I Had The Best Time In Coles Bookstore Today

I spent some time in the Mall bookstore today while getting my eyes checked because I want to get some new glasses. I also have some cloudiness in my right eye that I needed to have looked at. Going blind is my greatest fear. My sight is my life. While I was waiting to have my eyes dilated I went next store to see what new books were on the shelves.

I remember a time when you could find NOTHING comic book related in a bookstore that wasn't exclusively dedicated to graphic novels or trade paperbacks and the regular individual floppies. Today I enjoyed looking over a whole AISLE of great collections. If they had this selection when I was a teen I would have BEGGED for a job at the Coles in Parkland Mall just so I could be aware of everything that was coming in. If they had chairs like Chapters I might still be there.

These are some of the fine choices they had to offer. I am going to go back and get myself SOMETHING interesting for myself. Nothing hardcover though because you can almost buy three softcover editions for one hardcover collection.

The one for Secret Empire looked gorgeous but at 55 dollars it was very pricey for a hardcover book. I hated the story but the art is gorgeous especially in this volume. It was at the end of the aisle where you see it first. I had to pick it up. I found myself reading it all over again just standing there.

The collected Crisis On Infinite Earth looked even better but cost 165 dollars in hardcover. Almost 500 pages of story and extras and a fantastic Universe remaking story that reminds us all when a comic book 'event' actually meant something and wasn't just a cynical way for the companies to make more money by printing 100 books that hurts anyone wanting to be a completest and read the entire story.

 

This is the one I am thinking of getting for myself. Darwyn Cooke is a genius illustrator and storyteller. I just love his style. Twenty dollars for the trade paperback.

 

 

 

The Clone Conspiracy is actually a great story that continues the most hated Spider-Man story arc of all time - The Clone Saga. Lots of fun twists in this one. Hardcover costs 50 dollars.

 

 

Alpha Flight by John Byrne is another great collection of some of the best work he ever did. Of course the heroes and the stories have that Canadian slant to them and that makes them special in my heart. I remember exactly when I saw and bought the first issue and reading it on the way home from Edmonton. The hardcover goes for 115 dollars but again is thick like a phone book.

 

 

In my opinion this is the greatest collection of Thor stories that have ever been created. The movie Thor - Ragnarok is heavily influenced by the run done by Walter Simonson. His work on this series includes the introduction of Beta Ray Bill AND Throg The Thunder Frog. That alone is worth the price of admission. 116 dollars on Amazon for the hardcover.