You are currently browsing the archives for March, 2009

See more of Seymour!

§ March 4th, 2009 § Filed under watchmen Comments Off on See more of Seymour!

So, in just a couple of days, Seymour-Mania will be sweeping the nation!


The unsung hero of Watchmen, the moral center of the story, the steadfast witness to history, the indefatigable champion of the common man, unbowed even in an unpleasant work environment, undefeated even in the face of disaster. SEYMOUR ENDURES.

Seymour Fever! Catch it!


Also, this is allegedly going to be in our Diamond shipment today:


I’m not going to believe it until I’m actually holding it in my hands. And maybe not even then. I may just chalk it up to some delusion induced by consuming too many Diet Cokes.

When I went looking for a pic of the cover, I saw this on the official Marvel Comics site:


Heh.

And yeah, yeah, I know, you don’t need to explain banner ad placement details to me. Just enjoy it for what it is. Reminds me a bit of when you used to see some toy or candy ads with DC heroes in a Marvel comic, or vice versa.

Or maybe it reminds me a little of the greatest Pizzazz cover of all time. Well, okay, it really didn’t remind me of that, but I’m always looking for an excuse to bring up that cover again.

The answers are "no," "no," and "no" again.

§ March 3rd, 2009 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on The answers are "no," "no," and "no" again.


Had one of these in a collection we’re processing, and just felt like it needed to be shared (with apologies for stealing pal Dorian’s paperback book club idea).

I think I’m just gonna lay low today…

§ March 2nd, 2009 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on I think I’m just gonna lay low today…

…and enjoy the continuing mayhem from this weekend from afar. However, I did come across these classified ads in Comics Journal #64 (July 1981) that I wanted to share.

I wonder if this person actually did find that job:

“WANTED: A FULL-TIME JOB in a Cleveland, Ohio area comic book store. Have had previous bookstore experience. Am willing to move to Cleveland from Mansfield to get this job! This is not a dream, not a hoax, not an imaginary want ad!”

This next one has me thinking:

“ARTISTS-WRITERS WANTED!! for teenage super-hero work (heroes of my own and What-If? variations on others). If you like it when the villain vs. hero outcome isn’t predictable, this is for you!”

“Not predictable” – oh, so the villains win. Or maybe both the villain and the hero lose to a greater menace. Or they’re fighting in the street and get hit by a UPS truck, killing them both. Or they just sorta mutually decide that it’s a draw and go their separate ways. The outcome could be any of these things or something else entirely! UNPREDICTABLE!

This is a subscription ad for a comic collecting magazine:

“MONEY! OLD COMIC BOOKS are an investment as good as gold! Let us show you how and what to buy.”

“Invest heavily in Howard the Duck. Surely nothing will affect future sales on this hot comic!”

“NOW AVAILABLE: COMPLETE CHECKLIST of comics used in ‘Seduction of the Innocent.’ Also available, complete checklist of comics used in ‘Parade of Pleasure.’ Each list includes illustrations. Each list $1.00 which includes postage and printing costs.”

Saves you the trouble of pulling them out of the Overstreet guide, I guess (if it even listed them all at the time…I don’t know). But there were (and still are) people looking for these, so I guess the seller was hoping people would buy his lists and use ’em as checklists as they wander around the convention floor looking for that one comic where Dr. Wertham thought he saw a vagina in the shadowed muscles of some character’s arm or shoulder.

Er, anyway.

So I’m crawling back into my bunker. Let me know when the shooting stops, please.

Inside UFO 54-40 was just mean, man.

§ March 1st, 2009 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on Inside UFO 54-40 was just mean, man.

Scans_Daily, the long-running LiveJournal community dedicated to providing scanned pages of comics new and old with varying levels of “fair use” (ranging from “well within” to “not even in the slightest”) was taken down the other day. Johanna has a sympathetic take on the situation, whereas Kevin gives ’em an extra kick in the rear out the door (URL may not be safe for work). EDIT: And Lisa drops in some solid commentary about the situation, which I’m sure will result in the sort of reasoned, rational response the internet is known for.


I keep meaning to mention an odd coincidence involving once-former-now-current-again-employee Kid Chris. His home phone number is one digit off from the store’s phone number. And he once received a call that went a little something…like this:

(phone rings)

Kid Chris: “Hello?”

Guy on phone: “Is this Ralph’s Comic Corner?”

Kid Chris: “No, you have the wrong number…but I work at Ralph’s Comic Corner. Can I help you with something?”

Guy on phone: “…What?”

Then there’s the fact that Kid Chris’ address is similar enough to the address of one of our longtime regular customers that the customer’s Wizard subscription is often delivered to KC’s house. But that’s a story for another time. Er, except I just told the whole story. Never mind.


Seriously, there are moments when I think “they didn’t really actually make a Watchmen movie, did they?” and then I realize we’re less than a week away from it opening and it just blows my mind, man.

Sure, it’s probably not any good, but just that it exists is enough to mess with me.


Because internet pal Dave is awesome, he made this for me:


Nearly all the endings result in some horrible death, except for the one that ends with you becoming manager of a comic shop, which in some ways is even more terrifying.

Newer Entries »