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The Weekly Haul: Week of March 09, 2016

Posted on March 11, 2016 by Walt

This has been a HUGE week for me with money spent, well beyond any usual “preference,” purchasing the DC: The New 52 Zero Omnibus for over $100 cheaper than cover price, as well as the hardcover Graphic Novel + BluRay + Digital editions of The Death of Superman and Batman: The Dark Knight Returns.

And of course, some “regular” stuff in the mix.

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After last week’s huge bargain-bin haul of Green Lantern stuff, I also tracked down a newsstand edition copy of GL #81–the “funeral” issue for Hal Jordan, that had (at least via quarter bins and price I was willing to pay) eluded me since its release some 19ish years ago.

This week, curious if the usual LCS had a non-barcoded newsstand edition or better condition copy, I found that they did not…however, they had the “Collector’s Edition” for “only” $6. For only $2 more than a contemporary comic, coming with the bag and board, cardstock cover with enhancement and being a nearly two-decade-old comic that I have NOT seen all over the place…I barely hesitated.

My actual pull-list books for the week consisted of the three TMNT books here–the series based on the animated cartoon series; the final issue of City at War done in color, and the latest issue of the Batman/TMNT 6-issue mini (clearly a DC-driven product, as IDW doesn’t seem capable or willing to do anything longer than 4 issues at a time for anything “current”/”new”).

And seeing my obvious interest in the ashcan, I was given the Aliens: Defiance ashcan, previewing the upcoming Aliens series with art by Tristan Jones (whose work I’ve enjoyed on a number of other projects, chiefly Mirage TMNT stuff before the sale to Viacom).

If you’ve read many of my reviews, you know I’ve groused in the past about multi-page “previews” of upcoming books “padding” whatever the current issue is that I’m reading. I’ve also suggested I’d rather companies do some separate “preview issue” each week or month rather than stuff a quarter of an issue into other books so that if I buy a new book it feels extra thick and is disappointingly short, and when I buy something that was previewed, I’m only getting 3/4 the value sine 1/4 was already given away.

Ashcans are a great way to get around that, and I’d fairly willingly pay for some, if only for the novelty. If they can be just given away, all the better! This one I actually read cover to cover, and enjoyed the art–one of very few times the art is more of a draw for me than the story. (Though being an Aliens project, I’d’ve already been interested; Jones‘ art ensures my monthly purchase of the thing).

We’ll see what next week holds, I guess…though hopefully it’ll be a far cheaper week…

Filed under: 2016 Non-Review posts, 2016 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

The Weekly Haul: Week of March 02, 2016

Posted on March 7, 2016 by Walt

Last week proved to be a tiny week for NEW comics, but a large week for quarter-bin stuff. The only NEW comic I purchased was the first issue of a new Predator series…that apparently starts off a new "cycle" of minis to be an overall larger story in the style of 2014’s Fire and Stone books. Whether I’ll stick with singles or wait for the "inevitable" collected volume remains to be seen. I’m guessing this will be separate from the new Aliens series kicking off soon with art by Tristan Jones.

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There were also a couple of free "ashcan" comics from IDW…I won’t tend to pass up "free," though I was a bit disappointed to realize I’d already missed the first issue of the one at least…sorta defeats the purpose (to me).

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Hitting the quarter bins, I found a lot of great stuff. Several Green Arrow issues, including the first, and #100–which is an issue I’ve long been curious about, but never found in a quarter been, but never’ve been curious ENOUGH to seek it out otherwise. (Or if I have found it, I sure don’t remember it).

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The New Titans arc Who is Wonder GIrl? and its epilogue…much cheaper this way than some out-of-print, jacked-up-because-it’s-"OOP"-paperback…and less than half the cost of a single new comic.

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Several of these have some water damage/wrinkling, but again…to get Kingdom Come as well as The Kingdom for half the price of a single issue of something new is not bad at all.

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For the convenience-of-a-reread factor and nostalgia with it being present, I snagged another copy of Batman: Year 3.

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Ditto for A Lonely Place of Dying, since the three Batman issues as well as both of the The New Titans issues were present. No fuss, no hunting.

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Just for kicks and all three chapters being present, snagged The Penguin Affair. I’m fairly certain I’ve read this before, but I don’t consciously remember it.

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For the randomness of ’em, snagged Legends of the Dark Knight #1 and the Batman movie adaptation (this is the prestige format edition). I thought it was cool seeing the original Marvel Knights issue of Daredevil #1…the issue was a big thing for me when it came out, getting to jump in at the start of a Daredevil series at #1, and loved the art! Finally the Total Justice issue grabbed my attention as being based on the toys…though I neglected to realize it was a mini-series, so I’ll have other issues to (eventually/maybe) track down.

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Some "late" Solar, Man of the Atom issues from old Valiant. While my feelings toward current Valiant have soured big-time, I’m still half-heartedly looking to finish my "reading copy" collection of the original runs.

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And then along with those Green Arrow issues, got a bunch of Green Lantern. I added another 10 or so issues to this bunch the next day from quarter bins at another shop; and after all these years, finally located #81 in a back-issues bin at a third shop (I paid $3.99 for it–again, not a huge deal given its age, scarecity and NOT exceeding what I’d pay for a questionable "new" comic).

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Given the size of the stack–80 issues–rather than hassle with multiple bags and such, I bought a shortbox for the transport (and I can always use more boxes, so the only "harm" is in the timing and being an extra $5 I wasn’t planning on going in).

I’m really getting the "back issue bug" lately, and with finding Green Arrow #100, tracking down Green Lantern #81, buying a couple pre-Crisis issues (Superman and a DC Comics Presents annual); buying the Adventure Comics issue last week, I’m thinking that all the more, I may shift toward hunting back issues. Of course, while I can justify quarter-bin copies as duplicates for convenience, I cannot justify paying several dollars for an issue that is or likely is a duplicate, so I’ll need to really get the body of my collection sorted and modify some checklists to make sure that as I pursue older books, I’m not chasing issues that are merely hiding in one of my existing boxes.

Filed under: 2016 Non-Review posts, 2016 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments »

The Weekly Haul – Week of February 24, 2016

Posted on February 24, 2016 by Walt

Another week, another haul…

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I keep saying I’m not buying anything from DC, and yet there’s Superman: Lois and Clark, on its fifth issue now, that I’ve actually been following. I’ve seen several ads for the Coming of the Supermen book, and that cover just really stood out to me. Love the logo–the yellow and red, the nearly-classic costume (“modesty shorts” included), the fact that it’s a Neal Adams book…ok, I’ll check it out.

I’d wondered at the lack of TMNT Color Classics last week…but as I’m behind on reading that, it didn’t bother me; though it meant TWO TMNT books this week.

Though I’m not much sure what to make of Spawn of late, there’s “something” to  Erik Larsen‘s involvement WITH McFarlane, on one of THE original Image books, as well as the fact that the thing has–for more than TWENTY YEARS–maintained its original numbering with no reboots, no renumbering, no shenanigans.

And finally…I recently read an early-1980 issue of The New Adventures of Superboy that had an ad for that issue of Adventure Comics, and it struck me as interesting, so I decided to “look for it” at the LCS…and found it. There was one in better condition for $4, but since I just want to read the thing, I was happy to pay a mere $1.50 (a 375% markup on cover price) (that’d make a $3.99 comic basically a $15 issue).

While I’ve stuck very tightly to the quarter bins and such…I’m increasingly interested in specific back issues, and find that if I’m specifically interested in it, and it’s $4 or less, I’m typically cool with it–if I’ll pay $4 for a SINGLE ISSUE of something “new,” why not pay the same or less for something specific that’s 10, 20, 30, even closing in on 40 years old?

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Whenever it was that The Usagi Yojimbo Saga vol. 1 was published–I recall seeing it and being quite impressed with it…especially for its size! I believe the “original” collections were $13-15 each…and the new vol. 1 collected THREE of the previous volumes…at a much larger size…for less than cover price of two of the older editions. Though it went on my mental checklist to buy, I didn’t get around to it and then vol. 2 arrived, then 3….then 4, then 5. So I finally sucked it up and ordered the first four (for a significant discount through InStockTrades), figuring the latest (5) should be in print long enough I can maybe hold off a bit.

I’d planned on adopting Usagi as a character to focus on in 2011, though that didn’t end up working out as planned.

Just over half a decade later, I’m far better prepared materially…if not with the time to jump in on the actual reading quite yet.

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Over the past weekend, I was treated to playing Boss Monster and Boss Monster 2 with a couple friends.

I thoroughly enjoyed it overall, and while I’d been planning to purchase the game several times in the past, actually getting to see stuff again, and the new “limited edition” of the second, I opted to “pull the trigger” and buy the two. There’s a third “mini expansion” but I had to show a LITTLE restraint…especially having ordered the Usagi Yojimbo books and another purchase I’d made over the weekend.

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The game certainly taps a major bit of nostalgia for me…and I absolutely love the packaging design on both boxes, as well as the “variant art” sleeve for the 2nd one!

And though I usually hate “variants,” in this case I am perfectly ok with it: because it’s a paper sleeve that the box slides into. I could ditch the sleeve and just have both boxes exposed; or I can use the sleeve, but I still get to enjoy the box itself when I’ll have stuff out to play.

(Similarly, for a comic, if they’d ever go back to the “double covers,” then whichever is “on top” I would either have the cover I want for display or could rip the top one off leaving the one I want exposed.)

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

The Weekly Haul – Week of August 19, 2015

Posted on August 19, 2015 by Walt

As new comics go, this was a very small week, with only two new TMNT books:

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I also hit the quarter-bins, where along with far more X-Men books than I’d had any intention of buying in one shot, I also snagged a couple of key Superman issues:

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Being what they are, and for the price, I wasn’t gonna leave these sitting in the bin. I have tentative plans for one of the Superman #1s and Adventures of Superman #424 for sure.

Hard to believe TMNT is about to hit its 50th issue. I’ve been keeping up with it since #1…

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The Weekly Haul – Week of August 12th, 2015

Posted on August 13, 2015 by Walt

This was another small-ish week despite a large “side purchase.”

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I’d not been certain, but apparently I actually had left Letter 44 on my pull list. Oni has been good to me relatively speaking, so no problem there.

Marvel FINALLY has another issue of Secret Wars out.

I got the Lazarus volume for a whopping $1.00. Given I grab virtually any promo issue at $1, and I do have vol. 1…this was a virtual no-brainer.

Finally, though I’d hoped to snag the new Spectre vol. 1 paperback, that wasn’t in stock, and I haven’t read Nightwing vol. 1 yet so no sense getting vol. 2, and I spotted this Superman volume (The Power Within), which reprints the Superman thread from Action Comics Weekly #s 601-641 and several other issues. As a definite fan of this era of the character, I opted to go with it.

Along with these, I raided quarter bins at two shops for a stack of #1 issues. Also snagged a bunch of other issues that caught my attention. I normally don’t like pulling a bunch of #1s for the #1 on the cover, but this was the start of a project I’ll be able to talk about in a few weeks, that I’m hoping yields some fun results…particularly as it’s costing ME and has nothing to do with any kind of profit (nor attempt at profit).

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

The Weekly Haul – Week of August 5th, 2015

Posted on August 6, 2015 by Walt

Though the photo looks contrary, this was my smallest week yet since dropping all Valiant several weeks ago.

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The only thing on my pull list is the TMNT issue. The Age of Apocalypse mini is one that I’ll buy even though I’m primarily waiting for Secret Wars to make its way to Marvel‘s Digital Comics Unlimited.

The Eclipso: The Darkness Within issue is from the quarter bin, and really only caught my eye due to being one of the issues with the plastic 3-D diamon shard…a nifty artifact of the ’90s.

The Savage Dragon, the Strangers in Paradise, and Ultimate Spider-Man tpbs were in a 90% off bin…combined, the three were still cheaper than a contemporary single issue!

Finally, the Nightwing volume. This has the original 4-issue mini-series and then the first 8 issues of the ongoing (sadly, the Return of Alfred issue is not included). While I’d prefer to get something like this for a discount, I’m so completely fed up with Amazon right now that they’re not even a consideration. Plus, lacking Valiant, I wanted to get something I wouldn’t otherwise, and continue to support the LCS, so I bought this volume. 12 issues’ content for roughly original cover price, even a bit cheaper…nto bad at all.

I’m looking forward to the Robin volumes like this, and have had my eye on the Spectre ones as well as Saga of the Swamp Thing. These hit a sweet spot of having quite a number of issues while holding to a $20 price point. Sure, tax makes ’em a bit more, but to mentally settle at “$20” works, where even “$21” seems a lot steeper to me.

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The Weekly Haul – Week of July 29th, 2015

Posted on July 29, 2015 by Walt

This proved to be a pretty big week for me…two Marvels and an IDW.

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I completely forgot about the Deadpool book, and figured I’d stay on it–not sure if it’s 4 or 5 issues, but I’m enjoying it and opted not to wait for it to hit Marvel Unlimited next year. And X-Men ’92 is just nothing but awesome on all sorts of levels. TMNT is TMNT, and a “given” for me.

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Though I usually stick to ’90s stuff through present, I delved a little further back with some back issues this week. Between quarter bins and some $1 bins, I snagged a handful of older comics that happened to appeal to me tonight.

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These Captain America volumes were already heavily discounted…but because they’re also rather beat-up–certainly not “brand-new” condition–the shop owner cut the price on both in half. So both volumes combined wound up costing me as much as three Marvel single issues.

So, definitely quite a haul for the week. Next week looks like it’ll be the first post-Valiant week where I’m not expecting anything one-off that’s been pre-ordered, where I’d been expecting these volumes as well as several I showed off last week.

For the difference, I’ll probably raid the back-issue bins…see if I can find one of the un-reprinted Silver Surfer issues from the run-up to 1991’s Infinity Gauntlet, or maybe a random Silver Age Superman or such…or browse the racks for an Image #1 or check the shelves for an Image vol. 1 paperback. Time will certainly tell!

Filed under: 2015 Non-Review posts, 2015 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

The Weekly Haul – Week of June 3rd, 2015

Posted on June 3, 2015 by Walt

Secret Wars is in FULL FORCE this week, having so very quickly ramped up in quantity, frequency, etc. Marvel is truly hitting a bunch of nostalgia points with me, which is exactly what they were going for, I know…but they’ve successfully re-targeted me as an audience, if only for the duration of Secret Wars itself (though moreso the tie-ins).

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I have yet to get around to actually READING the original Hulk: Future Imperfect or X-Men: The X-Tinction Agenda stories, but those are classics I’ve long been aware of and actually own (in some form) somewhere in my collection…but haven’t read. X-Men: Days of Future Past was one of THE stories in my youth, and one of the earliest hard-sought reading experiences for me to track down (I had to settle for a children’s novelization of the story before I ever got to read the actual comics!).

And of course, a married Spider-Man? After all my grousing through the years about Brand New Day and all that? An actual Amazing Spider-Man comic with Spidey, Peter, MJ, a baby, etc.? You’d darned well better believe I picked THIS one up.

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On a frustrating note…there are five Star Wars titles that I’m aware of at the moment. WHY an entire 60% of that load had to fall into ONE WEEK is absolutely BEYOND me. A tangible effect, though, is that because of these, I SKIPPED Secret Wars stuff I otherwise would have bought.

I actually read Grayson #1 in the Young Gotham Sampler, and enjoyed it; if the vol. 1 that just came out/is due out were a PAPERBACK I think I’d be all over it. As-is, as a hardcover, it’s gonna wait. And while I’d had spoilers for the end of New 52: Futures End and the Batman Beyond stuff, I still opted to check this one out for myself…ESPECIALLY once I noticed the $2.99 price point (yeah, TWO-ninety-nine, NOT the virtually-standard-now THREE-ninety-nine)!

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And finally on the tail end, my actual PULL LIST stuff: TMNT & Valiant. While good when I actually read ’em, I’m (dishearteningly so) amazed at how much DAMAGE has been done to my feelings toward their stuff in general of late due to the Legends of the Geomancer crap. (Damage that I think has contributed to my embracing Marvel for a bit with stuff I’m truly enjoying and looking forward to.)

I knew going into the shop this week that it was gonna be huge and expensive…I didn’t even step PAST the new issues rack this week. No quarter-bin temptations, no random back issues, etc. Just the new books, paid, and got the heck out.

Filed under: 2015 Non-Review posts, 2015 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

The Weekly Haul – Week of May 27th, 2015

Posted on May 28, 2015 by Walt

I haven’t done one of these posts in awhile, but here we go again.

This was a big Secret Wars (2015) week for me, snagging four first issues to try the series:

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As Secret Wars is just kicking into gear and I’m living so many of its notions, DC‘s counterpart–Convergence–comes to a close. I jumped straight to Convergence #8, and now having read the end find I’m not at all eager to bother reading Booster Gold or Blue Beetle…and I can’t even remember what happened in Blue Beetle‘s first issue!

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And finally to the pull-list stuff: TMNT and Valiant. The latest TMNT issue as well as the “Director’s Cut” TMNT/Ghostbusters #1. Which I thought was a one-shot meant to address the entire mini-series…but turns out to be a prestige format edition of the first issue with “commentary” and script and such thrown in…making this a total double-purchase thing, but one I’m glad to for the format and (presumably) only one-issue-per-month thing. And Valiant‘s Divinity concludes, and the second arc of Timewalker begins.

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Along with all these issues I also had to dig deep into the wallet as I found quite a score in quarter bins. Back in 2005/2006, I used DC‘s One Year Later stunt as a jumping-OFF point for the Teen Titans series that I’d followed–at that point–from its first issue. This week, I found a complete run from that point into the #90s as well as a couple Annuals and such, and several of the pre-One Year Later issues so if I delve into reading before I unify these with the nearly-decade-old issues hidden away in a longbox somewhere, I can refresh slightly before jumping into all-new stuff I’ve never read.

I also found several interesting-looking random issues, along with a beat-up but perfectly readable copy of the Uncanny X-Men/New Teen Titans #1 from back in 1982.

All in all, a HUGE week I hope not to repeat in a single week again anytime soon…but LOADS of reading.

Filed under: 2015 Non-Review posts, 2015 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

The Weekly Haul – Week of March 18, 2015

Posted on March 18, 2015 by Walt

While not the largest week, this was certainly a largER week than I’d “prefer” these days for new comics.

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I believe there are only two issues left of the Solar series to finish out…and only a couple more weeks on the DC Weeklies.

I “recognized” Secret Identities from enjoying the first issue last month, and with a handful of other #1s was itching to try something “new” for the sake of something “new.” I opted for Red One over Chrononauts (which was going to be my first choice) or even both.

There were a bunch of covers for Chrononauts…which, to me, means they have no need of me to support the title because frankly, they expect people out there to buy multiple copies, which will MORE THAN cover me purchasing #1. (Or by extension, #2 or #3 or #4….).

I flat-out did not buy to try the first issue of what was otherwise an interesting enough concept and title because I refuse to support some random title sporting so MANY VARIANT COVERS. I was going to buy it, until I noticed all the variants.

I’m also on the hunt for Warlord of Mars #0, and checked a couple comic shops for DC Comics Presents #31 and Nightwing (1990s) #30 with no luck, my interest in the latter two up thanks to listening to a podcast this morning; the WoM issue thanks to listening last week to an interview with writer Matt Brady.

I’ll likely resort to eBay or such this weekend on that one once I’ve checked a final shop.

Filed under: 2015 Non-Review posts, 2015 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

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