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Whilst waiting for trick or treaters last night, I treated myself to the wonderful Batman & Dracula: Red Rain. Such a wonderful story by Doug Moench. And Kelley Jones art is fantastic.
Makes me really look forward to the Dracula books Jones is working on with Matt Wagner.
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Last night, to relax a bit, I read through one of my recent acquisitions - Uncanny X-Men Annual #11. That story had the alien mutant warlord Horde kidnap the X-Men (along with the visiting Captain Britain and Meghan) in order to have them break into the Citadel of Light and Shadow to steal the Crystal of Ultimate Vision. In the end, Wolverine’s strength of character wins the day, defeats Horde, and saves the human race from being an evolutionary dead end.
Claremont’s story was excellent. Lots of characterization woven into the story. I especially liked the way he wrote Captain Britain, emphasizing his skills as, and passion in being, a physicist. And Longshot’s naive innocence resulting in the Citadel having trouble tempting him. Alan Davis’ art was awesome, as always.
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I was reading through a few of the X-Men back issues I’d recently picked up, and it got me thinking. I’ll probably never get to see the X-Men versus the Brood on the big screen. And I’ll probably never get a decent X-Men versus Sentinels movie. I could see a X-Men versus Genosha movie though. No way they’d pass that up.
Twenty-some years ago, when my interest in X-Men was waning and I stopped (or perhaps planned soon to stop) reading my friend's collection, I got the first 3 Essential X-Men paperbacks. That third paperback included King-Size Annuals 3 through 5. I didn't remember reading those in my friend's collection, and I'm guessing that he didn't have them. So at home I got to read King-Size Annuals 3 and 4, but did I read 5? I don't recall that I did.
Anyway, in King-Size Annual 3, Arkon...
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My comic book store had a Black Friday sale yesterday, and even though I’ve cleaned them out of pretty much everything on my list I went over to see if I could find anything interesting.
Ended up buying issues 275 thru 281 of Batman. I hadn’t planned on delving too far into the 200s yet, but they were 50% off.
I also picked up What if….? Volume 1, issue #31. What if Wolverine had Killed The Hulk? It was on the wall behind the counter and caught my eye.
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Finally found a copy of Wolverine #1 (original ongoing series). It was just sitting there in one of the counter top back issue boxes. They usually have a mix of old classics, and the newer stuff that doesn’t sell well.
Anyway, so now I’ve got #1 of that series. Just need a handful more of those early issues.
I also picked up a copy of Captain America #334. That was early in the John Walker Captain America run. I think that was his second appearance as Captain America. I started collecting Cap around the late 340’s, but didn’t have this issue yet.
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I was able to make a huge dent in my X-Factor gap list today. Picked up fourteen issues mostly in the teens and 20s. The majority of them were priced at $3-4, although two issues were a bit more (though not much).
I also found all four issues of Mark Millar’s Chrononauts. That’ll save me from having to buy the collected edition. And all four were only $6.
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Huzzah! My copy of The Joker: Devil’s Advocate arrived earlier than initially predicted! So Merrier Christmas to me! I’ve often heard this is a great Joker story. Now I’ll get to read it for myself!
Then again....
Although the USPS tracking said it was delivered, the package has disappeared into thin air. So I'm guessing it was either delivered to the wrong mailbox, left in the open for someone to steal (which wouldn't surprise me), or was actually stolen by someone at the USPS (which also would not surprise me).
Either way, it appears I'm out a good bit of money. All thanks to the incompetent USPS.
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Wow.
Years ago, when I was high on my Conan kick, I got Conan Saga issues 22 through 25* because they reprinted Roy Thomas' adaptation of Hour of the Dragon. The main reason I wanted that story was that first issue, in which Conan first met Zenobia, the one woman that Conan ever married, and thereby made the queen of Aquilonia. That first issue was definitely the high point of the story; the other 3 parts were kind of slow and dull, in my opinion.
And you went and bought the original printing of that first part? "Just for s$&ts and giggles"? I... sort of... envy you. I haven't bought anything in a comic book store in years; I found it much cheaper to buy comics online. Gone are the days when I just see a comic book on a shelf or in a bin and buy it on a whim. And you went and picked up Giant-Size Conan #1, just like that.
* And the following is more detail than I'd expect anyone to want to hear: I also got Conan Saga issues 26 and 27 because they reprinted Roy Thomas' adaptation of The Treasure of Tranicos, a story that I quoted on this very thread last year. I mention this because my getting those issues proved a stroke of luck; issue 27 reprinted the final page of Hour of the Dragon which was accidentally omitted from issue 25. That was the page in which Conan first announced his intention to free Zenobia and make her queen of Aquilonia.
Ah, who can forget a story with a title like "Professor Xavier is a Jerk!"?
And you got the first appearance of Nathan Summers; in fact, he was BORN in #201. Sweet! That would make for a good prelude to X-Factor.
Also sweet is the first issue about Genosha, #235. I think I recall you mentioning on this thread some time ago that you got the SECOND issue of that story.
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Another just for s@&ts and giggles buy - Firestorm #1, from the late 70s. Origin of Ronnie Raymond-Professor Stein version of Flame Head.
I also picked up the second volume of Doctor Strange Epic Collection. It consists of Strange Tales #s 147-168, which then became Doctor Strange #s 169-179. With a few extras thrown in.
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Cleaned up a bit with some more back issues. Found X-Factor #6, marking the first full appearance of Apocalypse. Then on the Batman front they had a bunch of issues for me: 493 - 496 & 506 - 509. There were some other Batman and Detective Comics issues to be had, but I’ve got to check and see if I already have them.
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Yeah, a few months ago, on this thread, I mentioned reading my friend's comics back in the 1990s, including many of his old Batman issues. I neglected to mention that what drove me at that time to read Batman was Knightfall, Knightquest, and KnightsEnd. I started with earlier issues than that, in case it gave me a feel for the background, but reading that Bane / Jean-Paul Valley story was my goal. And I surpassed that goal; I must have kept reading for a while after KnightsEnd because I remember reading the story where Bruce persuades Alfred to come back.
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My comic book store has a back issue sale coming up the weekend of the 23rd. Since it’s unlikely they’ll have lots of stuff on my gap list (seeing as I’ve been buying it whenever I can), I figured the easiest thing to do was expand my gap list.
So now I’ve added New Mutants to the list (which I need a lot of), as well the 80s revival of Suicide Squad by Ostrander (which I need far fewer of).
I might also throw in some original Checkmate if they’ve got any. I think I only need maybe 13 issues of that series.
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My comic had their back issue sale today. I already had some stuff in mind, and got most of what I wanted. Picked up 22 issues of New Mutants. Another 11 issues of the Ostrander Suicide Squad. And I even picked up 4 issues of Captain America (all from the early 300s).
Everything was half off, so I didn’t mind buying so much.
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I'm fortunate enough to have X-Men Visionaries 2: The Neal Adams Collection which reprints X-Men 56-63 and 65. There's a cliche about making computers fail with logical paradoxes and like that. But convincing those computers to fly into the sun? I can't think of any other examples of THAT.
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I'm fortunate enough to have X-Men Visionaries 2: The Neal Adams Collection which reprints X-Men 56-63 and 65. There's a cliche about making computers fail with logical paradoxes and like that. But convincing those computers to fly into the sun? I can't think of any other examples of THAT.
I remember that last picture. It inspired me then to create DnD equivalents of Sentinels, designed to eradicate all magic, but I never got to use them.
My goodness. I should think that even if I collected a lot of old, valuable comics I would know whether I had Conan the Barbarian #1.
Granted, back when I was ordering a lot of Conan comics, I did order a copy of Conan Saga #40, having forgotten that I already had one. But in that situation, I had read the short story Legions of the Dead by L Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter. What with my chasing down a big, complicated web of Roy Thomas' Conan stories, I don't blame myself for having forgotten getting the Marvel version.
But #1 of the series that started it all? I think I would have remembered.
Actually, earlier in this very thread, I commented that I had forgotten having gotten a few issues of some X-related titles.
But... a #1 issue, costing... what, hundreds of dollars?
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You know, it's a funny thing about X-Men. Sometimes I try to emphasize the positive. Like... you mention #136, the cover picture of which is very famous, and was imitated so many times.
But... maybe it's the mood I'm in, but I feel like mentioning some rather less positive things about X-Men. Yes, it had many great ideas, but those ideas were mired in stories full of... less-great ideas. That famous cover of issue 136 we both mentioned advertised the death of Phoenix, yet she didn't really die until the NEXT issue. It made her actual death seem almost anti-climactic. And that was supposed to be the high point of the series!
Like I said, X-Men was chock full of good ideas. Consequently, other media were able to adapt that series well by distilling its best ideas into a more concentrated form. For instance, there were those seven wonderful X-Men movies, running from 2000 to 2019. Oh yes, I even liked that third movie X-Men: The Last Stand which so many people trash-talked. I defended it in conversations, such as this thread and this thread.
And the Dark Phoenix movie came up with some interesting twists on that story.
So yeah, the X-Men comic had some wonderful ideas. But readers have to wade through a lot of unconvincing and poorly explained stories to mine those ideas. In recent months - probably due in large part to this thread - I kept feeling a desire to read those stories, so I would read an issue, or a few, before getting bored and giving up until the next time I had such a whim. In that way, in recent months, I read issues 145-154. Sure, Chris Claremont could write with AUTHORITY. That is, when he wrote about the X-Men, he convinced me that X-Men history happened the way he wrote it. Many later X-Men comic book writers lacked that ability. But Claremont failed to explain so many of his ideas, which he sometimes could have done very easily!
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The had a copy of the original Marvel Savage Sword of Conan #1. Price and condition weren’t too bad, so I picked it up.
I felt fortunate a few years ago to get Savage Sword of Conan #3 in a condition that WASN'T so good, because in good condition it probably would have been out of my price range. I wanted that issue in particular because it bridged the gap between "Black Colossus" and the issues of Conan the Barbarian that Roy Thomas wrote in the early 1990s.
This month, I sprang $70.90 to buy 27 issues from Mile High Comics. It's kind of weird - because for the last 40 years I've regarded myself as a bigger fan of DC than of Marvel - that EVERY SINGLE ONE of the 27 issues I ordered was a Marvel comic. But they were of the four titles I wanted.
I mentioned each of those four titles in this thread lately. I told you earlier that I had 2 issues of Kitty Pryde and Wolverine. Now I have two more. I mentioned six months ago learning about the Magik limited series. Now I have all four issues.
And for years - ever since I first read Iron Man: Demon in a Bottle - I've been curious to read about Tony Stark's alcoholism relapse which led to him handing the reins to James Rhodes. I got 9 issues of Iron Man from that era.
And most of all, I got Alpha Flight. I mentioned earlier in this thread that I have - and recently re-read - the first issue and wanted to contine reading from there. But how many issues should I get? In July I was thinking of ordering and getting only 4 issues of Alpha Flight (and only 4 issues of Iron Man). Then I said "I won't feel content with so few issues!" So I put off ordering until this month, when I went nuts, daring to go all out and buy TWELVE consecutive issues of Alpha Flight! I felt nervous doing so. There's a strong possibility that after I read just a few issues I'll get bored of the series and regret buying so many. I guess that's the problem with ordering online: it's not feasible to buy one issue at a time, so I wind up committing. At least I qualified for free shipping this way. And now I have a lot of reading ahead of me.
Wow!
I mean... wow!
Years ago, I got and read some David Michelinie Iron Man stories. When I read issues 120 through 129, which included the "Demon in the Bottle" story and first established that Tony Stark had a drinking problem, I found that interesting. The writing seemed a bit awkward, but the drama of it impressed me enough to make me wonder about Denny O'Neill's big run, from issues 160 through 201, which included Stark's SECOND bout of alcoholism, which got so bad that James Rhodes had to take over as Iron Man.
This month, after years of wondering, I finally got some issues from that story, specifically 167-169, 171, 172, 176, and 180-182. (And I've had 195 since the 1980s.) This week, I finally got around to reading them. I found the scripting more elegant and dramatic than Michelinie's writing from 1979 (except for issue 176). Whereas Stark beat the problem too easily in "Demon in the Bottle", O'Neill's stories showed him damage his life in ways whose impact would be felt for years. And whereas the movie Iron Man 2 showed Rhodes just pick up the necessary skills for using a suit just like that, the comic book showed him struggle to learn to use the armor over a long period of time, making for a more plausible story. And I found the resolution to some of the cliffhangers surprisingly satisfying.
I have GOT to read more issues from that period someday. I just feel too intrigued by some of those gaps in the story that I'm missing. Like... how did Rhodes manage to beat Magma in issue 170? (I don't know if I'll ever find that issue within my price range, but I might stretch my budget rules for THAT one.) How did the whole Obadiah Stane plot start... and end? What was Tony's first meeting with Indries like? How about with Gretl? How do Stark and Rhodes start their new company?
Does Tony ever go to rehab?
I just can't let this go; there's too much I want to see!