Bargain books ( and some links )

This was supposed to be just a quick post but as usual it took me far longer. I just wanted to do a post about the new bargain priced books I have added to my amazon store.


I really should be doing something else like finally starting on the english version of the next HORST story. But it took me extremely long to find out the regular prices for the items. In some cases I couldn´t find any. Now I´m always feeling a bit guilty when doing this amazon posts but in Today´s economy you have to save whenever you can. Not only with comics. And if you can get the new CAPTAIN AMERICA - MAN WITH NO FACE hardcover for 8.40 bucks I think it is my obligation to inform my readers. If they take that offer is up to them.

There are a few items to which I wanted to add a few things but I didn´t write about all the new items. Just check out my amazon store and I hope you can find something for your collection.

INCREDIBLE HERCULES / AGAINST THE WORLD trades

One of the best series at Marvel right now is INCREDIBLE HERCULES. As one of the few books still at 2.99 the art has been a bit lacking during the trial of Zeus storyline but has improved in the latest issues. Anyway it´s worth it for the story alone. There are too many books out there who takes themselves way too serious so it´s a breath of fresh air to read a book that´s entertaining, action packed and funny at the same time.

If you haven´t checked this book out here´s your chance to get the first trade - in which the whole story began - for a measly 7.90 EURO instead of 14.99. It´s written by Greg Pak and illustrated by Gary Frank and collects issues 106 - 111. And to top it all off the second trade AGAINST THE WORLD collecting issues 112 - 115 and the " Hulk Vs. Hercules : When Titans Collide " is priced at 5.90 EUROS instead of 14.99. It has beautiful covers by Arthur Adams and the Ares / Wonder Man team up is one of the funniest ever. But you shouldn´t think too long about it as there are only three copies left.

edit : the AGAINST THE WORLD trade for 5.90 has sold out


INFERNO hardcover

Now this is one of my favorite storylines of all the X - Men books. When I added this item to my amazon store I wondered why this is regularly priced at 75 US Dollars. But through some research I found out that it has about 300 pages more than the trade edition I have. Apart from the issues in the trade it also has X - FACTOR 33 - 35, X - FACTOR annual 4 and X - TERMINATORS 1 - 4. If you don´t have it in your collection you can get it now for 31.40 EUROS.

edit : the INFERNO hardcover for 31.40 has sold out

MADMAN ATOMIC COMICS first trade

There is not much to add to what I wrote in my big MADMAN post :

In MADMANS ATOMIC COMICS the whole issue of finding out who we are, where we are coming from and where we are going to becomes the center of the story. But MADMAN is not only one giant headtrip into the frontiers of human existence, a rollercoaster ride to unknown metphysical and religious heights. It´s also an adventure full of weird science, rocket ships, space aliens, superhero teams like the Atomics, birth, death and rebirth ( and cloning ). It has action, drama, romance, adventure, phylosophy and spirituality. It´s full of crazy ideas, wonderful concepts and a pure love for life and the comic medium which you can see on every page.


The trade is usually priced at 19.99 I think but you can get it now for 8.40 EUROS at amazon. It´s already in my amazon store and there are only.......no, it´s also already gone. I hope you got your copy.

SPIDER - MAN / HUMAN TORCH : I´M WITH STUPID hardcover

This five issue mini series by Dan Slott and Ty Templeton is one of the best Spidey stories I have read. It takes a look at the rivalry turned friendship between Spider - Man and the Human Torch through the ages. Not only does it manage to evoke the flair and art style of the different areas the issues take place it also manages to include such craziness like the Spidermobile and the Twinky ads. And it has a great story to boot. So if you want to have a great Spidey book from back before all this BRAND NEW DAY madness started you should check this out.

The regular price for the hardcover is 17.99 $ and it has 128 pages. There is a digest size versiona vailable for 7.99 $ but with the hardcover available for 8.90 EURO at amazon you should spend the extra buck.

edit : this bargain priced book has already sold out


WOLVERINE WEAPON X trade

There is not much anyone can say about this that hasn´t already been said. Barry Windsor Smith´s mini series that first appeared in MARVEL COMICS PRESENTS is one of the quintessential Marvel classics and should be in every comic collection - not only X - Men fans or Wolverine fans. Normally selling for 16.99 it´s now available for 7.40 EUROS.

edit : the bargain priced version has also sold out

Also in the bargain book section :

ANITA BLAKE GUILTY PLEASURES 1 trade 11.20 EURO instead of 14.99 ( hardcover at amazon 13.99 ).
ANITA BLAKE GUILTY PLEASURES 2 trade 9.90 EURO instead of 15.99.
ANITA BLAKE FIRST DEATH trade 10.99 EURO instead of 14.99.
CAPTAIN AMERICA - THE MAN WITH NO FACE HC 8.40 EUROS instead of 19.99.


CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI13 1 trade 9.40 EURO instead of 15.99 ( 5 copies left ).
CLOAK AND DAGGER : CHILD OF DARKNESS, CHILD OF LIGHT HC 11.90 EUROS instead of 19.99 ( 5 copies left ).
MIGHTY AVENGERS SECRET INVASION 1 HC 13.99 EURO instead of 19.99 ( 3 copies left ).
MIGHTY AVENGERS SECRET INVASION 2 HC 14.99 EURO instead of 19.99 ( 1 copy left ).

edit : a few items have already sold out :

52 AFTERMATH - THE FOUR HORSEMEN trade 8.90 EUROS
NEAL ADAMS MONSTER trade ( 68 pages ) 6.90 EUROS
STAR TREK - ASSIGNMENT EARTH trade for 8.40 EUROS

As I said, you can get them from my amazon store. And don´t wait too long since they can go rather quickly. You can also find more bargain books right here in the bargain section of amazon.de

the link section

As usual a few assorted links of interest :

Robot 6´s comic book college takes a look at Jack Kirby´s work


APE has a spotlight on Jeff Smith. In related news Jeff Smith announced new Bone projects ( this news is a bit older ).

Today´s links are a bit like SESAME STREET. Today´s letter is J. J is for Jack Kirby. J is for Jeff Smith. J is for Jim Steranko. Comic master and graphic visionaire Jim Steranko did a Q & A at the Big Apple Comic Con

J is also for Joe Quesada who also had a Q & A at the Big Apple Comic Con

As is Jim Lee´s Q & A at the Big Apple Comic Con

So I guess this was the reason they were not at the Marvel panel at the Big Apple Comic Con ( only kidding ) which in turn became a conversation between fans and Carlos Pacheco and Mike Choi

The Baltimore Comic Con had a spotlight on Stan Sakai

AVENGERS - THE INITIATIVE headwriter Christos Gage speaks about what happens beyond issue 28


MIGHTY AVENGERS writer Dan Slott talks about his plans beyond issue 29

Geoff Johns PRIME is back and talks about his writing on various books like FLASH REBIRTH, SUPERMAN SECRET ORIGIN and BLACKEST NIGHT

In related news there is a road to blackest night, the daily news on blackest night ( with some spoilers ), an article about blackest night titans ( spoilers ) and a spotlight on Geoff Johns

In the sales charts DC´s BLACKEST NIGHT is picking up speed, some titles are even going up around 1,000 copies from the previous issue like Green Lantern 46, and the second issues of two titles ( Blackest Night Batman and Blackest Night: Superman ) actually selling more copies than the first issues, a very rare occurrence.

With Marvel it seems that the price increase to 3.99 is starting to take it´s toll as the Ultimate 2s ( Avengers and Spider - Man ) dropped a around 25,000 copies each from the first issues. Another title recently converted to 3.99, Hulk, is also down substantially, with issue 15 down about 18,700 copies from the previous issue. I think this has something to do with the decline in the quality of the stories and Ed McGuiness departure as regular artist. Read the full coverage of the September sales charts


It´s been a while since I posted links for new episodes for ComicGeekSpeak because I´m soo far behind it´s not even funny anymore but they have two new ones that might be interesting. Dan Jurgens is currently writing and drawing the immensly popular and successful ( at least I hope it is ) BOOSTER GOLD series and Sal Buscema is providing inks for SPIDER - GIRL which has recently moved in to the new WEB OF SPIDER - MAN anthology title. Both are longtime comic veterans and have interesting stories to tell.

a conversation with Sal Buscema

a conversation with Dan Jurgens

To finish this post here´s the first clip of the Dr. Strange movie. The TV series pilot movie ( 1978 ) originally aired on CBS, and starred Peter Hooten as Dr. Stephen Strange, Sir John Mills as Lindmer " The Ancient One ", co - starring Jessica Walter as Morgan Le Fey. It seems they changed Dr. Strange from a snobby bastard to the medical version of Ghandi in this one. I think you can watch the whole thing on YouTube. IF you want.



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This is Morgan Edge signing off by saying : God bless America. And God save Metropolis !

You´re fired !

Yes, like I figured I got the call Yesterday that my new life as a working class stiff is over before it had really begun. Which may be for the best.


Yesterday I was too bummed to do a post so I wrote some new reviews for amazon for the things in my shop. I wanted to add my reviews directly in the part where I can write stuff but they have a limit of how long it can be. I have used what I have written on my blog so far.....which I have to confess has to be edited somehow. Here I´m used to get on a tangent and talk about all kind of things which have nothing or very little to do with the comic. In my amazon reviews I have to stick to the topic and just put in what the reader needs to know.

Even so I have noticed that my reviews are still a bit too long for my taste so I have to see if I can make them shorter. Now I´m not going to write a review for every article that I put in my shop. I know, if I make a recommendation then I should explain my reasons but on one side that´s what the blog is for. On the other side there is always the short info text that is sometimes followed by one or two reviews. In that case I don´t think it´s necessary to add a third, fourth or fifth review. Especially if everything important is already said.

I will still be doing reviews for comics that have none so far. A few of the reviews I wrote are already up and there will be more in the days to come.


Besides writing reviews I didn´t do much Yesterday. I was still hurting from Monday and my whole left back was aching. Today it´s a bit better and I can move almost normally. I already got my tax card back but I still got the working shoes the temp agency left me. At the moment I think I´ll just keep them. Maybe I will bring them back if they want to bill me for it. They said they will give me a ring when they have another job offer that doesn´t involve as much physical work - which could take a few months.

In the meantime I´m still waiting on a few comics I ordered because there was a snafu in my order. Apparently I ordered some issues twice because at first they didn´t appear in the shopping cart and I forgot to check how many copies I ordered. It´s all cleared up now but as usual it takes longer to get here.

One of the comics I ordered is AMAZING SPIDER - MAN FAMILY which contains the Spider - Girl comics. For months I tried to order them but I couldn´t find them because I thought they were included in the SPIDER - MAN FAMILY comics and didn´t know there was a AMAZIN SPIDER - MAN FAMILY. Yes, it´s not easy following Spider - Girl. I´m thinking about giving it to my brother as a Christmas present as he is the one who has all the other Spider - Girl comics. But that depends if he´s interested in following her over to the new WEB OF SPIDER - MAN title. If not I will buy them for myself. I just hope there are no gaps between the FAMILY issues and the WEB issues.


Is it just me or is Marvel making it extremely difficult to read Spider - Girl ? I can see why it´s so difficult ( meaning nearly impossible ) for readers outside the comicscene to follow certain characters.

And speaking about comics I ordered and which DID arrive in the meantime. The INVINCIBLE trades have finally arrived and I have already read them. So I´m looking forward to delight my readers with the awesomeness that is Invincible. I just got two words for you : totally Airwolf !


Another comic that has arrived is MARVEL MASTERS : THE ART OF JOHN BYRNE from PANINI UK. Looking for comics to put in my amazon store I came across this thing which had no details on the amazon page about what it is. I also couldn´t find anything through Google, PANINI UK or the website of the printer of the thing. My brother told me to order it anyway as he always buys all kind of how - to - draw stuff. Well, as it turns out THE ART OF JOHN BYRNE is really not so much about the art of John Byrne but rather the comics of John Byrne so I´m the one who´s stuck with it.

Meaning that MARVEL MASTER : THE ART OF JOHN BYRNE offers no drawings, sketches or interviews - only comics. It´s priced at 17,99 has over 300 pages and includes comics from all over his career at Marvel. Which seem to be selected rather randomly. It includes some number ones, some specials and some odd comics. For a selection of number ones they should have included his first issue of Fantastic Four, Uncanny X - Men, Captain America, Alpha Flight and X - Men : The Hidden Years. For a BEST OF THE BEST they should have included the THIS LAND IS MINE story from Fantastic Four or the story with the Beyonder and Johnny Storm. Or something big like THE TRIAL OF GALAKTUS. And another issue from She Hulk like the one with Santa Claus or where she´s skipping rope.


There also were some issues of NAMOR where he experimented a little with his art style that would have been more fitting for a collection called THE ART OF.

So for my taste it is quite a lot of reading material but the selection seems rather random. There are other tomes available about Alan Davis, John Romita, John Romita Jr. and John Buscema. But without knowing which comics are included I´m not inclined to order more. I just can´t risk twenty bucks without knowing what I´m going to get. Okay, in the case of John Buscema that´s not much of a gamble since most of his comics are good. But I thought the same of John Byrne and there are some comics in the trade ( which is strangely labeled as Graphic Novel on every page ) like the Kyle Baker inked Avengers Annual 14 that are really not his best work.

I already have most of the comics in this volume in one form or the other as I said for a special edition the selection is just too random. If you are new to Marvel comics and John Byrne you get a good overview of the different stuff he did and the way his style changed over the years. Just don´t give it to non - comic readers as a present since most of the stories are continued elsewhere. If you are a longtime reader you probably have most of this stuff and should skip it.


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As there´s precious little water to be found, I see it as our civic duty to drink beer.

working for a living

Yes, I have joined the ranks of the working class heroes - at least for a little while. And right now I feel like Aquaman......before he was reanimated as a Black Lantern.


On Friday I got a call from one of the work agencies I had sent my applications to that they were looking for somebody. Since it´s a temp agency it´s only for eight weeks but that beats doing nothing. The woman from the agency wanted me to meet with her today but I was so anxious to work that I went on Friday.

Otherwise I would have been thinking about it the whole weekend and probably might have passed. Well, maybe I should have. Because if I WOULD have gone there today she would have accompanied me to my new workplace, I wouldn´t have gone off the train one station too early thus arriving too late and make a bad impression. Talk a bout a sucky start.

To top that all off I already got the first warning from my new boss and my body is hurting all over. Especially my shoulder and my back. Maybe I´m really too old for this kind of work. What was I thinking ? I don´t know if I can go to work tomorrow. And I mean that quite literally. The way my body is hurting right now I don´t know if I can even move tomorrow or get out of bed.

But who knows ? I may already be fired. Anyway, I´ll ( hopefully ) know more about the whole deal tomorrow IF I can get to work and IF I still have a job. So it´s just a quick post today. Maybe I will have more time tomorrow to write about comics. I´m trying to sleep a bit and hope I can still move tomorrow.


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John knows that when you´re in the military, death is part of the job. Guy and Kyle know when you´re in the Green Lantern Corps, death is the only retirement.

And we all know when you´re part of the caped community, death opens your front door...

...and walks right in.

Under construction and some links

The last few days I have been busy with stocking my new amazon shop.


So far I have added some items but I wanted to make sure I included all the stuff I recommended in my posts which meant that I had to go over all posts I ever did. Then I had to add amazon links, preview links, review links or pictures in some cases.

A few of the reviews I did were really short but since I probably won´t do another review on the subject they will have to do. There also were some links lacking in cases where I did extensive reviews because I thought I had already added them. In any case since I had to go over all the posts anyway I also added CIVIL WAR banners to all the posts as well as the links for my new readers. The only thing that´s now missing on some posts are the funny quotes I like to include. But one day I´m going to do that.

The next step for my store is to include some excerpts from my reviews and include a link that leads you directly to my review of the item. Because I don´t feel comfortable with other people´s reviews. Not that I have anything against it. But if I recommend something I feel I have the obligation to present my reasoning for that. That´s just how it is.I have added partial reviews to the first two items before noticing that in the LOVE AND CAPES collection the review was shown I had written. So I have just written another review for the HULK - RED AND GREEN collection which will take 48 hours to be accepted or not. If this works I will add reviews to all store items that have none.

So I will try a few things in the next days and I will make an announcement when it´s ready. I just hope my readers aren´t already sick of it.

HULK - RED AND GREEN - part 2


Just a quick note about the hardcover edition I ordered. I ordered the book on Saturday and it arrived here on Monday. It´s really the hardcover that includes the stories by Arthur Adams, Frank Cho and Herb Trimpe. It also includes all the covers, the LITTLE HULK comics by Chris Giarrusco and a few sketch pages by Arthur Adams.

It´s printed on nice,glossy paper and the only defect I could find were two pages ( one with the LITTLE HULK feature and another one that was a sketch page ) that were slightly wobbly. But I don´t think anybody who hasn´t worked at a printer would notice. I just hope you have already ordered it because the hardcovers for 8 bucks have sold out and now you have to pay 13.86 for it.

the unavoidable link section

Because I haven´t posted as much as I´d like in the last few days there´s another big pile of links. So let´s start with a few ones right now.

CREATOR`S CORNER

Over at ComicbookResources there´s an interview with Brian Michael Bendis who talks about the upcoming issues of DARK AVENGERS. If you haven´t read the book till issue 9 there are some spoilers included so you better avoid this. If you are Marvel´s bitch - like me - you will read it. And judging from this preview picture of issue 10 so will Mike Sterling.


I swear I´m such a hypocrite. In my posts I´m all : " Boycott Marvel ! Don´t buy their overpriced 3.99 books. Vote with your wallet ! " And when I´m at the comic shop and it´s time to get my monthly comic diet I buy them all. CAPTAIN AMERICA REBORN, MARVELS PROJECT and ULTIMATE AVENGERS. And DARK AVENGERS. First I tell you that I only will buy the first six issues and then...maybe....I´ll follow the book in trades.

But the second Mike Deodato is back I forget about all that and buy the damn thing. I´m such a wuss ! Anyway, here´s the link :

bendis talks dark avengers

And here are two more :

bendis interview

bendis on new avengers

On a related note Ben Morse over at THE COOL KID´S TABLE remembers the SECRET DEFENDERS about which he writes that it wasn´t very successful. The thing really took off when Brian Michael Bendis substituted the changing roster with a steady one consisting of such fan favorites like Spider - Man, Wolverine, Luke Cage and Iron Fist and rechristened the team as the NEW AVENGERS. I´ve said it for years and now you can read it all here. If NEW AVENGERS is not the illegitimate lovechild of SECRET DEFENDERS I don´t know what is :

secret defenders ( and justice league task force too )

One of the industries all time greatest and a personal favorite of mine - George Perez - held a panel at the Baltimore Comic Con.


If you couldn´t attend ( like me ) you can read all about it here :

george perez panel at baltimore comic con

And speaking about convention Mark Waid was at the Long Beach Comic Con where he answered 56 questions in 50 minutes. That´s not bad.

mark waid 56 questions

And for people who don´t like to read here´s a video interview with NEW UNIVERSE inventor Jim Shooter courtesy of ComicBook Resources :

jim shooter video

Now talking about creators you may have all heard about Alan Moore´s comments regarding BLACKEST NIGHT and the lack of innovations in today´s comic books. I haven´t read the whole thing but as far as I can ascertain I think he´s not as much bashing BLACKEST NIGHT as he´s just disappointed that the comic revolution everybody expected after WATCHMEN never came.

Now personylla I have long gotten over it and in my eyes SQUADRON SUPREME was far more groundbreaking since it worked in an already existing universe instead of a seperat little bubble like WATCHMEN that had no repercussions on other books. A lot of people are of a different opinion and that´s their prerogative. By the way...did this issue ever ship ?


The only reason I´m mentioning all of this is that in an article about it there was a link about Robert Mayer´s 1977 novel SUPERFOLKS which seems to include a lot of ideas that were later picked up on by Alan Moore and other comic book writers. Talk about originality.

robert mayer´s superfolks

Originality or not is also the topic at Todd´s Blog where he just released the 5th part of his stury of the different Legion logos. Since I have added GET A LIFE BOY´S LEGION OF SUPER HEROES BLOG I wanted to add something Legion related.

legion logo study - part 5

We couldn´t finish this post without the popular countdown link so here is the list of Top Five superheroes rendred ridiculous by gritty reboots. It´s two pages long and really funny although I have to cry " Foul ! " on Wonder Dog. He kicked ass on Titans !

5 superheroes rendered ridiculous by gritty reboots

So that´s all for today.


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comicbabe battle four fantastix finalists

The time for science is over. Now it is time for......vodoo !!!