Ten tons of comic stuff, part 2
So...last month I made an interesting discovery - a comic shop which I will call my OCS (Other Comic Shop) from now on because it's farther away from my house than my current Local Comic Shop. I think just about every review I'd read of it was positive - the owner/manager guy had apparently been in the business for fifteen years and so knew his stuff, he had a good stock of back issues, things like that. I finally got off my behind and went to find it, and I'm glad I did (although it took me a while, because I went in the wrong direction initially when I stepped out of the metro station).
And BOY, did he have a back issues section! It was about half the (admittedly small) shop (but still!). He has trades and current issues as well, though, and this was what made me particularly happy the day I went - because I found titles that I had wanted but that my LCS didn't have, particularly Agents of Atlas (!OMG YAY!) and Detective Comics. I quickly scooped up AoA #6 and #7 and Detective 854 - the one with the Batwoman/Kate Kane and The Question/Renée Montoya stories. I also picked up Batman 687 (because...Dick-as-Bats in an epilogue to BtfC? YES PLEASE. I'll pick up almost anything with my favourite acrobat/Robin in it, actually, :D although I'm wondering if this title is worth picking up monthly), Batman and Robin #2 (I don't think I even knew it was out yet), and Dark Reign Fantastic Four #1 and #2 ( because I had gone and picked up #3 by itself earlier and later realized that I couldn't really read it without its predecessors; and since they were gone from my LCS I was pleased to see them still available at the OCS).
Those were only the new comics, though; because, having heard that this place was good for back issues, I'd come prepared with a list of what I had so that I could pick up issues I didn't have and thus have entire story arcs. So while I didn't manage to find any Birds of Prey or Nightwing issues that I needed, I *did* pick up Batman 455 and 456, both of which were needed (along with 457, which I'd picked up elsewhere) to form the story of Tim's introduction to the world of Robin-ing as he rescues Bruce from the clutches of the Scarecrow, and has fear-gas/potion induced visions of Dick and Jason, and deals with insecurities about the Robin costume (which Bruce solves beautifully by giving him the new suit as a Christmas present). The issue also features Vicki Vale, in what was probably my first comic-in-my-hand introduction to her.
I also picked up Fantastic Four #s 403, 405, and 530. The first two were to finish a story arc in which Sue gets turned into a Thing-like "creature" (I'd picked up issue 404 earlier for the cover, which shows Sue attacking Namor). Reed is dead, Johnny wants to go off with the Fantastic Force, and there are other people whom I don't recognize around (I haven't gotten around to reading the actual issues yet). In issue 529, which I had also picked up earlier elsewhere for the interesting cover, Sue had to deal with a representative of New York City's Child Welfare programme investigating the circumstances of Franklin (and Valeria? she doesn't appear on-panel anywhere)'s upbringing/home life, and whether or not it's a 'safe' one for them, while Reed works with scientists who for some reason want to recreate the situation that gave the FF their powers (and a similar cosmic storm is, conventiently, going to happen soon). The issue ends with the FF, on a rocketship, being bombarded with rays. Issue 530, which I was therefore pleased to get, explains it a bit - the rays are actually part of a way an alien is trying to communicate with Earth/the FF (again, only flipped through the issue, haven't read it yet) . However, it turns out there's more to the story, which means the next time I stop by the OCS I'll have to pick up more issues to have that whole complete arc.
I also picked up something called "Grimm Fairy Tales: Return to Wonderland (Issue #2)". In it, Alice Liddle's daughter Callie returns to Wonderland, but finds it's nothing like what her mother (who was the original little girl who fell down the rabbit hole) experienced. Apparently the Grimm Fairy Tales are a whole series that, according to its Wikipedia entry, "...takes old fairy tales and gives them twists, sometimes extending them and sometimes changing them". It's a horror series, which I didn't quite get from the cover (I wonder if I should have or not...it looks like this). Return to Wonderland is apparently a spinoff of Grimm Fairy Tales. I haven't read it yet, but it should be interesting. I found a review on a blog I found today while looking for pictures of the cover; I glanced through it (because it's mildly spoilery) and it's got some good things to say about this comic, so I'm glad I checked this issue out. This would be my first book from Zenescope. I'm moving beyond the big two! with my looks at Vertigo, now Zenescope, and hopefully others soon.
I also checked out another comic shop address that I'd found on the 'net that was in the vicinity of my now-confirmed OCS. It turned out to be a place that focused more on old toys, but with a comic selection as well. But that wasn't much of a disappointment, though, because among the figures there I saw Leoric and Witterquick, I think, or maybe Arzon was one of them...from Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light (which is an absolutely brilliant cartoon/toy line/comic book series from the 80s; retrojunk.com link here)...AND, in an even more brilliant moment of squee for me, Commander Stargazer and Mon*Star from SilverHawks, another 80s toy/cartoon series. Lovely lovely lovely stuff. But in terms of comics, they didn't have anything I wanted. However, I did pick up Batman: Zero Hour (or Batman 511) because of (you guessed it! or did you?) the cover. It shows Batman, Nightwing, Tim!Robin, and Barbara looking with dropped-open jaws at....Batgirl (who has her back to us)! Batgirl, from the Babs-as-Batgirl era! Yeah. I didn't find out till later that this "Zero Hour" was part of Countdown, which was a lead in to Final Crisis, so that sort of explains Batgirl's presence - she was, of course, from another Earth.
One not-so-great thing about this trip was that I saw and failed to pick up Star Wars: Rebellion #3 when I saw it, I think at the OCS. I knew I was missing one issue - one *single* issue - from that Janek "Tank" Sunber arc, but I wasn't sure if #3 was it. Of course, when I got home and checked, it turned out that that was the missing issue. ARG. I hope whichever shop it was has it when I go there next time.
And BOY, did he have a back issues section! It was about half the (admittedly small) shop (but still!). He has trades and current issues as well, though, and this was what made me particularly happy the day I went - because I found titles that I had wanted but that my LCS didn't have, particularly Agents of Atlas (!OMG YAY!) and Detective Comics. I quickly scooped up AoA #6 and #7 and Detective 854 - the one with the Batwoman/Kate Kane and The Question/Renée Montoya stories. I also picked up Batman 687 (because...Dick-as-Bats in an epilogue to BtfC? YES PLEASE. I'll pick up almost anything with my favourite acrobat/Robin in it, actually, :D although I'm wondering if this title is worth picking up monthly), Batman and Robin #2 (I don't think I even knew it was out yet), and Dark Reign Fantastic Four #1 and #2 ( because I had gone and picked up #3 by itself earlier and later realized that I couldn't really read it without its predecessors; and since they were gone from my LCS I was pleased to see them still available at the OCS).
Those were only the new comics, though; because, having heard that this place was good for back issues, I'd come prepared with a list of what I had so that I could pick up issues I didn't have and thus have entire story arcs. So while I didn't manage to find any Birds of Prey or Nightwing issues that I needed, I *did* pick up Batman 455 and 456, both of which were needed (along with 457, which I'd picked up elsewhere) to form the story of Tim's introduction to the world of Robin-ing as he rescues Bruce from the clutches of the Scarecrow, and has fear-gas/potion induced visions of Dick and Jason, and deals with insecurities about the Robin costume (which Bruce solves beautifully by giving him the new suit as a Christmas present). The issue also features Vicki Vale, in what was probably my first comic-in-my-hand introduction to her.
I also picked up Fantastic Four #s 403, 405, and 530. The first two were to finish a story arc in which Sue gets turned into a Thing-like "creature" (I'd picked up issue 404 earlier for the cover, which shows Sue attacking Namor). Reed is dead, Johnny wants to go off with the Fantastic Force, and there are other people whom I don't recognize around (I haven't gotten around to reading the actual issues yet). In issue 529, which I had also picked up earlier elsewhere for the interesting cover, Sue had to deal with a representative of New York City's Child Welfare programme investigating the circumstances of Franklin (and Valeria? she doesn't appear on-panel anywhere)'s upbringing/home life, and whether or not it's a 'safe' one for them, while Reed works with scientists who for some reason want to recreate the situation that gave the FF their powers (and a similar cosmic storm is, conventiently, going to happen soon). The issue ends with the FF, on a rocketship, being bombarded with rays. Issue 530, which I was therefore pleased to get, explains it a bit - the rays are actually part of a way an alien is trying to communicate with Earth/the FF (again, only flipped through the issue, haven't read it yet) . However, it turns out there's more to the story, which means the next time I stop by the OCS I'll have to pick up more issues to have that whole complete arc.
I also picked up something called "Grimm Fairy Tales: Return to Wonderland (Issue #2)". In it, Alice Liddle's daughter Callie returns to Wonderland, but finds it's nothing like what her mother (who was the original little girl who fell down the rabbit hole) experienced. Apparently the Grimm Fairy Tales are a whole series that, according to its Wikipedia entry, "...takes old fairy tales and gives them twists, sometimes extending them and sometimes changing them". It's a horror series, which I didn't quite get from the cover (I wonder if I should have or not...it looks like this). Return to Wonderland is apparently a spinoff of Grimm Fairy Tales. I haven't read it yet, but it should be interesting. I found a review on a blog I found today while looking for pictures of the cover; I glanced through it (because it's mildly spoilery) and it's got some good things to say about this comic, so I'm glad I checked this issue out. This would be my first book from Zenescope. I'm moving beyond the big two! with my looks at Vertigo, now Zenescope, and hopefully others soon.
I also checked out another comic shop address that I'd found on the 'net that was in the vicinity of my now-confirmed OCS. It turned out to be a place that focused more on old toys, but with a comic selection as well. But that wasn't much of a disappointment, though, because among the figures there I saw Leoric and Witterquick, I think, or maybe Arzon was one of them...from Visionaries: Knights of the Magical Light (which is an absolutely brilliant cartoon/toy line/comic book series from the 80s; retrojunk.com link here)...AND, in an even more brilliant moment of squee for me, Commander Stargazer and Mon*Star from SilverHawks, another 80s toy/cartoon series. Lovely lovely lovely stuff. But in terms of comics, they didn't have anything I wanted. However, I did pick up Batman: Zero Hour (or Batman 511) because of (you guessed it! or did you?) the cover. It shows Batman, Nightwing, Tim!Robin, and Barbara looking with dropped-open jaws at....Batgirl (who has her back to us)! Batgirl, from the Babs-as-Batgirl era! Yeah. I didn't find out till later that this "Zero Hour" was part of Countdown, which was a lead in to Final Crisis, so that sort of explains Batgirl's presence - she was, of course, from another Earth.
One not-so-great thing about this trip was that I saw and failed to pick up Star Wars: Rebellion #3 when I saw it, I think at the OCS. I knew I was missing one issue - one *single* issue - from that Janek "Tank" Sunber arc, but I wasn't sure if #3 was it. Of course, when I got home and checked, it turned out that that was the missing issue. ARG. I hope whichever shop it was has it when I go there next time.