Flashback Friday: The Incredible Hulk #250

I had been reading issues I picked up over the summer as I awaited the cash flow problems to subside and allow for new comics to read.  It brought this old gem back into my hands.  It is a strange combination when the Silver Surfer is paired with any Marvel Hero that is Earth-bound, but especially the Hulk.

This is a time when the Silver Surfer is trapped on Earth.  An invisible cosmic barrier prevents him from leaving.  It is the punishment he received from Galactus for siding against him when the Earth was on the menu.  It also provides the plot for this issue.  The Surfer seeks to add the gamma power of the Hulk to his own power cosmic to escape and soar the spaceways once more.

Bruce Banner has found peace though.  His own heroic actions placed him with a loving woman and her daughter.  Over time he has fallen in love and the Hulk has been away.  All that is at risk if he helps the Surfer, or is it?  It seems that the Surfer is able to cure Bruce and for that he is willing to gamma power the Silver Surfer.

All is set up for tradgedy.  How could it not when you have two of the most tragic characters in the Marvel Universe?  The twists and turns that occur is what makes this an excellent story.  You feel for both men as decisions are made and life is returned to a status quo neither of them wanted.  This is a great issue of The Incredible Hulk.

BDS

Flashback Friday: Avengers #333

I am trying to get back on track and not let my Blog fall away as I am working two jobs now.  I have been grabbing random books that are in stacks that are not sorted to read as I have a minute.  I read this old Avengers story from their first volume.  It was back when history mattered and the Avengers were not the money making machine they are in today's movie climate.  It has two unlikely Avengers in this story as well.

The set up from last issue is that the Avengers new high tech headquarters has been finished and they no longer are banned from Manhattan.  They throw a huge party that has dignitaries and the vast collection of Marvel heroes in attendance.  It is a cool bunch of panels as you see different heroes rendered for the story.  Of course this impregnable fortress is penetrated by Doctor Doom and a couple of Doombots.

Dr. Doom wishes to be given the secret of trans-dimensional travel.  He has secured a device that will release neutrons for miles around and kill all organic life if the Avengers do not share this secret that he witnessed as they battled some recent foes.  He tells them that two of the Dooms they see are Doombots, but do they risk attacking and setting the bomb off?

Sandman and Vision are trapped on a different level from the party as is Captain America in a training area.  They decide to face off against their Dooms after some logical deduction.  Seeing Sandman fight Doom is awesome.  The real hero is the secret teen Rage.  The story starts having Doom shock him.  The funny thing is that Rage figures some important things out and they are all because of cupcakes his Granny brought to the party.

This is one of the fun stories that has so much cool from the Marvel Universe.  It is also a great find for any that might collect comics that Doc Doom appears in.  One of my favorites from this era in Avengers History.

BDS

So A Lot Has Been Going On.....

Well, many things have been happening.  The biggest is that my substitute job has now turned into a second job.  It is before and after school care and that leaves me with a crazy schedule.  I hope that it helps with some of the money stress.  It has been an adjustment.  I also have been sick and dealing with the diabetes while this has happened.  All while still doing the primary job in the local church setting.

I have been able to catch up a bit on my reading of comicbooks and one thought crossed my mind.  What was the point of the FUTURE'S END stories from DC?  Aside from a few nice bits they really are not playing into the current plots for me.  I mean I figured that my books would jump forward and we would have a mini restart and that might be cool.  Add a few bits of tension and intrigue, but to have everything plodding along as is after reading what will be is just a marketing scheme, right?  My shop owner did have the non-steroid covers available for a switch or I would have not been buying the titles I collect.

TV has been cool with the Super Heroes of late.  I can't comment on Gotham as I cannot received the local FOX station over the airwaves and I have sworn off Hulu because their alliance with Facebook seems to screw with my access on my outdated computer.  But Flash is AWESOME!!!!!!!!  I love what they have done with the character and the way that they have the very accessible "Easter eggs" on display.  They really have done it right and it is the equal to Arrow in every way.  Constantine I like, but I figure it is a good thing that NBC is low in the ratings right now or it would be cut already.  They are doing it justice.  The thing I am wondering is if the Grimm folks are staying tuned and watching?

Trunk or Treat went well.  I was told I was the "coolest person ever" for giving out comics.  Had a mom at a local library praise me for making her little boy's Halloween.  Plus, it was cool seeing kids be dumbfounded when a comic was dropped in their trick or treat containers.

Well. gotta head to bed.  I hope to get back on track soon, but no promises.

BDS

VOTE

A new second job, bad health, and knowing I am in a gerrymandered district did not stop me from voting.  It is a right that is slowly being manipulated from us.  It is important to maintain this right, so go vote.  

BDS

Flashback Fizzle

Tonight I was all ready to get back to Blogging.  I have had a busy and rough few weeks.  I know my health has been on a roller coaster.  I took a second job that has odd hours compared to most jobs.  I have been pushing to promote and work my church job.  All this while fighting off a seasonal allergy cough.  It was to be a start to scheduling normalcy tonight.

I had a old comic from 1986 on tap and really was getting up to start the process when I heard a sound like the vehicle that passed by had run over something on the road.  It was before 8:30 PM EST.  I went and got a flashlight and fund Pal in the road dead.  It really changed the night.

Pal was the name I called him, Dad called him Bozo or the dog that "wasn't his dog."  He really wasn't our dog.  Sometime back he showed up, a Beagle that just found the house with all the other Beagles and hounds.  He would run a rabbit, but was beyond gun shy.  In fact right after he showed up, the sight of a rifle before a cow was killed and dressed to be processed made him disappear.  We figure he was an older dog and that because he was gun shy the owner just took off a collar and let him go.

I had pet him maybe twenty minutes earlier when I went out on the porch.  Another Beagle we have that was his running buddy was looking for him after I got him out of the road and in a wheel barrow.  He may have not been our dog, but he is now buried in the area where many of our dogs have been laid to rest after their deaths.

It has been a long time since we lost a dog to the road.  It is just a sad night.

BDS

Money vs. Collecting & Future's End Thoughts

This week I did something I never thought I might do.  I dropped Buffy The Vampire Slayer from my pull box at the Comic Shop.  I have been collecting Buffy TVS since the very first issue back in the late 1990's.  I stuck with this title through thick and thin.  I was able to get B&W advance issues in the mail in the early days of my reviewing adventure.  It is the book that brought me to my current shop when the place I was at started to not have it in my pull box.  I was in Divinity School and would pick up my comics as I drove back on breaks back home.  Yet, I dropped Buffy.  I also cut X-O Manowar, Wonder Woman, The Phantom Stranger, and Witchblade.  

These cuts were about money.  I found out Phantom Stranger was ending anyway so that was a moot point.  Wonder Woman had been meandering for me and I felt i could look to trades now for that book.  Otherwise these were just cuts due to the cost of the titles.  I have had to become strict with what I will purchase over the $3 price.  When in reality you get 22 pages of story it needs to capture my attention every week.  I am not going to get drawn in by the crossover fever that hits every company.  It just isn't in my ability to buy all your books for you "BIG EVENT" that happens every couple of months.  I had to start cutting deeper.  

Future's End might have a different effect on my DC buying.  I still am digging the Earth 2 books.  This five year jump probably will not bother me there.  I am looking to stop my Lantern buys possibly.  The paths and ends these books took seem to be away from what draws me to love those stories.  Might be time for a clean break and look to trades.  Aquaman is a toss up.  It might be good, but I liked the Mera that was not so battle scarred.  I liked the balance of her in a grocery store buying dog food or threatening to feed a terrorist to a sea monster.  I just am not sure that Future's End will keep me at the levels I have been.

Money is tight.  Medicine is a constant.  Pay is stagnant.  I have to cut my one enjoyable thing, comic collecting.  It is sad.  Especially when I have so little that can give me a break from worry and stress.  Some love to hit little balls over pastures, others run/peddle/etc., some catch fish and other things.  Me, I collect stories.  I savor them and love just falling into those worlds and getting lost for a bit.  

So fare the well, Buffy.  You have been a constant companion since the TV show Savannah was canceled and I watched the replacement in that now gone dorm room in Buies Creek.

BDS

Flashback Friday: Batgirl #53

I will be getting this one in just under the wire for Friday according to Eastern Standard Time.  I made up my mind at about 10:38 PM to do a Flashback Friday post, but my computer is not behaving well.  I think that Microsoft did an update to screw with Windows XP.  That is just a conspiracy theory, but why would I still get updates when they said I would no longer receive them?  Anyway, we have a tale of Batgirl (Cassandra Cain) and Robin (Stephanie Brown).  They will face off against the Penguin in this story.  

It is really just a nice action story that has much fighting and major damage.  They make the most of the martial arts and the ability of Robin to make an entrance.  The light-hearted aspect is balanced by a chilling twist that will place one little girl in the middle of the Gotham underworld.  It hits close to home for both heroines, Stephanie especially.

It is cool to see Stephanie and Barbara Gordon together and think of how one day there will be a Batgirl title for Steph and Oracle will be guiding her.  The plot is good and this is an issue that one can own and not need to have the preceding or following issues to understand things.  It stands alone.

BDS

Flashback Friday: Velocity #1 (1995)

Yes, I am getting a Flashback Friday posted.  I am in a very blah mood, but just needed to do something to break this feeling of tiredness I have battled all week.  I received the 25 pounds of comics this week and was a bit disappointed in one way.  I really question that the kid friendly and teen friendly tags they used and the guarantee of majority Marvel and DC was met.  I mean I had an issue of Violator #1 in the kid friendly pack.  Anyway a problem I figured did happen.  I had a few issues I wanted to pull out and keep for me.  Velocity #1 is such an issue.

I have no real connection with the character.  I know enough to tell a person on the street that she is a speedster and on a team called Cyber-Force.  That pretty much is my know ledge of her.  I have always liked the character design for her.  The colors work for me.  I like the red hair.  She of all the Image characters from that period seems to be someone I would like.  Otherwise I have little in terms of collecting to do with Cyber-Force.

In this opening book of her 1995 series we get a glimpse of her as a team player.  Things stand out real quick about her.  Carin is a very sympathetic woman.  She cares and that can be enough to sense a reason she is using her abilities for good.  She wants to help.  It becomes real clear that she feels less than able to help.  From her own thoughts we see her as the weakest of her team.  She has doubts and fears.  We are shown a memory image of her sister Ballistic, whom Image readers would know, but I don't.  Carin tells in her narration that her sister is the tough and courageous one.

Now the plot.  A serial killer of super humans.  Through the turns and twists of the story he separates Carin and we get a look at his powers.  They are impressive.  He has Velocity's genetic marker and plans to hunt her.  We know that this is now a cat and mouse hunt where she will have to become the hero she doubts she is to survive.  It really is a good start to a story.  Not knowing about this world I still can become invested in seeing the adventure take place.  I get enough info to pull for Carin and want to see her prevail.  Maybe one day I will find the rest of the story and know how it ends.

BDS

Reading more than Writing

I just wanted to write a bit about why I have lost steam again.  I was doing great there once upon a time with at least having a Monday and a Friday post.  It worked as I cannot do up to date current reviews.  I just recently have been battling energy problems.  When I have burst of energy I tend to focus on work and life stuff that is not posting.  I have been reading my back issues of things.  I am not able to get to the shop as much and when I do I have so many books I just don't get any posts done.

I will be drifting away a bit soon as I put a hold on Terry Goodkind's new novel Severed Souls.  I hear he will be killing a main character of this fantasy world.  My fear is that it will be Cara who is my favorite.  Still, once I get into that novel, free time is devoted to that story.  It should just be a few days before the book come in to the local branch of the library system.

I only bought one comic at Hillsville.  I will be missing the Hickory Con to help lead a church event.  Works out OK as I have little money to spend on comics right now.  What I had saved for Trunk Or Treat has been spent.  Instead of handing out candy I will have comics to give.  I ordered 25 pounds of comics.  I hope my estimates of around how many books that will be is correct.  I will have a Comic Shop theme, but I don't think I will do Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons.  He is just too much of a jerk.

As I said, low energy.  I am going to take my insulin and go to bed now.  Probably be up at 4:15 AM.  Not sure why, but that is a time I seem to wake up around.  I have the carbonated water ready and will take a few swigs and slip the Sleep Ap Mask back on.

Take Care all.

BDS

Its Friday

Getting ready for bed as I am rising early in the morning to go to Hillsville, Va. for the big Flea Market.  I did want to post though and decided this print from Wilkes Library Con was the perfect Friday offering.  I think it was called Phoenix Fairy if memory serves.  

I have made a decision on the books to cut from my pull box.  I am having to really tighten up the budget.  I feel that one it is time to let go of and I will right more about that book later.  I do hope to find a few good deals tomorrow.  It will be Comicbook Rescue Project time.  I will have little cash though to maneuver with during the day.  I still have fun looking around at all the cool stuff.

Have a great Labor Day Weekend!

BDS

FAIRY TAIL

Fairy Tail is the reason I am not keeping up with my comics blogging.  Well, maybe not, but it is the excuse I will go with.  While sick and under the dizzying effects of the meds I watched a BUNCH of Netflix.  I am almost finished with EUREKA and did finish MAKO MERMAIDS.  I also discovered FAIRY TAIL.  I was scrolling along the new stuff added to my suggestions list and saw Fairy Tail multiple times and got to thinking.  I remembered running into a Fairy Tail group when browsing CosPlay sites.  It seems I had found something that connected with my interest in dressing up as characters of things.  So I watched the first episode and was hooked.

I fell in love with Lucy and instantly loved Happy.  Natsu was funny and dramatic.  He really fits the anime hero style well.  Soon Grey entered the picture and I met the one most people seemed to be imitating, Erza.  It soon became my obsession.  I had to watch at least until the multiple stories ended.  I would break a bit and dive in again.

This is just one of those great series that has such a wonderful message of hope and family.  Family being what you make when you share common ground with others.  The importance of sticking together and being honorable shines strong.  There is cool magic and adventure as we watch people struggle just to make it in their world.  So many misfits and they found a home in the Fairy Tail Guild.  When attacked they stand together even if it means they might die.  This is just the best animated series I have seen in a very long while.

So that is what I have been doing.

BDS

Flashback Friday: Danger Girl Trinity (All four Issues)

I really should have had this done earlier in the week, but the antibiotics and cough pill have really made me tired and dizzy.  Still, I did pull out my guilty little pleasure of comicbook collecting and reading.  I didn't fall for the Danger Girls when they first appeared.  I saw the cheesecake covers (and yes I do own a copy of the famous Abbey Chase Bubble Bath cover) and was not a purchaser of comics for art.  I was in my early days of returning to comics as well.  I didn't delve into the Image waters much.  It would be many years later that I would find some Danger Girl comics in collected and single forms for a steal and buy them.  I liked those early issues well enough.

What has really captured my imagination has been the last ten years or so of Danger Girl.  It has comeback in limited series forms many times and I like that.  I have bought a few and really have enjoyed how the characters have grown since those early cheesecake days.  TRINITY was the last one I purchased and IDW now has the franchise.  The downside of which is the cost of a single issue, $3.99.  Still, I was doing better back when this came out and picked each issue up off the shelf.  I have put the covers I own in the posts.  If you know anything about Danger Girl, it is that there are always multiple covers.

For those that do not know about Danger Girl, it is a great spy/action/adventure comic.  It all started with the recruitment of Abbey Chase, Archaeologist and Relic Hunter.  She gets brought into the Spy group Know as Danger Girl.  There are sisters Sydney and Sonya Savage as well as Deuce and Valerie.  Deuce is a former British Intelligent Agent and the surly leader of the team.  Valerie is the teenage tech whiz that aspires to be like Abbey.  It is Abbey, Sydney, and Sonya that are the three main femme fatales.  Each gets there own cover this series.

That is good since it reads as a three part action tale that will converge in issue #4.  Abbey is abducted very politely by a desert king and taken for some unknown reason.  She always is falling into trouble like this and it leads to her Indiana Jones like saving of the day.  It was Sydney that got some of the sex appeal action and funny relationship stuff as she is called to save Abbey while with a nice guy.  He ends up in some strange situations because of her.  Oh, there is also a group of assassins that are after her.  That leaves Sonya as she is retrieving a bounty and anther group of killers have it out for her.  The guy she has captured ends up as her buddy during many high octane escapes.
 
All this leads to Abbey figuring out who is the baddies and who needs help.  Her Danger Girl pals arrive and everything gets explosive.  This is a group of characters that are used as typical sexy women in comic art ways, but stories like this feel more rendered as it has some well done writing to accompany all the great art.  People will buy Danger Girl stories for different reasons.  So far, I have enjoyed the recent adventures.  I would urge you to not just judge these gals by there covers, but try out the stories.  You might be surprised at how independent and strong these female characters have become.

BDS 

Friday Ramblings

No Flashback Friday this week.  I have been suffering a very bad cough and just felt lousy.  I will ramble a bit tonight.  I have put up a scan of a print I bought at HeroesCon for your enjoyment.  I love the way it has the B & W vs the color version displayed.  Not sure how long Netflix will take to get the new Doc up on the watch list, but for now I am happy to be able to watch again.

Anyway.  I am feeling a bit mixed about my comics right now.  I still love them and have this collector's need to collect, but I also have an ever dwindling inflow of cash.  Being in the hospital increased my debt.  I now have three different bills that I am juggling.  because one is over 3,000 I can't realistically combine them.  What was really screwy was because I am living with my Dad they were all interested in his draw from Social Security instead of my take home pay.  Not really liking the "new" corporate local hospital.  Other things seem to be increasing, except the money I make.  So I feel a need to cut the titles I am reading.  A few seem simple.  I mean X-O Manowar is expensive and having crossover stuff, so it will be cut.  DC may make it easy to cut if they are increasing certain titles by $1.  One might be something I really like, but I am not liking this increase.

I am peeved by my inability to force myself to write.  I was going to begin just getting ideas out of my head.  The very least thing was to utilize the Blog and have post written even if they were to be scheduled and posted later.  The lack of a Monday post has shown that that goal is not being met.  So I am twisting right now.  I did scratch enough to go see Guardians of the Galaxy.  Marvel did I good job with the characters.  It really was a top-notch movie.

Well, I feel like trying to get some rest in a bit.  Take care geekazoids and nerdlings.

BDS

Flashback Friday: Captain Midnight On The Run Volume 1 (TPB)

One great thing about going to a Convention is that you should be able to get trades for bargain prices.  I love the $5 trades at HeroesCon.  That is what this week's Flashback Friday is and I am so glad.  Captain Midnight is a book I would be reading if I could afford the $3.50 price that Dark Horse has on their books.  They have many titles I would love to read, I just can't afford to do it.  So for me, finding Captain Midnight in a $5 trade book was outstanding.

It has the Free Comic Book Day Captain Midnight #0 and collects #1 - #3 of the ongoing series.  It really is a great introduction for the character and series.  It also plays into the Black Sky mystery that Dark Horse has running through many of their titles.  Here we get a time lost hero returning to find a brave new world, just not the one he envisioned.  He expected flying cars and rocket packs.  

Jim Albright might be from the World War II era, but he has the smarts and moves to outmaneuver the tech of 2013.  He will need it as the daughter of the man he let die is out for revenge.  She was lost in time as well.  She just reappeared in the 1980's.  Fury Shark is her name and she has been a busy little Nazi.  We get action and adventure in an old school feel as Captain Midnight picks up the fight for Justice.

The book is filled with great humor as you read along and see both an old style of story being presented and a modern conspiracy tale.  This would be a great movie franchise.  It reminds me of the Indiana Jones movies or what I wish The Rocketeer had become.  Search out and find the Captain Midnight books.  It is well worth your time.

BDS

Wilkes Library Con 2014

I travel up the road a bit today to a small event that has a great big impact.  Every year the Wilkes Regional Library holds what they call Library Con.  It is a celebration of all things GEEK and a mish mash of genres as young and old mix together.  It has a great bit of fun for kids.  It is AWESOME seeing so many children enjoying being in a Library.  They have a free admission, but a raffle goes on where you can win every hour.  I pretty much donated three dollars as I really didn't care if I won.  It is also a time to Cosplay.  There are some creative people that show up.  Many have just gotten homemade costumes.  It is less intimidating that HeroesCon or a big gathering of Cosplayers.  The children are great as they stare wide eyed at the characters from there books and cartoons.  It is a great way to spend a Saturday.

BDS

LUCY

*SPOILER FREE**SPOILER FREE**SPOILER FREE*  

I went and saw this today.  It is a great movie, but it is a "thinking" movie.  You cannot let your brain go on autopilot.  Very deep and well done film.  Action is phenomenal.  Acting is great.  Morgan Freeman rocks!  The bad guys are believable and very determined.  Loved this movie.

BDS 

I Am Sickly

We had a good week at Summer Camp.  The rain a couple of days combined with the humidity and wind gave me my Caswell Cold.  I have been feeling really bad today.  Instead of a Malibu Monday I hope you instead enjoy this Tardis as a Transformer sketch cover I had done at this year's HeroesCon.

BDS

Malibu Mondays: Star Trek Deep Space Nine #1

"And now for something completely different...." as the saying goes.  Deep Space Nine you wonder?  Yes, if I also remember correctly, Malibu Comics received the license to produce the first of the DS9 comics stories.  I had to get this at Heroes Convention this year.  I have a confession that might anger any of you who are of different opinions when it come to Star Trek, but here it is, DS9 was the best series.  Captain Sisko is the best Captain.  The entire franchise is best viewed through the DS9 portal to the Star Trek Universe.

Those of you still reading and not screaming how Kirk is best, or Picard, or Janeway, can just accept that buying this was a guilty pleasure in my quest for the Malibu Comics lines.  I did open this poly bagged issue and will be putting the poster that came with it up in my building where my Comics live.  I know for some that is bad, but I believe in reading my comics.  So I opened a bagged book and devalued it.

This is a great start to the comic.  All the characters are there and have really cool looks.  Even O'Brian's wife along with Jake and Nog are present.  Seeing Odo shift into a rat and jump in goop that had covered Quark was awesome.  The entire story just took me back to those early episodes.  It was outstanding.  I picked up another one and will do a write up on it, but it just seemed right to begin with issue #1.

BDS

HeroesCon Surprise!

 I was really good at Trade surfing the Convention floor this year.  I picked up a few good collections.  I filled in some of my reads in trade form like Noble Causes.  It was a good weekend.  Like always I pick up and look at books I have in the single issue format.  When I picked up No Honor I was in for a really cool surprise.  On the back was not one, but two quotations from me about the book and it's author.  Yes, that second and last quotes under the name of Hatcher is me.

I started out writing reviews under the alias of Hatcher for a small site called PaperBackReader.  We merged for a bit with ComiXtreme.com before splitting back off.  It was the loss of my alias that stopped my work online as a reviewer.  My hobby was used by unscrupulous people and I had to give up something I liked a great deal.  It was at a time when I was being recognized for being an honest reviewer and reaping some perks of that unpaid job.  To see something that I said used to promote a book I really liked was just a bit of nostalgia and way awesome.

If you get a chance, read No Honor.  It is really cool.  A buddy team up between an art thief and a restless spirit of a long passed samurai.  Fiona Kai Avery really can write the culture of Japan and just has a great sense of subtle comedy.  The action rocks and it just was a great read.

BDS

#HeroesCon #HeroesConvention #comics

Malibu Mondays: Siren Special #1

I bought this comic on Friday at Heroes Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina and read it that night in the hotel.  I noticed that Randy Green did the cover.  I carried it back Saturday hoping to get it signed, but sadly for me, his kid had a baseball tournament and he was only there on Friday.  Just a side story.  Now on to talking about the comic.

If you have never read a single Malibu comic or have no clue about Siren and Shuriken, then please do not just grab this out of a back issue box and read it as a way to jump into this comicbook world.  You will be very lost.  I kind of know about Siren and I was lost.  It helps that I have the run except for the first issue of The All New Exiles.  I at least know the whys and hows of Juggernaut and the reason Siren is sent after Shuriken. I get that maybe the end of this has something to do with Ultraforce.  Everything else is just a patchwork.

Siren is given an origin.  She is brought back from her stay in the Marvel Universe I guess.  It really is just a guess.  I think Siren is neat and here we get some cool uses of powers, but truthfully I never do really understand her origin completely.  The action in the story is really cool and the art top notch.  It is a good grab for my collecting of all the Malibu Universe.  Just wonder if I will collect enough to see the big picture of where this "special" fits into the larger scheme of things?

BDS

Heroes Convention: Sunday Pics