Pulp Empire Post 73. Cool stuff
I hoped to be able to hit everyone with news about issue one of Paragon before I reached today’s newsletter, but I’m still putting some final touches on the first issue before it’s ready to see the world. Once it’s released, I’ll detail a bit more about the new stories and features inside the first issue. That will likely be in our next edition of the Pulp Empire Post.
This edition, I’ll take you back to my recent birthday week and a few of the fun things I picked up when we drove between Eastern Iowa and Minneapolis.
The haul part 1: Marvel and DC
As a subscriber to both the Marvel and DC apps, I tend to limit my purchases from the comic book industry’s top two. But Marvel and DC still have holes on the app, especially when it comes to licensed content or more obscure releases. I picked up a few oddities that are nowhere to be found on Marvel Unlimited, like the last issues of Two-Gun Kid: Sunset Riders by Fabian Nicieza and the Chaos Comics-produced The Supernaturals #4. One of the last purchases I made but one of the most exciting was picking up another volume of the Rom Epic Collection.
I also used a bunch of back issue and discount bins to build up my collections of two New Universe series that I’ve been trying to complete. I grabbed several issues of Mark Gruenwald & Paul Ryan’s D.P.7 and of Psi-Force featuring Mark Texeira art early on before ending in the hands of Fabian Nicieza, Ron Lim, & Graham Nolan.
DC does a much better job of keeping comics from the 70s, 80s, and 90s on Infinite, so I limited myself to a couple odd single issues outside of one nice prize, an original hardcover edition of Jerry Ordway’s Power of Shazam graphic novel.
Finally — though not technically DC titles when they were released — I picked up the four-issue Spartan limited series released by Image Comics. With an insane creative team of Kurt Busiek and Mike McKone, they should at least be a fun read.
The haul part 2: the indies
I found a lot of independent comics worth picking up or at least curious enough to grab. The biggest find for me was a collection I owned many years ago only to have be destroyed by a basement flood. I finally stumbled across a copy in Minneapolis of this strange little oddity by the Fillbach Bros, Captain Freebird.
I’ve been slowly putting a complete collection of the 80s and 90s independent hero Shuriken over the last few years. I added three more issues, getting me very near to my goal.
I got my hands on the Wizard 1/2 issue of Savage Dragon, one of my few holes in that collection.
I also learned of the existence of a pre-Melting Pot team-up between Kevin Eastman and Simon Bisley when I bought Thump’n Guts.
Speaking of Eastman, his Mirage Studios’ brethren were also represented in my pickups with the fourth and final issue of Plastron Cafe which features an amazing cover as well as rare interiors by legendary Turtles artist A.C. Farley.
Finally, I scored a book signed by one of my favorite creators who just passed earlier this year. Prototype isn’t my favorite Len Strazewski book, but to have a Strazewski signed book is worth it.
Notes on the Empire
If everything settles in properly over the next month, you should be seeing weekly updates again by the beginning of September. I’ll have new Midweek Marvels starting up soon as we wrap up the long-awaited finishes for both Wolfpack and Havok & Wolverine: Meltdown. We will move on to cover a couple different series as I move later into the year. Hopefully, I’ll also have an announcement about the return of DC: A New Dawn around the same time.
What’s up?
Currently reading: Dick Tracy: The Secret Files edited by Max Allan Collins & Martin Greenberg.
Currently playing: Octopath Traveler II.
Currently listening: The Bestiary by Castle Rat.
Currently watching: Lots of wrestling & women’s basketball.
See me in two weeks.