Doug: Welcome to our annual examination of "the big haul". Today we'd like to hear what sort of pop culture love all of our readers received over the holidays. I'll start it off -- I had let it be known that Sean Howe's Marvel Comics: The Untold Story would be swell, as would the Legends of the Dark Knight: Marshall Rogers hardcover. Mission accomplished for both! Additionally my oldest son got me a 2-pack of black socks featuring very large images of Iron Man on one pair and Captain America on the other! Those should be a hit once school resumes. My younger son got me a couple of posters for the comic room. We have to exchange one, as he actually purchased the wrong poster from the right slot (let the buyer beware!). On the exchange, I think I am going to make up the difference with him and get a 24"x36" reproduction of either the cover to Batman #251 ("The Joker's Five-Way Revenge!) or Captain America #109 ("The Origin of Captain America!"). Lastly, my bride got me the Hallmark Green Lantern ornament, which is very cool. It's a likeness of Ryan Reynolds in full garb with his ring to the lantern. There's a little button on the side, and the whole thing lights up while you hear him recite the oath. Nice!Karen: So let's hear it: what kind of cool stuff did ya all get??
It was a very good year:
ReplyDeleteBatman Earth-One ( Johns & Frank) which I wasn't crazy about, tbh and Invaders Classic vol.1 because, although I know I'm in the minority, I love that Frank Robbins!
Detective Comics 441 110-pager- I've never actually read an Alias The Spider story before.
Old paperbacks: Llana of Gathol and Trey of Swords by Andre Norton, which I've owned before and Lin Carter's By the Light of the Green Star, which I haven't.
The musical War of the Worlds: the the New Generation (very faithful to the original -and best); the Dark Eyes Eighth Doctor audio plays box set and The Adventures of Superman (1945-47) from Kid Robson!
Sorry- that should be 100-pager , not 110 and "The New Generation". I also got myself that tabloid-sized Back Issue with the Alex Ross LSH cover.
ReplyDeleteI did well this year.
ReplyDeleteMy daughters were very generous to their old man.
Some stuff I got:
Batman - Dark Knight Rises DVD
Tintin Seasons 1 & 2 DVDs (with Season 3 ordered and on the way)
Assorted DVDs of vintage cartoons (Dick Tracy, Casper, She-Ra, and scuds of public domain Superman, Popeye, and other cartoons.)
And the prize comic book was the Jack Kirby Kamandi Omnibus Volume 2. Now that the Mayan nonsense is safely behind us, I can enjoy the end of the world in style.
Rip Off
I had a good Christmas, too:
ReplyDeleteDark Night Rises on blu-ray
Wolverine and the X-Men Season One DVD
Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams Vol. 1 tpb
Essential Black Panther Vol. 1
and Fantagraphics awesome tabloid sized (!) Basil Wolverton's Spacehawk!
Plus we watched Batman: Year One on Netflix Christmas night. Ho, ho, hoo-hah!
Doug, Batman 251 is SO COOL to me, because I remember being on a family trip down to AZ and CA with my parents and picking up a 3-pack of comics, that (and the Timberwolf LSH issue) were among them. Still an impeccable issue. I'm not a big Bats fan, but I'd go with that especially for the cover color scheme and shadows on the grinning Joker.
ReplyDeleteIt was low-key for me with the Mrs, she just got me my Catch-22 and the Marvel Untold Story book (FINALLY), but I'm takin' 'em back so I can download them on the Nook and read 'em that way. One reason I'm saving her $$ is because I've been prolific in my own purchases of late on eBay. Finally snagged the miniature Antman/Wasp Legend figures (from the Goliath set), a VF ASM 140, a F+ Captain Action ish 3, a hardcover 1st Edition Masterworks Silver Surfer Volume 1 for only $15shipped, and I'm verging on 2 vintage Treasury Editions (one being the Holiday one with the back cover shown as your masthead...). Love that FF-Avengers snowfight, having just read it in entirety on another blog a few days ago.
Also enjoying the new Beatles "Magical Mystery Tour" DVD I purhased new for only $10, with all the nice commentary and extras. Very nice clean up of the original version AND some new editing.
Karen, please let me know about that Logan Blu-Ray. STILL one of my fav films, and wondering if there's any extra offerings over the regular DVD.
Santa was good to my inner child this year. I got tons of geek love (in the form of books and action figures) especially of the "Bronze Age" variety.
ReplyDeleteDoug, I too go the "Legends of the Dark Knight: Marshall Rogers" hardcover as well as both "Marvel Masterworks: Iron Fist" Volumes 1 and 2.
I also got the following action figures:
Black Lightning from DCD History of the DC Universe. This is BL in his original 70's costume.
Superman from DCD History of the DC Universe. A very classic version of Superman based on the artwork of George Perez.
The Thing with removable coat, hat and sunglasses from an old Marvel Legends FF box set.
I also got a couple of classic Batman villains that I was missing.
Poison Ivy from Mattel's Club Infinite Earths Signature Collection. I missed this one when it was first released, so my wife grabbed her for me off of Ebay.
And finally the big one:
Arkham Deluxe Killer Croc. A huge and awesome looking figure based on the Arkham Asylum and Arkham City games.
I've ashamed to admit that I've never seen Logan's Run. It's very high on my must-see list, though.
ReplyDeleteSanta was good to me this year. I got the Steve Ditko Omnibus vol 2. These two volumes collect Ditko's work at DC from the late '60s through the early '80s. The second volume includes his Hawk & Dove issues, the Starman stories from Adventure comics and a number of Legion of Super-Heroes issues, as well as some anthology stories.
There's also a cool Man-Bat story featuring one of the very few examples of Ditko drawing Batman.
The spirits of the winter solstice were good to me as well:
ReplyDeleteAvengers Forever tpb
Hellboy - Right Hand of Doom tpb - a nice surprise; I'm a big fan of Mignola but I've hardly read any Hellboy, so I'm looking forward to this (speaking of Mignola: Karen, if nothing else, you should really enjoy the art in that Cosmic Odyssey book...)
As for non-comic but still relevant to this community's interest:
Ammonite by Nicola Griffith (SF novel)
False Negative by Joseph Koenig (one of those cool Hard Case Crime paperbacks with a racy cover).
And as sort of an Xmas gift to myself earlier in the month, I found and bought on eBay an Avengers lot that included:
Under Siege HC
Avengers #281-285 (the individual floppy issues)
Citizen Kang tpb
Paid a little over $21 for it total (including postage). I still can't believe it, really.
Bruce, does that Ditko omnibus include all of the Starman stories from Adventure Comics? I can't find a good description online that's clear on that point.
Good question, Edo. Yes, the Ditko Omnibus does include all of his Starman stories from Adventure Comics #467-478.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, there's a typo on the product description on the DC Comics site. It erroneously says the volume includes issues #467-468, rather than #467-478. But this collection has all of the stories.
I got the Asgardpress Marvel Classic Covers Calendar---not the official name, i'm sure, but that's what it is, and it's cool. I never got one last year--these are nice; old school covers are fascinating to me.
ReplyDeletestarfoxxx
More geeky jollies in giving than receiving this year -- my little boy scored with a bunch of TMNT toys including a Leonardo sword he has yet to stop playing with. He also received a Batman utility belt that he always wears even to bed, and a Spider-man mask and a web-shooter that makes so much noise that I'm looking for the "11" on the volume dial of my TV. He is definitely ready to battle some bad guys!!!
ReplyDeleteFor me, I did get a gift card that I'm gonna use on a Blu-ray copy of either Batman: Dark Knight Rises, or I'm going to hold out and wait for the realease of Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 2. I'm a little more fired up for DK Returns 2, so I'll probably just wait.
I got nothing...same as last year! (Unless you count Amazing Spider-Man #700, which I got for myself.)
ReplyDeleteOn a vaguely related note, I DID read the first Burton/Swinburne book (Strange Affair of Spring-Heeled Jack) and Karen, you were right...it IS a great book! I can't wait to read the next one. So, does a great book count as a present to oneself?
Mike W.
This year my sister bought me Totally Mad: 60 Years of Humor, Satire, Stupidity and Stupidity. It was a real surprise: I hadn't asked for it or anything else like it. I don't ask relatives to get me any comics because I generally doubt they could get the purchase right.
ReplyDeleteBut this was delight: a lavish, magnificent history of the marvelously brain-rotting parody magazine. Big Sis must have remembered seeing me read it as a kid. This allowed to me to re-live those days.
Good times, good times
Hey, everyone --
ReplyDeleteGot back about an hour ago from a family outing for exchanges and sales-checking. I did indeed exchange the poster my son had bought me for the Batman #251 cover, and it looks simply awesome hanging in the comic room. I used a $10 Barnes and Noble gift card that my mother-in-law gave me to get basically a 40% discount on the trade paperback of Batman: The Long Halloween. That's a story I've had my eye on since it was on the stands almost 20 years ago and have never gotten around to reading. I'm going to have to rectify that soon.
Dougie -- I have many a'time had my hands on the various editions of Invaders Classic and can just never pull the trigger. I really, really want to love that series, but always have to settle for "liking" it. And you said yourself why... But I'm happy for you!
Since Mike W. brought up Amazing Spider-Man #700, if anyone wants to spend the rest of the day discussing that news, feel free. Me? I am affirmed in my non-buying of new comics.
Bruce -- Ditko's a guy that I have to warm up to. Once I'm in to a run of his Spider-Man, for example, I'm fine. He's just not a guy I'd ever say "Can't wait to read me some Steve Ditko!"
Doug
Not much to say about ASM #700...the "surprise" twist wasn't really a surprise thanks to the internet, so no big feelings one way or another. It's kind of an anti-climactic way to end Spidey's long journey (not that I think it'll last), but I'm not tearing my hair out or anything; I'm certainly not sending any death threats to Dan Slott (like some people apparently are).
ReplyDeleteI know that Marvel Now! is supposed to be a jumping-on point for new readers, but for me it's a jumping-OFF point...same as DCnU was a year or so ago.
Mike W.
Programming note --
ReplyDeleteI've added a Superman poll on the sidebar, and noticed when it went up that I'd not had Curt Swan on it!! Unfortunately, one person had already voted, so if that was you, you have my sincere apologies for deleting your vote. I've redone it, and added in a few artists I'd previously left off.
And as soon as it went live again didn't I notice that Dick Dillin isn't on it. Gah!!!!!
Doug
Nothing for XMas, but I picked up some sweet deals on Boxing Day.
ReplyDeleteCaptain America, War and Remembrance. Loved Byrne as a kid, so I'm giving his Cap another chance.
Silver Surfer Masterworks #1, like David B. Direct result of reading the BAB review of Surfer #4.
Batman Odyssey by Neal Adams. Even if the story is known to be very wacky, the art looks attractive, and I'm willing to give it another swing.
Milo Manara, To See the Stars--from '98, B+W with ink wash. Got it for $5, and Manara is an occasional favorite of mine.
Fantastic Four Masterworks #6--issues #51-60. I'm big on Kirby/Lee's Captain America right now, so going for their FF, a team I usually don't like.
My wife was kind enough to get me the recently published 'Bride Of Ultron' hardcover, so I had a good Christmas.
ReplyDeleteAmazing Spider-Man #700 pretty much sums up everything that's wrong with comics today. In which they sacrifice good story telling and replace it with shock and awe. This creates a temporary boost in sales, so they just keep doing it repeatedly. I guess you can fool some of the people all of the time.
ReplyDeleteI read exactly one comic book that is currently being published today, and that is Daredevil by Mark Waid. So far it's been great, and the stories definitely harken back to the good old days of fun and adventurous comic books. It is actually well written and well drawn, so I'm sure it won't last. But I'll enjoy it while it does.
Doug, while I don't share your attitude toward Ditko, i.e., if they weren't so expensive, that first DC Omnibus and the Creeper HC would be near the top of my "must buy" list, I'm a bit lukewarm about that second Omnibus - the plus side is that it includes those Starman stories which I loved, while the down side is that it includes those Legion stories - I remember really disliking them when they came out. Ditko just wasn't a good fit with the LoSH, plus, as I recall, he came in the middle of an ongoing story arc and didn't do every issue in it, so you get some broken up stories in that Omnibus.
ReplyDeleteGarrett, I have that "War & Remembrance" book as well, and just love it. That is my favorite run of Captain America ever, and that trade is a nice package - I think you'll really enjoy it.
For Christmas I got:
ReplyDeleteDark Knight Trilogy----$17 on Amazon.com
Dark Knight Rise-------$19 with extras/ at Walmart
The extras had a documentary on the Bat Mobile and the making of Batman :Dark Knight: Rise
Jack Kirby’s Kamandi Omnibus II: I have the first one and read it in one sitting. Ditto on this one. I just read it last night. I can’t get over Kirby’s use of monsters and the way he designs a page. As discussed before on this board, he was no Stan Lee as a writer. However as a designer and visual architect of the Marvel Universe, he continues to fascinate me with his art. I didn’t buy Marvel when I was four years old for Stan Lee’s spectacular scripting ability. I bought them for the dynamic visuals from Kirby and Ditko.
Jack Kirby’s Fourth World Omnibus Volume 4: This concludes the saga with the graphic novel, “The Hunger Dogs”. It also has the “Who’s Who” entries in the DC guides. There samples of Kirby’s penciled pages and an abandoned version of Hunger Dogs with another artist inking.
Some other genre DVD’s I purchased:
Wrath of the Titians
Dark Knight Returns (animated movie of Miller’s graphic Novel)
Batman: The Animated Series (all four seasons)
Batman: Beyond (The Animated Series)
Justice League: The Animated Series (season one and two)
Justice League: Unlimited Seasons one and two
Transformers Prime: Seasons one and two
G.I. Joe: Renegades: volumes one and two
G.I. Joe: Series Two: volumes one and two
Avengers- The Joss Whedon directed movie
Six Million Dollar Man: Seasons one and two
One thing I noticed on you tube.com. I saw an interview with Jim Starlin. He said he doesn’t read “corporate comics” other than the ones he creates. I can understand his reasoning. The Spider Man issue 700 just seems to be a stunt to get sales. Just as the industry did with death of Superman, Human Torch and Peter Parker. Oh yes, they will be back, because they drive the sales of the books. The event driven comics are artificial and have nothing to do with creative story telling. Very rarely do I see any modern comics that are worth reading. When I do make my infrequent comics purchases; it’s always something when I grew up in the 60’s and 70’s. To me it was all over when they had the Secret Wars (Marvel) and Super Powers (DC) lines of comics. They were designed to sell toys.
ReplyDeleteI don't have a problem with the basic premise of Spider-Man 700 (villain takes over hero's body) -Lord knows, it's been done a million times before. But it's the way that it's handled, turning it into a huge 'event', ending Amazing and starting this new Superior Spider-Man. It all reeks of marketing. In the old days, it might be a three issue story, with no more promotion than an ad here or there and when it was done, that would be that. I mean, do they really think anyone believes for a moment that Peter Parker is never going to return? Bah humbug.
ReplyDeleteMike W - glad you enjoyed the Burton/Swinburne book! If you thought the first one was wild, wait til you get to the others. I think that was an excellent present to yourself!
I got "Get a Life: The Complete Series". Classic.
ReplyDeleteI received a copy of Lee & Buscema's 'How To Draw Comics the Marvel Way'. I had checked it out from the library several times and knew that I wouldn't stop until I got my own copy. Thank goodness for clever secret Santas.
ReplyDeleteI also treated myself to a couple of trips to the local comic store to pick up recent issues of the new Hawkeye and Deadpool runs.
Nothing spectacular, but no complaints. Merry Christmas everyone!