“You people bring questions for Mikey?”

§ March 30th, 2017 § Filed under question time § 28 Comments

Well, I was planning on doing some comic reviews, but ran myself out of time and energy, so I’m gonna put those off ’til tomorrow. But, in the meantime, since I’ve been thinking about doing this lately, I’ll go ahead and do it right now: let’s do Question Time again, where I welcome (hopefully comic book industry-related) inquiries from you, the people who haven’t realized you’re not supposed to be reading blogs anymore, and I answer them to the best of my ability. Or you can just suggest a topic you’d like me to discuss…at any rate, please just one question/suggestion per customer, deposited right here in the ol’ comments section.

Like the last time I did this, I won’t be answering your questions all at once in a week-long series of too-long entries here. Instead, I’ll probably address one or two topics per post, interspersed amongst the regular content and features of Progressivelyruinated.edu, such as “It’s the End of Civilization Already Again” and “Your Weekly Moment from Frank Miller’s The Spirit,” over the next few weeks or months or possibly eons…we’ll see.

Anyway, you guys ‘n’ gals usually cook up some good Qs for me to A every time I do one of these, so I’m looking forward to what you have to say. What, a website actually looking forward to comments? What decade is this? Again, please, one question or suggestion per person, gently placed in this welcoming receptacle. Thanks!

28 Responses to ““You people bring questions for Mikey?””

  • Rich Handley says:

    How would you rate each of the various eras of Swamp Thing, in terms of the work each writer-artist team did during their tenure?

  • Rich Handley says:

    Whoops. I posted it in the wrong place. I’ll rectify that. Sorry.

  • Argh!Sims says:

    Since you and GregA and you were discussing it on the Twitters and all … Did you find any more info about the proposed cancellation of Captain America back in the ’80s? That was at least a minor deal back then, and I seem to remember it was going to end around 300, with Cap being aged and having his “final” victory over the Red Skull.

  • Jonathan Miller says:

    I have no question. I just wanted to thank you for giving me a good morning laugh when I saw the title of this post.

    “You wanna touch the llama?”

  • skinslip says:

    Have you ever been witness to a major collapse of shelves or avalanche of comics?

    I have seen some pretty precarious shelves in the backs of comics shops before and it was always a concern of mine going into the back room of your old place of employment (though admittedly that was purely anxiety driven).

  • You folks don’t give no questions to Mikey, y’hear!

  • Matt Digges says:

    Having been in comics retail for as long as you have, I imagine you’ve seen just about everything. Is there anything recently that filled you with surprise and/or delight?

  • William Burns says:

    Do the Black Mask Studios comics sell much for you?

  • Rob Staeger says:

    I’ve recently been reading a bunch of old Warlord issues. They’re so enthusiastically batty! I was wondering what your thoughts are on Mike Grell and the evolution of his career. Are you/were you ever a fan?

  • Mikey Wayne says:

    In light of the promises/suggestions that both the JSA and Legion of Super-Heroes will soon rebirth themselves into comic stores everywhere:

    For each team, which member would you most like to see rebirthed and why? If you could choose the creative teams for each book, whom would you choose?

  • Dani says:

    Mike… one thing I’ve been wondering… just between us nerds… What exactly did you say to Encyclopedia Brown to make him snatch out your eye?

    –m4

  • Chris Gumprich says:

    Two questions from someone who doesn’t buy comics so much anymore…

    1. Have you noticed an uptick of non-comics people coming in and asking for comic versions of the various DC-TV heroes?
    2. Do you think CAP’N QUICK & A FOOZLE would sell today? Did it sell in 1983?

  • Andrew Davison says:

    If Swamp Thing falls over in the forest, and there’s no’one around to hear him, does he make a sound?

  • Gunga Din says:

    Can you talk about Jonah Hex? I miss him :(

  • CP Bananas says:

    If you had unlimited funds, what’s the one thing you’d add to your store? Signage? Fixture? Ice sculpture? Water slide? Something more/less ridiculous?

  • MrJM says:

    As I recall, every iteration of the team had substantially the same origin: the Legion of Superheroes started as three kids from different planets with different powers joined together to combat the powers of evil in the 30th/31st century.

    But why would anyone dub the founding trio of Rokk Krinn, Imra Ardeen & Garth Ranzz ‘the LEGION of Superheroes’?

    A Roman legion was a unit of 3,000–6,000 fighting men. Even colloquially, ‘legion’ is synonymous with horde, throng, multitude, host, crowd, mass, mob, gang, swarm, flock, herd, score, army. No matter how you slice it a ‘legion’ is a whole bunch of folks.

    While the group would certainly merit the name in the end — including everyone from Bouncing Boy to Invisible Kid to Quislet to another Invisible Kid — at the founding no one could have know that. It was just three people.

    Within the continuity of the story, ‘Legion of Superheroes’ simply made no sense as the name for the original trio!

    And so my question: Has this ever bugged you?

    — MrJM

  • Thom H. says:

    I love reading stories about customers. Can you share a good story about a memorable customer, whether it’s good, bad, weird, surprising, or something else?

  • Cwolf says:

    Like to read your thoughts on the reports about Marvel’s retailer conference this weekend.

  • Jerry Smith says:

    Would you like to see a comic book movie or TV show do an actual, colorful comic book costume (within reason, that is)? You know, Wolverine in something close to the comics, Iron Fist in his traditional mask (with probably the modern track-suit costume) or anyone in something not black leather? I get tired of the black ninja crap on everyone, and long for attire closer to the comics (again, without being ridiculous).

  • Gareth Wilson says:

    Are martial arts interesting enough to be the basis of a modern superhero?

  • Mike Loughlin says:

    Are there any superstar comic book creators left, I.e. anyone whose comics sell on the basis of their involvement alone?

  • philip says:

    How do you decide what to put on eBay? am someone who mostly looks for large lots of “readers” for cheap, so I’m curious to know the calculus behind what goes up, and what doesn’t, from the Vast Mikester Archives™.

  • Simon says:

    In your sourcing mix, what are the %ages of DCD, DBD, Ingram, B&T, others?

    ( If that’s confidential then pick another question, Mike, any question:
    * How does the Marvel collapse affects your operation?
    * How have you proofed against a DM collapse?
    * And the against exodus to online and digital?
    )

  • CalvinPitt says:

    Mike, you mentioned some time ago that quite a few of your customers don’t spend time on the Internet reading articles or blogs about comics. Do you notice a difference in how they respond to things like Big Events or “shocking” deaths, or things like creative team changes?

    Are they more interested or curious in those than folks who have been reading about them online for weeks, or does it depend on the person?

  • Dan wars says:

    Did you ever catch those girls that were terrorizing you with love in 2010?

  • philfromgermany says:

    Are there any more kids buying comics? I mean honest to goodness kids spending their allowance, not dads buying comics for their kids to get them away from the computer but real kids interested in super-heroes?

  • David G says:

    Did the world really need “adult” versions of old Hanna Barbera cartoons in comic book form?

  • philfromgermany says:

    Please talk a little bit about Crossgen. How did it sell back at the old place in the olden times? Is there still any demand for it? Did you ever read any and if so, which series would you recommend?