“Press left trigger + B to enter The Green.”
So I was thinking about the Wisdom of Lobo blank funnybook we were talking about a couple of days ago. Mostly, I was wondering about its relative scarcity and its market value, and…checking in the price guide, it’s not even listed, as least as far as I can find. (I forgot to check the “promotional” section of the current guide at the shop, but it’s not in the promo section in this 5-year-old price guide I have immediately available to me here at home.)
I remember selling The Wisdom of Lobo on its own way back when, having busted open two or three of the slipcased sets to sell the books and slipcases separately. I don’t think we sold it for more than two or three bucks (and making sure any purchasers knew the pages inside were blank). I still do think it’s pretty weird that I haven’t seen any copies come our way in collections for so many years. …A quick check on Amazon shows that copies of the slipcased sets sell from about $12 to about $120, if that tells us anything, other than some sellers have high apple pie in the sky hopes.
Speaking of funnybook sales, while doing cycle sheets this week, it was pointed out that Kick Ass 2 #4 seemingly had a sales burst after having been on the shelf for a while. Generally, most comic books see the majority of their sales in the first week, with a strong drop-off in the second week, and some dribs and drabs in the last week or two. But our last few copies of Kick Ass 2 #4, which probably would have been pulled off the rack and put in the back issue bins (where, oddly enough, Kick Ass back issues sell out almost immediately, to people I know have been in the store while they were still sitting new on the shelf) were gone, baby, gone. And it took me a second to figure out why, until I recalled there was a bit of online outrage over the contents of that particular issue two or three weeks after its release. And, thus, we get our late in the sales cycle bump. “It’s an ill wind” and all that.
In completely unrelated news, the commenter formerly known as Professor Booty, Señor Editor, has this question for me:
“…I seem to recall you mentioning the game LA Noire here sometime ago (great game!), but did you play ‘Arkham City’ yet?”
I did enjoy L.A. Noire, though it could have used a multiplayer shoot-’em-up free roam thing so my friends and I could shoot each other in the face while speeding vintage cars around 1940s Los Angeles.
Arkham City I haven’t tried yet…in fact, I’ve only played the demo level for Arkham Asylum, though I keep meaning to get around to picking up a used copy or something, at some point. Arkham City does look fascinating as an immersive environment, and to be able to play Batman in it…well, that’s hard to resist. I’ll get around to it sometime, I’m sure. (Making it harder to resist are Señor Editor’s own thoughts on the game, as well as Chris “Señor Batman” Sims’ comprehensive overview.)
But if there was a Swamp Thing video game in this style, I’d be all over it immediately.
Swamp Thing: Houma City! Please let me play as Chester Please let me play as Chester Please let me play as Chester.
Er, that would be the environmentalist hippie Chester, not the Millar “Newt Gingrich” Chester of course.
Hey Mike, in even more completely unrelated news…
Has anyone else out there noticed this similarity between the new Batman: The Dark Knight book and and an old issue of Marvel Team Up (with, uh, Frogman)?
http://marvel.wikia.com/Marvel_Team-Up_Vol_1_131
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FDxcOzYNALc/TkKf6pHnocI/AAAAAAAAB2c/Cy0g4KCIDbI/s1600/whiterabbit01.jpg
I’ve heard about and seen the Marvel book in a quarter bin before, and I’m certainly not reading the Dark Knight book, but it just seems odd to me that this “new” character is pretty much the exact same as one from another company. Name and all.
(I apologize if this got pointed out on the blogosphere somewhere already; I read one or two review sites, and your site, Mike. I coulda missed it.)
Kick Ass 2 is vile, like just about everything Millar creates. Hard to imagine a studio being able to use it for script source material when time comes for the inevitable Kick Ass movie sequel.
Thanks for the plug, Mike!
Actually, a Swamp Thing game like that could be really cool. A game based around him would allow for some fantastic visuals and some cool horror bits. I’d buy that.
Wal-Mart is selling Arkhams Asylum and City in a two-pack for 60 bucks, so it’s “Buy City, get Asylum free!” I picked it up; first time playing either game. Not bad so far.
Mike! I was playing the swampy NES game the other day. and i punched an Un-men. It was awesome. by the by are there any horrible horror movies that i should be watching this season? with the exception of ginger dead man?
Alex – Hmm…that is interesting. Probably just a coincidence, I think. I did a little Googling, and didn’t see much comment on it beyond the occasional snarky “and then Batman fights that White Rabbit character who used to fight Spider-Man.”
Bill – Ack! That is a good deal. Still can’t really drop sixty bones on video games at the moment, but I appreciate you letting me know!
Ex-Employee Aaron – Oh, so you dare show YOUR face around here, eh? …Hmmm, bad horror movies, huh? Well, most of them tend to be bad by default, so there you go. I just watched Devil, where a bunch of folks are stuck in an elevator, and one of them is Ol’ Scratch Himself in disguise. It’s kind of entertaining nonsense, and it has the virtue of brevity. Splice was nice and disturbing, the first Paranormal Activity (if you haven’t seen it already) was surprisingly scary, Timecrimes is a kind of creepy time travel murder mystery, Brothers of the Head I’m not even going to describe to you, and Flight of the Living Dead is zombies on a plane. So there you go.