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Incidentally, I also picked up Book 2 of the new Sandman collection. They were out of Book 1 at that store, but are getting a copy from one of the other stores. I think book 3 comes out soonish.
These will be my reading copies, so that I don’t have to keep taking my original issues out of their bags. I look forward to rereading that series.
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I’ve been reading the Saga of the Swamp Thing - the Alan Moore run. They’ve got it in a nice 6 volume collection. I picked up the first three volumes at my comic store. They also had volume six, but I refrained from buying it until I can get volumes 4 & 5.
Such magnificent writing. I think it’s safe to say Moore is one of the best writers ever to work in the comic industry. So very unlike a majority of the writers today (although that might not entirely be their fault). His interpretation of the character, which largely still defines Swamp Thing today, is very similar to how the Blade movies left an indelible mark on the comic book version of that character.
I honestly don't believe in Alan Moore's ability that much. Maybe it's because when I read his stuff, I think of better writers like Neal and even Jason Aaron. (At least for Thor.)
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I was bagging and boarding my old Lobo comics, the regular series, plus a bunch of one-shots and a here-and-there miniseries. It got me thinking about the first time I saw the character - in the pages of Justice League. He was a tad bit different - more along the lines of his earlier appearances in books like Omega Men (at least, that’s the impression that I get).
I think he really didn’t start to change until his first 4 issue miniseries. The one where he unleashes all kind of havoc, then succeeds in killing the other Last Czarnian. That was a great series that poked a lot of fun, I think. I’ve got it around here somewhere.
Anyway, his regular series was kind of fun, but also a bit ridiculous at times. Honestly, old man me is kind of amazed it ran for 64 issues.
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I love older Doctor Strange stories. Last week, in my local store, I came across a trade paperback of the Volume 2 issues 75-81 (1986, according to the internet). The collection is hyped as the effort by Strange to help Topaz regain a piece of her soul, after he inadvertently busted her out of Mephisto’s realm. It’s also when they introduced Urthona and Rintrah.
Pretty solid story. Some fantastic art. An all-around pleasant surprise to have found.
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Over the last decade or so, as I’ve cut back on buying newer titles, I’ve also increased spending on older issues. Filling in the gaps, so to speak, of parts of my collection. At some point in the not too distant future, I suspect I might be regularly buying more old issues than new.
Most recently, I decided to fill in some of my X-book related gaps, pretty much exclusively from the glory days when Claremont was writing. To start, I picked up issues 2 - 4 of Wolverine (the first ongoing solo series). I think that only leaves me maybe 6 more issues of that series before I’m done.
After that, I might turn my attention to some of the gaps in my Uncanny X-Men collection. And maybe my X-Factor collection.
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Anyway, back to Wolverine. I loved the Madripoor setting. To me, it always had the flavor of a great D&D city setting. The balance of power between criminal elements, “the law”, some good guys, was always cool. I kind of liked the way Wolverine just put on an eye patch, called himself Patch, and everyone was just “Yeah, sure. Okay”. Best not to make the hairy, killer mutant too angry.
Some great characters and storylines. I think one of my favorites was the Gehenna Stone arc. Story by Peter David. Art by John Buscema and Bill Sienkiewicz.
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I was (probably) a bad zombie today. Picked up a bunch of back issues of Uncanny X-Men: #’s 196, 204, 206, 214-216, and 220.
I could have bought a few more issues, but for gap-filling I’m starting with a certain number and working forwards. Over the next day or so, I’ll read them and re board and bag them (in resealable bags).
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Did some more gap filling this week, although not by a lot.
Picked up issue #76 of original flavor Excalibur. I loved that series. It could be fun, serious, or both. It gave us some great (and some not so great) stories. And it had some great character development, including letting Nightcrawler shine as team leader.
The other back issue I picked up was G. I. Joe (the Marvel series) #12. I might have mentioned it before, but that was the first series I ever collected, starting with issue #39 from September 1985 (thanks Granny!). So that was the beginning of my collecting. The series had some kind of lame stories over the years, and the eternal conflict against Cobra dragged quite often, but it was just as often good fun.
So now I’ve only got 12 more issues to get for G. I. Joe, and 7 more for Excalibur.
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Another way I’ve been feeding my comic book need (since most newer, “modern” comics are too piss poor for the job), is picking up Epic Collections from Marvel. I started with the older Moon Knight stuff, picked up a couple for Doctor Strange, the two for Morbius, and one for Iron Fist.
Just recently, I noticed that some future ones will be reprints of old Darkhorse comics. Specifically, Marvel’s reprinting a lot of those old Alien and Star Wars comics Darkhorse did way back when. I’ve still got most of those books i.my my collection, so I won’t need to buy the Epic stuff. I found it interesting that Marvel would reprint that. Those were fun stories back in the day, although some got a little silly.
Now if only they’d reprint the old Werewolf by Night series. Or Rom….
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Six years ago, on this thread, I wrote about my reading Roy Thomas' Conan stories. Here's a link to that post.
Since then, I read a lot more Conan comics by Roy Thomas and by others. I still maintain that no one can write Conan like Roy Thomas can. Occasionally someone else can write an INTERESTING Conan story, but in my mind, Thomas is the authority on Conan.
That's not to say I like every one of his stories, of course. I remember reading a note L Sprague de Camp wrote about Conan joining a group of Picts. I thought that was intriguing. In that thread I linked to above, I even commented:
And you know what else I'd like to see? I heard that after Conan escaped from Numedides, before he came back to conquer Aquilonia, he befriended some Picts. I wonder if anyone ever wrote a story about that?
Since writing that, I bought a copy of Roy Thomas' adaptation of "Treasure of Tranicos". I'm looking at it right now, to make sure I get the quote right. Conan tells of his adventures since since his difference with Numedides and mentions that he came from the woods. Count Valenso says "What? You have been living with the Picts?"
Conan rushes up to Valenso, bearing down so close that Valenso cowers back from him. With a snarl on his face, Conan replies "DOG! Even a Zingaran ought to know there's NEVER been peace between Picts and Cimmerians, and NEVER WILL BE! Our FEUD with them is OLDER THAN THE WORLD. If you said that to one of my WILDER BROTHERS, you'd have found yourself with a split head!"
That scene disappointed me when I first read it, although in the back of my mind, it occurred to me that theoretically, Conan might have been lying. I mean... we HAD just seen him fighting Picts, but maybe he had allied with a different group of them earlier and just acted angry and blustered to avoid admitting that he would have anything to do with any Picts.
Since reading that, I have, of course, read many more Conan comics. Like I said, no one can do Conan like Thomas, but some people can write an interesting story... like Jason Aaron, for instance. I picked up a book printing some issues he wrote. I couldn't finish it, but the few issues I read had some interesting stuff; I got the impression that Jason Aaron had always wanted to write some of those stories. And in one of them, Conan has to ally with the Picts for a time, and even bonds with them.
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Just for fun, I picked up the 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of The Death of Superman. It’ll be nice to have as a reading copy. Now I won’t have to take my original issues out of the bags. Sadly, not the issue with the black cover and bleeding logo. I always loved the simplicity of that cover.
Such a great story. With such fantastic art. I loved the mindless violence of Doomsday. Too bad they didn’t have the stones to leave Superman dead.
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Just finished reading my Christmas gift from my children - a collected edition of Crisis on Infinite Earths. It was one of the things on a list I keep for my family. So now I have a reading copy, and don’t have to take my original issues (including a first issue signed by Marv Wolfman) out of their bags anymore.
Damn! What a great story! Personally, I think it might be the greatest comic story ever told (at least definitely in the top five). And while many of the changes have since, sadly, been undone or made moot, it was still something that changed the industry. Both the art and writing were top notch.
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I’m sorely tempted to go back to my comic book store today. They’ve got a back issue sale going on. I might not bother, though. When I was there yesterday, I checked for stuff on my list, and they didn’t have anything.
The only thing I didn’t check was Uncanny X-Men. The drawer was broken and they were asking people not to pull it out. They did say they’d have it open today, however.
So….tempting.
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Took some time this weekend to read through some of those back issues I’ve been picking up. Some great X-Men stuff from Claremont back in the early 80s. And that Detective Comics #500 blew me away with how awesome it was. They definitely don’t write them like that anymore. Far superior to anything “modern”.
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Just finished reading my Christmas gift from my children - a collected edition of Crisis on Infinite Earths. It was one of the things on a list I keep for my family. So now I have a reading copy, and don’t have to take my original issues (including a first issue signed by Marv Wolfman) out of their bags anymore.
Damn! What a great story! Personally, I think it might be the greatest comic story ever told (at least definitely in the top five). And while many of the changes have since, sadly, been undone or made moot, it was still something that changed the industry. Both the art and writing were top notch.
Truly, no one has even been able to replicate George Perez's ability to draw two hundred characters on a single page, and give each one body language appropriate to their personality. He really loved each character and found what made them special. There will never be another like him. His 1999-ish Avengers and the Final JLA/Avengers also show off that talent. George Perez knew that every character was somebody's favorite and he respected them all.
I was bagging and boarding my old Lobo comics, the regular series, plus a bunch of one-shots and a here-and-there miniseries. It got me thinking about the first time I saw the character - in the pages of Justice League. He was a tad bit different - more along the lines of his earlier appearances in books like Omega Men (at least, that’s the impression that I get).
I think he really didn’t start to change until his first 4 issue miniseries. The one where he unleashes all kind of havoc, then succeeds in killing the other Last Czarnian. That was a great series that poked a lot of fun, I think. I’ve got it around here somewhere.
Anyway, his regular series was kind of fun, but also a bit ridiculous at times. Honestly, old man me is kind of amazed it ran for 64 issues.
I loved Lobo in Peter David and Todd Nauck's Young Justice.
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Finally got around to reading Batman #400. What an awesome isssue! A ton of artists, including: Art Adams, Brian Bolland, Bill Sienkiewicz, George Perez and Joe Kubert (to name a few). The story had Ra’s orchestrate a mass breakout from both Arkham and Gotham Penitentiary, then organizing a plan using many of the ones set free, the goal of which was to break Batman’s will. Needless to say, with the help of his friends, the Dark Knight prevails.
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I was reminded the other day about my favorite Batman stories. If I had to make a list of best Bat stories, in no particular order, it’d be:
Dark Knight Returns (but not the sequels, although I enjoyed them)
Killing Joke
Death in the Family
Son of the Demon
Batman: Year One
Batman: Year Two
Batman: Red Rain
There are probably a lot more great Bat stories from back in the day, but I’d say these are some of the best. Most of the modern stuff pales in comparison.
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Scored pretty good today.
First I picked up four back issues of X-Factor: #’s 1, 7, 13 & 15. I also found the four issue Legionaires 3 miniseries.
Second, when I was up at the counter they were going through a box someone had brought in. Inside were four or five issues of Uncanny X-Men I’ve been looking for. If they buy them from dude, they’ll set them aside for me.
Ah, X-Factor!
Now you've got me reminiscing myself.
I remember back in the 20th century, when I was single and free, going to my friend's house and reading his old comics, especially the X-titles. He had started collecting X-Factor from issue 16, but I was fortunate enough, when browsing in a flea market, to find the 1st issue in a fine condition at a low price. I found issues 2, 3, 4 and 7 as well. I still have all of those.
It was nice to see the old X-Men back... but I felt a few details should have been handled differently. Those were kind of irritating.
For instance, "The X-Terminators" should have been the name of the team that advertised getting RID of mutants. The "X-Factor" name could have been for the spandex team. Wouldn't that make better sense? Instead it was the other way around.
Of course, I thought the team members were pretty stupid not to realize what the terrible consequences would be if they publicly hunted mutants.
And I loved the Beast as blue and furry. With that appearance, he was my favorite X-Man (with the possible exception of Xavier, if he counts). So I didn't like seeing him go back.
And I never found Apocalypse to be a convincing villain... but maybe I shouldn't go there.
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From that box the store was looking through last week I scored pretty damned good. Four books from my list: Uncanny X-Men #’s 233, 234, 237 & 239. And one book not on my list - Batman #300, which has now become the new “book I’ve paid the most for”.
On top of that, I also picked up Uncanny X-Men #’s 159, 174 & 175.
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I…..may have spent a wee bit of money on back issues today. Picked up more Uncanny X-Men. Numbers 116-119 and 127.
Ah, 117! There's a well-used cliché of portraying telepathic battles by having each combatant picture himself as powerful and duke it out in a surrealistic - yet still physical-looking - way, in an illusory setting. The trick is to summon all your willpower to achieve the greatest offensive force. And in my mind, X-Men 117 was the prototype for that kind of battle.
(Well, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe someone better versed in comics than I could list 10 similar battles in the comics that predate that issue.)
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I…..may have spent a wee bit of money on back issues today. Picked up more Uncanny X-Men. Numbers 116-119 and 127.Ah, 117! There's a well-used cliché of portraying telepathic battles by having each combatant picture himself as powerful and duke it out in a surrealistic - yet still physical-looking - way, in an illusory setting. The trick is to summon all your willpower to achieve the greatest offensive force. And in my mind, X-Men 117 was the prototype for that kind of battle.
(Well, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe someone better versed in comics than I could list 10 similar battles in the comics that predate that issue.)
Yes. The very same for me. The archetype for mindscapes and battle of wills.
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And that’s not all….
Some lady whose husband recently passed brought in boxes of his comics. And despite the boxes being in poor condition (I’m talking water damage in some cases) there’s apparently some great stuff in there.
Including an issue of Uncanny X-Men #94 - Claremont’s first issue. They’ve got to grade it, but said it might probably be worth a few hundred.
I’ve got first dibs.