Ahem...about the Spike comics...
May. 8th, 2011 06:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatWell, I caved. Want the long story or the short one? Short one? Too bad, you are getting the long one. It was a beautiful day. Crystal clear. Perfect temp. I took a walk on the promenade, then decided to pop into my local comic book store one last time and check to see if they had the Brian Lynch final Spike series comics in stock - I'm missing the last three issues of the final run. And since no one on my flist has been kind enough to recap them for me, I don't know what happened in the story. Guessing people lost interest? I'm admittedly weird about stories, doesn't matter how bad it is - I have to know the ending. Why do you think I stuck with Buffy s8 as long as I did? (As an aside, the Spike comics are admittedly much more entertaining and satisfying than the Buffy ones - ending wise. It probably helps that I actually agree with the final message and like it as opposed to feeling incredibly offended by it. No bigger turn-off than being offended by the story.) While I was there, a guy came in with his mom to ask what he should do with his 250 comic books. Being in a somewhat similar boat myself, this perked my interest.
Comic Book Shop dealer, a big burly man with a beard and glasses, sort of rolled his eyes and asked, "well how old are they?"
Young hipster guy with goatee said - "oh about 20 years old if that."
Comic Book Shop Dealer: Not worth more than 10 bucks, some not even that.
Guy with goatee: Even the Image and Wildstorm comics?
Dealer: na-da. Worth nothing. Too many printings. Anything published between 1985-2000 is worthless - because they did multiple printings back then. Around 2000 though, they are worth something because they didn't do multiple printings.
Also anything dated prior to 1985 is worth something for the same reason. But between 1985-2000, they were really popular and sold like gangbusters, so there's a ton of issues and reprintings out there. Ultimate Spiderman issue one for example is worth quite a bit. (Damn I gave that to my super)
Me: How about the X-men?
Dealer: The X-Men, not worth a thing unless it's dated prior to 1980 or was written by Grant Morrison. (Annoying that, since I think I got rid of most of Grant Morrison's arc - I'm not a fan of Mr. Morrison).
Me: How about the Spike and Buffy comics...
Dealer: Spike comics could actually end up being worth quite a bit, there were hardly any printings of them. They were harder to get a hold of.
Me: How about Buffy?
Dealer: Same situation, although Spike will probably be worth more - again less issues printed.
There you have it. All about supply and demand. Which I guess means, I'm not getting rid of my comics any time soon.
Do you want a recap/review of the Spike comics? I'm guessing not - since haven't seen any. I was pleasantly surprised by them, by the way. The art and writing worked for me, as did the plot. There's a couple artistic renderings of Spike by Mooney that are pitch perfect. Weird that. Was expecting to really hate it. Instead laughed quite a bit and was highly amused and somewhat moved. Not to tears, please, it is a comic book and few things culturally speaking move me to tears. But moved all the same. Far better emotional and intellectual read than the Buffy comics were, which isn't saying much, but there you are. In other words - they didn't give me a headache or make me want to hold a comic book bonfire afterwards, a step up in my opinion.
No time to do a recap tonight...have to make dinner and lunch for tomorrow. Also watch tv shows...which are multiplying on my DVR player like rabbits. (Remember what I said about this need to know the end of stories? Well...that's why I'm still watching Smallville, and ahem, a few other tv shows won't mention. Did give up on The Event, because I never cared about the story or the characters, plus I think it's canceled. Apparently no one else cared either. Also gave up on The Killing for much the same reason. It really has nothing to do with how well written the thing is - for me it's all about whether something in the story or characters...clicks for me or intrigues me - if it does, I'm along for the ride. If it doesn't, I'm not. Although I shouldn't pigeon hole myself that neatly, I'm bound to contradict myself in the next posting.)
Comic Book Shop dealer, a big burly man with a beard and glasses, sort of rolled his eyes and asked, "well how old are they?"
Young hipster guy with goatee said - "oh about 20 years old if that."
Comic Book Shop Dealer: Not worth more than 10 bucks, some not even that.
Guy with goatee: Even the Image and Wildstorm comics?
Dealer: na-da. Worth nothing. Too many printings. Anything published between 1985-2000 is worthless - because they did multiple printings back then. Around 2000 though, they are worth something because they didn't do multiple printings.
Also anything dated prior to 1985 is worth something for the same reason. But between 1985-2000, they were really popular and sold like gangbusters, so there's a ton of issues and reprintings out there. Ultimate Spiderman issue one for example is worth quite a bit. (Damn I gave that to my super)
Me: How about the X-men?
Dealer: The X-Men, not worth a thing unless it's dated prior to 1980 or was written by Grant Morrison. (Annoying that, since I think I got rid of most of Grant Morrison's arc - I'm not a fan of Mr. Morrison).
Me: How about the Spike and Buffy comics...
Dealer: Spike comics could actually end up being worth quite a bit, there were hardly any printings of them. They were harder to get a hold of.
Me: How about Buffy?
Dealer: Same situation, although Spike will probably be worth more - again less issues printed.
There you have it. All about supply and demand. Which I guess means, I'm not getting rid of my comics any time soon.
Do you want a recap/review of the Spike comics? I'm guessing not - since haven't seen any. I was pleasantly surprised by them, by the way. The art and writing worked for me, as did the plot. There's a couple artistic renderings of Spike by Mooney that are pitch perfect. Weird that. Was expecting to really hate it. Instead laughed quite a bit and was highly amused and somewhat moved. Not to tears, please, it is a comic book and few things culturally speaking move me to tears. But moved all the same. Far better emotional and intellectual read than the Buffy comics were, which isn't saying much, but there you are. In other words - they didn't give me a headache or make me want to hold a comic book bonfire afterwards, a step up in my opinion.
No time to do a recap tonight...have to make dinner and lunch for tomorrow. Also watch tv shows...which are multiplying on my DVR player like rabbits. (Remember what I said about this need to know the end of stories? Well...that's why I'm still watching Smallville, and ahem, a few other tv shows won't mention. Did give up on The Event, because I never cared about the story or the characters, plus I think it's canceled. Apparently no one else cared either. Also gave up on The Killing for much the same reason. It really has nothing to do with how well written the thing is - for me it's all about whether something in the story or characters...clicks for me or intrigues me - if it does, I'm along for the ride. If it doesn't, I'm not. Although I shouldn't pigeon hole myself that neatly, I'm bound to contradict myself in the next posting.)
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no subject
Date: 2011-05-09 08:49 am (UTC)If you'll write a recap/review I'll read it.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-08 11:28 pm (UTC)I'm really enjoying 'The Killing' but I also gave up on 'The Event' - and I wanted to like it because it had Jason Ritter!
Ah well.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-09 12:54 am (UTC)I thought that everyone else had stopped reading them which saddened me, but didn't make me stop reading them. I would actually love to read your review!
I don't care if the story gets silly, I don't even care of Drusilla's voice doesn't seem spot on....
I find Lynch's Spike to be entertaining and worth my while. And I kinda loved the way that Lynch shoe-horned in the Bugs in the Spaceship!
That is interesting about selling old comics. I know I found it hard to obtain those old comics that had been written by Amber Benson (about Willow and Tara) and Jane Espenson (about Jonathan). They weren't very expensive, but they were very hard to find.
I wouldn't have guessed that the BtVS comics would be worth much, I assumed that the multiple covers meant that they were printing a lot... but I guess Dark Horse really is a much smaller publisher so it does make sense.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-10 11:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-11 12:32 am (UTC)BUT it is possible to buy the individual copy (if you want to):
http://heavyink.com/comic/17112-Spike-5
but maybe you don't really care about collecting them all....
no subject
Date: 2011-05-09 01:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-09 01:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-09 05:16 pm (UTC)Short story? Dru no longer has Spike's soul, she gave it back to Spike or he took it back.
Long story? What happened was - John forced Spike's soul out. But according to Willow, Spike chooses who gets it not John. So Spike noticing Dru was sucking on Jeremy, gave it to Dru, which saved Jeremy's life. Dru eventually ends up killing John to get him to stop hurting people. And shattered by her soul, tells Spike she doesn't want to talk to him, she just wants him to take it out of her. So he crosses back into the seal and tells her to just say his name.
She does. His soul is restored to him, her's is removed, she's without one again, but crazy and he has Willow deposit her in the local loony bin (Mosaic).
no subject
Date: 2011-05-09 07:33 am (UTC)I'm quite fond of Bryan's Spike and his Mosaic cohorts.
BTW, have you read this? http://buffyversecomics.blogspot.com/2011/05/brian-lynchs-spike.html
Maybe after your own review, so as not to bias anything
no subject
Date: 2011-05-09 05:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-11 12:03 am (UTC)Hope you liked mine. It's review and recap.
I agree with the person who wrote the review...although I didn't like the Buffy comics as well as they did.