My girlfriend ordered me Batman & Robin trades on Amazon and had them shipped to my house, they came in exactly on time and were in PERFECT condition, like, better than comic shops. I’ve never had a problem with Amazon, seems like an isolated incident.
No, you guys just aren’t anal. The Batman & Robin deluxe trades are very light and thin, so are easily shipped without damage. OHC’s, Absolutes, Omniboo and the like, are going to get dented corners more often then not because amazon does not protect their books, they just place some air pillows on top of the books (which does nothing).
Thanks for the suggestions, Gorath. I’m glad I’m not the only one who feels this way. I’ve actually ordered from InStockTrades’ sister site DCBS before, and they always have great deals on hardcovers. They use the big foam blocks too, so I know that shit ain’t going nowhere.
True, my tolerance may be low, but it’s also a matter of principle. A trade shouldn’t be listed as “new” when it clearly has enough shelf-wear to warrant a discount. As far as the damages, these particular trades had several indentations, nearly every corner was folded or split, and two of them where slathered in something in various spots. Basically, it appears as though someone spread glue across their palms, and then gripped it in several places. My biggest pet peeve is probably the most unrealistic, and that’s the corners. Every time I see a dog-eared corner, I die a little inside. I can tolerate a few dings, or an indentation, provided it isn’t too severe. Other than that, I’m a total stickler.
So, I’m done with Amazon. The only way I’ll order something from there is if it’s from a trusted independent seller. Besides InStockTrades, I’m also considering TFAW. Has anyone bought anything from there? I want to find a store than I can trust.
tfaw is good too, mainly for sale items because I don’t think their regular prices are as good as ToW or IST
I’ve bought a lot from TFAW the past two years. I mainly buy from their Nick and Dent section. (They usually aren’t really nicked and dented by my reckoning… They’re mostly overstocked books. But maybe it’s true, maybe I’m not as anal as I thought I was.) Sometimes they have sales where those books are 70% off. I stocked up on a whole lot of Usagi Yojimbo and Conan books from there.
Pro Tip: As TFAW is owned by Dark Horse, there’s a good chance that any Dark Horse book you’re looking for will eventually make its way to the cheapness of their Nick and Dent section if you’re patient.
TFAW is pretty good. Good deals on their nick and dent stuff.
anyone have absolute all star superman? does it include the introduction from mark waid from vol. 2 anywhere?
picked up a bunch of trades from my list during xmas shopping (thanks mom). Snatched up Classic GI Joe vol. 10 and was pleased to see it includes the Snake Eyes trilogy. Also got the three R.E.B.E.L.S. trades, three Secret Six trades of the ongoing, the two new Hitman trades, and finally picked up the deluxe Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow
Just got the ghost rider omniboo in the mail. Jason aaron is a beast.
What issues are the Hitman TPBs up to now? I have all of the older ones. Just waiting for the current stuff to catch up.
Oh yeah, and as for Absolute ASS, I came across this write-up:
http://deathtotheuniverse.blogspot.com/2010/12/notes-on-absolute-all-star-superman.html
Volume 10 of G.I. Joe Classic was great. They show Snake Eyes’ face for the first time and you know who comes back to life heh heh! Still in the middle of reading it, about 5 issues in but I jumped around the book to see what happens.
I got the JMS Thor Omnibus for Christmas. Pretty cool that it starts off with the two Fantastic Four issues when Mjolnir fell down to Earth. It was nice re-reading those parts again.
Yeah it’s pretty sexy. Have it sitting here for when I finish slogging through Tomb of Drac omni vol. 1
Hitman is up to vol. 3 which goes through issue 14…they need to fast track it a little more.
That site was an interesting read
Yeah I’m looking forward to it…I still have vol. 9 and Special Missions vol. 2 in the queue in front of it though.
Currently getting caught up on my X-books. I’ve got Bru Uncanny up through Messiah Complex, then Legacy through Second Coming, minus the crossover issues, then Second Coming itself.
Walking Dead vol. 5 hardcover (re-read) - Details the fall-out from the prison being overrun. Sooo much talking in these two arcs. Not a lot happens. The usual juvenile, silly stuff you just have to ignore or skip over.
Walking Dead vol. 6 hardcover - Reading this one was colored by my having watched the tv series at this point. I thought the tv show was terrible - basically the pilot was good but everything after that was basically like they took all the bad elements of the comic and magnified them, while taking the good elements and ignoring them. So this volume I feel suffers a little from the recent memory of the show. The first arc about the cannibals ends really dumbly in a way that was (as usual) immature and unbelievable. The second arc with the new society was all setup and not much really happens except characters acting dumb again.
Blackest Night: Tales of the Corps - This reprints a bunch of back-ups about different members of the different corps (I guess). There are some good stories, but nothing essential here. I bought this trade thinking it was the one that was going to reveal more about Nekron, but I guess that’s a different one.
Aliens Omnibus vol. 4 - I liked this one. Music of the Spears was solid, Stronghold was quite good, Frenzy had its moments, and the two Mondo stories were goofy fun.
Uncanny X-Men: The Extremists (re-read) - I didn’t like this one much the first time I read it and this second time didn’t change my opinion. I loved Deadly Genesis and Rise & Fall, but those were the definite high-watermark of Bru UXM. Lame story (I’ve never cared for Morlocks), lame characters, the whole thing felt like filler. I still wonder why Bru didn’t continue his story in space with Vulcan instead. That X-team with Havok and Rachel Summers was so much more interesting than what we got here, and no one else has been able to write Vulcan competently, turning him into a cheap superboy-prime knock-off. I mean, Bru creates these cool new characters like V and Darwin and then doesn’t use them for the rest of his run! He also kills off characters (Corsair) and leaves others to clean up the mess.
Uncanny X-Men: Divided We Stand - What the hell was this? This was like bizarro-world Brubaker. Really, who wrote this crap? “We’re doing a story set in SF…I guess we have to incorporate hippies!” Utterly forgettable pap.
Uncanny X-Men: Manifest Destiny - Not as cringeworthy as DWS but still not very good. Pixie being shoe-horned into the team felt lame and out of place. Brubaker’s run ends with a wimper.
Robocop: Revolution - I am a big Robocop fan and a huge Robocop comic fan, but this one was pretty terrible. The main problem is Robocop’s voice - he just doesn’t sound or feel like the Robocop we all know and love. The plot is pretty pedestrian (and was done already in Robocop 3 - hello) and the whole thing just smacked of lameness. Which is a damn shame because Robo’s themes are more relevant today than ever and there could still be a great book about him.
Interesting takes on the Brubaker Uncanny X-Men run, P.Giddy.
I enjoyed The Extremists quite a bit, but you’re definitely right about how he shouldn’t have abandoned the space X-Men plot. I quit reading about those characters when those other writers did that War of Kings and whatever space crossover saga thing. I think it was nice, after a year of X-Men in space, to go in the opposite direction and have the X-Men deal with the Morlocks. The whole notion of an underground community of misshapen freaks living in the sewers is totally a comic book thing, but I think Brubaker did a good story with them. Definitely better than any other Morlock-related story I’ve ever read.
I think The Extremists was Brubaker going back to his roots and telling a “street-level” type of superhero tale. Like, it was his way of telling a poppy, mainstream version of a superpowered crime story, what with Masque going around and turning folks into deformed freaks, the X-Men trying to track down their perp, and Skids as an undercover investigator. (Also, Larocca’s cover to #490 looked like he was trying to channel Sean Phillips. Just look at the shadows on Hepzibah.) It made a good break from the space opera, but he really should have gotten back to that at some point.
As for Divided We Stand, I also enjoyed it. It sort of reminds me of that three issue arc in Catwoman Brubaker wrote after that whole Black Mask thing. In those Catwoman issues, Brubaker basically just halts all the adventuring and takes the time to examine how the main characters are reacting to the horrible, life-changing events of the previous story. It was totally Brubaker doing his indie thing and doing a whole lot of talking heads and character drama.
Divided We Stand isn’t anything like Bru’s indie roots, but it reminds me of that run in Catwoman because it’s the X-Men getting over the major events of Messiah CompleX. There’s a lot more action and it’s more traditional than Catwoman, presumably because Uncanny carries more mainstream expectations than a fringe title like Catwoman. In a way, it is kinda a retread of all those “Something horrible happened, and now we must travel the world in an attempt to rediscover our souls”-type of stories. But I had fun with it.
Also, as a native San Franciscan, I had no problem with the portrayal of my city in this run. I mean, hippies are one of the things that define this city, along with, dunno, the Golden Gate Bridge, the bay/ocean, Alcatraz, the gold rush, and Castro Street.
Manifest Destiny wasn’t as good, though. Greg Land’s art wasn’t very good but the story was kind of average. I liked some things, like the Hellfire Cult, but the plot with Pixie wasn’t very interesting. It was predictable and run-of-the-mill. No sense of wonder involved at all.
And they didn’t do a good job portraying SF itself. I remember during this one chase scene, they’re in the Sunset District and then all of a sudden they’re on Geary Street. It was very geographically inaccurate, to the point where I wonder if New Yorkers read Marvel comics and say, “What the hell, that building isn’t on that street!” I was really disappointed by that. I mean, finally, SF gets some love but they didn’t do it justice. How hard is it to use Google Maps and check out pictures of what the streets and buildings look like? You’d think Greg Land spends so much time using photo ref that he knows how to look for it when he needs it. Sweet Christmas. I’m throwing my hands up in helpless frustration.
I guess I should be grateful they didn’t do a story about how the X-Men found a secret community of time-displaced hobos living in caves underneath Golden Gate Park, but still… damn.
Now I’m actually glad I haven’t seen The Walking Dead series, if it’s truly as bad as you say.
Speaking of locations, I forgot you two are from San Francisco and LA. And I’m totally envious because, as you may or may not know, from the late 70’s throughout the 80’s those two cities were hotbeds for the development of the hardcore punk movement. So there’s a plethora of history out there in that regard.
T.S.O.L. all day :nunchuck:
^This guy knows what’s up.
Hey P. Gorath not sure if you remember but a Spider-Man character shows up in Classic G.I. Joe #10! Ha ha totally geeked out when I saw that! :lovin:
a 20 year old comic lol
Spoiler
JJJ! :clapdos:
I see your point and the idea that it’s Bru going back to his roots and doing street level detective yarn is interesting, but I guess the gravitas wasn’t there for me, the face-melting being more goofy than scary.
Hmm, that’s true in a sense; I think it was because I read it directly after Extremists that it was like two quiet, low key talking heads tpb’s in a row. It also didn’t really follow up any of the shortcomings of Messiah Complex (as per my review earlier in this thread - basically Scott’s putting a hit out on his own son when he has zero facts about the situation). I also don’t like that guy’s art. It felt like Greg Land-lite. Basically if it’s going to be photorealistic like that, at least give me the porno callbacks.
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Never read this…any good?
Nice…I’ll let it surprise me when I get to vol. 10 (still have to read 9 and SM 2)