McKay's Comic Haul

This first month of the new year has proven to be a busy month for me and with that comes some travel. While I've visited the McKay's store in Greensboro, NC on multiple occasions, I haven't visited their location in near by Winston-Salem, NC in years. Since then they have moved to a new, larger location and I finally worked in a visit this week.

I was immediately impressed by the sheer size of the store and all of the goodies to browse through. I stopped on my way home so I really didn't have much time to look. I was there on a mission to find and bring home a Taylor Swift CD for my 10 year old daughter. While I did succeed in finding a CD (for $2 to boot!) I did browse through a few short boxes of Marvel comics that were labeled as "new arrival". The previous day I did visit the Greensboro location and grabbed a few cheap comics so I'm tossing those into this post as well.

I'll start with this issue of Ghost Rider #80. I've been on a Ghost Rider kick of sorts lately so I've been specifically on the look out for his books. While I found several, I didn't feel like paying $1.25 an issue so I settled on this one. It's from late in this volume's run, plus it features the Valkyrie and some awesome artwork by Salvador Larroca.

I also found a few issues of the 2nd volume of the Robbie Reyes Ghost Rider series. I've not read any of his series before, only familiar with the character as he was shown on the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. television series. It's a small run with like 6 issues so since I found half of them and they were cheap, I figured why not.

I'm not much of a speculator when it comes to comics, however my Key Collector comics app said this book may be a lead in of sorts to the big, upcoming Empyre story. $.50 plus art by Geraldo Sandoval made this an easy purchase.

I'm slowing filling some holes in a Daredevil run and I don't see the later issues in volume 1 in the cheap boxes that often. 

The Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty series may have been short lived, but I liked it. I don't see the issues that often, probably because the series didn't last long and or sell well. Both were priced decently.

Now that the Morbius movie trailer has dropped, I figured finding his stuff in cheap boxes would start to get tougher. Thankfully I've put together most of his first series, but I was lacking this issue that was part of the larger "Siege" storyline. I almost didn't buy this one because there is a small stain on the cover just below the UPC box...but it was just $.90 and an issue I've had on my want list for some time.

If it wasn't for the CLZ Comics app on my phone I could never keep track of all the different Spider-Man titles...especially from the 90's. This issue of Spectacular Spider-Man happens to be the last issue in this volume...which don't see to show up that often...at least for cheap that is!

I believe I had at least the main cover to this Marvel/Image Comics cross over back when I was in high school. I found the variant cover (the one on the right) back to back with the main cover. While I was more a fan of the Generation X team during this time, I was always intrigued by the Gen 13 team and comic. This was the perfect gateway of sorts for me to be introduced to the Image characters.

I believe I just lack one part now of the Phalanx Covenant storyline after finding this issue of X-Force. Gotta love the 90's cover gimmick with the strip of holofoil. If the cover art looks familiar, it's by Tony Daniel...the current artist on DC's Batman title.

I've never been the biggest fan of the X-Men and various mutant characters/titles, but I loved the Age of Apocalypse storyline from the mid-90's. Surprisingly my app said I didn't already own X-Men Omega. Love John Romita, Jr.'s cover art and the chrome cover still looks great to this very day.

After the big Age of Apocalypse storyline came Onslaught. I'm still piecing together issues that tie-in to the over arching story so I was glad to find this issue of Wolverine.

The Uncanny X-Men was a very pleasant find, especially for $.75. Not only does this issue feature the beautiful manga-esque pencils of Joe Madueira, but it features one of the best gatefold covers I've ever seen...check it out!

Pretty nifty, ain't it? I was/am a big fan of Joe's art from this time period. I would have bought this issue for the cover/interior even if I didn't care for the X-Men.

It's always a good day when I find more 2099 books I don't have. I'm slowing closing in on completing the Doom 2099 run. That series has been the easiest 2099 series for me to complete it seems.

Ghost Rider 2099 and Punisher 2099 books don't seem to show up as often in the $.50 boxes or even the dollar boxes, so I quickly snatched these two up. Love the foil cover on the Ghost Rider book too. I was surprised I didn't have the 1st issue.

The 2099 Unlimited books are thicker and contain multiple stories. Just about have all of these after picking up these two issues.

The last two books I have to share set me back a total of $.40. I originally started picking up some of Malibu Comic's books during their crossover with the Marvel Universe in the mid-90's with the Godwheel mini-series. I've since started working my way backwards and picking up the earlier Malibu books from the time prior to the Marvel purchase. Malibu had some interesting characters and it's pretty obvious Marvel has no intentions on doing anything with these characters. No reprints, no collections, no digital books...so why not pick them up? They are dirt cheap and it's been fun to piece together certain Malibu titles. These two books are from different periods within the company and offers up some good info...especially since I'm still learning who some of these characters are.

All in all I spent very little money and came away with more great books. Once I finish up the big organization project I'm working on with my trading card collection, I need to do the same thing with my comics. That will be a bigger task and one that is still unfortunately a little further down the road before I can tackle it.

Until next time, "make mine Marvel!"

Free Comic Book Day 2019

May 04, 2019 was more than a celebration of Star Wars as it was also the annual event - Free Comic Book Day. Like the past few years, I took the family up to Nikelspot Comics in Fort Mill, SC to see my local comic shop crew and to pick up some free books and hopefully some good deals as well.

There was rain in the forecast for Saturday so we hit the shop early, hoping to beat the rain and the crowds. I'm glad I did because some of the free books already seemed to be low in number. This year the shop allowed us to pick 7 titles each. I had forgot that I already had the Marvel titles on their way in my monthly DCBS order, however I'm sure I can find someone to gift the ones I picked up. I was glad to see there were books from some of the smaller publishers as I wasn't sure if those would get ordered. There were so many books for the shop owners to order and since they aren't free to the shops, I didn't exactly know what I was going to find. Thankfully I was able to walk away happy with these 7 books:

I honestly don't know much about Animosity Tales, but that's what FCBD is all about! I read the synopsis of the issue the day before the event and it sounded pretty cool so I was glad to see this book offered on Saturday.

I've been a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer since the original movie, but more so the Sarah Michelle Gellar led television show. When season 7 ended on television, season 8 was turned into a Dark Horse comic. I followed it for awhile before I dropped out of buying new comics for several years as my wife and I began our family. Now that Buffy is back in the pages of a new comic, here I am being drawn back in. When it comes to Firefly, I can say I've never watched the show.

I don't know much about Lady Mechanika, but I picked up last year's FCBD book and enjoyed it so I figured why not get this year's too? Joe Benitiz art is beautiful and if I had room in the comic budget this may be a book that I'd pick up on a regular basis.

Thanks to the Key Collector comics app, I was clued into Antarctic Press' superhero title, Punchline, some months ago. The first issue shot up in price on the secondary market almost instantaneously making it hard for the average comic reader to acquire/read. This FCBD version reprints the first issue and hopefully wet's the readers appetite for more...which is coming in the version of a TPB soon.

I was a little undecided if I wanted Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Spawn but you can see which direction I went. I believe this is a reprint of the very first issue. I know the title is closing in on 300 issues so this was a nice flash back. Had I been willing to look past Marvel comics when I was in high school I might have read and enjoyed Spawn, but as it is I've never read an issue. I was tempted when Angela made her way over to Marvel, but I do plan on sitting down w/ this issue soon. After all, even if I don't care for the story I can gaze at the beautiful Todd McFarlane art!

This Year of the Villain by DC Comics wasn't part of FCBD, but the fine folks at Niklespot were handing it out (to at least the adults) with their free books. I only read one DC book (Wonder Woman) so I'm not sure how much I'll get out of this, but I do appreciate the kind gesture regardless.

I'm still behind on reading my current books that I almost don't want to even crack this cover because I don't want it to spoil anything for me!

Same goes for this issue of Spider-Man. I know it's the start of a wild ride featuring Venom and Carnage and I can't wait to see what happens.

The shop also put out some new dollar (long) boxes and since it was FCBD the books were buy one get one free. I absolutely love digging through cheap boxes so while I was digging through the boxes looking for some deals, my wife took my daughters inside the store so they could get their name on the sketch list. Bernie Cooke was at the shop once again providing free head pencil sketches. Since we were pretty early both my girls were able to get on his list and have one of their favorite heroines sketched. I was a little surprised to see that they both chose a Marvel character (even though that warms my heart) since both of them really like a lot of the DC female characters thanks to Teen Titans Go! and DC Super Hero Girls. However on this day they made their daddy proud.

My youngest daughter, Winnie (7) chose Squirrel Girl. We both were surprised to see that Bernie also added her companion, Tip Toe on her shoulder!

My oldest daughter, Olivia (9) chose Spider-Gwen. Not too surprising since she takes her Marvel Rising doll of Spider-Gwen with her everywhere.

As I mentioned, I was digging through long boxes outside while the girls were shopping inside the shop and here are the books I left with:

I was surprised to see Avengers #260 in the box, but glad none the less. This book has picked up some steam with Avengers Endgame. For those of you that may not know, this issue is the first cover appearance of Nebula and contains her origin story.

I picked up the Avengers West Coast issue for the Bloodties crossover story. I had forgotten that this series ended right after this issue too, making it a little tougher to find (at least in cheap-o boxes).

After I found these 3 issues of Captain America I could've called it day and left happy. Neither book I'd say is in Near Mint condition, but they were good enough for me. #252 does show some discoloration to the white background, but then again it is from 1980 so I expect it to show some age.

Keeping with the Marvel heroes I found a stray issue of both Daredevil and Iron Man. I was particularly happy to find this issue of Iron Man because the Armor Wars II storyline is what got me reading Iron Man. That and the gorgeous John Romita Jr. art!

My CLZ Comics app told me I was looking or these two issues of Incredible Hulk. After I pulled them from the box I realized I had them on my want list because of their brief tie-in tothe Infinity Gauntlet storyline.

I'm still plugging away on completing Morbius' first run and with these three issues I'm getting ever closer to completing the series. Poor Santa.

 

I wasn't looking for this issue of Spirits of Vengeance, but how could I pass it up with a cover like this? Plus, it has Venom so it was an easy choice.

The Tomb of Dracula was another one of those older books that I didn't expect to find, but was happy to pick up. I believe this is only the 3rd issue of this title that I have in my collection.

This issue of Marvel Comics Presents was purchased not for the Wolverine story (even though I'm sure it's at least decent), but for the 4th story contained in the issue featuring a Thanos story.

Punisher filled a small hole. Not a title I actively seek out, but will pick up when I find issues that are in good shape that are also cheap.

I've mentioned before of my affection towards some of the Star Comics series so I quickly snatched up this issue of Silverhawks. 

Wonder Man was purchased solely for the continuation of the Operation: Galactic Storm story and nothing else!

Of course no dig through the dollar boxes is complete without some Spider-Man, right? Found one lone issue of Amazing the collection needed and surprisingly an issue of Spectacular I needed. This issue (98) is also the first appearance of the villian, the Spot.

 

The original clone story got me reading Spider-Man so I love all of the spin-off series such as the 2nd volume of Scarlet Spider. I wasn't reading comics when this series was new, but have actively picking up issues here and there.

The last book I found was this What If one shot that looked to be right up my ally. I haven't read it yet, but I'm looking forward to diving in.

I've had a little bit of a X-Men itch lately and have been picking up select stories from the 90's, such as the Phalanx Covenant. I picked up a few parts to this story back in March at a local show so this issue leaves me with one issue I believe.

I was surprised that I didn't have any issues of Hulk 2099 before now. I'm working on building the entire 2099 catalog before I sit down and read them all in chronological order. This issue of Ravage 2099 is the last issue and can be really hard to find at times.

 

I remember hearing something about Timestorm 2009-2099, but I've never seen these issues before nor have I read them. Since I'm working on a 2099 collection I thought I'd go ahead and grab these too.

The last item I grabbed (and more of an impulse buy) was this Toy Biz Marvel's Most Wanted Spat & Grovel. I remember this small series of figures when they were new and how sought after they were...well more so Blink than X-Man or Spat & Grovel. I grabbed this for $3 because I was curious more than anything. You can expect a full review of this toy on the blog at some point in the near future.

Overall Free Comic Book Day was a success for me and my family. My wife got some comics for her classroom (she's an elementary school teacher), my girls got their free books and a sketch and I too walked away with a nice little stack of books. Thanks again to the great staff at Nikelspot Comics for participating in the annual event. Until next year...