DEEDS NOT WORDS.
So yesterday was not New Comics Day, as I’m sure most of you knew, or at least discovered when you popped in to your local Comick Shoppe Emporium and Painless Dentiste and discovered the mockery of empty shelves and the derisive laughter of store employees, pointing and laughing and drinking deep your tears. At least, that’s what happened at our store. Maybe things were different where you’re at.
Anyway, no new comics calls for drastic measures, so up went the “graphic novels 25% off – today only” signs, and our new comics-less Wednesday was indeed saved. Sold lots of books…not enough manga, alas, since we could stand some thinning of the herds there, but money is money and by golly, we’ll take it. Sold an expensive slipcased volume or two, got rid of some Batman books, gave a few customers that additional incentive to try out a series they’d been meaning to get around to…all in all, a good day at the shop.
Unfortunately, I also found out that, while we are getting our reorders of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier in this week’s shipment, that’s gonna be it for the time being. DC’s now taking orders for a second printing, which will be released just in time to not be in time for Christmas…well, this year’s Christmas, anyway, as they’ll be out ’round ’bout Dec. 28th. Save your gift certificates for that, kids.
And I’m getting my copy, this time. Pal Dorian keeps mocking me with his copy.
Lessee…what else happened on New Comics-less Wednesday? I got asked if I knew how much the action figures were going to be for the next Hellboy movie (“Um, that’s not coming out ’til next year sometime.” “Yeah, but how much will the figures cost?” “Well, fifteen bucks or so, maybe? I don’t know.” “Okay, thanks!”), found out the reason I hadn’t seen one of my longtime customers lately is because he’s been acting on sitcoms and getting parts in feature films, found a copy of one of those Megaforce comic book ads for a customer (“DEEDS NOT WORDS,” man), and, for reasons too silly and convoluted to go into, I drew, on an old backing board with a felt tip pen, a stick figure Dracula. “Stickula,” if you will. I don’t have the original…the gal from the game store next door saw it and asked if she could have it, and since I’m a soft touch, I said, “five bucks and it’s yours.” But, here’s a detailed reconstruction of said image:
Those little squiggly lines at the sides are supposed to be his menacing cloak, you see. Have I mentioned lately that I’m 38 years old? Yes, I certainly am.
So, anyway, in other news:
- Okay, let’s be clear on this. I’m not going to make a habit out of featuring auctions on the eBay that you folks are running and decide to e-mail to me. It better be something pretty darn cool, or unusual, or just plain goofy for me to give you some good ol’ fashioned Progressive Ruin plugging. I mean, if I’m going to plug a running auction, I’m going to plug our own. For example, right now we have Albedo #2 up on the eBay in an auction that ends tomorrow. As I write this, it’s up to $350. Holy crow. ‘Course, the comic is as rare as an on-time comic book written by a big name TV writer, so the price shouldn’t come as that much of a surprise, but still, yowza, you know?
Er, back to the topic. Anyway, Reader Rick wrote in to tell me he had something on the eBay that I’d find of interest, since I seem to have an affinity for goofy eBay comic book stuff. And, goodness me, Reader Rick was right, for what he presented to me was nothing less than the X-Men Mutant Gear Survival Kit:
You can look at the auction itself for more detailed pictures. This item isn’t that old, but I’d never seen it or heard of it ’til now. I was describing it to Employee Aaron and he says he thinks he had one.But check it out…it comes with two bars of Wolverine soap, Wolverine lip balm, Cyclops band-aids, and a little blue plastic carrying box with some X-Men decals affixed to its exterior. It’s probably be too much to hope that the shape of Wolverine was carved into the soap. The band-aids at least, from the look of the packaging, have X-Men images on them.
The real puzzler is the Wolvie lip balm. “Wolverine doesn’t suffer from chapped lips…thanks to his special X-Men brand LIP BALM. Oh, and his healing factor.”
I am kind of curious as to what the original retail price for this item was, because I’m betting it was way above the six or seven bucks any of this stuff would have cost, total, had you purchased them seperately and without a bunch of X-Men labels on them.
But, still, kind of cool. And silly. And thanks to Reader Rick for being brave enough to send in this link to me.
By the way, Reader Rick has the greatest eBay user name ever. Go check it out.
And to all you sellers on the eBay out there, looking for some free publicity for your auction…before you click that “send this e-mail to Mike at ProgRuin” button that all computers now have installed at the factory, ask yourself one question. “Is my auction cooler/weirder/sillier than the Mutant Gear Survival Kit?” Because if it’s not, then friend, spare that e-mail.
- Speaking of selling things…I just wanted to express my appreciation for you folks who bought goodies on Amazon through my little search box in the sidebar, there. The little bit of scratch I’m earning through that does help, and I thank you.
