"I CAN CATCH UNICORNS."
So I have no idea what happened to yesterday’s post for most of the day. If you’re a regular reader of the site, you know I usually post the next day’s post before I drag my carcass to bed. Well, Wednesday night Blogger was having some updating issues, but finally it appeared as if I managed to coax my Thursday post through…only to have that post cruelly, horribly snatched back from my page when I wasn’t looking. It wasn’t until reader Steve wrote me yesterday afternoon to let me know “Hey, that Joker post of yours disappeared…wha’ happened?” that I found out about it.
And it wasn’t just some weird browser cache glitch or anything…it was on the site! Honest! Reader Steve saw it! I’M NOT CRAZY.
I’m sure you all found that terribly interesting.
Not that my post was all that or anything, but I couldn’t resist playing with pal Reid’s scan, and it made for a quick, easy post since I was otherwise occupied Wednesday night with some important business. And by “important business” I mean Civilization III, and by “otherwise occupied” I mean “trying to establish a beachhead on an island occupied by several enemy nations.”
Sigh. It’s sad when it happens to someone you know, isn’t it?
In other news:
- I spent most of my Thursday afternoon assisting a couple ladies from the local library system, who were making a purchase from us to the tune of several thousand dollars. They’d made a similarly large purchase from us last year, and since those books were exceedingly popular they came back for more.
Like last time, they focused on books appropriate for kids and young adults, but this time they were a little more adventurous with the manga purchasing. They only picked out first volumes of several series before, but now they took whole chunks of runs. They also bought the Essential and Showcase volumes…they shied away from these during their last visit, but decided this time to take one of each.
And this is how I sold one of the books to them:
“Here, try Banana Sunday, this is a cute book.”
“Really? Well….”
“Hey, remember Dorian, who used to work here?”
“Yeah, sure!”
“Well –” (I turn the book over to show her the back) “–that quote on the back cover is from Dorian…he reviewed it on his website!”
“Oh, okay, I’ll take it!”
So, pal Dorian, our customers are taking your word over mine, even though you haven’t worked here for two years. LET THE GLOATING BEGIN.
- A CORRECTION: When I was writing about the whole Spidey marriage/future status quo hoohar, I noted that I was working from vague memories of the Free Comic Book Day Amazing Spider-Man giveaway when I mentioned that Aunt May’s status was left vague as she was only mentioned in dialogue. Well, Thursday I happened to come across a copy of that comic and flipped through it…and “vague” nothing, Aunt May’s totally in it.
Just thought I’d mention that before someone decided to lord it over me.
- So did anyone else get a Jack Black vibe off this particular image of former JLA sidekick Snapper Carr from the Green Arrow/Black Canary Wedding Special:
Okay, I ran that thought past a couple folks, and someone said it was just Amanda Conner’s light cartoony touch that gave him a Jack Blackian countenance. But his disheveled appearance here (and in the later group shot), and his description by several characters in the book as “an idiot” — I can easily see Snapper reimagined as a typical Jack Black-style “well-meaning, but lazy and disaster-prone slacker” character in DC’s ongoing quest to make him Not Rick Jones.That’s a lot to read into two pictures and a couple pieces of dialogue, isn’t it?
- So, those of you out there who are in the funnybook-selling business…have you experienced any rush on that one issue of Hitman with Special Guest Star Superman this week? Particularly since that issue provides the background for the JLA/Hitman mini-series that just debuted?
I’ve had a couple requests for it, but for the most part it appears to be Hitman fans who are picking up this new mini at our store, and thus have already read that issue of Hitman. I’m just wondering if it’s any different anywhere else.
I haven’t read any interviews or press or anything in regards to this mini-series, but I suspect its sales are being used to gauge whether or not any further Hitman trade paperback collections will be released. I have no idea why they haven’t finished reprinting the series, given that it’s by a popular writer and that, perhaps, a promise of completing volumes might jumpstart sales on the earlier books. (A collection of Ennis and McCrea’s Demon — some of which also feature Hitman — would be nice, too.) Did the sales on the previous books just tank so hard that DC’s a bit gunshy (har har) about doing more? I suppose I could look that up myself, but that smacks of “effort” and I’ve had a long enough day.
- Dave has his way with those all-black “aren’t I edgy and dangerous” t-shirts we’re all sick of looking at. (My suggestion: “I CAN CATCH UNICORNS.” And Chris Sims has one for sale.)
- Pal Tom is reviewing the Fall 2007 TV season, because he’s a crazy person. Let Tom tell you what crap you can safely avoid, which, so far, is pretty much everything. (His dismissal of Gossip Girl is classic Tom. Good on you, sir!)
He’s only just started, so keep checking back for each shocking update!
- Neilalien wants to know…who’s the guy in the blue hat?
And now that’s he’s pointed it out…I want to know, too. That’s just…peculiar. The shades, the odd symbol on the hat…what was going on there, exactly?
The world may never know.
