EastEnd1 Posted April 13 Author Share Posted April 13 On 4/12/2024 at 11:01 PM, Qalyar said: This is the work of Werner Wejp-Olsen (also known as WOW), who was a long time fixture of Scandinavian comic strips. This was #1 of a three issue series where he attempted to introduce his most famous character to the US comic book market. It didn't really go any better than his earlier attempts in the US newspaper comic strips market. But he had a long career in Denmark. Not everything plays well to every audience, I suppose. Here is a retrospective from one of his former US editors, written after his death in 2018. Draculina was Hugh Gallagher's publishing house for horror magazines, smut, and a lot of stuff in between. He worked on the Tender Flesh film, so it's no surprise there's a comic of it, although he doesn't have good things to say about the comics industry! Draculina was a print publisher from ~1997 through 2001ish, but it's still around in a limited fashion for online material. Here's an interview with Gallagher about the company's history. Fair warning, he's got some ... opinions. A bunch of these were given out at SDCC, along with other promo distribution channels like this one. As a result, these aren't all that rare, but it's kind of a neat book. I assume there are Barry Windsor-Smith fans out there even if he did do Wildstorm Rising. Astro City is underrated, and that cover is fantastic. Thanks again for putting the "meat on the bones"... great background info on what at first blush might seem like "throw away" material to many. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastEnd1 Posted April 13 Author Share Posted April 13 On 4/12/2024 at 11:32 PM, Qalyar said: Interesting series, really. Originally, this wasn't a Barry Blair title at all. It started off (at Aircel) written by a guy named Gordon Derry, with art by Denis Beauvais (Aliens, Predator, and lots of D&D stuff). But those two guys had a fallout of some sort with Aircel and both left. The next few issues were written by now-famous fantasy author Charles de Lint and (in part) illustrated by Dale Keown (Pitt, Incredible Hulk, etc)! But ultimately, Blair took over the title for the last several books in the original run, then rebooted it for the 2nd series with Aircel. In 1998, Sirius picked it up for four issues, again written and illustrated by Blair. Blair's art style is somewhat controversial, but he was undeniably a talented guy. That said, this wasn't his story or his world, and it sort of shows. Derry and Beauvais eventually were able to put out an omnibus book reprinting the 13 issues they did for the original run, along with two issues that were never published (because they were replaced with de Lint's stuff). Didn't realize the connection to Beauvais of Aliens and Predator fame. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BA773 Posted April 13 Share Posted April 13 On 4/7/2024 at 11:53 PM, EastEnd1 said: As I alluded to, in the mid/late 1990s, Marvel made the controversial move of killing many of their major long running titles, and re-starting them first with lengthy 12 issue mini-series, and then with new long-running tiles starting over from #1 (ie, the "volume 3" series). DC had done something similar after Crisis on Infinite Earths. The FF#1s I posted above were part of that effort. The reasoning Marvel gave at the time was that it was difficult to attract new readers to the long running series because of the complex continuity that had been built up. Personally, I (and many others) thought it had more to do with getting some juice out of issuing new #1s. Frankly, as a long time run collector, Marvel's plan failed miserably with me... ending those long running titles made an exceptional JUMPING OFF point, so I simply stopped buying a bunch of Marvel titles entirely! I think a lot of other collecters felt the same because after a while, Marvel started putting the old numbering below the new numbering on their new titles! Anyway, here's the Captain America "volume 3" restart... For DC it worked, it worked truely! For Marvel... no comment. EastEnd1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun Hill Posted April 19 Share Posted April 19 I actually like the idea of focused mini-series. Often times it feels like a writer can't land the plane on a story arc in an ongoing series, but a mini-series creates some boundaries that seem to help. Tom King's Mister Miracle is one of my all-time favorites. The One Bad Day Batman run was also really good. I tend to be a Marvel guy, but these types of stories told in completion have really won me over in recent years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seanfingh Posted April 19 Share Posted April 19 This thread is spectacular. I had a six year hiatus from buying comics from the middle of '92 to the middle of '98. These boxes are reminding me of how fun it was to be getting back into comics in mid '98 after the big crash, when the industry was just starting to dust itself off and focus on producing good materials and not bad girl chromium lenticular holocovers. I am just loving it. EastEnd1, greggy and F For Fake 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastEnd1 Posted April 19 Author Share Posted April 19 On 4/19/2024 at 11:09 AM, seanfingh said: This thread is spectacular. I had a six year hiatus from buying comics from the middle of '92 to the middle of '98. These boxes are reminding me of how fun it was to be getting back into comics in mid '98 after the big crash, when the industry was just starting to dust itself off and focus on producing good materials and not bad girl chromium lenticular holocovers. I am just loving it. I'm so glad to hear you're enjoying the thread! I remember thinking during that period after the nineties crash that it was a good time to be buying new comics as I figured the imploding circulation figures would lead to more scarcity and hopefully higher values for new comics. So while I did pull back on a number of Marvel and DC titles when they killed and restarted their long-running titles, I didn't pull back on my comic spending overall... I just plowed the money into other things. It's one reason why you see so much variety in what I've been posting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qalyar Posted April 19 Share Posted April 19 On 4/19/2024 at 2:41 PM, EastEnd1 said: I'm so glad to hear you're enjoying the thread! I remember thinking during that period after the nineties crash that it was a good time to be buying new comics as I figured the imploding circulation figures would lead to more scarcity and hopefully higher values for new comics. So while I did pull back on a number of Marvel and DC titles when they killed and restarted their long-running titles, I didn't pull back on my comic spending overall... I just plowed the money into other things. It's one reason why you see so much variety in what I've been posting. I love the oddities that ended up in here! A lot of the smaller publisher or straight-up independent works aren't really valuable in the FMV sense. But sometimes they have great writing, or unique artwork, or they just represent the attempts -- sometimes successful, sometimes not -- for people to break into the industry. (...and yeah, okay, sometimes they're just forgettable; not every book's a winner in ANY age). We're not all gonna collect all of that stuff. Hell, even I don't collect most of that stuff, and I collect some pretty deep drek at times. But I sure appreciate the stories that can be told about some of these books. I hope everyone does. EastEnd1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastEnd1 Posted April 19 Author Share Posted April 19 On 4/19/2024 at 4:20 PM, Qalyar said: I love the oddities that ended up in here! A lot of the smaller publisher or straight-up independent works aren't really valuable in the FMV sense. But sometimes they have great writing, or unique artwork, or they just represent the attempts -- sometimes successful, sometimes not -- for people to break into the industry. (...and yeah, okay, sometimes they're just forgettable; not every book's a winner in ANY age). We're not all gonna collect all of that stuff. Hell, even I don't collect most of that stuff, and I collect some pretty deep drek at times. But I sure appreciate the stories that can be told about some of these books. I hope everyone does. Agreed... as I got older, I enjoyed going through the indie section of the Westfield catalog each month moreso than the DC and Marvel, mostly for the reasons you outline. I was very curious to see what new material was on the horizon and eager to try to pick the "hits". There was certainly plenty of drek in that section, and I had way more misses than hits, but every once in a while a jewel would show up. Hopefully I'll be able to post more of those as I open these boxes... Qalyar 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastEnd1 Posted April 19 Author Share Posted April 19 The next box up is from April 2001... the book on top is actually a pretty nice get... can you guess why? [hint... the cover kind of gives it away] ADAMANTIUM 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastEnd1 Posted April 19 Author Share Posted April 19 It's the FINAL (and presumably harder to find) issue of Hitman! Again, I was a big Garth Ennis fan and I'm not totally sure if I stayed with this series the whole way, but it's very possible with this last issue showing up. I actually read it after opening the box just to see how things turned out for "Hitman" Tommy Monaghan... I won't give away the ending, but have to say it was perfect. Farewell Tommy... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastEnd1 Posted April 19 Author Share Posted April 19 Another one for the Batman fans... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastEnd1 Posted April 19 Author Share Posted April 19 One thing I was always keen on was the return of old long unseen characters brought back in new modern ways... in this case Enemy Ace. This squarebound book also had the added enticement of Garth Ennis scripting... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastEnd1 Posted April 19 Author Share Posted April 19 Love the cover on this Green Arrow... definitely not your dad's Green Arrow... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastEnd1 Posted April 19 Author Share Posted April 19 (edited) Howard Chaykin first grabbed my attention in 1983 with the publication of "American Flagg" from First Comics, one of the early independents. Before that, I remember some collectors deriding him for what they considered his lackluster artwork on Marvel's "Star Wars" adaptation. But the Reagan era sci-fi political satire of American Flagg was so new and different, with stylized, almost "digitized" art that matched the jingoistic times... it was great! And made me a Chaykin fan forever. Hence, it was an easy call to pick up three copies of his new Vertigo series in 2001, "American Century"... Edited April 19 by EastEnd1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastEnd1 Posted April 19 Author Share Posted April 19 Now this is a GREAT Spawn cover... the dark character superimposed over a bright full moon! It's even more eye-catching when you hold it in your hands... ADAMANTIUM 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastEnd1 Posted April 19 Author Share Posted April 19 (edited) More Garth Ennis... plus Clint Eastwood homage cover and new small time publisher... equals collecting opportunity! So three copies went on the Westfield order form. Alas, another miss... Edited April 19 by EastEnd1 ADAMANTIUM 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastEnd1 Posted April 19 Author Share Posted April 19 And last for this month, another X-Men... this one came polybagged with a CD to access the internet thru something called "MarvelOnline.Net", (not to be confused with the 800 pound gorilla (and soon to be minnow) of the day, America Online!)... pmpknface 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
