BuraddoRun

I got 5 more of Issue 1, and 4 of Issue 2. Issue 2 has alternate art versions of the 2 characters they highlight, so the covers are a bit more diverse as far as main art is concerned.

Sometimes, you just get lucky. Grab bags from comic book shops almost assuredly have nothing of value inside, unless they've been sitting for years and the owner forgot what's in them. But grab bags from Half Price Books are often packed by people with no knowledge of the books. Some are terrible, but some are great. I've gotten big hits before. Here's one I got last week. I bought a pack that looked like it was all Hulk comics (turned out to be so). One of the outside facing books was a modern annual, no big value. The other was Hulk/Pitt, which I wanted. $7 for 14 books means I paid 50 cents for each book. I figured it was worth it for the book I wanted. The other books turned out to be all modern Hulks, including -1 and multiple books around the 450 range. 456 & 457 were there, which are pretty good. But there was also...

This is mostly random fun stuff I found from a local comic shop I recently discovered. The Atomic Revolution book is really cool, but unfortunately has a page that has a big panel cut out. The Bad Idea stuff came from Movie Trading Company. How far they've fallen, huh? These comics were all $1 each.

They got a little carried away with Sue's...

Roid Rage

These are all awesome. Much better than "replacement" or "facsimile" printed covers. This makes me feel like I should commission my nephew to draw covers for some of my coverless books.

Did anyone else here pick up a copy or 2 or 3 of Blitmap? They had it at NYCC this year (I didn't attend) and it just released at local shops this past Wednesday. So, it's a sci-fi story about 2 artificial (robot) "races" of people: the Blitnauts and the Logos, both generally untrusting of each other and at odds. But then a 3rd race shows up, the Static, that is apparently a threat to the other 2. Will they set aside their differences to face this new enemy? Or something like that. I dunno yet, since only 1 issue is out. The story is OK. I'm interested enough to keep going. But there are a couple of other pretty awesome things about the book. Number one, the IP is "open source." Basically you can use the characters, world, setting, etc. freely if you'd like to make your own stories, merchandise, etc. You just can't reproduce a copy of the exact comic book they've printed. Who knows if anyone will care enough to actually do it, or how big it will get, but it's a neat concept anyhow. But here's the big deal for collectors, and I'm sure many issues will end up being slabbed. Every single issue has an exclusive, one-of-a-kind cover. They call it a collaboration between their artists and "algorithms." If you've ever heard of the card game Keyforge, I imagine the technology used there is similar. All the art is made by an actual artist, not AI. There are 7 different base designs for Issue 1, but various aspects are all changed via algorithm, including background, zooming, colors, accessories on characters, clothing, facial expressions, etc. It's a pretty novel idea and the covers are genuinely cool. It has a $4.99 cover price and it comes in a foil polybag so you can't see what cover is inside. Again, every cover is unique! It's pretty awesome! And the quality of the book is actually GOOD, like the physical quality. Much better than your standard Marvel $4.99 books. Titan publishes the book. I've attached a pic of the 2 covers I got locally. But I'm kind of hooked so I ordered 5 more copies online. LOL. Here's a YT video they made that kind of explains things a bit. If you bought any, share your covers here!

Awesome finds!

That's such a huge part of the fun, I agree. The "thrill of the hunt." I'll admit that if I'm really wanting to finish a storyline that I'm missing issues for, then ordering online is convenient and, well, available. But there's nothing like walking into a store and searching through bins and finding a book you want.

That's a cool one! And you're right, it seems like it would be coveted by more Swamp Thing or even R.L. Stine fans. Thanks for sharing!

Show off some comics that you're pretty sure no one's heard of. Maybe they're underground books, or old books that didn't get much attention, or just crazy things you've never seen before until you saw them. Share your oddball titles here! I found this one at Dollar General when I went hunting for Star Wars High Republic reprints (which I never found). They had a toy line that for cheapies are actually pretty cool, called Final Faction. Apparently there's a cartoon on YouTube as well. But this comic book was hanging by the toys in a bag and was only $1.25, so I picked up a couple. I read it and...yeah, it's super basic and not great. But it's still fun and feels like a story from the 90s geared toward kids, which of course it is, but it was made in 2022. Still a fun book to get. And even though it says on the back that Issue 2 is coming soon, I couldn't find it.

Those are my favorite foreign comics. Sure, getting more affordable keys is cool, and simply getting books in a foreign language is fun, but I think it's really neat when a foreign market gets exclusive artwork or even exclusive books that aren't released anywhere else. I'm mostly talking Marvel and DC here, or other companies with big franchises that originated in the U.S.A. What are some examples of exclusive covers or full books out there that were only published in certain markets? I recently picked up these 2 Japanese She-Hulk books from Dan Slott's run. They are like graphic novels and they have cool, exclusive covers that I believe were only published in Japan.

Well, it happened to me a couple of weeks ago. I wouldn't call it a grail per se, but it is a book I've wanted for a very long time and never purchased. But I visited a shop I frequent which normally only sells modern books (and games, which I go to them more for), and saw this in the glass case at the front. You can see the listed price in the pic, which I thought was very reasonable. I wasn't expecting to drop $75 on a comic that day, but there it was, and I've wanted it, so I bought it, New Mutants 87. It was in mylar and I asked the cashier if he or I could open and inspect it. He was having trouble with the tape and I told him nevermind and I'd bring it back if something was wrong. He assured me that it should be solid because it was from the store owner's personal collection. After I got home and opened it, I was pleased. It looks to be about 9.2 as is, and with a press could get to 9.6 or maybe even 9.8, though personally I don't get my keeper books pressed. No color breaks. I carefully read the book, too, because that's what I do. It wasn't that great, but Cable is still awesome. LOL! Anyhow, share your similar experiences, where a book you wanted was unexpectedly and physically in front of you and you went for it. Incidentally, there were 2 other books in that same case that day which are also books I want to eventually own, and one of them I would call a grail: Amazing Spider-Man 300 and Incredible Hulk 181. But ASM was priced at $500, IIRC, and i didn't want to spend that much for it. Hulk was only $2000, which was out of my range that day, but also the value stamp was missing and while I'd be fine with a less-than-mint copy of the book, I want it intact. The last time I visited that shop was this past Saturday, and the ASM was gone, but Hulk 181 was still there. I'm expecting it to sell eventually.

OK, last post, but here's the big book I found: House of Secrets # 61: the first appearance of Eclipso! I wasn't familiar with the specific book before seeing it today but, I mean, it says right there on the cover it's his introduction. So I looked it up and, yeah, first appearance. You can see that there's a piece missing from the cover in the upper left, and there are spine ticks. Also, the cover is pulled through the top staple. But the interior is complete and nice (though with browning) and it's still in solid shape overall. And again, I only paid $1 for it! So please, be encouraged! Finds like this are so fun and unexpected! Just keep diving in those dollar bins, garage sales, second-hand stores, antique shops, etc. Also, I'm tagging @ADAMANTIUM, because I know you'll recognize the price stickers and probably have seen the many overpriced books time and time again there like I have!

OK, here's the second post. The reason I wanted to separate it is because the $1 finds here were substantially better than the ones in my above post. One book in particular takes the cake. I just want to encourage all fellow hunters out there to keep hunting if you enjoy it! It's easy to get discouraged or hit dry spells when the places you visit either don't have new stock, are full of other people scavenging the bins that got there before you when the new stuff came out, or you simply haven't found anything good in awhile. But truly, there are still places that have actual $1 bins out there, and you never know what you'll find. So today, I went to a place that I sometimes visit, usually for movies. I had some toys I wanted to sell and didn't want to take the time to find direct buyers, so I just sold to them. They took a long time to evaluate my stuff, so I spent quite a bit of time browsing their comics. I usually don't shop for comics there, because they mostly overprice their stuff in my opinion. They have basically everything bagged and boarded and stickered with prices that range from cover to higher. And it just seems like they think every comic, regardless of condition, is worth at least cover price. But they also have dollar bins. I've browsed before and found occasional books I've wanted, but nothing to write home about. I didn't expect to find much today but...I ended up walking out of there with exactly 50 comics in hand. And yes, I paid $1 for each and every one of these books. I browsed their other books a little but didn't find anything there I wanted. Anyhow, not all of these are modern so again forgive me, but I found some goodies. Like above, I won't post pics of everything. I'll give you a sample and then you can see my big find at the very end. Wait, should I do a triple post...? Yeah, I'll do that. So anyway, they had a bunch of old Archie stuff, only some pictured here. Some of those Archie covers are pretty funny, so even though they aren't bank-breakers they're still cool. They had other random oldies from the 60s (check out that Bat Masterson cover, funny lingo), including some DC stuff. There is some staining on a lot of the older books but they're still in good shape and again, were only $1 each. But I got modern stuff, too, like a couple of die-cut Something is Killing the Children and a foil House of Slaughter. Then some things like Darker Image 1 (1st Maxx), some newstands, a Harley Quinn Loot Crate exclusive, and some other things I didn't picture.

I'm probably going to double post, so apologies for that, but I really think the 2 should be separate. You'll see why for the 2nd post. But in this one, I recently discovered a comic and games shop that is about an hour's drive for me. I actually went there looking for a game (which they sold out of before I arrived), but found that they had quite a large dollar bin, multiple shelves filled with books for literally $1. I didn't find anything amazing, but I still found some cool stuff. I really like the oddball promo comics that sometimes get released to advertise video games and movies. I picked up a number of those. Then there was a random Captain Marvel from the 70s (not modern, forgive me) and a couple of cartoon books from the 80s. And there were other cool books like the first appearance of Keres from Zenescope (hey, I like their horror books!), some Wizard 1/2 and Comic Con books, variants, and other goodies. I'll attach a few pictures but it's just a sampling from about 30 or so comics I picked up from them.

Big picture drop, but these are some books I've found over the summer, all gotten for half the cover price courtesy of Half Price Books, except for the Zealot # 1. I found that in a dollar bin at a comic shop. I just hate how they put a black marker line in the barcode to prevent it from scanning or whatever.

Yeah, it's from 1996. They reprinted it in 2006, too, according to mycomicshop.

I love the Walmart exclusive books, but a lot of the fun in these comes from discovering new things you didn't know about. 2nd printings, variant covers you've never seen, even the occasional oddity like a supposed pulped book...all that stuff is neat. Anyhow, I discovered something while flipping through a book I found in one of the Marvel $10 packs. You remember that New Warriors book that was supposed to release a couple of years ago when Covid-19 arrived? It was going to debut a number of new characters but got tons of backlash for various reasons, though it boils down to most people thinking the characters were either stupid or offensive. And it never released. No I didn't get that book (wouldn't that have been awesome?!), but I did get a variant of Darkhold: Blade # 1, written by the same writer of that New Warriors book: Daniel Kibblesmith. When I flipped though it, I noticed something. B-Negative, one of those characters that was going to debut in New Warriors, instead debuted in that Blade book. I wonder when the book was written. I didn't actually read it, but I assume that it was penned after New Warriors, and that Kibblesmith had planned for him to already be a part of the Marvel Universe by then. So there you go. If you want B-Negative's first (and quite possibly last) appearance, go get a copy of Darkhold: Blade # 1. Or, you know, buy some more Walmart packs and maybe you'll get a copy from there.

I'm late to this topic, I know, but after reading it I literally searched the back issues at a local shop and bought 3 of my favorite under $5 comics for under $5 each! I left the price tags on them for your enjoyment. 1. What If 25 is simply my favorite What If comic, and one of my favorite comics of all time. It just holds a great place in my memory because I was awed at all the death and high stakes wrapped into 1 epic comic book when I read it as a kid. I've always loved What If. I mean, you see my avatar, right? 2. Batgirl 73 is a great finale to an awesome bat book that unfortunately was cut short during the DC era of Didio. Cassandra Cain's series actually gave her solid growth and development, but that all went away with editorial mandate and event reformatting. Anyhow, I love the book. 3. And Obnoxio the Clown VS the X-Men, similar to an Impossible man post above, is just a ridiculous fun time. Obnoxio holds his own against the X-Men as he goes to the Mansion at Xavier's request to host a surprise birthday party for Kitty Pryde. Unfortunately the rest of the team wasn't informed, so they think he's an intruder and hilarity ensues (all while a real intruder schemes in the background).

I found this book recently and it's crazy, funny, sad, and cool all at the same time. It's one of those PSA books that Marvel and DC used to do now and then, but this one was released in Bosnia and Herzegovina for landmine safety awareness. Apparently it was released in 3 written languages initially, including English. I found 3 copies, all the Cyrillic versions. I got them for $4 total.

I can't decide whether this cover is terrible or awesome. What do y'all think?