Off on a tangent, were any other readers of Ultimates struck by how Spike & Dru-ish the portrayal of Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch was in the latest issue? The faces and body language of the two had a vibe very reminiscent of Marsters and Landau to me.

(Or possibly of Angelina Jolie and her brother.)

(Or possibly of Angelina Jolie and her brother.)

I think that was the vibe Hitch was going for.

I finished Buffy #53, and after a promising start (well, promising in comparison to the horridness that was "Hellmouth to Mouth"), the storyline has taken a seriously bad turn. A promising premise that included Buffy running away from home to chase vampires in Las Vegas (only to lead to the worst.comic.book.cover.ever) and examining the selection of Giles as Buffy's new watcher has quickly dissolved into a rather aimless series of fights in the Buffy storyline; an unbelievable plot wherein Angel, shadowing Buffy, gets sent back in time (this storyline contains enough "magic-babble" to rival the technobabble of a Star Trek: Voyager episode); and the Giles storyline devolving into a cliff-hanger of false jeopardy. Oh, and Dawn conveniently stumbles across Buffy's diary, which I'm sure is going to be the catalyst for Buffy's commital later in the series.

It's a shame, really. The writers and editor seem determined that the comic book is all about the fights and the monsters and the magic, rather than focusing on the characters. And it did start off pretty well. I thought #51 started nicely, brining out potential character points, such as what Buffy thinks about vampires and slaying after she was expelled; how did Giles become Buffy's watcher and how desparate was he; Angel's activities; the final dissolution of the Summers marriage.

A pity.

Not necessarily a Jossverse question, but any idea where I could find a price guide for comic books? I found some comics from the mid-80s in perfect condition the other day, but I have no idea if they are worth anything.

I usually just check ebay these days.

Most comic book shops have a copy of the Overstreet's Guide, or the latest copy of Wizard Magazine if it is a collectible.

Cool, thanks. I wasn't sure if I could ask the comic store guy to look in Overstreet's...I'm not all that up on the world of comics etiquette.

Buffy #54 should be on the stands today. It is the conclusion to the "Viva Las Buffy" arc that, IMHO, started out pretty good, but suffered a mid-arc slump. Will it finish on a strong note, or fall off the deep end?

Back from MegaCon, here's the news:

Fray #7 is finished and will hit the stands in April. #8 is almost done, and looks like it will make the cut in June. The plan from Dark Horse will be to release the entire run as a limited hard-cover collection first, followed by a trade paperback. No schedule on these.

Buffy will continue as a monthly for the time being, but they are waiting to see how things go once the show ends. There will be a mini-series or series of one shots titled Tales of the Vampires, written by writers of the show and focusing on past vampires in history, similar to Tales of the Slayers. Sales of those issues will help determine wheter they continue Buffy as a monthly, or a series of one-shots and minis. All in all, though, they figure they will be running Buffy comics in some format for the forseeable future.

Angel will unlikely ever be picked up again as a series or limited set.

Action figures were selling strong. I picked up a Giles figure (with book and axe as accessories) for $12. Most of the figures were $20. A "wolfy" Oz (still with guitar accessory) was $30. Anya in a bunny suit has now shot up to $60. Two more series of figures are due to be released; beyond that, the dealer didn't know what was going to happen.

In other comics news of note:

JLA/Avengers will be released in the 4th quarter of this year. George Perez himself said that he had the first two issues of the 4-issue set completed, and had the pencils finished of the 3rd issue and had that inked one quarter of the way through. This was confirmed by the DC panel.

Neil Gaiman has a hard-cover 128-page graphic novel called Endless Nights that has a raft of artist attached to separate stories dealing with each one of the Endless. He also has a Marvel series currently titled 1602 that the Wizard editor said looked comparable to The Sandman, but he could not offer any details, even what the project was about.

New issues of Planetary may actually hit the stores this summer.

Most of the show was dominated by the CrossGen group (they are just down the road in Tampa, so this is like their home ground). Most of their major announcements had to do with the deals they have in turning their seireis into movies and TV productions.

The convention itself seemed to go well. I think attendance was larger than last year. One thing I did notice was that anime and manga had a much larger presence than last year.

Most tempting item that I did NOT buy - LOTR:The Two Towers bootleg DVD for $25.

My best score of the convention - Complete three-issue Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy comic book series for $3.

If I wanted a Spike action figure, where's a good place to get one? I don't care if it's mint or if it's a limited variant. I just want a Spike.

Good Luck!

(seriously, they are really difficult to get except by combing comic stores which might still have them. last time I looked on-line nobody had them)