I went to my local comics shop today to pick up the comics that have been accumulating in my pull bag there for the past few weeks, and also to turn in my order form for December.
On the way to the comics shop, I stopped at a re-sale type store which has vinyl record LPs for 50 cents each. Usually it's a lot of schmaltzy old-time records or cheesy stuff from the 1970s, but ever since getting interested in Christian music last year, I've noticed that some of the albums they had on the shelf were Christian rock from the 1970s and 1980s. I wasn't sure if they'd have anything that I hadn't seen on my last trip to the place some weeks ago, but I was pleased to see they had the two albums they I ended up buying. They were:
2nd Chapter of Acts, "Rejoice" (1981)
I've been hoping that I'd find a 2nd Chapter of Acts album at this place someday, and I finally did. Although I'd have preferred to have found one of their earlier albums, from the 1970s, but who's complaining?
Michael W. Smith, "The Michael W. Smith Project" (1983)
I think this might have been MWS' first album. It contains his signature song "Friends" (which has Amy Grant contributing some vocals) as well as a song of his that we occasionally sing in my church, "Great is the Lord." I'm not a MWS fan, but this looked intriguing.
Now, here's the new comics I bought at the shop:
MARVEL:
AVENGERS #34 ($2.99)
AVENGERS INFINITY #4 ($2.99)
CAPTAIN AMERICA #35 ($2.25)
CAPTAIN AMERICA ANNUAL 2000 ($3.50)
DEADPOOL #46 ($2.25)
This is the first issue of Deadpool I've ever bought, and I'm not sure whether I'll like it or not. I bought it because this is the first of a 3-issue arc drawn by Paul Chadwick and Ron Randall, two good artists.
THE ESSENTIAL IRON MAN Volume One ($14.95)
This B&W trade paperback reprints all the covers and Iron Man stories from Tales of Suspense #39 to #72 -- basically the early 1960s "Don Heck era" of the character, before the late 1960s "Gene Colan era." It's nice to have all these stories in one cheap volume, although printing quality is inconsistent. The story from ToS #61, for example, has gray tones on the art, like the way the page would look if it was a B&W Xerox copy of a color comic. The story from ToS #62, however, is just strictly B&W, with no gray tones. The story from ToS #56 has some pages with gray tones like Xeroxes, some without gray tones. A few pages have some light reproduction, such as the final page of the first Hawkeye story. The reprint for ToS #58 (Cap vs. Iron Man) is taken from a previous reprint of the story, judging by the "Originally presented in Tales of Suspense #58" caption that appears on the splash page. Not that I'm complaining -- just a note in advance to anyone who might expect perfect reproduction from the originals.
MARVEL: THE LOST GENERATION #4 ($2.99)
MAXIMUM SECURITY: DANGEROUS PLANET #1 ($2.99)
By Kurt Busiek and Jerry Ordway. Haven't read this yet, but just flipping thru it, it looks to have an old-time "Marvel epic" feel to it, like "The Death of Phoenix."
MAXIMUM SECURITY: THOR VS. EGO #1 ($2.99)
This one-shot reprints three Lee-Kirby Thor comics from the 1960s: THOR #133, 160, & 161. Looks like good stuff!
X-MEN: THE HIDDEN YEARS #13 by John Byrne & Tom Palmer ($2.50)
DC:
THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #85 ($2.50)
This Millennium Edition reprints the 1969 comic drawn by Neal Adams where Green Arrow's new look (with a beard) debuted.
JSA #16 ($2.50)
SAGA OF THE SWAMP-THING #21 ($2.50)
Millennium Edition reprinting "The Anatomy Lesson" by Alan Moore, from 1984.
SUPERBOY #80 ($2.25)
TOM STRONG #10 ($2.95)
MISC. COMPANIES:
THE ATOMICS #9 by Mike Allred (AAA Pop Comics, $2.95)
The paper quality has been upped to the slicker paper instead of the more newsprint type paper they had been using. Thankfully, they didn't up the price as well.
BONE by Jeff Smith #39 ($2.95)
COMIC BOOK HEAVEN Vol. Two #3 (Amaze Ink, $1.95)
Fanzine by Scott Saavedra pointing out the goofy side of old comics.
CRIME PATROL #8 (Gemstone, $2.50)
Reprint of the 1949 EC crime comic.
CRIMSON PLAGUE #1 by George Perez (Image, $2.95)
This was offered again via the "backlist" in Previews, and since I missed it the first time somehow, I took the re-offer of it.
LOUIS RIEL #5 by Chester Brown (Drawn & Quarterly, $2.95)
MADMAN: THE G-MEN FROM HELL #2 by Mike Allred (Dark Horse, $2.95)
MIDNIGHT NATION #2 (Image, $2.50)
Got this because Gary Frank is the artist. Unfortunately I didn't find that out until #2 was solicited, so I missed #1.
SECTION ZERO #3 (Image, $2.50)
by Karl Kesel and Tom Grummett
WAR AGAINST CRIME #8 (Gemstone, $2.50)
Reprint of the 1949 EC crime comic.
I also bought some comics from the shop's 50-cent shelves and boxes. I bought some of these to send to a cyberpal who has been turned off of new comics due to the high prices these days. Here's the semi-recent comics I bought for 50 cents each today, with the ones I bought for the friend marked with an asterick:
AQUAMAN #69
AVENGERS #30*
BATMAN CHRONICLES #19 (Nicely drawn lead story reminiscent of the style used by Mazzuchelli in "Year One.")
CAPTAIN AMERICA #32* (issue drawn by Ordway)
FLASH/GREEN LANTERN: BRAVE AND THE BOLD #6*
INHUMANS #2 by Ladronn (Bought this to send to cyberpal, but I might just keep it, since I haven't seen my copy of #2 lately. I'd accidentally bent it up, and so I'd put it underneath some heavy hardcover books to flatten it out & then I moved it later and now I'm not exactly sure where I put it. Anyway, the shop also had #3 & 4 for 50 cents each. Not bad considering how recently those issues came out.)
LEGENDS OF THE DARK KNIGHT #132 (part 1 of new arc drawn by Marshall Rogers)
LEGENDS OF THE DC UNIVERSE #22* (part 1 of Superman arc drawn by Ladronn)
MILITARY COMICS #1* (Millennium Edition reprinting the 1st Blackhawk story)
ORION #3* by Walter Simonson (with a Frank Miller backup) [Bought 2 copies of this, one of them for myself.]
SPIDER-GIRL #23
SUPERBOY #70*
THOR #26
Total cost of my comics purchases (after my discount): $63.80 or so.