You have your nostalgia triggers, and I have mine.
Yup, a few more of these Whitman funnybook pre-packs made their way into the shop, only a few short months after that Star Wars one popped up. And while none of these were from series I particularly perused at the time (aside from my Battlestar Galactica treasury edition, and a single issue from the monthly series), even just feeling the (still-sealed!) bags in my hand took me back to that time, so long ago, when I was reading comics. …Oh, wait, I’m still reading them now. Well, you know what I mean.
Like I said, I had the treasury edition (adapting the pilot film) and one issue…that one issue being #3, which was part three of the adaptation of the pilot film, so, well, my 1970s comic dollar wasn’t very well spent, there, I guess. I keep meaning to check out the issues of this series illustrated by Walt Simonson.
I don’t know a whole lot about Shogun Warriors. I mean, I remember it being on the stands an’ all, and I may vaguely recall the toys the comics were based on as well. This is one of those series that had a price bump partially because it’s a ’70s Marvel title and those are getting harder to find in top condition, and maybe kinda sorta from riding that ’70s toy nostalgia wave even though nobody’s nostalgic for this. (NOTE: I exaggerate for lightly-humorous effect…do not email me with links to your comprehensive “Shogun Warriors Forever” web shrine.)
I can’t even say for sure I’ve ever even looked inside a copy. I’m pretty certain we have a full run in the back issue bins at the shop…maybe I’ll take a look. Someday.
So I was absolutely fascinated with the Micronauts toys as a kid…I think I had a couple of the figures, and maybe a vehicle, but I think a foot was put down at some point and I had to pick between one or the other parents’-wallet-draining sci-fi franchise toy line, and Star Wars received my young nod. But boy, did I pore over the one or two catalogs I had for the Micronauts toys, imagining how wonderful they must have been. The only person I encountered back then who had any extensive collection of these toys at all was some friend of a friend, so my direct exposure to these items was tantalizingly brief.
I only ever read one issue of the series…guess which one…though I kept meaning to get around to reading a couple of the later issues that tied into John Byrne’s Fantastic Four run. Though, oddly enough, this mini-series, which I inexplicably bought off the rack, still remains a favorite.
Most of the three-packs shown here contain the first three issues of their respective series, but this Buck Rogers pack, featuring comics based on the Gil Gerard TV show, holds issue #2 – #4. According to the interesting publishing notes on this Grand Comics Database entry, the numbering of the series picked up from the previous Buck Rogers series published by Gold Key back in 1964. So, you know, just 15 years between issues. I wonder if any of the kids buying Buck Rogers #2 in 1979 were driven crazy, desperately seeking that first issue, thinking they were missing some exciting four-color adventure starring Gerard and Erin Gray and Twiki. Plus, according to that same entry, #10 of the series also went AWOL, just to pick up a few of the Buck Rogers fanboy stragglers not yet driven to madness by the lack of an obvious #1.
Apropo of nothing, while watching The Creature Walks Among Us on Svengoolie this past weekend a friend commented, “Why is the swamp monster wearing pants?” To which I replied, “To hide his Man-Thing.”
I blame this blog for the looks of absolute incomprehension I received.
I would TOTALLY buy all four of those, if they show up on your ebay store (link…?)
Ha! On that Micronauts cover, it completely looks like Man-Thing is playing with his action figures.
Question: if these Whitman samplers are still sealed, how well do they hold up? Is the plastic sticking to the books in most cases? Just curious, as we always ripped open the samplers to sell the books individually.
Wayne – Everything seems fine, actually. The comics look to be in good shape, the plastic isn’t sticking to anything. Probably stored all these years somewhere cool and dry.
Being of “a certain age,” this post in particular is mashing all of my nostalgia buttons. Curse you! I do have a number of Micronauts comics recently picked up in a cheapie bin but I would pay real US dollars for one or more of those Buck Rogers books. Because Erin Gray: hubba hubba.
I loved those Whitman 3-packs as a kid. My parents bought me tons of them. I remember a friend trying to tell me the DC ones weren’t worth anything since they were just lowly reprints (with the “DC” at the center of the bullet logo replaced with an askew Whitman guy), but I never understood why that was supposed to make the comic less good since it was still, you know, an awesome story where Superman fights a Kryptonian ghost or Batman fights Mr. Freeze or whatever.
And Micronauts still holds up pretty well as “surprisingly readable space opera that still works even when removed from the context and, possibly, knowledge of the licensed property from which it was loosely adapted.” It’s a lot like Atari Force in that respect.
I remember Shogun Warriors quite fondly. I’m pretty sure that I bought most of the issues as they came out. I do not remember ever actually seeing any of the toys that they were based on, but a friend of mine had a Godzilla toy from his childhood (still in the box, not mint in any way) that was Shogun Warrior branded.
http://www.finalfrontiertoys.com/other/shogun-warriors/godzilla-mib-c-7.html is an image that looks suspiciously like my friends’ version of this toy.
I find the Godzilla/Shogun Warriors connection to make perfect sense. if you liked Marvel’s Godzilla series, you should also enjoy Shogun Warriors – much the same storytelling and visual sense.
I hate to do this when you specifically said not to, but Mike the Shogun Warriors toys have a really big fanbase. The figures go for like hundreds of bucks. I have no idea if the comics are any good or not but the robots are a who’s who of Japanese anime of that time period.
The bagged three-pack pushes my nostalgia button so hard it makes my eyes water. I loved those goddamned things. Even though they always contained lame-ass comics. The three-pack was magic.
Micronauts had some pretty grim bits for a toy tie-in.
Like women imprisoned in birthing pods for forced pregnancies. (I think to produce soldiers for Baron Karza.)
THOSE ARE AWESOME!!!!!!!
I have the complete run of Shogun Warriors! Still need to get Godzilla. Those will probably never be reprinted because of lisencing issues.
http://www.comics.org/issue/33533/cover/4/
CLASSIC COVER!!!
Snark Shark, you can get the Essential Godzilla for under 20 bucks.
Shogun Warriors, Herb Trimpe. ‘Nuff Said!
I too have a soft spot for The Micronauts vs. X-Men mini.
I cannot express how sad I am that Bug from the Micronauts isn’t going to be in the Guardians of the Galaxy movie.
He’s not even part of the toy line! Boo!