Saturday, December 26, 2009Sluggo Saturday #34.
![]() TO BE AGGRESSIVELY COUNTERCULTURAL from Nancy Eats Food (1989)Labels: sluggo saturday Friday, December 25, 2009Merry Christmas.
![]() ![]() from How Sluggo Survives (1989)Thursday, December 24, 2009Seriously, that paper was really a bright green. Totally couldn't miss it.
So we got our copies of Blackest Night #6 this week, since we agreed to Diamond Comic Distributor's terms that we would hold sales on this comic until the street date of December 30th (which would be during the week Diamond is doing no shipping to retailers). Every retailer that received their copies of Blackest Night #6 had to do the same, and agree to hold sales on it 'til next week. In the box we received with these comics, there was a bright green piece of paper stating, in big bold black letters, that the comics packed within are absolutely not to be sold until December 30th.
At our shop, I was enough of a hardnose about it that not even the employees got copies. I only even had the comics out of the box long enough to count them during the order breakdown in the morning, and put 'em back in the box when I was done. I then put a sign on the new arrivals shelf stating that Blackest Night #6 (as well as other 12/30 street date items, like a Fall of the Hulk variant and assorted Marvel freebies) will be available starting next Wednesday. Hopefully that, and the promise of some in-store sales and the kids with fistfuls of Christmas money, will help shore up the shop's income during Diamond's skip week. Some cynics would say that there are folks out there who, despite entering a business agreement with Diamond regarding terms for the street date on these items, despite the repeated reminders about the street dates (on that bright green paper, and on the invoice itself), would put out Blackest Night #6 a week early anyway. And that some enterprising soul would already have scanned and posted said comic to the torrent sites. But those would be dick moves, and I can't imagine anyone wanting to do that. In other comic news: Thanks to Chris Sims' proselytizing for the storyline, and thanks to this interview with the comic's writer, and thanks to a second printing of the first installment coming out the same week as the second installment, I am totally on board with the "Frankencastle" storyline in Punisher. So fantastic. It's Hex for the 21st century, and I sincerely mean that in the best possible way. The last reprint I expected from DC...well, after Sugar & Spike. And after Scribbly. And The Three Mouseketeers. And...er, anyway, the extremely-unlikely reprint I didn't dare hope for is, believe it or not, the 1970s treasury edition Superman Vs. Muhammad Ali. It'll be in two hardcover editions: a deluxe version with bonus features and a new cover by Neal Adams (but hopefully not colored/textured/whatevered by him), and another hardcover edition presenting the comic in its original tabloid size. This really is one of my all-time favorite Superman comics, with some fantastic art and a very silly but fun story, and dude, it costars Muhammad Ali. It's hard to believe I first read this about thirty years ago, and I am very happy it's being reissued. It is (dare I say) A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE. Well, a provisional miracle, anyway, depending on these things' price points. Read more about Superman Vs. Muhammad Ali via the nigh-essential Treasurycomics.com. And I hope everyone has a happy and safe Christmas Eve, where applicable. EGGNOG SHOOTERS WOOO* NOTE: Proprietor of this site does not drink alcohol. Regard all references to alcohol consumption accordingly.Wednesday, December 23, 2009Die for Darkseid.
So I was digging through one of the loose dice bins in the game shop and spotted this lone six-sided die sitting among the others. Half of the faces of this die had the Superman logo:
![]() ...and the other half had the face of Darkseid: ![]() I'm presuming this is from some DC Comics role playing game or other, which I'm sure several of you out there are about to tell me in the comments. But that such a thing as this die even exists...well, if that doesn't fill your heart with the Christmas spirit, I don't know what will. Tuesday, December 22, 2009The multiple Amazon links are shameless, but you can't blame a boy for trying.
During my Christmas shopping excursions, I've been sorta looking at various stores' DVD selections trying to spot the Watchmen: Ultimate Cut DVD set
The version of the movie I've seen the most is the single disc "Theatrical Cut" version I have seen a few copies of the two-disc "Directors Cut" ![]() I haven't really looked at the stock on the Blu-Ray edition of Watchmen I can report that the actual Watchmen graphic novel appears to be selling again...of course, not nearly at the levels it was before the pre-film excitement started and the local demand for Watchmen was really oversaturated. But that we're moving any copies at all is a bit encouraging. I even had a collector express interest in the original issues, which is something that hasn't happened in a while. Also, there's a part of me that wishes the Watchmen film had been an enormous hit, enough so that a sequel would have been inevitable, and that even possibly new comic book follow-ups and tie-ins would have been published. Because really, the fanguish that would have caused would have been epically awesome. *** Speaking of movies, the film I can't wait to see is Sherlock Holmes, because 1) you had me at "new Sherlock Holmes movie," and 2) it's Robert Downey, Jr. as Sherlock, which promises to be fantastic. I suspect some...liberties will be taken with the interpretations of the characters and the sorts of situations they'll find themselves in, but after over a century's worth of Sherlock pastiches and parodies, what's one more? And I haven't made it to Avatar yet simply because I haven't had the time. But I have to say, it does look pretty, but I've been hearing some pretty dire things about it story-wise. What say you, internet pals? Monday, December 21, 2009'Twas the Wednesday before Christmas....
In case you were wondering, new comics are on schedule for the regular Wednesday release this week. And, as you've probably heard, Diamond is distributing no comics during the week between Christmas and the New Year. However, if your retailer remembered (like...ahem...I almost didn't) to get themselves on Santa's Nice List, your local funnybook shop should have Blackest Night #6 for sale during that dead week, a full week earlier than those other naughty shops. You might want to pop into the shop that week anyway, because there may be a sale or three going on to make up for the lack of new books.
In a way, I'm sort of looking forward to a skip week where I don't have to pull comic savers or redo the racks or anything. At last, I'll have time to brush up on my breakdancing skills for the big year-end competition, Employee Aaron will have time to drag a comb through his hair, and Employee Timmy will, I don't know, do something British, I guess...have bangers and mash or queue up somewhere, or something like that. So here are a few of the comics that are coming our way this week that I feel like saying something about:
Sunday, December 20, 2009Commenting about comments is a sin.
Still messing around with comments. General reaction from you folks and from Employee Aaron is that they would miss having the comments on the old posts, so...just for you guys, I'm going to attempt to use the new commenting system that's replacing Haloscan. I'll be messing around with the settings and trying to make it as close as I can to how things worked before, but it won't be exactly the same, I'm afraid. And I'm told it's going to take a while before all the old comments are converted over to the new system, but new posts on the site (like this very one here) should have the new comments system in place. Try it out, let me know how you like it.
I'm really kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place here. I'm not terribly enthused about the new system, but I (and apparently, a number of you) still want my old comments around. However, I still want the simplicity of a basic commenting system, without all the bells and whistles. I'm happy with my telegraph, I can't see any reason to use one of those newfangled telley-phones. So that's what I spent my blogging time doing tonight...screwing around with templates and settings and all that hoohar. I'll try to get back to talking about comics tomorrow. Oh, we did sell a full run of the '70s Black Lightning series on Saturday. That was pretty awesome. |
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