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.

The return of Strangers in Paradise.

If you're a fan of Terry Moore, like myself, you should be excited.  Terry recently put to bed the last issue of his current series Motor Girl.  At the same time he also announced the return of his masterpiece Strangers in Paradise.  For me SiP was a mind-opening experience.  I was introduced to Terry's work when I was at the 1997 Wizard World Comic Con in Chicago.  I was with a small group of my fellow artists that got together and drew comics in college and Terry was recommended to me.  So I stopped by his booth and picked up Vol. 1 of Strangers in Paradise. That night I read the whole thing in one sitting and went back the next day and picked up volumes 2 and 3 and when I got back to school added it to my pull list. 

The first day of the con Terry's booth was pretty packed, but day two it was easy to get up to him and when I went back to pick up the next two collected volumes I got to talk with him for a good 20 minutes.  To emphasis how impactful that was on a young artist that was over 20 years ago and I still have fond and vivid memories of that meeting.  And while my art has moved away from comics I still think Terry had a big influence on my style.  If you've never read anything by Terry Moore I can't recommend him more highly.  After SiP, Terry moved on to his SciFi book Echo, then on to his horror book Rachel Rising.  I'm excited to see Strangers coming back.  I just realized I really need to dig my old issues and collected works back out and reread them.

If you don't live near a comic shop, Terry is offering a subscription service with a limited edition black sketch variant.  You should also be able to order individual issues off his website.  But help a brother out and add it to your pull list if you're lucky enough to have a LCS.

Venomverse #1 - no spoilers

I recently picked up Venomverse #1 it was an add on from my recent order from Midtown Comics.  I hopefully will have a post about that experience up soon.  I opted for this  Elizabeth Torque Hulk Poison variant.  Just a cool looking cover and hey why not 25%  the cover price!

So I was looking for something quick and easy to read last night and this was on my stack of too be read comics.  Well one of the many many stacks.  The comic takes place after all the events of the Edge of Venomverse and all the other tie-ins, but the best part about the book is that you didn't need to read any of that to enjoy the book.  Which is a nice change, since I hadn't read any lead ups.  Cullen Bunn does a great job with the script. Bringing the reader up to speed and jumping right into the story. 

Honestly I finished the book, sat back, and was pretty satisfied with what I had read.  If my budget wasn't so limited I'm half tempted to chase down issues 2-5, but I'll probably just hold off and see if I can find them in the bargain bin later.

Highly recommended.

Division on the Cheap -

I am waist deep in a massive organizational effort here at world headquarters. I just got another pack of 10 short boxes off of Amazon and finally think I'm ready for a big push.  The biggest issue is of course finding and collecting all the different issues of each title.  In the past I've invested in some of the high grade PVC comic dividers, but they are expensive.  I've also been recycling my old backing boards to make dividers, but I've run out.  So what's a frugal collector to do?  For many years I've been experimenting with various low cost options.  So far one of the cheapest I've found is using Manila file folders.  I bought this box of 150 file folders at Costco years ago for under $10.  

 Using one of my better PVC dividers as a guide I found a quick and easy way to fold the file folders in the to size I need.

 A little packing tape on the fold and bottom and you have a fairly stout divider.

 Then I print labels out using a 20 point size font.

 Another small piece of packing tape to affix the label and tada!

 While maybe not the most appealing dividers, they are cheap and do the trick.

New Comic Book Day November 1st, 2017

While my tastes are generally more focused on my bronze age collection, especially horror, I still dabble in new stories and comics.  About 5 or 6 years ago I still had a pretty deep pull list at my local LCS, Boscos, here in Anchorage, Alaska.  But I was getting to the point that I had no time to read everything I was buying and prices for new issues just kept going up.  In the end I had to cut the cord and went cold turkey.  I focused my attention on my sports card collection, but occasionally picked up a few new books or back issues when I found good deals.  Fast forward to earlier this year and I joined a fun group on facebook called simply Comic Book Collecting and my interest started to be renewed.  I've since joined a few other comic book groups.  Factor in my general malaise in the sports card hobby due to lots of things, but mainly the industries exclusivity deals, the general trend of hit oriented higher end products, and that I'm a Brewers fan and the team really gets no love.  Add to that a dash of I just bought a new house with a room to call my own and I was able to break all my comics out of storage and have access any time I want.  Well lets just say I've hit my second collecting wind.  I decided that I would not be putting a pull list together.  It's risky, but I've been trying to get to Boscos when they open on Wednesdays to get the new issues I want.  It also helps that there are some great websites and resources for researching and tracking your collection.  Plus so many places to potentially buy from.

Ahem, but this was about new comic book day.  

I decided to jump on the Dark Nights Metal bandwagon a little late and missed issue #1 of Metal and the Forge, but I have them coming.  So I've been picking up the other issues and one-shots and tie-ins.  I like binge reading anyways.  Much like watching a good show on Netflix, being able to read a large chunk of a story line is what I like.  I'd rather save up 3 or 4 issues of a series and be able to sit down and enjoy an uninterrupted story.

Anyway, I picked up the new one shot: Batman - The Devastator and the Flash tie-in from last week.  I missed the Justice League tie in some how, but I'll grab that on my next visit.

I also picked up issue #2 of Batman: White Knight.  I doubt I'll pick up the full 8 issues, most likely I'll grab the trade when it comes out to complete the story.

 I have an addiction for first issues.  I also always loved Black Lightning.  I opted for the variant cover. 

 Deadman #1.  I doubt I'll pick up the full run of either of these as well.  It's hard to budget for 4 and 5 dollar comics continually.

 I also grabbed a couple Image #1's.  The Grave Diggers Union, foil cover.  So Comic Book Realm has this copy at $75 as a retailer incentive, Bosco's had a couple mixed in with the regular issues, so I think that pricing is unrealistic.  Plus every gold foil variant I've seen from Image is just an extra cover put on the book with the regular cover underneath.   But I'm a sucker for gimmicks.  That's also why I grabbed that Deadman #1 glow in the dark cover.

 The last book I picked up was the #1 No.1 with a Bullet.  Just an interesting cover and like I said I have a #1 addiction.

 I didn't get a chance to read any of the issues yet, with daddy duties last night and game 7 of the World Series, but I'm hoping to get a few in tonight.

Cheers