For right at 10 years now I have been finding packs of 2 or 3 comics plus some trading cards,all at Dollar stores. And all of the packs come from a Florida based company called Cardsone.
About a week ago I happened to be in a Dollar General I rarely goto. Saw they had a few of these packs. But at the time I had maybe 3 bucks on me. So I hid them behind some old issues US Weekly and hoped they would still be there in a few days.
A few days later I go back and there is 4 packs. So I grabbed them and checked out. As soon as I got out in the car I opened them up to see what I got. Normally I am use to finding these packs at Dollar Tree. Were on average I got 3 comics plus 1 random trading card. These packs were $4 each,had 2 comics,a few random trading cards,plus an unopened pack of trading cards.And every pack had the below.
Mostly it is a catalog for comic supplies from Cardsone. But it does give a few basic tips on collecting comics. Nothing major is revealed.
But onto the cards. Up first is the just random cards they throw in the packages.
So Lion King,Disney Premium,Batman TAS and some WWII card. The Disney Premium has this gold foil border. And the WWII card looks metallic.
Also got 4 Elvis trading cards. These seem to be from that 90s set.All 8 of these cards are just gonna end up being used as bookmarks.
As far as packs of cards. Got 3 packs of VR Troopers puzzle cards.And one pack of the first set of Mighty Morphin Power Ranger cards.
The above two are one of the puzzles. Seems each pack has a full puzzle. And each piece is double sided. I barely remember VR Troopers so have no clue who Ryan Steel is.
The other two packs contained the same puzzle pictured above.
The Rita card on the top left has a kind of foil process added to it. Back when this set was coming out I actually managed to collect a full set. But lost them years ago.
Now onto the comics. Gonna start with the two titles I had never heard of.
From Top Cow comics here is Mace Griffin Bounty Hunter #01.The only name I know is David Wohl. But the art looks decent. I have noticed that most Top Cow titles at least have decent art.
Hunter Killer #05 is next. Written by Mark Waid and penciled by Mark Silvestri. This looks pretty damn good.
American Entertainment Exclusive Edition Witchblade #02 Encore Edition.David Wohl writes this. And this is from back when Michael Turner was still drawing Witchblade.
The Darkness Level 3,I read a bit of Darkness back when Top Cow put one of it's trade on sale. David Wohl again is writing.
The Darkness vol 2 #14,pretty sure the Darkness trade I read was from volume 2.
Robotech The New Generation #11,I haven't read any of this Robotech series before. But the other ones from Comico have been really good.
Batman #446 has Marv Wolfman writing and the late Jim Aparo doing the art.
And saved for last Spawn/Batman by Frank Miller an Todd McFarlane. This is the only one of the comics I had read before getting these grab bags. I hated it back then. And rereading it the other day I still hate it. This was the comic that proved to me not everything Frank writes is amazing.
Overall it was kind of a bunch of crap. Sure all the Top Cow stuff looks decent. And the Batman comic should be fun. The Robotech comic,well the coloring on the inside looks wonky. And Spawn/Batman sucks ass. The trading cards are neat but like I said they are gonna become bookmarks. Overall these packs were not really worth the $4 I paid for each one. The 3 comics and a card for a buck packs from Dollar Tree are a much better deal.
Been forever since I did a 3 toys from the junkbox feature. Mostly cause while I am still cleaning,organizing and getting rid of pieces of my collections I haven't been finding any toys. Just recently though I opened up a box that was packed with VHS. Since about 2000 I have been collecting VHS off and on. If it is cheap and isn't on DVD/Blu Ray or I don't own it on either odds are good I will buy it.
Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad The Glitch that stole Christmas
DIC Toon Time
44 mins
Unrated
I think this VHS predates when I actually started collecting them. All I really remember is I was in Dollar General looking for some last minute X-mas gifts and saw they had a stack of 10 or so copies of this for a buck.
Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad was a syndicated Power Rangers ripoff.Tim Curry and Matthew Lawrence are the only names in the cast. And it seems way cheaper than Power Rangers. With the 2 episodes on this tape having 3 locations tops. Speaking of the episodes,this tape has Do Not Reboot till Christmas and Kilokhan Is Coming To Town.
As far as I know this show isn't out on DVD or Blu Ray. So this is one of the few official ways to get episodes of this kind of forgotten piece of mid 90s television aimed at kids.
Knightriders
Best Film & Video Corp
147 mins
Rated R
I love that cover so much. Before getting this VHS I had seen Knightriders once late at night on TV. I was on lunch break from work and had stopped in at a pawn shop I went to fairly often. The owner would take in almost anything. So I was always finding good deals on books,comics and toys. You know things you never see at most pawn shops. Since this was around 2002 VHS was pretty much dead. And this was the only pawn shop in the area that would still let you pawn VHS. So it was always getting in all kinds of stuff.
Knightriders is one of Ed Harris and Patricia Tallman's earliest films. Ed is the head of a traveling RenFair group. Who joust on motorcycles. Yes it is as crazy as it sounds.
The only reason I have held onto this tape,since it has a great DVD release,is the cover. Pretty sure that was one of the theatrical release posters. And it is a very eye catching image.
Moontrap
SGE Home Video
96 minutes
Unrated
I found out about this late 80s sci fi film thanks to the comic book adaptation of it. Until just recently the only way to get this Walter Koenig and Bruce Campbell film was VHS.I never saw this tape in any video store. So when at the annual library sale I found it I was pretty damn happy.
Recently a DVD of this film was released. But IIRC it was either a very limited edition or it got pulled early on. Whatever the case it isn't easy to get. But even if it was I would still keep this VHS all because of ....
Not sure how easy it is to read. But at the bottom of the back of the tape you will see this was a promotion copy that was sent out to Video Stores ahead of it's normal release. So this tape begins with the trailer then it has the film.
As with the 3 toys features I have no clue when the next of these will come out. But just from one box of the many I have,I have enough VHS for at least 4 or 5 more of these.
This issue came out sometime in the summer of 1985,it has a September cover date so that means it hit newstands in July or August.Under that great cover by Rick Veitch you get a story so good it made me a life long fan of the writer and of Swamp Thing. An issue so amazing that since I have read it I track down any artwork from Mr Veitch. Oh yeah forgot to mention this was written by a pre-Watchmen Alan Moore. During the rise of his fame while doing Swamp Thing,Moore and pretty much the entire current Swamp Thing creative team created this crossover with Superman. When this came out I was buying almost no DC. I had just recently found a semi local comic shop. So what money was left over each month after buying all the Marvel titles I read,was spent on various indy comics. It was right before school started that year. My parents had to go overnight somewhere,I can't remember anymore where they had to go or why,so I was stuck spending the night with my cousin.For years he was the only family I had living near me. So while I didn't like him,never really have,I ended up spending more time with him than I wish. I get dropped off at his house around 3 on a Sunday afternoon. I had barely walked into the house when his mother reminded me that we were leaving in a bit to goto church. I go back to my cousin's room. And he throws me a comic. "I bought this last week and it sucks. Superman never fights anyone. And the plant dude is crap. You can have it." I looked at the cover and I knew of Swamp Thing since I had seen the movie with him a few years before.Right before I could sit down and start reading the comic my aunt yells for us to get out to the car so we can goto church.I grabbed the comic thinking I should be able to read it all on the ride to church. By the time the 15 minute drive to church was over I was barely 10 pages into the comic and hooked.I thought I could sneak it in with me. So I put it under my shirt and went in. About halfway through the service,IIRC this Aunt was Southern Baptist so the services were much longer than what I was use too,I excused myself to the bathroom. And I sat on the toilet and started reading the comic. I was almost to the last page when my Uncle knocked on the door. Seems I had been gone for a long time. Before I could put the comic back under my shirt he had opened the door. The entire ride back my Aunt chewed me out about it. With my cousin egging her on.She had already taken the comic from me. And after she had said "I am so mad at you I have no idea how to punish you." my idiot cousin said "Why not rip up the comic book Mom?" So that is what she did. As soon as we got back to their home. She ripped it up to shreds in front of me. And I was pissed.Mostly cause I never got to finish it. Years later I did get another copy. Which sadly got burnt up in 96. Since then I had gotten the story reprinted at first in a trade collecting lots of oddball Alan Moore DC stuff.Then a few years ago got a DC's greatest team up stories hardback and this story was reprinted in it. Skip ahead to a few days back. I am killing time by digging thru the cheap bins at the local comic shop. Saw the issue pictured above and for the cheap price couldn't pass up owning it in this form again. The story is pretty simple. Superman gets infected with some Kryptonian virus. That causes him to lose control of his powers.So he rents a car and starts heading south. He ends up in Swamp Thing's swamp. And crazy from the virus has a run in with the protector of the green. DC Comics Presents #85 gets a BUY!
Saw the above flyer maybe 2 weeks before the show. Wasn't sure if I could manage to get a ride. Then found out that the head of Bodyslam Media Productions was going. So I arranged a ride with him.
Got up early,for me,the day of the show.Woke up around 12pm. Was suppose to meet up around 3pm to make the 1 1/2 to 2 hour drive to Richton. So went town for breakfast. Stopped an grabbed some cheap drinks and snacks.
Well it was also around this time that a horrible storm hit. Heavy and thick rain,along with decent wind. It was a bit after 3pm when Koby picked me up. An it took right at 2 1/2 hours to get to Richton. Mostly cause the entire trip we were in the heavy rain.
After getting there and setting up the table,Joe Kane came over and asked if he could put some stuff he had for sale on the table. I saw he had a big stack of wrestling books. And got the below from Mr Kane for a great deal.
Yep Tim Hornbaker's book on the NWA.Been wanting to read this since it came out what 10 years ago.But kind of balked at paying the slightly high cover price for what is just an oversized paperback. Started reading it the night I got it. But haven't gotten very far into it.
I see that two other tables are set up selling stuff. One of which I see a stack of DVDs and what I was pretty sure was a WCW VHS. Go over start looking at the VHS and the lady tells me she has a bunch more VHS in a tub. After going thru the tub I ended up with 8 WCW VHS for once again a really good deal. 2 of them were compilations of Ric Flair. But the rest are PPVs.
Found out after the show they were all gotten years ago when Blockbuster was clearing out all their VHS.
The promoter came over and thanked us for coming down and filming. And also invited us to come to any show he holds. So YAY more wrestling to goto.Ok one quick warning. The same lady selling the VHS and DVDs,also had a bunch of pump activated Airhorns. Which sold out and the kids kept blasting them thru out the entire show.
After a playing of the National Anthem we get the openign match.
Old School Steve Starr vs Black Ranger
I had never seen Steve Starr wrestle before. And had never heard of Black Ranger. But both guys did a good job of getting the crowd hyped up and into the match and the show.
Lukas Frost vs Nate Moss was the second match. In a really good,for me it was match of the night,teacher vs student match. Notice how great Frost is at interacting with the crowd. Also I love the superkick from Lukas that almost took Nate's head off.
Mountain Man vs The Assassin was the third match. I had never seen either guy.
After a most welcome intermission,I needed something to drink and a small break from the airhorns,we got a triple threat match. It was advertised as Krimsynn Matthews vs Monty Warbucks vs Blade Beaudreax. But Blade had something come up and he wasn't able to make it. So in his place was Lukas Frost. This was the first time I saw Monty Warbucks in person,after having heard about him for years now. And I was pretty damn impressed. Krimsynn and Frost also impressed me in this match.
Main Event
Sassy Vegas and the Prince of Pain Joe Kane vs Calvin Rose and The Son of JYD Mike Carter. By the time this match was about to start my feet and knee was hurting from standing still for a few hours now. So I started to wander around behind the crowd filming. Ended up staying mostly behind this one family that was very very vocal in their hatred of Sassy and Joe.
Once the match was over most of the crowd cleared out. A decent amount of the wrestlers were out signing autographs and taking pictures with the fans. I headed back over to the table. Where Koby and I talked to Nate Moss for a long time. It was during this long talk that Koby remembered he had something for me. Something he got at Wrestlecon when he was there this year.
It is a May 1985 WCCW program. And it is signed by Bobby Fulton.
So we packed everything up. And got back on the road. The drive back was much quicker,since the rain had stopped. We got back to my town. Went to the Walmart I had parked my car at,then realized we hadn't ate anything in a long ass time. So off to Waffle House for a very late at night dinner. Then Koby headed off back home. I got home,unpacked my bag,got into bed and slept well.
Thanks to SWA Promotions and all the wrestlers and others for a really fun show. Gonna try my best to make it to the next show.
The last few times I have hit the few places I know of that haven't taken to pricing VHS at "$5 a tape cause they are collectors items now."the places had nothing. One of them had stacks of hunting and fishing videos.
Then this past Friday I had time to kill so hit one of the local thrift stores. They must have just gotten in a bunch of VHS and DVD,cause the normally half full shelves were packed thru. There was also a new shelf full and a big tub full.
I start digging thru the big shelves,found no DVDs I wanted but did find 2 VHS.
Never seen this Don "the Dragon" Wilson film.It is a ex-video store copy. And the main label has fallen off. But as with all of these tapes once I got home I pt each one into my vcr and tested them out.And they all work and look decent.
Yep it is still sealed. Saw this film years ago and enjoyed it. But debating on if I am gonna open it and watch it or leave it sealed.
Wandered over to the new shelf of VHS,which thankfully had a chair next to it. I sit down and start going thru piles of oversized kids VHS.
I have never seen this video compilation. But with the tapes being extremely cheap I took the chance. Plus it is Cheech and Chong,they are pretty much guaranteed to be funny.
Somehow over the years I have never owned Misery.And until I find it cheap on DVD or Blu Ray this VHS will work fine.
That was the only finds on the new shelf. So time to dig into the tub. Oh forgot there was a bunch of non pre-record VHS mixed into every shelf so far. And I would quickly glance at the label just to see what might be on there. Did find one labeled "Coonie's Wedding". Might go back and grab that another day.
But back to the tub of tapes.
Since getting this on DVD in it's original cut is almost impossible I have been on the lookout for a VHS of it. Not only is it my favorite of the 5 Prom Night films. It is also the first one of that franchise I have seen.
Yep a New Line release of Return of the Street Fighter. I discovered the Sonny Chiba films thanks to a buddy back in the mid 90s. But have never gotten a copy of this film from the great Streetfighter series.
Never heard of this film. But it is Science Fiction and it is from Cannon,so it will be at least watchable.
No clue if it can be read but on the case it says "Wrestling don't record over." and then "Dont Record OVER!" Sadly it isn't wrestling it is 4 hours of rodeo.
I got Full Moon Fever mixed up with Full Moon High.I bought this thinking I was gonna get a chance to watch a horror/comedy I have been wanting to see for years. Turns out Full Moon Fever is some late 80s porn.
Now that is all I found at the local store. And if that was all I found it would be a good haul. But then last Saturday I rode down to Richton MS. SWA was having a wrestling show and I had been asked to come help out a local video crew.
After getting there and setting up,I see that there was a lady with a table full of DVDs and other stuff.On the table was 2 vhs. I see a Ric Flair WCW VHS and picked it up.Was about to ask the woman how much when she looks over and says "Monty has a pile of vcr tapes in this tub. Feel free to dig into it. He is selling them cheap."
Managed to score 8 WCW VHS. For a great deal.All of these ex-Blockbuster copies. After the show Monty was telling us about how he was buying them from Blockbuster for 3 bucks each years ago.
Slamboree 1998,1999 and 2000.
Spring Stampede,Superbrawl 2000 and Great American Bash 1999
Then two Ric Flair compilations.
So found 15 decent VHS for what ended up being under 50 cents each.
TITLE-Married With Children:Lotto Fever #01
PUBLISHER-NOW Comics
Coming out sometime in the fall of 1994,NOW had a habit of issues shipping late or never even being published,this is one of the last Married With Children comics to come out. During the time that NOW had the publishing rights they churned out 2 regular series,most of which included posters of Kelly Bundy,and piles of mini series. Some of these mini series never got completed. Like Lotto Fever.
Geoffrey White is the scripter.Tom Richmond handles the pencils. And it took 3 people to ink this issue. The art on the cover is the exact same style as the interior art so I am gonna assume Tom Richmond did it.
The story is simple.After a horrible day selling shoes at Gary's Shoes,Al heads home. Remembers why he hates his family and heads out to get some beer. For some reason when discovering that the store he went to only has one six pack of Al's favorite beer,instead of maybe going to one of the other hundreds of stores in Chicago that sell beer,ends up in a foot race down the aisles of a corner store. Racing this big fat dimwit redneck.Al gets beat. And ends up with the rednecks lotto ticket.This ticket wins Al 48 million bucks. He tries to sneak home and pack,why bother packing when you got 48 mill,but of course Peggy and the kids spot him. Then the house gets surrounded by people that want to borrow money from Al. And in the final panel Al declares that the family is moving.
For $2.50 NOW really didn't give you much.The story is pretty bare bones and feels padded.The paper has a weird feel and smell to it. Even the cover has a strange texture.NOW did include a poster of the cover in the center of the comic. Which is nice. But IIRC in fall 94 your average comic was $1.50,so if you are gonna charge me an extra buck I want to see something added.
I do wonder how the story would have went. Might see if I can track down Geoffrey White. Who knows if any other issues even made it to the plotting stage,
Married with Children:Lotto Fever #01 gets a Pass.
TITLE-Tales from the Crypt #02
PUBLISHER-Gladstone/The Bruce Hamilton Company
Somehow this short lived run of EC horror reprints from Gladstone escaped my attention.It wasn't until 2 years later and Russ Cochran took over the reprints that I really got into collecting these affordable reprints of some of the best horror comics to ever come out.
Under the great Jack Davis cover,there is eight stories.The lead story has the Crypt Keeper as our host,makes sense to me since Tales from the Crypt was CK's title.And this story has some beautiful Jack Davis.Plus is were the cover image comes from.
Up next is a Vault Keeper hosted story.Joe Orlando provides the art,and I have always loved all the horror stuff he has done.And since the first story focused on a werewolf,the Vault Keeper is bringing us a story about vampires.
CK is up again with "Busted Marriage"Jack Kamen does the art. He was known for his gorgeous women. EC did lots of bad marriage stories in their horror titles,and this isn't one of the better ones.
A mummy story,hosted by the Old Witch,is next.Ghastly Graham Ingels handles the artwork.With Ingels the gorier the better. So I was a bit disappointed he got a mummy story.Since those usually do not have huge amounts of gore.
Ahhh OK seems the second half of the issue is a reprint of an issue of Crime SuspenStories.The Russ Cochran reprints would do this. The cover is by Johnny Craig.And shows a man freezing to death in a meat locker.While a sinister butcher looks on. What I don't like is they removed the issue number off the cover.
"Out of the frying pan..." has Johnny Craig art. For some reason he uses his Jay Taycee pen-name.It is your typical EC crime story. This time I didn't guess the twist before it happened.
Jack Kamen appears again with "A Trace of Murder".This one is better than the previous story.And again we get some more of Kamen's gorgeous women. Something about Kamen's art reminds me of Matt Baker's art in the Golden Age.
"The Escaped Maniac" is a very forgettable story. EC would put out a dud some times. And when they did they were really bad. The art is credited to George Bell,who is a name I do not remember seeing associated with EC.
To end the issue we get a final story. This one with Ghastly Graham on the art chores.And it is a Haunt of Fear tale hosted by the Old Witch. And ends up being the best story from this reprint of Crime SuspenStories.
I really have no clue what a copy of all these late 80s thru mid 90s EC reprint comics would cost ya on Ebay or one of the many online comic shops. I just know I find them fairly often in comic shop/convention cheap bins. This issue I dug out of the dollar bins at a local comic shop. And for a buck or two you really can't go wrong with reprints of pretty much anything from EC.
I enjoyed the Chainsaw Vigilante appearances in the various Tick comics I had read. So finding this issue for 50 cents I had to get it.
Well honestly the cover is the only reason this is worth the 50 cents I paid. The issue is mostly Chainsaw dealing with being defeated by the Tick in The Tick #10. Most of the issue he is out of costume and having long boring as fuck discussions with some woman.
I found it odd that almost every page had between 7 and 9 panels. And so many panels meant the art looked cramped. Seems Zandor Cannon does the art and story. Maybe if he focused on just one this would be a much better comic.
Plasm/Warriors of Plasm was the start of the Defiant universe. And also the one title from them I had never read anything of. I own the issue zero,that came as a trading card set,but have never read it. Dug issue #01 out of a cheap bin recently.
Set in an alternate universe,were everything is organic based,Lorca is a prince like asshole.Then we find out that Lorca is a rebel. And has discovered our world. So is stealing people from our world. To give powers and use as army against the ruling class.I am guessing this 6 or so humans that end up on the Plasm world and have powers are going to be our titular heroes.
Pretty much everything else I have read from Defiant had a good story and ok art.Warriors of Plasm is the opposite. The art,by Dave Lapham is gorgeous. But the story by Jim Shooter is a jumbled,over written mess.
Nope this is a real comic. One that I wanted to get when it first came out. But I refused to pay the almost $4 cover price. So it wasn't until years later at a con that I found it for 10 cents and grabbed it.
Not sure if you can tell from the above picture but the area around Archie's head is cut out. When you open the cover you get.
This 48 page,with no ads as the cover proclaims,comic is written by Batton Lash. With John Buscema handling the Punisher side of the pencils and Stan Goldberg doing the Archie side. And Tom Palmer is on inks.
The story is simple and actually works fairly well. A crook,Mel Jay AKA Montana Bob AKA Freckles and currently known as Red Fever has managed to escape the Punisher. And is now hiding out in Riverdale. And shocker he looks a lot like Archie Andrews.
So we get a mixture of typical Archie style comedy mixed with Frank Castle chasing down this killer. It sounds like it wouldn't work and would be horrible. But Batton Lash does a great job and makes this one of the best and oddest comic crossovers I have read.
Quickly funny story about this issue. I got it at a con cheap as I said. During the con I end up staying with my cousin. So that night I get back to her house and her 10 year old wanted to see what I bought. He is looking thru the comics sees this issue and asks me "Who is Archie?"
The next day of the con he came with me I mentioned to the dealer I got this from,who I was also buying another 50 bucks worth of comics from,about my cousin's lack of knowledge of Archie.The dealer dug thru his bins pulls out right at 15 issues of various Archie titles.Which the dealer gave to him for free.
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