The Progressive Ruin Questionnaire-Fest 2010 Part Four: Dead Man’s Party.

§ February 18th, 2010 § Filed under question time § 10 Comments

I’m feeling a bit run-down as I write this, I’m afraid…I was going to beg off, but there are just a few questions left and I’d like to get them answered. So let’s see how I do today.

  • Steve Cameron asks

    “With so much getting collected now, most stores have sold off their old issues to give most of their floor space over to trades and manga and graphic novels and what not, but I understand that Ralph’s still has a lot of back issue bins. Do you still do a lot of sales in old floppies? How’s it changed from a decade or two ago?”

    Actually, I don’t think it’s changed all that much. Since we’re one of the few stores left that still has deep stock in back issues, we still remain a destination for folks seeking out old comics. It’s still about the same percentage of the business we do now as it’s always been.

  • Erik has a question or two for me:

    “If I download comics that aren’t collected am I still killing comics?”

    Yes. Now that the police have heard your confession, they will be by to collect you in the morning.

    “What’s better, Dark Knight Returns or Watchmen?”

    Oh, that’s a toughie. A real toughie. We’re talking two very different takes on essentially the same subject: the dissection and, to a certain extent, parody, of a genre, with Dark Knight taking a more visceral approach, and Watchmen a more mechanical one. If I have to pick one, I’d say Watchmen, if only just barely. Like exactly one micron of difference.

    “Who would win in a fight, Supergoof or Mighty Mouse?”

    Mighty Mouse is clearly the more powerful and competent of the two, but never underestimate the power of Supergoof’s sheer dumb luck. I’d say it’s Goofy for the win.

  • Allan inquires

    “What do you think is the most significant contribution to society you completely failed to make because of a) comic books and b) your blogging about comic books? How many people do you think would be alive today if you had chosen a less geeky path? And if the answer is greater than one, does the thought of this ever keep you awake at night or do you consider the existence of Progressive Ruin to be more important than any one nameless individual’s life?”

    Well, let’s face it, I was never going to be a doctor or a fireman. It was either this or librarian…and I’ve done the librarian thing, and I like this better. I can sleep well at night being reasonably certain that no one’s life depended on my life choices.

    Besides, I know for a fact that my being in a comic retail job was directly responsible for a couple of my friends marrying each other, so chalk one up for the nerd life!

  • Keith must know

    “Another question relating to the secret genius behind Progressive Ruin.
    Noticing employee Aaron (with his hair cut) has a girlfriend, I have not help but be a bit skeptical, is she real or is she one of those ‘I have a girlfriend, but she lives two states over’ kind of girlfriends? Bonus question: If real, is she shorter than him? (As if that’s even possible?)”

    I can absolutely verify the existence of Employee Aaron’s girlfriend. She’s been coming into the store since she was just a wee thing, and, in fact, just saw her here at the shop the other day.

    She is just a bit shorter than Employee Aaron, but then Aaron’s taken to wearing his KISS-style boots with the six inch lifts, so perhaps that’s throwing off my eyeballed measurements a bit.

  • Jay V asks

    “Do you have any thoughts/opinions on Charlton comics? How about Gold Key? Do you have any back issues of Wacky Witch?”

    Charlton Comics have this almost endearing half-assedness about them, so I can never really dislike them too much, even if a lot of them are, well, kind of crap. But I read a lot of them as a kid in the ’70s, so I have a soft spot in my head…er, heart for them.

    I’m okay with Gold Key. Lots of nice covers, some swell TV tie-in books, handled the Disney line, and Turok was under their banner for a while, so I’ve got no beef with them. I read a handful of their digest comics as a young Mikester, too.

    You know, we have back issues of Wacky Witch at the shop, but I can’t recall if I’ve ever looked inside one. I’ll have to correct that omission.

  • MichaelFromJamaicaNY entreats

    “Can you help me open this jar of Palm Hearts?”

    Sure! What you do is you kind of bang the lid of the jar against a countertop, which hopefully will loosen it up a bit. If it’s still a bit tight, try covering the top with a paper or cloth towel, and grabbing and twisting the towel-covered lid. That should give you enough traction to get it loose.

  • Rich Handley wonders

    “Since changing over from the prior blog site to the new ultra-white version, have you seen a change in your traffic? Does it look like most of your regulars made the jump to the new location?”

    Traffic appears to be about the same, thankfully. I think there may have been a slight dip when my RSS feeds changed, but I think everyone’s caught on by now. I hope.

  • Josh Perdue needs to know

    “Years ago in college I had a class with this girl who was a friend of a friend. We sat beside one another in class and used to chat sometimes and she was always very friendly. Then all of a sudden one day she was very rude to me. I used to see her outside of school and say hi and she would reluctantly acknowledge me, then ignored me outright.
    What did I do?”

    Lady Ruinites out there reading this post, look away for a moment.

    Okay…Josh, there’s only one answer to this, and the answer is this: Chicks, man…chicks. Who can figure ’em?

    All right, gals, you can come back to the site now! (Phew, good thing none of them read what I just wrote!)

  • Tom Mason asks

    “What are the three biggest things – hit comic book movie, blogging, distribution changes, crossovers, clean windows, Virgin Comics, anything really – that have had a positive impact on the store?”

    Hmmm…I’d say 1) trade paperback/book collections and the audience they attract, 2) moving to a larger space all those years ago (though we could stand to have more space now!), and 3) movies and TV shows and just plain ol’ increased media presence of comic book properties (not that it directly translates to equivalent sales, but it does bring in some interest from new readers).

  • Progressive Sterling’s Mike Ruin (hmm…odd name) wants to know:

    “Who would win in a fist fight: Chris Sims or Dave Campbell?”

    Well, Campbell’s got some reach on him, but Sims has watched enough wrestling to try something that would end up hurting them both. So the only winner would be me, as I laugh and laugh.

    “From a strictly visual point of view: do you think Swamp Thing looks better than Man-Thing? WHY??:O”

    I’d say they both have their visual appeal. Man-Thing certainly is more monstrous than Swamp Thing, but Swampy as drawn by, say, Steve Bissette and John Totleben sometimes seems to have almost infinite detail to him. I’d say as long as Swamp Thing is being drawn as a swamp monster, and not just as a big green guy, he’s the more interesting design if only that you can read his expressions and emotions. Though the completely blank look on Man-Thing’s “face” is terrifying in its own way…AAARGH too wishy-washy to pick one. It’s my weblog, I say I like ’em both just fine. So there.

    ”’Swamp Thongs’. For the ladies. Sexy or not?”

    So, they’d be all…leafy, or vine-y? …Sorry, man, can’t see it.

  • Roger Green asks

    “I had to delete you from my weblog on Blogger then reinstall you. I assume that’s tied to your new feed. Is that a common issue or am I merely technologically cursed?”

    No, that was caused by the new RSS feed the changeover created. I did publish one last post to the old feed asking everyone to change over to the new feed, and I may do another one in case anyone missed it. So don’t worry…I broke the link on your site, not you!

  • deadlytoque asks

    “I’ve never read any comics with Thor or Iron Man, but I am keen on both characters. I’m a fan of Matt Fraction and also of Warren Ellis, and (to a lesser extent) J. Michael Straczynski . I also like the new Marvel Adventures stuff.

    “If I buy Fraction’s runs on both titles, as well as JMS’s Thor and Ellis’s Iron Man, and then some of the MA: Iron Man books… will any of them make sense to me? Or will my total lack of knowledge of the decades of continuity exclude me?”

    I think you’re okay. You’ve read comics, you have some passing familiarity with the characters, I say jump on in. Everyone’s gotta start somewhere, and none of these books have any kind of steep learning curve preventing you from catching onto the stories.

  • Metz77 wraps up today’s questions with

    “What do you think of Fantastic Four right now? I’ve never been a fan of the series before but the current creative team seems good. Do you think it’ll last?”

    I’ve always liked the Fantastic Four, though I don’t always like what’s being done with the title. But, right now, with Jonathan Hickman on writing chores, it’s been a fun, strongly written, and tightly focused book. Imaginative, a little weird, stories don’t go on for too long, and all the characters seem reasonably in character. Can’t ask for more than that. As for how long it’ll last…as with all good books, it’ll feel like it ended too early.

I know some follow-up questions popped up in later comments sections, but those will have to wait for a day when I’m not dead on my feet. Thanks for reading, internet pals, and hopefully tomorrow I’ll be a bit more up to speed.

10 Responses to “The Progressive Ruin Questionnaire-Fest 2010 Part Four: Dead Man’s Party.”

  • Progressive Sterling's Mike Ruin says:

    Thanks, Mike! Those questions sure have been bugging me for a while! I love those Q&A posts, you’re a class act!

  • Chris T says:

    I know *nobody* asked me… but I’ve had a few beers so tough luck.

    “Who would win in a fight, Supergoof or Mighty Mouse?”

    Duck Dodgers would. Duh.

    “Can you help me open this jar of Palm Hearts?”

    Use a bottle opener to .. ah never mind.

    “I had to delete you from my weblog on Blogger then reinstall you. I assume that’s tied to your new feed. Is that a common issue or am I merely technologically cursed?”

    No, I had the same problem. The homepage changed from https://www.progressiveruin.com/index.html
    to
    https://www.progressiveruin.com/

    same same but different

    “Years ago in college I had a class with this girl who was a friend of a friend. We sat beside one another in class and used to chat sometimes and she was always very friendly. Then all of a sudden one day she was very rude to me. I used to see her outside of school and say hi and she would reluctantly acknowledge me, then ignored me outright.
    What did I do?”

    It’s not what you *did*, but what you *didn’t* do.

    “I’ve never read any comics with Thor or Iron Man, but I am keen on both characters. etc

    There’s this guy called Walt Simonson. He did a run on Thor that was pretty good.

  • Erik says:

    Dark Knight gets the win for me because it’s Batman. Watchmen is great- really great- but DKR grabbed me as a kid as the ultimate Batman story.. The part of me that’s eternally twelve years old still says “Wow, Batman kicks ass!” even as the grownup English major appreciates what Miller was doing.

  • Trinity Moses says:

    Only “okay” with Gold Key? Dude, this is the company that published MIGHTY SAMSON, THE FANTASTIC VOYAGES OF SINDBAD, THE OCCULT FILES OF DR. SPEKTOR, JUDGE COLT, Jerry Siegel’s TIGER GIRL and THE OWL, and (greatest of all) JET DREAM AND HER STUNTGIRL COUNTERSPIES. Marvel has not published anything as good as any of these in the last quarter century.

  • Derek B. Haas says:

    “Lady Ruinites” would be a fine name for some DC Eastern European nobility.

  • De says:

    For a second, I thought you wrote “Lady Reunites” instead of “Lady Ruinites”. I bet both on ice are so nice.

  • David C says:

    The question de jour seems to be about digital comics destroying demand for the printed page. I’m one of those people who just doesn’t see that happening. People like to have stuff, you know? While kids might get all swept up in digital stuff at first, I think that’ll end up being just to try stuff out, or if you need something for a plane ride in a hurry or something. People want a tactile experience. They want knickknacks and stuff to put on a book shelf. Nerdy people especially are obsessed with decked out collections, and I don’t see that changing. One hard drive disaster and all your comics are gone? Doesn’t feel much like owning it at all.

    (I know, I know, one fire and all your comics are gone. And there are backups, but keeping up with that is so tedious.)

  • Jamie says:

    “Who would win in a fist fight: Chris Sims or Dave Campbell?”

    The way I see it, the fight would start out pretty evenly matched, but about halfway through Dave would just sort of wander off.

  • FxHx says:

    Wait a minute… Two of your friends met, fell in love, and got married because they knew you? That sounds ADORABLE.

  • Nimbus says:

    @David C. Yeah, I don’t think it’s so much about digital comics destroying the printed version – just reducing the demand. There are folk like myself who are no longer interested in collecting comic books but still want to read the stories. A low cost digital option *might* interest them and, thus, may potentially reduce the number of customers frequenting the comic book stores.

    Whether this is a small or large reduction remains to be seen. Though, in the immediate future (next 5 to 10 years or so), I’d go with small.