Alterna Comics Back Issue Sale pick ups

Just going through my recent Alterna haul from their back issue sale.

 

Nothing like a back issue release party!

My local LCS Bosco's up here in Anchorage Alaska recently picked up a sweet vintage Marvel collection.  To celebrate they held an event to show off the key issues.  I ended up getting to the fun just as the auctions were ending, but I was able to snag 3 big issues for  my Iron Man collection. 

All three issues are mid-grade, but look great in hand and have nice tight spines.  They also had a copy of Iron Man #1 one of my holy grails behind #55, both of which will be the biggest cost to me completing the Vol 1 run.  They #1 was a nice mid-grade for $300, but I promised my wife I wouldn't break the bank and I had a Visa gift card that my in-laws had sent me to for my recent birthday, so these all come home with minimal pocket damage.  I'm closing in on have almost all the single digits.  Also finding the first King-Size Special was awesome as I've been looking for one for a while now and that puts me one step closer to completing my Annuals.

Opening a big old Box of 1st Issues from Alterna Comics

Popping open my TKO Presents Ennis and Epting's Sara box set.

I know I already reviewed the series a while back, but throught I would give you a video tour of what comes in the single issue collectors box.

And a disclaimer the cover art is included in the collected editions.

Unboxing my latest TKO Studios purchase

Punisher: Soviet

Wow I can't believe I've been so lax on posting here.  My apologies.  But with the current state of the world I thought it would be nice to catch up on all my various blogs and at least attempt to make a few posts.  Currently there are only a handful of current titles I'm buying. Mainly because of the price per issue and my limited budget, but also I'm pretty much been turned off by both Marvel and DC's continually restarting and reconstituting their main universe continuities. So I've been staying away from a lot of the main stream story lines and I likely will never go back.  That being said Garth Ennis, who if you've read a few of my posts, like my last one from way back in July, is one of my favorite writers, and mix with it that Ennis has penned another Punisher title and well I couldn't hand over my money fast enough.  The last issue comes out next week, so I have no idea if I'm going to get a copy anytime soon with the coronavirus shutting everything down, but here is the basic gist of the series with no major spoilers.

Someone is knocking of Russian mobsters.  Everyone assumes it's the Punisher, but it's not.  It's the Soviet. 

 One part Punisher mayhem, one part history lesson, Ennis weaves a tale that's up to par with just about anything else he's written and the Jacen Burrows art is fantastic. 

 There are a  few variant covers to chase if that's your thing, but the regular Paolo Rivera covers are very well done.

I can't wait to see how this one ends.  And next up for the Punisher is another mini series where he faces off against Barracuda again, although not written by Ennis.  Highly recommended, it does carry the Explict Content banner, and for good reason, so keep that in mind.

TKO Presnets - Garth Ennis' Sara: A Review

 A few months ago I started seeing mentions of Garth Ennis' Sara on some comic book groups on Facebook.  I'm a huge Ennis fan and pretty much if it's got Garth's name on it I'll pick it up and give it a try.  I had never heard of TKO comics before, but they were easy to find on the internet.  They have a very nice website.  As I write this TKO only has 4 titles available, with another 4 due out sometime this summer.  All titles are offered in 3 ways. You can read them digitally, as a trade, or as individual issues.  For Sara I decided to pickup the individual issues, mainly for their collectibility.  Shipping is reasonable, but slow as they come media mail and living in Alaska means that can take 2 to 3 weeks, but the set arrived well packaged.  The individual issues come in a box set that is very nicely decorated.  The back of the box is a piece to a larger mural that can be put together with the rest of the TKO wave 1 box sets.

 First off Eptings covers are incredible as well as his interior art and Breitweiser's colors.  I won't spoil the story, but will say it revolves around a company of female Soviet snipers during World War II.  If you've read and like Ennis' other war stories you like this this series. I know I did.

 Here's a look at the cover art.

 This one's my favorite cover.

 The one thing I wasn't aware of when I ordered the individual issues was just how much larger they are than the standard size comic.  TKO doesn't hide the fact on their website I just overlooked it.  They issues measure 7 inches by 11 inches.  The only draw back is I have no way to store them other than in the box they came in.  Don't let that deter you from choosing this option the comics are printed on very nice stock and are absolutely beautiful.

 TKO recently had a BOGO event on their website so I took the opportunity to pick up both of co-founders Tze Chun's offerings.  This time I opted for the collected editions. They're a little cheaper than the box sets.  The only draw back is that the covers are not included in the trades.  So I'm glad I picked up Sara in single issue format, as I would have hated to have missed out on those covers.

I still need to sit down and enjoy these too, but I'll do a review of each after I do.  And I'll most likely eventually pick up the whole TKO catalogue especially if they keep doing BOGO's. 

1993 Marvel Annual Checklist Card

I'm kind of a pack rat.  Not a hoarder by any means, but I do have a few boxes a misc stuff from my youth.  While digging in one of  boxes I came across an old LCS giveaway card featuring the checklist for all the 1993 Marvel Annuals.  Each of the 27 annuals feature the introduction of a new character. The books came polybagged with the new character card inclosed.  From what I remember none of the new characters were all that memorable.

Digging for gold.

My local comic shop, Boscos, here in Anchorage, Alaska, recently had it's annual back issue sale.  The sale starts off at the begining of the month with all books at $4, then the next week $3 and so on till the end of the month when all books are 50 cents and the managers special is you can fill a short box for $50 or a long box for $60.  Last year I just filled a short box, this year I took advantage of the long box deal.  I didn't do a count, but I'd estimate I'd got well over 300 or so comics.  I was even encouraged to stuff more on the sides, so I did.  By the time the price get down this low, the sales area is in complete chaos, any order that existed is gone, piles of comics are everywhere.  Condition becomes a big issue, but if you dig and take your time there was still gold and deals to be had. I'll feature some of the other comics I picked up in future posts but the best book by far out of the deal was this one.

If you're wondering what the big deal was with a 90's Iron Man comic, well issue 304 just happens to be the first appearance of the Hulkbuster armor.  Not a bad pick up for about 20 cents and to my surprise this book is in really good shape, no where near 9.8, but definately solid low 9's.  I ended up picking up a huge stack of Iron Man for my collection lot's of Vol 1 fillers and a lot of Vol 3, with a bunch of variant covers, plus lots of modern mini-series and such.  Anyone have any luck gold digging?

Blue Ribbon Sunday

I love when I find something completely unexpected at my LCS, Boscos, here in Anchorage.  I actually was in the shop last week sometime for Topps' National Baseball Card Day giveaway and noticed a stack of these DC Blue Ribbon Digests out with the new comics.  I've heard of these before, but never seen them for sale anywhere other than online.  I sorted through the file and found one I couldn't leave behind.  In all there were 24 digests put out.  They all feature reprinted stories and some are harder to find than others.  I really would have loved to find some of the horror titles, but alas Bosco's only had superhero and a few of the war titles.  I also picked up one of the SGT Rock's when I went back in for new comic book day.  But as a colletor of the JLA Vol 1.  I couldn't pass this one up for a $3 bill.  Sure it's been well read, but it still looks great and will be reread by me eventually.

The Superman Family #173 Giant!

Yeah it's beat up and missing a couple small chunks, but there's nothing like sitting down with a bronze age giant size comic.  Short complete stories that really are a lot of fun.  For those that don't know there were not 172 previous issues of the Superman Family.  DC renamed Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen after issue 163.

 November 1975 cover date.

Mystik - Meh

I ended up picking up Mystik U last Wednesday and honestly I kinda regret not going for Batman Annual #2 from what I've been reading about it.  I picked it up because reading the preview got me interested and to be honest I love all the DC occult storylines and titles, especially from the 70's.  And while the book features lots of old bronze age horror characters from books like House of Mystery, House of Secret, the Witching Hour, etc the whole story really just felt like a badly done Harry Potter knock off.  Plus the book was pricey.  Maybe it's a little buyers remorse, but I most likely will not be picking up Book 2.

Punisher: The Platoon

 As I've matured, ahem alright let's say aged, I've found I follow artists less and writers more.  As a matter of fact I tend to follow the guys who are both artists and writers like Terry Moore, Sam Keith, and John Bryne.  But when Garth Ennis puts his name on a book there's a 100% chance I'm going to pick it up.  Ennis made his name on Preacher and quickly became a fan favorite.  He writes bold vivid stories and pulls no punches.  He's themes and scripts are not for the easily offended or the faint hearted.

When I heard he was putting out a new Punisher story it didn't matter what it was about I was all in.  I won't put any spoilers in the post. I will say if you love Ennis' storytelling it's worth picking up.  Issue 3 comes out today and marks the halfway point for the series.  You can already pre-order the collected edition if you want to go that route and wait. 

The story is a prequel to the 2003 Born series and almost a direct sequel to the Valley Forge, Valley Forge story line found in Punisher Vol. 7 issues 55-60.  That story arc would be Ennis' last on the Punisher. 

Platoon returns the team up of Ennis and Goran Parlov.  I absolutely love Parlov's art.  He has a great style for war comics and did a great job with Ennis on the Valley Forge and other Punisher story arcs.  I'm really hoping Parlov and Ennis team up on other works as well.  In my opinion Parlov is a natural successor to the late, great Steve Dillon.  So far I've really enjoyed the story and I'm sure I won't be disappointed in the end.  I'm getting a hankering to pull out some old Punisher and reread those old issues.