Comments on: Into the back issue box #47

By: LouReedRichards

LouReedRichards — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 04:35:30 +0000

What the Mutt said.

If you’re bitching about Greg reviewing old comics maybe you should read the ground rules he posts at the begining of every one of these entries. If you keep reading after that and get pissed off, well it’s your own damn fault.

Into the Back Issue Box is a favorite of mine. I’m always interested to see how well a random issue does at enticing a new reader into the world of comics. It never (well hardly) ever fails, the older a comic the better the chance that it will spell out all the necessary things a new reader needs to know.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:50:02 +0000

I like 25 year old superhero comics, even the mediocre ones.

By: Mary Warner

Mary Warner — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:12:17 +0000

These weren’t the three-in-a-bag books, although they had a ffew of those, too. These were single issues (in bags, with boards). I was really shocked to find them at Hastings.

By: Brian D.

Brian D. — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 22:00:12 +0000

Mary, I love Hastings! The one we go to has an excellent graphic novels/TPB section, so I always end up spending more there than I should (even with the used prices and discounts). But I have to admit that I’ve only glanced at the 3-in-a-bag back issues they have, since the ones I’ve noticed mostly had titles I didn’t care that much about (although like you, I’m happy about the general idea of such older issues being available at cheaper prices), But your post makes me think I should really pay more attention the next time I’m there– I mean, a Luke Cage from 1975 is too good to pass up!

By: Tanzim

Tanzim — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 15:31:49 +0000

Thanks for doing this column again Greg. I missed these.

By: sgt rawk

sgt rawk — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 14:50:37 +0000

I had this whole series. It gets weirder. It’s half-romance comic, half superhero comic. And it’s no worse than any other comic out there. Sometimes, reading something bad teaches you more than reading something good.

By: wwk5d

wwk5d — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 09:16:46 +0000

Hey, maybe Ms. Brick Shithouse is all muscle.

By: Mary Warner

Mary Warner — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 07:36:57 +0000

I thought the ‘AC’ stood for ‘Analog Computer’ (some computers WERE analog in the early days). It even says so in ‘The Last Question’, which was Asimov’s favourite story, by the way.
So Firestar was thirteen when this story began? She was just finishing her junior year in New Warriors, if I remember correctly, and in Marvel Divas she mentions having been to grad school. During all this time, Franklin Richards has aged three or four years at the most. I really wish Marvel could get their timeline straight.
I went to the bookstore today. Not the comic book store (although I went there, too), but the regular bookstore. It’s a Hastings, which is one of those big chains, but it might just be a regional chain, so I don’t know if you other people have heard of it. Anyway, they had two boxes in front of the comics section, which I was stunned to discover were filled with old comics, all for 99 cents. And I don’t mean unsold issues from several months ago (they often sell those off for 99 cents)– I mean old ones, mostly from the ’80s and 90s! And all in really good condition! (I even found a Luke Cage, Power Man from 1975. It didn’t even have a UPC on the cover.) And this store has NEVER sold used comics before, as far as I’m aware.
Anyway, they had Firestar #4, but they didn’t have the first three. So I reluctantly decided not to get it. (The comic book store does have all four issues, but they’re four dollars each there. I’m willing to buy some comics for that price, although I don’t like going any higher, but I’m not sure I want to pay that much for Firestar.)
I did find Secret Wars #12, so I’m really excited. I’ve been waiting twenty-five years to find out how that story ended! (The comic book store has it for six dollars. Definitely more than I’m willing to pay. I wasn’t sure I was ever going to find an affordable copy.) I got ten books altogether, which added to what I’d already spent at the comic store is a bit more than I really wanted to spend today. If I’d known they were going to have those for sale, I wouldn’t have bought the stuff I bought I the comic book store. Oh well. I’m not expecting these old books to still be there next time I get to go to town. (I live in a teeny-tiny town some forty minutes away, and I don’t usually get to check out the bookstores more than twice a month.)
None of you may care, but I’m still walking on air.

By: chad

chad — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 06:42:12 +0000

this is the first i heard fire star got her own comic for she was created just for the cartoon but got so popular spun off into the comics . always wondered how Emma got here to join the hellions thought it was due to brainwashing by Roulete. and also thought her powers was microwave blasts of nova level.

By: Van GoghX

Van GoghX — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 05:39:43 +0000

I still say ‘Multivac’ is a tip of the hat to Asimov. One author to another. Check wikipedia’s entry for Multivac. I agree that Asimov’s Multivac was a reference to the original UNIVAC, he stated so many times. If memory serves he mentions that the ‘vac’ (at least for his Multivac) referred to vacuum tubes. But his short story “The Last Question” follows Multivac through the millenia to the point that it becomes AC (and it is an automatic computer, no longer consisting of tubes).
I’d say you guys are also right, but are missing the Asimov connection.

By: Brian D.

Brian D. — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 05:35:57 +0000

Wait, Mary Jane isn’t a natural redhead??

Now my Sunday is spoiled…

Nice review, Greg, even if this isn’t a comic I would want to read. But that’s one of the reasons I love the site– it turns me on to things I might like, but also offers interesting spins on material I’d just ignore. When folks show up simply to slag off on people with different tastes, it makes me think of the old Pauline Kael line about movie critics: “We read critics to discover a sensibility, to be alerted to hings in the film we didn’t notice before. The opinions we can usually handle ourselves.”

By: Bill Reed

Bill Reed — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 05:24:54 +0000

The giant pink girl built like ten brick shithouses shouldn’t be making fun of anyone’s weight.

This comic looks awful.

By: Sijo

Sijo — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 02:11:29 +0000

I remember this mini. I thought it was OK, though I was underwhelmed by the story being so low-key until the final confrontation with Frost (which Emma should have won easily, but didn’t!) The how-can-she-not-notice-everybody’s-got-Ms-in-their-hands thing baffled me as well, this wasn’t a preteen girl we were dealing with. I can’t help but think it was written more for girls than boys; in that sense it probably worked, but not for me.

Note that I like Firestar, both in TV and the comics. It’s just this mini that didn’t impress me much.

By: The Mutt

The Mutt — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 01:04:01 +0000

“An exhaustively detailed, 2,000-word review devoted to a mediocre 25-year-old comic from a consistently mediocre (albeit hugely successful) publisher featuring a … wait for it … mediocre and eminently forgettable character? Not enough high-quality, underpublicized comics out there to keep you busy, sir?”

“Get a life, Burgas.”

Bwah hah hah! Of all the things on the internet, this is the most internetiest.

He wrote it. He posted it.

All you did was sit on your ass and read it. And then complain about it.

Bwah hah hah.

By: Greg Burgas

Greg Burgas — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:43:56 +0000

Ed: Yeah, I don’t know how well superheroes work in appealing to new readers. They did to me back when I started buying comics, but who knows these days.

The problem with any comics blog is that so much that comes out is superheroes and manga. It’s somewhat frustrating that other genres aren’t more prevalent, but that’s the way it is. We do review quite a bit that’s not superheroes, but it kind of goes in cycles. Back in September I reviewed over 20 books (one a day) that weren’t superheroes. I’m about to crank up more of them, because I have a decent stack of non-superhero stuff. Look for it soon!

By: Ed Buskirk

Ed Buskirk — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:28:37 +0000

I wasn’t just referring to you, Greg, and I apologize for sounding holier-than-thou. It’s true I only started reading this site about six weeks ago, but I’ve been here every day since, and read most of the archive, and 95% of this site is dedicated to superheroes, with the rest devoted to manga. Where are the alternatives? Are there no “good” alternative comics?

And no offense, but I don’t believe ANY superhero comic would make a non-comics-reader want to start reading comics. Not even Watchmen. I have introduced a few people to comics, and people unfamiliar with the medium respond better to types of stories they’re already familiar with. I gave men From Hell, Eightball, Hate and old R. Crumb. Some of those guys ended up reading superheroes, most of them stuck with alternative comics. I gave my girlfriends Love & Rockets, and some ended up reading Sandman. But it never worked the other way around. If superheroes appeal to someone, they’re already reading them.

I love comics because of the format itself, not because I’m a fan of the genres that dominate the format. I don’t limit myself to one genre of movies or novels, but most comic fans do limit themselves to superheroes.

And in closing, I’ll say take Greg’s advice and check out Starstruck by Lee and Kaluta.

By: Greg Burgas

Greg Burgas — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:07:20 +0000

Sheesh, people. The entire point of this exercise is that I want to see if random comics are easily accessible to a first-time comic book reader. This one is, but it’s not that good otherwise. If I have the time to write an entire post on it, what’s the problem? As for highlighting underpublicized comics and widening my horizons … well, you obviously don’t read the site that often.

By: Daniel O' Dreams

Daniel O' Dreams — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 23:50:28 +0000

Wow what’s with all the vitriol? I remember quite liking this comic as an 11 year old. No surprise it doesn’t hold up well but jeez is it THAT much worse than say the average issue of Marvel’s or DC’s monthly output? If anyone is intrigued about the rest of the series I recently saw it’s collected in a digest sized trade (like Runaways) I was actually considering picking it up.

Oh Also I always got the impression Angelica was written to be older and they made her 12/13 because of the whole “mutant powers manifest at puberty” thing. I’d bet her age was a later addition to the story.

By: Fielding

Fielding — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 23:48:40 +0000

Get a life, Burgas.

By: Ed Buskirk

Ed Buskirk — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 23:41:55 +0000

fit2print, you summed up my feelings about this site in general. While I’ve enjoyed many features on this site, I find it extremely odd that a site called Comics Should Be Good spends so much time obsessing over crappy superhero comics. Widen your horizons, people.