Sandman #12 (1990)

Sandman #12 (January, 1990)
"The Doll's House, Part 3: Playing House"
Writer - Neil Gaiman
Penciller - Chris Bachalo
Inker - Malcolm Jones
Colorist - Robbie Busch
Letterer - John Costanza
Associate Editor - Art Young
Editor - Karen Berger
Cover Price: $1.50

This is one of those issues I'll always remember buying.

It was the summer of 2011, and the wife and I were browsing a Half-Price Books.  It was a weekday, which was odd for us, as we normally visit our haunts on the weekends.  My work schedule at the time gave me a day off during the week, and my wife the school teacher was on her summer break.

My normal M.O. at Half-Price Books is to scour the quarter-bins first, then move on to the "non-clearance" area.  On this day, the quarter-bin gods were not really smiling on me.  The only book I nabbed was this issue of Sandman.  It was bagged and boarded, however.

I moved my attention to the regular bins, and shuffled through the X-Men books as I'd often do... not expecting anything besides some post-Claremont and Age of Apocalypse era issues... Imagine my surprise when the first six comics behind the X-Men divider were...

I mean... are you kidding me?  I gotta be dreaming right?  All six of these issues were a buck each.  I plucked 'em outta the bins like I was stealing something and bee-lined it over to the wife.  She did not understand the significance of what I was showing her, but I was babbling like an idiot I'm sure.

Acting like I actually was stealing something, I told her I wanted to leave right away... feeling as though somehow I was going to lose out on this deal.  Something was going to happen to stop me from leaving the store with my bounty.

I've had experiences at local comics shops where I'd come across a decent-to-great find in the bins, only to be told at the register that the price sticker was "wrong"... or they were in the midst of "re-pricing" all of the back issues, and offer to sell me a book with a $2.00 sticker for upwards of $5.00.  Luckily, those shops have all fallen by the wayside... I was still a bit shell-shocked, however, at the prospect of losing out on this day.

At the register I was greeted by a fella around my age with thick rimmed glasses and a sad attempt at a lumberjack beard.  I was hoping I'd be checking out with one of the more mature women who worked there... they'd likely have no idea what they were looking at... hell, it was probably one of them that slapped the $1.00 price tag on these to begin with.

Anyhoo... I placed my finds on the counter, stepped back, and held my breath.  Palms sweaty, I fiddled with my wallet... and then I heard it.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" the cashier exclaimed.

Crud... I'm screwed.  I looked up at him, teeth chattering... eyebrows anxiously raised...

"I can't believe we..." he continued...

"Put an issue of Sandman in the quarter-bin!"

Wait... what?!?  This guy's got the complete Days of Future Past in front of him... and he's questioning the store's pricing of a random issue of Sandman.  I shrugged it off, and said something along the lines of "yeah, go figure... lucky me".  I paid the man and left.

I will always remember this issue of Sandman for the story of its procurement... is the story within worth remembering as well?  Let's find out...

--

We open on a woman named Lyta (Hippolyta Hall... I think she was the Golden-Age Fury) who is currently with child.  She is living in a dome in what she believes to be the Dream Dimension with her recently deceased-then-reincarnated husband, Hector Hall (son of Hawkman and Hawkgirl... former Silver Scarab... future Dr. Fate... current, "Sandman").

Hector believes himself to be the Sandman, the true God of Dreams.  He has been given his title by a pair of rogue dreams, Brute and Glob.  He is apparently only able to leave the Dream Dimension for one hour a day.  Brute and Glob warn him about a "Nightmare Monster" who threatens the dome.

Lyta wishes to speak with Hector, she is concerned that they have been in the Dream Dimension for several years at this point, and she still has yet to deliver their baby.  Hector shrugs it off, telling her the stork was simply having trouble locating them in the Dome.  With that, the new Sandman heads back to continue observation on the Nightmare Monster.

We shift scenes to an old couple berating a young boy.  The boy is Jed, and he is their current ward.  They couple keep him locked in the basement so that they may collect his state benefits ($800/month).  The old man warns the boy not to tell the soon-to-visit social worker about his mistreatment, and slugs him in the gut for good measure before locking him back downstairs.

Back in the Dome, Hector is monitoring the incoming Nightmare Monster while Brute and Glob look on.  It turns out the Nightmare Monster is actually the God of Dreams, Morpheus and the rogue dreams are using Hector so that they may have complete control of the Dreaming.  We observe Lyta reflecting on how they came to be in the Dream Dimension... her thoughts are interrupted by Hector who informs her he is off to dispatch the Nightmare Monster.

We move to rural Georgia, where we see a woman named Rose Walker and an older man named Gilbert tending to their broken down automobile.  They find themselves having to walk to a nearby motel, where they talk the man behind the counter into giving them a room for the evening.  They must be gone first thing the next morning, as the motel will be completely booked for a "cereal convention".

Still in Georgia, though now in Atlanta... we view a scene via first-person perspective.  An individual is about to be mugged by a pair of young men.  The thugs are shocked when the individual's eyes bite off some of their fingers.  He then picks up one of their knives and... we shift scenes.

Back in the Dream Dimension, Hector approaches the Nightmare Monster.  As he draws closer, we rejoin the young boy Jed who appears to be deeply affected by the proceedings.  Hall threatens all the ways he will defeat the Nightmare Monster.  Morpheus is curious... he asks where his "masters" are... he asks who he thinks he is... When Hall introduces himself as the Sandman, Morpheus breaks down in hysterical laughter.  Shortly after Jed appears to break free of the basement.

Morpheus greets Brute and Glob, and asks that they explain their actions.  They come clean, confessing that they were looking for a Dream King that they may have control over.  They'd tried with a living specimen, Garrett Sanford... however, he could not take the pressure and wound up taking his own life.  The rogues then turned their sights to the already-dead Hector Hall.

Promising to clean up their mess, Morpheus exiles Brute and Glob to the darkness.  Lyta begins to lose touch with the Dream Dimension, she's suddenly sensing familiar Earthly smells.  They appear to now be in the basement where Jed was held captive by his abusers.

Morpheus, setting things right, returns Hector to the realm of the dead while Lyta protests.  She strikes out at him, which Morpheus forgives as she is currently grieving.  Lyla is returned to the world of the living, and before he leaves, Morpheus tells her that one day he will be back for her child.

Before we close, we watch as young Jed is hitchhiking.  He is picked up by the man who killed the two thugs earlier in the Atlanta alley... and we are... [to be continued...]

--

... and with this issue, I have no idea why I've avoided this series so long.  I enjoyed this far more than I thought I would.  I guess it stands to reason that sometimes the popular opinion is right on the money.  This is an amazing issue that includes some long-standing DC characters in situations I had never expected.  I'm definitely going to have to work my way through this series in the near future.  I own the entire thing, just never felt motivated enough to plow through it.

Although I was coming in relatively blind, it did not take me too long to get my bearings.  Even in the days without text-recap pages, I was able to follow along (for the most part, I'm sure there are a few nuances and beats I missed).  The writing was very even, it did not dwell in what came before and it did not move forward at a break-neck pace.  My joining in on the echo of heaping praise on Neil Gaiman's writing and storytelling mastery is really no big surprise.  Again... sometimes the popular opinion is the right one.

Late last week I had an exchange with Jim from Weird Science DC Comics in the comments of my ElfQuest 25th Anniversary Special piece wherein we discussed avoiding books that are hyped up, and the stubbornness that goes into such behavior.  I'd long kept away from the Sandman simply because it was so hyped.  I'm comfortable saying that I was wrong to do so, and I am now hopeful and optimistic that the rest of the series meets my new raised level of expectation.

I first encountered Chris Bachalo's art during his run with Scott Lobdell on Generation X.  I was immediately blown away.  His work had such style, and looked different than anything else at that time... while still somehow maintaining a classic comic book feel.  I loved it there, and I really dig it here.  He is not quite to his Generation X (and beyond) level here, but it will get no complaints from me.  Looking back, I always enjoy his work on the proto-Vertigo titles, such as this and Shade the Changing Man.  He has the ability to craft a wonderful atmosphere with the potential to be simultaneously scary and somewhat comfortable.

I feel funny recommended a book that I'd aggressively avoided in the past... but, here we are.  May read better in trade, though, I am admittedly ignorant of that at this moment.  Worth tracking down for sure... but you didn't need me to tell you that...

--

Interesting Ads:

Brian Thomsen always seemed like he'd be a neat guy to talk to. 

See this a lot in the quarter-bin... Sadly, it's a New Format book,
meaning that the 25-cent sticker will mess up the cover art.

Speaking of books I've avoided due to hype...
Ehh, one of these days.

Wow.  I wouldn't mind if my comments came in on used Kleenex.

Once more, let's look at how inexpensive this hobby was...

Night Force #1 (1982)

Night Force #1 (August, 1982)
"The Summoning, Chapter One: Genesis"
Writer/Editor - Marv Wolfman
Artist - Gene Colan
Inker - Bob Smith
Letterer - John Costanza
Colorist - Michele Wolfman
Co-Editor - Ross Andru
Cover Price: $0.60

Justin over at the wonderfully fun DC in the 80's blog recently put together a great piece discussing the first volume of DC Comics' Night Force.  This is a series I'd picked up in bits and pieces, however I've never actively pursued it.  I guess I only grabbed them because I knew Marv Wolfman was the writer/creator.  Due to Mr. Wolfman's amazing work on the New Titans he will always have my readership, and I will pick up most anything I can that he'd written.  I have not yet established a full enough run to give the entire series a fair read-through, but I can sure give #1 the ol' once over.

In a half-hearted attempt at blog-synergy, I figure this is as good a time as any to subject Night Force #1 to my inimitable and unfortunate discussion and review style... Hold on tight, here we go...

--

It's nighttime.  Two men, Kerry James and Trevor Simmons are driving unaware they are being trailed by a helicopter.  As their car crosses a bridge, the chopper opens fire.  Both men are killed, and the car careens into the waters below.

Our scene shifts to the Potomac Psychiatric Hospital, where a young woman is being held.  She is haunted by visions who threaten that they will soon "have" her.  She lunges toward the apparitions, and falls to the floor of her padded room.

Former Time Magazine reporter, Jack Gold, who is now working for the Enquirer-esque National Chronicle approaches a large Georgetown estate.  He is set to talk to the master of the house, Baron Winters about his involvement with the occult for a story he has been assigned.  Winters greets him at the door... Gold is surprised to see that the Baron keeps a large wild cat as a pet.  Winters introduces the cat as "Merlin", and claims that he was a gift from the man himself, and the name is in tribute.

The two men share a somewhat contentious meeting.  Jack doesn't believe anything the Baron is telling him, and this appears to tickle Winters somewhat.  The Baron excuses himself to take a phone call and Jack heads toward the back door of the estate.  Upon opening the door, Jack is shocked to find himself in front of a scene more akin to nineteenth-century Paris than twentieth-century Georgetown.  Everything returns to normal when Winters returns.

Still not on board with the occult angle, Jack takes his leave... returning to the motel the Chronicle has put him up at.  While there he receives a call from his ex-wife who is questioning the whereabouts of his latest alimony check.  Defeated and knowing he desperately needs the cash, Jack returns to the Baron to continue the assigned occult piece.

The scene shifts to something of a demonic ceremony.  A man stands in the middle of a pentagram, torch held high... around him, several nude individuals dance in tribal formation.  This ritual appears to have a possible connection to the visions the young woman at the sanitarium had experienced.  Apparitions similar to hers's are now terrorizing a nearby affluent neighborhood.

While this is occurring, the young woman, now identified as one Vanessa Van Helsing is having a severe episode.  Clinical staff attempt to subdue her, yet she breaks free.  She desperately heads toward the doors, running headlong into the apparitions she collapses.  At the same moment, the demonic ceremony's conductor, Dr. Donovan Caine ends the ritual... the people stop dancing, and the demons vanish.

Dr. Rabin at the sanitarium attends to Vanessa.  She is informed that she was covered in fresh blood, however, not her own.  It is clearly stated that this is something of a regular occurrence.  Rabin knows that if she wants answers, she must contact "that charlatan" Baron Winters.

Winters and Gold are continuing their discussion when Rabin's call interrupts the proceedings.  The Baron claims to be unavailable to intervene on the Van Helsing case, and refers the doctor to one Dr. Donovan Caine... the same Caine who was conducting the earlier demonic ritual.

We rejoin Caine, finding that his ritual was a Georgetown University experiment that hopes to tap into some sort of "energy source" at the behest of the Pentagon.  Caine and a woman I presume to be his wife leave the University for the evening.  While in the parking lot, they somehow bump into the men from the opening scene, Kerry James and Trevor Simmons.  Alive and well, they claim to be from the Pentagon.

Before they leave, Mrs. Caine(?) alludes that she noticed one of the doctor's students appears to have a bit of a fixation on him.  Shortly after, we observe that same student reporting to a shadowy someone via telephone about Caine.

Jack Gold arrives at the Psychiatric Hospital to meet with Ms. Van Helsing for more Chronicle story fodder.  The two share a brief visit before Dr. Caine arrives.  Caine volunteers that his doctoral discipline is parapsychology, and advises Rabin that he has arranged for Vanessa's release, effective immediately.

Dr. Caine takes Vanessa back to Georgetown University, and Jack follows.  In order to prove that Vanessa is a victim rather than "crazy", Caine seeks to conduct a test.  The three stand in the pentagram, and Vanessa is suited with electrodes.

Eighteen minutes later we are on a nearby Georgetown street.  Ethereal smoke pours out of a manhole, and victimizes a passing motorcyclist.  As that occurs, the Baron relates to Merlin that "It begins".  With that, he blows the seeds of a dandelion and retires to his home to await what is to come.

--

Now I'm not a horror comic fan (or at least I don't think I am), but I found myself really enjoying this issue.  I suppose it stands to reason that if I like Wolfman, I'll probably like this.  This issue served as a great introduction for the (current) cast.  The letters column makes mention that there are regular characters in this series, but at the same time, there aren't.  Of the ones met in the inaugural issue, I feel we were given just enough about their plights and personalities to whet our appetite for more.

Letters Page

The characters were given something of a motivation, however, Marv appears to be playing their true ends close to the vest.  We learn very little about the Baron, yet... what we are told makes me want to know more.  I always dig getting a "point of view" character in non-superhero tales.  Reporter, Jack Gold acts as our eyes into this strange and mystical world.  His reactions may well be our own, and his skepticism is refreshing, I feel he will likely struggle with his disbelief even when he witnesses something unexplainable firsthand.

This was as good an opening issue as I could hope for with a story of this kind, and I now look forward to tracking down the rest of this volume (and beyond).  I have the first three volumes of Marvel's Essential Tomb of Dracula, which boasts a very familiar creative team to this.  I'd picked those up years ago as part of one of my infamous "reading projects" that I never get around to.  You know, those meticulously stacked piles in that one corner of your home?  Makes it look as though you're boarding the world's most obsessive-compulsive hoarder?  Yeah, it's in there.  In reading Night Force, I think those Tomb of Dracula collections have moved up a hair in the rotation... meaning I'll probably get to them within the next five years rather than ten.

The art was as to be expected, great.  Clean and gritty all at once.  During the initial scene with Jack and the Baron, I swear I smelled cigarettes... I take that back, every time Jack is on panel, I smell cigarettes.  During Vanessa's scenes, not only her face... but her whole body depicts such sadness... such defeat.  It's as though she has completely given up hope of ever living normally.  Even if you were to take her out of context, the art does an amazing job telling Vanessa's story.

Most definitely recommended if you're in the mood for something just a little bit different, though, with a familiar voice.  DC Comics' digital store has the first four issues of this volume in one handy and affordable package.  Even if horror books aren't your thing, I'm thinking there's lots to dig in Night Force.

Thanks to Justin at DC in the 80's for this inspiration on this one.  Check out their stuff at  dcinthe80s.blogspot.com/ on Facebook and on twitter @DCinthe1980s

--

Interesting Ads:

I'd never heard of this before...
Appears to be quite the prolific game...

Another thing I hadn't heard of.
boardgamegeek.com has the goods!

Seems reasonable...

You have no idea how easy it is to make money!
All you gotta do is send these people some first!

Bedtime Fun!
9" Shaft!
... no, nuh uh, nope.

Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #97 (1969)

Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane #97 (November, 1969)
"The Three Super Sirens!"
"The Mystery of Skull Island!"
by Henry Boltinoff & Irv Novick
Cover Price: $0.15

We have two titanic tales to discuss today.  Pour an extra cup Brew an extra pot of coffee, I think we may need it.

--

Our first story is "The Three Super Sirens", and focuses on the past loves of the Man of Steel.  We open on Perry White telling Lois and Clark to head out to Sunken Cove.  A sea monster had reportedly been spotted, and Perry wants coverage on what he believes to be a hoax.  It's funny, Perry White has met Superman... he lives in a fantastical world, yet feels this Sea Monster report must be a hoax.  It's always funny comparing the "line" insofar as how far one will suspend their disbelief in comic book situations.

Lois and Clark head out, only to find that, get this, there is in fact a sea monster.  Clark runs off to change into Superman.  I very seldom read books of this vintage, I was unaware that Clark was something of an overt coward.  I always thought he would disappear during a distraction to change into Superman... here, he just bolts... leaving a protesting Lois alone with the beast!

Superman returns to the scene and Lois advises him that the sea monster vanished.  Looking out into the water, Superman is shocked to see his former squeeze, the mermaid Lori Lemaris.  He recounts his past with Lori... how they met and fell in love.  I thinks about how Lori became ill, and how he brought her to a Water World to save her.  On that Water World, Lori fell in love with and married a man named Ronal.

Lori tells Superman that Ronal has since passed, and she realizes she's in love with him.  Superman falls under something of a trance, and lunges toward Lori... embracing and planting a kiss on her.  She vanishes a moment later.  Superman pops down to Atlantis to see if she'd returned home, however, cannot locate her.

The next day, Lois meets Professor Danton at the Daily Planet.  He is an inventor who was experimenting with synthetic quartz crystals, and is desperately seeking Superman.  Wouldn't you know it, the crystals transformed into a living and rampaging beast.

Lois confronts the Crystal Thing, and tries to take it's picture for the Planet (I guess Jimmy was unavailable to be the human decoy this day).  The Thing ensnares her in crystal, just in time for Superman to arrive on the scene.  Knowing how tough a substance quartz is, Superman knows his best bet to humanely deal with this beast is to trap it.  He proceeds to hollow out a mountain of coal, presses the coal into diamond, and lures the best inside.  When the Thing arrives, Superman slips past him and seals the entrance.

As the fracas cools down, Superman is greeted by another past love, Kryptonian actress Lyla Lerrol.  Superman had met (and fell in love with) her after breaking the time-barrier.  He wound up on a pre-exploded Krypton.  Superman recounts a toast he and Lyla shared with his parents Jor-El and Lara.  Their entanglement ended when Kal and Lyla were acting in a Kryptonian film, and one of the "prop" spaceships on set actually blasted him through space.  Lyla, like Lori before her vanishes.

That evening, Lois invites Superman to her apartment for a home-cooked meal... hmm, yeah... this isn't any Lois I know.  As they are about to dine, in through the window swoops Luma Lynai, yet another of Superman's past loves.  The man certainly got around back then.  Luma and Kal were part of the first computer dating service for superheroes.  Superman wanted to marry "someone super" so he wouldn't have to worry about harm befalling her.  His cousin Supergirl made him a profile on supers-mingle.com, and found him the lovely Luma.

Luma was a super, however, it was only due to the orange sun of her home planet.  When Superman brought her to our solar system, he discovered that our yellow sun brought her great pain.  In the present, Luma tells Superman she's found an "antidote" and can now live on Earth with him.  She, as is the pattern, vanishes.  Superman gives chase in attempt to solve the mystery... or make-out some more.

Lois, now alone in her apartment, is ambushed by three Durlans... the Chameleon Girls, who have been impersonating the many loves of Superman.  They tie her up and leave.  She easily maneuvers out of her bindings, and notices that the Chameleon Girls are quite sloppy... they'd left their space radio behind.

At the Daily Planet, Superman notices his paramours have assembled atop the building.  Under a trance, Superman approaches the women... promising to go with them.

Lois arrives, and in a moment of hopeful insanity, throws herself from the top of the building.  Superman breaks free from the trance, and plunges down to save Lois.  As they return to the roof, the witness the Durlan Police arriving to arrest the 'Girls.  Lois contacted them with the space radio.  A satisfied Lois basks in the fact that she was able to break Superman free of the trance of his former loves, and knows she still has a chance of becoming Mrs. Superman.

--

Our second story is reminiscent of several old black-and-white two-reel shorts I've seen.  It's something of a murder mystery that takes place at a spooky old mansion.  Perry has arranged it so Lois and Clark will work for horror-actor Carlos Floyd as his maid and butler respectively.

Floyd claims that his wife has fallen gravely ill and is bed-ridden, although we know better than that... clearly, the poor woman's dead.  Lois' intuition kicks in and she feels something is amiss.  Floyd uses everything from a dictaphone, to phony women's arms to keep up the rouse that his wife is still alive.  He even dons lipstick before drinking so as to give the impression that a woman had drank from the glass.

Lois truly takes the starring role during this one.  Clark is in the background for much of it, sneaking away to super-power his way through chores without being spotted.  Lois discovers a mannequin resembling Mrs. Floyd in a closet, and decides to set Mr. Floyd up.

Mr. Floyd would take his deathly ill bed-ridden wife out to... sunbathe each afternoon.  He would rub sun-tan lotion on her back, while she laid there... you see, she laid there because she's a mannequin.  Yeah...

Later, Lois empties the bottle of sun-tan lotion to see how Floyd would react.  Just as she suspected, he did not notice... he wasn't really smearing sun-tan lotion all over a mannequin, after all.

The next evening after sharing her suspicions with Clark, Lois sneaks upstairs and dons the mannequin's blonde wig.  This is the night of a grand ball and movie viewing at the Floyd estate.  A man approaches, threatening to kill her.  This is the man who actually killed Mrs. Floyd back in England... mistakenly believing she was still among the living, he's returned to finish the job.

Once more, Lois falls from a high place... and wouldn'tcha know it, Superman swoops (wooshes) in to save her.  It turns out that the mannequin was wired to a concealed camera that would snap an infrared picture when someone approached.

It turns out that it was Sidney Willis, the former lawyer of Mrs. Floyd who committed the murder.  He was somehow the beneficiary in  her will, and killed her to pay off his gambling debts.  The entire ball and movie viewing was set up to trap the killer into returning to the scene.

Job well done, Lois hugs Superman as he winks to the camera... and we are out.

--

Well, these were certainly stories.

It's issues like this that I have a special difficulty really "reviewing" (if anything I do here at the blog can truly be called a "review", that is).  It's a relic.  There's a certain amount of comics dissonance here... I did not enjoy it, but I had fun reading it... if that makes any sense at all.  Superman's Girl Friend Lois Lane is an odd time-capsule of a book, and is interesting to behold if viewed that way.

This is Lois' title... yet it's still a super hero book.  I would figure that a Lois Lane book would focus more on her investigative journalism, or perhaps feature more personal stories... granted, I am viewing this through the prism of 2016 comics sensibilities.  The fact that this series had such staying power puzzles me as well.  This is the 97th issue of this title.  Flagship titles don't make it that far these days... and a book with Lois Lane in the title did.  Such different and fascinating times.

The stories featured in this issue were fairly shallow.  The writing was good, if not convenient (which is no indictment on quality... simply a sign of the times) and the art was very good.  This book comes from a time wherein creative teams did not receive credit for their work.  This issue has no "creator credits".  I did a bit of research, and the consensus is that these stories were written by Henry Boltinoff and drawn by Irv Novick.  I concede that this may not in actuality be the case, if I learn any different I will make the appropriate changes.

My biggest takeaways from this issue are that a) Lois Lane likes to fall off of high things, and b) Superman is a hopeless romantic who harbors a marriage fetish.  In this issue alone we observe three separate scenes in which Superman discusses or flat out proposes marriage to different women.

It's interesting that at a time wherein these books were overtly aimed at children, nobody was afraid of alienating their audience by having Superman consider marriage.  No one appeared worried that being of marrying age, and with marrying interest, Superman's relatability would be harmed.  Again, different times... guess this is before making excuses for market shrinkage was an industry requirement.

This issue is a solid C.  Not worth tracking down at a premium... if you come across it in the cheap-o's (like I did), I suppose you can do far worse.

--

Interesting Ads:

This is a neat one... promoting the first ever episode of Sesame Street

These ads will never not be creepy...

--

Goodies:

At first glance, I swore they were talking about "LANA" spelled backwards...
and thought things were about to get real...

[Bin Beat] Early Morning Hunts

No rest for the weary this weekend.  Early morning appointments hindered our ability to sleep in... inconvenient perhaps, yet a comic book hunter can see any untimely outing as an opportunity to hit the bins.

Our appointment was on the other side of town, putting us not too far off from one of our normal used-book haunts (Bookman's).  This was something of a novelty, as our timing kind of messed with the dynamics of the visit.  The store is usually rather bustling throughout the weekend, however, at this early hour it was almost as though I had the comic section to myself.

Saturday, 3/5/16 Bookman's finds

I was very tempted to scoop up the run on All-Star Squadron they had... however, I was far too overwhelmed... didn't even know where to start, and didn't want to walk out spending too much.  I was content with my findings, I don't normally see Green Lantern Corps Quarterly in the wild.  Superman: American Alien #3 is one that I somehow neglected when filling out my DCBS order a few months back, so I was happy to grab that (at $1.60, no less).  The "big" find of the day was likely the goofy Superman Meets the Quik Bunny promotional issue.  I had never heard of it before, and once I saw it... I knew I had to have it.  At 40-cents, I couldn't resist.

Sunday morning saw us in the neighborhood of one of our local Half-Price Books.  I wasn't going to drop in, as HPB has coupons running all this coming week.  I figure I'll be popping in a couple of times throughout the sale.  I'm glad I stopped in, as they just tossed another bunch of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero's into the quarter-bin.  Again, at the early hour there weren't any lookie-loos (you know, the people who walk over to the comics... rustle through them like they know what they're looking for... and two seconds later, walk away).  I was glad to have this section to myself as well.

Sunday, 3/6/16 Half-Price Books finds

Along with the Joe's, I grabbed a couple old Image's, Secret Origins #1, and an issue from the Angel and the Ape mini-series.  I just can't resist the allure of a quarter-bin... I probably need help.

There was a fella who bellied up to the bins when I was on my way out... He actually went to the "collectibles" section of the store and grabbed an Overstreet Price Guide from around the turn of the century (it had an Alex Ross cover homage of Fantastic Four #1)... evidently, he was looking to make a big score.  Poor guy didn't even realize like half the books in those bins weren't even out when that guide was published... Sadly, this is not the first time I've experienced this phenomenon.  There are folks out there who think they're gonna get rich at the bins... still.  Oh well... no harm, no foul I guess.

Pretty decent weekend of finds.  Plenty more to squeeze into the to-read pile(s).  While I'm posting, here are the past two-weeks worth of DCBS orders... one huge week, one little one.

That's about all.  Good luck at the bins, and if your neck of the woods has a Half-Price Books... here are this week's coupons.  Hope they can be of help!

Thanks for reading.