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Post by tonebone on Jan 4, 2022 17:00:53 GMT -5
A few great finds at OLLIE's Outlet over the holidays.... The Little Box of Marvel from Taschen, $12... mine had Iron Man, Captain America, and Spider-Man, not the Avengers... These are AWESOME little art books.. the quality Taschen is known for, but in a small package. ![](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/9783836579896_p0_v1_s1200x630.jpg) Do these have full stories or are they surveys of the characters? More like mini art books, with repros from the comics pages, photos, and sometimes original art, all reproduced very nicely, with nice interesting captions by Roy Thomas. They're about 190 pages long each, with softcovers that sort of look like hardcovers... like a flexible hardcover. ![](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81wc2+9XxBL.jpg)
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Post by arfetto on Jan 4, 2022 17:30:54 GMT -5
Some more comics I bought because of their cool covers.
I already had this Youngblood issue with another cover, but this Jae Lee one looked cool. It looks better out of the polybag, I should have taken it out for the photo.
I just now edited the Evil Ernie cover because I didn't even notice he was popping that guy's eyeball out until I posted it, I was more focused on the Ernie drawing.
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Post by Hoosier X on Jan 5, 2022 9:37:38 GMT -5
I was going to take a little break from buying classic comics because I bought a few more issues of early 1970s Lois Lane and I bought another old issue of Detective (#254, with a Bat-Hound story!) that should arrive in the mail soon.
But looking through my Lois Lane collection lately, I came across the Rose and Thorn story in Lois Lane #115. The 100 has hired Poison Ivy to come to Metropolis and assassinate the Thorn, but it’s the first of a two-part story and Ivy doesn’t show up until the very last panel of #115.
I’ve had #115 for close to ten years and I’ve been wanting to read the whole thing. Also #116 has another wacky Lois story! And probably a Lady Danger reprint! So I bid on it on eBay and got it for $6.50 for a VG/F copy.
Poison Ivy’s early history is very interesting to me. She was in two issues of Batman in the 1960s, and then she took a few years vacation before showing up in The Rose and Thorn series. (#116 is her fourth appearance.) Then she’s in the Justice League and Super Friends and the Secret Society of Super-Villains and The Batman Family and Worlds Finest and she’s on the jury in the infamous “Where Were You on the Night Batman Was Killed?” storyline in Batman #291 to #294.
So Ivy fights Batman but always as part of a group. She doesn’t confront Batman as a solo adversary again until Batman #339 in 1981.
The first comic I bought with Ivy in it was Batman #292. It was her tenth appearance! It makes me feel like an old-timer.
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Post by dbutler69 on Jan 5, 2022 15:00:17 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2022 21:18:55 GMT -5
I “remember” something else I needed from Lonestar pretty much 5 minutes after I place every order there. I’m often in such a rush to put an order through for want list items that have just popped in, I often find it hard to “build up” a full order that maximizes the shipping expense.
Yeah, it took me several months to build that one up, so most likely it'll be that long again before I place another order with them - assuming don't find a better alternative somewhere.
I think I've finally hit my last straw with Lonestar. Yesterday I was getting ready to place another order (I've been a pretty frequent buyer) and the shipping cost went up again (second time in just a couple of weeks). They've been inching it up a dollar at a time over a short period of time, and I know shipping costs like most things have gone up, but I ship regularly with UPS (just shipped today in fact) and I don't buy it reflects Lonestar's true cost. I just deleted everything from my cart and bought some trade collections from Amazon to read (I hate how badly Amazon ships paperbacks in particular but at this point I'm willing to exchange as need be, at least it's painless). I then went back in today to Lonestar to delete some of my want list items since I no longer want to be notified, and ended up still perusing a few items. Their back issue pricing has jumped in the last few weeks as well, as has their growing glut of overpriced supposed "key issues". I just looked at Star Wars #1 and Spider-Woman #1 as quick examples...tons of copies just sitting there (as of this writing, 36 copies of Star Wars and 47 copies of Spider-Woman available). Good luck to them if they are finding steady buyers for this stuff, but I'm done at this point. I would like to find an alternative somewhere else as well.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2022 23:11:41 GMT -5
Yeah, it took me several months to build that one up, so most likely it'll be that long again before I place another order with them - assuming don't find a better alternative somewhere.
I think I've finally hit my last straw with Lonestar. Yesterday I was getting ready to place another order (I've been a pretty frequent buyer) and the shipping cost went up again (second time in just a couple of weeks). They've been inching it up a dollar at a time over a short period of time, and I know shipping costs like most things have gone up, but I ship regularly with UPS (just shipped today in fact) and I don't buy it reflects Lonestar's true cost. I just deleted everything from my cart and bought some trade collections from Amazon to read (I hate how badly Amazon ships paperbacks in particular but at this point I'm willing to exchange as need be, at least it's painless). I then went back in today to Lonestar to delete some of my want list items since I no longer want to be notified, and ended up still perusing a few items. Their back issue pricing has jumped in the last few weeks as well, as has their growing glut of overpriced supposed "key issues". I just looked at Star Wars #1 and Spider-Woman #1 as quick examples...tons of copies just sitting there (as of this writing, 36 copies of Star Wars and 47 copies of Spider-Woman available). Good luck to them if they are finding steady buyers for this stuff, but I'm done at this point. I would like to find an alternative somewhere else as well. I was buying quite frequently from Lonestar last year and early this year when I was working. It was a bit of retail therapy for the job stress, but I think I have only ordered once since April when I left my job, and that was to round out an order after I won something in one of the auctions. I hadn't noticed the shipping increase, but I have noticed their price creep over the last year just in the e-mail notifications I get from my want list. At this point, unless I won something at auction (which I doubt since the auction has gone from a place where you could find bargains to a place where people hideously overpay for stuff) and wanted to flesh out the order to get better value on shipping, I don't see myself buying form them for the foreseeable future (though I am currently winning something in their current prime auction though I know it won't hold as I am at my max bid with almost a week to go in the auction). At this point I think what little I buy will be from dealers I already know or at cons (which again would be mostly form dealers I already know), unless I hit a shop or antique mall and have a lucky day. -M
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Post by EdoBosnar on Jan 6, 2022 4:55:49 GMT -5
It's interesting to read these comments about Lonestar from folks living North America. As a European resident, I had the same experience with them (increased shipping costs putting them out of my price range) about a decade ago. Last time I ordered anything from them was about 2 years ago when they were having some kind of sale - that just barely made the shipping costs tolerable. It's disappointing to hear that they're now charging similarly outrageous shipping rates for Canada as well. And yeah, I've noticed their prices for back issues going ever upward as well. Speaking of Canada, though, there's always Doug Sulipa's Comic World, isn't there? Or has he started charging outrageous postage as well?
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 9,701
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Post by Confessor on Jan 6, 2022 7:41:46 GMT -5
It's interesting to read these comments about Lonestar from folks living North America. As a European resident, I had the same experience with them (increased shipping costs putting them out of my price range) about a decade ago. Last time I ordered anything from them was about 2 years ago when they were having some kind of sale - that just barely made the shipping costs tolerable. It's disappointing to hear that they're now charging similarly outrageous shipping rates for Canada as well. And yeah, I've noticed their prices for back issues going ever upward as well. Speaking of Canada, though, there's always Doug Sulipa's Comic World, isn't there? Or has he started charging outrageous postage as well? Living in the UK, this is my experience with Lone Star/My Comic Shop as well. Time was that their prices were so reasonable and their international shipping rates so inexpensive that I could order 60 or 80 comics from them and it would still work out cheaper per comic than buying those same comics from a UK-based seller. Over the last decade though that has stopped being the case. I last placed an order with them in 2019, and at this point, with their price increases and shipping costs going up, it's uncertain whether I ever will shop with them again.
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Post by wildfire2099 on Jan 6, 2022 21:35:19 GMT -5
That seems to be the trend.. there was a time Mile High was reasonable too. Hopefully some other retailer will step up
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Post by spoon on Jan 6, 2022 22:30:26 GMT -5
I bought Dardevil Epic Collection vol. 20: Purgatory & Paradise, reprinting Daredevil #345-364. I actually have a bunch of the issues in this TPB already, as it includes the whole Kesel run. I bought it because I'm missing some issues of the run, and somehow several of my comics from this run got really beat up (covers torn or loose)
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Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2022 12:16:13 GMT -5
My final order with Lonestar came in (ordered before my comments above about quitting using them). Just to leave a final bad taste in my mouth, they over-graded a book pretty badly, a HC "EC Library" copy of the Piracy volume. $40 for supposed VF condition (and they didn't have a picture but usually that's a safe grade with them). Warped, stained, excessively musty, edgewear on the back, I almost don't want it even as a reading copy. Actually, condition has always been one of the things I did like about Lonestar, they weren't perfect but track record has been better than most for me, and even on occasion felt like they might have slightly under-graded a book. On a positive note, all my collected editions ordered through Amazon came and even the paperbacks are in great shape. There was still some good stuff in the Lonestar batch as well. With Superboy/Legion #197 now acquired, I have completed a full run from #197-325 (first issue they took over the title to the last original story Legion issue). Always happy to find another Sea Devils issue (especially since very little has ever been reprinted in color), and Amazon delivered the Star Hawks volume 3 which is the final collection covering 1979-1981 so I can finally finish reading the entire run. I love classic Air Wave as well, so also happy to find this issue of Alter Ego. ![](https://i.imgur.com/Z26HuVv.jpg) ![](https://i.imgur.com/2qdqypS.jpg) ![](https://i.imgur.com/rvTVXjm.jpg)
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Post by Cei-U! on Jan 8, 2022 12:24:00 GMT -5
I tried to order from Lone Star yesterday. I'd put over $300 worth of stuff in my cart before discovering they wouldn't let me have it mailed to my sister's address (as I do anything/everything important because I don't have a secure mailbox) so I emptied the cart and cancelled the order. I'm disappointed because I would have been able to complete several series (Ostrander/Mandrake Spectre, Busiek/Perez Avengers, et al) for an average of $2 a pop. Their loss.
So instead I went on Amazon today and ordered about $260 worth of Essentials and Showcases. I got Essential Defenders Vol. 4, Essential Marvel Team-Up Vol. 3, Essential Power Man and Iron Fist Vol. 1-2, Showcase Presents Challengers of the Unknown Vol. 2, Showcase Presents Jonah Hex Vol. 2, Showcase Presents Supergirl Vol. 2, and Showcase Presents World's Finest Vol. 2. These are all new. I could've got 'em for less if I'd bought used but, unlike actual comic books, I prefer my TPBs to be in the best condition possible.
If someone knows of a mail-order outfit with reasonably priced readers' copies, clue a guy in huh?
Cei-U! I summon the might-have-beens!
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Post by tartanphantom on Jan 8, 2022 12:25:04 GMT -5
My final order with Lonestar came in (ordered before my comments above about quitting using them). Just to leave a final bad taste in my mouth, they over-graded a book pretty badly, a HC "EC Library" copy of the Piracy volume. $40 for supposed VF condition (and they didn't have a picture but usually that's a safe grade with them). Warped, stained, excessively musty, edgewear on the back, I almost don't want it even as a reading copy. Actually, condition has always been one of the things I did like about Lonestar, they weren't perfect but track record has been better than most for me, and even on occasion felt like they might have slightly under-graded a book. On a positive note, all my collected editions ordered through Amazon came and even the paperbacks are in great shape. There was still some good stuff in the Lonestar batch as well. With Superboy/Legion #197 now acquired, I have completed a full run from #197-325 (first issue they took over the title to the last original story Legion issue). Always happy to find another Sea Devils issue (especially since very little has ever been reprinted in color), and Amazon delivered the Star Hawks volume 3 which is the final collection covering 1979-1981 so I can finally finish reading the entire run. I love classic Air Wave as well, so also happy to find this issue of Alter Ego. ![](https://i.imgur.com/Z26HuVv.jpg) ![](https://i.imgur.com/2qdqypS.jpg) ![](https://i.imgur.com/rvTVXjm.jpg)
Those Russ Heath grey-tone wash covers were some of the most striking covers of the silver age, and Sea Devils is loaded with them.
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Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 9,701
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Post by Confessor on Jan 8, 2022 13:01:43 GMT -5
Those Russ Heath grey-tone wash covers were some of the most striking covers of the silver age, and Sea Devils is loaded with them. Agreed. Those covers are absolutely gorgeous. And Heath's interior artwork is pretty damn nice too (especially in black & white in the Showcase volumes). It's just a shame that the stories in those Sea Devils comics -- mostly by Robert Kanigher, I believe -- are so unrelentingly dire. They're real unreadable Silver Age DC mediocrity, IMHO.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 8, 2022 13:08:01 GMT -5
Can't say Lone Star is alone in high shipping...shipping from Canada to my address in Florida can also get pricey...as well as shipping from England, other Euro-locations and Australia.
That's just the way it is, sometimes we have to eat a high shipping cost.
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