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§ May 17th, 2005 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on
Okay, I know I’ve been bringing up our auctions an awful lot lately…I don’t mean to turn this site into a commercial for our store. Well, not much, anyway. But I thought you might be interested to know that I just listed a bunch of undergrounds, including the two comics I featured on this site recently, as well as a couple rarities (like Jim Franklin’s Armadillo #3). Even if you don’t want to buy anything, maybe you’ll get a kick out of some of the scans.
As long as I’m thinking about store stuff, I was reminiscing about a couple things in the distant past, lo in those pre-internet days, even in those pre-pal Dorian days…not really anything warranting a post on their own, but just a couple observations about how things used to be…
- …like having a huge line outside the store of people waiting to buy their copy of Superman #75, the infamous “Death of Superman.” We had doubled our orders on Superman for this issue, but this was of course before all the crazy publicity that issue received. We realized right away that there was no way we’d have enough to meet demand, so we ended up having to limit the comic to one per customer (which had the end result of really profoundly angering one or two people who were insisting on buying dozens of copies). I remember one woman in particular who was pretty irate about only being able to get one copy (despite my explaining to everyone so angered that if I hadn’t limited sales, they wouldn’t even be buying their one), and who also had brought her two-year-old along to the store, and she was too busy complaining to keep an eye on him…so of course on top of managing a store full of customers, we had to keep Junior out of trouble as well. And when the newspaper article on the event came out the next day, whose face was in full color on the cover? Yup, that woman. Sigh.
Also, people seemed generally concerned that Superman was going to be dead and gone forever, so I put together a display of dead Superman covers from years past to show that this was nothing new. I did have a reporter ask me how I thought DC was going to bring Superman back, and I half-jokingly said that since Superman was essentially like a big solar battery, absorbing our sun’s radiation to fuel his powers, they should probably just lay him out on the beach and let him recharge. As it turned out, that’s kinda what ended up happening (the recharging part, not the beach part).
- As you may recall, Rob Liefeld’s X-Force #1 was polybagged with one each of an assortment of trading cards. We ended up sorting out the comics by which card was in the package, and setting up a table with the different piles displayed, thus making it easier for people to get one of each card if they so desired. We’re not proud.
- The only thing, the only thing, I have been ashamed of selling in the store is pogs. Yes, this is coming from someone who has also sold Horny Biker Sluts. At least Horny Biker Sluts has artistic merit.
Pogs. Feh.
- Another time we had a huge line of people snaking around the store to buy the current hot comic was when Youngblood #1 came out. Liefeld was on, I think, The Dennis Miller Show or Arsenio or some darn thing, and that brought the people out in droves. Again, we had to limit to one per customer or three people would have bought all the copies we ordered.
Of all the comics for people to get all worked up about….
- When Star Trek: Voyager came out, our local newspaper once again sent out their intrepid reporters to our shop to get the dope on what the area cognoscenti had to say about (gasp) a female Starfleet captain! I was the only person at the shop at the time (er, well, still, come to think of it) who had much interest in Star Trek, but that was the day I was doing some heavy work in the back…I was unshaved, disheveled, and wearing downright ratty clothing*, and there was going to be pictures taken for the article. Despite my former coworker Rob’s pleadings, I declined to be interviewed…even at my best, I have a face made for radio, so I certainly wasn’t going to be pictured lookin’ like this. So, yeah, I stuck poor Rob with speaking for the store on this important subject. I don’t remember exactly what he said, but he tried to be fair and even-handed on the topic….especially given that I knew darn well he absolutely hated Trek.
- Occasionally I remember a comic we used to have tons of, and now we’re completely bereft of them. I’ve mentioned the Star Wars treasury before (the one we were selling for a quarter just to unload the stupid things), but just recently I was reminded of 1968’s Iron Man and Sub-Mariner #1…a one-shot that continued their stories from Tales of Suspense and Tales to Astonish, just prior to each character starting its own series. Now, we had a pile of these things. Couldn’t give them away. They were a dime a dozen. We were stuck with these things forever…and then, eventually, we were run right out of them, without me even noticing. It’s one of those comics that I always assume we have plenty of, but now they’re few and far-between (and $200 in NM in Overstreet).
- Once the store was filled with women wrestlers. In costume. As customers. Sometimes, these things happen.
* Yes, yes, I know, “how is that any different from how you usually look?” Trust me, I was not fit for public consumption.
§ May 17th, 2005 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on
Hey, just a reminder…I’m selling a few things for pal Ian via our eBay auctions. Those auctions are ending today at about 3:20 Pacific time, and they include such goodies as Lynda Barry’s One Hundred Demons, Alan Moore: Portrait of a Gentleman, Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Kim Deitch, several WildC.A.T.s books by Alan Moore and Joe Casey, and much much more! Get your bids in fast…help us send Ian off to beauty college!
§ May 17th, 2005 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on
This page may have the greatest superhero custom figures I have ever seen. I would have killed for these as a young’un. An example is pictured to the right, there.
Well, okay, the Joker/Red Hood action figure is kinda cool.
In other new DC solicitation news, let me join my fellow ACAPCWOVCCAOE* member, Sir James Ian “Boom-Boom” Brill III, in his delight at the forthcoming DC’s Greatest Imaginary Stories. Complete with Brian Bolland cover. If this isn’t a must-buy on your list, I’m comin’ to your house to set fire to all your Rom comics.
I also like the design on this version of the cover for the Identity Crisis collection. That’s mighty handsome. Yeah, I know, you all hated this series. That’s still a fine cover…better than any of the ones that appeared on the actual comic.
A couple things are apparently “changing forever:”
JSA #76: “…Hawkman harbors a secret that will change the JSA’s role in the DCU forever!”
Legion of Super-Heroes #9: “…Cosmic Boy is faced with a deadly decision that could change the face of his team forever.”
Plus, dig the Crisis on Infinite Earths #5-vibe on this cover for Flash #225.
Flying miniature from the Supergirl movie, from the Propstore of London. They’re also selling a prop Chinese newspaper from “the Christopher Reeve classic [sic] Superman III.”
Pete von Sholly strikes again, this time with the spectacularly-named Sergeantstein and His Maraudin’ Monsters. Von Sholly’s art style is very appealling to me…big, dynamic, and colorful. There are plenty of preview pages at that link, so be sure to take a look.
Pal JP pointed out this auction for one of the original Howard Chaykin Star Wars promo posters…hoo boy, that’s pricey. I also wanted to express my admiration for this particular seller’s humongous list of policies and rules, which I’m sorely tempted to do for our own auctions. I thought I did a pretty good job detailing the requirements for our auctions, but there’s always someone who doesn’t think the rules apply to them, and/or pays us some completely random amount of money after the auction’s over. It’s not so bad when they pay us too much (then I can just refund the excess), but it’s when they pay us a dollar over the end amount, expecting that to cover shipping and sales tax (if applicable)…well, then it’s a pain in the rear.
I just have to keep reminding myself…”mail order is fun…mail order is still fun….”
* The Associated Comics And Pop Culture Webloggers of Ventura County, California And Outlying Environs. Or, perhaps, the Annoyed, Creepy, And Peculiar Cartoon Watchers of Ventura, Connecticut, Chemnitz, and Outer Erie.
§ May 16th, 2005 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on
So, while talking with pal Dorian on Saturday, I brought up the idea of the Brotherhood of Dada from Grant Morrison’s Doom Patrol suddenly showing up in the current, rebooted, “everything you knew was wrong!” version of Doom Patrol, acting as if the reboot never happened. That would be consistent with the concept of the Brotherhood, wouldn’t it?
Anyway, the root canal went fine, aside from taking forever. I go lie down now.
§ May 16th, 2005 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on I’m going in for a root canal this morning…
…and only the thought of the true love between a koala bear and a penguin will sustain me:
Areba Koala #1 (1977) – art by John Wozniak
§ May 15th, 2005 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on
I was paging through our store copy of Wizard Magazine (hey, we do have the occasional downtime at the shop…it’s not all big money transactions and gunplay)…and surely I must have imagined seeing this on the classified ads page:
“BETTER SEX THROUGH YOGA
The super hero power no villian, vixen or hulk can live without.”
Before you say anything, yes, that’s how “villain” was spelled in the ad. There was a website address, too, which I don’t really want to post here but you can probably figure out on your own. Just don’t confuse it with Bettersexthroughyogurt.com, for God’s sake.
So pal Dorian and I were discussing some recent comics “controversy” or another yesterday:
Me: “…And, of course, everyone’s going to start bitching about it.”
Dor: “‘Start?'”
Me: “Oops, I meant that they’re going to alter the direction of their current nonstop bitching to this new target.”
So, the stoned person that Dorian mentioned…how did I know she was stoned? She kept hitting on me. I mean, honestly…surely even stoned people can do better than me.
From now on, this is how I’m going to brand images I personally scanned for use on this site:
I finished reading the Crisis on Infinite Earths novelization a few days ago, and, like I said before, it does not stand alone. You really need to have read the original Crisis comic book series to make heads or tails out of this. Part of the problem is that, when you get right down to it, Crisis isn’t so much about the plot as it is about mixing up and showing off all of DC Comics’ various characters from the company’s long history. The comic’s appeal is primarily visual…it’s for the fans who want to see Changeling meet Mr. Tawky Tawny, for example, rather than read “And then the Earth-1 Changeling was surprised to meet Mr. Tawky Tawny of Earth-S.” (Okay, not an actual line from the book, but you get the idea.) The huge group shots and massive fight scenes in the comic are a lot of fun to look at, given the lovely George Perez/Jerry Ordway art. But in prose form, those group shots suddenly become long lists of characters, often with notations as to which Earth they’re from. The few introspective moments that flesh out the occasional character are nice (the Silver Age Flash, the center of the story, benefits most), but they’re few and far between.
The book was a fun diversion, despite its problems (and occasional typos) but not exactly essential to the understanding of the orignal Crisis series. For fans only…but really, who else was going to read it?
I was one of the participants in Chris “Lefty” Brown‘s Mixed Bag CD exchange, and while some folks out there who were also in the exchange are doing detailed reviews of each disc, I’m not sure I’ll ever get around to doing so myself. I will say that I’ve enjoyed all the discs I received, and that it’s very illuminating to be exposed to these fine folks’ musical tastes. And I’m glad to hear that most of you enjoyed at least some of the material on my disc…the next one will be a bit more…challenging, so consider yourself warned!
Tell the truth…you clicked on that bettersexthroughyogurt.com link, didn’t you? Sicko.
§ May 14th, 2005 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on
Animal Weirdness #1 (1974) – art by Livingstone
§ May 13th, 2005 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on Hi.
Okay, Big Larry totally called me on my comments yesterday regarding Surviving Grady, where I claimed I would have no interest in the book given its apparent baseball subject matter. Larry says “no way, Jose,” tellng me baseball is just a framework for the contents, and posts a brief excerpt here as proof. All right, Larry, you win…I’ll take a second look.
My comments about the high quality of the actual materials using in the making of the book still stand. This is one sturdy volume.
Okay, there seems to be an awful lot of support for the planet of Thanagar lately, which I don’t understand. Every time a Thanagarian that isn’t Hawkman pops up, he (or she) is part of an invading force, or he’s trying to kill one of our Earth superheroes, or otherwise trying to commit some form of evil. Don’t forget, the Thanagarians were part of the coalition of alien races who invaded our planet a while back, thus making them partially responsible for what happened to Australia (i.e. “Beachhead Earth”). I don’t trust those sneaky Thanagarians.
Anyway, I’m backing the planet Rann. They never tried to invade Earth, as far as I know (or if they did try, I’m sure Adam Strange talked some sense into them before things got too far). Plus, Swamp Thing once visited Rann and helped revive their dying plantlife, so Rann’s got a little bit of Swampy in it. Oh, and who tried to kill Swamp Thing while he was there? Thanagarians, that’s who. Gee, what a surprise. Those big jerks.
Another reminder: as I first announced here, I have an extra copy of Couscous Express to give away, and all you gotta do is send your name and address to contest (at) progressiveruin.com to enter the random drawing. Deadline is Friday, May 20th…please see this post for rules and restrictions.
And in case you’re worried…I’m only keeping the names and addresses for the duration of the contest. They’ll be discarded once a winner is chosen…you won’t be put on a mailing list, and no salesman will call.
§ May 12th, 2005 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on Because pal Ian demanded it.
from Brave and the Bold #140 (April 1978) – by Bob Haney & Jim Aparo
Trust me…any explanation would only disappoint.
§ May 12th, 2005 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on You’ll have to excuse me; I’m feeling a little punchy.
Okay, new comics day….
Well, the day started off with a representative from one of our local libraries buying an absolute boatload of graphic novels, which is nice. She also informed me that they’re going to have some kind of superhero-themed reading program this year, and she asked if I’d put together a display for them. Hey, no problem…back in my public library employment days (in fact, this lady’s boss used to be my boss, 15-something years ago) I used to help run the summer reading programs at our location, including the building of displays and whatnot, so I’m no stranger to this. Should be fun! Well, at least until somebody gets hurt.
Oh, and one would think that a parent’s reaction to her horde of children yelling and running around the store would be to put a stop to such shenanigans, wouldn’t one? Well, not the parent we had in yesterday, apparently. Sigh.
As for the actual comics:
Okay, fine…Green Lantern: Rebirth is finally over, Hal Jordan is back as GL, all the other subsidiary characters are back to where they were all those years ago…so quit your griping.
Speaking of people complaining, I haven’t read the newest Infinite Crisis spin-off Rann/Thanagar War yet…too busy, too busy (hey, that Land of the Lost Season 3 DVD box set isn’t going to watch itself!)…but it’s Dave Gibbons writing, and it’s freakin’ Rann versus Thanagar. The sad old DC fanboys like me live for this nonsense. And check in on the Absorbascon…starting with this post (and onward), he details his belief in the superiority of Thanagar over Rann. I lean more towards Rann, and for good reason. Two words: Tornando Tyrant.
Desolation Jones…I already told you that the story was another fine example of Warren Ellis‘ darkly humorous storytelling. Well, now that I have the finished product in my mitts, I can also tell you that the artwork of J.H. Williams III is very nicely done, expressing the bleakness, the violence, and the humor of the script quite well.
Surviving Grady from AiT/Planetlar is a prose paperback, not a graphic novel, and it’s on a topic that I unfortunately have absolutely no interest in (baseball), but I did want to point out that it’s a very nicely put together paperback…nice paper quality, and a good sturdy cover. I wish more paperbacks were assembled thusly. Look to the mighty H at The Comic Treadmill for a discussion of the actual contents, at some point, I’m presuming.
Majestic #5 – when that Majestic mini-series was published under the DC imprint, it sold fairly well. This new series, under the Wildstorm imprint, isn’t doing nearly as well. I hope it’s just because of the art and/or story, and not because of the company logo on the cover. That would just be depressing.
The AG Super Erotic Anthology 2005 Summer Teaser – that much porn for only a dollar? You can’t beat that!
City of Heroes #1 – this is the new Top Cow version of the title based on the computer game, which I’m only mentioning because I liked the George Perez cover.
Star Wars Tales #23 – people were buying this, at our store at least, for the funny stuff. They don’t like the serious stories. Every other Star Wars comic takes itself too seriously…one funny SW comic wouldn’t bring down the Lucasfilm Empire (heh), surely.
Almost sold an issue of Arana…whew! That was a close one.
Also at the store yesterday: Pal Dorian wore his Dalek shirt, and everybody liked it. The end.
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