Bargains and Betrayal
I am such a fool for bargains. Often I buy things that I don't
need -- things that I don't even much want -- just because they were
such good deals. Last weekend I was at a local Barnes & Noble
that has a fairly large used book annex. I'd gone there in the
past to browse though their selection of used comics (which often
weren't used at all, but were marked half-off anyway) but this trip was
different for two reasons: First, the size of the comics section
had doubled, from one bookcase to two. Second, there was now
manga available in the used section. (Still nowhere near the
number of books from DC and Marvel, but enough to fill a shelf or
two.)
If my better half hadn't been there to play the role of externalized
impulse control, I'm sure I would have ended up doing much more damage
to my wallet, but as it was, I snagged quite a bit of sequential art
loot (listed below with comments):
Crying
Freeman Perfect Collection: Portrait of a Killer - Looks
like a gonzo mix of sex and violence, all gorgeously illustrated by
Ryoichi Ikegami.
Gon
(compilation of Gon and Gon Again) - I've
heard a lot about this series but never read it. Skimming though
it, it looks like it'll be a quick read in one sense (the stories
contain no words whatsoever) but on the other hand Masashi Tanaka's
detailed cartoon-style art could definitely take some time to
appreciate fully.
Club 9
Volume 2 - I read the chapters collected here when they
were originally serialized in Super Manga Blast, but I so
adore Makoto Kobayashi's charming tale of a country girl making her way
in the big city that I've always planned on getting the trades.
Getting one at half-price was just an added bonus.
Chobits
Volume 1 - A
couple
people
whose opinion on manga I trust have recommended this series (which
always struck me as thinly-veiled Lolita porn) so I'm curious to see if
I can get past my preconceived notions about this book. Flipping
though it, I'm not optimistic.
Sanctuary
Volume 6 - I know, I know, I
wrote off this series after the pervasive misogyny in volumes 2-4
turned me off. But for the incredibly low price of only three
dollars I was powerless to pass up an opportunity to sample more
Ryoichi Ikegami artwork. See? See what great bargains are
capable of reducing me to?
Berserk
Volume 2 - I know, I know, I
wrote off this series as well but I've been told it improves as it
goes on, so I figured for $7 I could afford to give Berserk a
second chance.
Benkei
in New York - Christopher
Butcher has praised this manga, and I like what I've seen of Jiro
Taniguchi's artwork online, so this was a given. Heck, even Warren Ellis
loves this manga, so it must be good!
Ripley's
Believe It Or Not! - A collection of a Dark Horse
mini-series I didn't even know existed. But I was won over by the
Cary Nord artwork and the fact that this comic has endnotes. I
love endnotes!
Batman:
Gotham Noir - Yes, it's a Batman Elseworlds, but it's a
noir Batman Elseworlds by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips.
Batman:
Reign of Terror - Yes, it's a Batman Elseworlds, and oh
god it's a Batman Elseworlds set during the French Revolution, but it's
a Batman Elseworlds with art by José Luis
García-López.
Reaper
- I, uh, I don't know how this got on here. (Just kidding:
I thought the art by Cliff Rathburn -- who has kind of a Kevin Nowlan
thing going on -- looked interesting, but upon closer inspection this
seems like something CrossGen might have published (or a hybrid of
several things CrossGen did publish, plus more violence and
gore).)
And all for forty bucks! Now I just have to make time to read all
these books, in addition to all the other unread comics sitting around
my office. Yes, bargains can cause me to lose sight of how
backlogged I am.
Bargains can also make me disloyal. For over two years, I've been
a faithful customer of my online retailer,
Mailordercomics. But
today, wooed away by bigger discounts from a competitor, I placed my
first order with
Discount Comic
Book Service. How I could I
resist? Look at some of these deals!
WE
3 #1 - 75% off! ($0.74)
NEW
X-MEN VOL 3 HC - 50% off!! ($14.99)
BONE
ONE VOL ED SC - 50% off!! ($19.97)
LOCAS
A LOVE & ROCKETS BOOK HC - 45% off!!! ($27.47)
I saved almost sixty bucks on those four items alone! (A savings
of $23 compared to MOC's prices.) For that kind of money, I'd
sell out my own mother. (Well, not really. But I figure
there's less of a chance that my mother is reading this than my wife
is, whom I would never sell out either, but I'm guessing that the whole
"sell out" exaggeration really only works if it references someone
along the magnitude of parent or spouse.)
Did I mention I like bargains?
