Found Buried in a Storage Bin

[NiteCloak]

So.. I was cleaning out the garage trying to find room for yet more junk that'll likely never get used or see the light of day again when I came across an old storage bin that hadn't been opened in over 12 years. In it were all kinds of old PC games circa early 2000's...and these!

[Victoria Victrix]

So.. I was cleaning out the garage trying to find room for yet more junk that'll likely never get used or see the light of day again when I came across an old storage bin that hadn't been opened in over 12 years. In it were all kinds of old PC games circa early 2000's...and these!

A while back I found someone selling the entire set of all the hardcopy comics on ebay.  I bought it and enjoyed some tears and nostalgia.

[NiteCloak]

I didn't even know there were hardcopy versions!

[saipaman]

Oh, yes, and early on they mailed them to subscribers.

[eabrace]

I didn't even know there were hardcopy versions!

I have the full set.  They'll have to be pried out of my cold, dead hands.

[KingsGambit]

What a find! How many issues were there in the run? Was it ongoing or a limited series? I didn't know about these but I think I'd love to check them out.

[saipaman]

The original book ran for 12 issues.  You can see all the covers here:

https://www.comics.org/series/13687/covers/

I really enjoyed this run.   The story doesn't exactly match the game lore but I'm good with that.

[KingsGambit]

The original book ran for 12 issues.  You can see all the covers here:

https://www.comics.org/series/13687/covers/

I really enjoyed this run.   The story doesn't exactly match the game lore but I'm good with that.

Thank you so much for that link, they look great. I'm going to try and find a set, I'd love to revisit Paragon City, even if in this form. I think that's probably one of CoX's greatest strengths, that even years later we can still remember the Carnies, Goldbrickers, Crey Industries, Rikti, Vanguard, Arachnos, Midnight Club, all the super-teams, all this rich, interconnected lore where each of our heroes/villains gets to have a unique journey through these multiple stories and adventures. Actual comic books are a natural fit for the world since they provided the inspiration in the first place.

[saipaman]

So.. I was cleaning out the garage trying to find room for yet more junk that'll likely never get used or see the light of day again when I came across an old storage bin that hadn't been opened in over 12 years. In it were all kinds of old PC games circa early 2000's...and these!

If you flip those books over, are their mailing labels on the back of those bags?

[Vee]

There's a more extensive set of cover pics here https://web.archive.org/web/20121014173246/http://na.cityofheroes.com/en/media-and-downloads/comic-archive/ but the actual free downloads aren't working anymore. https://readcomiconline.to/ has all but the special edition ones, which may have been reprints or collections, idk. I remember trying to read them back when the game was live but not making it far. Thinking I'll try again to see if nostalgia helps.

[Castegyre]

Jealousy  noun  jeal-ou-sy | \je-l?-s?\ 1: That thing I have right now.

[NiteCloak]

If you flip those books over, are their mailing labels on the back of those bags?

Well yes there are but as they show my current address I won't be posting pictures of that. LoL

[NiteCloak]

Oh, yes, and early on they mailed them to subscribers.

I was with CoH for the whole journey but I was only mailed the regular comics (soft cover) so this is still news to me. I must have missed the memo.

[saipaman]

There's a more extensive set of cover pics here https://web.archive.org/web/20121014173246/http://na.cityofheroes.com/en/media-and-downloads/comic-archive/ but the actual free downloads aren't working anymore. https://readcomiconline.to/ has all but the special edition ones, which may have been reprints or collections, idk. I remember trying to read them back when the game was live but not making it far. Thinking I'll try again to see if nostalgia helps.

I didn't care for the series by Image. 

[saipaman]

Well yes there are but as they show my current address I won't be posting pictures of that. LoL

I thought I recognized those bags!

[eabrace]

The original book ran for 12 issues.  You can see all the covers here:

https://www.comics.org/series/13687/covers/

See Also:  https://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Comics

(Poor Paragon Wiki, everyone has forgotten about you.  )

[Vee]

See Also:  https://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Comics

(Poor Paragon Wiki, everyone has forgotten about you.  )

After reading the first comic yesterday I had to go to paragonwiki to double check that my nerdrage at the paragon newbie going to a hazard zone off Atlas and fighting Freakshow was justified.

[KingsGambit]

After reading the first comic yesterday I had to go to paragonwiki to double check that my nerdrage at the paragon newbie going to a hazard zone off Atlas and fighting Freakshow was justified.

Hahaha, thank you for that laugh. I used to hate those hazard zones. I was a CoV player thru and thru, so the trains and hazard zones were so baffling! "Wait, the hospital is in another zone!?" I never spent much time in them, or blueside for that matter. I think two 50s (regen scrapper and shield tanker), a couple of middlings and some failed-to-launches :-)

Well I've sourced 10 of the 12 of these but the other two are giving me trouble. Not easy to find near mint copies, and being outside the US, shipping will be more than the book price

[Vee]

Welp finished them all. I didn't think the image/top cow series was bad, just the first series felt more like the game itself rather than just a series based on the characters. Nostalgia definitely helped though. I think the ones I read back in the day were when I first started the game so I didn't really have a context to appreciate them.

Now, to decide if my curiosity about the two text novels outweighs my general abhorrence for a physical copy of anything... anyone read them?

[saipaman]

Here is a better question.  Did the third unpublished book ever leak?

[Black Pebble]

[saipaman]

It's possible my memory is faulty.

But I'm almost certain there were supposed to be three novels and the third was never released.

[MyriVerse]

Yes, there were supposed to be 3 novels. The last, The Rikti War, never came.

Two different writers have been mentioned as attached to the book, so I'm not even sure if it was even ever written.

[Black Pebble]

Yes, there were supposed to be 3 novels. The last, The Rikti War, never came.

Two different writers have been mentioned as attached to the book, so I'm not even sure if it was even ever written.

If a 3rd completed novel existed, I never found any traces of it internally.

So it definitely never leaked. :-(

[Vee]

So then now that we've answered the better question can we go back to my initial question of whether anyone's read the first two and are they worth me getting physical copies of like some poo-slinging savage?

[saipaman]

If you can get copies cheap, read them and then recycle them.

[saipaman]

If a 3rd completed novel existed, I never found any traces of it internally.

So it definitely never leaked. :-(

Another dream shattered.

[doc7924]

So then now that we've answered the better question can we go back to my initial question of whether anyone's read the first two and are they worth me getting physical copies of like some poo-slinging savage?

I am sure there is an app for that now. (poo slinging I mean)

[Vee]

Turd drones ftw

[Vee]

If you can get copies cheap, read them and then recycle them.

Ordered both. Got them for 6 and 7 bucks on amazon with free shipping. Really hurts to have physical copies cuz i'm a digital hoarder but not a regular hoarder and it'd take too long to scan a couple novels for hoard purposes As to recycling, I was gonna replace all the character names with Popeye or Joey Lawrence as I read then mail them to Tahquitz.

[Tahquitz]

As to recycling, I was gonna replace all the character names with Popeye or Joey Lawrence as I read then mail them to Tahquitz.

Really, you shouldn't have. 

[HalcyonS]

The original book ran for 12 issues.  You can see all the covers here:

https://www.comics.org/series/13687/covers/

I really enjoyed this run.   The story doesn't exactly match the game lore but I'm good with that.

Damn, I haven't thought about those comics in years. Man that brings back so many memories just looking at them again.