Comics Con Catches, Costs + Critiques

[DisneyBoy]

Since I recently attended a small convention and spent some money I shouldn't have, I thought what better way to ease my guilt (and waste some precious time) than to review the four issues I bought, and ask others who picked up a few issues at cons lately to do the same. It'd be fun to hear what kinda stuff you guys and gals pick up at cons, how much it costs ya, and then see what your opinion is of your purchases.

Here we go...

Action Comics #600 - cost: 10$ Canadian

I'd been looking for this one for a while, because it features some events referenced during George Perez's run on Wonder Woman, which, you should know, was amazing. Here he provides the art for the lead story, which jumps straight into Diana and Clark's first kiss, and then sends them on a merry chase through abandonned Olympus where Darkseid has recently taken up residence. Other than showing these two mighty heroes kissing, and exploring Darkseid's relationship to the Greek Gods, there really wasn't much of any interest here. Perez finished the art, which looks great, but the dialogue is completely off as far as Wonder Woman is concerned (I'm a warrior this, Amazons don't spend much time with men that...) The biggest moment - the kiss - was wasted as the opening shot. There are chapters, and several other stories appear (Lois gets depressed by the idea of WW and Supes together, Lex first learns he has kryptonite poisonning, Jimmy leaves a weakened Supes in a cave with Man-Bat?!?!) but the whole thing generally isn't that great. I had a lot of trouble finding it though, so I guess I can justify the cost.

Wonder Woman: Our Worlds At War #1 - cost: 5$ Canadian

I'd already read online that this issue wasn't much of a tribute to the life of Hippolyta, but since I recently got into Jiminez's run on the book, and was deeply moved by Hipployta's death scene, I figured why not try this issue out? How bad could it be? Pretty bad, art wise at least. All of Diana's history is recapped, but the artwork is foul. The scenes with the Amazons are handled by another artist, so they aren't so bad, but this type of story has been told too many times in the WW series. "Let us tell you why we love ____ Amazon so much through flashbacks." Trouble here is that we've already seen ALL of Hippolyta's life, and didn't need this to fill us in on details we already knew. If Jiminez himself had pencilled, it would have at least looked nice. But everything was ugly deja vu.

Justice League Adventures #33 - cost: 3.50$ Canadian

Since I had dropped this series a couple of issues before, I missed out on this fun Robin tale. A mind-controlled Clayface imitates the various League members to steal and assemble a talisman that will grant Felix Faust the power to raise the dead. Does it make sense? Not really, given that Felix died in "Paradise Lost", and resembling League members is hardly the best way to rob stores and go unnoticed by the League. Maybe the writer could have made the point of the story to resurrect Felix, since the army of the dead was already used as Hades' shtick. Instead, we get the usual "Leaguers gone bad" panels (which seem to have been present in every single issue of this series), but in between we get inside Tim's head as he willingly persues the detective work in Batman's absence. Tim Levins' artwork is really nice (prefer this stuff over his Gotham Adventures work, not that there's much difference) and there's something heartwarming about seeing a familiar style returning with a familiar character. Cute tale, with an extremely clever (and subtle) entrance by Batman.

Justice League Adventures #34 - cost: 3.50$ Canadian

The final issue of the series is a great mystery with a bit of a let-down ending, but it really could have been worse. It's fun, and the Big Three get the spotlight (as well as another friend-on-friend fight). If I didn't already know that it was an aged Luthor behind the scheme, I wouldn't have guessed it. Levins and the writer take full advantage of the fact that we can't hear a voice to help us identify the old man in the wheelchair. Unfortunately there's a DCU/DCAU mix-up in the scenes showing Clark rocketing to earth, which is odd since Levins is apparently well versed in this continuity. Anyhow, the final two pages are beautiful, and really, I'm surprised this series ended on such high notes.


So there you have it. All in all, I'm pretty disappointed that the more expensive issues were such a waste of time, but I was forewarned about the OWAW one shot. I expected better from Perez, but he wasn't the writer as well as the artist, sadly. The Adventures issues were good and I got them at cover price, which was nice. I was really going there to get a good deal on the Selina's Big Score book, the second trade paperback for Catwoman, and maybe a Teen Titans digest. Big Score looked great, but I'd rather get a new copy, no luck on the Catwoman trade, and Teen Titans, despite occassionally awesome art, is superfluous. I have no idea what kinda comics I should be looking for next, seeing as how I have all my B:TAS books and the good S:TAS issues. Wonder if I'll still frequent these shows if I don't have a "find list" in my hand.

Anyone else care to contribute?

;)

[Shawn Hopkins]

I can't believe you went to a convention and only bought four comics. You must have massive self control. I went to a small toy and comic show in Knoxville, Tenn. recently and spent well over $200.

I can't remember everything, but some of the highlights of my purchases were a bunch of issues of Cherry Poptart for cover price, a Howard the Duck Marvel Treasury edition (an oversized reprint of Howard's first appearances and an original story) for $8, and the Absolute Authority Hardcover, in great condition with slipcase, for $25. I was also pleased with an old issue of Femme Fatales I found for $2 featuring Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with an interview SMG's in my opinion best stunt double Sophia Crawford (also did stunts for the pink Power Ranger).

[screw on head]

The only expensive thing I've ever bought at a convention was something I bid for and won at an auction (within the convention). It was a Dark Horse poster featuring various characters from its horror titles, with signatures from each of the character's creators. I only bought it because Mike Mignola was one of the signatures.

Other than that, I haven't really made any regrettable buys. I think I paid one of the artists in Artist Alley at Wonder Con to do a drawing for me, which was a T-Rex,... pretty much worth the $10.00 it cost me. I asked the actor who wore Darth Vader's costume to sign a photo of ol' Vader for a friend of mine at Wizard Con Phillie (which cost me $25.00), and I would've liked to get another, but I didn't have the cash on me.

[This is slightly OT, but at Wizard Con, the Star Wars Signing booth had Storm Troopers there who guarded the actors and made sure no one took any of their own photos of the actors :D. Yep, Storm Troopers. Of course, none of the Storm troopers caught me when I took a picture of the actor who played Chewbacca with my digital camera, and I quickly slipped into a crowd of passers by...heh heh heh...]

[DR.MID-NITE]

Don't feel bad if you enjoy the comics. Also, in the 80's I went to a few shows and paid $60 for Brave & the Bold #28 (1st app.JLA). It is now worth over 2k. I also was able to get a bunch of silver age books (like Atom #1, Green Lantern #1) for between $20-$50. Granted this was before the silver age price explosion. My point is that you never know when a $10 investment might explode in value.

[Beyond Batman]

Going through three San Diego's, four SF Wonder Con's, three APE's and many local cons... here's what I usually look out for.

1. Exclusives. Exclusive comics, statues, and toys. I pick what I really want and go for them. Usually they're distributed by either first-come-first-serve or a lottery. The nice thing about the lottery is that you don't have to fight to be first in line. It's just a luck of the draw, and fair for everyone.

2. Collectibles. You can usually find what you need 90% of the time. And 10% of the time, you can actually find some bargains.

3. $0.25 - $1.00 boxes. They're like hidden treasure. You can find some great books for a hell of a deal.

4. Guest artists. Number one rule, always bring a sketch book. You may want an autograph or sketch done. You'll never know who will make a surprise appearance. At one of our local shows, John Romita Jr. showed up at the last minute. He was even doing free sketches. I got a skecth of Batman from him. Awesome!!!