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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2016 15:29:59 GMT -5
I still have a copy of that Swordquest #1 mini comic.
-M
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Aug 14, 2016 16:17:13 GMT -5
I remember the mini-comics that came with Atari 2600 games. They had Atari Force (before the DC series), Centipede and one for Yars' Revenge. But the one that really struck me was Swordquest, created and written by the powerhouse of Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway with art by George Perez and Dick Giordano. There were three issues, I had the first one and a friend had the second, never saw the third issue until a few years ago. They were fun reads, with great art (I believe this was NTT era Perez) and a cool story about twins Tarra and Torr, who are involved in a complex prophecy and a demon wants to kill them. Each issue features a different world (Earthworld, Fireworld, Waterworld), where the twins must find magical artifacts to aid them in their quest. Fun books, too bad the story was never completed. You can read all of the Atari 2600 comics here: www.atariage.com/comics/Thanks so much for that link! I had no idea what top-tier level talent was involved in those comics.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 14, 2016 19:04:55 GMT -5
In all the years that I have been reading comics - How come I've never heard of these comics before? They are so tiny! No bigger than a Penny! This is a fascinating subject matter!
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on Aug 15, 2016 8:19:41 GMT -5
I have a few. Of the ones I can think of were included in either video games or actions figures. The TMNT came with action figures I bought in the 90's for one of the first redesigns I can remember. Now there's been so many ... {Spoiler} I couldn't find an actual listing of the comics themselves on Lone Star. I have one that came with the Gamecube Batman game, Batman: Vengeance. But I can't seem to find a listing of it here either. I'll see if I can locate it in my collection and get a scan/picture. Not so much a mini comic but, I got a digest size reprint of "The Hard Goodbye" with the box set I bought of Sin City. Glad they included the comic that has the best story of the movie in it. But I still like Mickey Rourke over Miller's art.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Aug 15, 2016 10:04:19 GMT -5
Kind of related to mini-comics were all those Wizard Magazine 1/2 issues from the 2nd half of the 1990s. Most were either Image or Marvel related but there were exceptions. I was absolutely no fan of Wizard but would buy it strictly to get the 1/2 issue that it was offering of a title I wanted a complete collection. They were a pain in the butt to collect. Wizard went for, I believe $5 an issue. Then you would mail back to them the enclosed postcard and another $5 for the advertised 1/2 issue. About 4 months later it would arrive in the mail. They were comic book sized or slightly smaller and usually just 16 pages but no ads. I see nowadays many tradebook collections have included some in their reprints. For the most part, they really weren't worth the time and money spent on them
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Confessor
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Post by Confessor on Aug 15, 2016 11:20:07 GMT -5
Kind of related to mini-comics were all those Wizard Magazine 1/2 issues from the 2nd half of the 1990s. Most were either Image or Marvel related but there were exceptions. I was absolutely no fan of Wizard but would buy it strictly to get the 1/2 issue that it was offering of a title I wanted a complete collection. They were a pain in the butt to collect. Wizard went for, I believe $5 an issue. Then you would mail back to them the enclosed postcard and another $5 for the advertised 1/2 issue. About 4 months later it would arrive in the mail. They were comic book sized or slightly smaller and usually just 16 pages but no ads. I see nowadays many tradebook collections have included some in their reprints. For the most part, they really weren't worth the time and money spent on them On occasion though, you'd get something like the utterly inspired wonder of "The Nearness of You" which was first published in Astro City #½ by Wizard. That's arguably one of the best issues (or half issues) of the entire series and I know from past Classic Comics Christmas events that it's a firm favourite of many here. But, yeah...often they were kind of average. The Star Wars: X-Wing Rogue Squadron one was utterly forgettable.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Aug 15, 2016 15:25:40 GMT -5
I'm pretty sure that this mini was one of my first DC comics that was not a large, "treasury edition"-style or digest sized reprint. Did these come with the Warlord action figures? I had two, but I have no memory of the mini-comics.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Aug 15, 2016 15:33:33 GMT -5
Did these come with the Warlord action figures? I had two, but I have no memory of the mini-comics. I honestly don't remember. Looking online, it seems like this thing is extremely rare or something, but I remember that cover clearly. I could be mistaken though, it's been over thirty years afterall. Might be similar to what happened with Kenner's M.A.S.K. series. The first wave came with mini-comics, but the practice was stopped early on.
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Post by dcindexer on Aug 15, 2016 19:17:56 GMT -5
Did these come with the Warlord action figures? I had two, but I have no memory of the mini-comics. I honestly don't remember. Looking online, it seems like this thing is extremely rare or something, but I remember that cover clearly. I could be mistaken though, it's been over thirty years afterall. Yes. They the comic was packaged with the figures. My Warlord, Arak, and Hercules figures are on MoC with the comic included.
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Post by chadwilliam on Aug 15, 2016 21:32:04 GMT -5
Man I love those Super Power comics. Their existence widens the period during which Brainiac possessed that robotic look by just that much and for that alone they're fantastic. Lex Luthor in that power suit didn't make much sense in the regular comics but within the context of stories designed to thank you for buying their toys it was great. I remember the Joker one had him turning a whole slew of Gothamites into Jokers themselves - a pretty cool gimmick for a villain that would soon run out of them in the regular comics and another one of them taught me that Green Lantern doesn't actually have to be wearing his ring to control it. I'd guess that little tidbit came from the Green Lantern comic but considering how much crossing over there was between the issues, I can't be sure. Yeah - that was great too - each hero's comic guest starred one of the other heroes and maybe even a couple of villains too here and there. It was almost as if they were using the doll you had just bought to promote one you possibly hadn't.
And painted He-Man comics (just the covers from what I remember). It made me think that there were some whole line of comics out there being released for adults that I wasn't savvy enough to know about.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Aug 15, 2016 21:39:07 GMT -5
Man I love those Super Power comics. Their existence widens the period during which Brainiac possessed that robotic look by just that much and for that alone they're fantastic I didn't realize that incarnation of Brainiac in the mini-comics predated it in the real ones!
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Post by chadwilliam on Aug 15, 2016 22:35:23 GMT -5
Man I love those Super Power comics. Their existence widens the period during which Brainiac possessed that robotic look by just that much and for that alone they're fantastic I didn't realize that incarnation of Brainiac in the mini-comics predated it in the real ones!
It doesn't. I mean widen in the sense that by filling that brief 1983-86 period with just a little bit more material in the form of these comics that period seems a little larger. It's weird - the one look that I consider definitive for the character was the shortest lived.
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shaxper
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Post by shaxper on Aug 15, 2016 22:40:24 GMT -5
I didn't realize that incarnation of Brainiac in the mini-comics predated it in the real ones!
It doesn't. I mean widen in the sense that by filling that brief 1983-86 period with just a little bit more material in the form of these comics that period seems a little larger. It's weird - the one look that I consider definitive for the character was the shortest lived.
I do agree that it was my favorite look for Brainiac. I started out watching the later Super Powers cartoons first and, one day, when an earlier season of Super Friends came on, and this green dude in underwear and wearing a belt on his head introduced himself as Brainiac, five year old me was offended by the lame impostor.
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