Thursday, February 9, 2012

Unbridled Capitalism: Borderlands Sale 2012

Last weekend was the Borderlands Big Annual Sale once again.  And as has been the trend lately, it was pretty miserable weather-wise.  Cold and damp, with a light rain as we were standing outside, I think most of us wanted to get inside just to stay dry more than anything else.  Sure it wasn't the ice storm from a few years back, but it still pretty bleah.  

Once inside, it wasn't much of a rush for me since once again I was not buying any miniatures.  I did partake of the action figures, picking up 5 vintage GI Joe toys for 50 cents apiece (for those who are interested: Straight-arm Rock n' Roll, BAT v.1, Sea Slug, Dice, and Dojo), but mostly went through the "$5 Trade" table and of course the 3/$1 bins.  

All in all it was an odd sale.  Neither me nor many of my friends were really into combing through the discount bins because a lot of us loaded up at the trades table.  And the wet and cold weather meant everyone was wearing coats and such, so it got very warm and very uncomfortable very quickly.  So I didn't go through every single discount box like I had in years past.  Which was alright, since we got out of there and did some damage at Mr. K's before heading back to the house for a shrimp boil.  

Still, had a good haul all told.  Here's what I picked up.

The Flash: Slowly but surely I am buying up my Pre-Crisis Flash collection.  Heck at some point I will actually read it (besides the Showcase volumes, anyway).  Out of the discount bins I pulled Flash v.1:no.242, 247, 275, and 287.

GI Joe: Since I have nearly all of the collected editions of the Marvel GI Joe series, I typically don't buy single issues.  But in this case I couldn't pass it up -- GI Joe: Order Of Battle #1-4 for 33 cents apiece.  The Order Of Battle series was the Joe version of Who's Who or OHOTMU, with two issues devoted to the Joes, one to forces of Cobra, and one to the various vehicles and hardware.  Pretty freaking sweet!  I also grabbed (off the $5 table) the vintage GI Joe: Special Missions trade, which collects the first four issues of Special Missions.

Oddball: I got a lot of random or otherwise unusual comics this time out, so I am just sort of lumping them altogether.  House of Mystery #269 has a cover which pretty much screams that NOTHING WILL EVER BE AS AWESOME AS THIS.  Teen Titans Spotlight #8 features Hawk, so I had to buy it.  Similarly, Marvel Premiere #45 stars Man-Wolf, and since I think I have the other part of the story, I owed it to myself to buy it.  I have been really digging the Mark Evanier Blackhawk so grabbing issue #271 was a given.  

I also managed to snag three oversized books out of the 3/$1.00 bins which surprised me.  First up was the Masters Of The Universe: The Motion Picture novelization.  What's interesting about this book is that it doesn't seem to use the movie designs, but instead uses the traditional toy/cartoon imagery.  Which is a plus to me!  (Marvel was publishing a regular MOTU series at the time, so this makes sense.)  Secondly, I got the square bound Amazing Spider-Man: Soul Of The Hunter GN.  I haven't read "Kraven's Last Hunt," so this should be interesting reading.  And finally, the one I liked best, I pulled Uncanny X-Men & The New Teen Titans!  Pretty swank stuff, this one is towards the top of my reading pile.

And the most odd of the oddball: The Cerebus Guide to Self-Publishing, the 2010 edition.  I found this on the very small "$1 trade" pile, much like I found... 13 volumes of Cerebus last year.  I guess I am the only Sim fan in town!

$5 Trades: And now the meat of the money I spend (well, in addition to the Green Lantern bookends I picked up for Adama), the $5 trade paperbacks.  First up, I got Watchmen, which I actually have read before.  Once.  But I did dig it, so I figure it's good to have it on the bookshelf. Up next is The Dark Knight Returns, which as I mentioned earlier in the week, is going on my To Read pile, so I can read another one of those 80s stories which I have never read.  Finally, I picked up Avengers: Operation Galactic Storm v.1-2!  These were a swanky find considering their list price, and the fact that I think I only have the Iron Man issues of this story, which I have heard very good things about over the years.  

Like I said, a good haul.  DKR is coming with me on my business trip, and the oversized comics might as well.  I always enjoy the Borderlands Sale, but lately I have more fun just hanging out with my pals and watching MST3K and Alligator on DVD.

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