One of the few comics that I still read regularly is B.P.R.D., the Hellboy spin-off by Mike Mignola, John Arcudi and Guy Davis. It’s a really cool book about the Hellboy related characters in the “Bureau For Paranormal Research And Defense.” Kind of like a government sponsored team of freaks (or superheroes) that defends the U.S. and the world from monsters, demons and stuff like that. Great stories, great characters and great art—a ‘must buy!’ And I should know, it appears that I’ve bought several copies of each issue by mistake!
Don’t get me wrong—I love, repeat: LOVE, Mike Mignola’s covers. I love his art, in general. Mike has been a big influence on my own work. In fact, I have an original piece of his Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser art hanging right over my head as I type this. By the way, that makes me think of an amusing tale for another time. You’ll have to remind me to tell it later. But I must confess that I’ve discovered a that I have a little problem with these B.P.R.D. covers…
I can’t tell them apart.
Is it just me? Am I a moron? Has anyone else had this problem??? Specifically, the problem is that I go to my favorite comic shop and buy the latest issue, only to get home and find that I already have it! Yesterday, I accidentally bought TWO copies of B.P.R.D.: The Universal Machine #3. How did I do that? What’s worse is that when I got home, I realized I’d read it already!!! What am I, freakin’ retarded? Going senile? I hate to admit it, but this has happened at least 2 other times. And only with this book.
Maybe this is a clever ploy perpetrated by Mike and the gang at Dark Horse Comics. A way to get me to pay $9 for a $3 comic. I mean, I like the book a lot, but I don’t think it’s worth $9 for one issue. I’m not a collector (just a reader), so the extra copies are useless to me.
Sigh.
I guess I can pass them on to interested parties. Interested anyone?
2 comments:
You are not stupid! The cover design on the Dark Horse books follow some kind of iron clad format, that does not change. You can see it in the Star Wars books, and all the Mignola books. I notice that there are a lot of story arcs with Chapters. One of three, that type of thing. Is there a trade paperback that can make you can pick up? Avoid all the guesswork?
I suppose I could go the trade paperback route. There are a couple of titles that I buy in that format only. But I still like that monthly "fix" of the few comics that I still read regularly. Also, one can argue that if nobody bought the monthlies, then publishers would simply cancel the titles and there would be no trades. Gotta support those creators you like! (Maybe I'll start buying multiple copies of all my favorites!)
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