Bargain Store finds from early Feb 2015

This is another article I had half written when my main laptop shit the bed. I am still working on getting it working properly. But have managed to get all my stuff off of it. So here is a post that should have hit 20 days ago. Hope y'all enjoy.

Most months the first week of it I spend a few hours hitting all the bargain stores in my town. We have 5 Dollar Generals,a Family Dollar,Dollar Tree and Dirt Cheap. Been thinking about doing a post each month on the stuff I find. Cause everyone always tells me they love hearing about my finds. So this is the first of what I hope to be a monthly feature here.

DOLLAR TREE
Now for those that don't know,Dollar Tree is a nationwide chain. Where everything is a buck or cheaper. I mostly use it to buy super glue,AAA batteries for my remotes and other small gadgets and for cheap greeting cards. I hate how much a greeting card cost. So Dollar Tree having them for 50 cents is great. But onto what I bought.

 I was checking the toy aisle when I found this keychain TMNT Leonardo item. They had all four Turtles. And over the past 6 months I have gotten back into the TMNT franchise. Each of these keychains came with a pog and has something in the base that you use a smartphone with. Something about being able to fight your turtle online against others. I don't own or want a smartphone. But a well detailed Leo "statue" for a buck was worth it.

 I assume they made 2 figures for each Turtle.Because after seeing mine a friend went and got a Raphel one. But her's looks different from mine. I had planned on adding these to the dash of my car. But didn't right now they are on top of one of my many shelves.Kind of wondering how many people put these on their keychains. They are so big they wouldn't fit in most pants pockets.

But besides a soda and a bag of chips all I bought from Dollar Tree was the turtles. Dollar Tree is very hit or miss. This time it wasn't a hit or a miss.

DOLLAR GENERAL

I love Dollar General. I got one pretty close to my home. And almost everyday I stop there to grab a drink.I love how DG has lots of used DVDs cheap. But my favorite thing to look for at DG is books. Every DG I have been in has at least one spinner rack of cheap paperbacks.

Well I was in town and ran by a Dollar General I rarely go into. Mostly cause it is in a part of town I kind of avoid. I had been asked to go grab some sodas and since I was in DG I had to check the spinner rack of cheap paperbacks.

 After the Golden Age book review

I had never heard of this book or the author. The artwork on the cover caught my eye. I read the synopsis on the back and it sounded good. Plus it was only $2. My only small complaint about DG and their books is you never know what the price will be. Sometimes it is $3,sometimes it is $2 and sometimes it is $1. You don't know until the find the price sticker DG adds to the cover. Speaking of those stickers,I wish more stores used them. I have never had an issue removing that sticker. It never damages the cover. But if you don't feel like reading my review I will sum it up. If you like superheroes give this book a try,

Got this newer printing of Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter for $2. What is strange is the sticker on the front said 3.But it rung up as 2. I haven't seen the film ,but have seen the Asylum ripoff Lincoln VS Zombies. Heard the book is good. Had been wanting to read it. So grabbed this cause of it being cheap.

FAMILY DOLLAR

I might hit Family Dollar maybe 5 times a year. It is rare they have any toys I want. Their DVDs are placed in a high traffic area,which makes it hard to dig through them to see what they got. And if they do get in books,it is mostly romance novels.I was with a friend who was telling me how Family Dollar has cheap and nice curtains. Plus they had their women's clothing on sale. While she looked at clothes I went to dig through the DVDs.

Yep the original release of the first TMNT film on DVD. I love this movie. And have been meaning to pick it up for years now. But never saw it for under 10 bucks. It was $3. I have been seeing a Blu Ray pack that has the first 3 live action TMNT films. I don't like the 2nd film and have never seen the 3rd. So thought grabbing the first film for $3 was a great deal. I was wrong. Later that night I threw in the DVD. Had popped some popcorn and was ready to enjoy a film I haven't seen in close to 20 years. Well guess what the DVD looks like total ass. To my eyes it looks like they took a well worn ex-rental VHS and made a capture of that.Way too much grain. The picture's contrast is way too high. I feel ripped off. Guess I am gonna buy that Blu Ray set soon.

The Super 6 was a Saturday Morning cartoon made by the Depatie-Freleng studios. Most people will know this animation studio from their many Pink Panther cartoons. This show aired from 1966 to 1969 on NBC. And was rerun in syndication for decades. I never saw it,but had heard about it. The Super 6 are a bunch of superheroes that all work for an agency. If someone needs a hero they call in and the cranky dispatcher sends out a hero that can handle the situation. Each episode has 3 cartoons. Our main heroes are.
Super Bwoing-He is extremely clumsy. And is the last hero the agency wants to send out. He flies through the air on his guitar. And reminds me a bit of Van Hallen from that superhero spoof cartoon that aired as part of Dextor's Lab.
Granite Man-A living statue who's sidekick is a pigeon who lives on him.
Magneto Man-A British hero who has the power of magnetism.
Elevator Man-Who can grow or shrink in size.He is the Super 6's detective and the most serious hero on the roster.
Super SCUBA-A water based hero. Who has a mermaid sidekick
Captain Whammo/Zammo-He started off as Whammo,but only used that name for 1 or 2 episodes.Before it was changed to Zammo. Maybe the Whammo company threatened a lawsuit. He is the Super 6's Superman like hero.
This set is 2 DVDs and contains every episode. It was $5 but worth that much to me. After finding it I am now seeing it pop up in the Walmart $5 bin. If you like superheroes and don't mind comedic versions of them grab this set.

And time for the final store.
DIRT CHEAP
I mention Dirt Cheap fairly often. Because I go there all the time.Recently my lady,I and some friends made a trip to Hattisburg MS. And what was our first stop? Dirt Cheap Treasure Hunt,which is a more upscale version of the normal Dirt Cheap store. If you haven't heard of Dirt Cheap it is a close out store like Biglots. But where as Biglots is organized,clean and smells good. Dirt Cheap is messy,kind of dirty and smells bad. Plus Dirt Cheap carries lots of clothing. Where as I have never seen much clothes in Biglots.

Let me mention two items I didn't get. I always look through the shirts at Dirt Cheap. Months back I got a great TMNT shirt for $3. I was looking through the shirts when I found a nice Johnny Cash one. It had a good picture of cash on the front and that was it. I loved the design of it  and it was in my size. But it didn't have a price sticker on it. So I grabbed it knowing that once I checked out they would call a manager over to figure out a price.

I also found a hat that said "100% weird" on the front. With me cutting my hair soon,I plan on starting to wear hats more often. My girl is always jokingly saying how weird I am. So I figured a hat that says that would make her laugh. After picking it up I noticed a weird stain on the inside. I looked closed and some kind of white substance was all over inside the hat. Not knowing what it was I wasn't going to buy  the hat.

While waiting on the others that had come shopping with me I walked up and down all the aisles. In the toy aisle I found some of those Imaginext blind buy bags. I like the concept of these blind buy bags. The figures that come in them are well made. But at normal stores they cost 3 or 4 bucks each. Which is more than I will pay not knowing what I am getting. But at Dirt Cheap this was 50 cents.

I am sure if I looked it up I could find out this alien's name. Because his brain is exposed I just named him Brain dude.His shoulders are the ball and socket joints. His hands spin. And his legs are articulated at the hips. Plus the staff can be removes from his hand. Along with his cape being removable. Like the TMNT statues I planned on adding Brain Dude to my ever growing collection of stuff glued to the dash of my car. But I actually got an idea for a new project and Brain Dude is gonna be used for that.

After looking at all the toys,and finding lots of Lego sets I would have bought it they were not opened and most likely missing pieces,I went over to see what electronics they had. The smaller electronics they keep behind a counter or in glass display cases. I saw nothing I liked. But behind the counter on the floor I saw what I was sure was a headset with built in mic. I got one of Dirt Cheap's staff to come get it for me. It is a 100 buck computer headset with mic. According to reviews I have read online this is one of the best headsets on the market. The sticker on the package said $100. But as with everything at Dirt Cheap they discount it a certain amount.I asked the staff helping me if they had any idea how much of a discount it had. "No idea sir but everything over here is at least 70% off" I thought about it. 70% off would make it 30 bucks. My last headset mic was 30 bucks and not as nice as this one. So I grabbed it.

Made my way to the checkout area.And  the people that had rode with me were also ready to check out. They had grabbed lots of 90% off Halloween and X-mas decorations. Plus one of them had found some really nice boots. Normally $120 at Dirt Cheap they were $30.

The cashier rang up the Imaginext toy.Then asked me if they had anymore. Seems her son loves the Imaginext stuff and collects them. I offered to not buy this one so her son could have it. But she told me that wasn't needed. When she saw the Johnny Cash shirt had no price and the Headset didn't have the discount percentage listed on it she called the manager. The manager came over."So no DVDs this time sir?" She has gotten to know me and is use to me buying a bunch of DVDs each time I come to the store. I told her how I had already gotten 2 DVDs that day. She then looked at the headset,looked at me and said "Does $15 sound fair to you?" Of course I said yes. "Well with t-shirts if it doesn't have a price it is $10." I told her for that price I didn't want the shirt. I had seen a similar one at Walmart for $7.

Well I hope yall enjoyed my trips to these bargain stores. I believe people do not realize what kinds of deals they can find if they are willing to spend a little time looking.

2015 Reading Challenge Book 010 Abadazad The Road to Inconceivable

2015 Reading Challenge Book 010 Abadazad The Road to Inconceivable written by J.M. DeMatteis artwork by Mike Ploog

BOOK TITLE-Abadazad The Road to Inconceivable
AUTHOR-J.M. DeMatteis
FORMAT-Hardcover
FIRST TIME READING-Yes
COST-25 cents

Well the insomnia is still preventing me from sleeping. So I finished up another book. Been reading this one a few pages at a time for over a week now.

Another find at Dirt Cheap.I might on my next trip there see if they are willing to sponsor my blog. I give them plenty of free advertising.When I found this novel they had a huge stack. Close to 100 copies. I knew Abadazad started off as a comic published by Crossgen. I had heard rumors that the main reason Disney bought up the Crossgen properties was just to get the rights to Abadazad. They thought it would be the next big thing in kids fantasy. Abadazad started off as a series of stories Mr DeMatteis would tell his daughter Kate before bedtime. After many years of this he wanted to turn these stories into a comic book. Teaming up with Mike Ploog,who's artwork I loved on various horror themed comics from Marvel in the 70s.They had 3 issues published,to great acclaim,before Crossgen went bankrupt.I haven't read any of those comics.But if they are even close to how good this novel was I really want to read them.

Now this book is unlike most books. It uses many storytelling tropes.Part of the book is entries in the main females journal. With some of them having nice artwork from Mr Ploog. Then we get sections that are done in traditional comic book style.I would estimate the book is 60% journal entries and 40% comic book style stuff. I did some research after finishing the book. First off I wanted to know how many issues of the comic there was. And if there was any more books. Turns out there is 3 books. Back when I first saw the stack of at least 100 at Dirt Cheap I thought about maybe buying them all and reselling them. I below to a comic book forum that is about comic companies that are out of business. And I remembered there was lots of Crossgen fans there.I went and saw that on the forum this book was selling for between 1 and 2 bucks. So not worth my time and effort to buy a bunch and sell them. Sure even if I just got a buck each I would be making a profit. Well either someone had a similar plan to me or had some need for 100 books for kids. Because I was back in Dirt Cheap 3 days after buying this and they had no copies left.Well since I have some Amazon credit left from gift cards I got for X-mas I went to see how much copies of the other 2 books,of a planned 8 total volumes,would set me back. Book 2 I could get for a penny plus shipping. But the cheapest copies I could find of the third novel were 34 dollars. It seems that volume 3 was only released in the UK and Europe. So getting copies over here in the States isn't easy. I did order the second book. And might one day bite the bullet and get volume 3.

Abadazad is a fantasy world. Which reminds me a whole lot of Frank Braum's OZ.Our narrator is a 14 year old  girl.She lives with her mother and brother. The brother is a huge fan of the Abadazad series of novels. And it is one of the few things the two siblings bond over.Then her brother disappears while they are at a carnival. And isn't found. We skip ahead a few years. The relationship between the mother and our narrator,Kate,is very strained. Then one day Kate has a chance meeting with an older lady who lives in the same apartment building as her. Martha,the old lady,shows Kate her collection of Abadazad stuff. Then tells Kate it is all from the land of Abadazad. Then informs Kate that Martha is really Little Martha who was the lead in the Abadazad novels.Kate believes this older lady is mental and leaves in a huff. The next day she finds out the old lady has died. And fairly soon a package is left for Kate. It contains an orb Martha had shown Kate. And orb that if you believe enough will transport you to the land of Abadazad. After a bad fight with her mother Kate takes the orb and is whisked away to Abadazad. Where she meets up with Martha,who is now a young child again. And Martha tells Kate that her brother is being held prisoner somewhere in Abadazad.

Before reading this novel I was already a fan of Mr DeMatteis,mostly from his work on the Defenders comic. And a huge fan of Mike Ploog's work on Man-thing and the sadly short lived Frankenstein's Monster comic Marvel published. While I have always loved Mr Ploog's artwork I have never seen it look as stunning as it does in this novel.I don't know if he is doing anything different. If maybe it is cause of the type of paper the book is printed on. Or maybe it is because Mr Ploog had longer to work on the art. Having just ordered book 2 about an hour ago,I am gonna be eagerly awaiting it's arrival in my mailbox.

I do wonder why Abadazad seems to have failed. The comic was getting lots of great reviews and supposedly sold very well. But Crossgen was having major money issues at the time. The books seems to have been a minor hit in the UK and Europe. But even then not selling well enough to get all 8 planned volumes published. I think one of the reasons is the price. The book is around 120 pages. I am just guessing cause the pages are not numbered. I hate it when a book doesn't have it pages numbered.And sure the book is a hardcover. Which is full of gorgeous full color artwork. But the cover price is $9.99. I doubt many parents would have paid that much for a book for their child. When this was coming out the Harry Potter books were huge. And the paperbacks of them were about 10 bucks for 400 or more pages.I can see a parent thinking that 10 bucks for such a short book wasn't worth their money. I am hoping that now that Disney owns not only the Crossgen stuff but also Marvel comics,and adding in that a few years back Marvel brought back 2 or three of the old Crossgen properties back for limited series,that Disney might try again to publish Abadazad. So if you have a child that loves the fantasy genre.Or you are an adult that enjoyed the Oz movies or books,go to Amazon and grab a copy of this book. I multiple copies of it selling for a penny plus 3 bucks shipping. Abadazad  The Road to Inconceivable is worth  checking out at those cheap prices.

Abadazad The Road to Inconceivable gets a 4.85 outta 5.