Took the bus up to the local comics shop today, and just got back. Spent $61.01 (and that was after my 30% off discount of new comics)! I had just enough money for the comics (including a half-dozen in the 50-cent box) and with $1.50 remianing for the bus fare back home. Everything really worked out well, although I hadn't planned to spend that much.

Here's what I bought today, most of it taken from my pull bag that has been piling up for the past 3 weeks:


DC COMICS:

BATMAN ANNUAL #24 ($3.50)
Saw it sitting on the shelf and saw that it was penciled by Jim Aparo and inked by Sal Buscema. I had enjoyed the traditional style art on the Flash "Planet DC" Annual, too, so I thought I'd give this one a try, too. My friend who works at the shop kinda suggested that it wasn't a good issue. I pointed out that I liked Aparo & Buscema's traditional style art. He said the story wasn't good, but I saw that it was written by John Ostrander, whose "The Kents" mini-series I enjoyed, so I waved off my friend's objection and got it.

GREEN LANTERN AND FIRESTORM #1 ($2.50)
Got it because Ron Randall penciled it. I like his art.

JSA #15 ($2.50)
This series is on my monthly pull list.

JSA ANNUAL #1 ($3.50)

MILLENNIUM EDITION: DETECTIVE COMICS #359 ($2.50)
Reprints the first appearance of the Silver-Age Batgirl, Barbara Gordon, as well as an Elongated Man back-up story.

MILLENNIUM EDITION: SENSATION COMICS #1 ($3.95)
Reprints the 1941-42 issue which marked Wonder Woman's debut as a headliner -- she'd previously appeared only once, in an issue of All-Star Comics. I already had the reprint of this issue from the 1970s Famous First Edition series, but it's nice to have in handy comics-size, too. I noticed that there were a few other Millennium Editions from a few weeks ago still sitting on the shelf, including the ones for Police Comics #1 and House of Mystery #1. I'm surprised those haven't sold better.

SUPERBOY #79 ($2.50)
On my monthly pull list, although strangely they forgot to put it in my bag. Luckily it was still available on the shelf.

TOP 10 #9 ($2.95)
I recently read #2-8 of this series in practically one sitting and it was quite a ride. Alan Moore continues to surprise and entertain.


MARVEL COMICS:

AVENGERS INFINITY #2 ($2.99)
I moderately enjoyed the previous issue of this mini-series. I've enjoyed Roger Stern's Marvel writing for over 20 years now (Wow! Hard to believe how time flies!) and I enjoyed Sean Chen's recent work on Iron Man. And it's a good thing that it's a short mini-series, too; I had dropped Avengers Forever before it was halfway done.

CAPTAIN AMERICA #34 ($2.25)
I'm hopeful about this series with Dan Jurgens doing both the story and art. His Cap looks more like a regular Cap, like a Perez Cap, than the distortion we saw during the Garney and Kubert eras.

INHUMANS #3 ($2.99)
Ladronn's art, and the coloring, in this series is impressive. It has the look of something that will automatically be collected in book form at the series' conclusion. So far I've read #1 and the first few pages of #2, but I'm impressed. It looks like a European "comic album" version of a Marvel comic -- like, if Enki & Bilal had done a Marvel superhero comic.

X-MEN: CHILDREN OF THE ATOM #6 ($2.99)
I'd really like to know the behind-the-scenes story behind this mini-series. It started out well with Steve Rude doing the art. Then, Rude leaves and Paul Smith (whose art I also enjoy) was announced as his replacement. Then, after Smith's issue, someone named Essad Ribic (whom I've never heard of before) takes over for the final two issues. This kind of inconsistency is bothersome, and will probably prevent this mini-series from getting collected in book form (as it may have done had Rude stayed on for the whole thing).

X-MEN: THE HIDDEN YEARS #11 ($2.50)
This title is on my monthly pull list, and probably my second-favorite Marvel series right now, behind Avengers. Anyone know what the "MM" stands for underneath John Byrne's signature on the cover? ("magic marker"??)


Independents:

ALTER EGO #5 ($5.95 magazine)
This issue focuses on the JSA. In fact, I'm reading it right now. I had to pull away from the issue reluctantly just to write this post!

THE ATOMICS #8 by Mike Allred (AAA Pop Comics, $2.95)
As I said before, this is a fun series done in a wacky Silver-Age style. If you like Doom Patrol and Metamorpho, this series is for you! I'm really pleased Allred is able to get this series out in such a timely fashion, too.

BONE #38 by Jeff Smith (Cartoon Books, $4.95)
I was really getting into this series big-time around #25-30, but I feel now like I have to get re-acquainted with the characters again, since it's been so long since an issue has come out. I got the cover by Alex Ross -- which looks nice, although doesn't really look like Ross' work because obviously he couldn't use much in the way of photo references for this piece.

COMIC BOOK MARKETPLACE #80 ($5.95 magazine)
This issue focuses on EC Comics, celebrating 50 years since the beginning of the "New Trend." Thumbed through the issue and, as always, there's good stuff in here. I'm looking forward to reading the article on EC's romance comics. The article inside that I read the most of (just couldn't put it down) was the one about Graham Ingles after EC, where he avoided giving interviews or having any contact with fans of his EC work. He had become a painter and it looks to me like he was afraid that association with comics art might hurt his "fine art" credibility.

CRIME PATROL #7 (Gemstone, $2.50)
Reprint of EC's Crime Patrol #13, August/September, 1949.

CRIMSON PLAGUE #2 by George Perez (Image, $2.50)
Somehow I missed #1 of this series, but I ordered it again when it was re-offered through Previews last month. Looks good.

JACK KIRBY COLLECTOR #29 (magazine, $5.95)
Great mag, as always. This issue focuses more on Kirby's 1970s Marvel work, with tons of penciled pages and penciled covers reprinted for the first time.

KIN #6 by Gary Frank (Image, $3.95)
Extra-long issue, hence the larger price this time.

MADMAN COMICS: THE G-MEN FROM HELL #1 by Mike Allred (Dark Horse, $2.95)
Allred has retained some of the look (and paper quality) of The Atomics for this new 4-issue Madman mini-series.

SECTION ZERO #2 by Karl Kesel & Tom Grummett (Image, $2.50)
Wow, 3 Image comics in one purchase! They've started putting out a few good books since the Gorilla Comics thing happened. Anyway, I'm glad we have this series now that Karl and Tom are leaving Superboy.

WAR AGAINST CRIME! #7 (Gemstone, $2.50)
Reprints EC's War Against Crime #7 from June-July, 1949.