First trip to Maw Peb's Needful Things Junkstore March 9th 2016

Since I couldn't sleep my plan was to go to town.Hit the library book sale.Then Dirt Cheap. Then grab a bite to eat on the drive home.

Well the library sale was a bust.Even though they had 3 boxes of brand new CDs,saw names like Reba Mcintire and The BeeGees in there.

Dirt Cheap was a total bust. The toy department is over run with opened lego sets,yeah not gonna take a chance on opened legos,and various Star Wars flying drones that are missing pieces.

So while driving to a little corner store that I know has good breakfast stuffs,named The Guy with the Good Biscuits and the name isn't a lie,I spotted a junkstore. One I had driven past a bunch but it was always closed.

I pull into the parking lot and the only other vehicle is a old pick up truck with both the back window and passenger side window covered with black garbage bags.I put my headphones on and continued listening to a podcast. Walked up to the door and saw the name painted on a big window "Maw Peb's Needful Things".Looking thru the windows looks to be lots of household bullshit and clothes.So I enter,but if I see Max Von Sydow I am getting the fuck out of this place. I walk in and to my right is a huge shelf of DVDs,VHS,PS2 and X-box games.A lady comes out of a back room and I get her attention and ask her what the prices are. "DVD is 2,PS2 is 5,X-box is 10 and VHS is 50 cents."I go thru all the DVDs first. Mostly shit that was in the Walmart $5 bin 4 years ago. Lots of grey market Sonny Chiba films. Then on the next to bottom shelf I find a VHS.

I looked closer at it once I got home and saw it was from an old video store.

But more on that in a bit.

The lady had went back into the back room. I was getting closer to the register and all of a sudden this huge great dane jumps up and barks. I was startled by the movement,didn't really hear the bark cause of my headphones. She comes back out tells the dog "Scooby be nice or no snacks today!" I chuckle cause the great dane's name is Scooby. Since she is back out I ask her if she has any toys in the store. Get pointed to a far corner.

The first thing I find was a blind buy DC mini statue thing. She tells me "Yeah all the toys are 1 buck if not in package.2 bucks if in the package." I figure 2 bucks is a decent amount to take a chance on the blind buy. Looking at the back there is only one figure I do not want,which was a crappy looking Superman.

I opened the DC mini statue package once I got out in my car. And here is who I got....

A pretty decent looking Cyborg. One nice thing to come out of the universe wide reboot DC did a few years ago is how much of a higher profile Cyborg now has in the non-comic merchandise.

Behind a stack of puzzles. I see a green package.So I pull it out.

 From the modern Nick TMNT toy line it is Head Droppin' Leonardo. I remember the old 80's line had the head droppin' action feature.

As you can see the packaging was beat up. I do like how they put the other figures from the line on the back. Seems like lots of the modern toy lines don't do this. As  a kid I would save the cards so I could figure out which figure to get next.

 Leo has 14 points of articulation. Most of them in his arms. His neck doesn't move. And besides at the hips his legs have no other articulation spots.

There is Leo with the head dropped. Unlike the old ones,were the head only stayed down if you held it down,these lock down. Then you squeeze the legs together to make the head come back up.

Leo comes with 2 swords. With one being slightly shorter than the other. And has a great set of scabbards on his back.

And there was another thing in the package that I remember toy lines  doing when I was a kid.

I got 2 huge foldout product catalogs. One of them is mostly cars with the Turtles permanently affixed to them.Then lots of pictures of a huge amount of action figures. This might end up being the toy line that gets me back into collecting modern toys.

Heading back to the register to check out,thinking that a $5 will cover what I am buying. Then the lady tells me the back room "While it is mostly clothes there is some books and VHS back there. Go take a look."

I walked back there and see another huge shelf. This time it is mostly books. With maybe 40 VHS near the bottom. And I find one that as far as I know isn't out on DVD or Blu Ray...

Shock'Em Dead!!! I rented this decades ago from Phar-More Video in Mobile Alabama.Back then I am sure I rented it cause I knew who Traci Lords was an wanted to see if she could act or not. Currently I want it cause not only is it not out on a digital format,watch as soon as I post this someone will link me to a Blu Ray of this,but also cause I am wanting to get copies of every 70s thru 90s Heavy Metal+Horror film.

So I mentioned when talking about Scream Blackula Scream,that the VHS was from a video store.

 I wonder when Video Stop closed.The sticker seems to say the store was inside Sack And Save. Which was a grocery store that our friends up here went to.And now is the Piggly Wiggly that always smells slightly of vomit. Then I looked at the other sides of the tape.

No idea how hard that will be to read. But it says West Coast Video. I am guessing this might be the name of the distributor? I really have no clue.

So I finally head to the register to check out. I jokingly ask her if they charge sales tax."Too early to bother with that.5 even." I hand her a five. And then get in my car and head home.

Finding this much VHS that doesn't look picked over is rare in this area.So I am adding this store to my "Must check every month"list.

2016 Comic Challenge 124 Good Girl Comics #17

TITLE-Good Girl Comics #17
PUBLISHER-AC Comics

I really enjoy all these various indy comics that reprint Golden Age stories. AC Comics is best known for their long running title Fem Force. In which either various Golden Age heroines or close copies of them are teamed up in the modern age to fight crime.

Good Girl Comics was a quarterly comic. With usually one new story,most of the time starring whatever Fem Force member was on the cover. Then the rest of the 52 pages is filled up with "good girl" art from the Golden Age.

Issue 17 is the penultimate issue of this series. The original story has Nightveil,the lady on the front cover fighting off sentient evil ice cream. Then there is 4 reprints of Golden Age stuff. With Sky Gal being the best known.

I am guessing this comic never sold well. In my many years of hitting comic shops and cons I have only seen 2 issues of this series. Both of which I bought. Might be the $3.95 cover price turned away curious eyes. Maybe it was cause it was in b/w.Whatever the reason now most issues of this series will run you at least $7 to buy an issue.

Good Girl Comics #17 gets a borrow.

2016 Comic Challenge 123 House II:The Second Story

TITLE-House II:The Second Story
PUBLISHER-Marvel Comics

I would love to find out why Marvel did a comic book adaptation of the mid 80s horror film House II.I am pretty sure there wasn't an adaptation of the first film. And with this issue priced at 2 bucks for 48 pages I am guessing it bombed. Which I think I might be right about. I never see copies of it in comic shops or at cons.

Ralph Macchio,not the actor from Karate Kid,writes this comic.Alan Kupperberg handles the pencils and 5 people do the inks.The art is OK I guess. It has been right at 30 years since I have seen the film,but from what I remember the artistic representations of the actors in this comic look like the actors from the movie.

The story is a madcap romp. With dead relatives coming back. A zombie Cowboy nicknamed Gramps. And this weird worm thing that is kind of adopted like a family dog.

Pretty much unless you are a huge fan of this film or just gotta have all horror film comic book adaptations this is a book to skip. I got it in one of those 300 random comics for 10 bucks deals off Ebay. And the only reason I haven't gotten rid of it yet is I get this nagging feeling that in 10 years this will be a comic that is actually worth decent money.

House II:The Second Story gets a PASS!

2016 Comic Challenge 122 X-force #02

TITLE-X Force #02
PUBLISHER-Marvel Comics

The comic opens up with Deadpool being attacked by Kane AKA Weapon X.This is back when Deadpool was just a bad clone of Deathstroke the Terminator.After a short fight,which the highlight of it was Kane shooting off his fist like one of the Shogun Warrior robots,Shield Agent Bridge shows up.

On the X-Force side we see them out in the woods training.Doing a version of Tag. Their target is Feral. Who quickly outsmarts Cannonball. And uses him to take out Warpath.The rest of the team shows up. And Feral steps over the line and claws the shit out of Cannonball. So she is knocked out and they all head back into their new HQ.Oh and in the last few pages Tom Cassidey and Juggernaut show up.

While Rob Liefeld isn't the best artist,he isn't the worst. The art in this issue looks rushed and unfinished. With some pages looking more like a 10 minute sketch Rob did at a con and not finished artwork ready to be published.

X-Force #02 gets a borrow.