Taking a bit of a break from blogging today…
…but here’s a Howard the Duck button Employee Aaron made for me recently:
…but here’s a Howard the Duck button Employee Aaron made for me recently:
(EDIT: I’ve since been informed by a person in a position to know that actual sales on Death Draws Five were probably closer to about 1,500 copies. Still, not a whole lot of copies out there!)
Copies are priced at about a hundred bucks on Amazon, but there’s a much-cheaper Kindle versionout there for those of you inclined towards Kindling.
Related: hey, current Wild Cards rights holders – let Zack Soto put together a Wild Cards comics anthology, why don’t you?
So here’s a thing that slipped past me: I was looking at our invoice for this week’s comics shipment, and noticed that Spawn #202 was on the list. “That’s funny,” I thought. “Didn’t #201 just come out a week or so ago?” And to the cycle sheets I went, and, yes…in just over a month, #200, #201, and #202 have (or are just about to) come out.
That’s not the thing that slipped past me. This is the thing that slipped past me…seeing on the cycle sheets that during 2010, only four issues of the regular Spawn series were released. And the reason that slipped by me is that…nobody complained. Not a single “when’s Spawn coming out?” that I can recall. Now, I know we have people who buy it at our shop…we don’t sell a lot of copies, not like in its heyday when it seemed like everyone was walkin’ up to the register with a Spawn in one hand, a Wizard in the other, and a copy of any given Valiant Comics title in their third hand. But we pretty consistently sell low but steady numbers on the book (with the extree-sized #200 moving about another 40% more copies than normal).
But it seems strange to me that a title that was once so prominent could fall out of notice, that it could be running so late and not attract my attention, or any customer complaints, by doing so.
On the other hand, I’m also not getting any complaints about the lateness of Image United, the “jam” book featuring most of the original Image artists, only because if this had come out on time, I’m pretty sure most everybody would have died from shock.
In other recent funnybook news, people sure have been commenting on the cover to Legion of Super-Heroes Annual #1 at our shop:
Something I’ve been getting a lot of requests for in the last week or two is Weird Worlds #1, the premiere issue of DC’s new sci-fi/horror anthology. And I’m suspecting it has something to do with this: here is the cover to #1:
Of course, it’s not unusual for people to ask for copies of the first issue because they didn’t notice something was out ’til they saw the second issue. Happens all the time. But it seems to be happening a lot more with Weird Worlds.
And because folks have been asking: yes, I’ve read Aaron Lopestri’s “Garbageman” serial in these first two issues of Weird Worlds, which is very much in the vein of the “man becomes monster in accident, seeks to regain humanity” genre that Swamp Thing belongs to. And it’s fine…I liked Lopestri when he worked on that other title in this genre, Sludge, and while there’s not a whole lot new here, “Garbageman” is still entertaining.
However, it does have me wonder when DC will just put out a Swamp Thing comic, already. They keep trying to fill that niche with comics like “Garbageman” and that Solomon Grundy mini, but, man, I wish they’d quit dancing around Swampy and just throw him out there, already. Okay, I know word on the street is that he’s involved in this whole Brightest Day event hoohar, but we’ll see what happens.
…And that was my “I Demand That a Certain Comic Book Publisher Bend to My Will and Bring Back My Favorite Character” whiny complaint for the day. Hope you enjoyed it.
I wonder what Swamp Thing and his animal pals are talking about in the above drawing? “And…when…you die, I…shall absorb your corpse…into my body…and feed from…its nutrients.” “YAY SWAMPY! You’re the best!”
And then there was that time that Mike went to the “and then there was that time” well again only because he was having trouble coming up with an intro for this month’s End of Civilization. Grab your copy of Diamond Previews, February 2011 edition, and follow along, if, you know, you feel like it. Also, I apologize in advance for the 30+ years out of date Green Lantern joke.
p. 13 – MegaCon advertisement:
p. 55 – Al Capp’s Complete Shmoo Volume 2:
p. 134 – Two-Face 1:2 Scale Bust:
p. 153 – Jericho #6:
“Yup, it certainly is one.”
p. 164 – Recycle Michael:
p. 183 – Marijuanaman HC:
“A new hero for our times – from the fertile imagination of music superstar Ziggy Marley.” […] “We guarantee: this is not the comic you think it is!”
Pretty sure I’m going to be fielding plenty of questions and “funny” comments from customers who think this is the comic y’all are claiming this isn’t.
p. 210-211 – Wizard #237 & ToyFare #166:
p. 224 – Canadian Legion GN:
(PLEASE NOTE: My knowledge of Canada is limited exclusively to SCTV. My apologies to my Canadian readers. Those of you who can read.)
(I’M SO VERY SORRY about that “reading” bit. Employee Aaron made me say it.)
p. 228 – Mega Man #1:
p. 231-239 – Aspen listings:
p. 247 – Female Force Kathy Griffin:
p. 291 – My Complete Martian The Complete Series Volume 1 HC:
p. 331 – Comic Con Episode IV: A Fan’s Hope HC:
p. 333 – The Green Lantern Kit:
p. 334 – The Steampunk Bible:
p. 336 – The Meowmorphosis:
p. 337 – Confessions of the Hundred Hottest Porn Stars SC:
“You know what I hate? Airline food! Yeah, that’s right, I said it.”
“Sometimes I don’t want to go to work and just want to stay out of bed all day.”
p. 338 – Star Wars The Clone Wars – A Jedi Adventure in 3-D:
p. 368 – Sanchez and Friends Plushes:
p. 383 – Angry Bird Plushes:
p. 403 – Star Wars “In Your Pocket” Limited Edition Pocket Keychain:
p. 409 – Green Lantern Keychains:
p. 421 – Double Dice Sets:
Marvel Previews p. 29 – The Mighty Thor #1:
Of course, if this turns out to be some elaborate plot stunt by Kevin and Birdie, I’ll strangle the both of ’em.
For another strip in the same “universe” as The Rack, Mr. Church and Paul Salvi present The Line.
…barring some kind of ear damage or loss in a koon-ut-kal-if-fee ritual, of course: