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The Weekly Haul: Week of March 10, 2021

Posted on March 11, 2021 by Walt

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And here we are…this week marks one week since the company I work for immediately transitioned to 100% remote work. That didn’t affect me too much as I was already working 100% remotely. But it was also only a week ahead of what felt like stuff hitting all the more a week later…and then the shutdowns catching up to the comics world.

And of course…DC. In their (Or rather, AT&T‘s) rush to do stuff, dropping Diamond and all the other shenanigans of stuff…well, look at this image below. NO DC. And of the 8 issues this week…7 of them are Marvel!

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This week starts with MY first new X-book #1 with the obvious trade dress/branding of the Dawn of X/Reign of X stuff since 2019’s X-Men #1…Children of the Atom #1. Not sure what to expect from the title, but as I’m currently all in mostly all-in on these I suppose I’ll find out. And being a #1 maybe I’ll find out sooner than some other stuff. Or save it for when I catch up as I’m (as of this typing) currently plugging through the #4s of Dawn of X wave 1.

X-Factor #8 adds to the X-stuff for the week, and is my first new issue of that title since diving back onto the family of titles!

Amazing Spider-Man #61 boasts of a new costume, and the cover reminds me a bit of one of the Complete Clone Saga Epic tpbs’ cover.

While his latest ongoing series (vol. 8? vol. 9?) just ended…we get a one-shot special issue celebrating Deadpool’s 30th anniversary/birthday in Deadpool Nerdy 30 #1. While–like Gambit and Cable–I missed the character’s actual first appearing, I came in only a couple years after…and have been around and aware of the character for a good 28 or so years of this 30!

Next up, we have TMNT Jennika II #5 (of 5? of 6???). Defffffinitely buying this for the sake of TMNT completion…I miss having other minis telling side-stories and such that dealt with multiple characters or other characters. But with the 3-issue 2020 mini and now this, in less than 2 years as a turtle, Jennika the character has gotten more solo-titled issues than any of the other turtles have in 37 years! (Each had a one-issue micro-series from Mirage; I believe I recall each having a 4-issue series from Mirage in the early-2000s under; and each hada one-issue micro-series early in IDW‘s tenure and then each had one-shots leading up to #100. So that’s 7 each in 37 years while Jennika’s already got 8 and maybe a 9th in a few weeks in only a little over one year…)

Wolverine: Black, White & Blood #4 is newly out this week…and I got taken in by nostalgia over the logo, and decided to go ahead and get it, as well as back-issues #s 2 & 3…which leaves only #1 to hunt down (perhaps this weekend?). I suppose DC has pushed me so far that I’m now forgiving and embracing stuff from Marvel that I shouldn’t (look at all these $4.99 books!) but I think for the moment, the X-stuff is approaching TMNT territory where I’ll give a pass that I won’t just broadly give to "everything."

But time will tell with the X-stuff. I’m not sure what’s up next week, but I think the week after is the first Marvel-published Aliens issue. And then the Omnibus in April or so. Still have to decide if I actually want that or not, given my aversion the last couple years TO Omnibus volumes over smaller, more manageable volumes. That being said…Aliens is probably more likely to get "Exception Status" than a broad pass to every X-title.

Who knows?

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The Weekly Haul: Week of March 03, 2021

Posted on March 4, 2021 by Walt

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Here we are with another medium-ish week! However, this week has a lot of first issues to it, with little guarantee of any #2s (for me). But time will tell!

Let’s get into the week’s books!

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Fire Power #9 probably marks the longest I’ve stayed with a non-The Walking Dead Kirkman title in one go. While my interest isn’t nearly as high or hyped as it was for the first several issues, I’m still enjoying the series enough and determined to keep up for awhile just on principle of it being self-contained and not DC.

Given the sheer hype of Peach Momoko and the absolutely ridiculous/crazy/stupid speculation and such rampant in modern/current comics, I "speculated" myself that I’d better snag the first issue just to be ABLE TO at cover price. I do NOT get what the hype is all about for this creator, and while I’m pretty much all-in on the Hickman-led X-books for present…that does NOT (yet) include ALL related mini-series…so as I type this I also feel a little foolish regarding this Peach Momoko Demon Days X-Men book. C’est la vie, I guess.

Despite determining to bail on DC post-Future State and more pointedly on Batman due to the jacked-up $4.99 price and a "backup" feature continued in Detective Comics…for some reason, I’ve been a sucker for Swamp Thing for…heck, I guess it’s been about a decade now (since that Search for Swamp Thing mini-series back in 2011 or so). So I couldn’t quite force myself to not buy this latest iteration #1. Of course, if I opt to (as is likely) pass on #2…that’s probably gonna be the next huuuuuge "key" book for something. (You read it here first, everyone! I’m even scooping Bleeding Cool!)

Hellions #10…aka Fallen Angels #16? Whatever the case…this one threw me a bit by its cover. It not only has a "corner box" which is quite abnormal for a modern Marvel…but even has a faux UPC box with an image of Sinister in the style of direct market editions of many ’90s books. As of this typing I’m nearing the end of the #4s in the initial Dawn of X stuff, so still quite a bit of reading to get caught up totally. But I’m working on it!

DC‘s Infinite Frontier #0 is something I was NOT going to buy. But I think I changed my mind figuring there MIGHT be something to it, something worth reading…and, it WAS their Rebirth one-shot that–a little less than five years ago–prompted me to go all-in on the main DC Universe line for over a year! They’ve pi…ugh…squandered away all goodwill bought with that issue, really, but I’m nothing if not a glutton for punishment.

Walking Dead Deluxe is already at its 10th issue. Only two issues left to complete the second arc. This issue also marks the 1/3 point to where I "discovered" the title for myself way back when, as my getting-onboard-point was the release of the 5th TPB (to issue 30) and then waiting several months for the next arc to conclude to jump into the single issues with #37.

Now we come to three more new #1s…maybe soon I’ll look back and tally up how many #1s I’ve "tried" in the last few weeks…and see how many have "stuck."

Nocrterra grabbed my attention somehow…maybe a well-placed mention on League of Comic Geeks, maybe something else; maybe that it looked to be a small week. But I’d messaged ahead to have a copy held, committing myself to this first issue. As I was checking out, we discussed that it looked like classic Image; and I remarked that the character on the cover looks a bit like Magik from the X-books. We’ll see once I get it read.

Undone by Blood: The Other Side of Eden #1 caught my eye primarily for being a #1, and the Afteshock logo. I’m rather appalled at myself for all the $4.99 comics I’m buying lately, but for the higher paper quality/cover stock it at least feels a BIT more worth it…as well as being a comic from a publisher that does NOT have a huge international corporation behind it.

I feel like Jonna and the Unpossible Monsters has been overhyped a bit…but it ALSO looks to me like something typical for Boom, which I’ve avoided buying anything/everything for over half a decade now over their Power Rangers #0 stunt. However…this is Oni Press. So…seeing one copy on the shelf and it NOT being a variant, I decided to REWARD it specifically for NOT being published by Boom.

And thus another Wednesday’s haul accounted for.

Nothing really that I was singularly looking forward to or excited about (I’m definitely looking forward to Radiant Black #2 and curious about Children of the Atom #1 next week or so). Had I truly "stuck to my guns" so to speak, this week might’ve been Fire Power, Hellions, and Walking Dead Deluxe…a mere 3 issues. Hardly worth rushing to the shop over.

I also specifically passed on Brzrkr (or however it’s spelled) from Boom because as said above…I refuse to (and have for almost 62 months now) buy any single issues from Boom. I’d obviously be part of their target audience for that book, but that IS something I’m sticking to my guns on. No. Boom. Single. Issues. Period. And really, nothing from them at all, if I’m being honest.

Looking like there’s a local one-day "dealer room" show coming up this weekend–masks and temperature-taking required of course–that I’m leaning toward going to. Partly to hunt some grails, partly to hunt more X-stuff, partly just to "do" something…anything…semi-social.

And "retail therapy" and all that.

We’ll see how it goes!

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The Weekly Haul: Week of February 24, 2021

Posted on February 25, 2021 by Walt

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Well…

This wound up being a huge week! So huge that I passed on a book I’d been considering–the Spawn Compendium. As-is I spent significantly more than I’d planned, for NOT having any collected volumes in the mix!

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New issue of Spawn–#315–putting us deeper into the 300+ territory. And if I’m recalling correctly, starting with #256…this puts me 60 issues (or 5 years, half-a-decade, more than 1/6 of the entire existence of the book) deep myself!

Crossover #4 puts us into the back-half of the mini-series (at least, I assume it’s a 6-issue mini-series as most such Image books seem to be?!?).

Amazing Spider-Man #60 marks 7 issues I’ve been along for the ride. This should be the 3rd chapter of this particular arc…and it was a combination of the cover in solicitation or preview somewhere and an issue being in my pulls recently that I decided to at least go through to this issue to check things out. Though I’m already more than tired of the Kindred character and tone and not entirely sure what I’m reading in terms of issue-to-issue stuff.

Warhammer 40,000: Marneus Calgar #5 marks the conclusion of this mini-series, I believe. I hope. I’d snagged the first issue to try; then the 2nd-3rd when I realized two more were out in case I liked the first issue enough…and then #4 and now 5 to complete the series/story. Still have to read the issues. And probably need to stay OUT of such minis…depending on if/how Marvel and/or Games Workshop decide to (allow) stuff like this to be collected.

A couple of X-books this week in Wolverine #10, and X-Men #18. These get to be added to "the stack" for eventual reading once I catch up one way or the other–from the #2s in the first wave of Dawn of X or scooting forward from the X of Swords crossover.

Usagi Yojimbo: The Wanderer’s Road #4 marks 4 issues into the next arc of the classic iteration of the character, colorized here.

Kaiju Score benefits from a friend’s recommendation–this is now the 4th issue I’ve bought, with #s 1-3 still in the to-be-read pile. And I’m guessing this will be a 5-6-issue mini-series.

And then–while I’ve no real intention of sticking with DC into its new initiative (Infinite Frontier, is it? I’m blanking at the moment of typing and don’t feel like Googling it)–I’d picked up several of the other giant-size specials out of Death Metal so figured why not get this Generations Forged? Having bought those others, and DC being what it’s been of late, not keen on their collected volumes nor in double-dipping for already-graphic-novel-ish squarebound/title-on-the-spine issues…and my OCD would demand this eventually anyway. Plus…Dan Jurgens was a name I saw with it, so…yeah.

Whew…nine issues!

…What?

Nope, we’re not done yet!

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Stray Dogs #1 appealed to me (apparently) in browsing new comics for the week on League of Comic Geeks, so I’d clicked to have it appear in the "checklist" that gets emailed to me every Tuesday/Wednesday. And since the issue was available with the actual/main/"A"/standard/NON-variant cover…I snagged it. To add to the ever-growing pile of stuff yet-to-be-read and all that. Something I read about it, though made it sound different and interesting, and something I’d enjoy, so time will tell!

Nuclear Family #1 simply caught my attention sitting there, and the cover showing apparently an entire family…well, I’ll check it out. Not keen on the $4.99 price point, but already spending $4.99+ on other issues and it already being a huge week, I figured what’s another few dollars? And it’s at least for a comic from a publisher that’s perhaps a bit more warranted to have $4.99 issues–cardstock-ish covers, and NOT owned by Disney nor AT&T. So another issue that I have to shrug at, toss on the pile, and who knows.

And that wraps up another week’s haul. Well, I also bought another "art box" of the Jim Lee X-Men (1991) #1 art. (A shortbox featuring the cover of the deluxe edition). Whether I’ll add it in with shuffling my ’90s X-stuff, or more likely use it to house my Dawn of X to present X-stuff…I dig it. Perhaps I’ll look into an actual Dawn of X or see if there was a House of X/Powers of X such box.

Here’s hoping next week isn’t nearly as huge!

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The Weekly Haul: Week of February 17, 2021

Posted on February 19, 2021 by Walt

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Another week, another haul…

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The Last Ronin #2 finally came out. I’m not sure anymore off the top of my head how long this series is. 3 issues? 5? 6? But it’s been nearly 4 months since the first issue shipped–that one came out October 28th! So this thing’s not monthly, not bi-monthly…it’s not even quarterly. Seems more Doomsday Clock in schedule.

I’ve been looking forward to X-Men Legends for a fair bit; very cool to actually have it out now! I definitely like the idea of having an X-title like this that brings back older/classic creators to tell new stories set in various prior points of continuity!

This latest Iron Fist mini-series is by Larry Hama which was the selling point for me on the first issue. I enjoyed it well enough, so here’s issue #2!

Where I’d basically given up on King‘s Batman/Catwoman series after it being a no-show for most of 2020 (where I believe it was originally expected for late-2019!) it was the cover of this third issue that I think re-“sold” me on the series. I do look forward to getting this read and see how things are shaping up…though we’ll also see if I hold the patience for its story being all over the place without much in the way of transitions.

The Walking Dead Deluxe continues to be an enjoyable series, and I’m continuing to be glad to get the series in this format and re-read stuff. 9 issues already? Seems like it just started. But I’m definitely not complaining for now!

Then Marauders #18 and Cable #8 are the week’s new X-issues. I’ve read the latter 2/3rds of X of Swords but haven’t pressed further yet…I’m torn between flying on ahead of it and THEN backtracking, or continue playing catch-up from the beginning of Dawn of X first.

Speaking OF Dawn of X, vol. 13 is here, and it looks like the books are nearing their end: solicitation suggests that volume 16 will be the lead-in to X of Swords, and I’m somewhat assuming that will get an omnibus or otherwise standalone volume(s). Then again, maybe vols. 17-20 will BE X of Swords? I’m definitely double-dipping because as I’ve said pretty much all along: I really want to support this “anthology” format, and as much as I grouse about other stuff, this is something I can proactively “put my money where my mouth is” or whatever saying rather than simply “not buying” something.

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While I was getting photos for this post, Sarah-cat decided to waltz in seeking attention. Here she is with several X issues (that will actually get their own post eventually).

Next week’s gonna be another big week…though with a couple minis concluding at least.

We’ll see how stuff goes.

Also of personal note for myself…with this post–Friday, February 19–it’s been 4 weeks of 5-days/week posts, plus a 4-day week before that. I can’t remember the last time I managed such a run on this blog, nor how long this’ll keep up with personal stuff. (Something I keep saying time and again).

Here’s to the end of another week and hopefully a good weekend to come all around!

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The Weekly Haul: Week of January 27, 2021

Posted on January 29, 2021 by Walt

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Another week, another batch of comics. A sorta diverse week publisher-wise…while wholly lacking in any DC product!

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First is the new issue of Spawn…#314. I believe the next issue will mark 60 issues–nearly 1/5 of the entire series–that I’ve been buying the monthly issues! I was NEARLY tempted into buying a variant for this issue–as an additional piece–but couldn’t quite bring myself to do it. I’m happy to support the $2.99 price point–which is what helped KEEP me in 5 years ago once the cover of #256 drew my attention. But I’d rather have a secondary title at $2.99 to support than variants.

I have to blame Chris Sheehan (Chris is on Infinite Earths / X-Lapsed) for my snagging this issue of Deadpool–#10. And that little shark character. I suppose it helps that this is "only" #10, and I believe the final issue of this iteration of the title, so a little bit of blah/laissez-faire or whatever. Even as a $4.99 issue, I’m apparently going a bit "soft" on the price point for certain issues.

Then the latest Amazing Spider-Man, which I think I’ve pretty well had my "current-year/current-week" Spider-Man itch scratched the last few weeks. This is a frequently-shipping title and I’m not ENJOYING it AS a title the way I would want, so I’m ready to bail…I might determine the immediacy after I’ve read this one, though.

Then we have the third issue of the second iteration of a "color classics" Usagi Yojimbo. I think I even missed an issue or two of the main series, and not sure if I got around to READING any issues past the main IDW Usagi Yojimbo title’s second issue. I see it–sort of–like a companion title to TMNT, but I’m waffling on whether to stay with it or catch back up or what. I don’t want a "mini-series" for every single storyline…I’d much rather see color classic volumes at least matching the original publishing runs–sure, do new #1s when it gets to what was originally published by Mirage, and then when the title went to Dark Horse–but not for each 6-7-issue arc!

A friend had mentioned Kaiju Score recently-ish and I came across the first two issues, so noticing that #3 was out this week, I went ahead and bought it. I’m not keen on its $4.99 price point…but as I continue to bristle at a lot of DC stuff and looking to walk away from that publisher, I suppose I’m wanting to find something else to follow…or at least check out titles I maybe wouldn’t pay attention to otherwise.

I bought the previous issue of Wolverine–#8 (but apparently the 350th issue if you add up alllll the different volumes of the series over the years). And that was gonna be IT. But I’m sort of curious about what the cover depicts–an auction apparently for Wolverine’s hand (including claws!) being auctioned. Seems to me that should be impossible, knowing firstly that there’s been no hype over the character being permanently maimed (like losing the hand Age of Apocalypse-style) and secondly that the adamantium should prevent this. And perhaps thirdly, some nostalgia kicking in and there’s something more interesting to this iteration of the title to me now than some earlier volumes years back.

And finally, as a possible Bought it For the Cover candidate, seeing two issues of apparently the same title caught my eye. Heroineburgh. (Though in the moment I had a bit of a hard time making out the actual title with the coloring of the logo on the cover of the first issue). Some design issues (to my eye) there, but whatever. I flipped briefly through and it didn’t look horrible. Then I noticed a name on the cover and realized that this title’s something truly indy–and figured it was something hand-distributed by a creator (with the issues signed as a ‘bonus’) and decided to give it a shot, cuz hey…why not? And if I’m gonna be grumpy at "the big guys" and their stuff, might as well check out some stuff like this. What little research I did after the fact to see what I could find out about it did not impress me–this is apparently comic adventures bridging seasons of some YouTube video series, so I already wonder (not following nor having seen or heard of said video series) how much the story’ll hit me. Family ties with Pittsburgh, and it’s NOT New York or some other common comics-city, so…we’ll see.

And this week’s Comic Shop News features The Marvels with a pretty picture and I’m reminded that while I like some of the concepts and such the last couple years with stuff recognizing the 25th anniversary a year or two back of the original Marvels series, it just seems like it’s a branding that’s being highly diluted and stretched way too thin for me (all the more with having been sucked in a bit with Marvels X thinking that to be more X-based when it was a prequel to Earth X!).

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Along with randomly picking up the Heroineburgh issues, I checked back-issue bins for Dragonlance. I didn’t find any, but being in the generic "D" section gave me Dungeons and Dragons, which in this case was the distant "cousin" of what I was looking for, and I found a #1 for some mini-series and decided to grab it.

And while not part of the actual weekly haul, a rigid cardboard mailer had arrived just before I went to the comic shop, and opening that revealed the Serpent’s Eye…I mean Birthright…issue I’d ordered from some Amazon seller a bit over a week ago.

So these’ll go in the TSR comics collection (though I doubt I’ll go far on IDW D&D…time will tell in the end).

With this post, I think that’s 4 or 5 weeks in a row now hitting each week’s haul. Also looks like this is the 9th post out of 10 weekdays…a post rate I haven’t had in ages.

Let’s hope that 2021 doesn’t blow up like 2020 did after I was getting on track like this last year!

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The Weekly Haul: Weeks of December 16 and December 23, 2020

Posted on December 26, 2020 by Walt

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Well…here we are again, closing in on the end of another year. And covering only TWO weeks of new comics instead of 4+!

I’m typing this on Christmas Day 2020…probably gonna let this post go "live" day after just to be relatively timely. Who knows?

Week of December 16, 2020

An odd sort of week…even with a couple of DCs, mostly non-DC…and no Marvel..!

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The Walking Dead Deluxe shouldn’t appeal to me. I got into the series via the collected volumes back when TPB vol. 5 was new. So I shouldn’t care for single-issue versions of those issues. But this is a colorized version…and very much in the vein (to ME) of TMNT Color Classics or the Usagi Yojimbo classic reprints from IDW. And at least for the moment, it’s more enjoyable getting and reading each of these issues than it is most others. And the physical quality of the book seems to be pretty good, too, making its $3.99 seem a better value than most other $3.99s!

Batman #105 seems to conclude an arc and set stuff up for a new arc. But now we first get 8-9 weeks of Future State before #106…and I’ve seen solicitation stuff that suggests (again, to ME, I haven’t properly/fully researched yet) that with #106 the title goes to $4.99 as a REGULAR price point, albeit with an added "backup" story…but the BACKUP STORY will be multiple-part and cross over with Detective Comics, and so I’m feeling REALLY disenfranchised with it and DC in general on the matter.

These Tales from the Dark Multiverse things are not as enjoyable this time around as the first…though even the first wasn’t some total success for me. But for a cross between Marvel‘s What If..? and DC‘s own Elseworlds of years past, I’ve been getting them. How you can do a full such story retelling an alternate version of year-long and dozens-of-issues-long events is beyond me…and probably part of why they haven’t been holding up fully to potential (though the Flashpoint one has probably been my favorite of this year’s specials).

Commanders in Crisis I’m getting because of getting previous issues and not wanting to miss out. Though I’m also torn as I saw something indicating this is to be a 12-issue series. Do I really care to follow along for that many issues without it being an actual ongoing? And I have to wonder how similar (or not) it’s going to be to Crossover.

Then there’s Stillwater which is a similar thing–I got and read and was curious on the first issue, and getting subsequent ones though I’m behind on the reading. Probably ought to stop while I’m ahead, but as long as i’m not snagging loads of DC and Marvel, might as well get other stuff?

Pile Second Coming onto that list/reasoning, too, I suppose. I wasn’t gonna chase after the series, but being able to get the issue last-second off-the-shelf…yeah. Got it.

Finally…after putting it off from the previous week, since the Adventureman hardcover was still available, I went ahead and snagged it. I think it only contains 4 or so issues–so fairly expensive for its content…BUT it’s a hardcover, and oversized, and seems much more worth the price FOR it. All the more against generic Marvel or DC fare.

Week of December 23, 2020

…annnnnd we’re caught up to current week already!

And actually quite a small week for NEW stuff, at that! And it’s NOT EVEN the week BETWEEN Christmas and New Year!

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New Spawn (STILL HOLDING THE LINE AT $2.99!) and GI Joe: A Real American Hero #277. Funny, such high numbers when other publishers SHUN anything double-digit, let alone triple.

Some other stuff sorta interesting, but like the JLA: Winter’s Edge or whatever…with Death Metal still going on/lotta tie-ins, now this event, and Future State in the wings…it’s just event on Event on EVENT and it’s all going on at once but they’re separate…and thus semi-meaningless to me.

So I dug through back issue bins looking for Wolverine #1000. No luck on that, but did find this Exit Wounds issue that caught my eye, so why not? And only $5.25 or so, putting it well in line with current issues…but it’s a bit more rare and "special" because it’s a (gasp!) back issue! Yet it’s new enough to not reek of being a bloat-priced 25-cent-bin-book. (Though with recent "speculation" and such, how long are quarter-bins gonna hang around?)

Then, as with Adventureman the week before, I snagged Reckless a week after its initial release.

AND adding to the price for the week, a couple other THICK volumes for under-$20 each (a good half-or-so-off) caught my eye. So snagged them, cuz I’d rather get 12+ issues’ content for the price of 4-5 single issues.

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Draaaaastically inflating the price for the week as well was this new Gallery statue of Superman. I don’t think I realized this was coming out. I saw it, and decided to get it. It’s Superman, he’s got the trunks.

AND it’s available. Right there. No "hunting," no "chasing," no frustration trying to get it, no "luck" involved, etc. Just a SIMPLE MATTER OF: "here’s a product and its price" and "I will pay that price" and voila! Transaction’s done!

Something that toy company NECA and Target do NOT seem capable of grasping with their various TMNT figures.

So if they don’t want my money, since I have no real chance of getting say, April O’Neil with a generic battered footbot…I CAN get this Superman statue, farrrrrr less fuss and hassle!

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Since Comixology did away with its origins as a pull list thing, I’ve been using League of Comic Geeks to keep track of my weekly plan-to-buys. They showed this Sham Comics 80-Page Giant for this week. Buuuut it’s Source Point Press…which apparently broke ties with Diamond, so I wasn’t going to be able to get the issue at the shop.

So I went to the SPP website to see what issues were available and such. I wasn’t about to pay shipping for just one issue. Turned out all previous issues of the series were available, and at cover price. So…for interest piqued on ONE NEW ISSUE, I ordered all 7.

AND where I expected them to SHIP sometime NEXT week…they not only shipped but ARRIVED this week. BEFORE Christmas!

The issues were just the issues in a box. No bags/boards, no simple bag around all the issues…so I’m not impressed with the PACKING. But the shipping speed impressed me. And since none of the issues were particularly damaged…I’m happy enough with ’em.

This "go to the site and find what issues exist AND they’re all ACTUALLY AVAILABLE thing is REMARKABLE…and something other publishers (especially small-press/indie stuff) should look into. And/or make stuff print-on-demand. My qualms with MODERN not-first-print issues is the way everyone feels this need to make 2nd-or-later print issues with a different cover entirely, or inferior (i.e. "sketch") cover, or otherwise make it see like some dumb afterthought "consolation prize" if you were so unfortunate as to discover a series a few issues in, but too late to get the original printing/Kickstarter/etc.

Anyway…none of that frustration in getting these so I’m a happy camper on ’em!

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At a Walmart, found these guys. And I’m impatient, so I was happy enough to get them now rather than waiting for an online order. They’re not the cartoon versions…but at least they’re REASONBLE on price and affordable. Not the second hand $169 and $237 and such people are charging for the cartoon versions!

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I also went back to the comic shop after verifying which volume(s) I already had for The Complete Clone Saga Epic.(I had volume 1 already). So now I have 1-2. Maybe stupid of me–3-5 are probably long outta print and $300 apiece on the secondary market now. But whatever.

And the Ghost Rider volume has 19 issues, so…not a bad buy. And I’m very much a sucker for these nice, fat volumes instead of piddly tiny ones that fit in a bag and board same as any single issue.

These also fall into the above rant on NECA: they don’t want my money, I’ll spend my money where it’s appreciated and I can simply walk in and get something.

Just a few more days and 2020 is over.

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The Weekly Haul: Week of March 25, 2020 – The End

Posted on March 30, 2020 by Walt

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The End…for now?

"The Shutdown." COVID-19. "Corona Virus." Whatever.

Life during quarantine.

No more new comics for the foreseeable future, hence March 25’s comics marking "The End" for now.

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Two new TMNT comics: the main ongoing series’ 104th issue…and the recent ‘companion mini-series’ Jennika (2nd issue of 3) giving our newest turtle the spotlight. Also from IDW is the latest Usagi Yojimbo Color Classics issue.

Then there’s the newest Spawn issue–#306. Hard to believe it’s already been (over) 6 months since the big 300th!

So that’s IDW and Image…

What of DC (that just under 4 years ago I went all-in on with their main "DC Universe" titles)? What of Marvel (whose X-Men are some of my favorite characters, whose Age of Apocalypse in 1995 holds to this day as one of my all-time favorite comics events 25 years later)?

Well, from Marvel there’s the facsimile edition of Incredible Hulk #182 and from DC there’s their Vertig…er…Black Label / Sandman Universe dual/sub-imprint whatever Hellblazer #5.

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Then there’s the newest issue of Back Issue from TwoMorrows Publishing. Even just reading a couple articles in any given issue is high quality and provides more value:time ratio for the price than a single issue of a comic! So always glad to get an issue, and support the publisher!

Along with the week’s new comics, I was given a copy of the newest Previews (and its assorted accessories) with the acknowledgement that it’s probably "worthless" now with the shutdowns, but it is what it is. (The catalog).

Plenty of thoughts on all this real-world stuff. Several major fictional parallels I’ve recalled or been reminded of. But those are for some other post, perhaps.

For now…figured I’d get this posted, and that’s that for 2020’s The Weekly Haul posts for the foreseeable future.

May find other content to post. Haven’t shared newest shelves, or configurations of all my junk. Actually getting some The ’90s Revisited posts done lately (probably none this week, though). And who knows?

Depression’s barking at my heels, exhaustion’s been a near-constant thing lately. I saw that explained somewhere today or yesterday as being that there’s nothing to specifically, physically FIGHT, but neither is there any true running away from all this–FLIGHT–and so supposedly it’s natural to be more exhausted with the fight-or-flight reaction jammed up.

Who knows?

Life during quarantine, though.

More later in some fashion.

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The Weekly Haul: Weeks of 2/19, 2/26, 3/4, and 3/11/2020

Posted on March 14, 2020 by Walt

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Another month, another "weekly" haul-update. I actually had planned on doing this post earlier in the week, but figured if I was gonna be behind and play catchup, might as well make it another 4-week post to match the last one.

But in a real rarity for me (and this blog!) of late, I actually had two full single-issue posts earlier in the week.

  1. First, I had my first non-Ultraverse ’90s Revisited post in ages, covering Uncanny X-Men #303.
  2. Then I had a (late to post, having written a couple weeks ago) review of the "new" comic TMNT: Jennika #1 (from the Week of February 26, below)…my first review of a newer-than-2010 comic in 14 months or so!

Anyway…onto the point of this post you’re reading…my documenting for myself (at least) what I’ve picked up in the way of new comics for the last few New Comic Day Wednesdays.

Week of February 19, 2020

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New post-#100 TMNT; new Spawn (we’re 6 issues in past the big #300!); and third/last American Jesus for this round. 3-issue mini originally, and this followup is also a 3-issue thing. Maybe we’ll get a new paperback with all 6 issues?

DC Dollar Comics brought a New Teen Titans reprint; and Marvel had some sort of (FREE!!!) Wolverine thing. I won’t turn down free Wolverine, even though I hate the "new logo" and refused to spend $7.99 on a #1 issue.

And since it was a relatively small week, I opted to splurge on the $9.99 DC: Crimes of Passion giant-issue; having developed a bit of a sub-collection of the squarebound not-quite-TPBs DC issues that actually go on the shelf.

(*come to think of it, if they’re not gonna do out-and-out trade paperbacks monthly as anthologies, why can’t publishers just do squarebound COMICS that contain the materials of single-issue titles as anthologies and see which sell BETTER? I’d gladly pay $9.99 for one of these with 4-5 X-books’ content rather than $3.99 apiece for 20-page batches of infographics + a few pages of stories!)

Finally for the week, having snagged Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2 a week or two before, I’d ordered the Avengers Annual to cap off that arc, and check off another "minor grail" for myself.

And as almost-always…the weekly Comic Shop News.

Week of February 26, 2020

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The final week of February finally brought the first issue of TMNT: Jennika. I don’t know that I was looking forward to it, exactly, but I think it was late and I’d begun to "wonder" about it. See my review (linked above), though, for the issue in and of itself.

Usagi Yojimbo Color Classics #2 brings another (color) installment of early UY. While I understand the TMNT Color Classics to have rather limited material to pull from (especially as they focused specifically on Eastman/Laird–centric TMNT) I a really hoping that this UYCC is an indefinite ONGOING thing that lasts for a lotta years. I’ll happily keep buying both this and the "new" ongoing.

I don’t even remember now why I’d wound up grabbing Dark Horse‘s The Little Mermaid mini, but I think this was the final issue? OCD/completist since I had the earlier issues. I’ve yet to READ any of them to determine if they’re a new adaptation of the film, or some sort of re-imagining, or what. But congratulations to Dark Horse: this is what CAN happen when something is put out that is NOT over-hyped, NOT sold on the quantity of variant covers, NOT some huge event, NOT begun with an over-priced first issue, etc.!

New issue of Hellblazer, which is yet another that I (sadly) need to catch up on reading before I have to kick myself for not just waiting for collected editions. Or perhaps to just decide TO wait for the collected editions and take my hit now.

Then the week’s "facsimile"/"replica" editions: Wolverine #1 and The Flash #123 (easy to remember as 1-2-3!). Though I already have an original edition of Wolverine, I’m glad to keep supporting these reprints! And the Flash issue is a great addition as well as what it is. (Though I did discover a day or two after buying it that I had a Millennium Edition reprint of the issue. I prefer this new one for being closer to what the original would look like…but the ME reprints are a good bit of nostalgia to me some 20 years later!)

Week of March 4, 2020

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March starts off with a bit of a whimper, with "only" 5 issues…two of those (40%!!!) being reprints. Mystery in Space is not honestly one I’d really care for or likely even be all that interested in from a bargain bin. But as said above…I’m happy to "support" these sorts of reprints, as I find far more VALUE in them than modern comics. And of course, $1 comics can hardly be beat as "new" comics, such as the DC Dollar Comics: Swamp Thing issue, reprinting an Alan Moore story.

Having heard a lotta good stuff about King‘s Vision series and Mister Miracle; and despite having bought the entirety of the latter without having yet read it…on the strength of 85 issues of Batman, I figured I’d give Strange Adventures a try. My primary complaint is the "dual" covers that could easily have been flip-book covers or doubled-up covers and gotten a similar effect withOUT making me have to choose one OVER the other. That’ll likely be the primary deciding factor in my picking up #2-onward…how cheesed-off am I at the nature of the existence of "basic" variants for this title?

Speaking of Batman… I’ve repeatedly pointed out (or meant to) my dropping the title with the end of King‘s run. Multiple reasons, varaints, likely pending reboot/relaunch, Something Generation with DC, and then over-hype and speculator/scalper crap with #89. BUT while out of state visiting a friend recently, happened across a copy (first print) of #89. For cover price. Despite all the hype and apparent sell-outs and over-priced flippage and such. I was NOT going to buy it in and of itself, though, even for cover price…not to leave a gap of 3 issues. So I checked. They also had issues 86-88. So in one fell swoop, I was able to catch up on the title (which I already had 1-85!) and as of then was fully caught up. So I emailed the local shop and added it back to my pulls beginning with this 90th issue, figuring fine…I’ll buy Batman and keep the run going, and so I can take stuff in for myself without having to "hunt" or play the "speculator game."

Finally, we’re getting to the tail-end of the TMNT Urban Legends run, reprinting the old Image TMNT series. I had two issues from later in the run that I bought back around 2000 or so; I’m not sure offhand but pretty sure at least ONE of those has now been reprinted in color in this series, and if this issue isn’t the other, then the next issue should be. And then we’ll get the first-time-ever published ending to the series (though how that jibes with a fan-produced ending, I don’t know, and that’s not a game I’m getting into on ridiculously-limited-edition completionist stuff).

Week of March 11, 2020

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And now we’re caught up to the current (as of this typing) week’s haul. And I’ve been halfway waiting for something like this to happen…here, it finally did.

Nothing but reprints for me.

Two DC Dollar Comic reprints of key Robin issues: the death of Jason Todd, and the first issue of the first TIm Drake mini-series. (More fitting would have been to reprint the final chapter of Lonely Place of Dying, where Tim first-ever dons the Robin costume) but for $1, whatever. And of course, I have both of the original issues and I’m still happy to buy these reprints, if only to "support" the reprints program. While I likely would have passed on Robin #1 as such, I still, repeatedly-to-be-said, would somewhat prefer these be done ALL as facsimile/replica editions. More on that below!

The definite gem of the week for me is the facsimile/replica edition of Detective Comics #38, the first appearance of the original Robin (Dick Grayson). I don’t recall now if there’s been a reprint in these recent replicas of #27, but this really makes me want one to go with it. Of the two, I think this is most appealing for me as such a fan of Robin.

Finally, we have a Thor replica/facsimile edition that again…I’ll buy to support the program, even if not every single individual issue is of specific singular interest or significance to me .

And Comic Shop News shows off some DC thing with the multiverse and maybe generations. I barely care at this point, with my only real interest in "new" DC being these reprints, and even Marvel isn’t getting me with non-reprint stuff (even though I SHOULD be an easy mark for their Marvels X and other upcoming Marvels stuff…I refuse to go in on the $4.99 pricing!)

Anyway…there we go. Another month in my "new comics" buying. I’ve bought some other stuff in the time, but those have been non-Wednesday purchases, stuff I consider to be "off" from the standard/regular/weekly "hauls."

As to my earlier-mentioned "idea" on the reprints:

For DC Dollar Comics, have a plain-color blank cover of some appropriate color; either say, standard black for all, or white for all, or something appropriate to the title/cover’s look. And have a small-ish image of the actual original cover (logos, pricing, blurbs, and all!) Whether it’s a small centered image, or nearly-full-size but with a distinct "border" for the flat color base.

Then for actual replica/facsimile editions, do as they’ve been doing with having then look as close to the original as possible.

I just don’t like the way the DCDC reprints are some weird mutant hybrid of original and new appearances. Familiar art, but the new DCDC trade dress, and weird numbers/number-placement on stuff. Like it more or less tells you what it’s reprinting, and yet you still almost have to know to be sure. Reprinting a New Teen Titans #2 with the new trade dress and a #1 on the cover.

This almost works out better doing these posts like this than feeling like QUITE so random/arbitrary as actual weekly things…especially buying so few comics every week.

Maybe I should try to aim for doing one more for March for the 18th and 25th…and then adjust to The Weekly Hauls and just go by month. Hm.

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The Weekly Haul: Weeks of 1/22, 1/29, 2/5, and 2/12/2020

Posted on February 18, 2020 by Walt

Well…so much for those intentions of actually keeping up with these posts week-to-week!

Two or so weeks, and then nothing for the last 4 (almost 5!) weeks. Go figure.

Well, let’s jump in and look at the main hauls for the past 4 Wednesdays ahead of this week’s new stuff for the 19th.

Week of January 22, 2020

January 22nd had several interesting books, as well as a "lingering habit" I’m having a bit more trouble breaking than expected.

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New Hellblazer; I enjoyed the one-shot and first couple issues well enough…and definitely want to support the title as something as close to the old Vertigo version as we’re gonna get.

DC Dollar Comics are $1, so…yeah.

Superman #19 because I kept thinking I’d actually READ the reveal stuff, but it turns out I am just so against it and think it’s stupid, repetitive, unneeded, and totally NOT what I’m interested or looking for in Superman comics. C’est la vie.

IDW‘s color reprints of the old Image TMNT title has–I think–finally caught up to the two issues I got back in 1999/2000 or so. Which means it’s time for me to dig everything out, catch up on reading and prepare for the endgame of the title with the never-before-released ending.

Ghostbusters Year One was an interesting enough premise…and it seemed a small-ish week, so I bit. Guess what I’ve yet to read, though?

And the second issue (of 3, I believe) of American Jesus, following Millar‘s Chosen from back in the day. As of this writing, I believe the 3rd/final issue is due out this week, so looks like I’ll be reading the entire thing in one go as single issues where I could have simply waited for a collected edition.

Week of January 29, 2020

Final week of January was an interesting one for me…and a rare situation I’ve not had in probably more years than I care to consider.

I did not go to the comic shop. My parents had errands to run, one of which put them literally about 5 feet from Comic Heaven, so I was able to message ahead for issues I was interested in to be pulled (in addition to regular pulls), and Mom was able to go in and get my issues for me!

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We had the debut of IDW‘s color reprint series of Usagi Yojimbo in Usagi Yojimbo Color Classics #1. I’m hoping this is a rather indefinite series that will simply run on and on and on. It’s certainly worthy of it, reprinting a strong, long-running/STILL-RUNNING series but in color so it’s both reprint and new. And I’d much rather buy it than most other $3.99 books, and though I have most of the series in collected volumes I’m happy to get the this way to read individually in much smaller bite-size doses!

TMNT seems like a whole new book again, though I haven’t decided if that’s good or not. It’s got good art, though, and it IS TMNT. I’m VERY glad that IDW has at LEAST had the sense to NOT repeatedly renumber this series. As a whole new continuity kicked off in 2011, it obviously more than deserved its #1 then–new title, creative team, publisher, continuity/universe–but it’s been refreshing that it did NOT renumber after the events of #50, and yet again did not renumber after the events of #100…both of which saw seismic shifts in the story that then played out across quite a number of issues eventually growing familiar. Even if the property was NOT a personal "exception" on stuff, I definitely am glad to "support" the title for the numbering. And here’s another way to look at it: #100 is a mere 1/3 of Spawn, which has a brand going back to the early 1990s!

Criminal is on #12 already which means I’m probably about 8 issues behind on reading again. As I understand, the "back matter" of the title adds reading-time (aka "value") to its price, as well as unique material one only gets that way and not in a collected volume. (Leaving the collected volumes to collect the actual Criminal STORY).

Then for Marvel and DC, reiterating the fairly steady point of late wherein I’m not much interested in their NEW content but am glad to buy even extra-priced gimmickey REPRINTS of old material. Starting to seem like Marvel has some new replica edition out practically every week! I’m ok with that, though, as long as they don’t "double up". That said, they may HAVE for this week, in which case I’ve "missed" a replica edition. But AS a replica edition, not like it’s some "hot new" comic being speculated on or sporting umpteen different tiered variant covers, so I may eventually get around to it. I’m amused at the "old style" 3-D gimmick and though $8 is a bit overpriced for an issue, I’ll accept it as a rare/occasional gimmick. It’s not like it’s a trial issue of some new series, a premiere of a new series, and since it’s nostalgic (for me) material, so be it. Finally, apparently Black Canary’s modern costume’s debut is worthy of a reprint edition. For $1, though, I won’t complain much.

Week of February 5, 2020

…and another week of "indy" comics for new stuff and reprints for Marvel and DC! And contrary to my language above (*left in for my writing on each week based on the photo and memory rather than all 4 weeks as a whole) I "made up" that missed replica edition from Marvel here.

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As I repeat ad nauseum…the Ninja Turtles are a MAJOR "exception" for me in comics. I’ll tolerate far more with that property than any other property. Ditto on pricing, variants, etc. Though my patience has been tried a bit more lately, it’s that "exception" that overrides my blanket condemnation of Boom! Studios as a publisher (*See my 4-year-old grudge over MMPR #0 and variants) and "allows" me to buy something with their logo on it in MMPR/TMNT #3.

Then the newest issue of the ongoing/new content/main Usagi Yojimbo title from IDW. Just a week apart from the Color Classics issue. I definitely hope they keep these titles separate–with "only" 2 titles, it makes absolutely NO SENSE to me to cluster them on a single week, especially with the publisher having output all the other weeks of a month. That clustering is another factor that drives (people like me) to drop stuff. Expensive as comics are, one can rationalize/justify them when the per-week expenses are kept down…but even one or two "extra" issues can either blow a budget OR call attention to a budget one’s regularly exceeding and promote sticker shock, which in turn promotes dropping of titles.

I’m woefully behind on GI Joe: A Real American Hero to the point I’ve been considering letting it lapse. Of course, I tell myself I’m just one good binge-read away from catching up. However, I think I let a bit of another "exception" creep in these days with the title…that is, even when IDW started it, they kicked off with #155 1/2 as a "#0"-type issue and their first "proper" issue that usually would have been a #1 was actually #156. And they’re a good 114 issues into this run. First, 114 issues without a renumbering; second, 114 issues on a numbering from a previous series that had ended a decade and a half earlier!

Then Marvel‘s other replica edition in a Fantastic Four annual. An extra $1 to the cover price but it IS an extra-sized issue, and an annual, and a far superior value time-wise on reading than MODERN annuals full of full-page and double-page splash panels and few words and other "cheats" to pad out an issue’s page-count while reducing the time it takes to read any given issue. Like the DC Green Lantern replica edition, I really dig these sorts of reprints where they’re close enough to the original to be able to slot them in as that original without much problem (and for $4-$5 instead of $50-$1000s). There’s something to DC‘s Dollar Comics line–the trade dress, I think–that seems a bit "off" to me. It’s like they do this weird hybrid of taking the look of the original, but changing it to not be "overly-close" to the look of the original and to carry the "branding" of the DC Collar Comics. So they’re sort of iconic and yet not…at the same time.

Moving beyond the week’s new-printed comics…my first "grail of the year" acquisition!

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It "only" took me a bit over 20 years to get this foil edition of Wolverine #145. Back in (October?) 1999, when Mom went to the comic shop for me to get the issue, she got the "regular" non-foil edition ($2.99 vs. this edition’s $3.99). Once I went back and tried to track down this edition, I’ve either not found it whatsoever, or it’s been astronomically priced. EVEN the ONLINE regulars have not had the thing in-stock, and I’ve not found it at any shops in-person nor at any conventions where I’ve looked.

I "discovered" a new (to me) online selling site (online fleamarket of sorts) and someone had it on offer for $8 or so. With shipping, it hardly cost me 3 modern Marvel comics that (thanks to variants, over-frequent shipping, generic covers, generic stories to be undone in a year and/or by short-term creative directions, etc) made it a real steal for what it is!

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Of course, it’s a definite "wall book" for me!

Week of February 12, 2020

And here we come to the "finally caught up"…for a day, or so.

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Again with "supporting" some format, I am definitely very much behind stuff like what these Dawn of X volumes appear to be: 6-issue collections…but not of individual titles. These volumes are collecting sequential issues of ALL 6 TITLES that made up the Dawn of X "initiative" following HoX/PoX last year. This one has the #1 issues of all 6 titles in an "anthology" format. $24.99 for 6 issues that were $4.99 apiece. So even though I already did get X-Men #1 last year, that still means that I’ve basically paid $30 for all 6 total…breaking even, even WITH that issue being doubled-up with this collection.

DC Dollar Comics reprinting the first appearance of Cassandra Cain; and a replica edition of the first issue of the Claremont/Miller Wolverine mini-series. Sorta interesting that in paying $3.99 for this edition, that’s 16 times what I paid for the copy of the original that I own.

The Vampirella magazine is a replica edition as well–I believe this is the first 3 issues now reprinted like this.

And while I really haven’t had or taken the time to read cover-to-cover any of the TwoMorrows magazines, I do find it’s often one or two (or a few) articles that are of particular interest. And really, if I spend 20 minutes on an issue, it’s certainly matched the time-"value" of virtually any modern $3.99-$7.99-$9.99 comic!

Sort of goes to show how much I’ve managed to cut back lately that I actually had NO NEW COMICS ISSUES (content-wise) for the week. Nothing but REPRINTS and a magazine ABOUT comics (creators)!

While checking out, I glanced over at the display case with "priced" significant back issues, and recognized something I’ve only seen digitally or as reprints: the Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2.

For $20.

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Now, this thing has seen better days. It’s creased, worn, beaten…overall in pretty crummy condition. As much as I’m all FOR buying umpteen duplicates of an issue as "convenience copies" from 25-cent bins, generally this condition would get even a 25-cent comic left in the box.

Except this is an issue I’ve been interested in for 22-some years or so. And with last year having broken my "$10 or less" thing for single issues, I’m now willing to pay more than $10 for a single issue…IF it meets certain criteria (that might be accumulated "in the moment"). In this case: it’s THE issue. It’s one I’ve known of and been interested in for over 20 years (over half my life!). At $20…that’s "only" 5 modern $3.99 issues, or 4 modern $4.99 #1 issues…or 2.5 modern $7.99 #1 issues. And let me tell y’all, I’m far happier with having this book than I’d be to have a random Fallen Angels #1, Darth Vader (since 2015, vol. 3) #1 and Wolverine vol. (what are we up to? 8? 9?) #1.

As I am NOT a collector to resell, but collector to HAVE…I’m MORE than happy to have this in this condition!

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And it fits quite well on "the wall" with other similar type issues. Older keys, just lacking in that "NM+" grading condition and such. But it has sentimental value for me for its content and notoriety and memories it brings up…and that puts it on a level that FEW (if any?) modern (2005-present, let’s say?) comics attain.

So…there we go. Four weeks of new-comics-days’ hauls, plus 2 "grails" acquired. Factor in that huge Spawn acquisition in early January and it’s been a much more productive back-issue year than new-issue.

I also–for the week of February 12–resisted the temptation to buy the Superman: Heroes (late!) issue dealing with (MORE) of the ditching-of-the-secret-identity crap. A $5.99 issue that reinforces how 20-year-old non-quarter-bin comics for $4 and $5 and $6 are an EXCELLENT value by comparison…at least to me.

And after the speculation and speculators and whatnot blow over, I would not be surprised to find the issue (the main, non-variant regular basic un-special cover) available in $1 bins this spring/later this year at conventions.

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The Weekly Haul: Week of January 15, 2020

Posted on January 17, 2020 by Walt

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This week’s a bit more in line with what I’d like, where I can actually get several comics without racing headlong into $30+ at the register!

One more expensive issue, a $2.99, and a $3.99…plus two $3.99 replica editions/facsimile editions that are well worth $3.99 apiece compared to fair market value on the original editions!

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I haven’t gotten around to reading the first issue of this Question mini yet….but on strength of the creators and the character, I’m interested, and if I get to binge-reading, I’d regret not having all issues. And as I’ve passed on a couple other similar projects, I think I’d decided that if I was getting the first issue, I was getting the later issues, barring some significant reason not to.

The new Spawn issue puts us 4 past 300. I’d think 300 issues is impressive, but is anyone else buying this title? I mean, it’s over 300, that’s hitting triple-digits legitimately, 3 times over, and starting toward the 4th! No one wants any issue numbered higher than can be counted on their own fingers and toes, right??? Or is there something to ACTUALLY keeping the numbering going, AND actually keeping to a reasonable price? This is the 48th consecutive issue I’ve bought of Spawn as a new issue…on strength of that $2.99 instead of $3.99. It was $2.99 when DC was at $3.99 for everything. It was $2.99 when DC cut back to $2.99 and double-shipping with Rebirth, and it’s still $2.99 as DC has leapt back to $3.99! (Meanwhile, Marvel‘s cranking out the $4.99+ books!)

Apparently Second Coming is a mini-series. Or a "season" (blah!). I’m pretty sure I’ve snagged all 5 previous issues, but unfortunately I’m not 100% on that. Still…it sorta proves my point to myself to quit knowingly buying short mini-series and wait for the collected volumes! At this point, after all, I assume a collected edition will make its way along very shortly, perhaps for only $9.99, but even if "only" $19.99 that’ll be like a "free" issue content-wise over the singles, which I’ve paid basically $24 to get.

Then we have Detective Comics #359 (Replica Edition) and The Incredible Hulk #180 (Facsimile Edition). Two reprint editions of comics from…well, some years before I was even born. The former being the first appearance of Batgirl and the latter having one panel at the very end of Wolverine, apparently making it the first appearance of the character, despite the next issue generally being the one credited. (I mean, if you get technical I absolutely would go with #180 as the first appearance, but what’s the POINT when it’s JUST one single panel? I’d much rather have the issue where you see the character DO STUFF and actually find out a little about him and see him face the Hulk and all that!)

I have to give Marvel credit…I’d swear I saw some ad or it was the solicitation text pointing out they gave us #180 last year, so now they’re giving us 180 since it’s "also" part of the first appearance and such. For these reprint editions, I’m actually all for that. Heck, I would PROBABLY buy a bunch of Marvel books if they simply every month published reprint editions of various older runs in this facsimile/replica format!

Comic Shop News meanwhile hits #1700. I’d swear I remember when it was in the mid-ish 300s back in the ’90s. It’s cool to see something like this still going after all this time. In some ways–with it being hard to count on being available by the next week, even–issues of CSN are almost like a "ticket stub" of the weekly purchasing. Or a "proof of purchase" or such. A "souvenir" of being a weekly comics person. Of going to a bricks and mortar shop (I don’t believe the online retailers provide CSN…though I could be wrong).

It’s rather telling that I have NO new Marvel issues; and though The Question is technically DC, it barely counts, given the way they’re pushing this larger physical size and the Black Label…um…label…so much. I’d consider it Black Label more than DC in the same way one used to be able to consider something Vertigo more than DC.

And as said…a decent week, a little over $20, but closer to $20 than $30. And it’s my enjoyment of replica/facsimile editions that lands two of the 5 on my pile this week. I feel like I’m finally getting back to a GOOD "balance" where there’s "enough" worth getting to keep to the weekly thing, but without having massive sticker-shock or buyer’s remorse.

Of course, 20 years ago, this haul would’ve probably been $8 cheaper. But this is the here and now.

That said…we’ll see what next week holds!

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Filed under: 2020 Non-Review Posts, 2020 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

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