COMICS: Other stuff I've bought recently

The only new comic I bought yesterday was issue #4 of Truth, Justin, and the American Way, which, by the way, continues to be chock full of '70s and '80s pop culture comedy gold.

One new comic on new comic Wednesday. That's a good thing, right? I started this switch from individual issues to trade paperbacks mostly as a money-saving measure, as well as an effort to cut back on my habit of spending money on bad comics. Buying only one new comic, one I know I'm going to like -- mission accomplished! Right?

But that one comic... it was lonely. So lonely. It needed someone to keep it company. So on a whim (and partly under the influence once again of this guy, who got me started on my Gail Simone kick last week), I picked up Thor Visionaries Volume 1: Walt Simonson. It collects the beginning of Simonson's legendary run on Thor, which some say is up there as one of the greatest extended runs a creator has ever had on a comic book. I haven't read it yet, but I'm looking forward to it kicking my ass.

This was not a cheap book. So much for saving money. Now I was ready to leave. But wait... I felt another impulse, one I couldn't resist. I was just in that kind of a mood. "Show me to your dollar bins," I said to Mike. "I want to read some bad comics."

"Oh, we've got bad comics," he assured me. And he was right. So much for only reading good comics!

$1 per comic, or 13 comics for $10. I knew I was going to have to go for the baker's dozen. But what to pick, what to pick. So very many bad comics to choose from! Lots and lots of comics from the Impact line. Also from the Ultraverse. And Valiant. All those failed lines, all that effort and talent (or "talent") put into so many doomed comics. There were even some Badger and Grimjack issues in there, relics of the late great First Comics. This was starting to make me depressed.

Spying a few issues of U.S. 1 cheered me up a bit, but I couldn't find the complete run (and really, if you're going to do something like that to yourself, you want to get it all in one dose). But then I found it, the exact kind of good/bad comic I was looking for: HAWKEYE! All four issues of the original mini-series. Oh yeah, baby, yeah. That is some '80s cheese right there. Hell, this might not even be a good/bad comic, it might be just plain good, given the praise (such as this) I've seen around the intarwebs for Mark Gruenwald's work on this mini. I guess I'll find out.

I also picked up a couple issues of Ultra-Klutz, two issues of Dusty Starr, and five issues of some obscure and allegedly humorous comic whose name I can't even remember anymore. One word, starts with an R (I think). Raptor? Ragtop? I forget. Oh well. The point is, I got a bunch of comics for really cheap (though perhaps still not cheap enough).

I've got one other comics purchase I made recently that I want to talk about, but I'm saving that one for a separate post. I will say this: it is the companion volume to far and away my favorite comic work of last year, and it is fantastic.