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Another 100 Things I Love About Comics.

§ February 14th, 2007 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on Another 100 Things I Love About Comics.

It’s that time of year again, when love is all around, delighting most of us and sickening the rest…which means it’s also time for another 100 things I love about comics! (Previous installments: 1 & 2)

1. Adventures of Superman starring George Reeves

2. All-New Atom by Gail Simone and assorted parties

3. Archie as Pureheart the Powerful

4. Bat Lash

5. Cary “Mr. Surprise” Bates

6. Batman and Robin travelling through time via hypnosis, courtesy Professor Nichols

7. Batman-related videos on YouTube

8. Bat-Mite

9. Steve Bissette

10. Bizarro #1

11. The Boys by Garth Ennis & Darick Robertson

12. The results of Brandon’s occasional Photoshop challenges

13. Brainiac, particularly when he was accompanied by Koko, his pet space-monkey

14. Charles Burns

15. The Calculator — not the new, modern “master crime planner” version, but the guy with a freaking keypad on his chest who could make items just materialize out of his helmet

16. Bully’s Colorforms post

17. Comic book ads that don’t even try to disguise the fact that they’re scams

18. The SimpsonsComic Book Guy

19. Dalgoda by Jan Strnad & Dennis Fujitake

20. Daredevil Battles Hitler

21. The Death of Captain Marvel

22. Decoder cards for secret messages in modern comics

23. Destroy! by Scott McCloud

24. Dial H for Hero

25. Diesel Sweeties by R. Stevens

26. Dr. Watchstop by Ken Macklin

27. Ego, the Living Planet

28. Fables by Bill Willingham & others

29. Fanguish

30. Fantastic Four Vs. The X-Men by Chris Claremont & Jon Bogdanove

31. The Fatal Five

32. The Fighting Fetus

33. Firestorm, The Nuclear Man

34. Flippity and Flop

35. The fact that issue #666 of Four Color Comics is “Santa Claus Funnies”

36. Foxtrot by Bill Amend

37. GIANT GREEN STAR WARS RABBIT

38. Glow-in-the-dark covers (the one cover enhancement I really happen to enjoy)

39. Gumby comics (old and new)

40. Halo Jones by Alan Moore & Ian Gibson

41. Hero Squared

42. Hoppy the Marvel Bunny

43. Incredibly inappropriate horror-themed covers for ’70s superhero comics

44. The Incal by Moebius

45. This Joker GIF I made. It’s practically hypnotic.

46. Journalista

47. Justice League of America #123 (1975), in which comic writers Elliot S! Maggin and Cary Bates travel from Earth-Prime into the DC superhero multiverse…Bates becomes a villain, Maggin must warn the heroes…it’s a real “what the heck” kind of comic.

48. The bottle city of Kandor

49. Chris Karath’s frequent comic book action figure photo galleries

50. The Kryptonian Thought-Beast

51. Lloyd Llewellyn

52. The Lobo Convention Special

53. Marshal Law by Pat Mills & Kevin O’Neill

54. Marvel Adventures: The Avengers

55. Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars — yeah, so? Wanna make somethin’ of it?

56. Art Suydam’s Marvel Zombies covers

57. Shawn McManus

58. MODOK

59. “Mr. and Mrs. Superman”

60. Mr. Mind, the World’s Wickedest Worm

61. Neil the Horse by Arn Saba

62. Nextwave by Warren Ellis & Stuart Immonen

63. Odd Bodkins by Dan O’Neill

64. Novelizations of comic book events…I know these aren’t good for me, but I can’t help myself

65. Omniverse, edited by Mark Gruenwald

66. The One by Rick Veitch

67. Palookaville by Seth

68. “Planet Hulk”

69. Popeye by E.C. Segar

70. Puma Blues by Steve Murphy and Michael Zulli

71. The Queen of the Runners

72. The Rack by Benjamin Birdie & Kevin Church

73. Reagan’s Raiders

74. Red Kryptonite

75. Runaway Comic by Mark Martin

76. John Severin

77. Shazam: The Monster Society of Evil by Jeff Smith

78. Sinestro

79. The all-too infrequent times on Smallville when it actually kinda/sorta feels like a superhero comic (Clark is particularly superhero-y, Lex is in full-on villain mode, etc.)

80. Spidey Super Stories

81. The Spirit by Darwyn Cooke

82. Stickboy by Dennis Worden

83. The Super Powers comics drawn by Jack Kirby

84. Whenever one of the Superman supporting characters gained super powers

85. The second, and far superior, Superman/Spider-Man crossover

86. The Supermobile

87. Appearances of swamp creatures from other comic book companies in Swamp Thing

88. Stealth appearances of Swamp Thing in the regular DC Universe (in All-New Atom and in Infinite Crisis, among others)

89. Thor’s Jukebox

90. The 3 Geeks by Rich Koslowski

91. Tomb of Dracula by Marv Wolfman & Gene Colan

92. Tor Love Betty

93. Treasury edition comics

94. Tug & Buster by Marc Hempel

95. Len Wein

96. Weird War Tales

97. White Boy Goes to Hell

98. J.R. Williams

99. Xenozoic Tales by Mark Schultz

100. …And, of course, all of my readers and fellow comicsweblogospherians. Thanks for reading!

100 1/2. Swamp Thing slippers

Bill at Trusty Plinko Stick has got the love, too, so go check out his list! (I see he also took the brave stand of loving Secret Wars….)

Top 100 Things I Love About Top 100 Lists!

§ February 17th, 2005 § Filed under this week's comics Comments Off on Top 100 Things I Love About Top 100 Lists!

I’m kidding, I’m kidding! Actually, I did enjoy seeing these snapshots of what everyone out there likes in the way of funnybooks. Well done, internet pals.

I know one or two people out there weren’t happy with these lists being all over the place, but considering that I usually tend to run off at the mouth on this site of mine, I figured a simple list would be a nice break for you! Besides, it was just one list (occasionally two) per weblog…tough it out, you’ll live. Not every post can be lesbian unicorns.

Besides, it made Fred Hembeck happy, and certainly that’s a worthwhile goal! Anyway, keep an eye on this post for future updates on other Top 100s, at least until it finally drives me insane.

Anyway, on to the new comics for the week…let’s see if I can keep it relatively short this time:

Tom Strong #31 – Michael Moorcock and Jerry Ordway are the creative team on this issue. It’s a beautifully illustrated comic, and anything that can give me a gorilla dressed as a pirate is dandy with me.

Promethea #32 – it’s not a good sign when the inside front cover explains how to disassemble and reassemble the comic in order to read it the way it was intended. Yes, it does say that the comic can be read as is, but several of the pages are upside down, and…sheesh, I didn’t have the time for it today. I’ll take the comic apart tomorrow and figure it out then. By the way, for some reason the store got the autographed Promethea cover gallery, but not the accompanying hardcover. My reaction to the cover gallery? “Is it safe to touch something that Alan Moore has handled?”

Adventures of Superman #637 – there’s something about Superman’s face on this cover that bothers me. It’s not quite Alfred E. Neuman-esque, but it’s close…I can’t put my finger on it.

JLA Classified #4 – I admit, it is a little disturbing that the recently-deceased Sue Dibny is runnin’ around in this comic, complete with jokes about her possible pregnancy. However, if you read it with the knowledge that, sooner or later, Sue will most likely be brought back somehow, it’s suddenly a little easier to take.

Apocalypse Nerd #1 – good to see Peter Bagge back in action…not laugh-out-loud funny, but still amusing. Speaking of which, the 300+ page Buddy Does Seattle is now out, collecting the stories from Bagge’s first 15 issues of Hate. A steal at $14.95.

Pin-Up Art of Dan DeCarlo – I’m not generally a collector of girlie-cartoons, but it’s difficult to resist a book full of DeCarlo’s fine artwork. As pal Dorian notes, the fact that all the girls look like they stepped right out of an Archie comic is a wee bit disturbing…or appealing depending on how much of a pervert Betty & Veronica fan you are. And yeah, there’s a lot of orange spot-coloring in this book…Dorian didn’t care for it, but I thought it looked neat. It’s a gorgeous book, with great DeCarlo art…well worth picking up.

Green Lantern: Rebirth #4 – I didn’t realize how much I missed having GL arch-nemesis Sinestro around. What a great villain, with a great name (the only super-villain name that tops it is Captain Nazi*…now that’s evil). Plus, there’s a good sequence in this issue about why not just anyone can pick up a GL ring and start goin’ to town with it…it’s hard to work the ring. I get the feeling this may contradict previous stories, but, eh, big deal. I like this interpretation better.

We received our new Sin City trades today…might as well enjoy ’em while I can, because I don’t have any faith that we’ll get reorders on them anytime soon.

Tomb Raider #50 – last issue, apparently. I wasn’t a fan, but this comic had a fairly faithful following with some of our customers…at least one or two who only read this title.

I cheated, and read our sneak peek of Fantastic Four #523, due next week…the one that picks up with Galactus being stripped of his powers and reduced to being a normal human. Pal Dorian grumbled a bit about it, but I tell ya, this comic was just as great as I was hoping it would be. Made me laugh out loud in parts, it did.

* Speaking of Captain Nazi, halfway down this page, on the right-hand side, is one of those cutesy “super-deformed” icons of Cap’n N. Honestly, what’s up with that?**

** Try doing a Google search on “Captain Nazi” sometime…you can just feel your name getting put on government watch lists somewhere.

100 Things I Love About Comics!

§ February 14th, 2005 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on 100 Things I Love About Comics!

Fred started it with these two strips.

Alan then lovingly crafted his own inimitable version.

Several others also rose to the challenge. (EDIT: And here are quite a few more mighty fine Top One Hundred (give or take a few dozen or so) lists that I have doggedly tracked down across the immensely vast and far-flung digital reaches of the ever expanding comics weblogosphere, and many points beyond.)

And now, at long last, and after great deliberation: my very own list of 100 Things I Love About Comics:

1. Swamp Thing

2. Adam Strange

3. AiT/Planetlar

4. Amazing Heroes

5. American Flagg! by Howard Chaykin

6. Jim Aparo

7. Archie Comics from the ’50s & ’60s

8. Atari Force

9. Atlas Comics (the ’70s company, not the pre-Marvel one, though that’s good, too)

10. Bacchus by Eddie Campbell

11. Kyle Baker

12. Carl Barks, the Good Duck Artist

13. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns & Strikes Again by Frank Miller

14. “Batman’s Time Travel Crimes on Venus”-type stories

15. Bone by Jeff Smith

16. Chester Brown

17. The Original Captain Marvel

18. Cerebus by Dave Sim & Gerhard

19. The Comic Reader

20. The Comics Journal

21. Concrete by Paul Chadwick

22. John Costanza

23. Peter David

24. DC Comics Presents #84Superman & the Challengers of the Unknown drawn by Jack Kirby & Alex Toth

25. Detective Comics #500

26. Don Rosa

27. Doom Patrol by Arnold Drake and Bruno Premiani

28. Eightball by Dan Clowes

29. Eighty-Page Giants

30. Evan Dorkin

31. Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers by Gilbert Shelton, Paul Mavrides & Dave Sheridan

32. The Fantastic Four by Stan ‘n’ Jack

33. Matt Feazell and The Amazing Cynicalman!

34. Fin Fang Foom and other Marvel monsters

35. Flaming Carrot by Bob Burden

36. The Flash by Carmine Infantino

37. Fox and The Crow by Jim Davis (no, not the Garfield guy)

38. Ramona Fradon

39. Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez

40. George Perez

41. Nat Gertler’s About Comics (esp. Licensable Bear)

42. Gil Kane

43. Grimjack by John Ostrander, Tim Truman, and friends

44. Groo the Wanderer by Mark Evanier & Sergio Aragones

45. Hellblazer

46. Fred Hembeck!!!

47. Herbie the Fat Fury by Ogden Whitney

48. Los Bros. Hernandez

49. Hex by Michael Fleisher, Mark Texeira, & Keith Giffen

50. Howard the Duck by Steve Gerber (accept no substitutes!)

51. Tony Isabella

52. Jack Kirby’s Fourth World

53. JSA

54. Justice League of America #200

55. Legion of Super-Heroes

56. MacKenzie Queen by Bernie Mireault

57. Mad Magazine

58. Elliot S! Maggin

59. Marge’s Little Lulu & Tubby

60. Marvel/Miracleman

61. Sheldon Mayer

62. ‘Mazing Man by Bob Rozakis & Stephen DeStefano

63. Scott McCloud

64. Megaton Man by Don Simpson

65. Mike Mignola

66. Alan Moore

67. Grant Morrison

68. Mr. Monster by Michael T. Gilbert

69. Nancy by Ernie Bushmiller

70. Nexus by Mike Baron & Steve Rude

71. Not Brand Echh

72. Off-brand funny animal comics from the Golden/Silver ages

73. Bob Oksner

74. Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz

75. Planetary by Warren Ellis and John Cassaday

76. Plastic Man

77. Quasar #1 through about, say, #25, by Mark Gruenwald & others

78. Ralph Snart by Marc Hansen

79. Rudy by William Overgard

80. Scott Saavedra

81. Kurt Schaffenberger

82. Dori Seda

83. Superman-family comics from the Silver Age

84. Walt Simonson

85. Snarf

86. Spider-Man by Steve Ditko

87. Stanley and His Monster

88. The very idea of Super pets

89. Superman Annual #9 (1983) drawn by Alex Toth!

90. Superman vs. Muhammad Ali by Denny O’Neil, Neal Adams, Dick Giordano & Terry Austin

91. “Swanderson

92. Tales of the Beanworld by Larry Marder

93. Turok, Son of Stone

94. UFO Encounters and UFO Mysteries

95. Rick Veitch

96. Berni(e) Wrightson

97. Zippy the Pinhead by Bill Griffith

98. Neilalien

99. …my fellow members of the Associated Comics And Pop Culture Webloggers of Ventura County, CA And Outlying Environs (Dorian, Corey, Tom, Ian, Sean, and Fred)…

100. …and everyone else on the Comicsweblogosphere!

100 1/2. “I’m chalk!”

100 More Things I Love About Comics!

§ February 14th, 2006 § Filed under valentine Comments Off on 100 More Things I Love About Comics!

As you can see with Swamp Thing and Abby above, love is in the air today, and so following up on last year’s Valentine’s Day entry is, yes, another post with a hundred more things I love about comics. (Inspired, of course, by Fred Hembeck and Alan David Doane…see my original post for links to more lists from last year.)

1. Acme Novelty Library

2. Art Adams

3. All-Star Batman and Robin The Boy Wonder

4. All-Star Superman

5. America’s Best Comics

6. America Versus The Justice Society

7. Avengers #100 (particularly the first few pages pencilled and inked by Barry Windsor-Smith

8. Badger by Mike Baron and others (about the first 30 issues or so)

9. The 1960s Batman TV show

10. The Beyonder (i.e. Jim Shooter’s Mary Sue) — this character just kills me.

11. Blackhawks as superheroes (particularly “The Listener”)

12. Bloom County by Berke Breathed

13. Blue Devil

14. BOOM! Studios

15. Wayne Boring

16. Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson

17. Captain American and the Falcon, 70s-style

18. Captain Carrot And His Amazing Zoo Crew

19. Adventures of Captain Jack by Mike Kazaleh

20. Nick Cardy

21. Howard Chaykin

22. Cholly and Flytrap by Arthur Suydam

23. Comic book adaptations of movies that feature full scenes that were cut from the final released films (like the original Marvel Star Wars or Superman IV: The Quest for Peace)

24. Comic book covers that feature “big questions” or otherwise directly address the reader

25. Comic book covers where the disembodied floating heads of supporting characters/teammates look on in dismay and/or shock.

26. Comics Reporter

27. Cutey Bunny

28. Dan DeCarlo

29. DC Comics Presents #61 (Superman and Omac) by Len Wein and George Perez

30. DC’s old line of science fiction graphic novels

31. Deadman

32. Kim Deitch

33. Desolation Jones by Warren Ellis & J.H. Williams III

34. Dick Tracy by Chester Gould

35. Doctor Doom & Doctor Strange: Triumph and Torment graphic novel by Roger Stern & Mike Mignola (“Pain? Pain is like love, like compassion. It is a thing only for lesser men. What is pain to Doom?”)

36. Dog Boy by Steve Lafler

37. Dorothy of Oz

38. Dreadstar by Jim Starlin

39. E.C. Comics

40. Earth-2 and the rest of DC’s Multiverse

41. The Fantastic Four Roast by Fred Hembeck and a cast of thousands

42. Fatman, The Human Flying Saucer

43. Fell by Warren Ellis and Ben Templesmith

44. Flipping open an old comic and finding a letter from someone who later became a comics pro

45. Frank by Jim Woodring

46. Galactus

47. Gentleman Ghost

48. Gnatrat by Mark Martin

49. Gorilla Grodd (as promised)

50. Grand Comic Book Database

51. Hawkman drawn by Joe Kubert

52. Inducks.org

53. Journey by William Messner-Loebs

54. “The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man”

55. Land of Nod by Jay Stephens

56. Mage by Matt Wagner

57. Man-Thing by Steve Gerber and others (but especially Mike Ploog)

58. Mars by Mark Wheatley and Marc Hempel

59. Marvel’s many and varied fan clubs (F.O.O.M., M.M.M.S., and God help us, W.A.M.)

60. That 1980s Meat Loaf ad

61. Maxwell the Magic Cat

62. Mister O by Lewis Trondheim

63. Mr. Mxyzptlk

64. New Adventures of Abraham Lincoln by Scott McCloud (I liked it, Scott!)

65. normalman by Jim Valentino

66. Mike Parobeck

67. Per Degaton

68. The Phantom Stranger

69. Plop!

70. “Quiet, or Papa spank!”

71. Reid Fleming, World’s Toughest Milkman

72. Sam & Max Freelance Police

73. Seven Soldiers of Victory by Grant Morrison ‘n’ pals

74. Sgt. Fury

75. Sgt. Rock

76. Gail Simone

77. Snarf

78. The very fact that Marvel published a comic book titled The Son of Satan

79. Dick Sprang

80. The Showcase Presents reprint line

81. Squa Tront (scroll down a bit)

82. Squadron Supreme by Mark Gruenwald and Bob Hall

83. Steven by Doug Allen

84. The now-defunct Strand Newsstand, one of the places I used to buy comics in my pre-comic book store days…this was where I first saw indie comics (in the early days of Fantagraphics, Eclipse, PC, and Cerebus) as well as my first fanzines. Mr. Burns (no, not that one) and his wife, who used to run the store, would hold onto comics for me, without my even asking, in case they were in danger of selling out.

85. Superboy stories where he has his “first” meetings with other DC superheroes

86. Superman And His Fortress of Solitude treasury edition

87. Superman whenever he’s drawn as being really, really old, with a full flowing white beard, but still in his Superman costume

88. Curt Swan’s aliens (a couple samples)

89. Tales Designed to Thrizzle by Michael Kupperman

90. Ty Templeton

91. Thunderbolts by Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley (primarily the first couple dozen issues)

92. The Tick by Ben Edlund

93. Time Bandits comic book adaptation by Steve Parkhouse, David Lloyd & John Stokes

94. The Trouble with Girls (discussed at end of article) by Will Jacobs, Gerard Jones & Tim Hamilton

95. Uncle Scrooge and Money

96. Valiant Comics (early on, before Jim Shooter left)

97. Vaughn Bode

98. “You Can’t Pin A Medal on A Gorilla!”

99. Zatanna

100. …And, of course, all of you, readers and/or fellow webloggers, who (hopefully) enjoy reading this site of mine. My sincere thanks.

100 1/2. “These are my words.”

Your regular reminder that I have to sell these things for a living.

§ April 20th, 2018 § Filed under nancy, pal plugging, retailing, superman Comments Off on Your regular reminder that I have to sell these things for a living.

To follow up on my last post, I appear to have ordered just about the right number of Action #1000s, at least to cover the initial rush of sales. The main cover, the one by Jim Lee, was the first…well, second, after the “blank” variant…to sell out, and I had several more requests for it after it was gone. Luckily, that cover (and the blank one) were still available for reorder, so I have more coming in. The other variants, I did have a request or two for them after they were gone, but by and large people just bought one (or, um, two or three) of whatever variants were left. And, right now, I have one copy left of the 2000s variant as I head into Friday. Ah well, I’ll have more early next week, and I expect this will be a consistent seller for at least a little while. But if I hear “do you have any Action #1000s left?” all weekend, I may have to reassess my “ordered about right” assumption.

Now the question I have is “will any of this translate to sales for when Brian Michael Bendis takes over the Super-books,” assuming people like the little taste o’Bendis they got in #1000. I have to place orders for his weekly Man of Steel mini-series right quick, and I’m not entirely sure what they’re going to be just yet. Not like this slew of new Marvel #1s in the same order form, where I’m about 90% certain that we’ll see a small bump in sales on those first issues, then we’ll be right back where we were before. Except maybe Thor, which has a $5.99 price point on that first issue, so Dedicated Fans Only Please, Sorry New Readers Who Might Have Picked It Up. Sheesh.

Anyway, can you tell I spent a chunk of my Thursday working on the monthly orders? Yessiree, I certainly was.

Oh, right, back to Action #1000. Pal Matt pointed out a strange anomaly in the Bendis story from that issue, where the villain of the piece refers to Supergirl as Superman’s “cousinsister.” I noticed that when I was reading, and my initial two thoughts were “maybe that’s supposed to represent some quirk in whatever translation device the alien is using to speak to Superman” (except I don’t see any other examples of that in the dialogue) and “maybe there’s something going on in the Supergirl comic I’m not reading that justifies this strange combined relationship term.” Or, as Matt suggests, just an editing error, but it seems weird that something this blatant would be missed. I mean, it wouldn’t even get past the spellchecker, you’d think. Or it could very well be foreshadowing for some kind of revelation down the road. Whatever, it’s strange and it stood out and maybe there’s an explanation coming, I don’t know. Maybe somewhere Bendis is laughing at us…”how cute, they think that was a mistake!” he chortles.

While we wait for our answer to that, in the meantime why not read the beginning of a new series of articles by one of the best writers I know, pal Andrew, as he starts his look, in his own inimitable fashion, at the Charlton Super-Heroes. This is gonna be good, pals, so get in on the ground floor, Mike said cliché-ishly.

And in other news, a couple of folks dropped a link in my comments section to this article on people arguing over the new Nancy strips I mentioned. Basically, it’s about people who realize current Nancy is very good, versus people who are wrong. That has been the way of the world for decades, I’m afraid.

Here are some things other people are doing.

§ January 8th, 2010 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on Here are some things other people are doing.

  • Pal Dorian’s Paperback Book Club feature is approaching its 100th installment, and instead of showing off yet another book from his own shelf, he wants you to send in your own favorite paperbacks! A scan and maybe a brief bit of writing regarding said book, and you’re in. Here are the details. I know which book I’m sending in!
  • Found via Kevin Church, a photoblog featuring very nicely-done photos of Star Wars action figures. This Hammerhead image is particularly striking.
  • Chris Sims celebrates five years of blogging! Five years of people telling him he forgot something in each of his posts! Five years of kicks to the face! Five years of thrown car batteries! Congratulations, Chris!
  • Pal Nat Gertler has moved his TV blog to a new address: natstv.wordpress.com. Update your links and bookmarks accordingly, like I will do when I finally get around to polishing up the sidebar there.
  • In the comments section for this post, there is some discussion as to the source of Mina Harker’s (and Allen Quartermain’s) apparent longevity. It is explained, between the lines (but just barely between them…Moore pretty much sledgehammers you with how subtle he’s being about this particular plot twist) at the end of the text piece in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Series 2 #4.

    That’ll keep you readin’ the text pages! Also, at some point during the travelogue presented by this particular series of text pieces, mention is made of one of my favorite childhood books, The Shy Stegosaurus of Cripple Creek. See, you could have missed that!

  • Striking new black and white Swamp Thing sketch for you to enjoy, right here.
  • And speaking of Swamp Thing drawings, here’s Rick Veitch’s completed Swampy tryptych. (“Swamptych?”)

An incomplete list of silly and completely unprofessional things we’ve done at the store over its 28 year history.

§ June 4th, 2008 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on An incomplete list of silly and completely unprofessional things we’ve done at the store over its 28 year history.

  • Played Iron Butterfly’s “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” 28 1/2 consecutive times, keeping track on a posted piece of paper
  • In-store Tetris competitions
  • Made up half-baked musical numbers on the spot (“The Leprechaun Punisher”“Priority Mail – The Musical”“Mike Racer”)
  • RUBBER BAND GUN FIGHT!
  • Used a megaphone to announce special deals at our “Midnight Madness” sales
  • Used a megaphone for pretty much any other reason we could think of
  • Displayed Crack Comics and Speed Comics together in the glass case (well, I thought it was funny)
  • Recounted, in excruciating detail, our Trade Wars 2002 adventures
  • Set fire to a comic out in the parking lot (don’t remember which comic…oh, okay, it was West Coast Avengers)
  • Picked up another employee and twirled him around in the air, making him scream like a girl
  • Read Kitty Pryde’s dialogue from the Kitty Pryde & Wolverine mini-series in a gravelly voice (a la The Venture BrothersDoctor Girlfriend)
  • Learned a lot about gay porn (thanks, Dorian…I think)
  • Put up a promo poster for Jonni Thunder AKA Thunderbolt up by the register with other new promo posters, some 20 years after the series was over
  • Debated, at length, the DC Universe timeline, and how the presence of the Teen Titans screws it all up
  • Got a wandering balloon-sculpture expert to make us all kinds of cool balloon-sculpture-type stuff (sword, hat, etc.)
  • Had conversations entirely in tough-guy gangster-type voices with former employee Corey
  • Played “Makin’ Bacon” by the Pork Dukes on the store stereo (trust me, that’s entirely inappropriate)
  • Had a “Suit and Tie Day” (ironic, no?)
  • Wore this
  • Mom jokes. Lots of them
  • Stood on the roof, wearing no pants (may be apocryphal)
  • Hired Kid Chris
  • “Mike’s Super Disco Party Dance-Off!”
  • Occasionally brandished The Peacemaker in a friendly-yet-threatening manner (The Peacemaker: wooden baseball bat with a peace sign scratched into the handle)
  • Knowingly and willingly sold copies of Youngblood to customers
  • Played the circle game
  • Kept around a ziplocked bag filled with former employee Rob’s lengthy shorn locks
  • Did impressions of Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street
  • Allowed myself to be one of the objects of a county-wide scavenger hunt
  • Gathered material for weblogs

Big meaty people doing big meaty things.

§ May 1st, 2008 § Filed under Uncategorized Comments Off on Big meaty people doing big meaty things.

So, a few of the new arrivals:

  • I don’t often buy the Back Issue magazine, mostly because I’ve been having a hard enough time lately keeping up with my reading without yet another 100-page magazine being added to the pile. Why, it’s as if I don’t have as much free time to read stuff, particularly over the last four and a half years. Why, I wonder what I’ve been doing for the last four and a half years that’s been eating into my extra time?

    Anyway, I don’t normally pick up Back Issue, as I said, but this one seemed to have enough material right up my alley to get my attention. Lots of Hulk stuff in this issue, including a history of Hulk vs. Thing fights and an interview with Herb Trimpe (featuring an exclusive Trimpe drawing of Doc Samson, the Hulk, and Captain Tootsie!).

    Plus, there’s an interview with Ron Wilson. Man, I love Ron Wilson, and I don’t care who knows it. Dig this, if you dare, straight outta The Thing #5 (Nov. 1983):


    Wilson’s art always felt very Kirby-esque without feeling like a complete imitation. All the characters felt like they had a weight, a heft to them…just a lotta big meaty people doing big meaty things. Well, okay, I could have put that better, but the phrase popped into my head, and now it’s in yours, too.

    So, yeah, back to the subject at hand: I thought Back Issue #28 was worth picking up. There’s also a look at the Teen Titan’s Terra (all three of ’em), a history of Mark Shaw, Manhunter (by customer Jim – hi, Jim!), an examination of Kid Miracleman, and the article that made me finally decide “(sigh) okay, fine, I’ll buy it” – a look back at the Trial of the Flash storyline that killed the second Flash series. Hey, I liked that story, anyway.

    And it’s all under a crassly amusing Drunk Iron Man cover by Darwyn Cooke (which you can see here). And yeah, that page says the mag will be in stock on May 21st, but it’s in shops right now, so go pester your local retailer for it, if this sounds like something you’d be interested in.

  • DC Universe #0 – essentially your prologue for the imminent Final Crisis brouhaha, featuring some nice art, a brief tour around the DCU, and a surprise reveal at the end that’s apparently been spoiled by every single internet site in existence. It’s a nice little whetting of the appetite for whatever Grant Morrison is about to unleash upon us in his Final Crisis series.
  • Blue Beetle #26 – the all…well, mostly Spanish issue, featuring a copy of the script in English in the back for those of you monolingual types. Here’s a sample of the translation:


    Whew! Thank goodness that was there or I never could have followed that page!

    Okay, that’s just me being a jerk. But I am curious how this will sell…we do have a large Hispanic population in our area, and we receive requests for Spanish language comics on a reasonably frequent basis. Regular readers may be a little put out by having to flip back and forth from the story to the translation, if their Spanish is on the rusty side, but I may be selling this comic for quite some time to come.

  • The New Gods action figures were probably our fastest selling set of DC Direct figures in a long, long time. I’m half-surprised they didn’t find a way to squeeze a Batman figure into the assortment, like every other DC figure series in recent memory. The figures themselves do look very Kirbyish, though Orion‘s alternate “savage face” head doesn’t look right to me for some reason. And Darkseid looks great. The best part, I think, would be the bases for the figures, made of translucent plastic and featuring some fine Kirby Crackle. Well done, well done.
  • Helen Killer #1. Remarkably bad taste. And yet, remarkably fantastic. I direct you to this review by internet pal Chris, which I agree with wholeheartedly.


In other news:

  • My citation in the Plastic Man Wikipedia entry was removed because it was a “citation from a blog,” though the links to my site from the other four or five Wiki articles are apparently still okay, I guess. But the actual point I was making, that it was silly to require a “citation” to prove that a humorous sidekick is, in fact, a doofus, apparently fell upon sympathetic ears. The line in the article now reads “Woozy Winks, a comedic sidekick” — no citation for “comedic sidekick” required, presumably.

    I hope none of that sounds like I’m irritated or anything. I’m pretty amused by it all, to be honest.

  • I’ve had a couple reports…excuse me, a couple OF reports from folks saying they couldn’t download the PDF preview from the House of Mystery page. I had no problem doing so yesterday, and I did it again just now, so I don’t know what’s up with that. Maybe a temporary issue, maybe a setting in your browser…who knows?
  • Frank asks:

    “Were there noticeable jumps in back issue sales when hit movies based on lesser-known comics were released? I’m talking about stuff like Blade, Men In Black, and The Mask.”

    To a certain extent…I don’t recall if there was increased readership for The Mask prior to the movie, but there was enough interest apparently to keep a number of follow-up minis pumping out, though none of them really sold all that well. But I think The Mask was already had a bit of a cult following in the comics market, which may have provided the audience for this minis more than any influx of new readership from the film.

    In the case of Blade and Men in Black, increased demand prior to the films’ releases primarily came from people who smelled a buck. Speculators were buying the Malibu issues of Men in Black hoping for a price jump, but actual readers didn’t appear to care, or even be aware there was a Men in Black comic. As far as Blade goes, there was only interest in the character’s first appearance in Tomb of Dracula #10. No interest whatsoever from anybody in any of the other Blade series.

    And, as usual, once the movie comes and goes, so does the movie-inspired interest. Well, Tomb of Dracula still has its demand, but more from people hunting key ’70s books than from anyone trying to exploit the films.

    Also, Tom had a question about movies affecting comic sales. I know most of you folks who’ve been reading my site know my opinions ‘n’ experiences on the matter, but if you want to see them yet again, here’s my answer.

    My particular thing with the Iron Man movie is that IM’s comic sales are so down in the dumps as it is, with increased reader apathy toward the character due to his consistently negative portrayal over the last few years, that perhaps a movie as well-received as this one apparently is could only help sales. Thus, I’m curious as to whether or not the Iron Man may have the opposite effect on post-film comic sales. It’s too much to hope that non-comic fans will suddenly become Iron Man readers after seeing the flick…that’ll never happen. But maybe people already buying comics will start adding Iron Man to the reading pile, assuming Marvel’s able to put out anything that even slightly resembles what potential readers experienced in the theatre, not to mention in time to take advantage of that brief bump in interest. Not that Marvel’s managed it yet (remember when the Hulk movie was out, and the Hulk comic barely even featured the title character? Never quite got that, frankly).

    Just so I’m not Mr. Negative Ned…you know what run of Iron Man I really liked? Around issue 190 to 200, which you can see at the bottom of this gallery page. Tony rebuilds his old armor, fights stand-in Iron Man Jim Rhodes, guest appearance from Shaman, and tries to regain control of Stark Enterprises, while introducing his new armor. (Which was actually spoiled by debuting in an earlier issue of Secret Wars II, but don’t tell anyone.)

  • Yet Another Comics Blog is celebrating his fourth annual Free Comic Book Month (which, by complete coincidence, is in the same month as Free Comic Book Day). Every day for the month of May, he’ll be giving away a comic book out of his collection, and all you gotta do is send in your name and address, and a list of five comic series you enjoy. Read the details and help the man stripmine his collection!

"i belive that a human would be able to do unnatural things on a planet with a red sun."

§ July 30th, 2006 § Filed under Uncategorized § 1 Comment

“Would we possess powers under a red sun?”

“Kryptonians are god-like under a yellow sun, could it work in reverse for us?”

“im watching the science of superman on national geographic, that is a big no.”

“I’d i imagine it’s because we don’t have have the ability to absorb solar energy. Shine a red light on your self and see if you get any stronger.”

“This is seriously a dumb question. The obvious answer is no coz we can absorb some of the solar rays but not the energy.”

“I know I’ve seen our sun turning red sometimes but not officially red. Where is the real one and How can I reach it?”

“…The way our cells are, there is no way we can absorb solar ENERGY n use it for our own purposes. If it were so, then why do we need to eat when we cud absorb a lot of energy like supes does(altho he eats for the fun of it i think)?
N goin near a red sun is seriously a dumb thing to do, coz ur life will be cut short by supernova or something after the sun fails.”

“If Superman, under one yellow sun, has amazing powers, does that mean if there were 2 yellow suns, like on Star Wars Tattonine, would he have double his amazing powers? What more powers could he possibly have?”

“He could possibly be more omnipotent, it is debatable. But some would argue that two suns would charge his atoms so much that they would explode.”

“i belive that a human would be able to do unnatural things on a planet with a red sun. i dont know if youd get supermans powers, but i think youd get something.”

“The higher gravity on a red sun palnet would make humans very weak. If you could lift a 100 pounds here than there maybe you could only lift one.”

“Red suns have little to nothing to do with Superman’s powers, other than feed him. The lower red sun may have something to do with sight, but we’d be next to crippled (visually) in an atmosphere with lower light levels than that we are accustomed to. We would, indeed, be the Daredevils of Krypton”

In which Mike goes on way too long about things that happened 12 years ago.

§ September 12th, 2005 § Filed under death of superman, market crash, valiant § 3 Comments

So we purchased yet another comic collection the other day, and in this one was a copy of Adventures of Superman #500. “Oh, big deal,” you’re surely saying, “every comic book store has about a bazillion of those damn things.” And, ordinarily, you’d be correct, but this is the platinum edition, friends. It’s packaged in a black bag with a silver super-“S” on the front, and with the phrase “limited platinum edition” (or something like that) printed along the bottom.

Okay, now you can say “oh, big deal.”

What amused me about this comic is that, like its non-platinum counterpart, it is sealed in the bag so that you can’t see the comic inside without opening up the bag. And the comic inside is also some kind of variant as, unlike the regular edition, the letters of the Adventures of Superman logo are embossed and raised up from the cover.

Now, the sort of person who is interested in buying the limited “collector’s” edition of the pre-bagged Adventures of Superman #500 wouldn’t be terribly likely to open up the bag and, um, appreciate the variance of the cover inside, I’d imagine.

Maybe I’m wrong…perhaps whoever buys this will not care about maintaining full resale value, and oh so carefully trim open the top of the plastic bag in order to slip the book out. (And yeah, I believe that Overstreet Price Guide‘s official policy is that carefully opening a prepackaged-in-a-polybag comic doesn’t affect the value, but as someone who sells these things for a living, it doesn’t work like that in the wild.)

Anyway, the point of all this was that, of late, I’d been reflecting back on the big comics market crash of the early ’90s. Specifically, which comic you could point at and say, “the market crash began with this very issue.”

For several years, the comic I pointed at as being the turning point for the comics industry decline was Turok #1 from Valiant Comics. When Valiant first started their superhero line, their books were warming shelves coast-to-coast initially, but all of a sudden, a collector’s frenzy (spurred on by the new price guide magazine Wizard, and an influx of collectors/investors from the then recently-collapsed sports card market*) sprung up around these books. Prices began to skyrocket on early Valiant issues, which were being ballyhooed as hot, rare, investable items. New #1s flew off the shelves, and sometimes we even had to tag the new books with “1 per customer” signs — and, as I noted before, that tended to encourage further sales.

And then Turok #1 was announced for release in 1993. Comic fans (including me) had fond memories of the original Dell/Gold Key Turok Son of Stone series, and the investors who couldn’t care less about comics industry were still excited about yet another Valiant Comics #1. Plus, it was going to have a shiny “chromium” cover, and people liked the chromium back in the day. Plus, Turok was introduced to the Valiant Universe in 1992’s Magnus Robot Fighter #12, which was commanding some significant coin of the realm in the secondary market.

So, basically, perceived demand was high.

Retailers, who were getting the “high demand” vibes for the book, ordered massive numbers. Turok #1 was going to be like printing money, for certain!

Well, even if you weren’t there for it at the time, I’m sure you see where this is going.

Since everyone ordered large numbers on Turok #1, there was plenty to be had. Racks were overflowing with Turok #1. Part of the collecting appeal of Valiant Comics was the apparent scarcity…Turok #1 was the exact opposite of “scarce.” The investors who preordered dozens (or hundreds) of copies quickly realized that there was no way they were going to be able to turn them around into quick cash. And retailers realized that there was far more Turok out there than there was demand. Some people began blowing out copies of Turok for below cover, further damaging the perceived collectible value of Valiant Comics, and comics in general.

Plus, the chromium cover ended up being an embossed cover with a oversized chromium card glued to the front. It’s not bad looking by any means, but people were expecting an actual full-chromium cover and not a glued-on card. It may be that’s what was originally solicited, but it wasn’t what people were expecting.

It’s not as if the market immediately collapsed into nothingness following the release of Turok #1, but I think we all really began to realize that the glory days were over, and more and more collectors began trying to divest themselves of their investments over the following months…and years.

Another possible “death-knell” for the ’90s comics boom was the aforementioned Adventures of Superman #500. If you remember the day Superman #75, the “Death of Superman” comic, came out, most comic shops were madhouses. Apparently a slow news week combined with increased media interest in comics resulted in a lot of news coverage of this particular storyline, and it seemed like everybody wanted to be in on it. On the day it came out, we had a line of people outside our store, stretched down the block waiting for us to open.

Now, keep in mind that we ordered Superman #75 a few months in advance, with absolutely no knowledge of what was to come. We did bump orders up to about four times what we normally received on our Superman books, which were okay sellers at the time, but nothing outstanding. So, seeing that line outside the store, we were forced to do the “1 per customer” thing, even posting signs in the window stating as such. Well, let me tell you, that pissed off some people something fierce, but if I had to choose between having someone mad at me because they one got one copy of Superman #75 and having everyone mad at me because they couldn’t get any copies due to the first person in the door buying everything we had, well, it’s not really much of a choice, is it?

And it was crazy even past that first day. I had huge waiting lists for fourth printings of Superman #75. That may seem like crazy talk, but I swear it’s true.

So the “Death of Superman” story wraps up, the “Funeral for a Friend” storyline that follows wraps up, and the Superman books go on a very brief publishing hiatus.

And now, we have to order Adventures of Superman #500.

This isn’t the issue where Superman comes back to life, but it is the kick-off for the long storyline that eventually would lead into the return of Big Blue. Demand is still huge for the Superman comics. People come by or call every day asking about what’s up with Superman. “Is he back yet? Is he back yet?

So, thinking about what we could have sold on the original, black-bagged, “collectors” edition of Superman #75 had we only known of the buying frenzy to follow, and considering the interest we were still getting in Superman, we place our orders for the white-bagged Adventures of Superman #500.

And so does most every other retailer.

You see where I’m going with this?

When Adventures of Superman #500 comes out, while it does sell relatively well, there’s no attendant media push. The “Death of Superman” thing is old news, why should the media cover it again? Thus, there’s no huge audience of “civilians” who otherwise couldn’t care less about comic books lining up outside comic shops waiting to get their hands on the next new collectible. It’s not a dog like Turok #1 was, but there’s still plenty to be had, and for the investors that can drive collecting frenzies like the one for Superman #75, a lack of scarcity can only mean the bloom is off the investing rose (or, um, something like that). Coupled with the sudden realization that perhaps the black-bagged Superman #75 isn’t worth the premium prices paid on the secondary market (at the time, I heard about someone selling them for $100!), this too surely was a contributor to the comics market crash.

Now this was just local market conditions…for all I know, someone in Wisconsin was selling Turok #1s and Adventures of Superman #500s like they had twenty-dollar bills stapled to the cover**, but it seemed to me that these two books did indeed mark the point where the comics market began its decline, as readers became disenchanted with event books and variant covers, as investors bailed out and starting buying toys and Beanie Babies instead, as comic stores started to shut down across the nation (we lost about seven or so in our tri-county area during that period)…wow, I’m bumming myself out, here. We were able to ride out that rough spot, but in some ways our store (and others, I’m sure) are still recovering from that huge crash.

It was a hard time, with some hard lessons learned regarding our own ordering habits…no one forced us to order that many Turoks, for example, but it sure seemed at the time like we wouldn’t have any problem moving them! Of course, I’m moving them now…I’m blowing them out in our bargain boxes. I don’t think I’ve had anyone pay cover price for a Turok #1 in years. Adventures of Superman #500 does still sell on occasion, but we have a pretty good clientele for Superman books, so that’s not too surprising. We’ve still got plenty of ’em, though.

So, does anyone else have any likely culprits which, like Turok #1 or Adventures of Superman #500, seemed to trigger the ’90s comic market crash?

* I could tell the new comic collectors fresh from the sports card market by the way they asked for “comic book Becketts.”

** If they did have twenties stapled to the covers, you could be sure someone would complain “but, but…it’s not mint!”

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