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Post by The Captain on Aug 5, 2020 11:43:49 GMT -5
I never got into the "classic" Punisher, although I did like Ennis' take on him later. I own no Punisher comics outside of a couple of annuals that were part of cross-over events and the issue of Punisher War Journal that has the super-villian wake for Stilt-Man.
To me, the Punisher always worked best as the "villain" in books like Amazing Spider-Man, Captain America, and Daredevil, where the "real" heroes served as counterpoint to his wanton dealing of death and destruction. They felt they, due to their gifts and abilities, needed to work at and be held to a higher standard, while he was just a guy with a gun and some serious anger management issues.
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Post by The Captain on Aug 5, 2020 6:10:53 GMT -5
If you haven't completed the Census, it's important to do so to ensure accurate representation in Congress. Filling it out online saves on manpower of sending out census takers in the midst of a pandemic. If you relatives, friends, neighbors, etc., it's good to urge them to complete the Census, too. Some people (especially the elderly or poor) might have difficulty filling it out online. And as follow-up to this PSA, please encourage anyone who hasn't done it yet to complete it ASAP! The current administration, which had previously said that the Census Bureau would need additional time to finish its counting, has stated that the tallying needs to be done by September 30 instead of October 31. It is critical to make sure that anyone in elderly, minority, homeless or other communities who might have difficulty filling their forms out or who may not have heard of the time reduction are assisted in this task to ensure proper representation. Although, I have to wonder just who benefits from this shift in timing...nah, I'm just being paranoid, right? Because this administration has NOTHING but the best intentions towards under-represented and under-supported groups, so it must just be me.
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Post by The Captain on Aug 4, 2020 15:03:46 GMT -5
I'm only familiar with Aquaman from the past 10 years or so, since the beginning of the Nu52 era, so I have no history with the character. As for Namor, he and I go way back through most of Marvel's history (and pre-history).
That said, I have to go with Aquaman. He comes across as thoughtful and interested in fostering good will between the land-dwellers and the folks under the sea. His powers are...interesting...but charming in a goofy kind of way, while his devotion to Mera is a really nice touch.
Likewise, Namor is portrayed as perpetually pompous, pissed-off and petty, either trying to start war with the surface-dwellers for spilling half a soda in the ocean or making the moves on Sue Storm, neither of which is a good look for the ruler of Atlantis. He's just a dick.
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Post by The Captain on Aug 3, 2020 16:47:31 GMT -5
That S.H.I.E.L.D. run from Strange Tales is great. Also, a nice group of odds & ends there-- especially the Jonah Hex books. The Jonah Hex books were what I was primarily looking for, but these were unsorted $1 boxes, so it was really just a giant scavenger hunt. I started pulling things that caught my eye and figured out at the end which of the ones in the pile I was actually going to buy. Looking forward to the S.H.I.E.L.D. stuff. I usually enjoyed Nick Fury's appearances in the Tales of Suspense Captain America stories, and these seems like more of the same type of story.
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Post by The Captain on Aug 3, 2020 16:00:15 GMT -5
Been on a bit of a buying binge the past couple of weeks. One of our big LCS usually has their annual anniversary sale in April (been in business 48 years now), but due to COVID-19, they delayed it until late July/early August. Big discounts on everything in store, and with my birthday coming up, I decided to spend a little of the cash I knew I would be getting early. I also spent some time at another LCS two weekends ago (after leaving the first one I mentioned) and bought a good number of $1 books. Primary purchases were these: Last upgrade issue for my Captain America run between #150 and 200. My original copy has a staple out at the top of the book. This is a little over-graded by them (they have it as F/VF, but it's definitely just F), but for $4.80 ($8, minus 40%), I'm OK with it. Got this new for $7.50 Got these from their Used TPB shelves for $4.50 each: And these are the last two Fantastic Four issue I plan on ever buying. There is another Epic Collection coming out in October that collects issues #87 - 104, so these were the only two issues missing for me to have the entire first series in one form or another. The #106 is a little under-graded at F, the #107 about right at F-; paid $9 apiece. Now, the cheap books, all between $.50 and $1, except the Moon Knight, which was an upgrade copy. Batman #450 Detective Comics #533, 580-581, 603-607, 609 & Annual 1989 The Flash#285, 302, 307, 314-315, 317-321, 326, 331, 334 & 342 (I buy any $2 or less pre-Crisis Flash I find that I don't already own) Fury of Firestorm #38 Green Arrow #67-74 & 76-80 (done with this once I find #75) Jonah Hex #30, 46, 66, 68-69 & 76 Suicide Squad #2, 7-9, 11, 17-19 & 26 (getting closer to my goal of 1-50) Amazing Adventures #39 (final issue) Dazzler #36 (villain is Tatterdemalion, one of those forgotten Marvel villains that I love) Iron Man #225 (upgrade copy) Machine Man #10 (not sure why, but it was only $1) Marvel Fanfare #5 & 41 Marvel Premiere #54 (Caleb Hammer story) Marvel Team-Up #76, 110 & 150 (final issue) Moon Knight #32, for $2.40 (this series is starting to get harder to find, so I'm glad I have no more that I need, upgrade or otherwise, to get) ROM #32 (has Mystique, Destiny, and 3rd appearance of Rogue in it) Probably going to call it quits for a little while now on buying books (outside of Epic Collections and cheap Hellblazer TPBs) and will actually likely start culling things from the collection that I'm never going to read again (lots of 90's X-Men mini-series, maybe some 90's low-level series like Sleepwalker and Silver Sable, possibly even my complete run of Excalibur) to make some room. Also might need a new bookcase, as I am getting close to running out of room for my ever-expanding number of collected editions and TPBs.
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Post by The Captain on Aug 1, 2020 15:32:50 GMT -5
I echo most of what others have already written. Just straight alphabetical for 90% of them, no family groupings. Amazing Spidey is in the "A" area, Peter Parker: Spectacular Spidey is in the "P" area, and Web of Spidey is in the "W" area, as it should be. Exceptions are things like: Hero for Hire/Power Man/Power Man & Iron Fist - all one long run in "H", not chopped up into bits. Original Iron Man first, then the Heroes Return-era Iron Man, then the Invincible Iron Man iterations, rather than those first and Iron Man later. Marc Spector: Moon Knight - I do have this out of order, fitting it in chronologically among the other Moon Knight series instead of up in "MA" West Coast Avengers/Avengers West Coast - I store this all together in the "A" section, rather than splitting it or storing all of it in "W", since the rest of the Avengers books are there. This is strictly for my Marvel books. My DC books are stored separately in the same manner, but I don't mix the two major publishers. All other books from various other publishers are stored together in the same alphabetical manner, but they are not grouped by publisher solely. Phil Maurice - I do the exact same thing with my Marvel Special Edition #15, because it makes the most sense for it to be there.
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Post by The Captain on Aug 1, 2020 10:30:02 GMT -5
91 books read this month, which seems OK but it was a tale of three sections. Had 54 read by July 17 (my last day in Ocean City, MD for vacation), then read nothing for eight days (just wasn't feeling it). Closed out the month by reading 37 issues in the last 6 days (and really, it was 37 in 5 days, as I read nothing on July 31).
Best Thing I Read in July Well, I read Amazing Spider-Man #1 - 15, which normally would easily win the belt, but I also read the last few Jonah Hex stories in Weird Western Tales and the first 21 issues of his eponymous series, all of which were at least good, sometimes great. This has driven me to try to find some more Jonah Hex solo stuff in the bargain bins, which has not been successful yet, but I have a plan for September.
Worst Thing I Read in July I finally wrapped up my read of the original Iron Man series, which means I had to power through "Hands of the Mandarin", "The Crossing", and Teen Tony this month. As good old Stan would comment: "Nuff Said".
August Look-Ahead Will continue with the Heroes Return Iron Man series and through future IM series, as well as mix in some more early Amazing Spider-Man (I have all of the Epic Collections through issue #123, so I have a ways to go on that).
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Post by The Captain on Aug 1, 2020 8:25:39 GMT -5
I've been reading Iron Man from the beginning, like Tales of Suspense beginning, and while it has had some periods that weren't the best, most of it has been readable. Welp, I finally got to it. The last year of the original title, with the "Tony as Kang's puppet" and "Teen Tony" arcs, and if you've heard they were bad, that word doesn't even BEGIN to do justice to the awfulness. The first one is bad not because it is out of the blue, but also because one also HAS to read Avengers (OK), War Machine (mmmm...), and Force Works (dear God, why?!) to make even the slightest bit of "sense" of what is going on. The Teen Tony story is bad because it's poorly-conceived, poorly-written, poorly-drawn, and just plain stupid. Whomever thought people wanted to read about Tony Stark going to college and pledging a fraternity, while simultaneously screwing up each and every time he put on the Iron Man armor, didn't know their audience very well. Thankfully, this was over quickly and the big heroes got shunted into Heroes Reborn, which led to Heroes Return, which I will be starting on later tonight or tomorrow. Two arcs so bad, they not only ruined, but actually KILLED, an ongoing series of over 325 issues. Don't forget the 'Hands of the Mandarin' which was almost as bad as the Crossing... though that may have been part of the year of Tony being Kang's puppet. Also, it didn't JUST kill Iron Man.. at the time Iron Man was a family of books.. it also kills War Machine and Force Works, which never recovered. (I liked Force Works, sounds like you probably didn't) It wasn't even just Iron Man.. we also got the Wasp as an ACTUAL Wasp around then, too. My feelings on Force Works are mixed. At the outset, it was a passable book, but it definitely slid downward as the series went on, especially when it was forced into crossovers with the other two books in "the family". However, I did not like Century at all, which probably colors my judgment on the entire series a little more harshly than it probably should. Yeah, "Hands of the Mandarin" was really bad as well, as was wasp Wasp. So many bad, poorly conceived ideas running through those books (and Marvel as a whole, to be honest) at that time, which is why Heroes Reborn/Heroes Return was a good thing (not perfectly executed, mind you, but not horrible), as it allowed them to reset themselves. I've been reading the beginning of the post-Heroes Return Iron Man book this week, and while no one will mistake it for high literature, there's something to it that FEELS better than what came before (granted, it doesn't hurt that it is Kurt Busiek instead of Terry Kavanaugh writing it).
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Post by The Captain on Jul 30, 2020 14:46:37 GMT -5
Hey all. My name is Kelly and I'm from BC, Canada. I discovered this board a few weeks ago. I'm getting back into comics after a fairly long sabbatical, other than picking up a few random things here and there. From 1981 or so until 2008 or so, with a few breaks, I was a hardcore comic collector. Marvel, DC and Archie when I was a kid in the 80s (also a big Blackthorne Dick Tracy fan), and more and more a Marvel guy through the 90s and 00s, with a stretch as a indie/underground obsessive in my 20s. I've always been into comics history too, first because of Marvel Tales Lee/Ditko reprints, and then just grabbing whatever I could as I got older and had $ to waste. Anyway, after a very long stretch deep in the weeds of pro wrestling fandom, I've finally returned to my first love. Signing up for Marvel Unlimited a couple months was the turning point that opened the floodgates. I've been going through the 70s, which had previously been a blindspot for me, reading Englehart's Cap, Tomb of Dracula, Starlin's cosmic stuff, Gerber's weird stuff, etc. Also dipping my toes into books I missed in the last dozen years, starting with Hickman's Fantastic Four run. Got the Comixology app too and plan on using it mostly to catch up on DC past and present (well, starting from where I left off 12 years ago). Unfortunately, DC Universe is unavailable in Canada, I think held up because of TV rights bs. Looking forward to reading the output here and eventually contributing! I'm a HUGE Marvel Bronze Age fan as well, probably owning at least 80% of all of the new material output (I don't collect reprint books like Marvel Tales and the like) from that period. I've read through Luke Cage/Power Man/Power Man & Iron Fist, Defenders, Devil Dinosaur, Howard the Duck, Master of Kung Fu, John Carter Warlord of Mars, and Iron Man in their entirety within the past couple of years, so if you ever want to talk BA Marvel, I'm more than up for it. Also, since you mentioned Englehart's Captain America, I will shamelessly plug the podcast section, where our podcast guru Crimebuster and I dissect that entire run over the course of two episodes. Welcome aboard and enjoy yourself!
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Post by The Captain on Jul 29, 2020 17:58:07 GMT -5
I've been reading Iron Man from the beginning, like Tales of Suspense beginning, and while it has had some periods that weren't the best, most of it has been readable.
Welp, I finally got to it. The last year of the original title, with the "Tony as Kang's puppet" and "Teen Tony" arcs, and if you've heard they were bad, that word doesn't even BEGIN to do justice to the awfulness. The first one is bad not because it is out of the blue, but also because one also HAS to read Avengers (OK), War Machine (mmmm...), and Force Works (dear God, why?!) to make even the slightest bit of "sense" of what is going on.
The Teen Tony story is bad because it's poorly-conceived, poorly-written, poorly-drawn, and just plain stupid. Whomever thought people wanted to read about Tony Stark going to college and pledging a fraternity, while simultaneously screwing up each and every time he put on the Iron Man armor, didn't know their audience very well. Thankfully, this was over quickly and the big heroes got shunted into Heroes Reborn, which led to Heroes Return, which I will be starting on later tonight or tomorrow.
Two arcs so bad, they not only ruined, but actually KILLED, an ongoing series of over 325 issues.
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Post by The Captain on Jul 29, 2020 13:18:28 GMT -5
I think I have to disagree with that statement. Team books like Avengers and FF introduced characters that spilled over onto other Books. Some of those characters have gone on to be used in The Marvel film a and have jacked up the back issue prices. Spider-man has many first appearances but I dare say that the prowler is a minor character and not worth noting. Maybe the Prowler is a "minor character", but the prior issue goes for $30 mid-grade and the following issue goes for $15 mid-grade, so regardless of how minor Hobie Brown's alter-ego may be, his first appearance sells for more than twice what issue #77 does and almost 5x what issue #79 does. It's obvious people are willing to pay a premium for that book, and isn't that what the original question was, inquiring about pricy "run killing" key issues? It certainly goes for more than the first appearance of Algrim, who becomes Kurse ($20 in high grade) or Eric Masterson ($5).
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Post by The Captain on Jul 28, 2020 20:07:58 GMT -5
Damn guys. I'm unemployed at the moment and not have the time to try and compose such lists. You folks are "CRAZY" I must say. What's really sad is, I did almost that entire list off the top of my head in less than 10 minutes, outside of checking the prices that I quoted and confirming the first appearances of Prowler and Hydro-Man. Less "CRAZY", more "COMPLETELY PATHETIC" that I store that much useless knowledge (or "junk", as my wife calls it) in my brain.
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Post by The Captain on Jul 28, 2020 19:22:47 GMT -5
I nominate The Amazing Spider-Man
ASM #2 - First Vulture ASM #3 - First Doctor Octopus ASM #4 - First Sandman ASM #6 - First Lizard ASM #9 - First Electro ASM #13 - First Mysterio ASM #14 - First Green Goblin ASM #15 - First Kraven the Hunter ASM Annual #1 - First Sinister Six ASM #20 - First Scorpion ASM #41 - First Rhino ASM #46 - First Shocker ASM #50 - First Kingpin ASM #78 - First Prowler (F copy sold on eBay last week, unslabbed, for over $70) ASM #101 - First Morbius ASM #102 - Second Morbius (mid-grade copy, unslabbed, sold on eBay last week for $51) ASM #121 - Death of Gwen Stacy ASM #122 - Death of Green Goblin ASM #129 - First Punisher ASM #135 - Second Punisher (mid-grade copy, unslabbed, sold on eBay 2 days ago for $87) ASM #149 - First Spider-Man Clone ASM #194 - First Black Cat ASM #212 - First Hydro-Man (this can go for upwards of #30. Who knew?) ASM #238 - First Hobgoblin ASM #252 - First Black Costume in ASM ASM #298 - First Todd McFarlane art in ASM ASM #299 - First Venom Appearance (cameo) ASM #300 - First Venom Appearance (full) ASM #316 - Second ASM Appearance of Venom (seeing high-grade copies selling for upwards of $80 on eBay) ASM #344 - First Cletus Kasady (around $25) ASM #361 - First Carnage
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Post by The Captain on Jul 28, 2020 9:04:51 GMT -5
Zoom was a new character. He was not Professor Zoom. Thanks, didn't know that. And he featured prominently on the TV show, which is usually a good way to over-inflate a book's value.
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Post by The Captain on Jul 27, 2020 11:44:28 GMT -5
Early riser for me these days.
I was a night owl throughout high school and college, easily able to stay up into the wee hours or even all night, then sleep until noon and do it all over again. However, in the late '90s, I took a job as an assistant manager at a bagel shop (after being one at McDonald's for about nine months) and I HAD to learn to get up early. The assistant manager was usually the one who opened the store, so I had to be there around 4:30 in the morning, and even though I lived nearby, I was up by 4:00 AM most days.
Nowadays, I'm up by 6:00 at the latest (usually by 5:30 or so), which suits me fine. During the week, I work 6:00 until 2:30 or so, then have the rest of the day to myself. On weekends, I'll be on the bike trail by 6:15 for a 10-mile ride and back home and showered before anyone else in my house is up, and on Sundays, I've done the grocery shopping for the week and put it away at home by 8:00 AM (the store doesn't open until 7:00, bunch of lazy slackers they are). I take naps when needed, and most nights I am in bed with the lights off between 10:30 and 11:00. I only hit midnight awake less than five times annually; there's just no need for me to be up that late for any reason.
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