300

Frank Miller tells the story of the battle at the Hot Gates of Thermopylae. 300 is an absolutely stunning recounting of the ancient Spartans’ heroism as they stood and fell before the might of the largest armed force on the planet. This simple tale of how one man refused to allow the glory of Greece to fade before a barbarous horde is punctuated by breathtaking battle scenes, glorious heroism, and base treachery.

There was a lot of criticism around this book as many complained Miller was deviating from the “facts” and not telling the story as it “really” happened (according to history books). I still enjoyed it because I was looking for a beautifully-drawn, action packed read, and this is exactly what I found. The edition I purchased, the oversized hardcover with high print quality, particularly showcases Miller's art and story as it really puts the pages in your face. Varley's vibrant colors are the cherry on the cake.

Side Note:
Although the movie contains almost everything in the novel (and even more), it is still well worth reading the book even if you've watched the movie.

About this week’s promotion

As you have seen in my previous post, Mycomicshop.com is having a weekly promotion which gives you 10% on all comics and graphic novels published in and after 1990. This is a great opportunity for everybody to pick up lots of books on the cheap. In addition to the ones I’ve mentioned before, here’s some books I think you should take this opportunity to pick up:

300
Local
Sin City (7 TPBs)
V for Vendetta
Y The Last Man (10 TPBs)

Totally 20 books… Some of you may think it’s a lot of books for a single order and it represents a lot of money too, but when you think about it, you get 10% off and you’ll only have to pay for shipment once.

Anyway, this does it for me and I’m going on a shopping spree… Make sure to pick up some issues.

Mycomicshop.com weekly promotions

This week's promotion over at Mycomicshop.com are:

5% off pre-1981 issues

10% off modern-era issues in the following groups:
1990 to current back issue comics
Charlton titles
Crime/Mystery/Detective titles
Dell titles

How can you get access to the discounted prices? Easy, just click on one of the above links and enter my preferred customer password for this week: BUFFY

Disclosure:
As I am part of their affiliate program, clicking on one of the above links will help me out raising some credits for my future purchases... Mycomicshop.com will credit 15% of your first order (yes, your first order only, not the following ones) on my account. As a way to thank you, I offer the weekly password so you can enjoy a 10% rebate... So we both win something in the end! Thanks for you support!

Mycomicshop.com weekly promotions

This week's promotion over at Mycomicshop.com are:

5% off pre-1981 issues

10% off modern-era issues in the following groups:
Marvel Comics A to L titles
1970s comics
Romance titles
Classic Illustrated titles

How can you get access to the discounted prices? Easy, just click on one of the above links and enter my preferred customer password for this week: BRAINIAC

Disclosure:
As I am part of their affiliate program, clicking on one of the above links will help me out raising some credits for my future purchases... Mycomicshop.com will credit 15% of your first order (yes, your first order only, not the following ones) on my account. As a way to thank you, I offer the weekly password so you can enjoy a 10% rebate... So we both win something in the end! Thanks for you support!

Mycomicshop.com weekly promotions

This week's promotion over at Mycomicshop.com are:

5% off pre-1981 issues

10% off modern-era issues in the following groups:
DC Comics A to L titles
Marvel Civil War titles
Archie titles
War genre titles

How can you get access to the discounted prices? Easy, just click on one of the above links and enter my preferred customer password for this week: MOLEMAN

Disclosure:
As I am part of their affiliate program, clicking on one of the above links will help me out raising some credits for my future purchases... Mycomicshop.com will credit 15% of your first order (yes, your first order only, not the following ones) on my account. As a way to thank you, I offer the weekly password so you can enjoy a 10% rebate... So we both win something in the end! Thanks for you support!

How did you get to reading comics?

It was a hot summer afternoon. I was about 10 years old and was enjoying my summer holidays away from classrooms and teachers. My dad had to go shopping for groceries and asked me to come along, which I eventually agreed to.

In the supermarket, most of the kids my age would hang around the toys/video games section and organize some kind of Mario Bros. tournaments on what looked like an arcade machine but was in fact a NES… I believe most of us could not afford one at that time and were going to play on the display model at the supermarket instead.

For some reason, I decided not to join the other kids on that day and made my way to the books/comics section. Many books were available, especially French and Belgian titles such as The Adventures of Tintin or Lucky Luke.

While sifting through all the comics available on the shelves, I came across an interesting looking one, counting the tale of a fair skinned dude visiting the North Pole (that’s what I could guess from the cover). I started reading the story and eventually arrived at that critical moment where the main character slaughters Santa Claus… and all his helpers… as well as all the kids on Santa’s list… and probably their parents.

Yes, I was holding Lobo Paramilitary Christmas Special trade paperback in my hands. That’s when I became a Lobo fan (and eventually started looking deeper into the comic book universe). Since then, I have read more Lobo stories such as The Last Czarnian, Infanticide, Lobo’s back which I recommend reading if you’re looking for some fun material and want to have a good laugh without having to think too much.

You're ready...! Almost... part 3

This would not be complete if I forgot mentioning Spider-Man. He's a very popular super hero and is probably now more than ever since it also became a Hollywood blockbuster. Actually, thanks to this rise in popularity, Marvel has been re-printing old issues so if you're interested in a specific super-hero, you now can buy trade paperbacks collecting them (usually titled Essential [insert hero's name]... Be careful though, it's usually printed on low quality paper and WILL be in black and white.
As I have not read ALL of spider-man books, i will, once again, try to list some of the ones that I think are really worth reading:

Spider-Man: Death of Captain Stacy by Stan Lee
A must read in which Captain Stacy (spider-man's mentor) gets assassinated.

Spider-Man: Death of Gwen Stacy by Gerry Conway and Gil Kane
Spider-Man's first love goes down... Just please take note that another trade paperback titled Spider-Man: Death of the Stacys is out and collects both those stories... Just keep in mind it does not include all the issues (missing Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1 #96-98) so you may want to buy them separately.

Spider-Man: Clone Genesis by Gerry Conway and Len Wein
Contains the original stories of the Spider-Man Clone saga which makes a big part of Spider-Man stories. Anyone who is not familiar with this era should pick up this book.

Spider-Man: Birth of Venom by too many to write it down here...
As the title says, this book is about the birth of Venom and will give you the full background story of the Alien Costume that eventually became Venom.

Spider-Man: Kraven's Last Hunt by J.M. DeMatteis and Mike Zeck
Kraven was, in my opinion, the best Spider-Man's foe ever. This is by far my favorite Spider-Man story and Mike Zeck's art conveys that dark atmosphere perfectly. It is not their first encounter as Spider-Man has defeated Kraven in the past, but even you're new to Spider-Man, I believe this is THE book you have to read and won't regret it.

There you go... 5 books really worth mentioning. I haven't listed any dealing with Carnage... And some may not agree with me but I think those were just boring.

You're ready...! Almost... part 2

OK so you don't like Wolverine... Maybe he's too mean for you or something... Now if the idea of a rich playboy who's SO rich he doesn't need to work and instead spends his spare time trying to do something good for the society sounds nice to you, maybe you will like Bruce Wayne also known as Batman.
What I like in this character is not the fact that he's kicking bad guys' ass but more how he does it... If you think about it, most super heroes did not "choose" to be one before they actually went through some kind of DNA changing event that was out of their control and woke up one day with super powers... No... Batman does it using technology. One day he woke up and decided he was going to fight criminals in Gotham City and he knew he needed some kind of an edge (he is only human after all)... So he used his wealth to develop various equipment that would help him in his quest... So yeah, engineering rules~! (Yeah you guessed right, I'm an engineer...)
Anyway, you will find LOTS of books in which Batman appears or is the main character, but here is a short list of some of the ones you will definitely have to read:

Batman: Year One by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli
The beginning of it all... Bruce Wayne has been training away from Gotham and is now coming back. That's the book in which he meets Jim Gordon for the first time... Sounds familiar? Maybe you've watched Batman Begins?

Batman: Haunted Knight by Jeff Loeb and Tim Sale
First of a trilogy of trade paperbacks that regroups 3 Halloween stories: Fears, Madness and Ghosts

Batman: The Long Halloween by Jeff Loeb and Tim Sale
Second of the trilogy in which Batman, Jim Gordon and Harvey Dent have to work together to catch a serial killer who is getting rid of mobsters from the Falcone family. The story happens over a year between 2 Halloweens and the killer only acts on holidays. This is the story that sees the death of Harvey Dent and the birth of Two-Face.

Batman: Dark Victory by Jeff Loeb and Tim Sale
Last one of the trilogy. Batman's off chasing another killer whose crimes will involve Dick Grayson's parents. Batman then decides to take care of him and he eventually becomes Robin.

The Killing Joke by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland
This book reveals the origins of The Joker and marks the end of Batgirl as we know her as she gets paralyzed for the rest of her life.

Batman: Arkham Asylum by Grant Morrison and Dave McKean
On April Fools Day, Arkham Asylum is taken over and the inmates demand Batman to be delivered to them in exchange of their hostages. In the process of getting back the detention center, Batman almost goes insane... Creepy story, great art, this book is considered a must have in any comic book collection.

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson
Batman is now "retired" but will put on his tights one more time to save the good old Gotham City. Considered a classic as well....

OK, I think that summarizes it... Of course lots of books are missing, like you could get the Knightfall saga if you'd like to see Bane, but I just wanted to list out the ones that I think are really worth your first order's money. If you get hooked up, order more!

You're ready...! Almost...

If you read my previous posts, you now know where to buy comics online as well as what those grades mean... You have acquired some money in some way (don't want to know how), created an account on one of those websites and are ready to place your first order. And suddenly, you realize you don't know what to buy as we haven't dealt with that subject yet.. Fear not, chances are you will find something interesting in one of my next posts.

I am pretty sure some of you will be seeking to buy some Wolverine books... And I'd agree with you as I think he's an awesome character (so does Marvel, they've been publishing his stories since the 80's)... I believe a good way to get you started is, well, from the beginning... So you might want to grab the following trade paperback: The Best of Wolverine Vol.1. This book includes Wolverine: Weapon X, by Barry Windsor-Smith, in which you'll learn how he actually became Wolverine, Wolverine, by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller, gathering the 4 issues of his first mini-series, and 3 additional comics: Uncanny X-Men #205, Captain America Annual #8 and Incredible Hulk #181 (his first appearance EVER)

There you go, 320 pages of Wolverine action. Next up will be Batman. See you tomorrow.

Comic books grading

OK... So you've decided where to buy your comics and are now checking the different titles they have in stock. For the same title, you'll notice they somtimes have different prices. This usually has to do with different gradings... What it means is the closer to its "brand new" state the book is, the more you will have to pay for it. The different grades are:

• Mint (MT)
• Near Mint (NM)
• Very Fine (VF)
• Fine (FN)
• Very Good (VG)
• Good (GD)
• Fair (FR)
• Poor (PR)

You will basically never find any comic book in mint condition... OK, unless it's brand new but new books usually do not carry any grade. If you would like to know some more details about the above mentionned grades, you can read the grading standards page over at MileHigh. They can differ from shop to shop but they should basically be the same.

You will also find some CGC comics. CGC is a grading company that grades comics and then seals them inside hard plastic cotainers to prevent tampering. They're usually more expensive and CGC does not give the details on their grading standards.

Last thing, if you're willing to start a comics collection to retire on, you will probably be interested in Golden/Silver/Bronze age comics. This qualifies all the comics before the early 80's, which are basically the only ones worth something today. Comics published in later years will usually not turn you any profit.

How to quench your comics thirst

OK, so let's say you like reading comic books but you're not leaving near any shop selling this kind of item. These are basically the only 2 options you got:

1. Contact a friend who lives near a descent comic book shop and have him mail them to you.
2. Buy online.

Chances are you'll probably end up buying them online and this is a post that could help you out finding some descent websites... And the winners are:

• Amazon.com (Duh)
• Mycomicshop.com
• Milehighcomics.com

First up is Amazon... I believe it is probably the best choice if you live in the U.S. as they have most of the new/recent books for like the lowest prices and you can get free shipping on almost everything. This changes a bit when you live outside the U.S. though, especially if the country you live in happens NOT to be part of the ones Amazon's allowed to ship stuff to. As a reference, the last book I ordered from them took 1 month to arrive...

When you're in this kind of situation, you're happy to find "specialized" websites like Mile High and MyComicShop. I've noticed that Mile High was the more expensive of the bunch, but they always have tons of promotions so you may find something you like for 50% off... Their website's a bit "raw" but it's still OK. MyComicShop is a bit more to my liking, I like their website and prices and so on... Plus you get free local shipping over USD50 and free international shipping over USD100. I've actually created 2 similar orders in Amazon and MyComicShop, and thanks to their "free shipping over USD100", I was actually getting 2 more books from MyComicShop for the same price than Amazon.

To be complete, you can also get free local shipping over USD50 and free international shipping over USD125 if you order from Mile High.

So basically, if you live outside the U.S. and can diligently save up your comics money until reaching the required amount (USD100~125), you'd better wait and order a whole bunch at once... If you're not patient, then Amazon should be the best choice.