About.com Comic Books

Comics and Craigslist

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:12:53 +0000

When eBay went to almost 10% in fees - (about 8% in listing and closing fees plus the near 3% in Paypal fees), I had a minor conniption fit and have been on a bit of a quiet ban of the site. Craigslist has become the classifieds of choice for most, and you can find just about anything there, including comics. There was a bit of the same kind of mentality I've been finding in garage sales - "It's old therefore it is valuable." But if you look around you can find some deals and if you employ the art of haggling, I bet you could even get a better deal. In this time of economic crisis, I hate to sound like a vulture, but you can get some screaming deals if you take the time to research lots and keep your eye on what gets listed. I usually find that the good deals don't last long, so be ready to strike.

The typical Caveat Emptor - Buyer Beware - applies here. Be careful taking lots of cash, inspect before you buy, don't rush into it, and be sure you let someone know you where you are going. Keep it safe and you could easily find some great items for your collection.

Comics and Craigslist originally appeared on About.com Comic Books on Monday, November 23rd, 2009 at 00:12:53.

Permalink | Comment | Email this

Stan Lee's The Condor

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 23:52:42 +0000

I've always looked up to Stan Lee. As a Marvel Zombie growing up I loved the characters he co-created and brought to life. Even with some of the tarnishing that he's gone through, the Kirby fans upset that Lee got more credit, suing Marvel, and his own media company going belly up, I've still liked his vivacious spirit and steal the show attitude.

One of the things I've liked about Netflix is that I get to watch a bunch of stuff I probably wouldn't have otherwise. I saw that two of Stan Lee's POW Entertainment properties had come on board, The Condor and Mosaic. I just got into The Condor and here were my impressions.

The artwork and basic premise of The Condor seemed more geared towards a youth market, like 12 and under. The content however, seemed more geared towards an older 13 plus audience. It was a wierd thing to see a very cartoony looking character act with such violence or adult themes. So far it has been a bit of a letdown. I think I would have been fine if the art matched the adult story or vice versa, it just didn't seem to fit well with each other. It was cool to see Marv Wolfman as the writer, and I just wished there would have been a bit more money put into this project.

If you're looking for some time to kill, then give it a try. Since time is such a precious commodity for me right now, I don't know if I'll ever get around to finishing it. Kinda makes me sad.

Stan Lee's The Condor originally appeared on About.com Comic Books on Sunday, November 22nd, 2009 at 23:52:42.

Permalink | Comment | Email this

Perusing Platinum

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:21:50 +0000

I was hopping around the internet highways and biways and one thing led to another and I landed at Platinum Studios again. The question that usually goes through my mind is, "Are they dead yet?" They have had a lot of negative publicity in the past, but have been quite dormant for awhile, at least in the scope of comic news sites. It seems though, that their goal of leveraging comics into movie and TV properties would see to be coming true. They have Dead of Night coming soon, Cowboys and Aliens slated as the next John Favreau Project, Gunplay optioned for Fox TV, and a few others to boot.

I hope Jorge Vega sees some scratch for Gunplay, I got to meet him briefly at the Emerald City Comic-Con, and he seemed like a nice guy. I hope all the creators associated with Platinum are taken care of, as I'm sure most fans are as well. Hopefully this is the start of a new era for Platinum and they are able to take care of the creators associated with WOWIO, their contests, and all the properties they now own.

Perusing Platinum originally appeared on About.com Comic Books on Friday, November 20th, 2009 at 23:21:50.

Permalink | Comment | Email this

Bad Comic Book Movies

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:05:39 +0000

I finally got around to seeing X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Having two kids will do that to you. There was a lot that I enjoyed, but probably more that I disliked. This made me think of another comic book movie I saw via Netflix recently - The Specials. It was weird that I had never heard of it. There were a lot of known actors in it - Rob Lowe, Jamie Kennedy, and Thomas Haden Church. After watching it, I found out why. Super low budget effects and an overall blah storyline made this a movie that kind of wished I had not seen.

Its always funny to see who jumps on the superhero bandwagon. We dog on those celebrities that come out with comics, but at least they are putting something out there to add to the comicverse. It still may not be any good, but I think its better than some of the groups out there looking to cash in on the popularity of comics. I'm just hoping some of these endeavors won't contribute to the popularity of comics being extinguished in this fickle thing called pop-culture.

Bad Comic Book Movies originally appeared on About.com Comic Books on Tuesday, November 17th, 2009 at 01:05:39.

Permalink | Comment | Email this

Cover of the Week: Two-Fer

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:12:17 +0000

It's a two-fer this week. Two titles caught my eye, one funny and one serious. The funny one is Amazing Spider-Man #611 featuring Spidey in a Cable-esque garb alongside Deadpool. The second comes from Booster Gold #26 and features Booster's buddy Ted Kord as the Black Lantern. Both are great covers for different reasons and show the variety good covers can reveal to us. Check em out.

Cover of the Week: Two-Fer originally appeared on About.com Comic Books on Friday, November 13th, 2009 at 00:12:17.

Permalink | Comment | Email this

Get A Piece of Joe Kubert

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:52:27 +0000

Joe Kubert, legendary comic book artist, writer, editor, and teacher, is putting up some of his one of a kind art for sale through comics auction house Heritage Auctions. There is some fantastic material here from comics like Sgt. Rock, Sojourn, Tarzan, Justice League, Star Spangled Stories, Jonah Hex, and more. Even if you can't find the funds to bid, and some of them are already in the thousands of dollars, they are fabulous to look at and at least daydream about owning. My personal favorite is this History of the DC Universe featuring Sgt. Rock. It's a fantastic piece. Which one catches your eye?

Get A Piece of Joe Kubert originally appeared on About.com Comic Books on Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 23:52:27.

Permalink | Comment | Email this

TeraPeak Ebay Market Research Data

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:07:27 +0000

I have often used eBay to find what I call a "real-time value" for a comic book, in other words, what that comic is going for right now and what you can expect to get if you sell a similar item. Sites like Comic Seeker have gone a step further, giving you the capability to search through many different sites for a comic. These are great resources for the collector and having these kinds of tools will only aide you in selling and buying comic books.

I recently got an email from another company - Terapeak. They do market research data on eBay auctions and offer a plethora of information about the trends of what a superhero is selling for. The first site they sent me to was their superhero widget that shows information on certain superheroes. The main widget in the center wasn't working and I tried it in Firefox and Chrome. The search function at the bottom however, did work.

The real jewel was in clicking one of the comics on the side of the main widget. That took me to the main Terapeak site (this link takes you to a Batman query) where you can run a search about a character on eBay. You can search the last 14 days of listings as well as the last 90 days of purchases if you sign up (it does cost $24.95 a month) but you can search up to 8 days for free. You can see when items of that character were listed, what day, what type, if they used special features, duration, keywords, etc. There is a TON of information that any serious buyer or seller can use to make decisions about their collections. It is a very neat tool that could aide you in your endeavors. I dug a little and Terapeak was one of the first companies to do data licensing from eBay and have grown from a startup company to a worldwide endeavor. They state that people who use Terapeak earn 30% more than people who don't. The cost seems high for everyday sellers, but for serious buyers or sellers, it could be a very useful tool.

TeraPeak Ebay Market Research Data originally appeared on About.com Comic Books on Monday, November 9th, 2009 at 01:07:27.

Permalink | Comment | Email this

Cover of the Week - Captain America Reborn #4

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:32:10 +0000

I always try to not let my personal bias enter into things like this, but this time I had to. I really dug this cover by Bryan Hitch with Cappy wielding his WW2 shield. It's a classic Cap pose and is a very dynamic cover.

To be fair, there were some other great covers this week. Of special note were X-Men Origins Iceman One Shot, Age of Reptiles The Journey #1, Starstruck #3, and Secret Six #15. All were great covers this week.

Image Copyright Marvel Comics

Cover of the Week - Captain America Reborn #4 originally appeared on About.com Comic Books on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 at 01:32:10.

Permalink | Comment | Email this

Comic Seeker

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 01:10:56 +0000

I found this website in a Google Alert of mine lately. Its called Comic Seeker and it claims to be the place to, "Search the internet for rare collectible comic books." Basically what Comic Seeker does is search through many different sites so you don't have go to each one. It's a pretty cool setup that can not only help you find a comic, but see what your comic is going for right now. Check it out.

Comic Seeker originally appeared on About.com Comic Books on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 01:10:56.

Permalink | Comment | Email this

Cover of the Week - Arkham Reborn #1

Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:41:13 +0000

Hands down, Arkham Reborn #1 is such a wonderful beauty. Frazer Irving nailed this cover of the puzzled character of Dr. Jeremiah Arkham, with Joker showing through. Who is in control of Arkham?

Image Copyright DC Comics

Cover of the Week - Arkham Reborn #1 originally appeared on About.com Comic Books on Saturday, October 31st, 2009 at 00:41:13.

Permalink | Comment | Email this