So like, some comic store in southern California went out of business and the owner donated his entire store to a hospice store. Somehow that entire collection ended up in a store in my town. So at the hospice store there is a room FILLED with comic books, and i do mean filled. White long boxes stacked head high all the way around the room.
I got these for $10.00 USD. I swear it was like the damn motherlode




I picked up a lot of different #1's to see if I could make some money right quick, but I found out that comics aren't really worth anything anymore. So plan B, I'm going to start collecting and reading comics again since they are beyond cheap now.

What's different this time is that alot of the series that I liked or whatever back then have actually ended and with ebay it's easy enough to grab entire sets. So I was thinking about reading some entire comic runs, in the original issues, not trade paperbacks.
I want to read the actual issues for the ads and letters and all that.

Aside from all the stuff I bought, I'd like to read:

the rest of Punisher War Journal. (Marvel, 80 issues)
Punisher War Zone (Marvel, 41 issues)
The Punisher (Marvel, 104 issues)
G.I. Joe (Marvel, 155 issues)
The 'Nam (I got #1 in that buy and it was pretty good.) (Marvel, 85 issues)
Maybe:
New Mutants (Marvel 100 issues)
X-Force (Marvel, 129 issues)
Excalibur (Marvel, 125 issues)

Does anyone else collect comics or want to recommend a series to read? I only want to read full runs, nothing currently ongoing.
What comics would you like to read?

I found a great spot to pick up single issues to fill the gaps in your collection.
http://www.mycomicshop.com
Mostly pretty cheap, I was amazed at how much they are selling some of the old Image issues of The Walking Dead for though.
Also..
THIS.

I've been reading the Marvel G.I. Joe complete run (original) and I've got to say that I'm impressed with how hardcore it is sometimes. The writing is pretty good for the most part. There is some really cheesy crap going on of course, but overall I think it's one of the better comics of it's time. Interesting how it's about the only Marvel title to take place outside the Marvel Universe. Larry Hama is dope.

Jeremy Feeple, Lol. I bought NHS #'s 5 and 6 when they were new on the comic book store shelves. It was Emerald City Comics in Eugene Oregon. That place was rad.

Pill'sGhost wrote:Interesting how it's about the only Marvel title to take place outside the Marvel Universe.

That's not entirely true, Transformer's and Conan were outside of the normal Marvel Universe also.

Pill'sGhost wrote:Larry Hama is dope.

This is entirely true.

I must say I'm jealous! G.I. Joe is the main series I want to read, hands down. I always loved that comic, it really is hardcore too. I guess like hella joe's get killed towards the end of the series.

I'm curious, are you reading individual issues, trade paperbacks or are you doing like a .cbr type of thing? I found a .torrent for the whole G.I. Joe series in .cbr...I downloaded the torrent file, but I haven't had the heart to run it, I'm not sure if I want to read comics like that.
On the other hand...comic book collecting is a strange hobby, they take up SO MUCH SPACE. Like at least with TPB's they look nice on your bookshelf and someone else might actually want to read them sometime. With individual comics, you're stuck with a shitton of white boxes. So I don't know, I might actually get the TPB's of G.I. Joe, although I did buy issue #1 on ebay today for $15.
They are releasing TPB's of G.I. Joe as we speak, they are up to volume #12 which has issues 111-123 in it.
*edit volume 13 just came out last month.

The end of Larry Hama''s original run on A Real American Hero is drawing near! Now sporting their own Ninja Force, Drug Elimination Force, and Eco-Warriors, the G.I. JOE team is politically correct and ready for anything!

^lol




I also picked up Excalibur#1 at Bonanza for 5.00 today. They only had like 10 random issues of G.I. Joe! Behind the counter!
Excalibur 1 was cool though.

BAM!!! G.I.Joe # 49 was the first comic book I ever bought. They ran a TeeVee commercial for this! The issue introduces Serpentor, the advertisement had a 'get it before the tV show' angle going for it. Of course this was the Golden age of after school cartoons and I was really into it. Needless to say the ad campaign worked it's Cobra mind fuck magic on me. So much so that I raked up all the leaves in the backyard to get the money for it (.75cents! Bah, those were the days) plus I had to ride my bike down to the Thrifty's on Tully to get it. Wonder of wonders they had it. I carried that comic around in my back pocket for weeks after that. I remember being very shocked at how realistic and gritty it seemed compared to the cartoon. One of the bodies they used to make Serpentor was a recently gun downed Stormshadow (they can die?) and even more mind blowing was the fact he was gun downed by the Baroness> (WHAT? Aren't they on the same side?). Enthralling.

But I digress.

I'm glad they are finally releasing TPB's finally. I gave up on collecting single issues years ago (excluding The Walking Dead because it was new and had zombies) mostly for of the gaps in availability/continuity. I want to read the whole thing dammit. So I didn't give up on comics but relegated myself to TPB's and Graphic Novels. The irony is that I've gone into comic shops (most notably Bonanza) over the years to see what they had. It seemed a waste to me that they weren't printing more collections because I would have been buying them, but now that I can't really afford anything not baby or house related right now (seriously, I haven't even bought a pack of guitar strings since I left Modesto) they are finally starting to release the good stuff.

SO yes I've gone the .cbr route. I started that mostly because I worked nights for the last six months and needed something to entertain myself with on those late nights or early mornings off when my wife needed to sleep. The ethics of torrenting aside, I have no qualms about getting me some good ol Mighty Marvel for free. The endless crossovers, the awesome cover artists and mediocre fill-in artists, the shameless extra issue gimmicks, the endless walks to Bonanza to be dissapointed by another deadline delay...

Oh yeah, .cbr's. I actually think they're pretty cool. Not only do you get a backlit comic book page, but I love the ability to zoom in and out on panels. Really I felt weird about it at first but it didn't take long to enjoy the format. I still like having real books of course, but I think the .cbr thing will actually help preserve comics in the long run. There is plenty of stuff that the comic book companies will never re-release because of the questionable profitability, but fans would love to just be able to read.

Btw, good point about the Transformers and Conan existing outside of the MVU. Can you imagine if they were included?