More Coastal Comics

January 1998

Thunderbolts #10

Yeah, I know ads like this aren’t super exciting, but I’m a historian and a completist, so I feel compelled to share all the ads from the books I’ve scanned.

Anyway, here we’re visiting East Coast Comics again, almost a decade after the last ad I published from them. And I thought I had a lot of tags last time – well, I think I broke my record again, because in addition to all the regular series, they also listed all sorts of limited series and special sets!

I’m sure a lot of these titles can be found in quarter bins today, but I wonder just how many of them have skyrocked in value.

 

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Heroes Return… To Your Mailbox!

January 1998

Thunderbolts #10

It’s another subscription page – this time from 1998. This one seemed to have far fewer titles than other subscription pages, but upon comparing it to one from 1997, I guess they’re actually pretty close.

X-Men aren’t quite as dominant in this one as they were in the previous year, and the number of Star Trek titles has been cut in half – and speaking of cutting Star Trek in half, here they have “Star Trek: Star Fleet Academy” listed as one of the titles – all good Trekkies should know that Starfleet is one word!

So at this point, we’ve got subscription prices ranging from $1.66 to $1.83 per issue (or $1.25 for Marvel Vision) at a time when cover price for comics was $1.99. While saving any money is always a good thing, that’s only a discount of 8% to 16%. Without doing any official research on this, I’d say that this is probably a low point (or close to it) for subscription savings.

 

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Wanna Join the Mile High (Comics) Club?

January 1998

Thunderbolts #10

So, this seems like it’s supposed to be a two-page ad, since it lists all of the Marvel Comics but only gets to C in DC, but I swear this is all there is! I guess since this was in a Marvel comic, maybe that’s why they focus so heavily on Marvel titles, and just use DC as space filler.

In going through and adding tags for all the different titles, I was surprised by how many I’ve never heard of – I mean, I expected there to be quite a few, but not this many!

So these comics are only 50¢ each – not a bad price! However, there’s a minimum order of $20, which means you’d have to order 40 books in order to get anything! I guess for hardcore collectors that probably wouldn’t be a problem, but when I go digging thorough a bargain bin, I usually only pick up a few issues – a couple times when I’ve really gone nuts, I might’ve gotten up to 20, but I don’t think I’ve ever bought 40 comics at a time!

 

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Mooortaaaaal Kooombaaaat! (II)

February 1995

X-Force #43

I don’t know about you, but Mortal Kombat was one of my absolute favorite series of games back in the day! I had (and actually still have, but just haven’t played in years) MKII for Game Gear, and while it was awesome, I don’t think I ever got particularly good at it. I’ll just blame that on the format – when you take a fighting game as rich and complex as this and have to scale it down for a portable system that only has two action buttons, it’s definitely going to lose a bit.

Mortal Kombat 3 (actually Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3) was the one I really got into. I had that one for Genesis, so that was as fully functional as it gets! However, when I first glanced at this ad, I thought it actually was from MK3 – I don’t remember MKII having Friendships or Shao Kahn at all! I guess I was just never good enough at it to get to see those…

 

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Batman: The Video Game Series

February 1995

X-Force #43

One of the best-known and -loved cartoons of the ’90s has been turned into a video game! Yes, the levels in The Adventures of Batman and Robin are actually based on episodes of Batman: The Animated Series.

I actually had the Game Gear version of this (which I don’t think I ever got very far in), but apparently that’s an entirely different game from the SNES version. From what I’ve read, it sounds like the SNES version is considered the definitive one, so I’d be curious to see it someday. However, the Sega CD version (also very different from either the SNES or Game Gear versions), also has cut scenes that some consider to be a “lost episode” of the series – definitely something I’d like to check out!

 

Do you enjoy reading Comic Book Ads? If so, please consider supporting me by clicking here for my Amazon link – I’ll get a percentage from everything you order! Thanks!

Lethal Injection (Of Bullets)

February 1995

X-Force #43

Lethal Enforcers was one of my favorite games back when it came out, but it drove me nuts that it was so difficult! You (or at least I) would have to play the same level over and over again before getting a score high enough to advance! Then a couple years later Lethal Enforcers II: Gun Fighters came out, and it was so much better! You didn’t need as high accuracy, the levels were way easier to get through, plus you got to use a Gatling gun! While I don’t have any particular interest in the Old West, this game quickly became a favorite of mine.

I guess I never did that well, though, because this ad mentions “an evil shaman and his band of creepy, skeletal ghouls” – I certainly don’t remember ever seeing that! That sounds awesome! Now I think I need to go back and play it so I can try to get to that level…

To see my CBA IRL post for Lethal Enforcers II, click here!

 

Do you enjoy reading Comic Book Ads? If so, please consider supporting me by clicking here for my Amazon link – I’ll get a percentage from everything you order! Thanks!

And I’m Sure He Was Never Heard From Again…

February 1995

X-Force #43

I have a passing familiarity with X-Men and some of their storylines, but am far from an expert. However, according to this ad, apparently Professor X died in 1994/’95!

Considering that this store is holding a memorial service, it seems like it was a pretty big deal at the time, but did anyone really think he was gone for good? Comic book deaths are so fleeting, especially for main characters – I’m always at least a little suspicious when someone “dies” in a comic.

Adding a Little Flair to the Game

February 1995

X-Force #43

If you know me, you know that I’m not into sports. At all. So that means I don’t have a whole lot to say about these basketball cards.

It seems like collector cards were huge in the ’90s, so this is just one of the many, many sets out there at the time, trying to cash in on the craze. However, these cards do sound pretty fancy, with their “dazzling ‘hi-fi’ six-color printing, lavish foil stamping and a slick, durable polyester laminate coating.” Wait a minute – hi-fi printing? Hi-fi refers to audio! Well, if these cards make sound, then I guess they’re some really deluxe collector cards!

Watch Out for Snakes… or Alligators!

February 1995

X-Force #43

It’s amazing how much a video game can evolve in 12 years – the original Pitfall was released in 1982 on the Atari 2600. At the time, it was considered a huge breakthrough in terms of graphics and gameplay. This newer, updated version of Pitfall was released in 1994 – and these graphics are quite a bit more advanced than the original! However, many thought the gameplay was a bit lacking (or lagging) on this one.

But there is a fun marriage of the classic with the new on this one: If you find a secret doorway, it takes you to the original game – pretty cool, huh?

 

Subscriber-Man, Subscriber-Man, Does Whatever a Subscriber Can!

February 1995

X-Force #43

It’s the ’90s, and X-Men are in full swing! Despite the fact that Spider-Man is the one pictured in the ad, he’s only got six titles, while X-Men and all their various spinoffs have a whopping 13!

 

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