So it is once again Black Friday, that one big sales day of the year where the giant retailers sell, oh, I don’t know, 75-inch LED flat screens for a dollar and a trashcan full of Blu-rays for 50 cents (one flat screen and one bucket per customer, please) and little Mom ‘n’ Pop ‘n’ Nerd stores like our own watch tumbleweeds bounce down the empty streets while everyone is at Best*Mart or Walfry’s or wherever, waiting for that time late in December when people have finally devoured everything at the malls and their search patterns spiral out in the forbidden countries, where live stores that only exist in that one spot and not franchised across this great land of ours.
Er, okay, it’s not as bad as all that. We have a big sale all weekend, and our sales usually do pretty well, so I’m not too worried about that. But it does seem the focus is on giving money to the big guys, while the little guys gotta wait their turn, and…you know, I can dig it. In this economy, you’ve got to grab the deals where you can and stretch your dollars as best you’re able, so I completely understand. However, don’t forget your pals in the outlands away from the malls and the big-box stores…we’ve got some deals too, maybe, so after you get your two X-Station 180s for the price of one, drop by the shop and buy a graphic novel…for BIG BIG SAVINGS.
Also, come by and see my head full of totally naturally brown and not dyed at all hair turn grey again. That’ll probably be fun.
• • •
Speaking of my accelerating decline into decrepitude: I’ve been processing a pretty sizable amount of underground comix at the shop over the last few days…a collection that included several issues of Vaughn Bodé’s Junkwaffel. And every time I see issues of Vaughn Bodé’s Junkwaffel I think the exact same thing: “hmmm, I need to buy these for my own collection.” Which, of course, I did when I looked at the copies in this particular assortment I was working on.
Well, going through a box in the Vast Mikester Comic Archive, what did I find?
A run of recent printings of Junkwaffel issues 1 through 4, so I already have them. BONUS: I talked about them on this very site back in ’04. …Well, like they say, memory’s the second thing to go, right after breakdancing skills.
However, I am reasonably certain I don’t have the magazine-sized fifth issue, which is also in this collection, so perhaps I’ll be getting a copy of Junkwaffel out of this after all.
Yeah, it’s my birthday again…they just keep comin’, one every year. Though I feel like I’ve aged about a year just in the last week…arguing with folks on the internet will do that to you. Internet arguments are like trying to sweep the desert – you don’t get anywhere, and it just makes you tired.
So I’m taking the day off today, but not before posting a couple things:
Happy birthday to my birthday brother Andrew at Armagideon Time. He was also born on March 13th, but three years later than me. Why, he’s practically just a baby! (EDIT: In his birthday post, Andrew dedicates to me a late addition to pal Dorian’s Meme That Wouldn’t Die. Yes, it has Swamp Thing in it.)
“Dispatching the alternative minimum tax is like trying to kill the Swamp Thing, a Hollywood horror beast of the 1970s that kept resurfacing no matter how many times you tried to get rid of it.”
“What’s up people? I’m a crime fighting vegetable in the swamps of Louisiana! When I’m not slapping some evil mad scientist like a little b*tch; I’m mackin’ wid da Cajun hos. You ever wanna go slummin’ with me, holla. Oh, and I’m Jewish; so shalom biotch!
“Who I’d like to meet:
“I’d like to meet a woman that knows how to treat a plant right. You know, a woman that doesn’t mind fetching a little miracle-gro for me from time to time. I’m not saying I’m high maintenance, this brother just needs a little sunshine and fertilizer now and then. And I’m packin’ a twelve inch cucumber so if she was tall that would be good too. She also has to like swimming and can’t be afraid of alligators and snakes and sh*t.”
I can’t help but think that this sounds slightly different from the Swamp Thing I’d been reading about all these years.
He’s also a member of the adults-only Myspace group “gEt reaDy fOr a naSty tiMe,” which, again, seems a tad out of character for ol’ Swampy.
March 13, 1964 – Kitty Genovese’s murder is witnessed by several people, none of whom attempted to help her or call the police. Alan Moore would use this incident in Watchmen…an article reprinting all the related panels may be found here (though it notes the date as the 14th, which contradicts most other sources).
March 13, 1969 – Mike Sterling is born. The world trembles in fear.
March 13, 1969 – Amazing Spider-Man #73 is released to newsstands (see here for details).
March 13, 1983 – Evil Dead star Bruce Campbell marries Christine Deveau.
March 13, 1988 – Assumed birthdate of Irma Lair, from Walt Disney’s W.I.T.C.H.
March 13, 1992 – Shakes the Clown, Bobcat Goldthwait’s finest cinematic achievement, released in the U.S.
March 13, 1992 – This fellow from Mike Kazaleh’s Har Har #2 celebrates his birthday in funnybook form.
March 13, 1997 – The “Phoenix Lights” are witnessed over Phoenix, Arizona.
March 13, 1999 – Lee Falk, creator of The Phantom, dies.
March 13, 2006 – Mike Sterling celebrates his 37th birthday. The world trembles in pity.
…so I’m taking the day off from the weblog, but not without showing you this Amazing Spider-Man comic from 1969:
…which has a cover date stamp of March 13th:
That means some newsstand owner somewhere was stamping these and putting them out for sale at the same time I was tied up with the whole “being given birth to” thing — which, of course, kept me from getting to the racks and picking up the new releases. Some fan I am.
And, yeah, I know the comic has a printed cover date of “June,” but I don’t think comic cover dates have ever been accurate. All the Marvels and DCs from last week are either April or May editions, for example. There was a brief period of time in the ’90s, if I recall correctly, that the major publishers tried to do some cover date adjustments. End result: cover dates are only a month or two off, instead of a whole four months.
Er…birthday. Day off. No posting. Right…see you tomorrow!
Here’s the official site for the 
