New comic daze.
With apologies to pal Dorian:
So it seems our customers, having been trained by the recent Diamond Comics shipping delays caused by Christmas and New Year’s Day, assumed Martin Luther King Day would do the same and either 1) didn’t drop by on New Comics Day or 2) placed many, many calls asking if the week’s shipment had come in yet.
Just can’t win, sometimes.
Speaking of Diamond, our shipment was shorted about a bazillion random things, including a replacement for an item that we had been shorted on the previous week. Oy.
By the way, I haven’t been on the internet much lately, so I haven’t noticed…has there been any other coverage of the missing material from the new DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore trade paperback?
- New release of the week: Schizo #4 by Ivan Brunetti. Oh, yeah. It’s huge (11 by 15 inches), it’s filled with despair and hatred of his fellow man, and it’s incredibly funny. There’s nothing in here as obviously appalling as, oh, say, a full page of hundreds of little naked Ivan Brunettis killing each other in hideous fashions (as seen in a previous Schizo), but it’s still disturbing and hilarious.
- Strangers in Paradise #79 – This comic’s release reminded me of a few weeks ago, when I had the following exchange with a longtime customer of mine who happens to be a fan of this comic:
Customer: “Hey, did you hear that Strangers in Paradise is going to be ending soon?”
Me: “Finally!“
Customer: (laughs)
- All-Star Superman #2 – This comic makes one wish that Superman can be done this well all the time. It’s not quite as crammed full of weirdness and wonder as some of the old Silver Age stories it’s trying to emulate…but it’ll do. Yeah, I know, I’m greedy.
- Red Sonja #4 – So one of the ordering incentives for this comic book was a glow-in-the-dark version of the Marc Silvestri cover, which was one of the four (or so) variant covers for this issue. When we were unpacking the order, the two covers just got tossed in the Red Sonja pile, and didn’t realize ’til later that they were in fact the incentive comics. To make sure I got the right ones, I took them into the bathroom, closed the door, turned off the lights, and made sure that these covers did indeed glow in the dark.
The things I do at this job.
And yes, I shut myself up in the bathroom with a Red Sonja comic. Quiet, you.
- Girls #9 – Not only is there a letter in this issue commenting on the lack of naked girls on recent covers of this series, there’s an editorial promise that, yes indeed, naked girls will return to the covers soon. In case you were concerned.
- Sgt. Rock: The Prophecy #1 – There just seems something fundamentally wrong with a Joe Kubert Sgt. Rock comic book having three variant covers. It’s two different eras of comics colliding uncomfortably together.
- Infinite Crisis #4 – Things are explained, action ensues, and there’s a surprisingly violent battle at the end. Thankfully, very little OMAC robot action in this issue…I’m enjoying the IC crossover, but I never need to see an OMAC ever again, ever. Unless it’s the Buddy Blank version.
On a related note, a couple weeks ago at the shop I was discussing the fact that, when the Earth Prime Superboy was introduced during the original Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover shenanigans, the only purpose he really served was 1) to represent the concept of Earth Prime (i.e. “our” Earth), and 2) to act as a symbolic “goodbye” to the Superboy concept* at the end of the series. He didn’t really serve any plot purpose that I can recall (beyond being involved in a minor continuity glitch in the series). Now that he has a slightly larger role in Infinite Crisis, I realized that it took 20 years to find something to do with the character!
- Glamor Girls Of Don Flowers TPB – Another excellent collection of girlie (and not-so-girlie) cartoons, collected in a handsome square paperback. Unlike the previous volumes in this series (like the Dan DeCarlo book I discussed previously) the cartoons are presented solely in black and white, without the third color printing. And, now that I see one of these volumes without that color…I kinda miss it. Still a nicely done collection, and funny and charming as well.
- Back Issue #14 – Features a short article on one of DC’s greatest comic books: Hex!
For reading this far…I give you Celebrities with Phones!
