F For Fake

OBJECTION!

As for Spider-Man, I haven't liked a Spider-Man movie since the second Raimi film. There's a good movie lurking in the depths of Spidey 3, if you excised every single bit of the Venom content and just let Sam make the Sandman movie he wanted to make. Venom sucks. He will always suck, in all of his forms. The Amazing Spider-Man movies aren't good. I liked the second one the best as it still has the most comics-accurate costume of any of the films so far (this is an extremely nerdy nitpick, but I'll let it stand) and I enjoyed the quips. Electro was...unfortunate. I didn't like Homecoming either, as it felt like Iron Man Jr, rather than Spider-Man. It wasn't any kind of Spider-Man that I recognize. It's probably my least favorite Spider-Man movie of them all, which is saying something, because, you know, Amazing 1 & 2 were pretty bad. I will go see Far From Home because apparently I'm an insufficiently_thoughtful_person. I'm hoping it will be better.

I got a kick out of Shazam. It was colorful. It was surprisingly and suddenly dark and violent in a way that reminded me of the 80's kid adventure movies of my youth. There were some genuine laffs and a few bones thrown to the old school fans. All in all, it was as good of a Shazam movie as could be made, I'd say. The case of Punisher:War Zone is settled law. It rules. He punches through a guy's face. This court is adjourned.

I enjoyed the book a great deal, and still horde #1's when I find them in dollar bins because you never know when it'll show up in a movie or something. I also really enjoyed the Checkmate series that Rucka did. It went off the rails a bit towards the end, becoming more of a straight superhero book, but the early issues were really great.

Wait, did ALL of those threads get poofed? I didn't notice. It's all blurring together in my old age.

This was one of my favorite collection threads on the boards ever, it was the sort of weird comics ephemera stuff that I find so cool. It's comics, but not comics, you know? I'm glad to have gotten the Bettie Pages issues. If you issue a pedigree, I want a certificate!

There's nothing at all wrong with not digging Kirby, or anyone else, for that matter. At least you're giving it some actual consideration, and not just popping up and saying he "sucks". Some things just don't work for some folks. For instance, I'm a huge Kirby fan, but don't have much use for Neal Adams. I can appreciate his stature in the medium, I acknowledge how much he changed the way comics were drawn, but for the life of me, I just don't care that much for his stuff, with a few exceptions. But then again, I tend to prefer more iconographic comic artists (Kirby, Simonson, Mignola) over the illustrative artists (Adams, BWS, etc). Just personal preference. Whatever turns yr crank!

They truly can be a pain to read without damaging the spine, but man oh man, do they look nice on the shelf. Just a big horkin' BRICK of comics. The Omnis with sewn binding tend to be easier to read than their glued brethren.

In the old days (and I'm not even here that long, only ten years now) it wasn't bullying as much as it was just that most of the heavy posters were very well versed in what they were talking about, and weren't really going to pause to let newbs get up to speed. You just sorta had to dive in. Of course, there was at least one actual bully, probably a couple. But they're not here anymore, thankfully.

Hard to go wrong with that plan! A lot of the early MMWs were printed in fairly large numbers, and can still be picked up at a fraction of cover price. The later volumes, when they relaunched at volume 28, can get expensive, as they didn't print many. In fact, several of the "variant" covers (the volumes printed with the marble look to match the earlier run) were only printed in the hundreds. However, as Marvel keeps remastering and rereleasing stuff, some folks will dump their MMW's and upgrade, so there are definitely bargains to be found. Good luck!

Also this, yes! This is how I read new marvel books. I collect hardcovers for the older stuff, as I love to own the physical books. But for reading new stuff I don't care about owning, MU is absolutely a gem.

Also, the problem with the omni's is that while volume 1 was just reprinted, it only runs through issue 38. Volumes 2 and 3 are currently out of print, and getting pricey. And while Marvel sometimes reprints these volumes (this is the 4th printing of volume 1, after all) there's no real rhyme or reason to when they reprint them, so you might buy volume 1 (only $50-$60 most places) but who knows how long you might have to wait for a reprint of 2 and 3? Or you could pony up and pay current FMV, which I think is around $150 each. I'd recommend the softcover Epic collection trades, if they're still in print. They have the most recent remastering of the material. The old Masterworks are great books, but the OOP volumes can get pricey, and most of the early volumes were printed in the late 80's and early 90's. The Epics are all recent remasters and very sharp. And you can usually get them for around $25 or so.

I feel this, deeply. The boards used to be intimidating. I lurked for years before I even mustered the courage to sign up for an account and post. The amount of knowledge was staggering, and the desire to not look like a clueless doofus was overwhelming. I wouldn't say that it was an inviting atmosphere, however, I would say that it was rewarding to have folks grudgingly interact with you, and show you some degree of respect, as you tried to slowly gain a foothold in the larger conversation. My advice to newbs has always been to post less and read more when they first get here, but that's just not the culture these days. We have a lot of active users who just popped up in the last year or two, and came in guns blazing, protocol be damned. And what we've seen is...it's fine. I don't know why I was ever so precious about it. Who cares? People come and go. It's a message board. We've seen a lot of wisdom leave the boards as old timers have moved on. But we've also seen less needless gatekeeping, which is also a good thing. The nature of the boards is always changing. Let it change.

LOVE this cover! Those huge, dynamic hands, the crazed expressions, the psychedelic space frog??? Pure Kirby nirvana.

Thanks! Yes, not blaming speculators. Make hay while the sun is shining! I have flipped more than my share of books. I'm just saying that this could have been a big opportunity for shops AND readers, and instead the only people I see making any money off of it are the flippers. There could have been a lot of money to go around, and a lot of happy buyers as well.

True, this was a book with a big readership, and a lot of those folks collected the floppies and then moved on to the trades or the hardcovers, etc. I see the series a lot at Half Price Books, places like that. There was a time when the first appearance of Daniel (21? 22? can't recall) had a significant price bump, not sure if that's still true or not?

It's difficult to see a winner with this decision, other than short-term flippers who will make a killing on copies they are able to gobble up. Stores are stuck in the crosshairs, enduring wrath of dissatisfied customers, and potential lost profit if they'd been able to order the book fully armed with the knowledge. I guess Kirkman wins in the sense that his trolling was successful, so he gets a chuckle out of it? But I'm sure every shop could have used the sales bump that would have accompanied a properly solicited book, and more copies would have gotten into readers' hands. I don't collect WD any more, and I haven't bought any to sell or flip, so I don't have a dog in the race. But it definitely feels like this was a missed opportunity for all involved. Instead, shops are going to lose a dependable monthly Top 10 seller on top of the insult of not being able to capitalize on the ending. Not saying that Kirkman owes it to the LCS's to keep writing and publishing if he doesn't want to, but it might have been nice to give a heads up to the people who helped build this thing into what it is today.

It's been a LOOOOOONG time since I was involved in comic ordering, but if there was a ramp-up in orders before the FOC, couldn't the books have been allocated? Meaning that stores wouldn't necessarily get all they ordered? Not defending anyone here, just wondering if that is possible.

And I'd have no problem whatsoever if there was this communication, as you pointed out. It's the folks who come in hot and heavy with a lowball, then ghost you as soon as you accept. That's what drives me nuts. I'm not in a hurry if I know the score beforehand.

Agreed, there should be no discount given just because you're willing to do what is already expected of you.

I love how simply paging Buzz is now shorthand for "this thread is about to pop off, stay tuned!" It's like the coming of Galactus or something.

eBay used to be the wild west. You could buy and sell practically anything on there. It was great.

This may actually catch my eye, because it seems like more and more lately that someone makes an offer, i accept it, and then they proceed to not pay for two days or more. It's ridiculous. If you make an offer, I treat that the same as a BIN, meaning I expect you're ready to pay right now. Why make an offer on something just so you can put it on hold? Ugh. These buyers these days are driving me nuts. As to the original question, I usually don't even read the comments or messages. They have no meaning to me. Your offer works or it doesn't. I can't imagine what anyone could say that would change my mind. If they have a sob story, it's a turn off because either 1. they're making it up, which means they're lying in order to get a better price on a toy or comic book, which means they're scum or 2. they're NOT making it up, which means they're attempting to exploit personal hardship in order to get a better price on a toy or comic book, which is somehow even worse. Reasonable offers are always welcome, and I take them more often that not. But there's no reason to tell me why you're offering what you're offering. I'm not reading it.

Love it! I never had any of these, but had two friends that did, so definitely got in lots of play time with them. Haven't seen any in years, or paid attention to prices. Love how chunky they are!

I tend to agree. Even with the series concluded and the popularity of the show waning, there still just aren't enough copies out there for folks that want one. Even at its nadir I expect it to still be a $1500 book. But i'll be watching for bargains!