Good riddance to 2006.
So Kid Chris pops by the shop and tells me 1) he bought his new comics somewhere else, the lousy no-good askljflffd — and 2) that he encountered a parallel universe version of me working at another comic shop. As Swamp Thing is my favorite comic book character, this other fellow’s favorite character is Marvel’s swamp creature Man-Thing.
Clearly, we’re going to have to have a crossover, where my counterpart and I encounter each other and immediately fight, only to realize that we’re on the same side and that we have to team up and fight a common foe: a guy whose favorite comic book character is the Heap.
Anyway, that’s enough reason for me to run this Comics Buyer’s Guide cover again:
As a side note, this counterpart of mine is apparently clean-shaven, while I wear a goatee, which means on the Star Trek “Mirror Universe” scale that I’m the evil one.
As a side-side note…I was talking with pal Dorian on Saturday about how there should be a variation on the common usage of Godwin’s Law, in regards to Star Trek. Something like: “If Star Trek is invoked in a discussion that has nothing to do with Star Trek, then [something].” I’m wavering between “the discussion is pretty much over” and “the invoker shall be pointed at and mocked accordingly.”
And I’m saying this as a Star Trek fan who brings up the franchise all the time on my site. It’s too late for me…SAVE YOURSELF. (And too late for Kid Chris, who was wearing his gold Classic Trek captain’s shirt the day he told me about the Man-Thing fan.)
I was processing a collection today that we acquired from a customer who used to do his funnybook buying from our (now several years gone) crosstown competition. This other store used to seal their back issue bags with a large sticker with their name, address and phone number. And that reminded me of how, shortly after that other store opened, a lot of those stickers just happened to suddenly appear up and down our block, stuck near public phones, on light poles, and so on.
But then, we stuck a deal with a fast food joint, in the same shopping center where they were located, to distribute coupons for our store. Comics business in the ’90s: cutthroat and heartless.
Every once in a while I feel like discussing the half-dozen or so other stores that popped up in our general area during that brief period of time when comics were HOT and COLLECTIBLE and VALUABLE and MOSTLY NOT VERY GOOD and VASTLY OVERPRIN–I mean, HOT and COLLECTIBLE. But, nah, I never see any reason to go into excessive detail…I can’t blame folks for trying to make a buck, and, at the time, the comics business seemed like (and was) a lucrative way to make a living. And you all know how the story ends (comic market crashes, nearly takes entire industry with it).
Let me just leave it at “there, but for the grace of God….”
For some reason, I was also reminded of some comic fanzines I purchased some years back from a particular mail order comic company, whose idea of “Mint” apparently included “Has colored stickers applied directly to the face of the scuffed front cover.” Luckily, I paid next to nothing for these items, and I’m not especially picky on my fanzine conditions (I’ll accept “readable” and “no cat pee”), but still, that didn’t fill me with confidence in regards to any other “Mint” items they may have had for sale.
A sad farewell to Filing Cabinet of the Damned, one of the good’uns in the comicsweblogosphere, which is ending its two year run. Best wishes to you, Mr. Jerkwater!
