Saturday, January 31, 2009

The Comic Haul - 01/28/09

A bit of an early Comic Haul this week (as well as a shorter one) since I'm crazy booked up this weekend with my Father-in-Law's birthday today and the SuperBowl tomorrow with a bunch of furniture building thrown in for good measure.

Superman #684: For the record I really liked the "New Krypton" storyline that ran across the Superman books for the last couple of months, so I was a bit non-plussed after reading this "Faces of Evil" issue featuring The Parasite. For starters, The Parasite wasn't in much of the issue except for a few pages at the beginning where he wanders around Metropolis whining about how he'd like a Daxamite sandwich. Elsewhere, the Guardian takes over as leader of the Science Police and gives a speech to his crew about how he won't expect anything from them that he wouldn't do himself and Superman visits New Krypton just in time to discover who the new military leader of the Kryptonians is. Cue dramatic music. Overall, this wasn't a bad issue but the whole thing felt like hitting the pause button while you go off to take a bathroom break. There's just not that much going on here and, had this been the only book I ha to read, I would feel a little less than satisfied. Still, there are worse ways to kill 10 or 15 minutes of your day so if you're going to read this one, try it on your coffee break or a short bus ride or something.

Batman #685: Another DC book, another flagship title, another "Faces of Evil" issue, this one by the Detective Comics team of Paul Dini and Dustin Nguyen. This is the second part of two, a continuation from the aforementioned Detective where Hush finds himself in Vietnam and at the mercies of one Miss Selina Kyle. Kudos must go to Dini for making Hush, a character I never had much use for, a somewhat interesting villain for the last 6 months or so. It's likely not something that will hold for long but I'm enjoying it while it lasts. I should note that I also liked how Dini handled the Nightwing and Robin guest-appearance this issue. I actually like both of those characters more than the recent portrayal of Bruce Wayne/Batman so it was nice to see them here. I do wonder, though, does the fact that this story appears in Batman and Detective mean DC is spinning their wheels while Batman/Bruce Wayne is 'dead', filling issues with spacers until Morrison returns to maybe explain what all the R.I.P. nonsense was about? Only time will tell, I'm sure. As a simple no-frills two-parter, though, I really enjoyed this little detour with Catwoman and wish I could see more of these shorter stories from the Bat-books.

Star Wars: Legacy #32: In an attempt to do something new and continuity free with the Star Wars franchise Dark Horse launched Legacy, a series that takes place 40+ years beyond the stuff that fans are familiar with from the various films. Does it work? Sort of. Am I a fan of this? Not really. Although I do like other books from this line (Rebellion & Clone Wars to name two), I found Legacy and this issue's story to be kind of...fanfic-y. Without the usual SW touchstones or links to existing continuity, I just can't be bothered to care for these characters who have descended from the heroes we know, which really hurts a story like "Fight Another Day" because it's a very basic shoot-em-up bad guys doing evil things to the good guys yarn without a hook for a reader like me. Then again, maybe they don't want me as a reader. Anyway, not a bad comic but not really my cup-o-tea.

The Incredible Hercules #125: Everybody and their dog has reviewed this title and heaped mucho praise on the works therein so I figured I'd give it the ol' college try and see what all the hubbub was about. A few pages in I can't say that I was all that engaged, but seeing as how it was the fifth part of a five-issue story arc, I figured it would start to gel after a bit and I should just try to enjoy the story. Which, I'm surprised to say, I didn't. I just wasn't pulled in at any point. Amazons rule the world, men are second-class citizens, yadda-yadda-yadda. By the time I got to the end of the Amazon world-reshaped bit I was all ready to give the book a formal pass but the second I started reading the issue's 'epilogue' things changed. The smile started creeping in on my face and only continued to grow as I went on. All of a sudden, I wasn't drowning in the climax and resolution of a plot I had no stake in but basking in the wonderful characterizations that Pak and Van Lente have brought to bear. Hercules was never a fave character, for me, and I always just accepted him as Avengers muscle back in the day. But here, watching the bitter sting he experiences when he finds out that Namora's heart belonged to someone else is truly palpable and the line, "Ohh! Telepathy! How conveeenient!", when she gets summoned away by the Agents of Atlas, great stuff.

Welp, that looks like it for Week 2 of The Comic Haul. Since the time was a bit lite this week I may try to squeeze in a supplemental post tomorrow or the next day just to beef it up a little. There were a few more books I wanted to review but...such is life.

Oh, and before I forget, I need to come up with some kind of rating system for these things. I haven't been able to think of anything that ties into the Meanwhile... theme and I didn't want to do numbers or letters since so many other folks are doing those. Any ideas or input would be appreciated.

Until next week.

Later!

mike

Friday, January 30, 2009

Things I Thought Were Cool in 2008

I never kept any kind of list for a best of '08 post so I wasn't going to bother with one this year, especially since we're 30 days into it already. While doing my usual rounds of the blogosphere, however, I noticed that writer Rob Williams is saying "I don't swing that way" and doing an extremely belated hodge podge list of his own, regardless of the date. Taking his example (or at least using it as an excuse to generate content) I decided I was going to post a few random things I liked in 2008 posts to highlight the stuff that I remember liking. If I have any fun doing it, I'll maybe squeeze in a few things I remember hating, just for some balance.

It's no secret that not everyone was happy to see the return of Indiana Jones to screens in '08, but this was one Indy fan who enjoyed having the man in the hat back. After a very long drought post-Last Crusade it was exciting to have new stuff to be looking forward to, whether it was the comic books, the toys, the DVDs or the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull itself. I won't bother mentioning the Young Indiana Jones DVDs and the new paperbacks here because they're not exclusive to 2008. The first of the Young Indy sets came out in November of 2007, I think, and the new books don't drop until later this year.

Anyway, having new Indy comics has been a blast, especially in the hands of the aforementioned writer, Rob Williams. Many of Dark Horse's attempts at Indy stories in the past have fallen short of greatness and the Temple of the Gods has been a real trip, even if it's been plagued with delays, and the all-ages Indiana Jones Adventures digest/one-shot was marvellous. Probably one of the best Indy stories I've ever read.

The toys I won't really go on about here since I posted on them already a little while back.

I have yet to get my hands on a copy but a complete soundtrack collection was also released featuring all the music and some never before released extras from them man, John Williams.

And lastly, while the new movie is very much disparaged I had a lot of fun with it and have enjoyed it even more since grabbing it on DVD. The story moves at a quick enough pace that a lot of neat little things get lost as the plot zooms on and I love the callbacks to the last film in Indy's dialogue essentially showing that he's becoming his father. Actually, the shout out to the pilot episode of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles was probably my favourite bit of dialogue in the whole film, believe it or not. And the spit after he mentions Victoriano Huerta, classic.

Overall a pretty good year for Dr. Jones and his many fans.

Cheers!

mike

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Watching The Wire

I just finished season 2 of The Wire and I was, once again, utterly blown away by how good this show is. I was slow coming to it, having just started watching a couple of years ago, but since the discovery I do bang the drum hard and loud whenever and wherever I can. So far, I've had little luck hooking anyone on it, and have only gotten so far as getting Jen to watch an episode or two with me but, as the saying goes, if at first you don't succeed...

Back in the day, I loved David Simon's Homicide (which was developed by Paul Attanasio, Tom Fontana and Barry Levinson for NBC, then joined by Simon in the fourth season) and I was hesitant, initially, to jump on a show that was about wire-tapping and surveillance. I didn't know any of the actors and the fact that I didn't have access to HBO probably didn't help matters much, either. I think what finally put me over the edge, though, was an interview with Howard Chaykin over at The Word Balloon and he was talking about his first experience of the show. I think he said that when he was given the DVD set he locked himself in a room and watched all 12 hours in one sitting. It was a beautiful, sunny, California summer day outside, but he stayed in because he just couldn't stop watching. If you've ever seen the show then you already know its magnetic pull. How, on the surface, each episode seems very slow and nothing much seems to happen. And yet, every chapter of this story drives you into the next and the next after that until you get to the end. It is one of the densest, richest, well put together programs on TV; period.

I'm going to take a bit of a breather before embarking on season 3 where Simon, Ed Burns and Co. take on the Baltimore city bureaucracy, but I've got the anticipation building already.

Oh and, by the way, my birthday is in September and there is a complete DVD set of the series so, if you were fishing for ideas...

Cheers!

mike

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Meanwhile... Birthday Shout-Out

I was cruising over at The Comics Reporter earlier this evening when I noticed that the 27th of January was the birth date of one Stefan Petrucha. Stefan has always been a favourite writer of mine from way back in the day. I still have a lot of fondness for Meta-4, his X-Files comic book work (which still stands as one of the best licensed comics I've ever seen and introduced an unknowing public to the artwork of Charles "Walking Dead" Adlard), Squalor (which lives again as Petrucha's Time Tripper book series) and the only Nexus story not done by Baron and the Dude that holds up for me, Nexus: The Liberator.

He's also done a lot of prose and YA work and his most recent novel, The Rule of Won is out there and getting great reviews from all over. I'm looking forward to checking it out.

So, a very happy Meanwhile... 50th birthday shout-out to Stefan. For many years of good reading and many more to come!

Cheers!

mike

Kim Manners (1950-2009)

This feels so weird, especially since I had an X-Files post just yesterday, but apparently Kim Manners, known for his time as a director on The X-Files and his current gig on Supernatural, passed away on Sunday from lung cancer. I was double checking Frank Spotnitz' Big Light blog today and saw the post there, then checked a few other sites online to get the whole story.

Man, I used to love watching he and Rob Bowman try to one-up each other week after week on The X-Files. I'll never forget episodes like "Home", "Humbug", "War of the Coprophages", "Closure" and many others whose scenes are permanently etched in my mind. I was thrilled a few years ago when I saw that he had become a regular on Supernatural along with X-Files alum, John Shiban. It was always fun following the old gang to their new digs and seeing what they were cooking up post Scully and Mulder.

For more tributes, Aint-It-Cool has a bit on Kim here and BuddyTV has a piece here. That's just a couple of the many that are floating around out there.

Manners was well-regarded in the industry and was a great director. My heartfelt condolences to his friends and loved ones. He will be missed.

Hey Kids, Comics! For 01/28/09

Welcome old and new to week 4 of HK,C! Kind of a big week with a number of books in the 'read only' category this time around.

  • Bold is what I will grab for sure.

  • Italics mean it's something I want, but won't necessarily pick it up right away.

  • Regular text indicates something that has caught my eye but is either too pricey to be reasonable, or I would only pick up as an impulse buy. More than likely I'll read it at some point but not own it.




    THIS WEEK'S PULL-LIST

    MISTER X CONDEMNED #2 (OF 4) (I've always liked Mister X since back in the day but there is only so much cash to go around so I'll grab this one if I can, read it if I can't.)

    UMBRELLA ACADEMY DALLAS #3 (OF 6) (Still haven't started reading this series yet, but based on the last one's performance, this is a no-brainer to pick up.)

    BATMAN #685 (I'll probably grab this based on Dini's, Nguyen's and Fridolfs' excellent work on Detective, not to mention the cool Catwoman cover.)

    BATMAN THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #1 (I'm not a huge fan of the series, but I'll give the comic a look-see.)

    LEGION OF SUPER HEROES #50 (It's done, it will be missed on my monthly pull-list but we'll see what eventually replaces it.)

    FINAL CRISIS #7 (OF 7) (It's also done. We can finally say with certainty whether or not this was a pile of crap or another brilliant Morrison joint.)

    REIGN IN HELL #7 (OF 8) (What can I say, I run a Keith Giffen news list. I have to at least read this.)

    FANTASTIC FOUR #563 (As always, I'm loving what Millar and Hitch are doing with this title.)

    BUCKAROO BANZAI BIG SIZE #1 (They're not as good as they should be, but I gotta support anything Buckaroo Banzai.)

    GARTH ENNIS BATTLEFIELDS DEAR BILLY #1 (My curiosity will likely get the better of me here.)

    HERO SQUARED LOVE & DEATH #1 (OF 3) (And finally, the long awaited conclusion to the Hero Squared saga. Looking forward to reading this one.)


    That's it for this week. Have a great Wednesday at the LCS.

    Later!

    mike
  • Monday, January 26, 2009

    The X-Files 3 D2DVD?

    I caught this rumour over on Screen Rant the other day regarding the future of the X-Files film franchise. D2DVD was never how I hoped the series would conclude, but after the pergormance of I Want to Believe this past summer I, and I'm sure many X-Philes, would take a puppet show if it meant the series could continue in some form. Recently, executive producer and writer, Frank Spotnitz, debunked the rumour stating there is no truth to it whatsoever, but conspicuously left out any info on what may or may not be happening with Fox right now.

    Oh, well, at least we have the comic book for a few more months.

    mike

    Sunday, January 25, 2009

    The Comic Haul - 01/21/09

    I made a resolution that I was going to try and do more, and more frequent, reviews on the blog, so I decided to start with this comic week and resurrect the ol' Comic Haul which hasn't made an appearance since July, I think, of last year. I also decided to change the format a little focusing on totally current books from a variety of publishers rather than what I've focused on in the past, which had more to do with what I was reading at the time than anything else. I should also note that the new reviews being posted will go up every Sunday which should give me enough time to acquire, read and write the thing up.

    With luck, this will be the first step of several that I would like to take with Meanwhile... that will expand the scope a little and bring some new regular content to the site.

    So, without further ado...

    Robin #182: DC bills this as the stunning conclusion to "Search for a Hero" but, in all honesty, the story lost its gravity about two or three issues ago when it just would not end. None of the hanging plot threads showed any promise of being resolved and the character moments were either too few, or too flat, to carry this thing over six whole issues. Everything from Robin's 'betrayal' by Stephanie/Spoiler, to the big villain reveal, lacked the necessary punch to make this anything other than another decompressed, dragged out summer event space-filler. I started buying this book when Chuck Dixon returned and, with the exception of the work done by Freddie Williams, have continually questioned why I have stayed with it beyond his departure. Seeing as how the series is 'ending' with the next issue, I'll probably grab the finale, throw them in the longboxes and find something that will engage me a little more.

    The Mighty Avengers #21: The new team of Dan Slott and Khoi Pham kick off a three part post-Secret Invasion tale that has a very getting the band back together vibe to it. Not surprising, Slott and Pham do their level best to come out swinging and put their stamp on the book right away. The Scarlet Witch returns, Hank Pym's origin is retold, Mount Wundagore makes an appearance (as do a couple of characters who have a connection to that particular locale) and we see all the founding members it was physically possible to assemble, including an appearance by Jarvis. A lot of big ideas are slung around and Slott clearly has an affection for Dr. Pym and a desire to make him a player in the new Marvel status quo but, thankfully, not at the expense of past characterizations. Pham's artwork is capable and consistent, although I wasn't a fan of his Wundagore pages, and I expect he will really round out as an artist and continue to evolve with a monthly book to grind away on. Still, while I can appreciate what these guys are doing here I did feel that this issue had a little too much flash and just not enough substance to make me want to come back on any kind of regular basis.

    30 Days of Night: 30 Days 'Til Death #1: I was originally going to pass this one over but the idea of the 30 Days franchise bringing in David Lapham and his idea that the old world vamps, unhappy with the events at Barrow and beyond, are coming to cull the herd in the new world suckered me in to trying this first issue. Considering the differences in style between Lapham and Templesmith's I thought I would be trying to reconcile the two while reading this but, luckily, I found that was not the case. Lapham's art was simple but engaging and only really lost me in one scene where a couple of his designs for the old world vamps felt a little...off. The story itself is definitely a slow burn with events unfolding at a pretty leisurely pace, but there are a few choice moments that will probably be enough to bring me back for another go.

    Ghost Rider #31: I haven't bought, let alone read, a Ghost Rider comic since the nineties so I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed GR#31. Tan Eng Huat was the initial draw as I've been a fan of his work since his Doom Patrol revival with John Arcudi but, I have to say, the story by Jason Aaron was very fun and entertaining. I normally rail against the idea of turning every super-hero into a legacy character since it is something that is sooo overdone, but Aaron has spun this concept of Spirits of Vengeance from all over the world and every religion and it's part of what I'm finding really compelling about this book. Huat's storytelling is still top notch here handling both action and dialogue scenes with aplomb. Robert Boschi tag-teams with Huat for a few pages doing the first five pages of the book (which are a flashback) and the styles are sympatico enough that it doesn't derail the reader at all when the transition is made. Lastly, kudos to these guys for having a story so accessible that I can come into it with the penultimate issue and still be able to follow what's going on. The only downside with Ghost Rider #31 is the fact that after next issue, Huat is gone. I may stick around to see how Tony Moore handles the character.

    Lone Ranger & Tonto #2: I'm not a regular reader of the monthly Lone Ranger book but I really enjoyed the first Lone Ranger & Tonto story so I grabbed this one when I saw it on the shelf this week. The story has the Ranger and Tonto riding into a mining town called Reston and discovering something is not quite right about the place. They soon uncover the legend of a monster that terrorizes the citizenry and who is ultimately responsible for the place being no better than a ghost town. They investigate, interesting things happen, and I won't spoil the ending for anyone who might pick this up to read if they haven't already. Story-wise, Brett Matthews and Neil Turitz do not disappoint delivering a very moody piece that hits various western tropes and is perfectly complemented by the artwork of Vatche Mavlian and Romulo Fajardo, Jr. who give the book a really unique look and texture. Worth checking out.

    Mysterius the Unfathomable #1: Wow. How much did I enjoy this book? Jeff Parker has always been a favourite creator here at Meanwhile... HQ but I haven't enjoyed a comic like Mysterius in some time. From page one Parker spins a kooky and really fun read focusing on a mystic named Mysterius who performs tasks of a magical nature for clients who can pay. He's shifty, out of shape and just generally doesn't come across as an entirely on-the-level kind of guy, but that's precisely what makes him interesting. His assistant, Ella/Delfi, tries her best to keep up with all the mystical aspects of being and working around Mysterius, mostly because she doesn't have anywhere else to go. The dialogue is crisp and witty and, as far as introductions go, there wasn't a lot of clunky exposition here which helps things along nicely. The artwork of Tom Fowler is perfect for this series. It reminds me a little of the work of Glenn Barr and he does a great job of balancing the brilliant and the banal. There's humour but also an underlying seriousness, like there is a darkness creeping around on the sidelines somewhere that Mysterius knows about but we, the reader, as yet, do not. Hopefully the series will have some life in it and not get cancelled after three issues so we can see how that element plays out down the line. It's not every day one of the big companies put out a book as idiosyncratic as this one and I applaud DC/Wildstorm for doing just that because Mysterius the Unfathomable is, in my opinion, a book that should be watched. And bought and read, of course. I fully advocate all three activities.

    The X-Files #3: I realize that I'm just so damn happy to see The X-Files back in any form, and that the series, to date, hasn't been received very well, but I genuinely enjoyed this issue as I have the three previous to it. Written by Marv Wolfman (a name any comics fan should already know) this issue has Scully and Mulder trying to figure out how murders are being perpetrated in different locations at the same time by the same killer. There's some Chinese mysticism thrown in there to give it that X-Files feel, and I suspect there might be some mad science mixed in there for good measure, as well. Wolfman handles the usual back and forth between the two main characters like he was a series writer and the story fits well into the X-Files universe. Brian Denham continues on the art (having illustrated the previous two issues and the zero issue) and is possibly the weakest link here. While much of his work works beautifully and evokes the best cinematography of the series, there are many panels that are overly stiff and he does not seem to feel confident drawing Mulder or Scully unless he's grabbing it from a screen capture or publicity still. Overall, everything flows nicely and the only real complaint I have is that series executive producer and writer, Frank Spotnitz, does not appear to be writing these anymore. Nothing against Wolfman's work, it just feels like canon when Spotnitz pens the tale, and that's the closest we can come to new X-Files episodes these days.

    Amazing Spider-Man #584: I've purchased a number of the Brand New Day issues of Amazing Spider-Man, usually whenever a creative team tickles my fancy. For example, I grabbed the Waid/Martin issues, the Kelly/Bachallo issues and a few others since Peter and MJ made their deal with Mephisto. This weeks issue was by Marc Guggenheim and John Romita, Jr., possibly my favourite Spider-Man artist of all time, so I was excited to see what was in store. Not much, apparently. "Character Assassination" appears to continue a storyline that I missed somewhere along the way where Spider-Man is wanted for being a serial killer and some guy in a ridiculous Goblin inspired costume is calling himself Menace and...well, menacing folks. All the issues I've read previous to this were two or three part stories that did not seem to have any long-term continuity, a very old school approach which was one of the reasons I was attracted to them. As it stands, Guggenheim's writing was serviceable and I really liked seeing JR, Jr. doing pages again, but overall I just couldn't get too wrapped up in the story.

    And with that, the first Comic Haul of 2009 is complete. I'll be back next Sunday with another batch, so until then...

    Later!

    mike

    Friday, January 23, 2009

    "And Get Me Doctor Doom."

    From Captain Britain and MI13 #9, possibly one of the coolest last pages of a comic book in a long time:

    Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us


    I know I can't possibly be the only one who thinks this. I mean, Dracula and Doctor Doom teaming up in the Marvel U just hits all the right super-villain team-up buttons as far as I'm concerned. I knew Paul Cornell was playing by his own set of rules when I started picking up this book 4 issues ago, especially after he had Blade join the team, but after reading that last word balloon where he says, "Tell our forces in London to prepare Phase One of the assault. And get me Doctor Doom," I just started laughing. I'm sure my wife thought I was nuts.

    Anyway, it's been a while since I've gotten so much pleasure out of a Marvel comic, I just had to share. And if you're not reading Captain Britain and MI13 yet, what's keeping you.

    Cheers!

    mike

    Thursday, January 22, 2009

    Whiteout Pics



    Twould appear that the first images from the film adaptation of Greg Rucka and Steve Leiber's Whiteout are out and making their way around the net. Kate Beckinsale plays the role of U.S. Marshal Carrie Stetko who is tracking a killer in Antarctica, moving from station to station as she chases down suspects and discovers more murders (that is, if it follows the story in the comics in any way shape or form). As a graphic novel, Whiteout was a cracking good read (along with its sequel, Whiteout: Melt) so I'm going to go out on a limb and actually have some hopes for this movie being good. The cast seems all right at a glance: Beckinsale, Gabriel (The Spirit) Macht, Tom Skerritt, Alex O'Loughlin and others.

    Comments from Rucka in this audio interview make it pretty clear that the movie sort of goes its own way rather than hitting the comic book beat for beat (as well as addressing the point thatKate is so much prettier than Carrie is), but I do dig how they've taken the cover for the comic book and made it into the theatrical one-sheet as pictured below.

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    At least she still loses her fingers. Yay!

    Well, Rucka seems to like it so lets knock wood and hope that the film is just as entertaining, if not more, than the books. The release date is September 11, 2009, so I'm thinking I'll see if I can get a group of people together and hit the show as a birthday thing.

    Cheers!

    mike

    Tuesday, January 20, 2009

    Hey Kids, Comics! For 01/21/09

    Welcome to week 3 of 2009 and my pull-list picks.

  • Bold is what I will grab for sure.

  • Italics mean it's something I want, but won't necessarily pick it up right away.

  • Regular text indicates something that has caught my eye but is either too pricey to be reasonable, or I would only pick up as an impulse buy. More than likely I'll read it at some point but not own it.

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    Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us



    THIS WEEK'S PULL-LIST

    FINAL CRISIS SUPERMAN BEYOND #2 (OF 2) (I'll track a copy down to read but I have a strict policy only to buy the core FC mini.)

    ROBIN #182 (I think this is supposed to be the end of Robin as it was and the beginning of something new. I guess we'll see if I continue on after the changes in February.)

    SPIRIT #25 (The only place to get new - good - Spirit stories. never mind that crap Miller movie.)

    X-FILES #3 (OF 6) (The art is stuff, sure, but I'm digging the return of Scully and Mulder like nobody's business.)

    AGENTS OF ATLAS POSTER (Art Adams poster which will also be used as the cover of #1, I believe. I'd grab this if I had some cash burning a hole in my pocket.)

    ANGEL AFTER THE FALL #16 (The penultimate After the Fall issue. Looking forward to wrapping this one up and seeing where it goes.)

    FLAMING CARROT COLLECTED LTD HC VOL 01 (This would be sweet if it wasn't $50.)


    That's it for this week. Have a great Wednesday at the LCS.

    Later!

    mike
  • Friday, January 16, 2009

    It Figures

    Last night at Wal-Mart I picked up another figure from the latest Indiana Jones series of toys. I had heard that the Temple of Doom wave was one of the harder ones to find, so when I ran across a Temple Indy with ripped shirt and Thuggee sword, I had to grab it. I mean, at $3.92 a figure can a guy really go wrong?

    I wasn't planning on collecting the Indy toys despite being a huge fan of the character and franchise, but it's really hard to turn away when they're sitting at these costs right now. Granted, it's hard to be too happy when I know the only reason these are being cleared out at these prices is because they've killed the whole line and the shops are trying to get rid of whatever stock they have left, but that's also all the more reason to stock up on whatever I can while I can.

    Other Indy figures and what-not that I've picked up include the German jeep from Raiders (from the truck chase), a couple of small Titanium series miniatures of the truck dragging Indy and the rocket sled from Crystal Skull, an Indy Mighty Muggs figure, and my first purchase from when the film came out, the 12" talking Indy figure.

    I was going to grab Mola Ram and some Thuggee guards when I made my way back but they've quickly sold out, no doubt to folks just like me. I'm also still debating if I want to grab some of the deluxe figures for $4. We'll see how it goes.

    Back to the grind!

    mike

    Tuesday, January 13, 2009

    Hey Kids, Comics! For 01/14/09

    Welcome to the second wednesday of 2009 and the first HK,C! kicking off the New Year. Not a very big week by any stretch of the imagination, but that's probably a good thing in a post-boxing day and January sales sort of environment.

  • Bold is what I will grab for sure.

  • Italics mean it's something I want, but won't necessarily pick it up right away.

  • Regular text indicates something that has caught my eye but is either too pricey to be reasonable, or I would only pick up as an impulse buy. More than likely I'll read it at some point but not own it.

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    Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us


    THIS WEEK'S PULL-LIST

    FINAL CRISIS #6 (OF 7) (I have really started warming up to this series and look forward to the big conclusion.)

    CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI 13 #9 (My happy find of 2008 and I look forward to every issue.)

    WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ #2 (OF 8) (I missed out on this last month so the decision to start with #2 and try and find #1, or wait for the trade now preys on my mind.)

    GHOSTBUSTERS THE OTHER SIDE #4 (I've been buying these but not reading them after the first issue. Love the GB but this series is leaving me a little disappointed.)

    And that would be all she wrote, folks. I hope you have a happy new year and a great Wednesday at the LCS.

    Later!

    mike