Mike Sterling's Progressive RuinAlone, unmourned, and unloved since 1969

“Better than no meat at all.”

§ October 16th, 2015 § Filed under question time, wood eye § 3 Comments

So recently a lost Dan Clowes interview popped up over the Comics Journal site, conducted by one Zack Carlson. Now, I’ve known Zack for…at least 25 years now? Something like that. And back in the early to mid ’90s, a phrase that made me feel five years older even just by typing it, Zack was one of the participants in our local mini-comics publishing project “Full Frontal Harvey.” I’ve discussed FFH waaaay back in my first anniversary post and have even presented one or two of my contributions over the years.

I bring that up as the Clowes interview linked above was intended for the second issue of Zack’s ‘zine Meat Nog…the first issue of which was published under the Full Frontal Harvey banner. And, as the Official Keeper of All Things Full Frontal Harvey-ish, and probably the only person on the planet with a complete set of everything we did, I thought I’d present the cover of the first issue of Meat Nog right here:

At this late date I can’t remember if that was Zack standing in the toilet on that cover, or some other poor sap who let himself get talked into it. Anyway, in the intro to the Clowes interview, Zack describes Meat Nog as “crummy,” which is being awfully hard on it. It’s probably one of my favorite things we put out, filled with funny cartoons and entertaining music reviews, and I’ll slip it out of the Archives once in a while and poke through a random page. Zack’s one of the funniest and most talented people I’ve ever met, and I’m always glad to know he’s still out there being the Zackiest Zack he can be. (And be sure to check out the documentary Best Worst Movie for more hot Zack action.)

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The most recent Question Time isn’t over, as I had a few straggling questions/comments from the Answer Time posts (1 2 3 4 5 6) that I wanted to address:

Colin McMahon adds to tonight’s show with

“Quick note, the DC Harley polybagged variants are all the same ratio. A color, black & white and a pencil sketch version of the cover. The quality of the artists on them will certainly help.”

Ah, yes, thanks for the correction. I was going off my initial annoyed reading of this particular gimmick from a while back, and didn’t double-check my facts. At any rate, it’s still a variant cover, you don’t know which one, which is sealed inside an opaque polybag. It shouldn’t be any pricier than the standard cover, and I’m just beginning to figure out my orders for them now, and urgh.

• • •

MRPRSE wnts t knw

“Yay! I love question time. I know I’m too late for this round but it might make good fuel for a full post: I’d like to see Mike’s Guide to Comic Storage with all your tips and recommendations such as using low-tack labels to seal comic bags rather than scotch tape.”

NEVER TOO LATE FOR QUESTION TIME except for right now when I’m done for the time being after today. Anyway, I don’t have a whole lot of tips, beyond 1) don’t use your comics for coasters, 2) keep ’em cool and dry and away from peeing cats, 3) for the love of all that is good and holy, if you’re going to seal your comic bags use removable labels like these, not tape…don’t ask, just do it.

• • •

Andrew Davison ties it up with

“What happened to that giant Groot cut-out you had when the store opened? What interesting decor do you have now?”

Groot and Rocket are still in the window, but I have some replacements coming soon. In the meantime, for the Halloween holiday, they’re sharing space with a friend:

I also have a few Halloween decorations in the shop, like a glitter-covered skull topped by a giant purple spider sitting next to my register. …Probably should have taken a photo of that for this post. Ah, well, I’ve a couple of weeks to go ’til the Big Day! I can post a picture of it by then.

• • •

Thanks for all the questions, everybody…had a nice turnout this time ’round and I hope, just maybe, everyone learned a little something. Learning something like “Mike sure likes to run off at the mouth,” but let’s face it, most of you knew that already.

Again, thanks a lot, and I’ll see you on Monday.