Virgins, comics shops, and (sorta) new books.
Here’s part of a spam mail sent our way by someone allegedly casting for a new MTV program:
“MTV is casting a fun, new documentary style reality series about relationships & dating from a male perspective. We’re looking for virgin guys (21 & up) on their quest to break out of their shell & improve their love life.
“Do you get nervous around women? Are you stuck in the ‘friend’ zone? Do you find you’re too busy to date? Whatever the reason, if you or someone you know is a virgin guy in the Greater Los Angeles area, we want to meet them!
Hmmm…an e-mail looking for virgin guys, sent to a comic shop. Thanks for the kind thoughts!
SOME CLARIFICATION FOR STEVEN GRANT: Here are some additional details about the exchange quoted from my site in Mr. Grant’s most recent column:
1. The first line was the son, the second the dad. (And yes, if they were reversed that would have been a tad tragic.)
2. The son was about twelve, the father was in his thirties.
Anyway, if you all haven’t already, read his column for his perspective on a comic shop’s challenges in today’s marketplace…and about how some stores helped bring the 1990s market crash upon themselves (something I touched upon myself in a couple posts of mine about said crash).
Bought for myself on Wednesday:
- Parasyte Vol. 1 by Hitoshi Iwaaki – This is one of those manga series that I discovered just a little too late…by the time I got around to flipping through an installment or two, it had already gone out of print and I didn’t have all the books in stock. But, here’s a new edition by Del Rey, in fewer, thicker volumes than the previous run, so at last I can get the full series for myself.
Anyway, it’s about some alien critters that come to Earth and infect human hosts, taking over their bodies, changing shapes and stirrin’ up trouble. However, when one infection goes awry, a fellow named Shin finds his parasite’s influence is restricted solely to his right hand. So, now his hand literally has a mind of its own, and Shin and the parasite now have to learn to live with each other, which is kind of difficult when the hand occasionally looks like this:
Anyway, it’s a nice combination of “absolutely horrific” and “grotesque” and “darkly humorous,” which is right up my alley. Looking forward to finally being able to read this series in its entirety. - Mister I by Lewis Trondheim – This follow-up to Mister O has been out for a while, and I know I ordered the darned thing when it originally appeared in our order forms. Thankfully, unlike Mister O, Mister I has remained available for reorder, so I was finally able to get a copy. Like that first book, this new volume features lots and lots and lots of tiny little drawings, following the wiener-shaped Mister I as his various plans and schemes generally go very poorly for him. Here’s a review and brief sample so you can see what I’m talking about.
- Cover Girl #1 by Andrew Cosby, R.M. Yankovicz, and Kevin Church – Yes, that’s right, the comicsweblogosphere’s own Mr. Church has a new funnybook out, and…okay, I haven’t had a chance to really read it yet, but what bits of the dialogue I’ve read so far have been pretty funny, and I like Kevin, I’ve liked his writing, so I imagine I’ll enjoy the book. And if I don’t, I’ll just send him a nasty e-mail. Heck, maybe I’ll send him one anyway, just to keep in practice.
