Wow what a week! Started a kick ass new gig all while going into the final days leading up to the Sunbow Animation Celebration double feature of The Transformers and G.I. Joe: The Movies, fighting a cold and planning another big movie night. Saturday it was off to Sherman Oaks to check out a parking lot sale of comics with thousands of issues advertised for a buck a piece. Earth 2 Comics is located right on Ventura Blvd off the 405 a few minutes from The Galleria. The Galleria? John Conner alert! I think that was Glendale actually...Anyways, it was already a bustling scene with people elbow to elbow skimming through books. Toys, calendars,
figurines and more were also on sale but I was more there looking for
issues. After whetting my appetite with some Cable (Body slide by one) from last week's Long
Beach Comic Expo, I was hoping I'd run into some more 90's action and
was not disappointed as I scooped up some of Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza's X-Force from 1991. Also grabbed were several issues of Nick Fury: Agent of Shield, some more 80's Captain America that I already have in boxes in Ohio, Sgt. Rock and a couple of random issues of West Coast Avengers with interesting covers. There seemed to be a lot of DC for sale and I hauled up a few issues of The Flash written by the TV writing duo of the 1990 show, Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo. If you bought 20, the price went down to .50 cents so it was money well spent. The staff there were all super cool and say they hold the sale a couple times a year so we'll be sure to come back.
Since we were already in The Oaks, we cruised down to The One Up for a midday cocktail and some more brawling action following up on The Punisher mayhem from a few weeks ago. It was barely noon so the place was empty but with Space Balls on the tube and a Jameson Mule aka Dublin Donkey in hand, it was time to check out what other oddities and classics the 400 game emulator had in store for us. I really hoping for Aliens VS Predator so I could be video game Arnold aka Dutch but with a metal arm and fight xenomorphs. Alas AVP was not included but 1991's forgotten yet awesome side scrolling beat'em up Knights of the Round from Capcom was. I remember playing the crap out of that game as Lancelot, Arthur and Perceval. We settled on Cadillacs and Dinosaurs for the sheer WTF value as it's a beat'em up but with a story involving cars and dinosaurs. A comic book series turned cartoon, the Capcom arcade game came out in 1993 where you play as the hyper buff dude Jack Tenrec or hot diplomat Hannah Dundee along with fast fighting Mustapha or heavy hitter Mess O'Bradovich.
Like Final Fight or The Punisher, you roll down the streets of some crazy city where dinosaurs have been hunted and modified, becoming violent tools of gang warlords. Using your fists, feet, uzi's, shotguns, knives and TNT, you fight your way through various parts of The City by the Sea and a nearby jungle. The game had a BLARING rock and roll soundtrack and was really, really loud. But fun to button mash and brawl. It was surprisingly violent with dead dinosaur carcases, being able to use swords to hack peeps and of course shoot them with a variety of firearms. One stage you're driving a Caddy and literally trying to mow down the baddies in your way. Road rage! It was a fun morning before we needed to head to Hollywood for the big show...
It was a Universal Studios Citywalk Saturday as we ventured north to check out Game of Thrones on real IMAX then feasted at Karl Strauss and walked around the always nice but not too busy Citywalk. It's been a while since I was here and was pleasantly surprised to see that the comic shop had moved to a larger space. Things From Another World was always a stocked but stuffy joint in it's former location. Now they've got all kinds of room to show off a life size Iron Man and all the toys, games, shirts, merch and comics you can shake a stick at. As this area is a tourist trap, this is also how comic shops should be, slinging all the things you love to look at and might even buy. From action figures to statues to mini toys, patches, keychains, playing cards, etc Things has you covered on the merchandise side but also has racks of graphic novels and new comics. Big Trouble In Little China is already up to # 8! Yeesh, will have to catch up sometime.
Check out all the goodness from their old store but imagine more of it in a larger space:
There's a surprising abundance of comic book shops on the west side of Los Angeles. I can name four off the top of my head within minutes of my office. One place I kept passing on Overland caught my eye because it was next to a Chili Parlor! The owner recently retired and sold stake so it's now called The Comic Bug. The guys working were great, very chill, helpful and easy to shoot the shit with. There's a front room of toys, graphic novels and the like while a separate room has all the latest issues displayed for easy viewing and snagging. Back issue wise they had a decent selection and I grabbed the final installment of Sgt. Rock: The Prophecy along with a short box to organize my collection.
Sadly, Tub's Fine Chili next door wasn't open on this Sunday so I'll have to come back and check them out. There's a private lot for the strip mall which includes a liquor store, all we need is a karate dojo and you'd never need to go anywhere else.
with people elbow to elbow skimming through books. Toys, calendars,
figurines and more were also on sale but I was more there looking for
issues. After whetting my appetite with some Cable (Body slide by one) from last week's Long
Beach Comic Expo, I was hoping I'd run into some more 90's action and
was not disappointed as I scooped up some of Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza's X-Force from 1991. Also grabbed were several issues of Nick Fury: Agent of Shield, some more 80's Captain America that I already have in boxes in Ohio, Sgt. Rock and a couple of random issues of West Coast Avengers with interesting covers. There seemed to be a lot of DC for sale and I hauled up a few issues of The Flash written by the TV writing duo of the 1990 show, Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo. If you bought 20, the price went down to .50 cents so it was money well spent. The staff there were all super cool and say they hold the sale a couple times a year so we'll be sure to come back.
