Marvel Super Hero Mashers Micro: Spider-Man 2099 vs. Venom

Today we take a look at another double pack of Hasbro's short lived Super Hero Mashers Micro series. I chose Venom and Spider-Man 2099 because, well they are Spider-Man related and awesome characters in their own right.

The packaging for the dual packs is the same across the line, with both figures being prominently displayed with their interchangeable accessory on a blister card. The back of the packaging features additional characters available (at the time) and how the pieces can be interchanged, even with the larger Super Hero Masher figures.

Venom has his trademark tongue hanging out of his mouth, sharp teeth exposed. Spider-Man 2099 is a simple redeco of the Spider-Man figure, but with a new head. Both figures fists and head are interchangeable.

Venom comes with an over sized hand that appears to be forming some sort of sharp weapon? It is a symbiote after all so Venom can do whatever he wants. Spider-Man 2099 on the other hand also comes with a hand, but this one has a blue spike (?) on it. I don't recall anything like that from the comics, but whatever, it's a new part to use w/ other figures.

Speaking of other figures, I had Rocket Raccoon and Groot nearby, along with a few other parts so I mashed them all together to form these guys. 

These little stylized figures on their own are pretty cool, but the fun factor really kicks in when you start mix-matching the various body parts. This means that once you buy a set you'll want others and I'm sure Hasbro was banking on that. Too bad these didn't catch on more than they did when they were on store shelves because they are a lot of fun. They can still be found online (eBay) fairly easy if you'd like to try them out, but don't blame me if you find yourself trying to track down multiples.

New Comic Wednesday - 11/14/18

The last few weeks at the local comic shop have been rather light for me (i.e. non-existent) since the bulk of my books are coming from Discount Comic Book Service in a monthly shipment. However this week a few books that weren't originally on my radar were released.

I understand that some may not understand how a book like Uncanny X-Men #1 wasn't on my radar. I haven't really picked up a mutant book (minus Domino) in quite sometime, but I've been reading up on the story in this issue and I decided to go ahead and grab the first issue. My LCS, Nikelspot Comics doesn't usually mark up variants and they had a good many of the non J. Scott Campbell covers to choose from so I went w/ this Skottie Young variant. 

Buying a title from a series that I don't normally read does have it's advantages as I was able to sit down this afternoon and read the book...even though I'm still woefully behind with most of my current books. While I may not understand all of the back stories going on, I really enjoyed the stories despite some of the negative reviews I've already read online. It's going to be a weekly title for the first 10 issues, similar to the Avengers No Surrender story...but that just means I at least have one new reason to look forward to Wednesdays for the next 9 weeks!

Speaking of J. Scott Campbell and variants, there was one left of Venom #8. I don't normally pick up variants to issues I've already bought, but I caved with this 90's esque throwback cover.

Originally I didn't buy any of the Infinity Warp issues so it made sense to add this one to the stack. Mister Invisible and Hot Rocks? Green Widow? Moon Squirrel and Tippysaur? Marvel already warped other Marvel heroes so why not a few more?

I picked up several issues of Daredevil back during Marvel's Legacy period and while I missed a few new issues here and there, this one came up on the Key Comics app as the first appearance of a new villain. Plus I absolutely love Phil Noto's art so this was an easy pick up on a relatively light week.

I'm still in the midst of reading the Witching Hour story that ran through Wonder Woman's book so I may be taking a gamble continuing to pick up her book. I really wanted the Jenny Frison variant, but the regular Terry Dodson cover was all that was left to choose from.

Now that things seem to be slowing down a little both at work and around the house, I'm going to try to dig into my backlog of new books and see if I can't make a dent between now and the end of the year. Lots of great books that I've been waiting to get to...wish me luck!

New Comic Wednesday - 09/19/18

Another week has passed and more new Marvel comics have been released. I don't have all of these new books in my possession yet, but I was able to pick up a few books from my local comic shop that I didn't order from DCBS. Reading the synopsis for these issues has me very eager to read them, but first I've still got to work through my backlog!

Avengers #8 kicks off a new story line and a new team of Avengers. I believe they also unveil the Avenger's new base, Avengers Mountain. Hmm...

I originally wasn't going to bother with West Coast Avengers, but I picked up issue #1 on a whim and liked it. When I saw that Tigra was going to play a part in the ongoing story (and appear on the cover of #2) I knew I had to at least see this story out. 

Spinning out of the Infinity Wars story comes new characters, such as Soldier Supreme. I love the mash of Captain America and Doctor Strange, plus it plays a part in the larger role of the story and as a bonus it has a Humberto Ramos cover! Interested to see how this plays out.

Doctor Strange #5 still has Stephen in space...something that intrigues me. I'm not his biggest fan, but when I heard they were sending him into space I thought I'd at least check out the initial story arc.

Right on the heels of the Captain Marvel movie trailer premiere comes the 3rd issue of The Life of Captain Marvel. I don't always buy variants, but I have opted to buy the variants for this series. For issue 3 Joe Quesada provided the pencils. The regular cover is on the left and the variant is on the right. This series re-explores the origin of Carol Danvers as Captain Marvel. I'm really looking forward to reading this mini-series.

Immortal Hulk #6 - Bruce Banner is alive...and he's begin chased by the government, Alpha Flight and even the Avengers. Still a lot of mystery going on with this title.

Venom #6 continues the story of Eddie and his symbiote and his new power set? There has been a lot of noise about this series and what Donny Cates has been doing so this is another new series I eagerly await getting caught up so I can read.

I loved the huge Spider-Verse story line from a few years ago so I've been eagerly awaiting Spider-Geddon. Edge of Spider-Geddon #3 tales the story of an Uncle Ben from another timeline that has Spider powers. This oughta be good!

That's it for this week. Catch you back here with next week's haul.

Heroes Aren't Hard to Find: Charlotte Mini-Con 2018 Haul (part 1)

Last Saturday (01/28/18), I made the trip to uptown Charlotte, NC to my old college campus of CPCC at the Grady Cole Center. The best comic shop I've ever had the pleasure of shopping at, Heroes Aren't Hard to Find, organizes the Charlotte Mini-Con each January along with the much larger HeroesCon during the summer. It's been awhile since I've been able to attend a comic book show, so I was glad to have made time in my schedule to attend (i.e. - my wife was gracious enough to let me attend!). 

Part of the fun of this event and others is that I get to spend some one-on-one time with my brother. Comics are something that we both enjoy so it's cool to get to share that with him. He is the one afterall that is responsible for getting me hooked on all of these colorful, costumed super heroes. While my reading and collecting comics has come and gone as I've grown up and started a family, my love for the characters has never ceased. I'm predominately a Marvel fan (again, thanks to my brother) and I enjoy most of Marvel's books from the Bronze age. 

In fact, when I go to shows and conventions I rarely look at the "wall books" and sniff out the $.50 boxes. That's were I generally plant myself, though as I'm getting older I start to feel the aches and pains in my body towards the end of the day / the next day after sitting on the floor, leaning over going through so many boxes!

On this trip to the Charlotte Mini-Con, I was able to find several tables that had great deals. I pulled out my phone and fired up the CLZ comic app and I started to dig to see what I could find. For starters I'll share the books I was able to find of one of my favorite characters, Spider-Man.

While my collection of Amazing Spider-Man is meager when compared to many other collector's, it remains one of my favorite titles to search out and try to fill in the holes. It's getting harder and harder to find AMS in cheap boxes so at some point in the near future I may have to set my sights on $1 boxes. *gasp!*

Only found one book I needed from the regular Spider-Man title, issue #51. This one has a foil cover and is a flip book. I found a small chip on the edge of the foil and almost put it back, but it was cheap, filled a hole so why not?

I remember when Web of Spider-Man #1 came out. I remember seeing it on the shelves at Heroes in Charlotte...however back then I wasn't reading comics. Of course by the time I "discovered" Spider-Man, most of his titles, including Web were already well along in their numbering. I've only recently started to buy issues of Web of Spider-Man so I was thrilled to find such a large run...especially for cheap!

At the time of this post, I'm still behind on reading my new books. I'm currently about half way through Civil War II, but before that I completed the Secret Wars mini series. While it wasn't my favorite Marvel event story, one thing that did come out of Secret Wars that I enjoyed was the Amazing Spider-Man Renew Your Vows storyline. 

While I'm not a huge advocate of reversing the One More Day events, I did like reading a married Peter Parker. Toss in his daughter and super-powers and it makes for some fun stories, at least in my opinion. While I bought the Renew Your Vows mini-series, I didn't pick up the series when it became an ongoing series. I kinda regret that and I've been hoping to find back issues at an affordable price. While I only found the first two issues last weekend, I'm glad to have found them and I'm eagerly awaiting to read them.

One of the first Spider-Man stories I read was the now famous (or infamous?) clone story in Amazing Spider-Man. I loved every minute of it and have enjoyed the subsequent stories that took place afterwards. When the Scarlet Spider was given his own series, I wasn't currently buying new books so I've been trying to piece this series together for awhile. I don't usually see this title in $.50 or $1 boxes that often so I was more than happy to gobble up 4 issues that I didn't have, including the last issue of the series, #25.

Anything Venom always seems to be in demand. I found this one lone book of his The Hunted mini-series and according to my CLZ app, I didn't have it. Now I do.

Those are just the Spider-Man related books that I picked up. I'm still working on part 2 where I'll show off the other books that I was able to find on the cheap end. Thanks for stopping by!