• January 2026
    S M T W T F S
     123
    45678910
    11121314151617
    18192021222324
    25262728293031

  • On Facebook

    On Facebook

  • Archives

  • Categories

  • Comic Blog Elite

    Comic Blogs - BlogCatalog Blog Directory

Recent Acquisitions: Older Books

Posted on May 24, 2013 by Walt

Along with the various “free” comics I picked up on Free Comic Day, I also snagged a couple other bargains: a fresh copy of the Superman Tribute issue from Wizard that came out after The Death of Superman stuff; a hardcover The Trial of Captain America, and most surprising of all (to me) a $5 copy of Solar, Man of the Atom: Alpha and Omega still in the original bag with a poster! (originally cover-priced $10 on initial release back in 1994). The Captain America book was also $5, and the Wizard issue was a mere 25-cents.

FCBDnonfreebooksI’d also found myself that Saturday revisiting eBay, checking on the current pricing of the Ultimates 2 hardcover. I’d snagged the first hardcover in early May last year, paying a bit of an unwelcome “premium” for it including shipping, on the expectation that its price would skyrocket with the Avengers movie as “everyone” would want the darned thing. I wound up getting Ultimates 2 (also out of print like Ultimates) including shipping for well under cover price, giving me the two-volume set I’ve wanted to have for years.

ultimatesHaving managed to track down the Ultimates 2 volume, I turned my attention to tracking down the Ultimate Galactus Trilogy hardcover. I’d first seen it at a Books-A-Million a number of years ago while visiting with a friend, and I passed on a $17 copy several years ago at Kenmore. Managed to get this copy, including shipping for under $14.

ultimategalactusandvaliantmastersI also have meant to get the Valiant Masters hardcover edition of Bloodshot since about the time the book came out last year. I wound up finding both it and the Ninjak volume, and got both–including shipping–for little more than cover price of either of the single volumes.

ultimategalactusandvaliantmastersstacked Continue reading →

Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Black Friday? Remember Black September?

Posted on November 23, 2012 by Walt

 

blackseptembercover01

Today is “Black Friday.” Which, as a comic fan, always reminds me of the Malibu/Ultraverse “event” when they relaunched a bunch of their series back in 1995: Black September.

From what I recall, for the month of September, 1995 all of the Ultraverse books shipped with all-black covers, with the logo/price/etc. being the only color.

There was an image on the back, which actually served as the front cover image for variant-printed editions of the issues.

But I didn’t even become aware of these variants until some years after the fact–I only ever saw the “standard editions” and went with those.

Black September was a new beginning for the Ultraverse–the various titles existing before it all ended, and these new “# Infinity” issues served to launch several new series, most of which ultimately turned out to be essentially mini-series.

While I much prefer the original runs of the various Ultraverse books…I can’t deny that at the time, Black September was a Pretty Big Deal for me. Probably part of the significance was that September 1995 was also the first full month of my being in high school–so that was a new beginning for me, and these Ultraverse books I’d been following for a couple years were getting a new beginning.

Of course, I have a lot of different feelings on the whole thing looking back from 17 years later.

Black Friday…I’m too old to fight crowds for items at prices that really oughtta be considered false advertising. I’ll stick to reading and enjoying some comics.

Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a comment »

Raiding the Used Bookstore ‘Bargain Bins’

Posted on October 1, 2012 by Walt

Along with hitting the bargain bins at local comic shops, I’m fortunate enough to have three used bookstores that have a varied selection of comics…two are a flat 50-cents-per-issue and one maintains 50%-off cover price of the comic (making a bunch of 25-cents or barely-50-cents issues $1.25+ comics in some cases).

But last weekend I hit up one Half-Price Books location, and this week hit up the other nearby, specifically seeking out Valiant issues.

While 1990s Valiant currently has my highest attention…I’m not gonna pass up the random/odd Ultraverse issue, either.

Freex #1 still in the original bag (though the bag’s all beat-up) with the original “wild card” coupon and a good-condition copy of Prototype #0:

01

After hearing a recommendation of the series on a fairly recent-ish episode of the Legion of Dudes podcast, I’ve started noticing random issues of Mage. Found the first 3 issues, so for only $1.50 for 3 issues…seems well worth it to try the series.

02

A couple issues of Rai, and my first-ever issue of Geomancer. Also finally cleared up my confusion on Rai–that Rai became Rai and the Future Force and seems to then become The New Rai.

03

Best pull of the bunch was a whopping 3 issues of Eternal Warrior that I was missing. Still missing a bunch of others, but it’s quite gratifying to have an actual list of what I’m missing so I’m not unintentionally pulling dupes…

04

…and a couple issues of H.A.R.D. Corps and a lone issue of Magnus round out the $7 purchase.

05

Not a bad haul for being a fairly random stop-in at a non-comic store.

Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Walt’s Weekly Writing Wrap-Up: Aug 29-Sept 5

Posted on September 5, 2011 by Walt

newcomics001Non-Review Content:

– Booking Through Thursday: Stormy Weather

– Labor Day/End of Summer comics

 

Reviews of comics released Wednesday, August 31:

newcomics002– Justice League #1(DC Comics)

– Flashpoint #5(DC Comics)

– Angel and Faith #1(Dark Horse Comics)

– Uncanny X-Force #14(Marvel Comics)

 

justiceleague001  flashpoint005

angelandfaith001  uncannyxforce014

Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Labor Day/End of Summer comics

Posted on September 5, 2011 by Walt

newcomics002_thumb[9]My local comic shop was having an “end-of-summer”/Labor Day clearance sale last week. A bunch of sale books and games and such, as well as extra bargain bins, and all the bargain bins–usually 25-cent comics–were 5-cents apiece or $12 to fill-a-box.

On Wednesday, being there on my short lunch-break, I could only flip very quickly through a few of the bins, and found an issue of Siren and an issue of Necro Mantra/Lord Pumpkin; far as I can tell, the Necro Mantra/LP issue is new, newcomics002_thumb[8]while the Siren issue was a duplicate. But for 10 cents total…I can afford to take the duplicates’ chance.

Friday after work I went back, and scored Angels of Destruction #1 and Witch Hunter #1, both also only 5 cents each. Picked up Firearm #4 and Foxfire #2, both figuring to be duplicates, but for the price, I was taking the chance (and actually, I bought every Ultraverse comic I found, which is sorta sad there were so few in those bins!)

The store owner also gave me a great deal on some other sets. I was already picking up a run of X (Dark Horse Heroes) for $3 and Wonder Man (Marvel)

newultraverse_thumb[1]

for $2; (and the week before, had bought a run of Steel for $6ish and Zen: Intergalactic Ninja for $8). So between the 5-cent comics and pretty solid runs of Grendel, The Ferret, the Superboy series based on the tv show, and Resurrection Man…I walked out Friday with a full longbox and the equivalent of about half a shortbox, all for only slightly more than the cost of 8 or 9 new comics.

Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Weekend Ultraverse acquisitions

Posted on July 17, 2011 by Walt

newestultras01Had a quick 10-minute dash through another local comic shop’s bargain-bins Friday night. Also visited one of two local Half-Price Books locations. Snagged a fair number of additional Ultraverse issues.

I’ve decided to start a separate blog to focus on my Ultraverse project. First will be this hunt to track down all the story issues (if I find some cheap variants and such along the way, cool…but I’m more interested in simply having a copy of any given issue in order to read it).

My plan at present is shaping up to be that I locate the full run, and then do a read-through, June books 1993 through to Future Shock from 1997.

I’ve read a good number of these before, but most I have not, and given the nature of the Ultraverse line, I think it’ll be interesting to read all the books, and to do so in order of release (at least by month) to roughly simulate what the original experience of doing so may have been.

My scope is to share the enjoyment of the story and perhaps quasi-review the books. I’m no Ultraverse expert, and will leave the fun stuff like interviews and such to other parties.

I will most likely crosspost here for awhile at least, until or unless the Ultraverse Revisited blog gets some legs of its own.

Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , | 1 Comment »

Mission: Ultraverse Revisited (What I’m Missing)

Posted on July 14, 2011 by Walt

I’ve a bit bigger mission ahead of me than I had thought, to track down all all of the Ultraverse comics…and this EXcludes ashcans and most variant/special covers.

Still…I’ve also got a pretty good head start, with an entire run of Prime, and near-entire runs of Strangers and Rune, as well as significant chunks of other titles, and a bunch of the one-shots and several mini-series.

[Thanks to Ultraverse Flashback for the initial checklist.]

Angels of Destruction: 1

Black September: Preview

Codename Firearm: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Collector’s Guide to the Ultraverse: 1

Conan (comic book): 4, 5

Conan the Savage (magazine): 4

Conan vs. Rune: 1

Countdown to Ultraverse: #x

Dream Team: 1

Eliminator: 0, 2, 3

Elven: 4

(All-New) Exiles: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

Exiles vs. X-Men: 0

Firearm: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18

Continue reading →

Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: | 3 Comments »

Mission: Ultraverse Revisited

Posted on July 12, 2011 by Walt

ultraversespreadA few weeks ago, a Facebook group I had joined some years back–for the long-dead comics universe, the Ultraverse–suddenly exploded into activity. It’s been stirring my interest back up in the Ultraverse comics. I already had a stack of PRIME issues on a shelf, waiting for a re-reading project I’ve had in mind for over a year.

In addition, this past weekend I snagged a handful of Ultraverse comics from quarter bins at a couple different comic shops.

Monday night, I decided to take a peek in my “most accessible” longbox, and lo! Ultraverse comics! So I pulled the Ultraverse comics, and decided to look at the next box. Then the two shortboxes.

Amazingly, I found QUITE the mix of Ultraverse comics in just 3 longboxes and 2 shortboxes.

ultraversepilesSeems that without particularly realizing it, I’ve actually been grabbing a number of Ultraverse comics the last few years from various bargain bins and such sales. I even found that I’ve got the Black September: Infinity issue, as well as the Ultraverse: Future Shock. And turns out the that special PRIME issue I picked up a couple years back for $1 at a used media store is one of those Limited-5,000 editions.

So, now have a mission before me: to dig through all the longboxes I have in this apartment, to pull together whatever Ultraverse comics I have. From there, see what’s out there that I’m missing, and begin very specifically hunting these things down.

Continue reading →

Filed under: NON-REVIEW CONTENT | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

« Previous Page