap up and move forward…the 2 year story’s become 3 at least, and the original plan’s been derailed.

Adding to all of this is things going on in my personal life, and I think I’m just burning out a fair bit on trying to keep up with new/current comics. Meanwhile, where I can spend $4 to $5+ for a single new issue, that same $4-5+ can buy me a 16-20+ issue run from quarter bins, or 4-5 dollar issues (most of a six-issue mini-series, if not an entire 4-5 issue mini-series).

Given I’d’ve been happy with just Detective and Spawn/Witchblade, and that the latter was something I just found out about existing on Tuesday…and the piles and stacks of new/recent comics that I’ve not gotten around to reading…

I’m just glad it was a small week.

We’ll see what next week holds.

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