Whenever things seem bleak.....I turn to the Flight.

I have never really understood why, but reading my run of the first volume of ALPHA FLIGHT just feels good. I love this super team. They were always a varied and eclectic groups of heroes. I own the entire run of that first volume. I only ever bought one issue brand new. Issue #106, and I bet some of you know the issue I speak of. The Jim Lee work is the only ones I purchased at any great expense. I bought the rest over about a twenty year period. My Mom bought me my first two issues at the first ever "Just A Dollar" store in our area. I got three comics for one dollar and two of those were Issue #23 and Issue #98 of Alpha Flight. From that day on it was a yard sale and flea market hunt with some three for a buck collections thrown in. It all ended in 2007 at HeroesCon when I at last found Issue #74 and paid the fifty cents it cost. So now it is one of those old comforts I reread from start to finish and just enjoy. It really is better than anything Marvel is publishing currently in my opinion. I will have a more detailed look at the Flight soon.

CBG

P.S. I really like Heather Hudson the best, but there are not many good online pics I have found yet.

The end of buying new Marvel?

Well the time has come for some hard decisions. Finances are just too tight and dwindling in this economy. I read only one Marvel comic currently. That book is NOVA. I have enjoyed the book, yet it is at the top of the cut list. Why? Well why read a book that will be drawn into a Universe I have come not to care about anymore?

As I usually do when life sucks I turn to my older comics to read and I guess try to feel better. So I am right now reading ALPHA FLIGHT. It is nice to read an entire run of a book and to remember a time when Marvel was a company that I could find heroism and enjoyment. Over the years I have grown as a reader. I branched out and tried other things, but the core of my comic love was always founded in Marvel Comics.

I remember the gift of comics I received when a cousin gave me those her son was finished reading. There was DC and Marvel comics there, but it was the MARVEL TWO IN ONE starring the Thing and Iron Fist that drew me in as a child. I have loved the Thing as a character ever since. The door was opened to Iron Man and then the best of all Spider-Man of whom I watched on TV.

From that first taste I was hooked. I lived in an area without a comic shop in the area. I had to beg from the occasional spinner racks and then get them at yard sales and flea markets. It was a different type of collecting. I have noticed that it does make a difference now in my collecting habits. I was never really about the creators and stuff. It was the stories and finding number runs and characters I liked.

My collection grew and there was the time when I would buy a DC book when they looked interesting or had Green Lantern on the cover, but Marvel ruled. When in High School our local grocery started selling comics in the newstand section. I discovered THE NEW WARRIORS and was able to read THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN yet again. IRON MAN and AVENGERS came to me in all the glory of a rising comic industry. I went to college and found a shop and have been steady in my collecting ever since. I was still a loyal Marvel only reader. I even passed up the biggest speculating possibility of that day.

THE DEATH OF SUPERMAN came out while I was in college. I waited in a stupid line for my weekly books as people from hundreds of miles away tried to find a copy. I was just annoyed. I wanted my Marvel comics for the week.

There came a day when I started adding different comics to my reading. I branched out into different companies. I still scoured the flea markets and back issue boxes for many old Marvels. I have the entire run of ALPHA FLIGHT and I only purchased one of those issues new. It was the issue where Northstar comes out. All the rest were bought at flea markets our cheap sale boxes. Well, the Jim Lee first artwork ones cost a bit more, but still, I count it a neat feat.

I do not like spending a great deal on my books. I see the decision of Marvel to increase the price of their product and not improve quality as a bad thing. Now for me quality is the basic writing partially. Still, to do what podcast and articles I read have said and increase price while only giving about eight pages of new content is suspect. Why pay $3.99 for a reprint with a bit of extra when the original probably is less in a shop's back issue box? I purchase some $3.99 books, not many. They are IDW books and they have in house ads and harder stock covers and the glossy paper that holds up better over the years. Marvel is still giving the old 22 page story count and the other ten doesn't even include a letters page anymore. It is coming down to a matter of content and Marvel may lose as even the die hard sheep lose jobs and income.

They made it easy at Marvel for us to leave. I stayed through the banckrupcy. I bought books and I am one of those die hards that kept the numbers up back then. I cared about the characters and I loved the stories and face it, I bought almost every 2099 book in the Marvel line. I was a bit miffed when the man that was suppose to be one of us, a comic geek, said that if I didn't like the new Marvel I could go and read the old issues. OK Joe Quesada, I did. Slowly I have divested myself from buying new Marvel comics. I even look at the trades and think, maybe, then I see a cheaper DC book and know I probably will like that trade more, so you can guess where my money goes.

The conspiracy theorist in me thinks Marvel wants the industry to fold in publishing tangible comics and turn to digital only. That would be silly though, but it is as valid as the crap they write. Am I bitter? Maybe. I miss the continuing stories of my favorite characters. I am enjoying learning a freat deal about DC characters.

So soon I may drop the last Marvel title I am reading. I wonder if I am the only one? Well I know I am not. Check this out; Comic Overloadhas a dropping of both companies. This could be the start of a sad time for our beloved industry.

So can I live without new Marvel comics? I think so. Can I live without any comics at all? Let us not go there. I do not want to find that out.

CBG

So The Reason Geek Gets Has Dwindled

Much like the rest of America I find the economy impacting my comic book addiction. I passed up going to the shop after Thanksgiving and a sale that had 5 for $1 comics. I know, I am an idiot. Yet, I looked at the wallet and the knowing of a $50 bottle of meds coming up and realized I was not wise to go and face temptation. I have some cash now and soon will get another round and again think on what is a must read. I have to make cuts and I have to be harsh I think.

I might soon have to window shop. Marvel is going to make it easy and so will DC if they blindly follow Marvel's lead. $3.99 is too much. I purchase Fallen Angel from IDW and have purchased other limited series from IDW. I also purchase Echo ($3.50). Each of these has their higher quality covers and paper as well as in house ads. I have one Marvel title and for sure will cancel if it goes to $3.99. The title is Nova.

$3.99 is too much to pay for 22 pages of story. Not to mention 22 pages of the drivel and low quality Marvel is to me personally currently. DC has fared better and I have always admired the tiered pricing from them. They have fewer titles on the cut list because they are cancelling books I read. So they in some ways are ahead of the game. I will most likely cut Nova. With it going I will have stopped purchasing Marvel Comics consistently since being able to in 1990. Back then all I purchased was Marvel. How times have changed.

I might end up just window shopping. I did switch to trades sometime back on many books. I will buy Secret Six that way. I have been buying Blue Beetle and Green Lantern Corps that way as well. Many may have to be bought that way. One funny and real clear reason I avoided that sale was the fact my comic book shop places issues of current titles from the past six to eight months in those $1 boxes that were on sale. I would have found much to buy. I do hope that soon my fortunes will turn around and I can be back buying comics again. For now I am reading my run of Alpha Flight. Never bought an issue new except one, issue #106, the one where Northstar comes out. So you might get a bit of Alpha musings soon. I could just do an in depth look at the old Nightwatch limited series from Marvel. Hey, Joey Q said if I didn't like the crap he was putting out I could read back issues as an old time fan, so I am reading back when continuity meant something and Marvel was the House of Ideas.

CBG

Doctor Strange Master of the Mystic Arts #61 - 63

The Ghost seriously apologizes for the lack of postings lately. My haunting abilities have been seriously hampered by the world of the living. Way back in September I made an interesting find at my local shop's $1 boxes. Three issues of Doctor Strange back when Marvel was not bound by the corporate restraints of the Trade or lack of continuity. I promised a treat of a post and here it is. These issues are the final three parts to a story that was the end of Dracula in the Marvel Universe. If you don't know that at one point Dracula was a staple in the MU and he was ultimately defeated, then boo hoo if you feel I spoiled something you never would have read.

I confess that I have very few Doctor Strange comics in my collection. Any issues I have purchased on purpose have been less than one buck or included in a 3 for 1 deal and I wanted something else that was part of the combo. Here I was drawn to issue #60 when looking through the box by the lovely form of Scarlet Witch. Before I could really read, I confess to having two little boy crushes. One was Jamie Somers, the Bionic Woman and the other was the Scarlet Witch. I had these Marvel matching game cards and she was on there. I had never even read or seen a comic with her in it, by I was in love. Ever since I have had a fondness for Wanda. So I was made to pause and see what this issue was all about.

Seems the enigmatic book known as the Darkhold was once again loose in the Marvel Universe. This is a magic book that goes all the way back to the lost City of Atlantis. It is pure EVIL and cannot be destroyed. It can corrupt the soul of any who use it, so good people are in danger when around it. It also can aid Dracula to become the complete ruler of Earth. The cult that follows and worships the Darkhold are aiding the Lord of Vampires and of course Dr.Strange is standing in their way. The Darkhold is soon to be held secure the Avenger's Mansion with Scarlet Witch and Captain Marvel helping protect it. Captain Marvel being Monica and not the one who died of Cancer only to recently be brought back in a horrible attempt to be "cool" and edgy.

My decision to buy the book came with the two that followed. The next two issues and the end of the story. It was like divine destiny that I should buy these books. When being a cheap and avid hunter of back issues at low prices the best thing that can happen is to have the issue that resolves a story. Here I had it and loads of Marvel guest appearances included as well. The following issues contained the Doctor's man servant Wong and he actually does more than answer the door in the tale. Hannibal King is present along with Blade. It is a battle that highlights all characters and shows some magical might as the Doctor battles Dracula on the Astral landscape inside the Darkhold. Really awesome conflict and a sacrifice of an infected Vampire.

Doctor Strange has one last trick up his sleeve and the character sees the sunrise for the first time in years. This is what Marvel used to excel at in storytelling. We had tension and conflict that is made of stern material. Yet, we end on the high and happy note of good squashing evil and all pausing to relish a moment of a big victory in the never ending battle.

So I am at last keeping my promise of telling a tale of my excellent find in the back issue box. A story of mystical forces and horrific beings. It also had Scarlet Witch goodness. If you read this far, then I hope you enjoy this rambling.

CBG

Almost back

I am so close to being back it is scary. I am upset because Blue Beetle is being canceled. Tragedy. just terrible. I am sad. So as I am working to get back enjoy this cute Secret Six picture. Hmmm, maybe Blue Beetle can become a rolling group of mini series stories.

CBG

Don't forget me

Life has felt like a Jungle adventure the last few weeks. I have gotten some awesome books and read some cool stuff, but haven't had the Blogging feel because of some stuff. I am working on it and I will be up an running soon. Don't forget me as I work through the jungle and get back to my regular crazy comic book love.

CBG

Geek Gets 10/01/08

A very light week for new Gets this week as only three things I am collecting came out. In honor of one of these Gets we will have a Blue text throughout. I did find some interesting things in the $1 boxes. But they will come later. Yes, I still have that old Marvel post to put up that also came from the $1 boxes as well.

On to the discussion of what I did get today. The first I will discuss will be Justice League of America #25. It is a double sized issue that comes in at $3.99. I have read some hesitation and dissatisfaction with this title, but I like it and really think we are seeing a turn with this very issue. It has finally wrapped up the tedious stuff that was placed here from One Year Later. Vixen is a character I first came to know in Birds of Prey. Otherwise she is very new to me. Here we see her take a central role and matching wits with the African version of the Trickster god, Anansi.

The funniest thing about the issue might go over the heads of many casual comic book readers. Anasi keeps telling Vixen that this is his story, that he owns all the stories. Now one might take this as just a bit of plot development and foreshadowing. What was funny was Anasi lecturing Vixen about not letting a story develop. The way other heroes are taken out simply by Anasi changing the story was unusual and intriguing. Seeing Red Arrow shoot Black Canary in the back and her death cry shatter his eardrums was shocking. Are they dead? Probably not, Anasi said that they might come back if he decides to tell the story to have them do so.

Really think that if McDuffie is kept on the title and allowed to write his tales we might see even better from the book. I think he has taken full ownership and cleaned the deck in a respectful way as to what came before. Will enjoy the price dropping back to regular cost next month though.

Next we have what was the best payoff I have read in a good while. My cover is not the same as the one I found at the DC website. (Need to either get my scanner working or a new one.) Blue Beetle End Game is the fourth collection of the current Blue Beetle title. It collects Blue Beetle Issues #20 - 26. Issue #20 is the Sinestro Corps War crossover and #26 is the all Spanish issue. What come in the middle is the big payoff. We see a hero take control and understand that Jamie has been studying the two men that came before and had learned from them. His battle with the Reach comes to a violent conclusion.

Blue Beetle I find is best read as a Trade. I collected the first story arc in monthly fashion. Then I got the next part in Trade format. I liked reading the complete tale all at once. It works better this way for me. Here we watched all the supporting characters play a part in the final confrontation. We also see the connections Jamie has made in the super hero community come to his aid. Guy Gardner has an awesome scene with Jamie's little sis. Traci 13 is back numerous times. Paco and Brenda have an encounter involving lips. Just an awesome bringing together of all the story points.

The last thing I got was Witchblade #121. I am here for the awesome story, but each month the art is just a feast for the eyes. This is where I get my grown up stories. Give me heroics in my classic character universes. I will have my supernatural crime drama here. What also is neat is how the history of the creature known as a Golem is laid out at the end of the book. No, I do not feel that is a spoiler. If a cop gets called to a Jewish neighborhood in a supernatural book, Golem is gonna cross your mind. Well worth the price of admission and a book I am still liking because of the way Ron Marz is telling the story.

Well, I guess that is it for now. Better get to haunting the castle.

Comic Book Ghost