In which Mike overuses the "in which" format for his post titles.
- Hey, Thursday at the shop I finally had someone inquire about the “Archie Gets Married” thing that’ll be out in about three months. Woo hoo! Way to go, mainstream media attention!
- Oh, and on Wednesday Greg Burgas from Comics Should Be Good stopped by our shop and said hello. He was a nice, friendly guy, and we had a good chat about comics retailing. Plus, he spent lots of money, and thus bought his way into my affections. ‘Course, if any of you also wish to spend your way into my good graces, I happily accept PayPal.
Seriously, though, it was very kind of him to drop in just to see me and our store. And it’s always great to be able to put faces to names familiar to me from my online travels. Thanks for coming by, Greg!
- So Batman and Robin #1 by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely came out this week, and it was, as expected, a choice comics-reading experience. Now, I pretty much skipped the whole “Who’ll Be the New Batman” hoo-har…the last Batman story I read was Morrison’s last issue before this one, and I was able to jump into this new series just fine. The circumstances re: the new Batman and new Robin are explained, situations are set up, and personalities clearly defined…can’t wait to read more.
In fact, the line-wide revamp of the Bat-titles seems to be generating some excitement among our customers. And even for me, a person who generally doesn’t read Batman comics unless something unusual grabs my attention (like, say, getting Morrison to write it), I’m finding myself interested in the run of Batwoman stories that’ll be in Detective. A soft-reboot of the franchise like this is good for revitalizing the books…for something like Batman, a concept that’s been around about 70 years, polishing off a bit of the rust isn’t a bad idea once in a while.
Of course, once Bruce! Wayne! Returns! in some big ol’ multi-part crossover prior to the release of the next Batman movie, and the Bat-status quo is forced back upon the books, I’m sure a lot of that excitement will dissipate when we’re back in the same ol’ same ol’. Then again, the excitement will have died down a bit already, most likely, since it appears this New Batman/New Robin storyline will be going on for at least a year or so. But if it turns out these new revamped characters and titles and storylines are remarkably popular, how much disappointment will there be when the old status quo returns, as it must? (Well, I’m sure that anything in any of these books that’s popular at all when Original Batman returns will be spun off into its own book.)
Mostly, I just want to keep reading the adventures of you-know-who trying to fill the Bat-shoes, and the other you-know-who as a troublesome Robin, but it’s hard to ignore the (as yet unknown) expiration date on this particular take on the franchise, and its eventual reversion to Just Another Monthly Batman Title. Though admittedly, it’d be nice to have something actually called Batman and Robin on the stands, regardless of who’s starring in the title roles or who’s writing or drawing, just to have to sell to kids and/or parents looking for comics with Batman and Robin in them.
- Related: here’s what it would take to get Kevin Church to watch a particular reality show.
- Pal Dorian reveals his least favorite comic book character, and announces the winner of his contest. Personally, I guessed Kitty Pryde.
- So, remember that Popeye and Environmental Careers comic I posted panels from a few days back? Well, let’s pretend you do. Anyway, Dr. Polite Scott examines another Popeye career comic from the same series. (I wonder if any of the comics offered up “sailor” as a career choice? You know, what with Popeye an’ all.)
- Tim O’Neil looks at a few recent Marvel books (plus one DC), and in the process articulates my own feelings about Mark Millar’s work on Wolverine and Fantastic Four much better than I would have.
- New from Action Age Comics, it’s Monster Plus #1, available for free readin’, either via the website or via download. Full-on monster-fight action, in the mighty Action Age manner!
- It’s an ill wind that blows no one on eBay any good: the David Carradine Tribute Button.