Thursday, March 7, 2013

Something I've never done...



Today I did something that I have never done before.
I bought single comic book issues from Books-A-Million.

My day started early with a doctor's appointment at 7:40 a.m. (actually me, my wife, and son would all end up at the doctor today). After that I got a lead on some tickets for when the (currently) 16-0 MSU Bulldogs come to town, and then I stopped by BAM to do some reading before lunch.
First of all, they moved the comic book section. AGAIN. I have been making trips to this BAM since I was about 5 years-old, and I cannot count the times that one section has been relocated. I feel like they should send me updates on that crap.
But I was surprised to see four long boxes chock full of comic books with the sign "$1 Comics".

Oh. Sweet. Yes. Please.

I love reading comics, but there's not a lot that I buy or collect.
Unless it involves Mike Mignola. In that case, I want it. All.
And I was very happy to find three(!!!) of his covers that I didn't already have:

 (Tried reading this one to see what the cover was about, no help.)

I love finding these early 90s comics with Mignola covers because usually he didn't do the interior art or writing. So I don't really have to bother with cracking the book open to see what's going on. though if I'm interested enough (like with Murder Monkey up there), I'll take a gander to see if it'll enhance my appreciation for the art.
Mignola's most famous cover work (prior to 1994) was Batman's "A Death in the Family" story-arch. Also known as the death of Jason Todd (Robin II):


 (Not sure why Blogger won't let me line these up, oh well.)

However, Mike Mignola's greatest accomplishment is the artist/creator/writer for my favorite comic character of all time:

There is not a lot of creator-controlled stuff out there, and Hellboy is one of the finest examples of such a comic. Seriously awesome stuff chock full of folklore and mythology, I highly recommend it.

Oh, and here's a cover for the Shadow that I particularly enjoy as well:
I could seriously talk about this stuff for hours on end, but I'm going to wrap it up for now. 
What about y'all? Anybody interested in comics out there? 

Thanks for stopping by!
Staying unabashed and interested, 
-Ruffin


6 comments:

  1. I own a few boxes of comics, but I rarely read them unless they involve Archie, Jughead, Veronica, and Betty. But I have a serious obsession with 90's comics and their gimmicky covers (holograms, prisms, die-cuts, etc.).

    Thanks for sharing Mignola's name. I'll try to keep his name in mind, the next time I'm digging through the $1 boxes at my local flea markets.

    In terms of artists... I only know people like Stan Lee and Todd McFarlane. I'm sure there are others I'd recognize if I heard them, but I've never chased a comic for a specific artist.

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    1. At some point, I'm going to try to put up a photobucket or something for the covers that I have. He has done some really cool work.

      I highly recommend checking out some of the trade paperbacks the next time you are at a book store. The whole mythology of that world is really cool!

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    2. Lmk if you ever get around to setting up your bucket. I'd love to check them out.

      If you have a few minutes... here are some of the comics I've posted on my blog:

      http://www.sanjosefuji.blogspot.com/search/label/comics

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    3. Hopefully it won't be too long, I have about 2 hours a night I could spend scanning. Just need to get the box out of my son's closet before putting him to bed, haha!
      I need to go back and put some labels on my posts, lol.
      Those holographic covers are awesome, I've seen a few in person and the scans just don't do them justice!

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  2. By the way... the Hellboy drawing is pretty sweet!

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    1. Thank you! It was hard to narrow it down to just one, haha!

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