It’s that time again, where I tell you what’s really grinding my gears for the week of May 8th, 2019.
Some weeks it’s mostly likes, other weeks it’s dislikes.
So what’s grinding my gears this week?
NYCC 2019
New York Comic Con coming this October is on again as the approval email came through.
So for all of you who attend, you can find me hanging out with Anthony and Tyson (from ToyBoxOne.com). It’s not even the convention that’s fun, it’s just hanging out in NYC as a long weekend getaway that’s nice.
Last year I went up a day early and spent the day tooling about the city so it wasn’t just attending the convention. I think this year I might end up going a few days early again for some sight seeing.
Avengers Endgame
Finally went and saw the movie. Thought it was great. Not as good as Infinity War but was definitely entertaining. At least no parents brought any kids that ruined the movie experience either, so that was a plus. Spoilers below so stop reading if you don’t like spoilers and have yet to see the movie.
I can definitely see why people jumped on Avengers #12. Will it hold long term? Probably not but I bet it continues to stick around as a solid key book now after the movie.
Captain America becoming worthy was actually pretty awesome piece to the movie. We all know in Ultron he was the only one that slightly moved Mjolnir that got Thor’s attention. It was pretty cool to see Thor’s reaction after Steve yielded the hammer against Thanos with a big, “I knew it!”.
If they keep Professor Hulk around for any upcoming movies, Incredible Hulk #377 will stick around I think as a solid $10 to $20 book as well. I actually didn’t mind Hulk in the movie as Professor Hulk.
Nebula ended up being a lead in this movie. I hope she continues to be a big part of of the MCU as I really liked her in this movie. I was hoping for more Captain Marvel but I suppose limiting her since she’s off saving other parts of the galaxy and universe plays a crucial role in the upcoming movies. Plus we know were gonna get a Captain Marvel sequel.
The whole Rescue Armor by Potts I saw as irrelevant, they could have focused more on other heroes that are more relevant to the Avengers. Sure there were a few cool scenes but don’t think that will hold any weight long term. Tony Stark is out of the picture, I doubt we’ll be seeing any Potts in future movies.
I can’t blame Steve for staying in the past to be with his woman but the whole scene of him appearing on the bench was unnecessary. A note with the Shield to Sam would have been good enough for me.
Overall I’d give the movie an A-.
DC’s Card Stock Covers
I’m still debating if I’m going to bother with these but I’ve finally decided which card stock cover I like the most upcoming from DC’s Year of the Villain covers they’re gonna push out soon.
The winner for me so far is the Nightwing #62 (Card Stock Variant) Year of the Villain: The Offer Tie-In:
I was a big fan of the Court of Owls story line in Batman. We need more Court of Owls.
Batman TPB Vol. 01 The Court of Owls – $13.59
In this new trade paperback, a series of brutal murders rocks not only Gotham City to its core but also the Caped Crusader himself when the prime suspect is one of Batman’s closest allies: Dick Grayson!
CHU Community Forums
The CHU forums are almost complete and we hope to have it opened to the public very soon for anyone to signup and join. For now the main site here and the forum will be separate entities from one another but over time we’ll likely start to merge them (basically comments are handled and integrated into discussions on the forum).
But stay tuned for the announcement when signups are ready for the masses.
That’s all I got this week. Mostly likes, that’s a good thing right? What are you liking or disliking this week?
May I just say I’m excited for forums!
Check your email! 😉
How do we find the forums ?
Check your email.. maybe spam or junk folder! 😉
Was it just me, or did Hulk look more like Mark Ruffalo facially than in any of the previous films .. ??
It was probably due to more merging of Banner and Hulk…. He was smaller too than from first Avengers.
I didn’t like having an off week from things I like/dislike.
I had a lot of gripes and no where to air them.
I’m sorry. 🙁
No worries..just wanted to say I missed this column last week!
Glad you people enjoy them. Hoping I can return to my Marvelous Monday as well…. Just didnt have time to sit down and choose a book to read.
Agreed, RE: Capullo’s “Nightwing” Talon variant. That one is going on my pull-list, for sure!
My other favourite is the Middleton “Batgirl” Oracle cover. Such a clean piece, perfect for Barbara Gordon fans.
Looking forward to the forums and all the discussions we will have. Will be nice to see what topics and speculation others have 🙂
We’re almost there. Hoping to have it opened to the masses here soon.
Things I hate:
1. Comic stores with boxes upon boxes of comics that are never for sale as they haven’t been gone through & priced so I can’t browse (for months on end).
2. Comic stores that don’t price anything & want me to sit while their staff member searches ebay listings & doesn’t understand sold/vs/active.
3. Comic stores that question me when I buy more than one of anything when they are just sitting in back issues anyways?
4. Dealers at comic shows who seem more concerned about showing off their books versus actually selling anything.
Things I love:
1. Comic stores & staff who appreciate my business, set aside a book they “think” I may want (so I buy it just because of that) just to be nice or knock 10% of a wall book just because even though I’m prepared to pay full price.
2. Comic staff who genuinely engage me in conversation about their store, my comic buying patterns, & thoughts on the industry.
1. That’s annoying but that’s a store losing out on potential sales I say.
2. I wouldn’t sit and wait. I’d just get up and leave if they made me wait to see what they want to charge me. I’d imagine if I owned a shop with back issues, I would try to do a monthly once over on back issues to price point them. Perhaps if I had employees, I would digitize my complete inventory and track sales so I know what I have at any given minute. If I see a book that has heated up, I know exactly where and how many I have to update the prices out on the floor in the long boxes.
3. That’s annoying. They selling comics or are they hoarding comics. My shops usually just ask, “did you intend to get two of these?” just to make sure I’m not buying duplicates of a book by accident.
4. That’s annoying as well. Makes you think how one stays in business with such tactics.
I love the likes as well. A shop that gets semi-personal on the business side of things wins customers over.
Something I hate: Know-it-all stores that assume everyone coming in is an idiot who knows nothing about comics and has to be “educated.” Like anybody stepping in isn’t already aware comics come out on Wednesday. Maybe this is just a West Coast thing, but Earth 2 Comics is full the most condescending, rip-off a-holes you’ve ever met.
I just smile and nod when this happens.
Oh Where to begin…?
Amorphous Ink: Are they notorious for shipping late? I ordered an Immortal Hulk 16 2nd print Inhyuk Lee variant…their site at the time said they’d ship the week of 4/24…yet to receive a shipping notice and I see others are posting their copies on eBay with photos of the comic in hand. They don’t Have a phone contact, so I have to use email…hope they’re not like comic xposure when it comes to getting back to customers…
Midtown Comics: Specifically new website. I cannot filter new releases on my phone, and I have to turn my iPad sideways to get it to work on that device. It’s like they wanted to make their online site more like the app….which I don’t use because it was so cumbersome to search for anything…now, if I can get it to filter I have to scroll…..scroll…..scroll….to,get what I want.
Maybe I’ll get used to it…maybe if they just made some of the cover pictures smaller like they used to be….
Maybe we should all ban together and complain to midtown…
I’m with you on the new Midtown site, I’m not a fan for sure.
Midtown Comics (again): They announced they were going to have some of their overstock FCBD 2019 comics available around 11am this morning…and I was psyched I might actually be able to get some issues that my lcs didn’t have and only pay shipping…
Well, 11am came and did not get a link or reminder…and I could not get the new website to bring up the comics in a search….even when I typed int the title.
Had to go to Facebook and get the link from a post several days ago….and by then just about everything I wanted was out of stock.
Wow — I had a totally different experience with Midtown’s FCBD sale. I didn’t remember the sale until 11am my time (3 hours behind them, so about 2 pm their time) and went to the site which immediately posted a link to the books and found all of them still available. Shipping was a tad more pricey than usual, but not out of line. I used a laptop, so that might have made a difference. Sorry you had such a rough go of it!
I do agree with you about the new site, though — not a fan of the endless scrolling and the time it takes for everything to load up.
The Comic Mint: this is a thing I like. I ordered a couple comics that were part of a limited (500) release. When I got them last week one was damaged. I contacted them immediately and sent photos. They said send proof the comic has been destroyed and they’ll send me a new one, which I did and the replacement will be here tomorrow.
Second time I’ve received a damaged comic and both times they quickly responded and replaced it.
Kudos to Them!
Comic Mint is top notch.
“The whole Rescue Armor by Potts I saw as irrelevant”
It does open up a new toy option. The new POP MARVEL AVENGERS ENDGAME W2 RESCUE VINYL FIG MAR198838 was on Diamonds new products to order list yesterday. I would expect a couple statue types, maybe something from Legends or Marvel Selects and maybe the Mates lines, some keychains, cups, t-shirts, lanyards, banks, etc.. They’re already doing most of that with Ironheart.
Well, obviously they want to market it to make more money. 🙂