Stopped by Legends in florence, SC today and only had a few bucks to spend. So, grabbed a nightwing and aquaman and two Titans, all new.

However, a quick perusal through the back issue bins came up with Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #'s 253, and a whitman that was # 254. It was the first appearance of the League of Super-Assassins and Blok. Never had those before. As well, found a #308 with Prophecy of DOOM!. Had it but it gave up the ghost years ago.

Good day at Legends.

I've been on the road for so long I've missed a lot of back issues to others getting in there before me. Love that I can find the old issues again.

I was looking to buy a board game a couple of months ago. I looked online without any luck, and then checked out nearby stores. It turns out that one shop I went into also sells some comics. While those were even more marked up than other marked up stores have, they did have a number of long boxes at the back. Quite a few of those contained nothing but a treasure trove of '80s comics. They were all heavily discounted too. Now, I can't say for sure if I squealed or if such squealing upset the other patrons. I do know that an hour later I came out of my comics trance and made my way to checkout. I even picked up another run of Crisis, in a lot better shape than my originals are.

The last time I had a comics rummage was years ago in a charity shop, and it was the same then. Sheer happiness, even if it was only for five minutes. Everything just vanishes away and it's me and the comics. When I was a kid, my dad would take me round lots of comic and rummage shops where I was indulged. We would make a day of it. Or rather my dad would make a day of letting his kid have fun and lots of reading. It's something I appreciate more, the older I get. It was regular enough that some of the architecture of these old buildings, shops and proprietors occasionally surfaces in dreams.

Better yet, some of the boxes in this latest shop had newer comics including lots of Threeboot issues and the pre v6 Adventure/Action/Super-whatever comics containing the Legion. I didn't have a lot of these issues, and a few I only had in TPB.

I did notice, in passing, that there were lots of gaps in the Legion issues the shop had. A little odd, but I just assumed I wasn't the first to get there. When I got home I found that the bags containing Legion comics actually held two issues! So I got even more Legion goodness at an even bigger discount.

It just doesn't get better than that. Well, I did manage to pick up the board game in a small shop that had it prominently displayed within a very small selection. Just as if it was waiting for me.

Dang, Thoth. That sounds like a dream I used to have. It was after the spinner racks were gone from stores and we only have the LCS's now. I dreamt, I kid you not, that there was this store halfway between where I live and the LCS that was like a salvage shop and they had boxes and boxes of back issues.

When I woke from that dream, I was very unhappy.

Glad your dream turned out to be reality.

I love having comic stores/ boxes appear in dreams. We didn't have spinner racks where I grew up. Far too fancy. All the books and comics were just on shelves. The shop where I got my first Justice League makes a regular appearance in dreams. I got the issue on a weekend, but I'd also go there on the way to school a lot too. So it's stuck firmly into what laughingly passes as my memory. Even if the fixtures and fittings change around in my sleeping head.

This was the same place my dad would get me lots of black and white reprint comics. They just had a colour cover, nothing on the inside covers, and b&w interiors. Back then comics were relatively cheap, so I'd get treated to lots of these. Form what I've found out they were all '50s reprints from people like Atlas/Seaboard. They were all called Strange this or Uncanny that. Just lots of anthology stories with weird aliens and punchy plots.

Oops, I've turned this into the What I found "yesterday" at my LCS thread.

Hey, that's cool too.

Found several, but put most in my pull. Today I brought home Legion #309, a continuation of the Omen and Prophet storyline.

Since I'm not spending as much on the new stuff, I've got a little more for the older ones I never had.

Vaguely connected... Green Lantern 188 and 189. Only connected due to there being a GL in the Legion.

Was that still Wein/ Gibbons or had that run ended?

It had ended and Staton was doing the art again.

It was the change when John took over because Hal gave up the ring for Carol.

Krappin' Kris Kringle! I hit the motherlode at my LCS today. Some I've had before and lost to wear and tear, some I never had.

Superboy and the Legion #'s: 229, 231, 232, 235, 236, 243, 250, 258, and 280.

But the better part is, I put about 30 more in my pull and will be getting them over the next few weeks.

GAAAAAHHHHHHHDDDDDDDDDDD I LOVE MY LCS!

Waaaahooooooo! Even more from the LCS. Secrets of the Legion, the entire mini.

Superboy and the Legion: 252, 269, 270, 271, 279 (had before, but it was ruined), 285, 290 (never had before).

Love my lcs.

Big round of applause for your LCS, Rick. What a great haul of issues! Even better if you've not had some of them before. Comics Gold.

Don't forget those reread threads for any comments!

DC Comics Presents #13 with the Legion. They actually convince Supes to give up HIS BEST FRIENDS KID!

Karate Kid #12, guest starring Superboy and the Legion as well.

I won't, Thoth, but I don't have a lot of spare time lately, that's why most of my posts are quick hits and not the old drawn out stuff.

Since the former owner passed, Legends is trying to continue what he built. They actually just bought out a store in Columbia, SC and are gonna be bringing in the stuff from that store, so, fingers crossed that I can fill out my Legion, Flash, Gl and JL/JSA silver age stuff.

I can't even remember the last time I saw a Silver Age Flash comic. My last binge was on '80s stuff around Crisis, which was just a little easier. I got the Supergirl run for a song. By which I mean if I stopped singing they would give them to me.

Great haul at Legends, today. They bought out another store and I got to go though some of the stuff.

I found Superboy 172, Adventure 379 and 380, Superboy and the Legion 215, Gl/GA number 99, DOOM PATROL 122, 123, and 124, and Justice League 128, 132, and 170. All silver age stuff.

Not to mention a crap ton of old Superman Family comics for a dollar.

I saw a lot of original Teen Titans, old dc Horror comics, lots of old batman and others. And the only reason I didn't get them was of course, funds. But, I'm planning on grabbing as many as I can in the next few months.

I do, however, see that DC is doing a new Hawkman book, which sounds great until I heard Hitch is doing art. I don't remember him ever staying on a book very long, I might be wrong, but it being Hawkman I'm gonna be getting it.

Nothing to report this week. Pretty much spent my monthly allowance last week. Totally worth it though. I am starting to get some duplicates, though. If I get a chance I'll make a list and be happy to share them with anyone that might be missing what I have.

Part of my recent '80s haul (still not read them all) was '80s Hawkman issues. After the Shadow War. I had bought the first issue, and picked up couple of the early ones for a JLD thing in Bits (I think Zatanna guest starred). But this was me filling out a few of the gaps. Considering that this was the book that took the Hawks out of Crisis and the JLA, it really didn't live up to interview I read before its launch.

Well, I didn't exactly find these at my LCS, but my LCS' owner had a table at the Ithacon today, where I picked up these bargains:

WEREWOLF BY NIGHT #17 (1974)
NOVA #8 (1977)
SUPERBOY AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #231 (1977)
NEW TEEN TITANS #19 (1982)
ALL-STAR SQUADRON #35 (1984)
ALPHA FLIGHT #16 (1984)
SECRET ORIGINS #41 (1989)
JOKER'S ASYLUM II: THE RIDDLER #1 (2010)

Excellent haul there, Mal. All-Star, Titans and Supey and the Legion. Sounds like a blast to me.

Yeah, Byrne was still on Alpha Flight, Perez on Titans and Sherman on SLoSH!

This isn't Legion-related but I just bought a handful of back-issues from a comic book store in Dallas and one of them was one of those 'Holy Grail's of comics that I've been looking for (at a reasonable price) FOR.EVER:

Detective Comics #566.

https://www.comics.org/issue/891740/cover/4/

I'm not sure why this random issue has been so rare and difficult for me to find (other than it perhaps being a sort of early, proto-Who's Who solely focused on Bat-villains) but having that little gap in my collection was like a needle to the brain of my OCD side.

With it purchased I can now proudly say that I have a complete run of Detective Comics from #475 to #722, an unbroken run of 249 comics from 1978 to 1998 (and if I can find just 10 more issues, I'll have an unbroken run from #447 to #722, consisting of 277 comics over 23 years).

Very cool, Blacula. I've been looking for "The Secret of the Waiting Graves" for years. First batman I ever bought and i read it so much it felt apart.

^ I haven't read that issue but I love that period of Batman, and DC in general. A shame it's so expensive and uncollected though.

Blacula, I completely agree. That was the era that brought him back from the Wertham inspired insipidness of the sixties.

Today's haul:

Superboy and the Legion: 227, 255(never had), 262, 266, 273, 277, and 289. Some I've had before, but they wore out. So, I replace them.

Not sure if anyone posted this already but here it is anyway.

Today on "Searchin for shit you never had" Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes 260, 261, 263 and 265.

Plus, I put a lot of old Iron Man in my pull. And found an old Wolfman/Perez Titans I never had before.

Nothing this week. It's Carol's birthday and I'm trying to get her a nice Vanity chair or swivel stool. So, that's where the monet goes this week.

If you sold the Monet, you'd have plenty of cash for both presents and comics!

And buy her the Claude Monet graphic novel. Who knew? There's a comic about everybody.

Give Carol our best. Only you should see what we're really like.

What I find in my LCS is that I begrudge paying the pennies for the new books more and more. I think getting advance orders might have weaned me off going into the shops. They had the collected Justice League of Detroit discounted at £90! Discounted! ($128 or 515 Venturan Walking Credits)

Oh, and there's this

I never knew he was Billy Idol's inspiration!

Nothing old today, but I did get Action 1,000 staring the founder of the feast, so to speak.

I could have shaved a Monet off the title and put him in a leather jacket...

Low haul today. All the old stuff was Iron Man. Saw a guy with a box of what looked like his kids books, and one of them was a legion, but I've got two of them, so I didn't get it. 301 I think it was.

I went back into the shop where I got my '80s haul. Just whatever more recent bits and pieces left. I also visited a shop I used to have an advance order with. it's now a rather uninviting toy shop with a much smaller comics selection. Mind you, it had it's uninviting moments when li'l thoth first visited it too.

I went by last week, not much time to look, Carol was with me. Didn't get anything because their card reader was down and I couldn't wait. I'll hit them this week if I can.

No legion stuff, but I did pick up the Crisis Volume Six collection, and some old firestorm that I had put back.

Last week: Adventure 352 and Superboy "starring THE" Legion of Super-Heroes 198. Both very fun reads. And both starring the Fatal Five. Legiony Goodness!

Love both those issues! Good going, Rick!

Thank ya, Ma'am. I was worried when the owner of the shop died and the new guys took over. I always start with the LCS (Legends in florence, SC) because I'm one of those goofy guys that believes in buying local before sending my hard earned monet out into the big bad world. Local folks have to eat, too. But the guys have done a lot with the store and they've learned, like Denny did, to watch out for old or really any Legion stuff for me. I don't always get it, because a lot of the time it's repeats for me. But to me, that's half the fun, never knowing what you are gonna find, or even IF you will find. Yeah, I could probably find them a lot faster on line, but there's no thrill to that for me. Like shootin fish in a barrel...where's the challenge? I'm a man dammit! I gotta seize that hill, slay that beast, find that really rare to me comic that I saw as a kid in the house ads but never had

Low haul this week. Superboy starring the Legion of Super-Heroes #201. And since I've never had it before, it's new to me. As well, they put the TPB of The Curse in my pull for me. There were a couple of other Legion books, but I already had them so I left them for some other lucky hunter.

Forgot to add silver age Justice League of America #'s 120 with Adam Strange and Kanjar Ro and 135 featuring the JSA and "Shazam's Squadron of Justice". And then there are the two Teen Titans original runs numbers 37 and 45.

Love my LCS.

JLA #120; is that the one with Adam Strange's wedding to Alanna?

It's the first of the two-parter that has that.

Trade paperback of The Curse which starts with Legion #297 and ends Darkside laughing when the "one child" is born. Validus was stolen away to become the monster of the Fatal Five. I picked it up for the Curse but wound up getting to read the conclusion to the Omen and Prophet storyline which I have never had. Found multiple copies of the first couple of issues of the storyline featuring Giffen's new art style, but never the conclusion.

The Legion seemed to have it's fair share of Universe level bad guys, from the Infinite Man to Omen.

The one child thing sounds like it was the annual? The issues around that would be that peak Levitz/Giffen…

Look-It-Up-Lad tells me it's "Collecting LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #297-313 and LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES ANNUAL #2-3" So yeah, some of my favourites are in there.

Nothing new or old this week, though I did find an adventure comic with the legion in it...but it was $10. Waaaay outta my price range.

On the other hand, I gave my wife an organizationgazm when she found I had bought bags and boards and was organizing my collection. After having cleaned up around my current comics locker.


This man knows how to please a woman.

Good job, rick Pleasing your wife and protecting your collection at the same time!

I once bought a few bags and boards at my LCS too. Just enough to protect the most prized issues in my collection, anyway. I found an LCS that sells back issues with individual boards and bags, so I didn't have to buy too many extras to cover the rest.

Well, no old Legion stuff because I didn't have time to look around. However, I did get Hawkman #4. Since Carter is time trippin' through all his past lives, I'm hoping he might trip to the 31st century and be a character that somehow interacts with the legion, but not a legionnaire. Only team I think he really belongs with is the JSA.

Titans...what the hell? It went from Roy and Donna at bay against a bunch of thugs to a brand new team in the midst of some other thing. I thought I had missed an issue, but no.

No clue what's happening there.

Nightwing....here comes the amnesia. sigh. really?

Aquaman...believe it or not, this is the book I'm most looking forward to lately. The rath thing was a little slow, but still compelling. Now Mera leads Atlantis and Arthur is cut loose to do what he do.

Anyway, maybe next week.

How bout you guys?

I didn't mean the thread just for me, ya'll tell us what you got.

Well, my most recent Legion purchases include several of the issues of LSH v4 when it was just Tom McCraw flying solo, the ones leading up to End of an Era. From what I've heard, McCraw had to severely compress his Legion On the Run/Weber's World storyline because of EOAE. Knowing that makes a lot of the pacing and structural flaws in these issues easier for me to forgive. And I can see that McCraw was trying to pull off the difficult trick of bringing the Legion back to basics while still moving it forward. Most or all the weird and creepy stuff (underage Ayla, sex-kitten Mysa) I am inclined to blame -- directly or indirectly -- on the Bierbaums. Immonen's art is the big let-down here. When he wasn't giving it his all, his style was very...spartan, I guess?

In some other universe, I'd like to think that McCraw had a nice long run and that the artwork improved. I've a lot of respect for the guy to begin with, and if the working conditions been more favorable...who can say?

I picked up Tempest #2 and I'll check to see if there's another appearance by Alan Moore's take on the Legion in it. Impossible Inc and it's Mayavale train carriage was the fun buy of the last few days.

Yesterday: Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes number 219...the Plunder Ploy of the Fatal Five". Had this issue years ago, still loved reading it today. Stunning art by Grell, and somehow the colorist really made UB's uniform pop. Duplicate Boy's green uniform as well. I also found a copy of 220 on top of that. Great stuff.

The Legion of Super-Heroes annual #1, featuring the creation of the New Invisible Kid and the return of Computo. Never had it before. Good read. Patterson's inks really set of Giffen's best style. But honestly, Carl Gafford's coloring made their work really stand out. Outstanding art.

As well, I picked up JLoA #201, a rather disappointing return of Ultraa, #189, first part of a Starro return, and Flash #311.

I'm slowly slowly slowly rebuilding my legion collection. I seem to be missing an entire box of books from the move years ago that I only found out about recently.

Found a lot of replacement issues today. First up... a really..uncomfortable read.... Karate Kid #4. A much more fun read was DC Comics Presents # 80 starring Supes and the Legion of Super-Heroes. From the time when UB, EL, PG, CB, and SV were lost. Story by Kupperberg and Swan. Then, Legion 286 through 288, 291, 292. I have 290 and 291, but these were replacement issues anyway. Next up is Tales of the Legion 318 by Levitz, Shoemaker and Kesel. Shoemaker was a a fine artist that seems vastly under-rated. Sad. And finally, Tales of the Legion #318.

Beyond Legion, I found some old Detective, 463 to 466, a couple of Flash's, #203 and 291. An old issue of The Secret Society of Super Villains, #5 (not the best storytelling, but I liked Captain Comet.) This guest starred Hawkman and GL. I also found Brave and Bold #139 guest-starring Hawkman again (though it could have been just about anyone that flew. Not a great story for him.), and Hawkman #11 from the Shadow War era.


Not bad for just over $10 dollars. (( raid the discount backissue bins and it was a black friday sale as well.)

That's a great haul for the price. I completely agree about Shoemaker. It's the opening part of a story I really like too, and that no doubt played a part in me reading the Legion longer term.

On the opening page of #318 Shady puts her hand on Lar's shoulder as they talk, and it's a possible lead into this week's issue (v3 23) on the reread thread, where his serum no longer works. I remember most of Karate Kid being a bit painful. Still, it's another Legion related comic off the checklist.

Well, this is actually last week, but...whatchagonnado?

Superman #327...Kobra has Superman's parents inna time bubble thingy. I had this years ago and it fell apart, but I got it more for the Mr. and Mrs. Superman from Earth-2 backup.

DC Superstars #7 Presents Aquaman. *In all honesty, haven't had a chance to read it yet.

Adventure #476 featuring Aquaman, Plastic Man and Paul Levitz writing Steve Ditko's Starman. *dingdingding Legion Connection, writer AND artist!

Brave and Bold #142 with Batman and ...Aquaman. Anyone noticing a theme for last weeks?

And finally, Iron Man #176, part of the "Lets make Tony a drunken bum!" storyline.

Nothing old today, unfortunately. Did get GL 2 and Hawkman 7, though.

Rick, I'm a fan of that short-but-sweet "Starman" run, and I mentioned it (and the Levitz/Ditko/Wood "Stalker") in my eulogy to Ditko:

http://www.legionworld.net/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=953139#Post953139

Very nice, Ann. Yeah, there were a lot of small, throwaway characters done by some really great creators back in the 70's. I'm mindfull of Manhunter by Archie Goodwin.

Goodwin's Manhunter is excellent. I was lucky to find a reasonably priced copy of the Baxter Format one-shot collection, some 25 years ago!

Wow. Didn't even know there was one. I'll have to look for it. Thanks.

I spent a fun 10 minutes in the comic boxes of a charity shop last weekend. The guy already looking through them had a couple of Comics Journals in his paw. But he switched them for both issues of Alan Moore’s Big Numbers.

I let him finish before having a chat about what a good find that was. Then I picked up the Journals. I’ve skimmed one and it was at the time when Image had started up and had a couple of issues under their belt (with delays creeping in).

There’s an interview with Todd McFarlane, one with Chris Claremont who had left the X-Men after Harris sided with Lee over him. And there’s an article with Alan Moore. He’s asked about Image too, despite having been quick to point out that he’d not actually read any of them.

I also got a couple of issues of the Legion under Shooter’s run, some singles of v6 (I got the TPB for some of those) and 10 issues of an early Lenore series!

After quickly reading the Lenore ones, I gave them to my dad who liked them. So, I’ll be digging out my other issues to give him those. Yay!

Don't bury the lead. Which Shooter Legion issues did you get?

I got the last two. I also got one of the Legion DC 1000000 issues.

I picked up Action 858 through 863. It was Johns Legion run in Action.

Well, they had a lot of stuff but it was mostly stuff I already had. Still, I found two legion books... 227 and 290 that I picked up. As well, the final issue of Mister Miracle, # 18 of the Jack Kirby original run. Another set from a book I try to find when I have a chance....The Secret Socity of Super-Villains number 9 and 11. Then there was Superman number 236. All that for just 3 dollars. Love me some old discount bin finds.

I went to a market a week ago and picked up a couple of 3boot trades for a few quid each. One with Supergirl on the front. I also picked up a trade of The Golden Age. I have it, but generally never have all the issues in one place for some reason. The opening of Ostrander's Suicide Squad and a couple of JLA ones.

I did pick up two New Mutants trades, at least one with Bill Sienkiewicz art. I picked up one issue of it waaay back and didn't connect with it. Hopefully this time will be better.




Wasn't that the series that had Captain Comet pretty much being a member of the JLA? before moving onto other things. He had lots of crossovers with JLA members and he was living on the satellite at one point. Not that you'd ever have known this form reading other books.

I was at the Ithacon yesterday and picked up a few Legion books: SUPERBOY AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #220 (1976) and SUPERGIRL AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES #21 (2006). Also in attendance were Roger Stern and Walt & Louise Simonson.

Thoth, yes, i believe it was. it was from the seventies and it was a delieriously loopy run. I love it now, but never really saw it way back when because it wasn't on the spinner rack I bought from at the zippy mart.

Malvolio...excellent haul on the legion. Great catch on the creators. Loved Walt's Orion run. And he was a very classy guy talking about it with us fans on the old boards.

I picked up some of the Comet issues when I was looking at the Justice League Detroit. I'd forgotten how closely connected to the team he was, almost behind the scenes. I know SSoSV also brought in the Freedom Fighters as it tried to find a sales angle.



I've just read some of Stern's Avengers run where the Vision tries to take over the world. Not being a big Marvel fan, I'd not read much of his work. An so-so Power of the Atom in the '80s. But the issues I've read of his Captain America with Byrne were good and these issues were good. I have a some issues where Buscema and Palmer were on the art chores and I like those too.

My LCS is going out of business!

They're actually a satellite of the original store, which is still gonna be around, and is bigger and has a better selection, but it's an hour and a half drive from where I live!

That's the bad news.

Good news: Because they're closing, I got Marvel's complete Steranko SHIELD run from the late Silver Age in one softcover volume, at 50 percent of the cover price!

Yeah, it's dated, sexist, racist, what have you. I don't care. It's fun. If a modern comic had the same attitudes, *then* I'd have a problem, but the pop culture of the past is what it is. No reason to make it P.C. And if you don't like it, then don't read it or watch it. Simple azzat.

It's also quite notable, with hindsight, how much Steranko's SHIELD went on to influence TV cartoons from the 80s (G.I. Joe, et al.)

Steranko's SHIELD is one I've seen lots of covers of, and lots of design praise for. But I've never read it. Are the stories decent?

Not really, Thoth. It's definitely style over substance. But if you're really into 60s spy-movie kitsch, I'd recommend it. Otherwise, no.

I'm putting that down as a "no" then. Thanks HebiFicks!

Awesome, Ann. Glad you found it. Sorry to hear the circumstances, though.

Thank you, Rick.

I try to be philosophical about these things.

Today on "This old LCS..."

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes... # 216... the introduction of Tyroc.

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes... #222....a Return of Tyroc. Slowly rebuilding my Legion collection. Don't think I have those two, haven't looked in a while.

KaaaaaaaaRate Kiiiiiid numero UNO! That's right kids, the first issue of Val's own book with cover by the one, the only, the probably grumpy until he's had his morning coffee....Iron Mike Grell.

Tangentially related, because of the Super connection... Justice League of America #119...Winer takes...ummm, weiner take....Dammit! Winner Takes All!

And finally, for the delightfully divergent...Super-Team Family number 4. Because...sexual intercourse it!

Recently picked up Superboy and the Legion #220 and #240 at my LCS. He's had a lot of back issue bargains lately.

And on today's deep dive... Flea Market Finds! Yes, friends, took the boy to the flea market cause he loves bargain buying the army surplus and knife store...and found...

Legionnaires 3 Number 4

The New Teen Titans Baxter edition #9.

Big 1st Issue ARAK son of thunder NUMBER 1! Never read it before, but it was a number one for .50$.

And finally, The Fury of Firestorm The Nuclear Man #'s 2, 8, and 31.

Ahhhh...Jose Luis Garcia Lopez! Pure bliss.

JLGL was one of the most under-rated artists going. His stuff was always great, and his women were always beautiful or interesting without being "super"sexed up.

Love the '80s finds Rick. I've not read Arak, so it will be interesting to hear what you think of that. I had thought it was a COnway book, but a quick search tells me it's Thomas. Considering the number of Conan books Thomas did, I wonder if there are parallels in Arak.

:nods: on JLGL.

I think my first look at his work was in a Spanish version of Atari Force #12.
I'd not see his Titans work until Baxter reprinted in the newsstand version. I didn't think I got some of those issues at the time either. Too much whiny Azrael probably distracted me from the great art.

You should've done what I did -- ignore the word balloons.

Even Azrael's poses were whiny.

I think of it as having a lot of overwrought characters. Wolfman must have looked at the praise coming in for those issues and thought the readers wanted more angsty tears.

... checks with Ibby if it's too soon to comment on Kole's legs... sounds of desolate sobbing and who's who clutching indicates that it is...

I have to admit, when the previous owner of Legends Comics, Denny, passed away, I was worried. But, the new owners have taken up the mantle well. And part of the evidence for this is the fact that when I said I'm working on rebuilding my Legion collection, they listened.

Yesterday, in my pull was about 15 legion books that had come in to the store and they set them aside for me. Now, I had most of them, so I only got a few. But that's not the point. I treat my LCS well (or try to and try to remember my manners) and they do this for their customers. That's a good store.

So, yesterday I picked up copies of

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #205, the 100 page spectacular.

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #211, the Element Lad and Roxxas story.

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #230, the Creature who Conned the Legion.

And, The Legion of Super-Heroes #296, What do you do the day after doomsday?

Me Likey!

Glad to hear that, Rick. What a wonderful thing.

That Bronze Age Element Lad/Roxxas story still kicks like a mule today. The raw rage that Grell gave to Jan's facial expressions...whew.

Yeah, I got Jan's origin story reasonably early on, which was as much about his mystery powers. I'd been used to him as a more passive leader in the Baxter issues (well, Tales issues I was getting)/ That Roxxas story of Grell's gave an insight to what was really going on in his head.

Sorry, folks, was in a hurry this week, didn't have time to peruse, and just picked up some new stuff, nothing vintage. Kind of a bummer, but my LCS, Legends, is pretty good, so it's on me, not them that I didn't.

No need to apologize, Rick. Not every week can be a treasure trove.

Meanwhile, with my LCS gone, I'm considering trying a little experiment with my go-to online store -- order one of those value packs of 30 to 35 comics for a reasonable 13 dollars.

Anyone have any experience with getting those things online? Advice?

Let us know how that goes, Ann. I'm always gonna try my lcs first, but sometimes they have trouble.

Well, Saturday was free comic book day and the LCS was full. That makes me happy for them. But, I didn't really get a chance to peruse the back issue bins. That makes me sad for me..

*Dramatic sigh* My lcs got 61 new boxes of back issues in, but the boy was with me, sittin' in the truck. Damn video games on phones. Anyway, it's over 90 degrees here in SC already, so I couldn't stay in the store long enough to peruse. But, bein' the cool guys they are at Legends, they just went ahead and tole'me that there wasn't any silverage Legion, Flash or GL in the boxes. Nuthin' like it, even, heavens ta' murgatroid!

So, I just got a few new things.

Gawd they tryin as hard as they can to kill Nightwing. Storyline sucks. Art is all line-y and indistinct. Coloring is murky and ...well...blah. Combine all these components and frankly it isn't a book I really wanna read.

Justice League 24. World Forger....bats goes bad (yeah, right. Anyone seein' a 'replaces desaad to take down darkside' thing goin' on here?) 'sokay, nice art...really nice coloring. Needs more Hawkgirl.

Terrifics... gotta say, not a letdown after Lemire left. Pleasant surprise.

Shazam 5. Not bad. Johns is writing, and Eaglesham is leading a great art and coloring crew. Or should I say anchoring anyway, don't know if he's lead or not. Anyway, the Shazam family's trippin through the psychedelic wonderland. Nice.

Aquaman...this book was cruisin'. It was crushin' it. Then, about ten or twelve issues ago...what the serious sexual intercourse happened? The end of the previous storyline with rath or raith or somesuch...the new old forgotten gods storyline, now, mamma shark....what's next, baby shark? Just....naw. And the art and color vary greatly, even in the middle of a story...or book, it seems.

Lots of unexpected costs last couple of weeks, not including having to dig a new well and replace the pump, so...short list.

Hawkman 12 and13. Venditti on writing, Hitch on art for first 12. If you aren't reading this book, please check it out. It's like Legion to me, criminally lost and underrated character but is being done very well.

Justice League 25. Yep, issue behind, but so far it's only okay to me. Not impressed by Forger. Art not great either.

Aquaman. Well....shit. Don't know who Kelly Sue Deconnick is, but I'm hoping they are gone soon. But, can't blame it only on writer. Art has been murky and dark since the traitor storyline. But this story really ain't getting my motor running. And just a year ago this was one of the best books on the racks.

I'll agree with you on Hawkman. Venditti is doing a real good job playing off of all of Hawkman's past lives.

Hawkman is one of several gems one of my FB groups turned me onto.

I do hope to get
More development of the deathbringers at some point. We’re they really just a bunch of people who one day decided to murder the universe? Are they a single culture or diverse people drawn together by their mutual desire to murder the universe? Was their leader also their founder?

I admit I binged the series very quickly. Maybe a slower more careful reading would have revealed some of those answers.

What I found today...

Original Justice League of America's number 78 and 79.
Baxter series Legion of Super-Heroes numbers 24 and 25.

I found many more Legion books but I had them all that I saw.

I also found several old Hawkman books that I put in my pull.

Pretty good haul for me.

I also picked up the new Terrifics, which has maintained a very good pull ability for me. Justice League 28, and Aquaman 50. I really hate to say it because it's been so good the last several books, but the new writer and the new art isn't up to snuff for the ways it's been lately. Starting with Peter David, they really turned the character around from the joke it had been since the saturday morning cartoon. This isn't cartoony dude that talks to fish, but it's missing something.

Baxter Legion 24 and 25 -- w00t! The latter is one of my single favorite Legion issues of all time...except for the last page. But even so, I gave it something like 9 on a 10 scale when we covered it for the Archives Re-Read a while ago.

Hope you'll share your thoughts on 25 after you read it, Rick.

Thanks, too, for mentioning PAD's Aquaman run. Too many young'uns don't know that he made it possible for the 21st Century Aquaman to even be around in the first place!

found today

My lovely and talented wife helped me post these pics from my camera to computer to here. Absolutely no idea how she did it. Anyway, I think it's quite a haul for the money. $27 for 30 books. I don't know if you can see them (tried to keep the pics small so it wouldn't eat up Nighty's bandwidth? I don't know, I'm a luddite). But, there are several of the Adventure Comics from just a few years ago, and several of the new numbering for Adventure. I also got some epic Hawkman Shadow War stuff and a Justice League Silver age #133 with my all time favorite version of Supergirl (Sorry, Legionworld, they just did her right). As well, I got the Aquaman Drowned Earth Annual.

I left behind the latest Nightwing and GL annual. C'mon, two books for nine? and Legion books at that? Not even close.

Ann, I had the reprint of the Baxter 25, so I knew what was going on. I just never had an original of the baxter. I dug the reveal, all the clues where there, and I liked it better than it being Kara. I know at the time everyone was wanting it to be her to save her from the Crisis death, but I think that would have cheapened it at the time.

Ah, okay.

I disagree about the reveal, but, as always, respectfully so.

Rick, did you follow that Crisis on Infinite Earths re-read we did in the Gymll's forum last year?

A good haul. I especially like the revamped Adventure series

Great haul Rick!


I got a lot of those Adventures cheaply too, and getting them at that price makes it all the sweeter. Oddly, I recall there being lots of Hawkman too.

Let us know what you think of the Hawks' Shadow War. Was it good enough to practically remove him from the DCU through Crisis and Legends?

So, for today's haul I found...

The Legion of Super-Heroes numbers 312, 314 and 315. 312 was one of the last few issues before it switched over to tales of and since 314 has "tales", it had to be 313.

Legionnaires, numbers 1, 2 and 3. Which means that since it was a four issue mini and I found 4 at a flea market some months back, I've got the full set.

Legion of 3 Worlds 2 thru 5. I already have it somewhere, but all these back issues came out the dollar bin, and they were on special today ...3 for 1$.

I then got Adventure Comics # 8 with Brin, Thom, Jeckie, Dawny, Garth, Brainy, Jan and Tellus on the cover. Again, 3 for $1.

And, The Fury of Firestorm, the Nuclear Man number 32 guest starring Phantom Stranger.

And finally, Hawkman # 15, Titans Burning Rage # 1, and Justice League, Slaves of the Source Wall annual number 1. These last three were full price, but my total still came to less than $20 for the day.

Me Happy.

Legion of Super-Heroes number 261. It was the space circus adventure wrapup. Every once in a while I find an issue that was a gap issue for me way back when I was buying off spinner racks. Turns out I had it, but since I read it first as an old man, I didn't remember until I started reading the one I just bought. Didn't mind a bit though.

Hate to say it but the new legion isn't geared to me anymore but they are hoping to grab the young kids...and they deserve their day in the sun. I'll just keep trying to find old issues I never had.

The rest was current stuff, including the Latest Hawkman. I'm liking the story so far, pairing him with Shade and going against Gentleman Ghost, but I'm also looking forward to getting Shiera back. Kendra is great but she's gone her own way.

With a bit of luck, you'll find that the new Legion is just as enjoyable as old characters as Hawkman can still be to you.

I mean, It's DC, and the chances of that are slimmer than Ron Karr going under a door, but...

Well, no new (old) legion today, but I did pick up the big Superman reveal. I'll leave it at that.

Something else that has popped up in Legion before....Thanagarians. Yup, Hawkman # 19. Ya'll, please, pick this book up. The story has taken all the crazy shit done to Hawkman/Carter and turned it into an epic, coherent storyline. It really is good reading. Right now, Sky Tyrant is ascendant, but Carter won't be down for long.

As well, The Shadow War of Hawkman numbers 3 and 4. Slowly filling in that series. Love it.

Titans, burning Rage #5. Rewriting DC history one character at time. Vics out, and only Starfire, Raven, Gar and a Robin survive as the team. Hawk and Dove show up as well. Jurgens is better as an artist than writer in my book, but he's not bad as a writer. Fun story so far. Madmen. Haven't seen them in ages.

Doom Patrol young animals number 6. Hate this has turned into yet another mini.

That's it. Rather paltry haul, but it's what I got.

I agree, the current Hawkman series is really good.

Hello hello hello all.

Today's Haul...just new stuff, no old. Didn't have either time or mullah to dig and buy extra. Short runs over the Christmas holiday, don'tcha know.

Legion #2, current series. I bought it.

Aquaman #55. Great art, not so hot writing, but I'm still hanging in there.

Terrifics #22, I think it is. Look, this book has really surprised me with it's quality writing and art, unique humor and fun. But, I effin' hate Bizarro and reading the speech. (Yes, I know, all those that know me here know I can lapse into and fire rhapsodicly in in fluent redneck) This storyline has dragged on with me having to read it, and I'm tired of it.

Justice League #38...Good storyline. Ready for it to end.

Nightwing #67. Dan Jurgens is doing a great job getting us out of a shitty storyline. Better for us when it's over.

Shazam #9. Silver age <sigh> here. Great art, decent storyline that needs to move on forward, but given the writer, we know by now it's gonna be slow. Still, it's not bad. Johns can write, but he leaves NOTHING to the readers imagination. Everything is spelled out, no shorthand at all.


Well, that's it for this week. What'ch'all got?

This week's haul...

Well, Legion #3, current series. Hmmm. Art's fine, no problem with it. Detailed, clean for the most part. Still not sold on all the new looks. Some folk like them, not so much for me. Story. Liking the Mordru stuff. Dawnstar...out of character for me. Rokk as an indecisive, feckless leader? Nope. Rokk and Tasmia...Okay, it's different. Mon as ....what? exactly? eh, I don't know. Tired of riding the fence on the book though.

Aquaman, #56. Thank you thank you thank you. I don't know who Deconnick is, but I did not enjoy that run. Higgins...new, will give a chance. The art...much improved. Don't like to talk about artists as style is subjective, but it seems so much ....more.

Nightwing #68. Jurgens...thank you for rescuing the book. Now that the bullet brain storyline is over, maybe we can get back to Nightwing/Dick Grayson. He used a little scify magic to get us back there. No programming can bring back lost brain matter. But it's over and thank you to him.

Flash Forward #4. Lobdell isn't a writer I tend to enjoy. I left several books because of his work on them. He's been involved in the Titans characters for a while now. Story seems disjointed and Booth's art isn't helping me much. It's nice work, don't get me wrong. Just not a type I enjoy. I don't know who Wally is supposed to have murdered, or even when it happened. I just know he's become an absurd "Marvel Tragic Figger", and I don't read marvel any more because of those figgers.

Hawkman #20. Venditti is doing great stuff on this book. He's managed to clean up the mess made after John's cleanup and it works. He's bringing back Shayera, which works for me. Art is fine, colors seem a bit murky at times, but still good. Just needs to move a little faster now. Sky tyrant seems like something foisted on him and he's doing the best he can with it. Don't know what the evil six is all about with the dark metal stuff, don't care. Ready for it to move on. But still a good read and please support the book.

No old stuff, unfortunately. And the last few times I've been to the shop, Sam was waiting in the car on his phone. Music is his thing, and I love that, but it generally means the little time i have with him is spent on that, and I don't have time to plunder the back issues.

Folks, I'm not the only one buying, am I? Lets here what you get and what you think?

Sorry, Rick, these days what little "mad money" I have goes towards saving up for expensive original printings from the 1950s and 1960s. Once in a while, I get a really good deal, like on some of the adaptations of those old TV shows and movies -- my most recent was Four Color issue 1130, the second of two adaptations of "The Deputy", drawn by my all-time favorite comic book artist, John Buscema. Only 7 bucks, in perfectly readable condition. The other Four Color "Deputy" is also drawn by Big John, but I haven't found a decent condition copy under 20 bucks yet.

Perseverance, perseverance...

Someday, I think I should write a book all about Big John's Pre-Marvel artwork.

Someday sooner than that, I plan to post some sketches I'm doing of the Legion in an imitation of John's style.

Thanks for the updates Rick. Nightwing has been shot in the head and lost brain matter and Wally is DC's version of Speedball/Penance while Hawkman is bogged down in some already well-finished Event. I'm sure it's better in the execution, but I can't say I'm likely to even pick up one to read. I did see some blurb about Aquababy being some sort of countdown event. Let's hope they don; let Manta near him anytime soon.

Five Years - Nice art, and the story will build up the closer we get. But that issue was read in a few minutes and I'm thinking I'll enjoy the trade more.
Legion - That put off induction of Jon's will also read better in a trade. It's just to slow in a monthly.
Strange Skies over East Berlin - I picked it up as I was reading a Le Carre novel. It's a 4 issue mini, and I've 2 put aside to read. It's a horror and the writer gets the cast isolated nicely. Would make a decent trade read.
Copra - The art takes an issue to get used to. Subplots develop like an alternate universe Ostrander Suicide Squad.
Goon - Best of the bunch. Recommended.
Hellboy Winter Special - Not out in time to be called a Christmas special. A decent read this one, without me jumping up and down.
I'm getting Poe's Snifter of Terror for my dad.
I picked up a couple of random John Carpenter sci fi / horror ones. I've still to read them, but I've been meaning to get some of these for ages.

I've been picking up some TPBs in a sale, and because I can see them in a new shop without having to prise them off the shelf with a crowbar. I'll put up some reviews at some point.
The Ballad of Halo Jones (vol 1-3); Nemesis the Warlock (with the Talbot bits in); Skreemer; Mr X (2 volumes); Bad Company (original story with Ewins art); Third World War; Journey into the Unknown (2 vols); Dylan Dog (due to Teeds covers); Roy of the Rovers; Dracula Files; Copra (1st couple of volumes)

Nearly British enough for some old bloke to offer me a choice between a sword or an amulet. Can't he see that I'm trying to read?

Today's haul is backissue gallore. My LCS, Legends, came up with a loooooot of silverage stuff and bronze age. And while new and other stuff was running at a dollar a book for sales, this stuff was priced by guide. I could have pulled about two boxes worth, but didn't have that kind of money. Original Teen Titans, Justice League, Silverage Flash and GL*GA and the list goes on. What I got was paltry, but it's what I could do. Anyway...

Two GL*GA's, 103 and 113 by O'Neill and Saviuk. Never had these before, so looking forward to them.
Action comics #608 with a big ole GL cover.
Isabella, Howell, Heck and Miskin's Hawkman, numbers 5,6, 7, 9, 10, 11, and 12.
and finally, some new things, Hawkman's current series, #22, the new Aquaman 100 page giant, and the reprint that just came out of GL number 1, silver age GL with Hal.

Gonna relax and read now.

Good haul Rick. Enjoy!

Sounds like a good afternoon!

'twas, Myg. 'twas.

nice! happy reading, Rick!

Another good weekend. I told them I could easily spend several hundred dollars on Silverage Justice League alone...except...you know, I don't have that kind of money. Anyway...

Adventure Comics 336, "The True Identity of Starfinger". Not great shape, which is why I could afford it.

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #'s 209 and 229, respectively. Had 209, but it was in rough shape. 229, I had years ago but it fell apart from my reading.

The New Teen Titans #33. Who Killed Trident....never had it before.

The Shadow War of Hawkman, the entire mini-series 1-4. Never had it.

Hawkman #8 of the Isabella/Howell run.

and finally, a new book, Justice League 44, just came out this week.

But oh lort, they got silverage flash, GL, Phantom Stranger, Secret Society of Super-Villains....I don't know who had all that old DC stuff, but dang.

I was fortunate with Silver Age, that 1) my dad liked it when he were 2) he was happy to indulge me over a long period getting them and 3) the prices weren't in the same ballpark that they'd later get to.

I recall that 4 issue Shadow War of Hawkman as having more momentum than a lot of the later series.

Titans #33 has Perez art and ?.um Perez art. That's probably unfair, but I recall is as an um issue in what was a relay good run. So that means it would have been a hit in nearly every other series. I can easily see JLA satellite era doing well with it, because...well, no spoilers.

What do you think of the most recetn Justice League compared to previous volumes? I've not read anything of it in several years (a preview snippet launching a Johns series aside)

Very big epic threats. But, I have no idea how the perpetua storyline ended, and suddenly, it's tartarus. It's got great art, and great everything else, but the storyline of Apex Luthor, perpetua, and such lasted too long for me and was unsatisfying. But you have to remember, I just slobbered over stories written in the sixties and seventies. My taste may not match yours.

I'm partial to the Fox/Sekowsky and the satellite era with Conway (particularly Perez onwards). Although there are plenty of other gems in the run.

Rick, I actually have a copy of the final Perpetua issue if you want it.

As for me and the JLA, I think it rarely got better than the early-mid seventies Len Wein/Dick Dillin issues -- 7 Soldiers of Victory, Freedom Fighters, the Elongated Man joins the team, et cetera. Also, I think JLA 200 is a masterpiece, and there a lot of good stuff on either side of 200...tellingly, the JLA editor at the time was none other than...Len Wein. Not to take away anything from the writer Gerry Conway, of course, I just think Conway shone brighter with certain editors than others.

Ann, I think I have it. I just din't unnerstan' it. I think. They lost, but they they didn't lose because they were saved and sent somewhere else but then are back and no one seems to know about the loss?


I confoozed.

LOL That was basically my reaction, too. I was like, are there pages missing or something? I don't see any tearing or loose staples.

Sometimes Snyder rivals even Morrison for incoherence.

Another nice week for me, thanks to my LCS, Legends.

The Secret Society of Super Villains, numbers 1 and 2.

Silver Age Justice League of America: issues 104, 106, 117, 132, 141, 146, and 177.

And as usual, two new issues, Green Lantern Season 2 #3, and Hawkman number 23.

I could still drop a wad, but I don't have it to drop, so I eke it out.

And Ann, we are of a similar mind.

I picked up a few obscure books from the bargain bin the other day:

UNEXPECTED #177, from 1977, and a Dark Horse book from 1995, WOLF AND RED #2. I got #1 and 3 when they originally came out, but I missed #2. Now I have the whole 3 issue mini-series.

Congratulations, Malvolio! Always feels great completing a mini-series!

Mal...Excellllllent! *Steeples fingers evilly*

Was that when Captain Comet was hanging around the JLA Satellite?



Spiffy Len Wein written tales in 104 and 106

Yellowjacket rejoins the JLA in 117. That's who I always thought the silhouette looked like, anyway.

Isn't 141 a giant length issue. Checks... yups.., and it's the cracking Manhunters one too!

146 is a follow up to 106, so that's a nice combo. And giant sized too I see.

Some really good reads in there.

[/quote]

I was wrong, it isn't SSSV #1, it was 11. Seems the edge was shaved off. I could have been, it was when he returned to earth the first time.

I remember reading for the first time that he was a honorary member, and being a baffled li'l thoth. It turned out Comet had teamed up with everyone at the time. Just the sort of thing that characters do at the start of their books. But with Comet, it didn't stick. Possibly because Conway didn't last long on SSoSV. Looking back, I guess Comet might have been the next member of the team but perhaps 1)Sales weren't strong 2) Plans for the JLA changed 3) Conway might have lost interest after leaving SSoSV 4) DC Implosion.

Today on "Glen's Wad"... *some of you that like goofy movies will get this. And smile, I hope.

The Secret Society of Super Villains. Yup, keeping on the trend... Numbers 7, 12, 13, and 14.

Hawkman, the Miskin and Howell series...numbers 14 and 15.

Shazum number 12 of the current series. Nice fillin issue, Billy really seemed like a kid, but they all seem to forget the wisdom of Solomon because even as big red cheese, he makes kid mistakes.

And finally, Aquaman 58. The art is great on this, but it reads like a bad soap opera. Just my thoughts. I do like that there is an actual, two part WORD BALLOON on the cover. Holy Fracken Hellzebub.

Picked up a few back issues last week:

HOUSE OF SECRETS #142 (1976)

BLACK ORCHID #8 (1994)

A lot of good horror comics from the 70s, 80s and 90s in my LCS back issue bin these days.

Excellent haul, Mal. I looked for that Black Orchid series, but I never really had it from my old LCS. Was that where she was really the plant elemental?

Yes. It was also where she had that little sister character. I believe she was named Suzy and she crossed over with Animal Man's daughter Maxine.

Cool. Was it a good series?

Yeah, I enjoyed that version of Black Orchid.

Well, of course I got Legion #6, that's a given. I may not be enthralled with the series so far, but I'm gonna give it a fair try. Normally I'd reach my decider point at 6 issues, but I'll try a few more.
Then, Justice League 46. I swear, seems like this thing jumps around a metric shit ton.

Remember the Steel series from the late 70's from DC? Got one through four.
16 and 17 of the Isabella started Hawkman series from the 80's.
DC Comics presents 11 with Superman and Hawkman. Starting to see a theme here?

And finally, Wolfman and Perez New Teen Titans 19, guest starring...well, Hawkman.

Hello all. Well, I am gonna say this was a good haul this week. I was able to splurge a little since I only had three new issues, those being Hawkman #24, Green Lantern #4, and Nightwing annual #3.

Okay, this was Silver age Justice League of America heavy, ain't gonna lie. Number 44, the "plague that struck the Justice League". Rough shape, but I buy them to read, not to collect.
Justice League # 62, "Panic from a Blackmail Box".
JL #72. Very rough shape with the back half of the cover missing. But, Hawkgirl is SUPER PROMINANT. Hawkman is a pillar of salt.
JL# 121, Adam Stange gets married.
JL 3 125, Harvey Dent Joins the Justice League.
JL 130. Hawkman head and weird purlple torso with flash legs. This strikes a chord, but I can't say I remember it all.
JL 131. "Do Not Feed The Humans". Looks like a take on Planet of the Apes.
JL 142. Giant sized with a robot kicking Ralph, Arthur and Ray's butt tocks.
JL 144. A crossover issue with what looks like everyone.

The Flash #222 guest starting Hal.

And what is for me a personal favorite, Dynamic Classics #1, featuring Batman in "the secret of the Waiting Graves", and the start of the Archie Goodwin Paul Kirk Manhunter series.

I's gonna be havin' fuuuuuun.

Great haul. Happy reading.

A real mixed bag of JLA issues. Great fun.

Sad thing is, I can only read for a short time before I get a headache now. I can use a computer all day, but reading only about 30 mins. Old age sucks ass.

30 mins = 2 Silver Age Justice League issues or 20 Bendis written comics.

I'm dozing off while reading. I guess it's saving me from the headaches.

Have you tried reading the comics on the computer?

You might just need new glasses. I sometimes get headaches when I try to read small print.

I probably do, but that's a bill for another day. Sam has a tooth, it seems.

Anywho....

Big haul for the legion this week. Some of them I've had before, some new to me.

Superboy and the Legion #233, the Infinite Man.

S&TLSH number 240, Grimbor.
S&TLSH # 242, looks like an Earthwar issue. Quick look, yup. Even did a writeup on it in Fanzinq way back when.
S&TLSH #243, continuing Earthwar.
S&TLSH #244, continuing Earthwar, the Circle.
S&TLSH # 245, Mordru.
S&TLSH #248, Mon punches Dirk, apparently.
S&TLSH #249, Chemoid leans in.
S&TLSH # 251, Omega times 2.
S&TLSH # 252, Firehorse.
And then a couple of new ones.

Aquaman # 60, and Justice Leagues 45 and 47.

Very nice, Rick. Enjoy.

I like the backup story in 240 better than the Grimbor lead. Really good, and all too rare, spotlight on Dawnstar.

Love your descriptions of each issue, Rick! Happy reading

Thanks, Ibby. It was.

Well, this weeks haul is as Legion light as last weeks was heavy.

New Teen Titans, #18. Marv and George do Russian Starfire. Comrade buddy Smash Pretty Gold girl with Column. Guess he really was a Colomnist.

Hawkman #27, "When the Snow-Fiend Strikes!", or, What Katar gave up for lint(balls).

Green Lantern #24, featuring "the Strange World Named Green Lantern", or Green Lantern Vs. Green Lava Dude, based on the cover.

Green Lantern #91, Hal Vs. Sinestro in clothes the dry cleaner rejected.

Green Lantern #126, Hal vs. The shark, or "Shark pops a squat on the dock!"

Green Lantern #143, Hal and the Omega Men conclusion, or "Hal Vs. Laser Lar-E" based on the cover.

And finally, the Green Lantern 80th Anniversary edition with Alan, Hal, John, Kyle, Guy and two other gl's on the cover, unless that's also Mogo.

Hopefully, I'll have more time to peruse next week and find some Legion stuff.

hahahahaa

hope you find the interiors as entertaining as I found your captions!

They were pretty good. George and Marv's NTT was a good one. Turns out I had read it years ago but didnt remember it. Reading it brought back the magic that the book had back then that all too many books are unable to capture today.

The GL stuff was good, turned out there were two Shark stories. Never liked that particular villain, to much of a lesser ripoff of Gorilla Grodd to me.

The 80th anniversary GL stuff was good.

Talked about the Hawkman book at Hawkworld on facebook, not pc for todays stuff, but a little subversive as well, given that Shayera saves Katar (which all the hawkwomen have done through the character's history) and the villain turns out to be a bit of a switch.

So, this week's haul...

Justice League #50, current run. Hey, look, word balloons on a cover again. Neat.
Action Comics #600. Never had it. Looks like fun. First time they had supes and wondy gettin' down? On the cover anyway.
Superman Annual 3, 1991. Supes and Maxima gettin down. Redheads are smokin' hot, ain't they? Startin' to look like Supes is a hound dog.
Action Comics #594. Supes and Booster gettin' down? Rough time spanky spanky? Dunno, haven't read it.
Action Comics #596. Supes has specter drapped all over him. Nope. I'd have to nope outta there. Kinky, sure, unconventional? Sure. Necrophelia? Gonna have to take a definite pass on that one.

New Teen Titans, #'s 15, 24, and 29. New Titan-y goodness. You know, back when they were good and not endless retreads of reshuffles.
Tales of the New Teen Titans, #'s 60, 62, and 71. I think I might have had them in baxter form, but anything with Starfire's original costume....golden goodness.

Anyway, no new (old) legion, and no new legion either, LCS hasn't gotten it yet.

Ah well.

*GASP* One of the first DC stories I ever read, and still a sentimental favorite of mine. (FTR, Louise Simonson told me in person that it's one of her favorite stories she's written.) Good choice, Rick!

Thanks, Ann. Yeah, I've been lucky with my LCS lately. They've been getting a lot of older stuff in. I hope it isn't because people are desperate for money during these times, but I'm glad to get them. Got a lot of bronze and silver age JL stuff a few weeks ago, but haven't had a chance to go through them. But I'm not complaining, they are still waiting for me to read. Got through today's stuff. Pretty good. Funnily enough, it was the Titan's 71 ghost story I liked best. Had to stop from the headache, though.

I have all those Superman books. I really enjoyed the Adventures of Superman Annual with Maxima as well, a good what if/might have been tragically sweet story.

Action Comics #594 with Booster ends on a cliffhanger continued in Booster Gold #23. Spoilers below if you are curious (although the answer is fairly obvious to a regular comic reader)

Very cool, Stile. I have that old Booster, but haven't read it since I bought it originally.

So, this week...

Nightwing 73. Biden over his shoulder creepy... Anyway...Le Sigh...Jurgens was doing a good job cleaning up the bullet to the head mess, and then this shite came along. Can they just leave him out of these endless batman things, quit servicing the Bat and let him be his own man again. Honestly, every time there's a universal reboot, he devolves into the bat family even more. And honestly, i'm sexually intercoursing tired of joker. Really.

Aquaman 62, or should I say, the Black Manta family chronicles. Ready for this storyline, and the royal soap opera, to be over with as well. It's an okay interlude before they close shop on the book/character/iteration, but this book had come so far before this repeat retread of him being/giving up the crown/former monarch. Try something new, people.

Legion of Super-hero's 7 and 8. I honestly don't recognize these characters. Rokk's a whiner, Mon is..a whiner. Cham is idiotic. I get that he's supposed to be alien, but c'mon. He comes off dumber than how they used to play T-wolf. And lets not get into that character. Yeah, go ahead, make him over into wolverine. I haven't read that character in 20 years and now you gonna do it too my favorite Legion character?

Action Comics 546, guest-starring the Legion and the real Teen Titans. Gil Kane on art and Marv on story. Good story, fast wind up, realllllly short epi.

Last Days of the Justice Society of America. Okay, Roy did his best to send them off in grand style, and it should have been epic. I don't feel the artist and inker were together on the art, and it was the sendoff, at the time, of my second favorite group of all time. So that probably colored things for me, but there you have it. Not the best haul for vintage books, and not the best haul for new stuff. Every week can't be a winner, folks.

Small haul this week, but I think a good one.

Teen Titans #32, Ghost lady makes octodragon eat Wally and Mal. Talk about fast food.
Teen Titans 352, the Kids get all punchy with the mentors and there's a lot of open mouths. Getting punched. Talk about needing dental work.
Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #232 Superboy once again shocked with light coming out oh his face and Saturn Girl once again falling out.
Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #255... Rokk Does The Time Warp Ahhhh giiinnnnnn!
The Flash #260 Barry is once again confused by the same guy doing different things in different places at different times. Chews his gloved fingernail again. Talk about nervous ocd.
The Flash #312 "We're havin' a heat wave....a double heat wave...the temperature's risin', Barry's flash fryin'...."
Justice League #53, Death Metal. Who the hell knows? This book hasn't made sense in about a year and a half. DC is falling into the "needlessly and incomprehensibly convoluted bovine fecal matter" range once again. Instead of Didio not steering the ship, who knows who is now, but they are just as disorganized as he was.

Jim Lee.

Well, Lee didn't impress me at marvel, wildstorm, or dc so far. It may be that he'll turn out great, clean up the crapfest that has been dc event continuity, and go on to return DC to greatness. We'll see.

So, this week,

The Aquaman 100 page giant #4. Haven't read it, think it was the wahmert version. Could be wrong.

And now...drum roll please...Silver Age...Flash. Yup, another short week because my lcs moves vintage, classic DC fastern' exlax through a goose. No new (old) legion for me. ON the other hand...I liked the silver age flash, so...

Flash #221, or... Holy Vibrator, Flashman! Guest starring in a backup feature, Green Lantern.

Flash #247, Now Monthly! Two flashes Vs. Avader Kadave....um Abbra Kadadadoya! Jay Garrick-y goodness.

Flash #258, Great Shades of Crisis Death Preview, Elvis! Yup, it looks just like they took this cover and made it Barry's death in Crisis. Vs. Blackhand, of all villians.

Flash #271, also known as the ubiquitous Rocky cover. I never had this issue before this, never saw it in person, even, but that cover of Barry standing in front of a mirror holdin a tux while rock was fused into his body and telling him to hurry up not knowing...was everyfreakin'where! Looking forward to it.

And finally, Flash #279, Clive Yorkin, the Parasite of the Flash Comics.

Good news is, these should be... quick... reads.

And maybe a flying Super-Pig will join the Legion of Super-Pets.

Gruesome! I think that stayed in Mr Wolfman's mind.


Never mind asking Iris to hep you with a splinter! Call an ambulance!

Very nice, Mal. Thoth, yes, that was the series with Captain Comet. 17 pages per issue of supreme whiplash extreme crazy.

Well, folks, pretty small haul this week. Got offered an original Legion of Super-Hero's, #4. The four issue reprint series of adventure stories. Anyway, I already have it, so I said no. But, the guys at my LCS know me and my pursuit of Legion stuff, so it was very cool they offered.

Anyway, Legion of Super-hero's alternative storyline from earth Bendis #10. Seemed like a lot went on, and yet, not much seemed to happen. Good art. Six-armed Dr. Fate seemed cool.

Justice League of America #166, or, Reddy the android gets rendered unconscious, again, so much so they talk about it in the actual storyline. Poor Z. Turns out her new outfit kinda stunk, and I hated it compared to her original. Great character that has kinda been lost over the years. Oh, and the SSS-V shows up in this issue as well, but without Comet in tow. That storyline and the SSS-V highlighted the new outfit for the Wizard, but I didn't go for it as much as I liked his original. Yeah, I know, I'm old, stodgy, and like the real thing, and don't like changes. Eh, whatchagonna do?


Action Comics 473. Man-hating Karen from Krypton and a bunch of balding dudes from same show up while ghost batman seems chipper. I swear the guys were on LSD sometimes while writing this stuff.

I remember that JLA tale, where they swap ID's with the heroes. I quite liked that one. Identity Crisis mined it as the foundation of its plot. Not a series I recall fondly.

Well folks, this week was a big bag of nothing. No new books for me, and since Carol and Sam were in the car, no time to peruse the back issue bins. So, what did all ya'll get?

I picked up a little set of self published UK comics in A5 format from 2015. I liked it enough to get the missing number 1. As I did that, it turns out they're having a Kickstarter to complete the story. Nice timing.

Very cool, Thoth.

Not had the time or money to look for older stuff lately, and the new stuff...welll

anyway.

Aquaman. Really not digging the current issues with the writing. Arthur seems secondary in his own book. Art is great, though.

Nightwing 77. Seems like the "bullet to the head" stuff is over. But the smaltz of this issue kinda turned me off.

Green Lantern 10. Guess this story is coming to an end with a new book and writer that hates Hal. I mean really hates him.

Between Death meddle, Endless whiner, and all the other "events"... reading less and less.

Since I can't get to a local comic shop...

Comixology had the Marvel Masterworks available for buttons. I picked up the first 2 Avengers, Thor, Shield, Fantastic Four, Hulk, Iron Man and X-Men. 80 comics for less than a tenner.

Which incoming writer hates Hal? (seems very odd to let them near the property)

Geoff Thorne. The new book is going to star John Stewart.

Not someone I've read anything of. I hope his Hal Hate doesn't lead into anything nuts, like him being the killer of millions or anything.

Okay, so I finally got to my LCS today. Picked up Legion 12. Umm. Hmmm. It was...certainly busy.

By accident, since I didn't see the Future State label on it til I got home, Shazam. I gotta say, I've pretty much had it with the depressing, joyless, more horrible than the last futures that DC keeps churning out. Jesus Christ, can't there be any fun or joy anymore? I had not planned to get any of the Future State stuff, and still don't.

Firestorm #2...THE ORIGINAL RUN. Conway and Milgrom, guest starring Superman. Hot DAMN! Look at that, a character that, while having some crisis' of confidence at times, still finds joy and fun. Hmmmm.

And now, the rest of my rather ... Flashy... get.

All silver age here...

Flash #209. Cary Bates writes, the fantastic Irv Novick draws. Back when Flash was about fun. Writers kept coming up with different wacky things for him to get through, using his powers in varied ways. Boomer and Trickster on the cover, but really, the interior story was funked up. and some of that art was very out there. But on page five, the black and white barrier and the art/coloring effect... dang, didn't know they could do anything like that in comics way back when.

Flash 215, Hey, Joan was still a babe. Vandal gets Savaged.

Flashes 222, 223,225, 238, 242, 251, 258, 268, and finally, 272. Whewh. That's a lot of flashing.

Awesome, Rick.

I don't have Firestorm v.1 #2, but I do have Firestorm v.1 #5, the rematch with Multiplex. I honestly dislike Milgrom's style of drawing, but him being co-creator of Firestorm makes up for a lot of his artistic sins. And Conway was at his best there (and on the first 7 issues of Firestorm v.2 as well.)

I wish there were more affordable full-color reprints of Silver Age Flash and Bronze Age Flash, especially the early Cary Bates/70s era. I've read all four of the Showcase volumes (thank you, public library system) and I own the Elongated Man Showcase volume (which reprints not only all his short solo stories from the 60s, but also all the 60s Flash stories in which he guest-starred.)

Always a bit awkward discussing Rick's flashing

#215 was probably the first older Flash I remember getting. I don't remember the story, so I'm guessing it was a favourite. Adams cover would have been a draw through.

#222 is a fun cover. Fortunately, we could all stop concentrating by 1985, when they bumped the Flash off. There are lots of good Flash covers to catch the readers' attention. #258 is another gruesome Black Hand one.

By the time #268 was around, I guess that speculation prices for back issues were already reaching silly levels, and Barry, Ted and Alan end up fighting over a golden age comic.

Milgrom and Broderick aren't my favourite Firestorm artists. But the writing, as Rick says, looked to bring out the fun in the character. Conway said that here you had a character who tried to leave behind the troubles of their every day life, by getting enjoyment out of being a super hero.

I've been a "flasher" since I was a kid. Cheeky of me, I know.

Yesterday's haul...

Green Lantern #12. Hal out. whimper whimper whimper. No bang. Disappointing. Guess this clears the way for the new GL book written by the Hal hater. *Not my interpretation, his sentiments.

Nightwing #78. Clean art, decent story that gives Dick some closure as well as making sure he can keep getting his wonderful gadgets.

Nightwing Future State 2. Accidental pick up. Haven't read it.

Shazam Future State 2. Got the first by accident, grabbed this one to have the whole story. Haven't read it yet.

Return of the New Gods #19. Gerry Conway and Don Newton. Now'er is the Hour!

Batman, #267 and 269. David Reed and Ernie Chua. Great art and excellent, single issue mysteries. A fine skill now lost this day and age.

The Brave and the Bold #165. Batman and Manbat. Livin' life by the nostalgic drop.


Wish there were more books from the now for me to get. Would love to have more moolah for the older stuff. eh, such is life.

I've only read Hal Jordan when he was a) quitting b) whining c) a combination of a and b. This would seem to be more of that.

No, more of a sending off into the void with no reason to come back as other than another lost GL. Basically, clearing the way for the new GL writer to do his thing, and his thing hates Hal, so he won't use him.

Been mostly getting old silver age batman, iron man and justice league lately. Very little new stuff and of course, no new legion.

Been disappointing lately. No new legion, no old legion I haven't ever had. Very little new stuff from DC I wanna read. Just kinda blah lately. I think my favorite form of entertainment and my favorite hobby may be leaving me behind.

You have to know where to look for it. E-Bay is your friend.

Thanks Mal, but that violates my "Rules of Acquirement". Has to be from a brick and mortar store, or a "find" like at a salvage shop, flea market, etc. That's what makes it fun to me. The hunt. Seeking, finding, dealing, reading. Granted, most come from my lcs, but I've found several things at second hand stores, regular used book stores, and flea markets.

So, yesterday's score...

DC Comics Presents #2, the second half of the inaugural story with Supes and Flash. Had it decades ago, but it died on me and got thrown away.

DC Comics Presents #9, Supes and Wondy. Staton and Abel on art with story by Pasko. Kinda flimsy story, honestly, but still fun too. Staton and Abel did their usual stellar work. Still like JLGL's wondy the best. But, there you go.

Nightwing #82 , the mystery of Melinda Borrrriiiiingggggg.

Blue and Gold #1, Missing the spark of hi damn larity, but not bad. Didn't know Ted was back, again, but there you go.

Justice League #65. Ummm, read it a couple hours ago. No idea what the story was. Gonna drop this unless it gets better, FAST!


Teen Titans Academy Annual. The "meh" is strong with this one.

Chaza....Um, Shazam 1, of 4. Billy is older, angry, confused...typical teenager losing superpowers. >Le Sigh<

Flash #772, not bad. Picked Flash up again when Wally came back. Huge silver and Bronze age Barry fan, but he shouldn't have come back. It diluted his story way to much to me. Wally getting back down to being Wally, a flash and a dad. This is the Wally I liked so much.

Well, that's it. My lcs has some new stuff that's older I'd like, but at ten bucks a pop, outta my price range.

Nothing beats the feeling of spotting a storage box of comics in a rummage shop...

I get all of that. All things being equal, I prefer seeking out the back issues to fill out my collection at brick and mortar stores and conventions, too. But unfortunately, with most conventions right now being virtual, and my LCS having a limited supply of back issue bins, I've been utilizing E-Bay and mycomicshop.com more often over the past year and a half.

Well, no new legion, natch, but most of my money this week went to some bags and a couple of long boxs for storing books.

Anyone else?

Sorry, Rick, haven't gotten anything for over a month. A couple of bargain-bin issues of Quasar, that's been it for me. One of them was guest-pencilled by the late Wanderers artist Dave Hoover, for a Legion connection.

Well, the change has come. Sam is sixteen now and has a driver's license, so no mo runnin' mah little buddy around. So, I actually had a few minutes to look today. Not much, though.

Legion related:

Karate Kid #14
Legion of Super Heroes # 47, Finally face to face with stargfanger...bud'et whut kost?

bunch of detroit era Justice League.
Brave and Bold #156 with one of my favorite characters, the original Dr. Fate.

And finally, One-Star Sqiadron #'s 1 and 2 of 6.

Not a great haul, but better than nothing. I had a few more boxes to look through, but some guy had camped out at them, I was tired and out of personal go go juice, so I left.

Better haul then coming up empty. Worst is finding something really great but the price screams, "Why are you not wearing archival gloves?". Hate when someone gloms onto a section and rudely does not allow others access. Plus this ain't a library so mostly those are readers not buyers. Thank you for supporting your LCS!!!! So many have closed in my area. I blame greedy landlords and evilBay (yes I am guilty of shopping there too)! And it's not just LCSs but many family local owned businesses. And the pandemic didn't help.

Also I am in the middle of finally bagging and boarding about nine long boxes of comics when my husband just found his and his brother's "stash"! Well I have to go back for more boxes, bags and boards. At least it will get me a chance to visit my friends, Eric (shown a sketch cover he did for me on the forum) and Amy. They own Counterplay Comics, Collectibles & Cosplay in Burlington, MA.

Yeah, they had some books I would have liked to get, but they were in the $20 price range, and that's a bit outside my reach. Great finds, but.... However, I don't begrudge them at all. If they can sell at that price and it keeps them open, I'm happy about it.

Rick, J-Pop, you both are bringing back some wonderful memories of mine, of hanging out at comics shops, looking through the back issue bins... long live the small local comics shops!

big milestone for Sam, rick. he's growing up fast! I'm sure you two will still have a lot of quality time.

J-Pop, best wishes on the packing!

How's he taking to being given your wants list and drivign himself to all the stores to look for you? I mean, surely that's what you've been training him for, all these years?



Legion Worlders all put on their sequined Shirley Bassey frocks for a rendition of ..Diamondeths Are Forever!



About 20 credits was the cost, and that was due to Strafinger's shoulder pads damaging doorwys on the way through.



Reduced in my LCS from ?120 quid to a little below ?100 the last I looked. I could only look. It's not as though you can lift it from the shelf without super strength. You could have picked up the originals for relative buttons.



Anyone with a brain cell knows their time is limited, and that they can swap boxes. If not, it's a polite but firm excuse me, or a you don't mind if I take a quick look at... That doesn't escalate further. We're both likely to have read comics with Darkseid in, and no one wants it to escalate into those sorts of stares.

Hehheheheh. Pretty good, Thoth.

Well, today's haul was pretty decent.

Found at Ollie's Discount:

Clive Cussler and Robin Burcell's The Oracle. A Sam and Remi Fargo Adventure. I know, not comics, but still.
My real treats:

Rann-Thanagar War TPB. $2.99.
JSA: Princes of Darkness TPB. $3.99
JSA: Mixed Signals TPB. $2.99
Green Lantern Volume 1 Sinestro TPB. $2.99

At my LCS:

Steve Englehart and Marshall Roger's Mister Miracle #19. Love me some Barda.
Titans United #5.
Justice League Vs. The Legion of Super-Heroes. 1

Well, time to dig in and have some fun.

I ordered some UK based comics for my boithday. I ordered them a while ago, but it would have felt wrong posting them before the day.

One I didn't know about was a book containing more reprints of UK comics from the 60s/70s.

Quote=Rick]Steve Englehart and Marshall Roger's Mister Miracle #19. Love me some Barda.[/quote]

I read that one not that long ago!

Have fun with the others. Always good to get them in a sale.

Rummaging through the dollar bins at the local comic shop, I found issues 35-70-ish of the 'reboot' Legion and picked them up to read.

Amusingly, they read at first just like Bendis, because the team was getting split up and teleported around by Mysa or Mordru or whomever at the beginning of some arc, and forever just sort of reacting to stuff happening to them, rather than actually doing anything proactive or heroic feeling. But that faded and it got better.

Gosh, I'm glad I didn't get to read these books when they came out (cause we didn't have a comics store in the podunk mountain town I was in, and they'd gone direct market and no longer sold comics in convenience stores and supermarkets). I would have hated Lori Morning with a fiery passion, back in the day. Now, she's just, 'meh.' One of those annoying kid characters who gets to pull the lever that shouldn't be pulled or push the button that all the sensible people know not to push to put the plot in fast-forward (without making any of the protagonists look like idiots). The design for her Fireball persona was aces, and I wouldn't have minded see more of that one, in particular.

Now we know where Bendis' true inspiration for his Leiogn version is from

>notstalgic sigh at rummage for cheap comics<

Knowing what ultimately happens to Lori Morning (joins Workforce, loses H-Dial) makes it easier to stomach some of her worse earlier moments

Yeah, I recognize the narrative use of such a character, to advance the plot by doing foolish, impulsive things that you don't want to put on your more likable protagonists, so that the only 'idiot ball' they end up holding is 'why do we hang out with this person?' If Lori Morning wasn't there, given the writers desire to have stupid choices propel the team into danger half the time, they'd have to make an actual tolerable character do these stupid things, and that would be even more annoying (particularly for fans of that character) than to have someone like Lori do it.

very excellent point! better than ruining a Legionnaire

Thor Annual 13. Thor vs Mephisto. Cover by Walter Simonson. Interior pencils & inks by John Buscema, co-creator of Mephisto. Decent, readable condition. Reasonable price. Happy Fickles.

Purchased today>>>

Justice League 72. I don't know, something else ramming Black Adam down our throat. Canary looked hot though.
Titans academy 12. I get why it's ending. Just flat out looooooong and boooooo ring.
Blue and Gold 6. Not bad. Not great, but not bad.

And the best.

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes 213. Ubbie gets NUTZ. Had it before, but it wore out. Grell-y goodness.
Legion of Super-Heroes Annual 1. Who Shot Laurel Kent? Just mentioned this on another thread, but shidgizz...who do'od it?

That's our Emanuela! She draws the best women of any current artist, in my opinion.

She is most definitely talented.

So, no new to me Legion lately. But I did get a few old school finds.

Freedom Fighters #15...return of the goo. Been slowly collecting the original series. Sandra Knight, I like to think she's a precursor to Tinya.

Brave and Bold #110. Bats and Wildcat. Ted Grant is another old school favorite character.

Invincible Iron Man #'s 65 and 136. Haven't read them yet, but yeah, I like to old Tony.

Flash, #'s 207, 258 and 281. Silver age goodness back when you still had great stories that could be told in one or two books, and not take five years to complete. The Evil Sound of Music. Very thin takeoff of Jefferson Airplane. 258 just seems like the precursor to Infinite Crisis. *Got this one a few months back, didn't realize it, but both evoke the same thing from me. And 281, part of the Murdered Iris storyline. Don Heck did some great work on Flash that was very underated.

Really enjoying my deep dives into the old books. Just seem more fun. Not so damn depressing as the stuff these days.

Small haul today.

One Star Squadron #5. I get what they are trying to do, but damn, it just depressing.

The Flash #200. Barry is hypnotized into trying to kill the president of the US. Lots of references to the number 200. Kanniger wrote, Irv Novick drew and yet, not a great story for an anniversary issue.

That's it.

No Legion. Very disappointing.

I've been gone from the site for awhile, but I just found something on the net that might interest some of you. I don't know if this is the right place to post it...but here goes.

I found a website that sells Legion T-shirts and coffee mugs, and this month their doing a 64th anniversary sale of the Legion.

I found this cup of Infectious Lass!

The website is Beardedshirts.com. I am not with them, but I love the thought of having a coffee cup with the old school legionnaires.

wow, thanks for sharing, Healex!

I 've bought a few Legion t-shirts from them, as well as mugs, and they're good.

And Hi! to Healex

My friend who owns Counterplay Comics in Burlington, MA, called and let me know he obtained a Legion collection of back issues. I had first chance at them. Got the following:

Superman Son of Kal-El #10 (my one modern purchase)
The Legion of Super-Heroes Annual #2 (wedding issue)
Superboy starring the Legion of Super-Heroes #203
Superboy starring the Legion of Super-Heroes #205
Superboy starring the Legion of Super-Heroes #206
Superboy starring the Legion of Super-Heroes #209
Superboy starring the Legion of Super-Heroes #210
Superboy starring the Legion of Super-Heroes #215
Superboy starring the Legion of Super-Heroes #218
Superboy starring the Legion of Super-Heroes #221
Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #224
Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #240
Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #246
Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #248
Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #257
Legion of Super-Heroes #263
Legion of Super-Heroes #264
Legion of Super-Heroes #265
Legion of Super-Heroes #274
Legion of Super-Heroes #280
Legion of Super-Heroes #281
Legion of Super-Heroes #289
Legion of Super-Heroes #302
Legion of Super-Heroes #321

Some were missing in my collection, some were because they were in a much better condition than what I already owned.

Oh, nice little haul there JPops. Well done.

NICE haul, JH. Wow. Definite kick ass.

I attended the Ithacon yesterday and picked up a few Legion issues:

SUPERBOY AND THE LEGION #234
SUPERBOY AND THE LEGION #236

I also picked up a few other vintage books:

BRAVE AND THE BOLD #128
FANTASTIC FOUR #163

Oh, and a few freebies including:

SUICIDE SQUAD #1 (2020)
STAR WARS: WAR OF THE BOUNTY HUNTERS: BOUSHH #1

Ok so yesterday was Free Comic Book Day so I went to Counterplay Comics in Burlington, MA and got the following:

DC League of Superpets (Free)
The Avengers plus Savage Avengers #1 (Free)
Secret Empire (Free)
Valiant 2022 (Free)
Dark Crisis #0 (Free)
Spider-Man Venom #1 (Free)
Superman Son of Kal-El #9
Superman Son of Kal-El #8
Flashpoint Beyond #1
Justice League #75
Two sketch covers (which I will share later of my friend. Amy Carter's, which she refers to as "old art")
One commissioned sketch cover by Greg "Inky" Garland which I have shared in my other thread
And reserved one Batman Beyond sketch cover by Eric Carter

Was trying to see if they had any "new" vintage Adventure Comics but sadly I think I have picked through them all...

Some of the Legion symbols are basic enough that they look good, without anyone necessarily needing to know anything about our particular geekdom. Sun Boy, for instance, has a decent symbol, as do Wildfire, Timber Wolf and Dragonmage.

And wow, they have a TON more shirts and stuff than last time I looked many years ago!

Well....not a lot, honestly.

Green Lantern Green Arrow #91. Had it years ago and wore it out. Glad to have it back.
Justice League vs. Legion of Super-Heroes #3. Set up set up set up.
Flash #782. Reintroduced to warden wolfe for what now... the fourth time.
Nightwing #92. Meh. Honestly, new writer just doesn't seem to have that needed Umph to me.

Oh yeah the JLA Vs Legion is out. I couldn't summon the interest to even get it off comixology, never mind the store.

I got the following yesterday:

Justice League: Road to Dark Crisis 1 (Burnham variant)
Icon & Rocket: Season One 5 (Braithwaite variant)
Icon & Rocket: Season One 3 (Braithwaite variant)
Icon & Rocket: Season One 4 (Braithwaite variant)
Icon & Rocket: Season One 1 (Braithwaite variant)
Doctor Strange 1 (blank variant)
Superman 1 (blank variant) 2X
Thor 1 (blank variant)
Supergirl 1 (blank variant)
Aquaman Throne of Atlantis 15 (blank variant)
X-Men Giant-Size 1 (blank variant)
Batman Superman 1 (blank variant)

Well, only one book this week and it's a tangential connection.

Went to Charleston with the fam, had to pass some time and went to Ollie's. Found The Flash, Silver Age Volume two for less than $7.00 . Had an original cover price of $29.99. Works for me. There was also a Silver Age Supergirl, and if it's still there when I head back down, I'll get it. Had to spend more on the boy. DXL actually had some shoes he could get into.

Good spotting. Hope Supergirl is still there later. The kids always come first.

Silver Age Flash is good stuff.

A what I'm going to find in my local comic shop in a month or so...

I had no idea it was coming out.

Nice, Thoth.

Today, I actually got by my LCS. Didn't have a lot of time though.

Teen Titans Academy 15. The end. This is the end...da da duuuum the only end...my friends...

The Flash 783. The search for spoc....ummm Barry Allen. Honestly, I can't keep up with the shit dc throws out any more. Even their monthlies are so disjointed... who knows what the hell is doing on when cause I sure don't.

Now for the Good Shit.

Showcase Presents....#94. That's right, one of the holy grails from my childhood, the NEW DOOM PATROL. Wanted this since I was a kid, never saw one, much less was able to buy it. Just a measly 8 bucks. Love my local LCS.(I think they cut me a break on the cover price, though, cause my total purchase came out less than what they had on the cover sticker. Great guys there.)

Now, the truly great find for me. MY Greaatest Adventure #82. Truthfully, haven't even cracked it open yet. Saving it for that one great minute this weekend. But..Original Doom Patrol.

Comics were so much cooler then. They didn't actually TRY to be cool, they were just fun, and that's what MADE them cool.

Well, that's it for this weekend. How bout you guys?

Nice find on the Doom Patrol, Rick. The My Greatest Adventure issues were lots of fun.

Thanks, Thoth. As I get older I'm more for the offbeat titles from the bronze age. Still working on a full run of Freedom Fighters and Secret Society of Super Villians. Those are later bronze and that's cool. Things were more compartmentalized and easier to get full runs.

That's great, Rick. Congratulations on finding such seminal comics. I love Doom Patrol, too, so I have to admit I'm a bit envious. And I totally agree that comics were better when they just *were,* instead of trying too hard to be cool.

Okay, so, lately, there really hasn't been all that much coming out new that interests me. DC is unfocused, disjointed, and frankly, disappointing. So I got the two latest nightwing, and a couple others that I honestly don't remember from last saturday. With the exception being the latest Legion book. I'm...trying. I buy them, I read them...it just isn't Legion to me. It's like some crappy elsewhere book. And that's all I'll say about it.

But,

I made it back to Ollie's in N. Charleston a couple weeks ago, and found the Supergirl: The Silver Age and also Suicide Squad: The Silver Age. The are the cheaper paper colorized that I saw a few months ago. They were still there, so they came home with me. I've only had time to dip a toe into them, but they've been hella fun so far. Stupid stories that have monsters appear for no reason, ludicrous resolutions, but just so damn fun as opposed to the nihilistic stuff with dystopian horror futures everyone is putting out now.

I miss fun comics. Tired of depression stuff. This stuff is fun, silly, out there, wacked out. Guys wearing coats, tie's and hats to work with slicked back hair and bad glasses writing like they were doing shrooms and vodka tonics.

I love it.

Ann, I love the old stuff. I know I'm falling down the rabbit hole of "Eh, back in my day, things were much better because..." but I see so much regurgitation of previously trod material by writers that frankly aren't that technically proficient, the disheartening horrible futures... I miss FUN comics. The last really fun comics were Firestorm and Blue Devil. And then Firestorm went all serious and BD was cancelled, and things haven't seemed all that fun since.

But maybe I'm just old.

The Silver Age Books sound like fun.

I only read Blue Devil, apart from one issue, for the first time a few years ago. His house of weirdness connecting up some of the DC supernatural titles got kind of run over by the later Sandman.

Firestorm was one I did have a lot more issues of. Looking back at that title, there's only a small window of the ones I really liked. But a lot of solid other issues taking Ronnie through high school and into college. I did enjoy the start of his darker turn under Ostrander, but it didn't last. I'm sure I got the last lot of issues at bargain basement prices.

They brought Blue Devil back with the Nu52 JLDark, and yeah, serious and blah.

James Robinson brought him back as part of a JL team the Mist bumped off. Blue Devil's creators said they didn't know who that guy was, but it wasn't Blue Devil.

Well, just a quick trip to the lcs this week, but....

I got League Vs. Legion 5. All this buildup about the gold lantern for....what? Vandal Savage? Cool. Legion of Doom HQ? Cool. Story execution.... just whiff.

But....

Adveture Comics #318, The Mutiny of the Legionnaires. Somehow, with all the reprints and whatnot, I've never even seen the story, much less read it. Super Fatigue cured with Brain Lazers.

I'd say you can't make this shit up...but there it is. This... folks. This...is comics.

nice, rick! I'm more excited for the Adventure issue to be honest, partly because it's rarer and partly because it just gave more meat in fewer pages

I am too, Ibby. Just more fun. Stuff was effin out there. I hate to say it, but Morrison was right with that final night cosmic vampire stuff. Comics should be like a fever dream on meth with florida man in the mix drinking drano will playing oboe.

The absurdity was just so deliriously nuts. Now, it's about redoing everything that came before to put a stamp on shit., endless retreads and redo's.

Now, they'd do a seventeen issue story where Dirk's persona was messed up by the laser surgery by the assistant of Regulus.

I just dig the outthere stuff now.

Yeah, or the next ambiguous Crisis that calls back to the earlier Crises... sigh!

Just another big bloated crossover that doesn't end, but just leads into the next big bloated crossover.

Not a huge haul this week, but one that makes me happy.

Flash 786 and Nightwing 96. Okay stories. Not great, not bad. But they are two of only about five current dc books I buy regularly. Tough to follow them anymore since so much seems to happen in other books, very disjointed anymore.

Now, on to the good stuff.

Freedom Fighters, the FIRST DC series. Numbers 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, and 11. I've been trying to collect this for several years now and it's slowly coming together. Love it. And when I get a chance, I'm gonna sit and read the entire series I've collected so far in one sitting. Binge reading. Gotta love it.

Thats it. Had some more old stuff in my pull, but that tapped me out for the week, even though I got the FF stuff for only $3 an issue.

If'n I ever win the lottery, my LCS better watch out. Probably die from a headache since reading for very long hurts now (eyes are getting worse), but worth it.

Nothing this week guys. I spent all day in the monsoon that was Ian preloading, all day saturday delivering last Tuesday's load, and all day yesterday taking Sam back to school.

So, what'chall got?

Whelp, money's still tight, so all i got was the new Golden Age and

Adventure Comics #371, yet another two stories I had never had. CB's parents made of glass. Which, for some reason, made me think of ELO's "turn to stone", which turned to Stone Boy, which turned to "stone free" by Hendrix which led to Hydrox which lead to peanut butter cookies which led to my grandmother who used to make the homemade ones for me when I was a kid which led to me cutting her grass way back when.

Look, don't ask how my brain works, It doesn't make sense to pachyderm tumbleweed fog machine.

That was one of the first Legion stories I ever read - a great one!

The Fall and Redemption of Colossal Boy? I love that story!

And, Rick, my mind free-associates the same way you described yours doing.

Big hugs to you too, Ann. Nice to meet another weirdo like me.

Anyway, on to this week. I think it a doozy. Should have had a sticker price of around $65, but half off sales and a nice christmas present by my LCS turned it into a $21 dollar day. And that's the only way I could have had it.

The Secret Society of Super Villains, #3. Sloooooooooooooowly completing this run and loving it. Just nuts.
My Greatest Adventure #85, Featuring the DOOM PATROL. "The Furies from 4,000 Miles Below. Gotta love that old art.
Superboy #181... Menace of the Mysterious Voyager, Super-Marriage or Super-Flop...and the reason I bought it... "The 6-Legged Legionnaire".

Now...the good stuff. Yes, some I have, but some I don't. And at these prices...yup, gonna gettem.

Superboy and the Legion #197. Timber Wolf, Dead Hero, LIve Executioner. Got it, but I'll have a spare now.
Superboy and the Legion #203... Massacre by Remote Control. Yup, he daid. Squishy city.
Superboy and the Legion #212... See that girl...watch that sceen, dig it the disco queen....
Superboy and the Legion #214... See Spoiled Ken Pitch a Fit
Superboy and the Legion #218...Bicentennial Shaft Joins the Legion....or not...but...he stole Cos' costume and added chains...so, you know he a bad muth...shut yo mouth
Superboy and the Legion #223...Tripeene....through tha' time stream....
Superboy and the Legion #224...Pulsar and the case of the bottl'ah nair no hair...


Well, that's it for this week. Not an outrageous haul, but one of my favorites. Lot'sa Legiony goodness.

That's fantastic news, Rick! Happy reading!

The Dave Cockrum Timber Wolf story is a favorite of mine.

Always, Ann. His Twolf set the standard by which he that shall not be named is measured.

Cracking haul, Rick. Lots of fun in there.

Small haul this week, folks.

Nightwing #99. Dark cover. Darknightwingduck.
Flash#789. Rogues. Wally on ice. That's nice. Makes me wonder why Nightwing is at 99 again instead of combining for his real issue number.

DC 100 Page Super Sectacular Presents Batman. The one with Wildcat, Bats and Rueben, the boy blunder on the cover.
The Flash #176, Death Stalks the Flash and he can't resist that Green Ganja Smoker. Heeeeeheheheheh. Barry with tha munchies.

Sorry, Folks, but that's it.

Next few weeks probably gonna be light. So, ya'll hit us with some great finds, buys, hauls, or just summ'in to show your love of comics.

Nothing this week, but next week it's gonna be the first issue of Marvel's "Joe Fixit" miniseries, written by premier Hulk writer Peter David and drawn by Retroboot Era Legion artist Yildiray Cinar!

I went all the way up to the big smoke with a comic on my to get list. Not there, even though it's out digitally. Their games section has been gutted too. So, not even a concillation.

I did pop into comixology. As they fell foul of paying through a google app, you can't buy from directly in it. You can put things on your wish list, then go into Amazon and buy them there. It's a mess. there are sales on. The Marvel Masterworks are going cheaply again. But you'd not know as you can only see the price on amazon. I gave up bouncing between the library and the massive, unweildy pages to see what I already had.

Sorry to hear that, Thoth. Modern life is rubbish. It's so rubbish, that I find myself quoting the title of an album by a band I loathe.

Seriously, though, what kind of a world is this turning into?

At least we can still escape into our collections of favorite old comics.

I've already talked about it a lot in the Gymlls forum, but I'm hoping maybe people who don't frequent that forum might have their curiosity piqued here.

PAD puts in a sterling performance, Cinar a solid one. Doing both pencils and inks results in a few rough edges, especially one page where the hatching is so sloppy that the Kingpin looks like he has a combover. But I still highly recommend this comic.

Got me a li'l pile of hard copy goodness to go through. And I got Groo for my happy dad. The only copy in the store!

Good to hear, Thoth. Happy Reading to you and your dad.

And I has a certain Mr Fixit issue!

Yay!

Thoth, verra nice. I like PAD, but I never had the Fixit stuff.

The Fixit Era is not my favorite phase of PAD's long Hulk run. There's some good scripts, but most of the artwork is terrible and it's all a bit soft-edged.

But that's the main reason I'm so psyched about this new miniseries -- PAD is getting a chance to execute the stories closer to the way he'd originally envisioned them. And, like I said before, Cinar's artwork is, bar a few hiccups, solidly done.

Well, so I didn't pick up any Legion today, though I did put a few backissues in my pull for later at my LCS.

But, I did get a couple of my Holy Grail's today.

First up, Superman Number 279. I remember this cover from my childhood. Batgirl falling to her "death" with Superman flying up on for her to entreat him to save the city, not her. But, they were together again BY POPULAR DEMAND! I don't even care if the story is good. That cover is a childhood thing for my comics reading heart.

Next up, Showcase #101 Hawkman, Hawkgirl, and Adam Strange against some tiny green aliens. Never even saw most of the Showcase books on the spinner racks when I was a kid. I guess Zippy Mart and later Scotchman didn't like that particular series. Again, don't even care if the stories good, that's just a bonus. That cover though... Again, a hot redhead with curves. Any wonder I married one?

Next, an instant grail, in that, I'd never even seen this before but once I saw it, hadda have it. GIANT Weird Secret Origins. Six Strange Stories with Spectre and Dr. Fate on the cover. Dont' ask me why, but as a kid, the first time I saw the "earth 2" heros, I instantly liked them more the the earth 1 contemporary guys. They were just so much cooler.

And finally, the Flash 790, which is the first part of the inseries One Minute War storyline. I actually got the second part first.

I stopped by hoping for Nightwing 100, but they still don't have one for me.


Anyway, that's the pull. A couple of holy grails for me. Right there with Barry standing in front of the mirror, rocks phased into his body with Iris calling out for him.

Certain things were just effin cool

Great haul.

My haul was pretty small this week, but still kinda nice.


First up, Secret Society of Super-Villains #3. Captains Cataclysmic, or what I call, "Somebody ate some craaaaaazy <beep>. From an outer space romp to a high sees romp all in one issue. Don't tell me they were smokin' somethin in them old offices.

Green Lantern #191, the secret of the Predator. Or, as the cover looks...yaller yaller yaller.

Now for the good stuff. Superboy number 173, The Super-Clark of Smallville. Yeah, it was an okay lead, but I was really there for the Tuska drawn Legion backup. One of the quickest Mordru appearances ever, I'd guess, but still, a Mordru.

And Adventure comics number 336. The True Identity of Starfinger....long lost descendant of the cousin of Goldfinger and his girlfriend, Orangefinger.

Yup, that's it. Not a great haul, but one i like very much.

Well, all I can say is that this week is pure Legion-y goodness.

First up, Adventure Comics #336, The Revolt of the Girl Legionnaires! or, Chicka Chicka Blam Blam, oh baby you dead.

Second, Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #199, the Gun that Mastered Men. Or, Brainy gets really Dramatic While Jeckie Runs Forward Into A Wall Facing Backwards.

And Lastly, Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #205, The Legion of Super Exectutioners. Granted, I've already got this one, but this copy is in much better shape than the one I already have.

That's it, folks. Not a big haul, but I think it's a quality haul.

Good fun there, Rick!

From the odd SSoSV to the baffling origins of The Predator and SLoSH too.

There was a display case of comics next to the counter at my local shop a couple of weeks back. I saw some X-Men things I have going for a lot more than I ever paid for them, or would pay for them.
I was told they had expanded their back issues. So, I went back the following week, and up the stairs. They did have some Adventures and SLoSH, buit nothing I didn;t already have. They had a nearly full looking set of v4 ones too up to T&Ms departure. I tried and failed to recall which one of mine had the dunked biscuit disaster, and if I'd already replaced it.

I've not looked at comic prices in a number of years, but theirs would suggest that either
1) prices have rocketed on their way to a world where they will receive superpowers.
2) More likely that they are at it, and their prices are just silly.

Having said that, I came across a small bundle of '60s ones in a local market. All DC sci fi themed ones. They were pricey too.

yeah, I love the old stuff, Thoth, but I still get second copies sometimes. I once tried to sit down and construct a database of what I did and didn't have over my entire collection.

Gave up after a few hours. Just waaaay to much stuff to list. I've been buying to read for decades now. The big money stuff, some of it I have originals, but they are well read and not in great shape. But that's not why I get the books. It's about the fun to me.

I'd not know where to start with a list. The only one I had was a wants list from decades back. I'd have it on a little index card to take to comic shops/ marts.

Later, I'd generally focus on the one thing, making it a bit easier.

I definitely had a point, a long time back on whether I was going to take it all seriously, and get into buying/ selling. But it was a short train of thought, as, like yourself, I buy them because of the fun of reading them.

Small this week. Just Nightwing 100 and 101. Gotta be honest, getting tough to read Nightwing. Squishy is about the best way I can describe it. Then, got part 4 of Flash's one minute war. Okay. Not great, just okay.

But, I found that last Legion story where the Fatal Five kills so many and the series ends at Ollies for about three bucks. I was digging some of the art, like that new Empress, but it wasn't super great to me.

Just kinda...flat week.

So, all older stuff this week.

Iron Man #90 Crushed by the Controller, or "Mom, I'm 17, I'm not a baby anymore!" Great Kirby Cover.
Justice League of America #109, Black Canary practices guitar fretwork while Superman falls through a door.
Justice League of America #114, frankly, nothing funny here, JSA in tha house folks! The Original still tha best.

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes #236, triple story action with an Iron Mike Grell cover. His sci fi covers were just so damn good.

The Legion of Super*Scratch that* Substitute-Heroes. Never had this one before. Bwa Ha aaah never mind.

So, today was a holy grail sort of day for me. Sam is home for the spring break so I took him and Carol to Charleston. The rest of the day was great, a good time had by all. But, at the last stop, which was Ollie's on River's Ave. in Charleston, well...

First up

Worlds Finest Comics Guardians of Earth. Featuring some of Superman's greatest Team-Ups! Superman and Hal Jordan getting ready to go at it with Dr. Fate saying "Let the Battle for Earth Begin!" Now, not a holy grail per se, never even knew it existed, but it made me very happy, so I grabbed it.

Next up: NEW GODS by Gerry Conway. This stunning book, with art by Newton and Adkins ...just...holy fecal matter, Batman. But, still, as great as this was/is....

THE SILVER AGE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES Omnibus Volume 1! Holy freakin' shit on a shingle served with Horse Crackers! A hundred dollar book, in absolute great shape...for $12.999 ! I mean...JEEZ!

Guys, I love my LCS, Legends in Florence, SC. And that's where I spend my money. They take care of me, find books for me, do right by me. But I've never even heard of these books, much less seen them at Legends. And to think we were tired and almost skipped stopping.

I cannot wait to start reading the nearly 700 freakin' pages.

I just can't tell ya'll how happy it makes me.

Wow, that's super cool!! I woulda pounced on that too!

That's wonderful, Rick. I love bargains like that. And there's lots of great stories in there. Happy reading!

HOLY CRAP! What a great find, Rick!

It's a great volume, too.

Lovely find Rick, and that price just makes it all the sweeter. Lots of Silver Age fun ahead.

I had another peek through the back issue bit of my local shop. I didn;t see many of the ones that stood out last time, so they must have been picked up sharpish by a customer based starved of seeing these things up close. First Issue specials are going for a lot more than the ones I bought (makes mental note). I did ask, and they are all part of a Tom King thing. he's also writing Human Target apparently. I stopped myself saying the only people markes as targets are the poor sods who are willing to pay 15 quid for Codename:Assassin.

I did note they had reduced a Kirby thing. Not price tag on a 4 graphic novel boxed set. So, I had a peek online, and saw that one was nearing the end. Popped home and got that for a third of the price. A nice feeling when they arrive, and the paper quality will be better than the single issues I have. Looking forward to Glossy Kirby Dots!

Enjoy all the Kirby Kraziness, Thoth. What's the title, or titles?

Thanks Guys. Thoth....niiiiiiiiice.

It has The New Gods, The Forever People, Mister Miracle, and Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen. I got a number of issues a half dozen years back. But I don't have them all, so it will be a treat.

Man, I was excited when I got the recent Silver Age Batman Omnibus for a third off, and that was still 70 bucks!

Terrific find Rick. Congrats.

Thanks, Stile, I think I got very lucky. EDE's, I thought it was gonna be about $30, even on discount because it had a sticker saying that. But when they checked they dropped it to $12.99, for which I truly thanked the good lord. I was struggling to justify that 30. Thirteen, yeah, I could go with that muuuuuch better. So I completely get where you are coming from.

Is that the collection where they're all in black & white except Jimmy Olsen?

All in colour. Arrived in the post today! Looking forward to some nicer weather to sit outside and read them.

I knocked off the Worlds Finest stuff. Very much a product of the times. Started on the Gerry Conway New Gods stuff. Bit dated by now standards, but still good. About a quarter way through Legion. I'm finding myself amazed at just how much of that early legion stuff was Supergirl and not Superboy. Very cool.

Rick, I went to Ollie's yesterday, and they had the Vol. 3 Legion Omnibus--a few copies. I didn't buy it because I have the stories in Archives form.

What I DID buy were the same World's Finest book you got and the Silver Age Teen Titans Omnibus, the latter being $30.

My younger son, who is starting to get interested in comics picked out the JLA Year One HC by Waid/Kitson and a Crusaders TPB featuring the Red Circle characters.

Lardy!

Nice buys, Rick and Lardy!!!

Thanks guys. Lardy, Man, I'll be in Moncks Corner tomorrow and friday, but no way I can get over there. No place to park a big rig unfortunately. I'd really dig that volume 3. I also dig the Titan's omnibus. But, what issues does volume 3 cover, if you remember? Might can make it in a couple of weeks from now, but I'm slammed cleaning out DAK over on cypress gardens rd. before they close.

That is the one over on River Rd., right?

They must have gotten a new batch in, I didn't see that JLA or the Crusaders when I was there.

Very cool pickups by your son, though.

Yep, it's on Rivers Ave., Rick. Omnibus 3 covers Adventure 361-380, Action (backups) 378-392, Superboy 147 and Jimmy Olsen 106. I think it was $30--dunno if it will ring up less like your Vol 1 did. I'd actually pick it up for you if you want, and we could figure out the details later.




Back atcha, Fick! I'm never that far away!

I'm not sure how much time you spent there, but there's a LOT to dig through!

Well, Carol and Sam give me a little time when I'm there, but I bribe them with Guitar Center, Big Lots, and Sam's choice of Vietnamese, Korean BBQ, or something new. I also bribed him with the Army/Navy Surplus last time. I know my kid.

I appreciate the offer, but honestly, I have no idea when I might be able to get down there. Only an hour and 15 mins away, but that's a trip I save for when Sam's home from school. I usually find out the week of, lol. Still, thank you very much. Very kind of you.

Well Hello, all. Today, no Legiony goodness, unfortunately. Instead,

Superboy, Man of Tomorrow #1. Seems like Conner has been reset to his Young Justice days. Welp, this is the only new book of the week, so, lets get to the old.

First, two of the New Teen Titans Wolfman and Perez run. #5, featuring Goronn and run, dammit on the cover. Never, ever had this one. Never even seen it in person or had a reprint. So, iz' all new to me.

#34, Trouble is Spelled Terminator, or 'I shoot paper from behind, I deadly. Wheeeeeee! Don't ever remember having had it, but hey, I'm old now.

Next, Justice Leageary of Americany. Long sets here, so bare (bear?) wif' me.

#199, Goatee bad guy gloaty big picture tv yummy Zee butt rare bad Perez costume. He's gonna be master ah' tha' wirld, ya'll.
#205, Hector Hector, next yer gonna kack, ya'll. Ronnie's down along with the others, but Martin, he's gonna do it Stein'sway.
#220, where Dinah gets all twisty. Things never really seemed right with the character after this to me.
#223, Endgame. Battle with the Beast-Men! I mean...really...AquaHog battle?
#224, Who is Paragon? Is it pairagone girls? Dunna, but looks like a Spidey Quiting "Homage" cover. Also known as a bit of a rip.
#240, Dr. Anomaly....Is it the unknown bastard child of Sargon and Zatarra? Only reading will tell, dear follower.
#245, If you think Steel looks bad, blame his tailor.
#246, "Kicked ouuuuutttt inna blaze of ignominy....shut dowwwwwwn, against a guy...."
#247, or "Vixen dun +*#ked around and fou'n out!"
#248, or, "Here flasher, there flasher, ain't he gotta trenchcoat...."
#249, or..."Daaaaaaamn, you got ole'!
and finally, #250, or..."We got...fifty ways to eat ya liver".

Okay, folks, Legends, my LCS, has come through for me yet agin'. Wish I had more old legion to talk about, but wasn't in the cards today.

Ya'll, be safe, be good...an' if you cain't be good, don't get caught.

JLA v1 issue 199 has what I consider some of the best Don Heck art of all time. A lot of it has to do with Brett Breeding's inks, but also the Old West setting, as Heck was better at Westerns than superheroes.

ooooh... loads of '80s goodness in there..

Don't recall #5 of the Titans being that special, as they were just finding their feet (Perez piccies though). #34 had lots going on, so if you've not read it before, it could be a real treat (Perez piccies)

Perez cover on JLA #199 too I think, but I think it was a Western, so not my cuppa.
But #205, #223 (part 3 of that story), #224 are memorable (#224 might have been Busiek? as Conway was working away at building up to Justice League Detroit). I'm a fan of Chuck Patton's art. #250 is notable too as a bit of a boost to the series, and you get all the issues in that story in that one haul.

Happy Readin' Rick!

Great finds.

Thanks folks. Funny thing is, yeah, a Perez cover on Teen Titans #5, but Curt Swan interior. They talk about how things were smashed up and he stepped in for 5, without seeing the preceeding issue. So, he had to go in blind, using only descriptions, and he still managed to slay it. Now, I know that over time, even when he was drawing, art style's developed past his more simple style. Honestly, I was one of those people way back when that thought he was outdated and modern artists like Adams and Giordano had passed him by.

Now, with the passage of time, I realize just how wrong I was. He gave us more than a few Iconic moments, could slide into any setting to tell stories, and was always professional in his work. Wish I could say the same of a lot of modern artists. His artwork always told the story he was given in a clear, concise, and easily followable way.

Patton was more modern, but just as clear and fine a storyteller. Always enjoyed his work. I was surprised he and Saviuk didn't get more work for DC.

But, any time you had Heck on Hex, that was a win for me.

Interestingly enough, the "Lord of Time" figured in several of those JLA, and yet I never really knew of him. I just missed his issues. Seems like a character a lot can be done with...if there actually was a JLA being published today.

Oh that's right. I'd forgotten all about that having a Swan interior. And I would have thought just as you did. Even picking up the Legion back issues, I thought I was there more for the stories. But it just felt like that because the art captured it so well. And once I realised just how effortless Swan did it, on such a schedule, I started looking a bit closer, and saw what all his fans were seeing all along. When you could see work he had more time with, the quality just got even better.

I typed the above without reading Rick's second paragraph. And I couldn’t agree more. So professional.

Patton turns up across a number of books around that time. I remember him turning up in Teen Titans for the Cyborg getting a new body story with the new Fatal Five (6 of them!) fighting the team. He did Spotlight issues as well, and it wasn't long ago I saw his work in Vigilante.
I might have got a few more UK Marvel reprints for a while longer as a kid. I was getting Star Wars and Doctor Who bought for me. As they were weekly, you’d get all sorts of other reprints in there. My dad would pick up Alan Class Comics, which were reprints of old Lev Gleason/ ACG eerie tales etc. I don't know how much longer I'd have read those, as I suspect my dad was also kind of buying for himself, as the second reader.
But my first US comic, in that format had Chuck Patton art. And that stayed with me for a number of months, before I saved pennies to get another comic. So, without him I'd not be here. Letters of complaint can be sent to a Mr C. Patton, at ...

On the Lord of Time, Morrison did a decent version in a JLA/ WildCats crossover. Not a fan of the art. It contains all the usual Morrison twitches, and meanlingless technobabble suits the Lord of Time as he merges with a super weapon of the future he's using to attack the League in the past.

I've done fairly well at the local shop in the last week.

Ambassadors
I'd picked up the first issue for the Quitely art. The concept is one that must have rattled around countless RPG groups for decades. It's also runs with all the Captains Millar had in The Ultimates and merges it with some matrix and mobile technology. With the art changing each issue, and the publication frequency, I wasn't sure I'd bother. But it's a solid book, with parallel groups brining out their first superhumans. Somewhere behind them, you'd think governments were also up to things, mirroring his work in The Authority. So, a mesh of previously successful ideas in a new setting.

Animal Castle
The first series of this was excellent. So, I've put this one back to when I'm nice and realxed for a good read of it. Animal Farm in a different setting and cast. Lovely art.

Time Before Time
Still an excellent story, that I know I'm going to reread in chunks, just to keep the timelines straight. TIme travel from the distant past to the future, but not for any ideas of glory, but for criminal enterprises.

Miracleman
It's odd reading something that should have come out so long ago. Moore's run on it was so well contained, that it's dificult to expand those concepts without weakening them. There had been single tales in previous issues, showing the impact of the Miracle Family on their world. This ongoing story takes their version of Captain Marvel Jr, newly back from the dead in this world, and finding that things aren;t what they seem now, and from his own origins.

Elvira in Monsterland
Vald the Impaler ( the real one in this fiction) is kidnapping all the movie draculas (the fictional ones in this fiction) and Elvira has to stop him. Quite a few smiles in this one, as they include everything from Dracula's Daughter through to the Count on Sesame Street.

Parker Girls
As I always say for this one, I like the lighter moments best. But the tone of this one has been really grabbing. There's a bit in the latest issue, where the pace just switches up a gear, and there's no way not to see what comes next (not that I wouldn't have anyway)

Jack Kirby: Old Gods and New
I normally pick up the Twomorros stuff I'm interest in online. But one peek at the lovely art inside this, and it was in the pile. I'd read 4 Kirby Graphic Novels recently. As I was going through this book, it became clear that every odd change of direction, or focus or fate of the comics were pretty much all down to the external influence from his publishers. While keepoing him on the books, gave us more of that great art, there were so many more times I was just wishing they'd have left him alone and let him get on with it for as long as he wanted.

Children of the Sun
Wyndham's Midwich Cuckoos influenced a lot of works, and this is a suitably dark take on it.

There looked to have been another reboot across companies...and as I was reading a lot of previous version material, I picked up...

Justice Society
And it's pretty good. Lots of scope. Plenty going on which makes a nice change for a slow build up to a single plot point at the end of a lot of earlier books. And lovely art too. Nice to actually have somehting positive to say about a DC book.

Titans
It's a little more pedestrian. Sure, there's a giant ape attacking a nuclear reactor in there. But that could really have been anything for all the difference it made. This is a getting the team back together issue. There's inter-relationships, there's a couple of threats added in, one shorter term, one longer and we get to see everyone in action. So, pretty much what you'd want from a first issue.

Avengers
Another getting the band back together issue. It's a different approach with less fighting apes as a single segment, and more a battle with an ACME foe, interweaving with flashbacks of bringing the members on board. There's an annoying habit of codifying whole characters into a single word to define their place in the team. I'd rather read about it, than get hit over the head with it. I think a previous version of the Avengers did that sort of thing. But we get to see what everyone has been up to recently and how that motivates them to join uo. A final couple of pages brings in a bigger threat.

And to top it all off…
Jimmy Olsen #87. I’ve not read it yet, but there’s some Legion of Super villains on the cover. So, it’s a sure hit.

On Chuck Patton:

A good artist and a nice person. And knowing that he's responsible for Thoth Lad being here makes me like him even more.

On Jack Kirby:

Brilliant concepts, but the shaggy dog narratives and the nonstop intensity got tiresome quickly. Not to mention the awkward dialogue. Just my opinion.

On Avengers:

I agree with Thoth that the codification is annoying. But I still like this issue a lot. Solid art and above-average banter. Plus a thoroughly likable Carol Danvers for a change. And Terminus is far from an ACME foe. Read Avengers 257 sometime and you'll see what I'm saying.

Yes that Avengers 257 is quite a story, loaded with irony and melancholy along with great action, but what else would you expect from Mr Stern. (I am totally unbiased of course.) Pity it was retconned away later. The later Terminus appearances, although meant to be more grandiose and threatening, somehow come off less - leading to Thoth's ACME foe comment having at least some justification. Intersting that the later tehoretically more powerful Terminus left no lasting consequences whereas the retconned supposed imposter destroyed (part of) the Savage Land.

There are a lot of Kirby quotes in the book, and they sound quite a bit like the dialogue he uses in the comics. I find it awkward too, and so do lots of others. But once I'm in The Kirby Zone, and the dialogue is stripped back, coiled and ready to strike with power and purpose, like his figures, then it makes a lot more sense. I've not seen anyone else handle the dialogue or character any better really. The diction may be superior, but it loses purpose away from its creator. I'm trying to treat it as part of the whole work, rather than seperate it out. It's rawness is probably only added to when the amount of work he had to get out each month is considered, and the sheer volume of ideas he was coming up with for those books.

I'm not really used to Darksied appearing on street corners or in randome rented rooms on Earth either though, either from the orginals Spoiled by all the later published but read first epics where he's be standing around a throne room, rahter than getting his mitts dirty. There was an Ambush Bug series, where he would pretend Dakseid would be appearing next issue, only for it to be a hand puppet he was using to boost sales. Then he's busted by Darkseid who's working a hotdog stand. In the Kirby books, he's more likely to be appearing there than in some of the places later writers stuck him.


Oh yeah. Good point about Carol. I don't read lots of Avengers so recall her first spell on the team and that badly telegraphed alcohol problem in the Busiek run. I shall see if I've got #257 in any of the boxes!

Aw shucks. Thanks.

Very small haul today. Been dealing with a lot lately.

Green Arrow #2 (David Nakayama variant cover)
Beware the Creeper #6 (3-4 1969)
Marvel Comics #1000

Seems to be the theme this week, Jf. I didn't get any old stuff, only a few new. So, lets jump in.

Flash, 799. Granny knows best. Okay, I came back to flash after Wally returned. Yes, I like the Silver Age Barry stuff. A LOT. That said, his death in Crisis was a seminal turning point for the company, and bringing him back really cheapened that event to me. I don't like how he was brought back, only to be shunted off into the shitty multiverse stuff just to return Wally. Cheap stunt by writers that didn't understand or respect what had been done before.

Superboy 2. Lotta energy, lotta push. But they basically ejected all the growth of the character to do it. Still, gotta like the Cosmoteers...even if we really like and know who they are supposed to be.

Nightwing 104...man, I don't know. I keep hoping for better, but this is basically wish fulfillment writing, one step away from Mary Sue. The adventure seems to just be the backdrop of "Older hero's already being shown up as lesser to show our generation better." Nice art, B+. Storyline...limp. D+.

Justice Society of America. Okay, 1 of my 2 favorite teams from DC (guess which is the other. ) That said, the delays, storyline is moving slowly it seems. The art...it goes from absolutely gorgeous characters to void backgrounds. Storyline...C+, art...Characters...A+. Backgrounds, solid C. Coloring...oddly...muted. C.

Also, Titans #1. Haven't read yet.

Yeah I was a bit disappointed with them taking Connor back to his Hawaiian days effectively. Still nice to see him back.

Small Haul week, guys.

Power Girl Special 1. Hmmm. Okay, look, I've liked the character since she was first introduced, but honestly, people seem to be missing the basic premise of the character. In the seventies it was about a strong young woman, cloaked in the theme of the times, feminism. Since then, she's seemed more mopey than independent, strong and badass. And yes, I did get her series a few years back. It was okay, but again, she was more of a then current styling. The attitude was more of the then current "adorable goof that doesn't really have confidence in herself". This special....seemed more of the same. And honestly, really getting sick of endless superman and batman family characters. Art was fine, B+. Story...nah, not feeling it.


Fire and Ice backup in the Power Girl Special...Okay. Worked bettern' the lead, actually.

The Flash 800. It was nice. Lots of small stories.

Doom Patrol 1-3 of Six issue mini. Interesting new take, sort of a combo of some of the previous runs and the tv show. Not bad, actually. Each issue seems to mostly be episodic with a small through line. Peacemaker has become a combo of wolverine and lobo. as in...everywhere. Still, the rest seemed to be interesting. Would have loved to see a crossover between this DP and the Terrifics.

I'm intrigued. Please tell me more.

Well, Fire and Ice are responding to a threat near Guy. Fire understandably hates him cause he's Guy. But Ice uses the JL signaler and he shows up, mayhem ensues.

And then Big Blue shows up with his boring ass to settle things down, and then F and I head to Kansas, to Smallville, but there's a mysterious object. Looks like a sword hilt to me,but I'm old.

Just a cool little fun story. Much better than the navel gazing lead with Peeg.

Okay, thanks, Rick. I think I'll pass. I'm not a Guy hater, but I'm tired of Fire and Ice defining themselves by him.

Yeah, it's been a decade or two. Time to move forward on these things.

I'm still waiting for Black Canary to not be defined by Green Arrow.

Point well taken, Thoth.

I wasn't a fan of Birds of Prey, but it could be argued that that series did free Black Canary from being defined by Green Arrow.

Fire and Ice have never had anything like Birds of Prey.

I pretty much agree with you about the Power Girl special Rick. She has been done so much better. There is an interesting commentary at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kn2exPAI_ek

hey Stile. I clicked the link. It was interesting. And a lot of it was in line with my thinking...I think. Lotsa big words and motiffs but I believe we were really on the same page <ahem> for the most part.

I guess I'm just old. I read comics for fun and adventure. I guess I'm just to old, set in my ways, and direct for today's storytelling. Used to be, it was see a job, figure out how to do the job, then do the job. Now it seems to be more about how people feel about if a job should even be done at all.

I didn't feel the first bit of tension with the story. There was no wonder at how they would prevail. Or even if they would prevail. It was just a trip to the therapy couch, whilst she got in touch with her touchy feelings. This didn't read like Power Girl. It read like graspy, clingy, need affirmation girl. In real life, someone somewhere would be saying "just kill her and put her out of my misery!"

Like I say, I'm old. I'm not the target audience anymore.

Guess I'll stick with all my old backissues if that's how she's gonna be from now own.

Let's hope this was one of those many "experimental enhancements" to characters that just doesn't stick and is soon forgotten.

Okay, quiet little haul this week.

First up, 3 new books. Superboy 3, Titans 2, and Nightwing 105. Superboy3, nice little but heavily foreshadowed twist. Titans 2, Ms. Scott's artwork is as gorgeous as ever, but the writing was only average. Nightwing 105. Hmmmmm. The art is fine, do doubt, and it really is clean, which I've always had a fondness for. But the writing on Nightwing lately is...forgettable. I'm sorry, but it doesn't grab. I keep waiting for something to happen, some real fun, excitement, adventure. Instead, it's perfect boy does perfect things, will everyone around him feels perfect for him. He's become the ultimate wish fulfillment mary sue character in his own book, if that makes sense...? I know, it's only my review, how I'm seeing things. There's a lot more feelings and emotion and modern day writing style. And I can't help but look back at Roy Thomas on All-Star and think that he did more in four issues than I've seen in the last twelve of nightwing. Probably not fair, not objectively true according to other's metrics...but that's the way it comes across to me. I never once think..."Oh damn, that's gonna hurt, this shit's gettin' good."

It's perfect. And perfect is...boring.

New Teen Titans 15. Replacement comic, Marv and George with titans and Robotman.

Action Comics 588. Supes, Katar and Shayera. I know, with all the retcons, even I, a hawkman fan,don't really know which one this is. But it was such a cheat. They didn't wrap up the Shadow War in Hawkman's book,or even a special. They dump it in a teamup with Supes.

And finally, Justice League 187, 218, 241, 242, 243, and 257. Honestly I haven't read them yet. Looking forward to it.

And Mr Thomas would have more text in a single issue, than a modern one has in a year. You always got your money's worth with All-Star Squadron.

New Teen Titans against The Brotherhood of Evil, as the Doom Patrol is avenged? I was thrilled when I saw those ones in the shop.

An interesting range of JLA issues in there, a couple not by Conway. I think 257 was DeMatteis taking over, before the last storyline.

I remember the Hawks in that Action comic, if it's Byrne on the art.

Not sure about the JLA stuff, wasn't following it back then, so this is new to me.

Teen Titans, yup. It was the beginning of real crossover stuff in DC for me. There had been stuff over the years, but it wasn't like the top guys doing a guest shot in one of the big seven. It was more like weird meets bug nuts unhinged on the fringe. Loved itl

Yes, that was the wrap up of the Shadow war, and byrne did the story and art. It may have been meant to increase sales on the Hawk book, but I hated that it wasn't in their book.

It's possible that the loose ends were resolved in a low key fashion in order to clear the path for the Hawkworld miniseries (my two cents, the miniseries is a near masterpiece, but the ongoing went off the rails even before the first issue was written or drawn, due to DC editorial stupidly forbidding the creators from setting the ongoing during the distant past.)

At the time of that Action Comics Hawkman crossover story, I was following Superman so for me it was interesting (if a little confusing) to see what the Hawks were up to. I never thought of it form the Hawk side but I can sure see why you would be upset that the climactic battle of the war would appear in a different comic.

So, today was minor but at the same time very significant and very cool.

To start off with, Green Lantern 1 and 2. The continuing story of radar lov....um, Hall Jordan. It's Hal, so, yeah, I gotta buy. But at the same time, while the art was great, the story seemed....light. As in, lots of filler but not a lot of action.

Shazam 1 and 2. Waid's new take seems light yet another take off of the movies, which, while fun, are not the books.

And....yes yes yes, Adventure Comics 345 Featuring Superboy and the Legion of Super-heroes. MEL gets blasted, and in the actual book, grows vastly overweight, which means an ass blast ain't far behind. All puns intended.

An original for only $12 in very good shape other than a couple pages folded over in the wrong spot. But, since I'm a reader and not a grading collector, works for me. Loved it.

Oh, and ...not while comics...Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of LAW. cause I've felt I've let my mind get a little sloppy the last couple of years.

Oh my gods, Rick.

The second half of The Super Stalag of Space, in perfectly readable shape, for only 12 dollars. Congratulations!

These days, that storyline may well be my favorite of the Adventure Era tales.

And how's this for synchronicity? I was doing a marathon re-read of the Adventure Era just days ago, and after I finished that very issue, I told myself, gotta stop right here. It's just that good!

Hey Ann. Man, I think I fell into it with that one as well. Never had the story before, this is my first time reading it as well as having it. It was a blast. Some snarky brainy stuff, and the girls make the day. That worked for me. As much as it sometimes seemed slightly misogynistic, when you read through those old legion, usually the girls come up with a way to save the day and make the guys eat their words.

I loved it.

And I'm glad you enjoyed hearing about my little find. It tickled me too.

And I have to thank my LCS, Legends in Florence, SC. These guys are always on the lookout for things I might like and they know I am only an affordable buyer. They do great. And I think the sell online as well. Do a lot of toys and statues as well.

Another small haul week, and I haven't read any of them yet, so here we go...

World's Finest: Teen Titans #1. Looks like the Original crew, but I see Bumble Bee on the cover, and since I think she's been criminally wasted as a character, I'm glad to see it.
Unstoppable Doom Patrol #4. Listen, I love the DPatrol. I haven't loved all the incarnations, and it seems that a few were trying to be weird a little to hard, but this seems likable so far.
Titan's United: Bloodpact #1. Seems to be a lot of titans in my pull.
Dawn of DC Superboy #4. So far, not bad. Seems like a throwback to the Ravers, but I guess that phraze is outta date, so they just went with man of tomorrow. Still seems like they jettisoned a lot of the character growth, and the bat/super/wonder families are frankly getting watered down with waaaaay too many characters to me, but that's just the way I see it.


Now, for the good stuff. Only two Silver age books, and neither of them Legion, but one of my favorite books. Justice League of America #34, The Deadly Dreams of Doctor Destiny. Hawkman's on the cover, hope he actually plays a part in the story. They featured him as just a cover fill far too many times.
And Justice League of America #103, A Stranger Walks Amoung Us. Always loved it when Phanty showed up, and again, Hawkman is on the cover.

Whelp, that's it. Gotta head back to shower repairs. <sigh> <choke>

Two unusual JLA tales there Rick. Let us know what you think.

Oh there was a reason why DC couldn't get Hawkmsn off the cover and into the story.
His wings kept getting stuck in the teleporter tube.



Oh look, it's the Phantom Stranger arriving to take me far, far away...

well, that WAS horrible, but that's just my... 'pinion!

Does that 'pinion apply to the one where Hawkmsn was wearing Aqua-mittens or that sinking feeling you get when a comic takes you anywhere near a parade in Rutland? Or both?

So, another light haul this week, mostly new stuff.

Still working on Titans United, issue #2.

Green Lantern #2, haven't gotten into it yet.

Night Terrors, got GL, Nightwing, and Flash.

JSA #5, slooooow moving story, hoping it picks up.

But now, for the pieces of resistance.

Manhunter #1. But,don't be fooled. This is, according to what we found because I haven't broken it open yet, the compilation of the Goodwin and Simonson backups from Detective Comics. I actually had that first backup in the original Detective, but never saw any after that. Didn't know this compilation existed, but...DAMN!

And the second piece...DC Comics Presents #43. Superman and the Legion of Super-heroes vs. Mongul. Never had this before, and it's silver/bronze age goodness.

They have a couple of Adventure's with the Legion on the wall, the Subs taking on the Legion and the Superboy/Bizarro Superboy cover, but at $60/80 a piece, I just can't afford them.


All in all, pretty good in my mind.

Wow. Okay. So...

The Manhunter collected. Talk about a slam bang action ride, it certainly was. Now, don't get me wrong. It was excellent for it's time. And it still holds up great to this day. yes, the writing style is a bit dated, but...all the elements are still there of a great pulp story. Funnily enough, the only thing I found offputting...was the inclusion of Batman. I get that it was a back up in his book, and that people most likely wanted to see them team up, but honestly, I thought it wasn't necessary because the work, the care, the excitement, the storytelling and the art...frankly did not NEED batman. It set the comic in the superhero realm when it didn't need it.

But, other than that, and let me be clear here, miniscule quibble, honestly, I get WHY it was so award winning.

Goodwin was at his highest form, and Simonson...his faces, the mobility of the page and the rush of the story...DAMN!

And to think, this was basically a gift to me from the guys at the book store because they weren't sure if it was the complete collection or not. I would have happily paid for it.

And I think the sheer finite-ness of the story is what made it work so well.

Brava to all involved.

Great pickup Ric. I really liked that story when I read the early parts in B&W reprints decades ago and enjoyed seeing the resolution of it in the collection in more recent years. I get what you said abut including Batman. This is one of those great mystery stories that have a satisfying conclusion and yet the mystery itself was the best part. Great stuff and worth the awards.

I only read the Manhunter stories a few years back, having always heard good things about it. And it doesn;t take long to realise why. Excellent find Rick.

I can't really add much to the comments on Goodwin/Simonson Manhunter except to say that I love it as well.

DCCP 43 is one of my favorite issues of one of the best team-up series that ever was. It was a prelude of sorts to Levitz Legion Mark 2, coming out as it did right before LSH 284. Add to that a typically great Brian Bolland cover, and what I consider some of Curt Swan's best Legion artwork -- better even than a lot of his Adventure stories -- and we've got ourselves an all-around winner!

Congratulations on finding two rare treasures in the same trip, Rick!

Thanks guys. But c'mon, folks. This thread isn't just bout what I'm finding, despite the title. What great things are all ya'll hittin' out there?

Anyway, on to this week.

Three new books, Titans United Bloodpact #3 of 6, Worlds Finest: Teen Titans 2, and The Flash: Night Terrors 2. I know, my "new" stuff pull is paltry to say the least.

But, on to bigger and better.

Green Lantern/Green Arrow 97: Beware MY Power Sucka...ahhm, Green Lantern. Sorry, that cover, while a great Grell cover...just screams "I'm gonna git you Sucka!" Great stuff, I had it years ago but it finally wore out about eight years and 20,000 plus reads, give or take.
Green Lantern 187- "See my 'fro, see my 'fro, it's out n space we go....Got no aura or chick named Laura...it's out ter space I go".
The Flash-325. Rip Reverse Flash, or, how I blew out my tranny shifting from High to Reverse! With the Little Adored Superman III movie sweepstakes (details inside).

And finally, two books, one of which is a true get for me. First, Adventure Comics 423, Supergirl Smashes in her hot pants and boob logo with the elf shoes. And Hal stands there looking at Atom like "Hey man, why'd you let this lady bust through our steel wall like that. You realize we in outer space, right?! Now we gone di...Oh, that's right, I have this ring..".

And...yet another true get for me...Adventure Comics #376 Featuring Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes. "Who can prevent the execution of changes into anything lad?" Mystic Stones and DOOM!

Purdy nice for me. Hope you guys like my finds. Let's hear more of yours.

Another nice pick of the good oldies Ric.

You make a good point about what are others getting. Unfortunately getting to a comic store is just not practical for me anymore. I'm mostly digital these days. Would love to hold them in my hands but that's how it is. Fortunately I still have lots of my older copies to look at.

So I vicariously enjoy your excitement and it is easy enough to look up the covers on the net so it gives me fun too.

Still I agree. Is anyone else finding some goodness at the shops?

Stile, if digital is your preferred way to go now for whatever reason, amigo, that's cool with me. Give us your shots. We're all friends here. The brick and mortar isn't as important as the joy of the find, the get, the thrill of reading something for the first time. I just thought the title was kinda catchy that way.

We all love this medium, any way we can get it.

I've been perusing a recent purchase of Bill Sienkiwicz's 1989 adaptation of Herman Melville's Moby Dick, from the short-lived Classics Illustrated revival. It's trippy, maaaaan! Seriously, though, I resisted buying this for years because Billy the Sink is very hit-or-miss. This, I'm happy to say, is mostly a hit -- sure, the characters suffer from having to squeeze the story into 48 pages, but Sink really captures the mystical and cosmic elements of Melville's novel like no adaptation before or since, not even John Huston's impressive movie version from the 1950s.

Ann. saw the cover and a couple of pages online. That is some really weird but wonderful artwork. Painted by the looks of it, and you're right. It really does feel mysterious and mystical. I have to confess (wrong thread?) that I have not read the original novel, something I am probably missing out on, but this seems a fascinating adaptation.

Ric, thanks man. No worries. I was really just expressing missing the fun of searching through the old comics bins.

As for what I have been reading digitally, last week had the latest issue of Waid's Batman-Superman World's Finest which has been a fun series, not world shattering but just fun. Also trying the latest Teen Titans classic line-up title, and Groo in the Wild - just because.

Ann, the classics? Cool.

Stile, Groo? Man, I haven't seen a Groo in decades. Very nice.

Stile, I highly recommend the novel. Melville was at the peak of his literary power.

Rick, yeah, a sentient can't go wrong with the classics.

I just went on a Jose Luis Garcia Lopez binge. Legends of the Dark Knight: Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez hardcover, Star Raiders graphic novel with Elliot S! Maggin, Hercules Unbound 1-6 with Gerry Conway, Weird Western Tales (starring Jonah Hex) 32 and 33, Hawkman 18 (Geoff Johns series from the early 2000s.

JLGL? Ultra cool, Rob.

Small batch this week. Nothing new.

Green Lantern/Green Arrow #112. I had this as a kid. That Grell cover...It just hit all the right notes. And with Alan Scott doing a guest stint, it was hella cool.

Just Green Lantern #152 and 154. Staton on art.

Justice League #101. Big Giant Robot hand has Justice League and Justice society in Spaaaaaaaaaaaace!
Justice League #201. One hundred issues later, red headed alien smacks superman in the casino. Always thought that Ultraa was a wasted character.

Rick, I agree 100 percent about Ultraa! He's a character I've been thinking about writing fan fictions about for a long time. Hopefully, someday I will.

Awesome that you found the GL/GA issue that introduced the Starheart!

As for me, I bought a bunch of old Marvel 2099 stuff, mostly X-Men 2099. The 2099 thing mostly passed me by at that time, except for the early, Pat Broderick drawn issues of Doom 2099.

I don't know how to put it into words, but early 90s Marvel is special to me. I wish more people would dip their toes in there.

It's a shame we never got a meeting between Ultraa and a Superboy-Prime-not-ruined-by-Geoff-Johns.

EDE, I do believe you've just given me the plot for my Ultraa fic. Thank you.

I find it very cool that may lead to a great story by you, Ann. And that's a nice collection you got. I admit I wasn't big on the 2099 stuff or the new universe stuff. But, if you like it, I'm glad to hear it.

Marvel 2099 didn't grab my attention. A lot of '90s stuff was like that, which is no reflection on the quality, as I've found out with plenty of other things.

For example, when I was last in the LCS for Groo, I picked up a couple of Vampirella comics. I've little interest in the character. I've not much interest in her place as early bad girl art (see also lots of those '90s comics).

But what is interesting is that it's a really good take on an interacting series of parallel universes with super heroes. It's written by our Legion pal Mr Abnett too.

When I was younger, my gaming group played a game called Torg for a while. It has a cast of player created heroes, plucked from various genres, working across parallel universes. With us having read Captain Britain, Luther Arkwright and some Michael Moorcock (not me on that one then), we had a great time with it.

Vampirella is mining the same territory, using all the public domain superheroes, and others. DC nearly ventured into this territory at the end of 52, but utterly bottled it, as they do.

Anthropomorphic comics have also made more appearances in my shopping paw. Usagi Yojimbo often hovered around the edge of my pull list, when I had one. Now there is Animal Castle and Wilds End. Wilds End is War of the Worlds meeting an England populated by animals. It has a lovely pace to it, with time to give us heart warming character moments as well as scares. It's also by Mr Abnett. Recommended. If not singles, they are excellent trades.

For some reason, I'm having to buy Copra digitally, as it's not in the LCS. Fiffe has just introduced a nod to the Justice League of Detroit in it. Thrilled with that, as much as I am as his take on Ostrander's suicide squad.

Elsewhere, there's a free UK based comic called Vanguard I'm reading. I have a soft spot for UK teams. And a Kickstarter for another one has been backed and should be in my paw soon.

X-Men 2099 was my favorite book from that era, IIRC. I wasn't terribly interested in the other 2099 books, and the crossovers left me cold, except for Doom 2099, who was fun, but I was a huge fan of many of the new characters, particularly Krystalin, Meanstreak and Xian Chi Xan. Cerebra seems to have made it to the 616 continuity for the tail end of the Krakoan experiment, and seems to be the 'breakout character', since she was also used to launch the X-Nation spin-off book (which had very distinctive art by Humberto Ramos that didn't really impress me as much as the beautiful Ron Lim (IIRC) art of the main X-Men 2099 book).

One of my favorite silly little bits about X-Men 2099 is it starts with a murder mystery, as their analogue for Charles Xavier (Xian, the former 'Desert Ghost'), is framed by some casino heir for the murder of his crimelord dad. Shenanigans ensue, and his *sister* ends up in charge of daddy's criminal empire, and he plots for revenge / is imprisoned for *ages* while many more relevant things happen in the lives of our heroes and they pretty much forget about him entirely. He goes through this whole epic sub-plot in the background, being subjected to a process that turns him into a Hulk like figure of muscle, and leaves a trail of destruction to get his revenge on the people who ruined his life. This is, IIRC, at least 18 issues later! He finally scales a skyscraper, hand over hand, with his superhuman strength, to attack a member of the team who is, at that moment, meeting with Doom 2099, who is telling them that he runs this town now. The musclebound 'Hulk' crests the rise as Doom is pontificating, interrupts him, and Doom, without turning to look, points backwards and blasts him off the roof, to plummet sixty stories to the ground.

And so ends his 18 issue 'revenge!' sub-plot. Just, hilariously anti-climactic, and indicative of what a wanna-be this guy was as a 'nemesis,' never as important as he wanted to be.

It's rare that a scene in a comic makes me laugh out loud, but that scene totally worked for me.

That reminds me a little of PAD's first run on X-Factor, when he has a series of would-be related villains show up as subplots in interludes, only for it not to end too well for them because of their own incompetence! It's a running joke that PAD would eventually revisit and kinda-sorta pay off in his last story for that first run in an annual when they are used as the pawn of some netherworld villain. Even then, X-Factor is, like, "who are these guys again?!?"

First issue of the Birds of Prey relaunch, written by Kelly Thompson, who has been my top choice for writing the Legion going on a decade now.

My review in Gymlls:

https://www.legionworld.net/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1029917#Post1029917

Also, a used copy of Marvel Comics Presents Wolverine Volume 2. What, you might ask, would actually make me spend money on a Wolverine solo story?

Hint 1: His name is John.

Hint 2: He does both pencils and inks here.

So, major disappointment this week. Last week my company shorted my paycheck so no trip to the LCS. This week, I went over to Sumter with the wife instead of Florence, so no trip to the LCS. However, I did stop by a brand new ollie's. And there, on the wall, was....Legion of Super-heros Compendium...volume 1. I've got it, so there was no point. Listed for @29.99. They had about six or seven, so, If anyone wants one and can't find it I'll make the same offer Lardy made for me, hit me up and I'll grab one for you and we can get together on it.

Still, it was the main reason I wanted to check Ollie's out there, to see if they had volume 2. Kinda sucks that they don't.

But, they did have a few Clive Cussler hired gun books, an Oregon and a Remi, so I got those, and ....Green Arrow, a Celebration of 75 years. Wish they'd do something for Hawkman, but Ollie's cool too.

No volume 2. Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

thanks for the offer, Rick, kind of ya. hope they get volume 2 over there soon!

Well, cheap run this week folks. Gotta lotta bills and shit.

So,

Worlds Finest Teen Titans 3. Why the heck am I buying this. Each issue is Dick against the team, or more specifically, Roy. Beau. Ring. Nice art though. I like clean and expressive. Kinda reminds me of JLGL in a way, though a bit more cartoony. They keep revisiting the original team to try and mine whatever's left of the nostalgia. People. The Originals were cancelled for a reason. Although, Bumble Bee was in it. That I'll buy every time.

Doom Patrol #6 of 7. Interesting premise, great cast. Poor execution. Sorry, been a lover of the Patrol for nearly forty years now. This is kinda...forgettable. And the time is nearly up for the mini. Shame.

The Flash number whine. Look, I don't know who the editor is that decided they wanted to go in a different direction. He really needs to pull his head outta his/her ass. The book soared in popularity because it brought back what made it work...namely, Wally and family. Hell, its what made the TV show work, because it was Wally with the names transplanted only Barry. Now, don't get me wrong. Story was dense, it was packed, and by the tenth or eleventh page, I was wondering if I'd continue. Art was nice, though the colors were muddy. WHY? Listen, they are called four color books for a reason. Yes, we like BRIGHT for Flash. He was the man, the dude, he got us all back into loving bright costumes. This muddy shit, if you gonna make Flash dark and dull...what the hell man/woman/sentient being from volbortran 8?

Power Girl #1. Okay, after the special, I didn't go into this with a great outlook. But, this is one of those characters that, when she pops up in her own book, I'm gonna try it. Why? Cause I damn well want to. That's why. That said, it better pick up...FAST. Art...not bad. story... Who the hell decided to rename her Paige? What, you think we can't distinguish between Karen Starr and the various and numerous Karen's roaming the earth wanting a Manager?

The bad guy? Who? Dreads dude? Random sacrificial guy for for issue? Better ramp this hump up FAST iffn' ya wanna make an impression. No, it all sounds negative fromme here. Not the case. I see potential. I admittedly haven't been following the Stuporman family cause...well, it wasn't good when I quit it, so I have no idea how all this new stuff has come about. I have a real problem with all the DC families since they doggedly dilute the product, and not just the friggin infinite Batfamily. (Ironically, I loved that old book), but being "accepted" by the stuporman family seems to have neutered her personality. She takes orders from a Stuporman only what, a couple years older than her now, just to stay on good terms in it? Where's the 'go screw yourself' Levitz and Wood gal that wouldn't take shit from anyone, much less a Stuporman?

This sucks. I'd love to give some really great reviews of some new material that was coming out. But it seems like stories are less important than perspectives right now.

Maybe I've aged out of enjoying comics.

Okay, lemme just say, I'm not that guy. I'm a hairy assed red blooded american male, married to a redhead valkryie and together we created a real life Thor. So, I think I've over-established my manly man bonifides...

That said, today I picked up a holy grail of holy grail's for me.

Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes Limited Collector's Edition. You know the one, with Supey leading the pack, the guys flying up and away from the clubhouse in their own little spotlight ray, Cos holding the Legion flag.

I may have pee'd and squee'd a little. I can't say for certain..but...

Oh, and I picked up some other books to. I think. Honestly can't say right now.

Ah! This bit was pure Annfie bait if there ever was any, and it totally whiffed!

The book is clasped. Sunlight suddenly streams from the LCS roof. Something Wagnerian from Gotterdammerung permeates the air. It is done. The quest has been fulfilled. The hero turns towards the counter, already pretending it's the dazzling light causing a watering up of his eyes. The other customers fall back in reverential awe at the book held up so that the very gods can get a glimpse of the cover. Humble, yet triumphant, the hero turns to the others, his words to be etched across the legends of mankind... "Squee!"

An awesome find and an amazing moment Rick!

I'm so sorry, Lardy. At the very least I should have posted the nodding smiley to show I agree 100 percent with your post.

What did I find today?

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Because I didn't go. I had a rare opportunity to spend the day with my mother and special needs sister. We spent the day doing some light christmas shopping, and eating at Georgio's. I got to spend time with two out of the three women in this world I love the most.

Better than anything I could find at the LCS.

Got some old stuff, but not legion unfortunately.

So,
Superman Family #202. Weak lead story, but good costume for the "bad guy". Obviously written by a dude though. Bad romance Supergirl stuff.
Superfam #205. Supergirl vs. Enchantress. Not bad. Listen, Superfam was a cash thing, lot's of "names" but stock house art, stock house stories. Doesn't mean they weren't fun though. Something the new stuff seems to be missing. DC's doom and gloom current curriculum is leaving me flat, but these old stories are seriously deliriously fun.
Justice League of America #97. Starbreaker, written as a vastly powerful dude, came across as just a dink in this issue. Cosmic power, dealing with run of the mill lackey's.
Justice League of America #91. Flash is dead. Agin.

I def think some of those writers were on meth based crack, with a little absythinthe thrown in for good measure.

Absinthe makes the heart grow fondue.

Or, rather, it turns the brain to cheese -- good cheese.

Gouda cheese?

I visited Gouda once, 5 years ago. Charming little town

With a distinctive smell when you get close to it.

Hi folks. Well, haven't really been getting a lot of stuff lately, so for the last couple of months I've basically got two legion books, one was the tabloid, and the latest is only a replacement book for me, it's a whitman copy of Superboy and the Legion #244.

But a fun one I found is Superman Family #203. This was mostly done by Rozakis as writer, Jack Harris, and Marv Wolfman as the writers. Got some Tuska, but mostly house style for the characters.

Yeah, I'm kinda lost on the new books, mainly buying them out of some weird kind of completest loyalty in a few cases.

I really miss Legion and a great, timely JSA book.

Nightwing has become some kind of weird neutered big brother affirmation teen beat thing...

Flash...has great art.

Green Lantern Hal is good, but I can read it in less than five minutes.

Guess I'll have more fun haunting the back issue bins.

Rick, have you tried the new Birds of Prey?

Ann, I have. I'll say it isn't bad at all, but it seems to lack a certain spark to me. I mean, it's got freakin' Barda in it, I mean...BARDA... and it's ... nice.

I think whats missing for me from a lot of the new stuff is that anticipation like we had years ago. I don't read previews anymore, because I try to get that old feeling back. But, the colors seem washed out to me. The build up with stretched out stories designed to make nice tpbs eats away at that urgency the old books seemed to generate. It's not just BoP, though. Again, I'm buying the book. Have been since Dixon, but these last few iterations have seemed...lacking.

Maybe some of it is I don't know who the transporting blond lady was. Cassandra seemed...slightly off to me, and Sin is now a goddess truck.

I know those older issues I'm buying now are very...silly in some respects, but when I look back, it seems like they were written by guys in short sleeved white shirts with ties on in bad offices that probably smelled like mold, and that mold along with some tainted bagels and possibly some little green pills in the bottom of the coffee pot created some shit that made Hunter Thompson seem like a sunday school teacher.

But, I'm old now, and nostalgia may be starting to take hold.

So, today's pickup.

Green Lantern #9, current series. The origin of the ring Hal's using was much more impressive than the one he now has at the end of the issue. yes, I get what the writer is saying about earth, we be full of anti-authoritian contrarians , but creating a ring out of willpower alone, gathering the remnants of previous energy expenditures...now that's impressive. And frankly, I was enjoying him being back on earth. Eight issues and he's gone again.

And honestly, I liked it better when there was one GL per sector, and it wasn't set up like a cop corps.

Now, the good stuff.

Green Lantern/Green Arrow #90. I never, ever had this issue or any reprints, if there were any. Grell. Some things are timeless. This makes my old collector's heart happy. And it was like $3. Ten times the cover price when it was released, but worth all 300 pennies. I've seen that iconic cover since I can remember, but to actually HAVE it. Well, I've never been cool in my life, but this...majorly cool.

JLA #165. Supes, Bats, Wondy, GL and GA, original run. Haven't read it yet, but slowly filling in my silver age collection of JLA. Cover seems to say JLGL, but supes face looks like Jim Aparo. Not to shabby either way.

The Flash, 290. Had this when it first came out, read it til it fell apart. Heck was a great replacement for Novick, but I don't think the inking and coloring lent itself to his stuff. And it had FIRESTORM as the backup. I miss Ron and Martin.

The Flash 250. Golden Glider makes her first appearance. Always thought she was underplayed, given the backstory they gave her. Especially as she was one of the few female foes of Flash.

Superboy #191. Honestly, didn't even read the main story about some girl underwater with a dolly and wagon. LEGION BACKUP, BABY! Regulus makes a ...ah humh...regular re-appearance. Cockrum seemed to still be getting his feet wet, and introducing new costumes. At least, I think Regulus' look was new. And it holds up, still killer today.

Superboy #193, agin with the backup, baby. Lot of Cockrum, and not a Lyllt bit of fun here. New costumes in full swing. Cockrum and Grell. To great artists that went great ...well, seperately, but still.


And finally, The New Adventures of SUPERBOY #1. Would it be wrong, even knowing what I know about him leaving the Legion for this...to still have secretly hoped for a cameo by the crew?

Anyway, other than a new GL, that's all for my back bin dumpster diving for discounts, diva's and dreamgirls for this week.

All that for the low low low price of under $25, which is pretty much my limit per week.

Oh, and why was it that back when all those old issues were coming out, Superboy was fun and interesting, and yet Supes seemed like SuperResponsibleMan, and kinda dull?

RE: JLA 165, it was definitely a Garcia Lopez cover, but I get what you're saying about Superman's Aparo-esque face; I chalk it up to both artists having the influence of Norman Rockwell in common. Also worth noting: that was legendary editor Julius Schwartz's last JLA issue -- he had decided to focus exclusively on the Superman franchise.

Great to hear you found two Cockrum Superboy/LSH issues!

That's a great bunch of comics Rick! Good week!

One from the >gasp< newsagents. At six quid, Quantum not a cheap anthology (but then what is these days), and it's not of the same professional level as the likes of 200AD. But, like a few books out there over the years, one strip delves into the source material of British sci-fi/horror. Having delved there often enough myself, it's always good to see other takes on it. It will be interesting to see how long it lasts. The last one I bought was a magazine format one that started off as a mix of news and strips, but ended up as strips before it vanished. As explained in a comics magazine, retailers never used to get much profit from comics. So, a move to things like dollar comics would give readers more story, but retailers more profit for a win-win. Pushing that forward 40 years, as does them just being too pricey for people to pick up in passing. Especially with no big name characters.

In the LCS, that company also had a Gerry Anderson anthology, called Spectrum. I've not read it yet. But you could put Captain Scarlet on pretty much anything and I'd give it a go.

An aeon ago, RPGs were becoming so popular, along with Fighting Fantasy gamebooks, that 2000AD delved into it. They released a RPG magazine that contained art and storylines from their 2000AD characters. It was called Dice Man, and you'd have Bryan Talbot, Kev O'Neill, Glen Fabry and Steve Dillon art in there.
In the comics, Pat Mills was having a massive burst of inspiration in Slaine (I also picked up a TPB of one of those). You could read that and then see how you would have got on, going through his plots, in Dice Man. I had one or two of them, and as I lugged the giant hardback home, I hope it wasn't the best one or two. If they've got a Judge Dredd one in there, it should be hilarious as you sentence the citizens of Mega City to 5 years for jay walking, or have to turn in your badge for not being strict enough.

Not much in the way of new releases. I got a What if... Aliens based on Burke surviving the film. There were a number of reasons he didn't in the film; scenes that were shot but not released and the scripts. But a decent story will always stop my eyes rolling. This could have gone in lots of directions, considering what a character he was. They've not chosen the ones I thought most likely.

Time Before Time has recently finished (last issue or 2 should still be in your LCS. Recommend starting from the first TPB.) The first arc of Sacrificers has just finished, so TPB of that can't be far away.

Random purchase was Inspectres. A team up of Arthur Conan Doyle, Houdini, Bram Stoker and a young Agatha Christie. I've not read that one yet either, but liked the 2000AD strip the Necronauts, so here's hoping.

Since the start of the year, I've taken advantage of the Comixology sales (even those have gone up in price a little). Picking up favourties like Ostrander's Suicide Squad and Wolfman/ Perez Titans among others like the Levitz/ Perez World's Finest, SSoSV (the implosion did that one a mercy) and 70's Aquaman.

I got a pile of '80s comics out of ebay at the end of last year, so lots of fun also going through those.

Thoth, I have two Slaine trades, one collecting peak-era stories painted by Simon Bisley, the other collecting early stories drawn by Glenn Fabry. I love them both!

I would have been reading The Horned God storyline in 2000AD, with Bisley's work. Bisley also stood out for the work he was doing on ABC Warriors around that time too. Also, well worth a read.

2000AD was continuing to produce some mature stories at that time, keeping its readers as they grew up too. Slaine learning the follies of being his type of hero and the sacrifice required by a King; Judge Dredd's regime undermine democracy supposedly to save it from the wars that led to the Judges in the first place; The end of Strontium Dog (due to reprint issues). They'd branch that side out into Crisis, with the likes of Third World War and New Statesmen.

Bisley's style also continued the action of some stories too, taking their style to greater extremes. Judge Dredd's Megazine would have been launched around then. Steve Yeowell's art on Red Razors is the memory I have of that.

Yep, Slaine: The Horned God is the trade I have!

Thoth, Ann, I know nothing of Slaine. Got a rundown or link anywhere?

The wiki link is better than the 2000ad link

Slaine Info here

I probably didn't read much past The Horned God. As acclaimed as having full painted art from Bisley, the plot had been built up for quite some time. Mills seeded early stories that ramped up as the story progressed.

A sort of parallel Conan using some of the same influences it entwines itself with Celtic myth cycles. But there's always more to it. Prior to Horned God another secret history behind humanity is revealed. Like Howard, Mills touches on Lovecraftian themes, combined with Celtic Myth.

Slaine later goes on an equivalent to the labours of Hercules/Herakles. Mills combined action with a deconstruction of the hero. There are points there where Mills kindly takes any heroic figure and shows it a richer, deeper world as a grown up. Life lessons that I'd not underestimate the impact of on generations of the readership.

Bear in mind that 2000ad was primarily an action/adventure comic. But the likes of Mills and Wagner on these strips meant that there were always other layers. It's a balance as a certain Mr Alan Moore discovered after some feedback on the lack of action and the dialogue in Halo Jones. Looking at power structures, class, politics and delivering them within an action strip is a feat they achieved on a regular basis, on the likes of Slaine, Rogue Trooper, Judge Dredd and others.

I've no idea if that continued. There's certain logical arcs and concluding stories for these characters. But, as long running franchises no doubt there have been switches back into just the action with later creative teams.