You may ask yourself: "If your comics are so awesome, why are you trying to pawn them off on us, Andy?" Well...... as much of a huge comic fan as I am, I do have ulterior motives. I intend to liquidate as much of my collection of comics and action figures as I possibly can to raise money to relocate my family, career and side business(es) to another province. That's right, I will become a British Columbian within the year!
Oh, don't act so surprised.....anyone who's ever spoken to me in person knows that there are a multitude of reasons for us wanting to move and it was bound to happen sooner or later, and it's not like the entire thing rests on successful sales at the Con (but it'll sure help). Of course I will miss my hometown of Winnipeg, and I swear to you now that this will not be the last time you will see me at the
Central Canada Comic Con (October 29-31 @ the Winnipeg Convention Centre, as I've mentioned many times already). The convention scene is almost non-existent where I'll be moving, and this'll give me yet another reason to get back to the 'Peg to party down on a yearly basis.
No, this Fall will definitely
not be the last you'll hear from
Rebel Alliance Canada. Nosiree, Bob. Not by a longshot. I'm sure I'll continue to be selling art prints and photographic services in BC, as well as hocking the occasional comic book or figure wherever and whenever I possibly can.
For now, I'd like to feature some more of what I consider to be 'highly desirable' comics...stuff I loved reading (and might have some trouble parting with) - comics I think you'd enjoy as well. Or at least you should give them all a chance, if you know what's good for you.
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Defenders
# 1
(1972)
Take a look at this cover and tell me what you see..........how can this not be awesome?
The Crowned Ruler of Atlantis (Namor, the Sub-Mariner - the guy in the green Speedos on the table), the Earth's Sorceror Supreme (Dr. Strange - the 'flamboyant'-looking guy in red and blue) and the most dangerous Green Bastard on the face of the planet (the Incredible Hulk - like you don't know who he is), all together in one comic! Old news, you might say, but back in the 70's, this was blockbuster type stuff. By the time this comic came out, I think The Avengers had already reached somewhere around the early-to-mid-100s, and The Uncanny X-Men were selling quite well, so Marvel must have felt it was time to get a new 'Super-team' comic going. Rather than create all-new characters (which they did later on in the series), they smartly chose to throw together a collection of old faves - big names that everyone knew; but characters who until then had primarily worked solo.
(True, the Hulk was a founding member of the Avengers, but he was only actually on that team for like 2 issues. Also true that the Sub-Mariner was a member of The Invaders, but that was like 25 years earlier in the Marvel timeline.)
Anyway, it turns out to be a pretty cool series. I must admit that most of the other Defenders comics that I have are much later, like in the 40's and 50's (issue #'s - not decades) and though the Hulk and Dr. Strange seem to be in a lot of them, the Sub-Mariner isn't in too many. Defenders # 1 is a good read, and my copy is in pretty nice shape for a '20 cent-er', but I think some of he best stories are the ones that contain later additions to the team, like the Valkyrie, Silver Surfer, Nighthawk, Son of Satan and (much later) the Angel and the Beast, formerly of the X-Men.
The Defenders had a reputation for being a sort of loose 'non-team' that only came together in the most dire of times, when the entire earth/universe/all-of-reality was threatened - which was conveniently every month - so they didn't have a permanent headquarters or matching uniforms or a special super-sonic plane or anything. In fact, they rotated team members in and out so often, most of the time you didn't know who exactly was part of the team and who was just guest-starring. One thing was certain....there'd be crazy uberhuman-type battles going on all the time.
Defenders # 1, although not the official first appearance of the team (that would be Marvel Feature #1 - 1971), is nevertheless an excellent early Bronze collector's issue.... and I gotsa nice copy!
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Journey Into Mystery
with The Mighty THOR
# 121
(1965)
I love this issue. How many times do you get to see the title hero getting bitch-slapped right on the cover? Pretty much the whole comic is action, pitting The Mighty Thor against one of his coolest enemies, the Absorbing Man, who has the power to take on the abilities and strengths of any material he touches. Thus, if he touches a diamond, he has super-hard, indestuctible skin and hits harder than a Mo'Fo; and if he touches Thor's Hammer (made of mystical Uru metal), it's all over....or at least we're meant to think it will be. You'll just have to buy the comic to see how it turns out.
J.I.M. # 121 is great Silver Age comic, around a VG condition overall. You can't go wrong with 60's Thor comics......there are more 'thee's and 'thou's per page than you can shake a stick at, and the legendary Stan Lee/Jack Kirby sory/art combination is untouchable, IMO.
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HELLBOY
The Wild Hunt
#7
(2009)
Hellboy is an excellent character, and an excellent comic. I really enjoy the movies, which I was exposed to first, but after reading the comics (especially the ones actually drawn by creator Mike Mignola), well, the films pale in comparison. Mignola's artwork is minimalistic and moody, full of dark shadows, creepy skeletal forms and highly stylized good guys and bad guys. It's actually quite unlike any other comic that I read, and that's what really makes it shine. I have a soft spot for the cheesy 60's and 70's mainstream superhero stuff, but this has got to be one of my favorite Modern Age comic titles.
The stories are multi-layered,deep, spooky and engaging, most often dealing with supernatural and/or mythological beings and situations. Hellboy's been around since the 90's and has a lot of interesting backstory to work with, and there are several offshoot titles and Limited Series as well (such as B.P.R.D. and Abe Sapien). If you read current comics at all, I'm sure you've already read Hellboy, unless you're one of those old-timers who won't read anything outside of Marvel or DC. The comics that Dark Horse puts out are among the best out there - rivalling and perhaps exceeding their mainstream counterparts on a regular basis.
Pick it up! I have more than a few issues of Hellboy in my bin, and have a few nice trade paperback collections as well as comics. When these go up for sale, they never last long!
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Justice League of America
# 24
(1963)
Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, Aquaman, etc. - collectively, you might know these heroes better as the Superfriends (or at least that was my first exposure to them as a team back in the 70's). Long before they were Super-friends, they were the Justice League of America; perhaps at the time they were just Super-acquaintances....
This issue is typical of JLA in the 60's: a supervillan hatches a crazy plot that involves messing with all of the JLA members, they spend at least 15 pages figuring out what's going on, then they whomp his villainous ass in the last 5 pages or so. It's all pretty straight-forward and not too deep in the story department, but you do get to see them all use their different cool superpowers and spout off a lot of 'Great Scott!'- and 'By Neptune's Trident!'-type dialogue. Lots of fun for old school superhero fans. In my opinion, this is definitely the best early Silver Age, multi-hero DC comic out there, with World's Finest Comics a close second. If I'm not mistaken, I don't believe Batman and/or Superman actually appear in this issue.....
This isn't a great copy, but being from the 60's, it's still worth owning despite the pen marks on the cover and the rough spine....roughly a GD+. The picture above is the actual scan. This would be a perfect 'starter' Silver Age comic for newbies, or a solid 'reading copy' for JLA collectors. Are you one of these? I'm hoping so...
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Don't you just love the random nature of this Blog? Well, it's not that random, I suppose....it's either movies or comics with me lately. In any case, I certainly hope there's some sort of entertainment in there for you somewhere. I'm sure it misses the mark often enough.....but ya gotta 'break a few eggs' and all that once in a while - am I right?
Irregardless (even though that's not a real word), until next time;
May the Force be with you...
