ESSENTIAL SALE

I've got about a ton of Marvel Essentials coming in next week, and I've decided to do a spur of the moment sale. About 2 dozen different Marvel Essential paperbacks will be on sale at $10.00 each, (reg. price $16.95) and as an added bonus, if you buy 2 or more, you can buy a copy of Essential Godzilla for only 21 cents.

Thats over 400 pages of pure monster mayhem for less than a quarter.

For a complete list of titles included in the sale, click here.

http://www.comicsnmore.ca/ShippingLists/sl_073008.php#essentials

New Comics Wednesday

As I said last week, new comics will arrive Wednesday as usual, with the Americans getting theirs a day later.
There's a lot of great fodder for potential spoilers here too.

Secret Invasion #4 is arriving, and I have to say again how much fun this book is. It's nice to read a comic that just delivers on its hype. All I was really expecting was page after page of heroes pounding on each other, and that's exactly what we get. This issues cover features some of the Young Avengers, despite last issue leaving us with Nick Fury's new team of mostly unknowns. The cover could just be to meant to give us some identifiable faces to focus on.

DC gives us Final Crisis Requiem. This is a one-shot look at the passing of the Martian Manhunter, who was dispatched all too quickly in the first issue of Final Crisis. The cover doesn't give us much to go with, but it's probably just DC's lame attempt to hide the actual cover image.

I need to say here how much I hate both company's (DC & Marvel) policy of either giving us no cover image or some form of
disguised cover to keep from revealing too much of the comics content. I kind of understand the idea of not spoiling some big last page surprise, but they don't seem to understand that it's easier for me to sell something if I can post an image that actually identifies what the final product will look like on the shelves. Besides is it any worse to have a cover spoil your surprise a month ahead of time, than as you walk up to the shelf and see it before you can buy it?

Anyway its hard enough to believe any comics character will stay dead for any length of time, but when dealing with a shape shifter, lets just say, even seeing the body is no proof.

WOW, it seems like Booster Gold just started a year ago, and yet here it is at issue #1,000,000 already. This is one of the neat things possible with a time travelling hero, tying him in to all kinds of classic (or cheesy) events from the past. In case anyone out there is confused, this is connected to the DC 1 million event from a few years back. The basic premise being something like "what would the DC line look like if all the titles reached 1,000,000 issues". Either the copy editor messed up, or Geoff Johns isn't as up on his DC history as He thinks, because the blurb reads "Meet the greatest time-traveling hero of the year 1,000,000 A.D. – PETER PLATINUM! Lost in time, Booster Gold is confronted by a hero a million times more self-involved than himself.
The problem is that Booster Gold shouldn't take a million years to reach issue 1,000,000 unless they cut the publishing schedule back to 1 per year. Unless of course the book is continually cancelled and restarted over the next 10,000 centuries. Then again, maybe they know something I don't.

Detective #846 arrives this week, and its the first part of a storyline leading up to issue #850, and featuring the return of Hush. This should be interesting as Dini has so far been writing Detective as a series of self contained issues. Its also the first Batman R.I.P. tie-in not written by Morrison. It should be fun to see just how this book connects with all the crazy weirdness thats been going on in the main Batman title the last few months.(Especially last issue). Love that cover. Seems like Batman and Catwoman might be getting a little closer during this story. Remember, if Batman R.I.P. ends with Bats retiring to marry Selina , you heard it from me first.

Not much for spoiler material here, I just like to mention how much I've been loving the Marvel Adventures line lately. Especially The Avengers. Wait a second !, this is Marvel Adventures Hulk #13. Well thats fine because the Hulk has been even more fun than the Avengers on occasion, depending on the writer.

WAIT A SECOND!! This says Peter David is writing this issue. Well damn I'm going to wish I'd ordered a lot more of these. I mean just look at that cover. To hell with Marvel Zombies, this is the age of Marvel Mummies.

Last but not least, I need to mention that Bone vol.8 will arrive this Wednesday as well. I know thats not a big deal for those of us who read this stuff years ago when it was first published in B&W. But if any of you have kids in grade school, trust me that they will totally freak out if you bring this home. Especially since most of their friends aren't expecting to see it until school starts again in September.

NEW COMICS WEDNESDAY

Just to let everyone know, new comics will arrive as usual on Wednesday for the next two weeks, despite the July 1st and 4th holidays. Again, some Americans are getting cranky that we lowly northerners will be reading and enjoying are funnybooks while they sit and wait for theirs.

I say "tough luck", we suffered through delays several times last year and even for stupid non-holidays like Presidents Day.

Comics & More will be closed as normal on Monday and on Tuesday for Canada Day(Yea, 2 days off).

Here's some of the stuff we'll be enjoying while the Americans sit and fume.

I have to say I haven't been overly excited with the new crop of all ages titles DC has been introducing lately, especially considering what they cancelled to make room. I was enjoying Teen Titans Go! and Justice League Unlimited was one of my favourite reads each month. In their place we got kiddie toy tie -ins the Superfriends, and the too cute to read,Tiny Titans.

I'm all for expanding the available reading material for the younger crowd, but the titles that were cancelled were true ALL-AGES books that were fun for kids and still had some appeal for the older crowd as well.

Here's hoping that the newest entry,Billy and the Power of Shazam fits the bill. The description for this first issue seems to connect it to the recent Jeff Smith Shazam series, which if it does will mean it will be the only Jonny DC series to feature internal continuity. Definitely a step in the right direction.

The art as well looks simple enough for kids to enjoy but not so childish as to scare off adult readers.

There's two Batman items this week, the first is the 3rd instalment of Batman R.I.P. which seems to be moving along well. Grant Morrison is definitely getting a better reception on this than his Final Crisis stuff.

This here is the Alex Ross cover. Looks like Bruce is really falling for his new girlfriend Jet.

But more importantly is another volume of classic cheese from the 60's. Perfectly timed I guess to fit in with the current Batman storyline. Now that's a cover guaranteed to make you want to grab the book of the stands and start reading.

Aside from Batman and Robins inevitable death you get about 500+ pages of true B&W genius all for less than the price of 6 new comics. I'm pretty sure most of Grant Morrison's best stuff is stories he's homaged(stolen) from the Showcase reprint line.

Astonishing X-Men lives on after Joss with new regular writer Warren Ellis. I guess Whedon was a tough act to follow, but Ellis has a pretty solid following (judging by sales on his Avatar stuff)

The big problem is that it looks like the Astonishing title will be tying into current X-Men continuity. I still think one of the biggest selling points of this series first 24 issues is that a reader could pick this book up and get his mutant fix without having to follow 6-8 other titles every month.

On the plus side, it might help if the new team can get the book out more than 6 times a year.

Speaking of late books, Squadron Supreme fell so far behind they just decided to cancel it and start over.

This volume 2 series appears to completely ignore the dangling plot and starts up the story from where Ultimate Power left off.

See it even has a Greg Land cover just so you know. Apparently Ultimate Nick Fury was left behind in the Supreme Universe, I can only assume he's been working on a Secret War or something.

Avengers/Invaders has been a great read so far. Check out the battle of Namor VS. Namor in issue #3. The best part is this stuff totally fits in with current Avengers post Civil War. Tony Stark has been getting all weepy- eyed at the thought of Cap being back. I doubt if this story will have any lasting impact in the end. As usual with time travel stories, everything will be reset to normal in the end, but it's a fun ride getting there.

One last book to mention is Jonah Hex. This title is consistently great with some fine artists gracing the covers over stories that are for the most part done-in-one.

This time around Jonah travels to the frozen north of Canada and must evade the mounties on his trail. I think it's safe to assume there'll be beavers and lumberjacks somewhere in there as well. Canadian Darwyn Cooke draws this one which is even more appropriate considering the holiday.

Enjoy your holiday and your comics, and please keep any spoilers to yourself. Those fiesty Americans have invaded other countries for less reason.

Anniversary Sale Wrap-up

I'd just like to thank everyone who came out for the 21st Anniversary Sale, and helped make it the biggest event I've ever held at the store. Despite the less than perfect weather, dozens of people snapped up over 1200 comics at only 21 cents a piece. Not to mention the hundreds of paperbacks and hardcovers that passed across the cash desk during the 8 hours of sale time. A lot of the folks who stopped in seemed totally stunned that they were indeed getting books, statues or toys, for only 21 cents. Most thanked me for the deal and offered their congratulations on the occasion.
I couldn't have done it,(this sale,or any of the events over the last 21 years) without the help of some great customers and friends like Kellie and Shawn,Danny,Glenn,Rob(Habib),Sean, Lee, and Chris. Some were there at the beginning and others came along more recently, but without them, the store would not have made it this long.
I hope you'll all be along for the next 21 years.

ANNIVERSARY SALE-the fine print

The Anniversary sale will have a few restrictions that should have been mentioned in the previous post. Card packs will be limited to 3 per person (thats 3 at full price + 3 for 21 cents each).
New comics and paperbacks from that weeks delivery will NOT be included in the sale. NO items held on reserve or placed on hold will be included in the sale.
A few wall books which are consignment items will be removed from the wall before sale day.
Thanks for your support and comments, and I hope to see a lot of you walking out with stacks of deals on SATURDAY JUNE 21st.

ANNIVERSARY SALE

I dropped a hint a few weeks back about an upcoming sale, and more than a few people have been asking me lately just what I had in mind. First of all I was a little worried about setting plans in motion after getting the notice from the city about upcoming sidewalk repairs. Turns out that the area in front of my store won't be affected, so plans are back on.


SATURDAY JUNE 21st will mark the 21 st anniversary of my opening the store. Basically to celebrate this I will be having the biggest sale of the stores history. Everything in the store will be available in this massive deal.


BUY ANY ITEM IN THE STORE, GET A 2ND ITEM OF LESSER PRICE FOR 21 CENTS.



That's right,
buy a pack of cards for $4.00, get another for 21cents.

Marvel cards, Pokemon, Chaotic, Yu-GI-OH, Magic, hockey,
ALL cards





Buy an action figure for $15.00, get another for 21 cents.

Marvel Legends, DC Direct, Manga
Hulk, Batman, Inu-Yasha,
ALL figures.








Buy a hardcover book for $50.00, get another for 21cents.

Archives, Essentials, Showcases, Manga, Digests
Walking Dead, Superman, X-Men, Naruto,
ALL books




BUY ANYTHING IN THE STORE AND GET A 2ND ONE FOR 21 CENTS.


The more you spend, the more you save.

If the weather is nice I'll also be putting some tables outside full of 21 cent comics, 21cent posters and lots of bargain toys and paperbacks.

Sunday the fun will continue with Heroclix demos featuring the new Batman easy start boosters, everyone who plays can get FREE figures or win a prize.

SATURDAY JUNE 21st 10:00 a.m.- 6:00 p.m.

NEW COMICS WEDNESDAY

Yes, the new comics will be in store and on the shelves when I open at 11:00 this Wednesday, as usual.

Yes, this means most Canadians will be reading their comics a full day before American fans. This on a week full of high profile releases. As such, I implore everyone to exercise discretion when posting reviews and comments. Its not like the Americans have ever spoiled a story for us when they got them early.

For instance, Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men. The wrap issue to Joss Whedon and Cassaday's fantastic(yet terminally delayed) run on the only X title not to be mixed in with all the X-over confusion and event specials of the last 3 years. I'm sure the last page of this book will be blogged unto death by Thursday morning.

I just hope that a decent percentage of the readers stick around for the Warren Ellis run beginning in a couple months. Marvel really should have gotten ahead on this one and had issue #25 ready to ship a week or two after the special to minimize drop-off.

How about the first issue of Final Crisis. I know most fans are joking that they hope this really is the last Crisis, but all hype aside, this is one of the highest pre-order comics I've ever had at the store. Even starting the series with Hal on the cover has bumped sales a little because for some strange reason, Marvel fans like Green Lantern. I'd never been sure why, but to be honest I was never a big reader of his as a kid, and it wasn't until the recent releases of Archive, and now Showcase, editions that I've learned what a whiner Hal was back in the day. Many of his early stories are so riddled with angst filled thought ballons that you could almost imagine they were crafted by Stan Lee.

This series has Grant Morrison at the helm however, so you can expect almost anything to happen (and it probably will). Lets just hope it all makes sense in the end, not like Seven Soldiers.

Marvel 1985 gives us the premise of the Marvel heroes and villains exploding thru to the "real" Universe. The title could be significant as that was the year in which the tail end of Marvels memorable series Secret Wars debuted. I can only assume that with the type of cosmic powers that ran rampant through that epic series that dimension hopping would not be unthinkable.

The story deals primarily with the young boy featured on the cover being "Earth Prime's" last defense against super-powers suddenly appearing in a world totally unprepared for them.

The biggest news about this series however is the recent rumours that it somehow will connect with Mark Millar's current run on Fantastic-Four and his upcoming "Old Man Logan" arc of Wolverine.

The other major release this week is the first volume of the Starman Omnibus. Being a collection of material more than a decade old,there is no worries of spoilers with this item. But its still a fantastic product that is more than worth its price. Starman was one of those rare series that fit firmly in the DC universe but always felt more like a Vertigo title. Writer, James Robinson seemlessly fit disparate elements from decades of DC history into a seemless whole that was an enjoyable read from start to finish. I especially loved his development of a previous second string villain like the Shade, into a fully realized being with more personality than most title characters.

Robinson will be starting his run on Superman soon, and I'd like to stress that anyone who turns down this series because they've never liked Superman before, may be missing out on a real gem.