Detective Comics #652 & #653

Detective Comics #652 & #653 were both written by Chuck Dixon and Drawn by Graham Nolan.

I wasn't a big Batman fan when Chuck Dixon started writing the series. Something about the character just didn't appeal to me, so I stayed away until Robin got his own monthly series. I have no idea why I was drawn to that comic, but I enjoyed Chuck Dixon's writing so much I have tracked down about half his run on Detective (which he wrote for almost 100 issues #644-738)

Fast paced and visually exciting, Mr. Dixon's Batman is one of my favourites. I have no idea why these comics aren't worth more money (I guess being published in the 90's means there is hundreds of thousands of copies out there) but I'm kinda glad they are as cheap as they are. Anytime I see a Chuck Dixon Batman comic I buy it. I know it is going to be a solid story. Infact, I react so quickly, I've often bought comics I already own. Like these two.

This story takes place towards the start of his run on the series, and has The Huntress guest star for 2 issues. It's always fun to watch these characters interact. She is trying to do good, and he is judging her the entire time....and she is sure she isn't going to measure up.

If you haven't read Chuck Dixon, then this is a great intro to his style. If you have, then you know any Dixon Batman is a good comic. $1.00 each, might as well get both.

AnimalMan by grant Morrison

Animal Man #18,19,21,22 written by Grant Morrison and drawn by Chas Troug & Doug Hazlewood.

This post proves that I am not selling crappy comics I don't want any more. This is Grant Morrison's AnimalMan. One the best comics ever made. I read his entire 26 issue run in tradepaperbacks that I had taken from the library, and liked it so much I have bought most of those issues individually.

If you aren't familiar with this comic, then I implore you buy these copies. For $4.00 you'll get a taste of what this comic was all about. Finding these issues anywhere else will probably run you $3-4 per issue.

Mr. Morrison took a relatively obscure character in Buddy Baker and explored ideas of super heroics, environmentalism and vegetarianism. In fact, according to Mr. Morrison himself he was trying to sort through his own beliefs at the time, and ended up changing his mind about a couple of things.

As a side note, in the same interview, he mentioned how stupid some people are when they said things like "I hope any scientist experimenting on an animal comes back as an animal that is experimented on" because, as he put it "How do you know that hasn't happened? that the animals being experimented on used to be scientists?" (I am paraphrasing)

Anyway, this is comics at their absolute best as written by one of the masters of the art form.

$1 each or all four for $4.

Ka-Zar #4 & #5 by Mark Waid and Andy Kubert

I am going to level with you, when this comic came out I avoided it completely. Ka-Zar? From the Savage Land? As an ongoing comic... Seriously? Well, I've since learned to just trust Mark Waid. The man knows how to write, and even characters that seem b or c list become fascinating.

And when I finally started grabbing back issues of Ka-Zar whenever I could find them, I ended up grabbing doubles of these two issues.

If you don't know anything about Ka-Zar or this series, then your best bet is to read Pipeline. Augie De Blieck Jr writes a great column on it, and to be frank, he does a much better job of it then I could.

This is a great series, and I can't recommend it enough. It is one of those comics that is way better then it sounds like it is going to be. And while Waid may have left the series after 14 or 15 issues, Christopher Priest took over for a while and kept up the quality.

Sad that I missed it when it was originally released, i am glad I have it now. And so can you....or at least issues 4 & 5 of it.

Project Superpowers #0

Project Superpowers #0 by Alex Ross, Jim Krueger, Doug Klauba & Stephen Sadowski.

This is a bit of a cheat. Unlike the other comics, which I paid a cover price of 2-4 dollars on, this comic only cost $1.00 when it came out in 2008.

It is the prologue to a grand story that Alex Ross and Jim Krueger came up with. Basically, they took a whole bunch of comic book characters that had fallen into public domain and bring them together in present day with an explanation as to where they have been since their stories were last published.

It's a pretty epic tale (the whole thing, not just this issue). Worth noting is that there is a complete story here. It isn't just 3-4 pages of story and then sketches like a lot of preview/prologue comics tend to be. There are 28 pages of story and then 4-5 at the end that are pinups/sketches.

I grabbed a couple of copies to give away (I tend to do that when I see discount comics....like the time I gave away 70+ Fantastic Four comics) but some how managed to bag and board this one with my own copy.

Well worth a $1.00 for the cover, let alone the story. So even if you don't get it from me, get it if you see it.

The Incredible Hulk, Drawn by Todd McFarlane

The Incredible Hulk # 336 & #337. Written by Peter David and Drawn by Todd McFarlane.

This is the first post where I am questioning the wisdom of every comic for a dollar rule I have imposed on myself. Surely any comic from Peter David's legendary run on The Incredible Hulk is worth more then $1.00? And drawn by Todd McFarlane? If you know who that is, you know this is worth a couple of bucks at least. And if you don't, google him, trust me this is a deal! So why am I selling it? Well, for one, I have doubles of each. And secondly, not every comic I am posting up here is going to be the greatest comic, but I want to make sure most are at least worth reading. And this two part story is definitely worth more then just reading. If I went to the bother, I could probably get 5-10 bucks for each of these in a store or e-bay. But I want sell quality here, not quantity. (The hope is you'll spend like $10 on 10 comics even if you aren't familiar with 5 of them, because you trust I am selling stuff worth owning)

The Grey version of The Hulk (it is still Bruce Banner, just a different manifestation of The Hulk) faces off against X-factor (back when X-factor was made up of the original X-men Cyclops, Jean grey, Iceman, Beast & Angel...though the last two don't seem to show up here) and while I am selling the comics separately, unless you are filling in missing issues in your collection, I recommend spending the $2 for both.

Peter David wrote this series for something like 10 years, and while each issues contributed to a long term story, it is nice to be able to grab something like these 2 issues and get a complete story. The best part is probably McFarlane's art but like the Madrox comics I posted about earlier, this is Peter David when he is at his best.

A McFarlance comic for $1.00? What the hell am I thinking.....i guess you could say I Have Issues.

Venom The Madness #1

Venom The Madness #1 by Ann Nocenti and Kelley Jones.

As you can see from the embossed cover and the "Ultra Cool First Issue" in the top right corner, this comic is straight out of the 90s.

Back when Eddie Brock was still Venom and Venom was a hot property for Marvel, they spun him out of Spider-man and into a series of mini-series. Though to be completely honest only the first of those (Lethal Protector) was actually worth the cover price.

That said, this isn't a bad comic (though it ain't a great one either). Venom/Eddie has taken to protecting a bunch of homeless people who live underground and falls in love with a lawyer. The plot is better then it sounds, but the dialogue is a bit clunky in spots, when characters are clearly telling the reader what they need to know, as opposed to talking, y'know, naturally.

As the Cover suggests, Venom takes on The Juggernaut in this story, but there is also an environmental subplot going on. Seems all the toxic waste in the area has created...something.

I can't say this is Ann Nocenti's best work (See the adjectively Spider-man #17 for that, where she makes a company wide cross over for The Infinity Gauntlet work brilliantly) and admittedly, this comic does fall victim to what ever it was that was 90s mainstream comics, but still worth a look at as there is a story behind the pretty pictures.

So keeping with the 90s feel: you should TOTALLY BUY this #1 COLLECTORS EDITION, EMBOSSED COVER comic that can only be described as "ULTRA COOL". It is only $1.oo, how can you go wrong?

Azreal Agent of the Bat #86 was written by Denny O'Neil and drawn by Serio Cariello.

Azreal, for those who don't know, was the guy that took over being Batman during the huge Knightquest/Knightfall crossover in the 90s when Bruce Wayne had his back broken.

This story takes place much later,as Azreal had graduated to his own monthly comic after that story ended (and Bruce returned to being Batman)

This issue is towards the tail end of the comic's existence (It ended with issue 100) and while it isn't ever going to end up on anyone's top ten comics of all time list, it is a solid Denny O'Neil tale. The man was pretty reliable for quality as far as I have ever read....except maybe his Wonder Woman (and even then, I only say that cause he has said it wasn't his best work)

This is one of those comics that I wouldn't pay top dollar for, but well worth a buck or two (and as luck would have it, I'm selling it for a buck here!) As with most comics here, I am only selling it cause I have 2 copies of it for some reason.