50 Cent Comics – Avengers #345

I grabbed nearly 100 comics at MegaCon a couple of months back for 50 cents each. Avengers #345 from March 1992 is one of them.


This issue drops the reader into the middle of a war between the Shi'ar and Kree. This is "Operation: Galactic Storm part 5". I suspect that part 1 would put you closer to the beginning. The fundamental problem for Earth is that both sides are using the Sun to power a nearby wormhole for travel purposes. This is causing instability and will eventually destroy the sun if not stopped. This issue opens with the Avengers rescuing the inhabitants of a space station orbiting the sun that was struck by a solar flare.


The astronauts are saved and the most recent Shi'ar ship to use the wormhole is stopped leading to a confrontation. By the end of the issue the Avengers are setting off on a diplomatic mission to try to end the war. Will they succeed? You'll have to read the next issue... I don't have that one though.


And there's plenty of old video game ads here for a bit of nostalgia from the latter days of the NES and the early days of the Super NES.

See the previous entry in the 50 Cent Comics series here: https://megalextoria.blogspot.com/2019/07/50-cent-comics-peter-parker-spectacular.html

50 Cent Comics – Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #122 (1987)

This particular story is titled ‘A Father’s Night Out’ and is from January 1987. It starts off with Peter finding a baby in an Alley. It turns out to be the son of Brendan Doyle, A.K.A. Mauler, a relatively obscure Spider-Man villain. Apparently he had been trying to take the baby from his mother and the mother tossed him out the window to protect him. I say obscure but there’s an interesting history here. Mauler is kind of like Iron Man in that it was a suit of armor produced by Stark Industries. There were a few different Maulers and he participated in the Civil War story-line to a small degree, at least in the comics.




50 Cent Comics – Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man #122 (1987)

50 Cent Comics - Astonishing X-Men #52

Next up from my 50 Cent MegaCon score is Astonishing X-Men #52. The X-Men has always been one of my favorite comic franchises though I stopped reading on a regular basis long before Astonishing X-Men came along. The Uncanny X-Men, The X-Men (later), X-Force, X-Factor, The New Mutants and Excalibur...those were the titles I remember.


There's a lot going on in this issue. Karma is being mind controlled by someone else...awkward as that's sort of what she does. Oh, and Wolverine explodes. There's some kind of bomb in his stomach. I'm not too worried though. With that mutant healing factor of his I'm sure it will all work out in the end.







Astonishing X-Men #52

50 Cent Comics – Avengers #311

Next of from the stash of 50 cent comics I purchased at MegaCon this year is Avengers #311.


This issue is from December 1989. I still wouldn't start buying comics on a regular basis for a couple more years and I never really bought Avengers title anyway so I'm just jumping into the middle of the story here. Apparently the story in this issue continues directly from Quasar #4 and Quasar takes the primary role in this issue. This serves as a reminder that there were quite a number of characters that rotated in and out of the Avengers line-up and Marvel still has a pretty much unlimited number of stories they can tell on the big screen if they so choose...though they'll have to be willing to do it with some more obscure characters. Apparently a whole cast of villains is attacking members of the Avengers all over the place as part of some master plan by some master villain. This is part of an ongoing storyline titled "Acts of Vengeance" and this issue features an attack on Hydrobase which is the floating island headquarters of the Avengers at this point in time.



I didn't find this issue all that interesting but the ads certainly were. Clearly this was when the original Nintendo Entertainment System was near its peak as almost every ad is for an NES game or accessory. First up is Operation Wolf, one of the best light gun games of the time.


Next up in terms of ads is one for Bubble Bobble. One of the best puzzle type games for the NES.


And here we have a two for one with two games from Capcom, one of the best Nintendo licensees. Strider and Mega Man 2 are both classics.


Some NES accessories are even advertised. Here we have wireless controllers by Acclaim. Unfortunately, these are infrared and a little too dependent on a direct line of sight to make them desirable in my opinion.


Another Capcom ad, this time for Bionic Commando. Another classic and another excellent game.


And for the wrestling fans we have World Championship Wrestling. Oh, and in cased you missed it, Hydrobase gets destroyed.


Finally, a non NES ad. This one for some Tiger handhelds. However, they were still based on popular NES games. I don't think that in most cases they translated well to a black and white LCD game though.


One of the more interesting ads... This one is for a board game by TSR called Web of Gold. Yes, apparently before there were 3D video games, there were 3D board games. I'm not at all familiar with this one so I can't say how good it is but TSR made some pretty neat stuff.

Not sure there was 50 cents worth of story in this issue but there was certainly 50 cents worth of video game nostalgia. R.I.P. Hydrobase.

See the previous entry in this series here: https://megalextoria.blogspot.com/2019/06/50-cent-comics-magdalena-2.html

50 Cent Comics – X-Treme X-Men #32

Next up from the batch of 50 cent comics I picked up at MegaCon in Orlando this year is X-Treme X-Men #32. Back when I bought comics on a regular basis, The X-Men titles were among my favorites. However, this was before X-Treme X-Men came along so I'm not really sure how that one fits in. I'm not sure this cover really has anything to do with the story.

Anyway, the story involves a woman trying to blow up a club full of mutants for some past abuse she suffered. This issue is from December 2003 but you can get a pretty good idea of the time period from the...

...video game advertisements like this one for Soul Calibur II for the GameCube. The only 3D fighting game series I really played and liked.


Discrete sound cards aren't as big of a deal as they used to be but the Sound Blaster Audigy 2 was one I used to really want. I always contented myself with on-board audio though. I don't think I really had a discrete sound card since whatever Sound Blaster variant I had that came with my Pentium II from Gateway 2000. And that Sound Blaster 16 ASP I had for my 486 DX2-66 back in the day was awesome for its time. I still kind of want one of those Audigy 2s though...


Another video game ad to date this issue. This time for a game I never heard of for the original XBox.

See the previous entry in this series here: https://megalextoria.blogspot.com/2019/06/50-cent-comics-avengers-255.html

Wolverine #137

via pinterest.com

Wolverine #137 from April 1999