I’m starting this post with an out-of-context Lewis Black quote, just because I feel like it.
…go for it.”
Okay, so Marvel’s Civil War #1, their latest in an apparently unending series of crossover events, came out on Wednesday. And, as has been the trend lately with titles from both Marvel and DC, retailer incentive variant covers were offered with this issue. For every 25 copies of the regular #1, you got a copy with the alternate Michael Turner cover. For every 100 (EDIT: 75, apparently) copies you ordered, you were able to get 1 copy of the Michael Turner black and white sketch cover.
Well, we got copies of these variant cover editions, and really, what the heck are you going to price these at? We turned to the eBay, and researched what people were already selling these for, or at least what bids had been driven up to, and ultimately we went with $24.95 for the 1/25 ones, and $75 for the sketch cover. Yeah, I know, but that was actually less than some of the prices that we were seeing. And I have no idea what they’re up to now, and I don’t really want to know.
Within about a half an hour of putting them out for sale, they were all sold. All of them. At those prices.
We’re going to hell. See you there!
We also received the Free Comic Book Day Bongo and Archie comics that we didn’t receive last week, which is good since, by looking at our invoice online earlier in the week, I couldn’t tell if we actually were getting the comics or just getting a credit for them. Thank goodness they actually arrived…I don’t like receiving FCBD stuff after FCBD. We also received our Stargate SG-1 FCBD action figures which, um, I don’t get why these are being offered for FCBD, but what the heck, I know people who’d like them. And we got our boatload of Wolverine Heroclix freebies, which, though I didn’t say it at the time, someone was also selling as a “hot, rare” item on the eBay at the same time as those Superman/Batman books I found. Oh, yeah, real hot and rare, there.
Other books:
Infinite Crisis #7 – THE CROSSOVER IS OVER. RETURN TO YOUR HOMES. Of all the scenes in this comic, the one that was the most affecting was Robin’s reaction to seeing the body of his teammate. Only a couple panels long, barely mentioned, but touching nonetheless. There are also a couple of lines of dialogue explicitly mentioning certain changes to character histories caused by the events in this series…I’m going to assume we’ll get some follow-up on that, I hope. (I’m being deliberately vague…I’m trying not to spoil anything for pal Dorian, who won’t get to see this comic for a couple of days.)
And, as Employee Nathan has been noting to us at the shop, if Grant Morrison’s Seven Soldiers series takes place before Infinite Crisis, then by process of elimination, by seeing which of the Soldiers have appeared in IC, we now know which character is going to die at the conclusion of SS. Maybe. Unless we’re wrong, in which case…never mind.
Complete Peanuts 1959-1960 – No chance to read it yet, but I know that the series is entering what some folks consider the classic period of the strip. These books have been nothing less than completely enjoyable, and the Fantagraphics folks should be blessed as the saints they are for seeing that this material is made available.
War of the Worlds: Second Wave #2 – The comic makes its shift to black and white from color, and, if anything, the lack of color adds to the creepiness of the proceedings. We also learn a little more about the marriage problems of Miles, the lead character, in flashbacks, as he and his traveling partner Duke evade a Martian invader and team with some other survivors. And, sorta like Infinite Crisis #7, a background scene sticks in my mind just as much, if not more so, than the lead action: as Miles and Duke drive down a city street, over the span of three panels, we (and Miles) see a shopkeeper walk out of shop, carrying a gun, and, apparently despondent over the new invasion, kills himself. This, more than almost anything else in the book, underscores the seeming hopelessness of the struggle the characters face. A good, enjoyable action/horror comic.
Action Comics #838 – I’m having trouble believing that Clark Kent would use the expression “pissed off.” Is that nitpicking? Actually, I’m still having trouble believing the Comics Code Authority let “pissed off” slide by. (Then again, given what they’ve let go in the past….)
Pal JP: “Hey, is it true that Luthor was the U.S. President in the Superman comics?”
Me: “Yes…yes, he was.”
JP: “That’s stupid.”
In other news:
Comic Book Galaxy is giving comics away…all you gotta do is send an e-mail. I can’t enter, but YOU CAN. It’s free, free, I tell you, so what have you got to lose?
Also giving comic books away is Yet Another Comics Blog, sending out free funny books for every day of the month. Also free, also easy to enter!
My old, old friend pal William e-mailed me with the news last night that the original, unaltered Star Wars movies are being released on DVD this fall for “a limited time.” The two disc sets for each film will include both the original version and the “remastered” version with all the extra and mostly unnecessary CGI noodling. I don’t mind the new versions, but resented that was all that was available. Glad I never got around to buying the first DVD releases.
