Mikester

Blackest Night #6 – aaaaaand that’s pretty much it, aside from a variant Fall of the Hulks Alpha which, frankly, didn’t sell all that great in the first place, so I don’t know that we need a stack of variants, too. Oh, and a couple of freebie items Marvel is putting out…a calendar and a Siege preview thingie.

But Blackest Night #6…Employee Timmy kept giving me grief about not giving up any copies to the employees, and I kept telling him that I was going to recount the box of our copies every night to make sure he didn’t take one, because I am cruel and heartless. But by golly, I kept to that street date even if some retailers out there didn’t, thus ensuring that Diamond never attempts street dates ever again. Because, you know, it would have been nice to get the new books a few days early on a regular basis so we could break down the orders, get replacements for any damages or missing items before we had to sell them (instead of asking people to come back next week for anything that needed replacing), pull comic savers, what have you. I suppose, though, some funnybook sellers would rather get that extra $3.99 in their pockets a week early, instead of using the promise of that specific in-demand and popular comic to get customers back in the shop during what could be a dead week. But what do I know?

Anyway, we’re also having a week-long graphic novel sale, and those always do well for us. And not having new comics or comic savers to deal with will give us time to catch up on some back issue processing and mail order and, oh, helping the occasional customer, I guess.

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By the way, not that this has anything to do with anything, but I was just reminded right now…next year will be the 30th anniversary of the shop. How ’bout that.

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In other news:

• Andrew pulls out another Nobody’s Favorite from the history of comics, and it’s…no…no! Not him! I thought this guy was pretty cool, even with that costume.
• I’ve been behind on my internetting lately, so thankfully Pal Cully pointed me in the direction of this new Rick Veitch Swamp Thing commission, which is one third of a triptych that he’ll be revealing over the next few days. Looks good so far!
• Customer Andres has started up his new weblog Pibegardel’s Miracle Machine, and he’s writin’ about some classic Legion of Super-Heroes comics, so go check it out!
• And now, for no good reason, a brief snippet of Superpup:
  
  I’ve seen the full pilot, quite some time ago…believe it or not, it’s not quite as bad as you might think. Lord knows I’ve seen worse. I mean, those Tom and Jerry cartoons where they’re friends? Talk about your abominations.

On the Wednesday before Christmas, pal Sean dropped by the store and we exchanged Christmas gifts. Usually we open our gifts right then and there, because we’re adults and we’ll completely spoil Christmas for ourselves by opening presents early. Delayed gratification is for chumps. But this time, Sean told me that I had to wait until I saw pal Dorian before I could open the small box he handed me.

So when I saw pal Dorian on Christmas Eve for our gift exchange, he handed me this heavy ol’ present with the world’s largest ribbon and bade me to open it. And inside was, as the title of this post may have given away, an Xbox 360 gaming system. Needless to say, I was blown away by the generosity of the gift…I know Dor had floated the idea several months ago of taking up a collection to get one of these for me, since this is exactly the kind of thing I’d love to have but could never justify the expense. And to be honest, I’d completely forgotten that he’d made that suggestion, so I was genuinely surprised when I unwrapped the present.

And in pal Sean’s box was a 12-month Gold membership for the online Xbox stuff, packaged with a small keyboard that attaches to the controller, plus a headset. So, yeah, that would have given away the surprise a bit had I opened it early. (Sean also kicked down a spare Xbox wireless connector he happened to have, which saved me, what, $70? $100? That was most kind.)

Anyway, I wanted to express my thanks here to Dorian, who is a wonderful friend and a swell guy. And to Sean, who’s been a cheerfully energetic presence in my life for many years. And to employees Aaron and Timmy, who also contributed and, I guess, I have to be nice to them now.

And to a bunch of guys who also contributed that I’ve never even met, aside from maybe speaking to some of them on the phone once or twice, and yet through our extensive online interactions over the last few years I still feel they’re real pals: Kevin, Chris, Ken, Andrew, Benjamin, and Josh. Well, okay, I’ve actually met Josh, but I got along with him swimmingly, and I’m going to assume that experience would be shared with any theoretical real world interaction with the rest of those folks.

I suspect the ulterior motive for these guys to get me an Xbox is to have the opportunity to shoot me in the face during a group session of Grand Theft Auto. But, hey, that’s what friends are for, right?

Thanks, guys. I was really touched by the gift. You’re all a bunch of swell cats.

And because you’re gonna ask: my gamertag is MikesterJr. Not doing any online gaming just yet, since I’m not yet accustomed to a video game system that isn’t the Atari 2600, but I’ll get to it eventually. But I have to tell you…streaming Netflix is a little bit like Heaven.

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I should also note that a Secret Santa out there sent me a copy of the Watchmen: Ultimate Cut DVD set that I discussed last week. No card inside, no e-mail, no nuthin’ telling me who sent it my way. Just showed up Christmas Eve and I was totally surprised. That really wasn’t the intention of that post of mine (mostly I was just commenting on apparent DVD sales, and hoping maybe to get some sales referrals on Amazon). But to whoever sent that to me…thanks! Very much appreciated.

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Okay, so this isn’t all just “Mike got awesome stuff for Christmas,” here’s some comics content:

First, I’m a little behind on my funnybook reading due to my pre-Christmas shopping panic, so it took Employee Timmy to point out a DC Universe cameo appearance of Swamp Thing in the latest issue of Action Comics (#884):

That I didn’t get a bunch of e-mails telling me about it over the last couple of weeks sort of indicates to me that no one is reading it. Or none of my readers are reading it. Or everyone just assumed my Swamp Thing sense picked it up already, which, admittedly, is usually pretty good about this sort of thing.

Second, in another Employee Timmy-related incident, Timmy was asking me about time-traveling Jonah Hex stories (well, specifically, stories where Batman is working side-by-side with Hex, but expanded to time-travel Hex stories in general), and I mentioned DC Challenge:

Briefly, DC Challenge was a mini-series where randomly assigned creative teams would set up puzzles and cliffhangers in each issue to be solved or elaborated upon by the following creative team in the next issue. It was a convoluted bunch of nonsense, but entertaining nonsense with interesting art teams (Curt Swan and Terry Austin! Gil Kane and Klaus Janson!) and an amusing mix of characters (B’wana Beast and Congorilla turn up in early issues). It was a fun series, and sadly mostly forgotten.

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I’m only joking about quitting this site, by the way. But I bet there may be a night or two where my posting may be a bit…light, due to Xboxing. I’ll try not to let that happen, though. However, if only I can get by on two hours of sleep a night, then maybe I can catch up on everything.

Images from Action Comics #884 (Feb. 2010) by James Robinson & Cafu, DC Challenge #2 (Dec. 1985) by Len Wein, Chuck Patton & Mike DeCarlo

…he only signs his first name on store receipts:

That’s from the animated Batman episode “Holiday Knights,” adapting most of the stories from this Batman Adventures special. It’s a nicely paced episode, squeezing four stories and multiple villains into a 20+ minute runtime without making it feel cramped, and with enough clever storytelling to avoid making it feel like just a bunch of fight scenes.

This is also the episode that introduces 1) the new, younger Robin (who gets his origin told in the next episode in sequence) and 2) the somewhat simpler and more streamlined character designs. Most drastically changed is the Joker, who now has pitch-black eyes and is quite a bit more creepy:

Though admittedly, he was quite creepy before the redesign, but at least there was some semblance of recognizable humanity in his face. Demented, evil humanity, but still a human being. This redesign…man, that’s just all monster, there.

from How Sluggo Survives (1989)

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.

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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.

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.

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:

• Angel Annual #1 & Angel: Only Human #5 – Is it just me, or are there suddenly more Angel comics than the market can really bear right now? At the very least, I’d like to see an end to comic adaptations of the television episodes since the target audience probably already owns them on DVD and the comic versions just feel a bit like grabbing that audience’s money just because they can. Or maybe those fans are clamoring for comic adaptations for episodes, so what do I know?
• Archie #604 – It seemed for a while that interest was going to dip in this “Archie Marries Anything with A Pulse” series of stories, once people finally caught on it was an “imaginary” story presenting possible futures for the red-haired boy and his lady pals. However, sales did go back up, and I’ve had to place reorders a number of times for some installments. Part 3 seems to keep selling out, for some reason.
• Bart Simpson Comics #51 – After last issue’s tour de farce (hey, get it, get it? You see what I did there?) featuring cover-to-cover Sergio Aragones, this issue features Sergio on his regular short feature “Maggie’s Crib,” with other creators filling out the rest of the book. The Simpsons comics tend to be pretty solid, so don’t let less Sergio scare you off from trying the book.
• Black Widow and the Marvel Girls #2 – Talking with pal Dorian about this the other day…that Marvel is apparently putting out a lot of Black Widow comics right now so that they’ll have Black Widow trade paperbacks available for sale to tie into the character’s appearance in the Iron Man 2 movie. We both noted that we’re not seeing enough emphasis on War Machine, since it’s that character’s appearance in the trailer people seem to be getting excited about.
• Captain America Reborn: Who Will Wield The Shield one-shot – I haven’t been keeping up…isn’t this spinning out of the last issue of the Captain America: Reborn mini? The as-yet-unreleased issue?
• Ender’s Game: Command School #4 and Ender’s Shadow: Command School #4 – not sure why we needed two concurrently-running Ender’s Game comics, but there they are.
• Hellboy: Bride of Hell one-shot – drawn by Richard Corben. Man, I do love Corben’s Hellboy art.
• Image United #2 – I mentioned on the Twitter that the first issue of this series didn’t do so hot for us, which resulted in a really defensive response from Image Fan #1 telling me the comic did great, it sold 50,000 copies, so in conclusion, shut up. Well, yeah, I’m sure Image printed 50,000 copies and sold them to stores. And I’m sure some stores did gangbusters on them. But our store, and a few other stores I’ve been in contact with…yeah, they just kinda sat there. The “bonus variant extra whatever” cover by Jim Lee was the variant cover that sold the best. Even the Spawn cover and the Witchblade cover barely moved any copies. That the Shadowhawk cover didn’t move one copy at all came as little surprise.

  I mean, nothing against the comic. I like the idea of it, with the Image creators each contributing the artwork for their own characters in this crossover. Kudos to them on the amount of work and planning that went into making this possible. Just…well, no one’s terribly interested in it in our neck of the woods. Hey, sorry, not everything can be a hit.

• Iron Man Vs. Whiplash #2 – Guys, I’m telling you, Whiplashmania is going to hit our country like never before once people see him in the Iron Man sequel. Men will tremble, women will faint, and anyone left standing will be pounding on our doors insisting on every single copy of every Whiplash appearance be presented to them immediately.

  …Okay, I shouldn’t joke, because I can guarantee there’s this one guy who comes to our shop who will start asking for Whiplash appearances once the movie is a little closer to opening.

• Punishermax #1 2nd printing – This comic is really taking off, and it really is good. Hope a 2nd printing of #2 is coming soon, because we can sure use those, too. Hey, for once Marvel’s 2nd printings are coming in handy.
• Wall-E #1 – Sure, #0 was depressing, but it was a cute depressing, and I suppose I’ll be back for this issue.

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.