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The ’80s Revisited: Batman #439

Posted on March 10, 2022 by Walt

80s_revisited

batman_0439Batman Year III Chapter Four: Resolutions

Writer: Marv Wolfman
Penciller: Pat Broderick
Inker: Michael Bair
Letterer: John Costanza
Colorist: Adrienne Roy
Assoc. Editor: Dan Raspler
Editor: Dennis O’Neil
Cover Price: $1.00
Published by: DC Comics

This is another issue that’s very iconic TO ME but not necessarily anyone else. This was my first-ever issue of the main Batman title that I got. #439…438 issues came before I got my first! And it’s got a large "Year 3" on the cover…AND it’s marked as "part 4 of 4." It’s hundreds of issues in; it’s the final chapter of a multi-part story; and it’s some middle year, not even a "first year" or such! And I was 8 when I first got the issue, yet it didn’t stop me from getting the next two issues, or further issues of both Batman as well as Detective Comics. But I suppose kids in 2022 are incapable of that…at least for the way publishers treat contemporary numbering outside of Detective Comics and Action Comics.

We open where an Anthony Zucco has apparently just been killed, and Nightwing scolds Batman for letting it happen. The two talk, and there’s obviously some "history" here. We find out the dead guy had some book with details about crimes all over Gotham…so now "the underworld" wants it and an all-out hunt begins. The two talk further in the Batcave–in costumes, but masks off–before Batman leaves, insisting on doing stuff alone. Nightwing and Alfred talk, and we get several pages of flashbacks to how Nightwing–Dick Grayson–was legally able to become Bruce Wayne’s ward…and why it was ward and not adopting him as a son. Dick heads out to check on stuff that might lead him to answers, and we cut to where Batman’s much more brutal than usual, beating answers out of criminals rather than speaking. Meanwhile, Dick follows up and gets useful information without the actuality of violence. While Dick returns to an orphanage he spent some time at, Bruce is back at the cave, putting things together a bit slower than Dick had. Dick speaks with Sister Mary Elizabeth and pieces the final bits together to determine where Zucco’s book is. As he finds it, the primary person behind the situation arrives and wants the book for himself…and Batman arrives in time to realize he’s about to lose Dick the way he lost Jason. Things don’t play out that way, though…but the book is lost to the elements. While Batman returns to the cave alone, Dick visits his parents’ graves.

As said at the start of this post…more than 400 issues, a third year, and part 4 of 4, all elements that should have put an 8-year-old off from getting this comic, at least according to 2022 standards. I don’t even know if I comprehended those elements, though…as an 8-year-old, I simply saw the word "Batman" on the cover and knew it to be a Batman comic. That’s it…plain and simple. Didn’t matter that there was a 438 on the cover; didn’t matter that it said it was the 4th of a 4-part story; didn’t matter that it said "Year 3," it was a Batman comic.

I’ve long considered Jim Aparo, John Byrne, and Norm Breyfogle to be my favorite Batman artists…and in my "memory" I’m sure I figured this to have been one of theirs. It’s not…and I need to add Broderick to that list, I think, based on my most recent read-through of this issue and how well the art worked for me (despite this particular copy of the issue having dulled, the inks bled, and generally the issue’s newsprint paper is hardly in pristine condition 33 years later). Along with stuff like Untold Legend of the Batman, that Man of Steel issue One Night in Gotham City, and Breyfogle on The Mud Pack in Detective, this is iconic early Batman (and Nightwing) for me, visually.

Story-wise, this seems like a solid issue. Even though I have read the entire 4-parter a couple times in the years since it came out, this issue stands out due to being my first issue of the title. Same for this re-read: I read it cold, rather than the entire story. We get a bit of context about Zucco’s death, from Bruce and Dick’s verbal sparring; to figure out what’s been going on in earlier chapters…at least as relevant to this issue specifically.

When I first read the issue as a kid, I had no clue there’d been a Year One or a Year Two. In a way I never give this story much thought in that regard as a Year Three, except right now I take it sort of like Years One and Two were Bruce’s start…and it was the 3rd year when Dick joined. So in a way, this is as much Dick’s story as Bruce’s…maybe more.

I also don’t think terribly much about who WROTE these earliest issues of the title that I read…at the time it was absolutely the character I was getting/reading, with no regard for any given writer or artist. And compared to the likes of Superman, I only dabbled with Batman comics, and the Batman comics never had the same depth nor singular ongoing story the way the Superman books did that led me to being much more familiar with some of the artists and continuity over there. That said, Marv Wolfman being the writer is a pleasant re-realization for me, and sort of a re-epiphany "of course!" as far as what was set up in this story and in the next–A Lonely Place of Dying.

I definitely see the depth in this issue, and the importance of the Bruce/Dick stuff and the flashbacks. As a kid, I probably sort of understood the flashbacks were supposed to be Dick–Nightwing–but I had no real understanding that this was Robin! I also had only begun to "realize" that "a" Robin had even died, or that the original had "grown up" and become Nightwing. In this issue I just saw this guy that had history with Batman/Bruce and they didn’t get along well for some reason.

I don’t believe this story was ever collected as its own thing…I’m pretty sure it was even left out of the Death in the Family volume that combined Death in the Family with Lonely Place of Dying! Death in the Family had a TPB; I believe The Many Deaths of the Batman had a TPB; and I know A Lonely Place of Dying had a TPB (that was one of my very first-ever TPBs!). But this story did not have one. I’m not even sure if this wound up being included in any of the larger collected volumes DC has put out the last few years, and while I know some of the Detective stuff like The Mud Pack wound up in a Norm Breyfogle volume…I don’t have the knowledge of the same thing happening with this story.

I’ve seen a mix of stuff for Batman: Year Three over the years; from issues in bargain bins to being offered in the $10-something range and anything in between. Some of that’s probably moreso the first chapter that introduced Tim Drake, though.

On the whole, I wouldn’t recommend this as a single issue…but if you find it in a bargain bin, I’d recommend getting all 4 parts; it’s definitely worth a read if you can get all four for $5ish or under!

Reading this again has me itching to read other issues from around this time…particularly to actually sit down and read Death in the Family through Lonely Place of Dying straight through. But that’ll be a reading project for some time down the road, perhaps.

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Filed under: 2022 Posts, 2022 Reviews, The '90s Revisited | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

A Year of DC 3.75"/4" from Spinmaster

Posted on February 2, 2021 by Walt

Last year, I started seeing some new DC action figures from Spinmaster. (Also from McFarlane Toys). The Spinmaster figures are smaller–3.75" or 4" scale, I’m not actually certain which…but considerably smaller than 6"/7" figures like the DC Multiverse or Marvel Legends figures.

Due to increasingly limited shelf-space…and already having a shelf jam-packed with loose Superman figures–I didn’t immediately open the Superman that I got. And then I chased down a black suit, bearded variant. And then over the past year, I’ve occasionally snagged another figure as my eye’s been caught.

spinmaster_dc_general

Having the "actual" Superman (Rebirth-era without the trunks) I’m not bothered by other variants. I’m actually hoping for a version WITH the trunks! I’m not overly-keen on Lex Luthor, but liked the appearance with the packaging and actually having the "logo" for his name. The "tech" Superman or whatever reminded me of the Cyborg Superman, so while obviously not that, I snagged it. Captain Marvel, Flash, and Aquaman were cool. After the Mattel 3.75 Infinite Heroes Wonder Woman standing out in my mind as one of those figures that would not stand on its own, I only got her figure to go with Superman and (separately) Batman.

But it’s been more than clear to me that Spinmaster‘s (and DC‘s!) HEART lies with BATMAN. Soooo many more figures, where the general DC ones seem–by comparison–to be token action figure presence to claim presence, perhaps to maintain a license or some such? Stuff over MY pay grade.

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Robin (Tim Drake) is one of my favorite comic characters, and over the last few years I’ve wound up with quite a collection of Robin figures and such.I like to think that these variant Robins are intended to be the various characters–Tim, Damian, and Jason, at least.

I finally caved recently-ish and snagged the most NORMAL-LOOKING/most-comics-accurate-looking-to-me Batman. Nightwing and Catwoman for obvious ties to Bat-stuff.

And an apparently armored Batman putting me in mind of Dark Knight Returns, but perhaps intended more as Batman v. Superman. Whatever. It’s bulky and cool.

Then there were some of the big, bulky villains! Killer Croc, Bronze Tiger, King Shark, and Man-Bat.

Somewhere along the way, spotted Talon and figured for this line, and being (relatively-speaking) pretty cheap (1/3 to 1/2 the price of the larger Multiverse scale figures), I’d rather have more characters, so grabbed it. Same for Killer Moth. I even grudgingly bought Batwoman figuring she’d go well with a grouping of Detective Comics: Rebirth characters at least.

And that golden Joker…happened across that and initially figured I’d get it as "trade bait," but have since more or less settled on keeping it for the heckuvit, at least for now. There’s another Joker variant that I may keep an eye out for as well. Despite this, I still think it’s rather stupid to have limited chase variants in action figures; but all the more when they’re functionally UNPAINTED figures merely done in some alternate color plastic!

But as said…with this scale and the possibility quantity-wise, I’m more ok with stuff than I’d be if these were DC Multiverse or such.

And these are just "basic figures," without getting into any of the multi-packs and such that have even more recently caught my eye.

I see plenty of activity in a toy group I’m in on Facebook about the Multiverse figures…but I feel like I don’t/haven’t seen much of anything for this line.

Fine by me–if the only figure(s) being "chased" for this line ARE the solid-color-unpainted variants, that leaves more of the actual figures for me to be able to get without dealing with…shall we say…"resellers."

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Filed under: 2021 Non-Review Posts, 2021 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, showing off the shelves | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Robin #500: Marvel Math-ing 80 Years of The Boy Wonder

Posted on December 14, 2019 by Walt

So, apparently in 2020, DC is going to publish a $9.99 one-shot celebrating 80 years of Robin. Whereas in 2018, they did so for Superman with Action Comics #1000. And in 2019, they did so for Batman with Detective Comics #1000. And coming up in January and February 2020, they’re doing so with Wonder Woman #750 and Flash #750…all characters with present ongoing titles.

I’ve long cut DC some slack with the numbering on Action and Detective compared to Marvel‘s titles, as both have ONE "lapse" in numbering, which makes it relatively easy to slot the issues into their proper spots.

But now their doing the same for Wonder Woman and Flash requires a bit more work due to gaps and shorter runs and (at least with Wonder Woman) prior "legacy renumbering."

And with DC pulling other stuff that’s caused me to almost entirely back away while eyeing moving further away–and seeming to be following Marvel‘s lead in a negative (to me) manner…fine.

So WHAT IF..DC did "Marvel Math" for Robin, heading toward this 80th anniversary thing?

marvel_math_robin_500

The way I have it figured…they should be able to give us a giant-sized Robin #500, celebrating 500 issues featuring Robin (Dick, Tim, Stephanie, and Damian, at least) as well as the 80th anniversary of the character.

Even nearly 17 years later, I still don’t care for what they’ve done with Jason/Red Hood…and I wouldn’t count the Red Hood stuff as that’s been more of a team title (to my knowledge) and I don’t know enough about the title(s) and the character, nor has Jason operated AS Robin in the time that Tim or Dick have had titles of their own.

Now, granted, MY math here gets a bit screwy and isn’t entirely in the best order, and there’s certainly overlap, particularly in the original Robin and Nightwing ongoing titles. But frankly…if Marvel can screw around with grabbing random stuff to get to certain numbers, then I’m going to do the same here.

Perhaps my math is off slightly somewhere, but regardless…at this point, I feel like the Robin 80 Years 100-Page Super Spectacular or whatever it’s going to be called–with "decades variants" and the works–really ought to just simply be Robin #500.

What do you think? Would you be "for" a Robin #500?

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

The Weekly Haul: Weeks of March 13 & 20, 2019

Posted on March 25, 2019 by Walt

Personal life once more got in the way of even a simple, weekly haul post…so here’s a double-up from the last couple weeks! As such this also includes some Walmart, Half-Price Books, and Mac’s Backs books!

Week of March 13, 2019

weeklyhaul_20190313a

New Superman, Supergirl, and Wonder Twins.

I decided to try the new Transformers series. If IDW is rebooting the continuity and such and starting wholly fresh…fine, I’ll check stuff out. I’m not interested in following a ton of spin-offs and tie-ins or gigantic shared-universe stuff. But a contained universe, starting small, and seeing how much/if it grabs me…that I’m open for.

$4.99 for 100 pages of The Maxx is certainly worthwhile on principle…I’m more than happy to support such huge issues at great price points!

And speaking of…$7.99 for Annotated Marvels is still a great price and quite worthwhile to ME for my own nostalgia with the series. To get the cardstock covers, the reprint of the original issue (which I want to say–someone can correct me if I’m wrong–were $5.99 25 years ago) and the annotations for "only" $8 new is perfectly ok by me!

Then we (finally!) got the SECOND issue of the IDW Spider-Man series…I’d begun to think I’d flat-out MISSED this (and maybe the 3rd issue as well)! Not sure why it’d be so long since the previous issue, but it’s definitely something that if I miss an issue, that’d be that–I’m not gonna go way outta my way to hunt it down, but I’ll support it for several issues to check out and treat as its own relatively self-contained thing (I hope!)

weeklyhaul_20190313b

Then there were the release of the new issues of the six Walmart-exclusive (apparently only exclusive for a bit longer) 100-page Giants. I definitely dig the Superman cover most of all…the "iconic" Flash/Superman racing thing is quite nostalgic for me, going back to a 1989 issue of Adventures of Superman and its cover (which I eventually learned was itself an homage to a silver-age issue).

Though these are out, apparently there’s a "surprise" Detective Comics #1000 100-Page Giant due, but I’ve yet to find that one…and these six issues pictured above have probably been THE most spotty I’ve seen for the issues since last summer in availability–like the vendor cleared out all the previous stock and is only sparingly stocking these.

weeklyhaul_20190313c

Along with the Walmart comics, Half-Price Books had another one of their week-long sales via coupons, with Monday & Tuesday 20%-off-one-item coupons, Wednesday & Thursday 30%, Friday & Saturday 40%, and Sunday 50%-off coupons. I went to HPB on the Friday and snagged these Dragonlance novels.

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On the Saturday, I was in the area and visited a used-books store called Mac’s Backs, and scored a couple of Highlander novels I was missing, as well as 3 of the early Myth books by Robert Asprin.

I also visited another HPB location and wound up getting a pack of Justice League: New Frontier figures with a comic…alas, I neglected to get a photo of it, so perhaps that’ll be another post later.

Week of March 20, 2019

weeklyhaul_20190320a

Batman, Nightwing, and Naomi hit this week. The Batman issue is probably THE most disappointing issue I’ve read in ages–VIRTUALLY a "silent" issue that can be flipped through in moments and summed up as "Batman chases someone, and the identity might be a surprise." It includes a scene that references the Batman/Elmer Fudd issue from a couple years ago if you know what you’re looking at…but that’s hardly worth $3.99 on its own!

TMNT has its 92nd issue–we’re a "mere" 8 issues away from the first-ever TMNT #100 at this point! The new issue of Criminal is out. And I was juuuuust curious enough about Spider-Man: Life Story to get it…and it’s by far THE single best Marvel comic I’ve read in ages! A lotta personal stuff to it with personal nostalgia and such, but even so…I’d highly recommend it despite the $4.99 price!

I gave in on some "hype" over the Immortal Hulk issue and decided to check it out…it’s #15, and it’s the first Hulk comic I’ve bought as a new issue in YEARS and it wasn’t actually all that bad. It has be curious about the series, and maybe I’ll check it out via Marvel Unlimited…and maybe I’ll get the next issue. We’ll see.

Finally, the IDW iteration of Avengers has its 3rd issue–now an issue ahead of Spider-Man despite starting after that one.

weeklyhaul_20190320b

And since I was getting a splash of Marvel and didn’t hate the Captain Marvel movie, snagged the preview thing of CM stuff. And the usual Comic Shop News stuff with a spring 2019 preview I may or may not actually page through.

Depending on what personal life holds, I’ll hopefully "catch up" and actually get stuff posted for several other recent acquisitions in the toys-arena…as well as some new shelving arrangements.

And though I’ve been saying it for years now, perhaps this spring I’ll actually, finally get around to a full showing-off of my "comic cave." Though the space has come to resemble a cramped comics/dvds/games/toys store.

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

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

Posted on January 14, 2019 by Walt

weekly_haul_draft

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

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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Filed under: 2018 Non-Review Posts, 2018 posts, NON-REVIEW CONTENT, The Weekly Haul | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

The Weekly Haul: Weeks of November 28 & December 5, 2018

Posted on December 11, 2018 by Walt

Despite the sincerest of intentions to get this blog back into a more regular schedule…time just keeps getting away from me. AND I’ve been keeping vague due to some stuff in my personal life that I haven’t opted to put out in "public" just yet–despite time flying on it all!

So here we are, doubling up again on two weeks’ worth of weekly hauls…the day before a new one!

Week of November 28, 2018

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This bunch of issues includes the newest Action Comics and Heroes in Crisis. I "gave in" and bought the Nuclear Winter Special as a giant-size issue. It’s "only" 80 pages (compared to the Walmart 100-page issues) but still, it’s like a small paperback…and I’m often a sucker for these issues with a title on a spine.

I’ve yet to read the thing, but decided to try the IDW-published Marvel Action: Spider-Man issue. I don’t pretend to totally "get" Marvel "farming out" stuff like this, but I’ll take it as an IDW comic…and it’s a #1 but at "only" $3.99 instead of Marvel‘s "preferred" $4.99+ for #1 issues. And I need to sort through and figure out what I do and don’t have now for Die!Die!Die!…I may have missed an issue, and at this point probably should have "just" waited for the paperback.

Week of December 5, 2018

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Starting off December, we get Batman #60 and Nightwing #54. Also a new Shazam! series. The second issue of which apparently is already running somewhat late, and I believe this issue is itself "late," which does not bode well to me. But I’m curious about the character and where things are going, and I am a Captain (DC) Marvel fan to a certain degree, so…yeah.

I was willing to get The Merry X-Men Holiday Special as it’s a one-shot, and I’m curious about the series of single-page stories/vignettes. And much more willing to pay a bit more for a one-shot than a bunch of mini-series or simply #1 issues of supposed ongoings.

Adventures of the Super Sons is a habit-buy. I probably shouldn’t be buying it…I don’t think I’ve actually read an issue since the first couple of the previous series…but I keep telling myself I’m going to read the things (and having had some issues, was not going to double-dip switching to paperbacks, nor be "missing" a volume).

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Then there’s Die and Self Made….

Here’s Sarah, who spotted me getting photos real quick for this blog post.

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I’m not sure what it was for the week, but I decided to also grab a couple of new Image #1s in Die and Self Made (or is that Self/Made?). I should probably "know better" than to do that, but c’est la vie and all that.

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As a birthday present to myself last week, I got this Rogue pvc statue from the Marvel Gallery line from Diamond Select. I really like this one…and while I wish there were more X-Men characters available (Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Gambit, a ’90s costume Rogue, etc) I’m happy at least to have this one.

For more about it, check out FigureFan Zero‘s review of it at his blog. I actually knew about this from something he had posted on Twitter several weeks ago, and credit that with me knowing to look for this!

As we’re nearing the end of 2018, I probably ought to start figuring out firstly the "state of the blog" given the last couple of years, as well as stuff going on in my personal life, and the seemingly completely-inversed matchup of intent vs. actuality and time and all that.

Perhaps I’ll get to some sort of year in review, maybe something at the start of the new year…time will tell. For now–for this week–only time will tell if I’ll be back with anything else.

Though my own output has waned of late, please feel free to check out the Facebook Page for links to all of my posts, as well as links to a number of fellow bloggers and other content creators! I also occasionally post random photos there, and mini-rants and such on links that could almost be blog posts themselves if I was so inclined.

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The Weekly Haul: Weeks of November 14 & November 21, 2018

Posted on November 26, 2018 by Walt

Time keeps on flying..! It’s amazing how busy life can get and be, especially this time of year!

Here’s stuff from the past couple of weeks!

Week of November 14, 2018

November 14 was an interesting week…with some unplanned purchases!

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Superman, Supergirl, and Mister Miracle were "givens."

I am extremely disappointed at Dark Horse losing Buffy, Angel, and ESPECIALLY Firefly/Serenity to Boom! I refuse to buy anything from Boom thanks to their crap with Power Rangers #0, and sadly, that includes even Serenity. So I was all the MORE interested in "supporting" Dr. Horrible since it’s still from Dark Horse!

Sticking with GI Joe: A Real American Hero; this title progressing from #155 1/2 to #200 and on to #250 and now #257 without renumbering leaves me HOPE that IDW might ACTUALLY allow Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to go past #100!

And though I was NOT going to, I ultimately "gave in" and bought Uncanny X-Men #1 (it’s missing a rather prominent "The" in the title!) though I’ve opted to pass on subsequent issues–$3.99 is too much; weekly is too many issues; especially with extra-priced/extra-sized issues BOOKENDING this initial launch of the title coupled with at LEAST a 25-some-issue Age of X-Man commitment already being pushed before #2 hit…

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I’d been looking forward to–and thought I’d actually MISSED–this issue of Back Issue magazine. So it was a bit of a surprise, but seeing it, I grabbed it immediately!

And of course, the usual Comic Shop News.

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I’d backed Ursa Minor awhile back on Kickstarter due to Dirk Manning‘s involvement, and that issue came in! I had actually lost track of the time, so was (pleasantly) surprised when a mystery package arrived with my name on it!

And Comic Heaven had Apama creator Ted Sikora in for a signing that day, so I picked up the first issues of Apama: The Undiscovered Animal and Tap Dance Killer. I do get the feeling 2019 MIGHT be a fairly "big" year for me delving into "indie" stuff, as I’ve grown increasingly frustrated with the likes of Marvel and even DC…

And speaking of: there was also Local Comic Shop Day where DC especially ticked me off with a limited-to-500-copies-only foiled The Green Lantern #1. Long commentary aside, it’s caused me to opt out of the series–I refuse now to buy #s 2-onward–in vote-with-my-wallet-for-real "protest" over the crappiness of the ultra-limited stock. (See also: 40 months I’ve refused to buy anything Valiant, and 34 months I’ve refused to buy anything Boom–I can’t bring myself to drop DC as a whole (particularly Batman and Superman/Action Comics) over The Green Lantern, but I can sure as heck drop THAT title!

Week of November 21, 2018

This past week was another HUGE week overall, thanks to Black Friday stuff added on to the usual…plus the Walmart comics!

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Here we have Batman #59, Nightwing #53, and TMNT: Urban Legends #7.

Then the spin-off GI Joe: A Real American Hero mini-series Silent Option #2. And the ONE Marvel title I’ll still buy–Mr. & Mrs. X, as I am a fan of Rogue and Gambit, so a title starring the two of them (married or otherwise) gets my money.

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This week also had the Christmas extra issue with Comic Shop News.

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Finally, despite just getting the holiday issue a couple weeks earlier, ALL FOUR of the Walmart titles from DC hit at the same time.

I was able to get these before Black Friday, so avoided whatever damages remaining issues wound up with from people checking them out in their poorly-placed area in the pop culture cards aisle by the self-checkouts.

While I might detail more in a later post, Black Friday stuff saw a lot more expense than I’d intended going in, including TMNT toys; all 3 TPBs of the weekly Superman/Batman/Wonder Woman: Trinity series; Superman in the Sixties (completing my set of 40s/50s/60s/70s/80s); Keyforge stuff; several Hordes minis packs (Skorne); some DVD seasons; and some other stuff.

I’m hoping the next couple weeks are rather light…though I suspect December will be rather screwy with Christmas and New Year timing for shipping…so we shall see!

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The Weekly Haul – Week of November 7, 2018

Posted on November 12, 2018 by Walt

Last week wound up being a decent-sized week, both for new comics as well as Half-Price Books having a coupon sale with 40% and 50% off coupons!

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First off, the new issues of Batman and Nightwing that have become top-of-the-stack reads fo rme.

Then there’s the newly-relaunched Green Lantern title with a "The" added onto the beginning, and a new, boring, plain-looking logo as The Green Lantern #1. While I had figured it’d be a curiosity, I had not expected it to be sold out less than an hour into the afternoon–arriving earlier than usual lately and it was already sold out! (Much thanks to Sean for selling me a copy that he’d had aside for himself!).

Adventures of the Super Sons is quickly solidifying as something I’ll try to read after the fact, but knowing I’ll want the singles, it’s less aggravating to just get them as they come out than try to hunt them down later.

The newest issue of The Walking Dead presents Outpost Zero as a "flip book," and I honestly bought this for the Outpost Zero segment more than anything else (and then the Walking Dead side is just a face and no actual Walking Dead logo/titling!).

I feel like Leviathan #3 is running a bit late, but i"m not certain. I’m still undecided on following this long-term, but figure with each issue as long as it doesn’t put me off too much, I’m not opposed to continuing–AND I really like the logo/title design!

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I have yet to check out the new Netflix series for Sabrina, but as usual I’m up for a $1.00 reprint, this one The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, part of the Archie horror line that seems to have more or less stalled out.

A Kickstarter that I’d backed awhile ago for a Munchkin Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles finally came in, and one of the "bonus" items was a reprint of the original Mirage edition of TMNT #1!

And then at a Walmart looking for other stuff, I happened to notice this latest "holiday" 100-page Giant, so snagged it, keeping myself up to date on those issues.

And finally, the newest issue of DC Nation as well as the newest Comic Shop News!

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Half-Price Books occasionally does coupon sales via email, where they send coupons every day for a week or so, with a progressively higher discount percentage, beginning at 20% then going to 30%, 40%, and then ending on 50%.

I went to an HPB further away than my "usual" area, and while I’d intended to get a game, I happened to spot Ultimate Spider-Man volume 8 in the locked case, and as the one volume I was still missing, found an employee and was able to get a look at the book itself.

It was priced significantly above cover price, but still well under what I’ve seen it sold for online…and with the 40% off coupon, that brought it down to cover price, so I jumped on it!

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…and that now gives me a complete run of Ultimate Marvel Team-Up (Ultimate Spidey) and Ultimate Spider-Man itself, vols. 1-12 and the Death of Spider-Man Omnibus…this is the entirety of the original Ultimate Spider-Man series, including annuals and a mini-series/tie-in or few!

I didn’t get this post ready over the weekend, nor finished on a lunch break–and between starting this and actually posting…news hit the world that Stan Lee has passed away.

Morbid though it is, when it came to "tribute art" or such, the image I first thought of–and words to offer on his passing that came to mind–are from the cover of that omnibus.

I’ll surely have more to say later…as will likely everyone else whose lives have been touched by comics!

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The Weekly Haul: Week of October 17, 2018

Posted on October 21, 2018 by Walt

This ended up being an interesting week for me for new comics!

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New issue of Batman, of course. I snagged Nightwing #50 last weekend, knowing #51 was coming out. I love the foiling on the cover, too! New issue of TMNT; new issue of Mr. & Mrs. X (I really need to find the wedding issue and 1-3 to catch up on actual READING!). I ended up getting Green Lanterns #57 as (I believe) the final issue of that series, thanks to a spoiler of the Cyborg Superman being in it (which, along with the cover, got my curiosity up for dealing with continuity TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OLD!). Another ending, Simpsons Comics‘ final issue (#245). This might be my first issue purchased of the actual series…perhaps sorta morbid to jump on for the final issue, but c’est la vie! Finally, based mainly on the foiling and partly on tying in to Heroes in Crisis (Maybe 80/20 split for me), picked up Green Arrow #45 from a whenever it came out–last week, or a couple weeks ago.

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Over the weekend, wound up swinging by Half-Price Books due to an errand involving going right by the exit. Came across Superman & Batman: Generations and Superman & Batman: Generations II paperbacks. While I know I have at least a few of the single issues for both, I’m not sure where, offhand. And since they were there in front of me, and I don’t remember the last time I even saw these in-person (and they’re fairly old–predating the 2005 DC logo switch!) so I opted to get them so I wouldn’t kick myself over passing them up later! (However, I did pass on several volumes of The Flash Chronicles, that were priced at or ABOVE cover price due to being "out of print"–I haaaate that HPB does NOT separate such volumes out from their general half-price mission/collection! But that’s a topic for other posts…)

I also found out that the reason the newest Marvel digest from Archie wasn’t/hasn’t been out is that the digest series has apparently been flat-out cancelled. As a consumer (rather than businessperson), that sucks, and is a major, conscious negative for me toward both publishers (regardless of my "understanding" from the business standpoint…if it wasn’t selling, it wasn’t selling). It’s something I liked and was buying, and with it cancelled, that’s one less thing I’m getting from either of them!

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