Charlotte Comicon Haul - 03/23/19

This past Sunday I took my oldest daughter (9) and drove up to Concord, NC for the Charlotte ComicCon spring show. I wasn't planning on taking my daughter, but due to some last minute changes off the two of us went.

I've been to this show for years and it's always a great show. It's family friendly and the variety of dealers that come are always great. The size of the dealer's room is a pretty large, with the dealers set up around the perimeter and the guests set up in a row down the middle of the room.

Usually I like to walk the room first to get a lay of the land. I'm always on the look out for the $.50 boxes for starters so I'm looking to see who has what. After I've walked the room at least once, then I'll dive into the boxes with my CLZ Comics app on my phone.

This time however we stopped at the first table w/ $.50 boxes. My daughter knelt down on the floor with me and thumb through the boxes herself. I did have to show her and remind her how to safely look through the box without bending the books, especially since not all of the cheap books were bagged and or boarded. We went through about 7 short boxes at the first dealer. I ended up finding about couple of bucks worth of books. As I was paying, the elderly lady helping run the booth handed my daughter an old Disney Scamp comic book (that was amazingly in good condition) as she noticed how well behaved and patient she was!

Eventually my daughter put the breaks on me and wanted to find something for herself. She was upset that we hadn't walked the entire room so off we went. I've had to teach her that at shows like this you can't always buy the first thing you see because you may see something else that you want more. Surprisingly she did an awesome job showing her patience as she turned down several items that interested her. Later in the day she settled on a large plush Pokemon of Vulpix, but this was the "winter" version. After that she was happy and just wanted to find something for her sister...which ended up being a Hot Topic exclusive Mary Poppins Returns POP! figure.

Now that the kiddo was happy I could return to my $.50 boxes...which I found plenty. I didn't even get to all of the various dealers that had cheap boxes before it was time to go. Did I mention my daughter was my vocal conscience about how much money I had to spend?! I had a blast that day. It was fun spending time with my daughter and the show was great as usual.

Enough small talk, let's get to some of the stack of books I brought home with me!

This is a (mostly) toy blog so here are a few books based on 80's toy properties. I now have issues 1-3 of Air Raiders, only two more to go. I often wonder why this appeared as Marvel title and not a Star Comics title since that's where other toy properties like Inhumanoids and Thundercats were.

I had forgotten DC had a series based on the C.O.P.S. cartoon/toy line. I wish I had found more, but I was happy with this one.

I've been picking up books of different storylines, such as Siege of Darkness. My list is getting smaller and smaller as the books I needed are getting tougher to find. This issue of Darkhold was a pleasant surprise.

I'm not the biggest Doctor Strange fan, although I do like the direction of his current title. I knew this issue was later in the original run of his series, but that is all I knew. I thought it looked cool so it was one of those "hey, it's just $.50" type of purchases. Now I'm on the look out for a few more issues to finish out the series.

This issue of Crypt of Shadows is from 1974 and isn't in the best condition, but again it was $.50 and looked interesting. I love horror stuff so this purchase was just for kicks.

Last summer I was able to pick up several great issues of Gen 13 from early in the run. I didn't have issue 7 so this was an easy purchase. Flipping through the issue last night I'm starting to wonder if Jim Lee's art style has changed a bit. I don't really follow him anymore since I'm more of a Marvel fan, but I do appreciate his style none the less.

Long before my older brother got me into comics, he was reading most of the mutant titles. I've heard great things about some of their bigger stories, like Inferno, but have never read them myself. When I started seeing several of these issues in the $.50 boxes I decided to see how many I could find. I added them to my want list in the CLZ Comics app and kept looking. I'm really looking forward to sitting down and reading some of these older stories for the first time.

I worked in a drug store during my high school years so I was able to basically get any magazine I wanted for free...including Wizard! The only cavaet was I had to rip off the cover to return to the magazine vendor. I really didn't care as I got to keep the magazine and anything included in the polybag...like this issue of Uncanny X-Men. This was the issue that kicked up my reading of X-Men, the first issue of the Legion Quest story that would eventually lead into the Age of Apocalypse.

I loved that story as well as the follow up storyline with Onslaught. I've toyed with the idea of picking up these books (again) for awhile...well as you can see I'm on my way of reclaiming some of those great memories. I really loved the art and the stories from this era of the X-Men.

John Romita, Jr. has a very distinct art style and while he isn't my favorite artist, I did love his run on Iron Man. I felt his style was well matched with Tony Stark and his various suits of armor. Plus the Armor Wars II storyline is great. I don't often find issues form this story so I was more than happy to grab these.

Another goal of mine is to complete all of Marvel's 2099 series' and while I only pictured Ravage 2099, I was also able to find several issues of Doom 2009, Ghost Rider 2099 and Punisher 2099. Several of these Ravage 2099 issues are at the tail end of his run which have proven hard to find in the past.

Back in January I picked up a few books from Marvel's New Universe imprint, including Star Brand and an associated one shot called The Pitt. My brother told me about a four issue mini series called The War that also fit in and he found three of the four books for me. These were square bound books and while I don't know much about them, they do look interesting.

Let me start off by saying I'm NOT a Rob Liefeld fan. Actually I can't stand his art...but I kinda like most of the books that Awesome released. I don't often see these books in any boxes period so I was surprised to see several, especially this "comicon edition" and the gold foil version of the 1st issue.

Not shown, but I also found two issues of the follow up mini series that featured Ed McGuiness' talent.

The last book featured is one that I still can't believe I found in a discount box, especially a $.50 box! This issue of The Incredible Hulk features the first appearance of Devil Hulk. It is rumored that this character will re-appear in the pages of Immortal Hulk, the current Hulk book. I only knew about this book thanks to the awesome Key Collector Comics app and Comic Tom from Instagram. I don't usually buy books because they are "hot" or whatever, but I couldn't pass this one up. Sometimes it pays to be cheap!

I didn't bother to show everything I purchased, but I thought these were some of the more interesting books. So, how do you think I did overall? Every book purchased was $.50...that I feel good about. The last dealer we hit up also gave my daughter a comic, but they let her pick any $1 book she wanted. She grabbed an issue of Spider-Girl (the old M2 title from Marvel) to go along with two other books I let her buy. I may have indirectly started her own comics collection after this ComicCon trip!

Air Raiders: Battle Squad figure pack

With the main focus of the Air Raiders toy line being that of the vehicles, Hasbro did release two different figure packs for those who wanted to bolster their ranks with additional figures. Both sides had their own respective 5 pack with each pack containing 4 generic soldiers and one named character. Here we have the Battle Squad.

While the figures are OK, I myself love the artwork used on the packaging. Had the card been in better condition and it didn't have the clearance price tag, I might've kept him and hung it on my wall.

More awesome art can be found on the back of the blister card, but unfortunately it's nothing new as this art work has been used before.

Here is a close up of the 4 generic figures as well as Lt. Noble on the far right. At least Hasbro opted for a few paint apps on the named character as the generic guys are void of any paint.

In the spirit of Transformers, Hasbro gave the Air Raider toys individual bio cards. This card in particular is more for the Air Raiders themselves as opposed to spotlighting the one unique character included. Seems a little odd to me, but hey, this was 1987! If a kid had one of the larger playsets, then I could see why they may want these extra figures. With the vehicles coming with their own exclusive figures these just seem unnecessary.

Air Raiders: Hawkwind

I decided to take a short break from Transformers and take a look at another 80's property from Hasbro...Air Raiders!

This is the second Air Raiders toy I've reviewed, but my first packaged specimen. I don't know about you but the packaging of toys in the 80's just seemed so much cooler when compared to today's toys. The artwork is gorgeous and the purple the Tyrants of Wind used really pops on the predominately orange box. I've always loved the overall design of this aircraft. If it weren't for the two large wings on the top rear of the vehicle then I'd say the Hawkwind looks a lot like the G.I. Joe Conquest X-30. However the Hawkwind was released first so perhaps the Conquest X-30 took some design liberties from this Air Raiders craft?

I was impressed with the front of the box, but blown away by the artwork on the back of the box. Being the huge Transformers fan that I am, I am used to seeing epic battle scenes on toy packaging. This scene however is a sight to behold. I can only imagine seeing this on the back of one of the larger pieces from the series. If I could get a poster of this (and I had room to hang it) I'd be all over it.

This box has seen better days, but it is intact enough to still look nice. The Hawkwind's file card as you can see is still attached to the box.

Figures: 2 posable action figures - Tyrants of Wind Pilot and Soldier. 
Features: 2 air powered missiles! 
Includes: upper fuselage, lower fuselage, lower wing, 2 covers, rear gun, front canopy, rear canopy, 4 missiles, launch system, Tyrants of Wind Pilot, soldier, label sheet and instructions. 

Crew: Two man crew - Commodore Kronax and Mace. Ruthless, conceited men. Enjoy shooting at wind farms for target practice. Infamous for their severe hatred of Air Raiders.

Vehicle Type: Subsonic attack jet - long range strategic fighter plane.

Powerplant: Air blaster activated, rocket racer engines.

Performance: The fastest and deadliest thing in the air. Reaches Mach 3 in 50.07 seconds. Possesses exceptional maneuverability.

Armament: Rear-mounted rocket launcher fires bluster bombs that produce screeching gail force winds and temporarily disorientate the enemy. Front-mounted, light-sensitive, air-launch whistler missiles fire in tandem and explode on impact.

Onboard Specifications: Capable of leveling an entire grid on the map in 5 minutes. Four-spread wing design enables plane to fly upside down or sideways. No known weaknesses. 

Hawkwind comes with two poseable figures. The figure on the left is the pilot while the figure on the right is the soldier. If you aren't familiar with these figures they are small. Smaller than M.A.S.K. figures. When the box lists them as poseable they are being generous. The arms can go up and down and the legs can be put in a seated position. That's it. It looks as if the heads would turn, the soldier's shoulder pads prevent any range of motion. The pilot's head does turn a little bit.

The thing about non-window toy packaging is sometimes the artwork used for the toy is better than the actual toy itself. However Hawkwind doesn't disappoint. The upper half of the vehicle is purple while the bottom half is a blue-ish gray. The missiles are black with soft yellow tips. The air tubes are also cast of a soft yellow plastic. The canopy is a translucent blue-ish gray. It opens to reveal two seats for the included figures.

Located behind the cockpit is the large square shaped air bellow that launches the missiles. There is a black switch on the back of the aircraft that directs the air to either the right or left sides. I feel like the air bellow is integrated into the design of the Hawkwind quite well. The Twin Lightning's bellow is large and orange and sticks out like a sore thumb.

On the underside is a compartment to store two additional missiles. Other than some molded details there isn't much else going on.

Over all this is a very nice toy. The also pink stickers look a little out of place, but there are only a few included so they don't detract too much from the awesomeness of this aircraft. Because of the angle of the wings the jet doesn't display too well on a shelf. There isn't any landing gear, which is surprising, so the nose just leans forward and rests on the ground unless propped up somehow. I have two of this toy and I'm planning on letting one go. I want to try my hand at using some fishing line to hang the other from my ceiling.

I don't have many pieces from the Air Raiders line, but this one has impressed me enough to give a few other vehicles in the line a chance.

Air Raiders: Twin Lightning

To this day I still think the 80's had some of the most imaginative toys. Cue Hasbro's Air Raiders. In 1987 Hasbro released a series of toys where the feature play mechanic (or gimmick) was air. Yup, air. Air powered vehicles and weapons. It seems so simple, yet intuitive at the same time. The series also got it's own Marvel Comics under the Star Comics imprint (along w/ Thundercats, Inhumanoids and Visionaries), but the toy line only last a few years.

One of the more iconic vehicles (at least in my memory) was the Twin Lighting aircraft. I searched and searched for a boxed sample to review, but settled on a new, unassembled specimen sans the box for a very very good price.

Similar to what Hasbro did with Transformers, each Air Raiders vehicle came with it's own 'tech specs' which gave a little more information about the crew and the vehicle.

One thing about the Air Raider vehicles that was so fun was the ability build the toy.  This brought back fond memories of assembling old G.I. Joe vehicles!

The flip side of the instructions has a combat report.  Hopefully I made the image large enough for you to read it for yourself if you choose to.

 

In typical 80's fashion, Hasbro had a mail away program that included a map of Airlandia, figures of Emperor Acrozar and Baron Jolt, 12 Tyrant missiles, 12 Air Raiders missiles and a air-launched glider.

At first glance the Twin Lightning vehicle may remind some of the classic Star Wars Cloud Car vehicle.  The top half of the air craft is red with a slight pink hue while the underbelly is an off white color.  There are two laser guns mounted on the front of each pod that are can move up and down.  Each pod has an opening canopy and can seat one Air Raiders figure.

The large round orange circle at the back is the air pump.  I'm not sure why I didn't take more pictures of the vehicle several months back, but there is a small air hose that goes from the center to each side that powers the missile.  When the orange bellow is depressed, the missile will shoot!  There is also a small orange knob on the back that diverts the air either to the right or left side.  There is also storage underneath for two additional missiles.

The stickers look really dated.  I debated whether or not I even wanted to apply them since they really bring nothing to the over look of the toy.  About a week after I applied them they already started to loose their adhesiveness.

The little action figures are small.  Smaller that M.A.S.K. small.  However they are more detailed than I ever would've thought.  Not surprisingly though they lack much (if any) paint apps.

If I didn't already have so many interests I find this would be a fun toy line to collect.  As a whole the Air Raiders series isn't too large and most of the toys I've seen are very well designed and engineered.  Be on the lookout in the future for more Air Raiders toy reviews.