Hi! I have the following comic books available for sale. All single issue comic books are $1 and the trades are $5 unless otherwise noted. Most of the comic books are in good condition (usually bought new and read only once), but a few are well read and priced accordingly.
If you are interested in any of these books, please email me at longboxreview @gmail.com. I can send pictures if requested, and I will ship media mail.
52 was a weekly series published by DC Comics starting in May, 2006. Because I had my 52nd birthday in late 2020, I thought it might be interesting (fun?) to examine this series for its 15th anniversary. I plan to post once a week about each issue. To read previous posts, click the link (52!).
“Trigger Effect”
Week 42, Day 2
Renee Montoya relights the candle. She is still in the cave, eyes closed, telling herself to “gaze into your self-made ABYSS. See what’s staring back.” When she does open her eyes, she sees her reflection, but without her face.
Week 42, Day 3
At the Tower of Fate, the Helmet of Fate tells Ralph Dibny that it is time to utter the incantation to bring his wife back. Ralph puts on the Helmet, pulls out a gun, and shoots himself in the head.
The bullet slams the Helmet into the wall, releasing Felix Faust, and then the Helmet transforms into Ralph’s wedding ring. Faust, surprised, says, “You knew it was me …? How?” Ralph tells him, “Because Faust, I’m a detective”. Ralph then maps out how he knew early on that Faust was behind the ruse. Ralph also admits that he has not been drinking boos for some time now, but gingold — and the Elongated Man punches Faust! He also tells Faust that the gun he just used is not a typical firearm, but a Wishing Gun: “Load a bullet … make a wish … and fire”.
Faust confesses that what Ralph has surmised is true, and then tells him why: after bargaining his soul with the demon Neron for power, Faust negotiated a trade with Neron for a “soul p-pure and stuh-strong at its moment of g-greatest despair … so I ch-chose yours!”
Neron arrives, wanting to take Faust, but Ralph tells the demon that Faust is his now. “I’ve put up with this façade for weeks. I’ve been through Hell and back to get to you.” Neron “trades” Ralph’s wedding ring for Faust by flinging it through Ralph’s heart. Ralph dies, a smile on his face. Neron tries to leave with Faust but realizes that the spell of binding that Ralph cast earlier is still in effect and it is trapped inside Fate’s tower. It vows to make Faust suffer “for eternity”.
Week 42, Day 7
Fire visits Sue Dibny’s gravesite. She picks up a wedding ring from atop the gravestone, crying, and whispers, “Oh, Ralph…”.
I misinterpreted the final scene with Renee from last issue. I thought it was in tribute to Charlie, but it was the final phase of Renee’s transformation.
This issue had quite the reveals! Ralph knew nearly all along that Faust was behind everything, from the Sue mannikin to his missing wedding ring. And then there was gingold and the Wishing Gun. What a cool concept, and it completely subverts the scene with Ralph supposedly about to kill himself. We see what transpired before the panel shown in issue 1, with Ralph saying, “I wish I were with Sue”. Knowing what happens to Ralph next, I guess he gets his wish after all. However, I find the “façade” Ralph has been portraying for weeks to be a bit disingenuous — after all, last issue he seems quite callous and oblivious to his actions. I suppose besides being the world’s stretchiest human and a great detective, we should also consider him a world-class actor? I don’t care for these kinds of mysteries where we don’t get to see all the clues, or am I just that unobservant?
Ralph says at one point that he’s waited a while to get Neron present, and it wasn’t to make a deal with it. Did he figure out some way to get to be with Sue if Neron was his murderer? And I loved the panel showing the smile on his face as he died, telling Neron, “I got you …”. It was a very low-key version of “I’m not locked in here with you; you’re locked in here with me!”
I found the final page scene confusing. Fire picks up Ralph’s wedding ring? Why was it there, four days later? Why is Fire (whom we haven’t seen since issue 4, I believe) at the gravesite? Did she and Ralph have a friendship from their time on the Justice League (I really don’t know — that era of Justice League history is foreign to me)? Or is this signaling the next chapter in Ralph’s “life”?
By Waid, McDaniel, Owens, Sinclair, Lanham, Richards, Schaefer, and Siglain
Every time I see Green Arrow in his Silver Age costume, I think how much I miss the red gloves. Reading this origin, I also want to read more about Oliver’s time as mayor of Star City.
Direct Download (36:09)
A new Comic Chat show where I talk about some comic books I read in June 2021, as well as some news about the return of Saga and Kurt Busiek to Image Comics!
Spotlighted comic books:
I also read:
Please send your comments to longboxreview@gmail.com, chat with me @longboxreview on Twitter, or visit longboxreview.com.
Thanks for listening!
52 was a weekly series published by DC Comics starting in May, 2006. Because I had my 52nd birthday in late 2020, I thought it might be interesting (fun?) to examine this series for its 15th anniversary. I plan to post once a week about each issue. To read previous posts, click the link (52!).
“Miracles & Wonders”
Week 41, Day 1
Adam Strange and Starfire are attacked by bounty hunter Meklon, and their ship is severely damaged. However, they are able to defeat Meklon and continue on their journey home.
Week 41, Day 2
Renee Montoya returns from meditating with mountain monks. After sparring briefly in an ice cave, Richard Dragon challenges her to “deal with who you are … so you can see who you can be”. She tells him that she can’t and runs off.
Week 41, Day 3
Ralph Dibny visits Haven Correctional Facility to visit an inmate. He bargains with the director to let him see an inmate by telling him the way that Doctor Morrow escaped was teleportation microcircuitry embedded in the security cameras.
Ralph then talks to Professor Milo, revealing that he knows Milo has smuggled the Silver Wheel of Nyorlath as part of his wheelchair. Ralph rips the wheel off, causing Milo to fall. Haven’s director bursts in, calling for Security. It’s then that Ralph realizes that Milo had not been faking paralysis as he thought, and then the Helmet of Fate transports Ralph, with the Wheel, away from Haven.
Week 41, Day 5
Renee has a conversation with Diana, who is in Nanda Parbat to meet with someone who will help her “start a new life, I suppose…”. Diana tells her,
You are looking for reason, and you are looking for it without. But the only reason you will find will be the reason you bring to the experience … and that can only come from looking within.
Later, Renee sits in an ice cave with a lit candle and a contented look. When the flame goes out, the smoke forms into a question mark.
Week 41, Day 7
Adam is despairing as his and Starfire’s ship is tumbling into a K-type star. Starfire, who was injured by Meklon earlier, threatens Adam, inspiring him to try something. Then Green Lanterns Opto309V and Mogo arrive, saving them.
Another nice cover tying into Renee’s ice cave and the other events of the issue. Plus, there’s the connection to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave at work here, with Renee no longer trapped in the prison of her own making.
Well, it’s about time Renee accepts who she has been since Charlie got sick. Now what will she do as the Question? Her encounter with Wonder Woman was completely unexpected, and honestly, I didn’t realize it was Diana at first. This marks the first time we see the third part of the Trinity as we head into the last part of the series. Given what transpired with Wonder Woman previous to 52, and why she’s in Nanda Parbat, Diana’s journey during this time is the most relevant and interesting over the men — it makes me want to read Wonder Woman comic books from this time to see how it was dealt with in her title (or was it?).
Ralph just sinks lower and lower. In his drive to bring back his wife, he is losing bits and pieces of his humanity along the way. If Sue could see him now, she’d be ashamed.
By Waid, Benitez, Sinclair, Leigh, Richards, Schaefer, and Siglain
It’s mentioned that her closest bond is with Dick Grayson, “the only Titan accustomed to having a partner that intimidating”. That’s fascinating if you consider how Starfire has been depicted during the years leading up to and after 52 and is very different from how she was shown originally, but still no less intimidating.
Direct Download (1:19:12)
It’s episode 200!!! To celebrate this monumental moment, I present to you, my dear listeners, two titanic team-ups (of sorts) in the grandest superhero tradition! It’s JLA vs JLA and the Spider vs the Burglar! It’s Justice League of America #200 vs Amazing Spider-Man #200! It’s two for the price of … 200? Whatever, I’m a podcaster, not a mathematician. Enjoy!
Other issue #200 comic books mentioned:
Please send your comments to longboxreview@gmail.com, chat with me @longboxreview on Twitter, or visit longboxreview.com.
Thanks for listening!
52 was a weekly series published by DC Comics starting in May, 2006. Because I had my 52nd birthday in late 2020, I thought it might be interesting (fun?) to examine this series for its 15th anniversary. I plan to post once a week about each issue. To read previous posts, click the link (52!).
“Man Ain’t Nothing But a Man”
Week 40, Day 1
Lex Luthor tells John Henry Irons that he has Irons’ niece. Irons contacts the Teen Titans as he dons his Steel armor, and they later storm the LexCorp building.
Steel rescues Natasha from Mercy Graves, but Natasha turns out to be Everyman. Everyman transforms into a giant crab and attempts to crush Steel in his claw, but Steel breaks Everyman’s claw, his armor crumbling off of him. Everyman stumbles back and falls several stories to his death.
Steel finds and confronts Luthor, who now has Superman-like powers, which he uses to shove the handle of Steel’s hammer through Steel’s side. They continue to fight, and Natasha uses the hammer to turn off Luthor’s powers. Steel tells Luthor he should thank them because the “Everyman treatment is toxic. … in six months, you’d be dead”.
On the street below, the Teen Titans wonder what’s happening above. Then, the Luthor insignia falls, and Aquagirl exclaims, “Look! Up in the sky!” and we see Steel and his niece stand over a defeated Luthor.
Week 40, Day 5
Things are not going well in Kahndaq: it’s been raining for a week and the crops continue to die; the people fight among each other, and they are getting sick and dying from long-dead diseases. Osiris believes all of this is his fault for his sin of murder. He tells Sobek that he needs to “purify himself on a pilgrimage. I need to release my powers … and gain new ones to set things right”. He asks Sobek to accompany him to the Rock of Eternity, so that he can “find a new family”.
The issue title comes from the folk song “The Ballad of John Henry” (aka “John Henry, Steel-Driving Man” or just simply “John Henry”) where the eponymous character tells his foreman that
“A man ain’t nothin’ but a man,
Before I let this steam beat me down,
Lawd, I’ll die with this hammer in my hand,
Lawd, Lawd, I’ll die with this hammer in my hand.”
It’s about the spirit of man, struggling against the odds and winning, if only briefly, because John Henry dies in the end, his premonition coming true. There are some similarities in this issue: Steel has been struggling with Luthor, a figure of power and oppression, this entire series. Luthor’s Everyman Project is the technology equivalent to the steam-powered drill that John Henry beats in the ballad, but where is the self-sacrifice here? Sure, Irons is without his armor (he ain’t nothin’ but a man) and he could have died fighting against Super-Lex, but he didn’t. Plus, aren’t they negating the man vs machine aspect of the balled by having Natasha use technology to save her uncle? If you’re going to evoke a powerful American myth like John Henry, you should be drawing more parallels.
And then there’s the legality of what Steel and the Teen Titans did. I suppose Luthor could be charged for what he did to all those people on New Year’s Eve, but Steel and the others assaulted Luthor’s employees and himself, not to mention all of the property damage. Morally, the heroes are supposedly in the right, but I wouldn’t put it past Luthor to file charges and sue, continuing to make the Irons family lives hell. Worse, however, is the callousness displayed by Irons and Beast Boy when Everyman falls to his death. Some “heroes”.
We’re now 3/4 of the way through this adventure, and this is the first resolution we’ve arrived at. Will the other major plots be given an issue (ish) to spotlight their respective denouements? Let’s get on with it already!
Given the focus on nearly the entirety of the issue (no “Origin of …” two-pager this time) to this melodrama, I certainly hope this is the last I see of the Irons family and Luthor in this series. But Osiris’ dark night of the soul journey has taken a new, perhaps interesting twist. Also, it’s been over a week of the suffering in Kahndaq, so where’s Black Adam and Isis? Last issue, we heard the boom telling the arrival of the Horsemen, so what happened then? It’s such an odd break from what logically should come next, but “keep them wanting more” I suppose.
