the vynsane asylum

Okay, that's definitely overkill. But comics are still the only form of periodicals that aren't almost entirely financially supported by ads. (The generally-held maxim in the newspaper business, no joke, is that the articles are what fills up space between the ads. Because, from a business perspective, stories make no money and actually cost money since you have to pay reporters and wire services, but ads are pure revenue. That's why some issues of newspapers are bigger than others--it's that they got more ads. There will always be stories that can be found to fill up a bigger paper, and stories that can be put on the backburner when ad sales are down.) When you take out all or most of the ads, then factor in that your creative budget is around $15,000 per issue, and your print runs are only in the 10,000-20,000 range for the most part, well, it's no fucking wonder that they're $3+ each.

Honestly, given how much they cost, and since the primary audience isn't five-year-olds who are entranced by the bright colors, I'd be fine with it all being black and white.

in the store:
Iron Man: Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.War Machine: Weapon of S.H.I.E.L.D. #34
Atomic Robo: The Dogs of War #3
Madman Atomic Comics #11
Fables #77
Amazing Spider-man #573 (Colbert Variant)

in the mail:
Amazing Spider-man #573 (Standard J.R. Jr. cover)
Mighty Avengers #19

with ASM at $3.99 and touting FOUR covers (UGH!) i wasn't going to bite, but the colbert cover is actually really cool looking (a little better than the "villain variant" and FAR better than the horrid "zombie variant") and i paid all of $3.14 for all my in-store books this week, due to my $20 credit - midtown comics gives you a $20 buy-back for every $100 you spend, so i get $20 of free comics once every month and a half or so - i figured what the hell?

Punisher #63 - Frank deals with the possibility that he shot and killed a young girl. So far the departure of Garth hasn't hurt the series like I was afraid it would. But if this bad guy in the gas mask is who I'm thinking it is (He seems to have a past connection to Frank and hides his face for a reason) I'll be a little pissed.

NYX: No Way Home #3 - If NYX were published by almost anyone but Marvel it'd be a darn good ongoing series.

A boatload. I have no idea from which of the last 3-4 weeks any of these came out in, so I'll just hit them by title:

Amazing 573,574
Cap 42,43
DD 111,112
Hulk 6,7 (3 copies - I wanted the Turner variant and could only get one by buying the other 2, all 3 at cover though instead of blowing $15 on one book)
New Avengers 45,46
X-Men Magneto Testament 1,2 (last copies in the store, thanks for recommending this RB!!!)
X-Men Legacy 216,217
Uncanny 503 (holy sexy cover!)
Secret Invasion 7
Mighty Avengers 19
FF 560
Wolvie Origins 28
Kick Ass 4 (2nd edition - at least I have the story)
GI Joe 0 (cover A - the Snake Eyes visor reflecting the Cobra insignia - sweet ass!!!)

in the store
invincible #54
secret invasion #7
secret invasion: the amazing spider-man #3

in the mail
amazing spider-man #574
daredevil #112
new avengers #46

jjreason wrote:X-Men Magneto Testament 1,2 (last copies in the store, thanks for recommending this RB!!!

So you read it? Incredible huh?

Grimlock reads Archie.

Criminal #6
Daredevil #112
Secret Invasion #7 - I really wish I could figure what the fuck is going on here.

Diabolical wrote:Secret Invasion #7 - I really wish I could figure what the fuck is going on here.

um... lots and lots of fighting. 'bout it.

It looks like the artist threw a ton of action figures on the ground and drew it 22 times.
Those that weren't Marvel heroes became Skrulls.

And Venom - human (Gargan?) or Skrull?
Osborn tells him to do something, on the next page he's speaking Skrull, then near the end he's back with the heroes.

I did like the part with Spidey talking about The Watcher.

Diabolical wrote:It looks like the artist threw a ton of action figures on the ground and drew it 22 times.
Those that weren't Marvel heroes became Skrulls.

HAHA! yeah, it does sort of look like that...

And Venom - human (Gargan?) or Skrull?
Osborn tells him to do something, on the next page he's speaking Skrull, then near the end he's back with the heroes.

don't have it in front of me, but i'm rather positive the "venom" speaking skrullese or whatever isn't the gargan venom, therefore a skrull with venom powers/genes. if memory serves, the eyes were like old 90's/brock venom, whereas the gargan venom has human-shaped eyes that are all-white, with the larger venom-shaped white part surrounding them.

vynsane wrote:

And Venom - human (Gargan?) or Skrull?
Osborn tells him to do something, on the next page he's speaking Skrull, then near the end he's back with the heroes.

don't have it in front of me, but i'm rather positive the "venom" speaking skrullese or whatever isn't the gargan venom, therefore a skrull with venom powers/genes. if memory serves, the eyes were like old 90's/brock venom, whereas the gargan venom has human-shaped eyes that are all-white, with the larger venom-shaped white part surrounding them.

You appear to be correct. The Skrull speaking Venom doesn't have the human eyes, where the later one does.

Also, on the page with the Invisible Women attack Reed, look who is in the bottom left corner of the page.

is that the page with howard the duck in it? apparently leinil yu is a huge fan. i think i read that in an interview with bendis somewhere... that wherever there's a huge splash of a bunch of heroes, yu will stick howard in there somewhere... he's between stature's tits in the big splash page at the end of #6.

Astonishing X-Men Ghost Boxes 1 (of 2)
Wolverine Origins 29
ASM 575
Thor 11
ASM Annual 1 (or 35, as it suggests on the cover)

Astonishing 27 and Punisher 52 during a trip out of town. I also got Astonishing 26 but found out I already had a copy once I got home. Didn't I just make a thread about that????

I pre-ordered several upcoming DVDs (Wall-E, Prince Caspian, and The Dark Knight) from Amazon, and stuck Invincible Vol 1 on there. They shipped it out piecemeal again, and Invincible got here today, so I can finally see if vyn is right or full of shit. (I'm figuring probably right.)

They also sent the new Susan Tedeschi CD, and I was pleased to see some cleavage on the back cover. She's not much of a looker, but a woman who sings like Janis Joplin, plays like Bonnie Raitt (on the rare occasions Bonnie's playing real blues and not pussy adult contemporary), and lets her ample bosom hang out? We should all be so lucky as Derek Trucks.