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Post by brutalis on Jan 30, 2018 8:11:22 GMT -5
Remember When: The good guys were good and the bad guys were bad? These days I have no idea what is good or bad. While I an appreciate a good story line with a hero turned villainous or vice-a-versa where the villain becomes good I think the whole scenario has gone off the rails. While many have been good to great stories over time the idea has been done to death and now so many villains are the stars of teams and the rise of the Anti-hero via Punisher, Wolverine, Vigilante, Lobo, Demon and others to the point where is the line crossed? They cross back and forth between good and evil all based upon the demands and idea's of the writers and the story needs. Me am feeling like Bizarro: me am confused?!?
I mean look at the lists just off the top of my head?
Villains ala hero
Black Widow Hawkeye Deadpool Rogue Venom Gambit Vision Quicksilver Scarlet Witch Emma Frost Catwoman Sinestro Black Adam Deathstroke Shade Pied Piper Magneto Dr. Doom Luthor Captain Cold Sandman Thunderbolts and so many more...
Hero villain turn: Captain America Reed Richards Cyclops Dark Phoenix Daredevil Bucky/Winter Soldier Scarlet Witch Angel/Archangel Scarlet Spider Green Lantern/Parallax Iron Man Hulk Superboy Prime Shazam
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Post by brutalis on Feb 12, 2018 17:18:49 GMT -5
With Prince Hal remembering the annuals of childhood how about we take a moment to Remember When Christmas was all about the hope of finding the current over sized 1970's Treasury Edition under your Christmas tree? I don't want to steal the Prince's thunder as I am certain he will articulate so much better than me when he gets around to them but I only ever had a few come my way. But oh what a tremendous pleasure they were. My 1st ever Treasury edition was the DC 1st Edition reprinting the Flash comics #1 with Jay Garrick including the origin of Hawkman, Jonny Thunder, The Whip and Cliff Cornwall. The next one dropped on me was The Mighty Avengers reprint of issues issues 52, 57, 60 and 83 followed by the Marvel Giant Superhero Holiday Grab-Bag with Marvel Team-Up #6, Avengers 58, tales to Astonish #93 and Daredevil #86 and Rudolph the Red nosed Reindeer. After those few Christmas holiday's I had graduated to purchasing my own Treasury Editions as a teenager. Then it was Conan the Barbarian, Fantastic Four, Superman vs Spider-Man, Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Superman vs Muhammad Ali, 2001 a Space Odyssey, Captain America's Bicentennial Battles, Battlestar Galactica, Seeing such large panels of heroic endeavors blazing across those pages. I traced and copied from the ones I had so often until I could almost duplicate exactly what was on the page looking close enough to the original artist's rendition. Such were the cold holiday nights and endless days of my summer spent reading and drawing over and over again. Sadly over time and moving I only have a few of these Treasury Editions left to enjoy. But what I remember most is the pure joy of such large comic books being a part of my life. It is sad that today such things are cost prohibitive and more a gimmick and many children will never know the fun and joy we oldster's experienced...
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Post by Deleted on Feb 12, 2018 18:08:28 GMT -5
Those over sized Treasury Editions were awesome. Unfortunately I no longer have any of them because they were a pain to store. I too traced many of the pages over a light box my parents bought me. One year I made all my Christmas gift tags from tracings from Treasury editions. The word balloons had the name of who the gift was for.
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Post by kirby101 on Feb 12, 2018 19:51:46 GMT -5
That was one part of my collection I hung on to. I just put three of the reprint issues up on ebay. But I am keeping, my two Superman/Spider-man, Batman/Hulk, Super-Man/Ali, the Bible and two Kirby's 2001 and Cap Bicentennial.
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Post by brutalis on Feb 16, 2018 14:10:37 GMT -5
Remember When you would be chased away from the comic book rack at your local convenience store? I was always conscious of what I had to spend so I wanted to get the most for my money. Where others would just rush up and grab whatever their favorite series might be I took my time compiling (literally a pile) of issues going by what series I liked or tried to follow, the cost (this was the day of steady and regular price hikes from 10/15/20/25 cent issues and giant issues for 50 cents) of issues and looking at cover dates so I may buy or put something back if I thought it might not be on the rack next week. I wasn't reading them as many others would do, I was just being careful with my spending. Sorting them out and deciding what I should buy today versus another day wasn't the same as today's LCS where you can have a pull list and pre-order. Not knowing what you would find every single day on the rack was a lot fun and also frustrating as all get out at the same time. Thrill of the hunt versus failure to grabbed a comic before it disappeared. Such were the joys and sorrows found at the spinner rack daily.
Only being allowed a limited collection by my parents meant being cautious with my purchasing. I never bought Archie, Harvey, War, Westerns or Atlas preferring to spend my change on Marvel and DC. As they were rightly called the Big Two at the time because everything else from other companies either didn't last or they were too childish for my budding teen collecting years. My reading and spending was towards the great and classic heroic, fantasy, science fiction goodness that was in full swing during the 1970's.
I grew up hearing all kinds of verbal assertions from the clerk's: are you going to buy that? Hurry up and buy something or get out! Don't spend all day there, other people want to look and buy something. Get out of the way, you are blocking the aisle. Why are you here all the time, do your parents know you are here? Why do you keep buying that garbage? Come back when you can spend more than a dollar kid!
Eventually once a few of the stores got to know me and that I was a regular buyer and coming around every week or several times a week began to accept my presence and even encouraged and enjoyed seeing me come in. A few began to tell me when the delivery days for new comics was so I could plan and spend more. Those shop owners knew that when I kept coming in they were guaranteed sales and that I would spend on other things in their stores like soda, candy, chips and the like. Shrewd business people there!
No matter what though there was always the "Cranky check out clerk at the register" to remind me that time is money and you are wasting mine....either buy or get lost!
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Post by Deleted on Feb 16, 2018 15:29:19 GMT -5
I grew up hearing all kinds of verbal assertions from the clerk's: are you going to buy that? Hurry up and buy something or get out! Don't spend all day there, other people want to look and buy something. Get out of the way, you are blocking the aisle. Why are you here all the time, do your parents know you are here? Why do you keep buying that garbage? Come back when you can spend more than a dollar kid! Eventually once a few of the stores got to know me and that I was a regular buyer and coming around every week or several times a week began to accept my presence and even encouraged and enjoyed seeing me come in. A few began to tell me when the delivery days for new comics was so I could plan and spend more. Those shop owners knew that when I kept coming in they were guaranteed sales and that I would spend on other things in their stores like soda, candy, chips and the like. Shrewd business people there! I guess I was lucky. My experience was more the second paragraph instead of the first paragraph.
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Post by badwolf on Feb 16, 2018 15:47:09 GMT -5
I was never chased away from the spinner rack, but I was once chastised in a bookstore for sitting on the ground level magazine shelf while reading comics.
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Post by codystarbuck on Feb 17, 2018 0:33:44 GMT -5
Never got chased out; but, I also didn't frequent newsstands, much. I didn't really start buying comics until I was earning my own money, as we didn't receive an allowance on a consistent basis (my dad was a teacher, in a rural school district, my mother moved into real estate, in a tough market. Finances varied a bit over the years). I was about 11 or 12 before I started earning any kind of income; and, then, I didn't have close access to comics. We lived in a small farm town, with only a small grocery store and no newsstand. They did have bagged sets, for a brief period of time. I used to bike 5 miles to the nearest town, which did have a newsstand and a larger grocery store. By that point, I was a bit more focused on what I was buying, though I did sample now and again. College was where I hit a comic shop and saw a whole new world. Most of my comics were assembled slowly, over a long period of time, plus ones I traded from friends and a cousin who was losing interest in his collection.
By the time I had the income, shop owners were happy to see me with my list and the growing stacks of things.
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Post by EdoBosnar on Feb 17, 2018 4:46:07 GMT -5
Yeah, except for one incident (that I've already recounted on one of cody's threads) when a drugstore cashier rather testily warned me not to open one of those 3-comic bags, I usually didn't get the stink-eye or any snide comments from store employees. However, I can totally relate to the selection process recounted by brutalis. Usually I pull out everything I liked, so I had a big bundle in my hand, and then slowly put back the 'lower-priority' books until what I had in my hand could be covered by the money I had in my pocket.
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Post by brutalis on Feb 22, 2018 8:15:17 GMT -5
Remember When: after hitting the spinner rack nearest to you and having bought up the issues you follow or interested you and finding nothing new? Determined to spend those nickels and dimes you would peruse all the "left overs" in the rack poring over covers and flipping pages trying to choose a comic or several comics because your addiction demands you buying a comic, any comic? Change collected MUST be spent on comics this day and not held onto for another day. So you dig through the various multiple copies of unloved, unbought comic books in the spinner that are lonely and dreaming of some desperate child to purchase their release and taking them home?
These are my high school days of the relentless and endless summer where I only had the 2 Korean stores in my neighborhood spent hitting them nearly every day in search of something new to read. My having a limited collection during hot sweltering Arizona days where I discovered other comic books beyond super heroes. Delving into them for DC war I found The Unknown Soldier and The Creature Commando's and the Haunted Tank. The occasional Jonah Hex and the DC horror with House of Mystery and House of Secrets. Spending on humor like Bugs Bunny, Roadrunner, Uncle Scrooge, Tom and Jerry or the odd Archie comic. From Marvel taking the plunge on that weird little cigar smoking and talking Howard the Duck or grabbing a reprint of Marvel Tales, Marvel Super Action, Marvel Triple Action or a Kid Colt or Rawhide Kid.
Comics which you might not ever buy other than you crave so desperately for something new to read so you cannot wait a week or two weeks until the next delivery of comics arrives. The itch of the change in your pocket to be spent and providing your temporary satisfaction. This is when I developed a taste for War and Western comics and was preparing me for the next step towards the independent's comics that I would soon discover with the advent of the LCS in a few years after high school.
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Post by hondobrode on Feb 22, 2018 8:50:30 GMT -5
I lot of what's in my collection from my childhood was stuff I don't care for now, but it was what was available then.
It was all new and great then and what the heck.
You could still dig and find cool stuff in shops pre-Internet.
Now everything is pretty much marked up in shops and most shops have the same old crap I don't care about.
It's the old shops I like digging around in and finding some sweet product, hopefully without it being overpriced.
The internet has changed and helped so much. There are choices available and prices are more reasonable, esp with venues like eBay.
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Post by kirby101 on Feb 22, 2018 8:54:58 GMT -5
Yes brutalis, I was there with you. And it is funny looking back at the times we didn't have the extra 15, 20 or 25 cents to get something that looked good, or hesitated from spending the extra change. That my total weekly comic expense was around $1 to $2 is crazy.
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Post by brutalis on Feb 22, 2018 10:21:10 GMT -5
Yes brutalis, I was there with you. And it is funny looking back at the times we didn't have the extra 15, 20 or 25 cents to get something that looked good, or hesitated from spending the extra change. That my total weekly comic expense was around $1 to $2 is crazy. Truth there for me as well. Lots of annuals and the DC dollar comics were all passed by for not having enough money or considering a $1.00 too much to spend for 1 comic book when I could instead get 3-4 comic books and candy/soda! I think the "limited" selection of the local spinner rack actually helped force me into expanding my comic book purchases. Instead of knowing there were multiple LCS where I will be able to track something down as a back issue months from now, I spent knowing there may not be another chance to get those comics or that I might not find them at another convenience store in town. It was buy now and not wait because tomorrow could be too late.
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Post by batusi on Feb 22, 2018 12:54:10 GMT -5
Remember When: The good guys were good and the bad guys were bad? Catwoman !!
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Post by kirby101 on Feb 22, 2018 13:36:11 GMT -5
Yes brutalis, I was there with you. And it is funny looking back at the times we didn't have the extra 15, 20 or 25 cents to get something that looked good, or hesitated from spending the extra change. That my total weekly comic expense was around $1 to $2 is crazy. Truth there for me as well. Lots of annuals and the DC dollar comics were all passed by for not having enough money or considering a $1.00 too much to spend for 1 comic book when I could instead get 3-4 comic books and candy/soda! I think the "limited" selection of the local spinner rack actually helped force me into expanding my comic book purchases. Instead of knowing there were multiple LCS where I will be able to track something down as a back issue months from now, I spent knowing there may not be another chance to get those comics or that I might not find them at another convenience store in town. It was buy now and not wait because tomorrow could be too late. I usually made the rounds on my bike to 3 or 4 stores to make sure I got all the books out that week.
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