Mikester

• The first new Aliens comic in a while is coming from Dark Horse this week, and I’m wondering if it’s been off the shelves long enough to make the heart grow fonder, or for people to simply not care about Aliens comics anymore. My feeling is more the former, if only judging by the positive reaction from several people to the Free Comic Book Day Aliens/Predator flipbook.
• DC Library: Roots of the Swamp Thing hardcover – reprints the first thirteen issues of the original Swamp Thing series, plus the initial installment from House of Secrets #92. This would be the twelfth version of the story from #92 that I would own. Also, I believe this is the first time we’ve had a reprint of issues #11-#13, which are post-Bernie Wrightson’s run, but are the last three issues of co-creator Len Wein’s original run on the title. Those last three issues feature some great Nestor Redondo art, and I hope someday we’ll get a good reprinting of the rest of the issues in this series. Not holding my breath, really.
• Final Crisis Aftermath: Ink #1 – The only one of these Final Crisis follow-ups I’ve really liked so far is Run, though I have to admit that I didn’t much of a chance to do more than glance through Dance which I’m being told is a good’un too. They’ve all been selling reasonably well at the shop so far.
• Glamourpuss #7 – I’m still getting this, I’m still reading it, I’m still not quite sure what to make of it…but it’s still keeping my interest, so there you go.
• Mouse Guard Winter 1152 #6 – Wow, it seemed like this series was red hot for a while there, and now we can barely move any copies. Is everyone just waiting for the eventual trade collection, or was that early heightened interest in the series just being driven by its then-skyrocketing, and much hyped by the collector’s market, back issue prices?
• Ah, at last…the 2nd print of Muppet Show #1 is out this week, so I can finally get my own copy. (I gave up my copy of the first print to a customer, because I’m all selfless and sacrificing like that.) If you didn’t get a chance to see this comic the first time around, give it a peek this time…cartoonist Roger Langridge created a spot-on recreation of the Muppet experience in comics form, and well worth your attention.

  Also, Muppet Robin Hood #1 is coming out this week as well. Looking forward to this one, too.

  Yeah, so I like the Muppets. What of it?

• Stephen King’s The Stand: American Nightmares #3 – Okay, so we’ve had one five-issue mini-series already, and we’re three issues in on this series, and we’re up to, what, page 12 of the novel? I don’t think I’m going to live long enough to see this thing completed.

  Okay, I’m exaggerating a bit…but not much.

• Trinity #52 wraps up DC’s third weekly series, with the next weekly series appearing to be the 12-issue Wednesday Comics. Overall, I’ve…liked the Trinity series, but it’s felt a bit like a quart of story poured into a 20 gallon barrel. I’d read an issue and feel like I’d just read the same story the previous week. Or two. Perhaps a reread is in order once the series is done, just to see if perhaps it holds up a bit more, but I’ve been meaning to reread the previous weeklies, 52 and Countdown, for a while now and I’ve never got around to those. Maybe someday.
• Ultimate Wolverine Vs. Hulk #6 wraps up this way over-delayed mini-series, over three years after it began. I forget who pointed out that in that time, an animated Hulk Vs. Wolverine movie was produced and released, but…yeah, that.

  Anyway, a three year delay between issues of a mini-series is just plain stupid, and inexcusable. But at least the series finished (cough Daredevil: The Target cough). I’m still probably going to continue celebrating “Ultimate Wolverine Vs. Hulk Day” just out of spite.

A brief exchange on the Twitter yesterday, starring pal Dorian, Kevin Church, Mark Hale, Chris Sims, Bully the Little Stuffed Bull, and yours truly:

mikesterling Totally caught a guy switching back issue bags on us. Threw the son of a bitch out. FEAR MY WRATH.

beaucoupkevin Got kicked out of @mikesterling’s shop because I was switching bags on his overpriced Valiant issues. Dick.

mikesterling @BeaucoupKevin: I’ll have you know those issues of Archer & Armstrong are RARE AND HOT.

chaosmonkey @mikesterling: You just wait until Barry Windsor Smith dies! Then you’ll eat your words!

dorianwright I wonder if @mikesterling found those fake ARCHER & ARMSTRONG issues I snuck into inventory?

theisb I hope Kevin gets here with those ARCHER & ARMSTRONG back issues soon. What’s taking him so long?

bullytheLSB: When will @theisb ship me those ARCHER & ARMSTRONG issues I ordered from him?!?

Oh, those cards. Mark gets bonus cool points for referring to this.

So anyway, yeah, we caught some guy just blatantly opening up bagged back issues and swapping the bags around, trying to turn, for example, that $4.00 back issue comic from the ’70s into a 1989 $1.00 comic. (Most of our back issues are marked with year and grade information on the tags, you see.) Once I determined he was doing this deliberately, and not accidentally, I politely invited him to get the hell out…and since everyone at the shop knows who the guy is, that made it a lot easier to let the employees know that he’s totally banned. You know, as in “hey, [CUSTOMER’S NAME] isn’t allowed back in the shop,” rather than “so, that one guy, you know, with the hair…no, not him, that other guy, who bought that one comic….”

It’s a drag, to be sure. I mean, kicking out someone who needs kicking out is fine. He had it coming, so I don’t feel bad about that. But it’s the fact that someone was trying to steal from us…a customer that we knew by name…that’s depressing. Especially over something so trivial as only three or four dollars. It’s not as if any of us are getting rich doing this, and with the economy the way it is, small business is already a struggle without someone trying to nibble away what little profit we’re making.

99% of our customers are great. I love our customers. I’ve watched many of them grow up, get married, have kids…I’ve good relationships with most of them. They share good news with me, I’m a sounding board for their plans or ideas, I’m a sympathetic ear when they’re down, and sometimes I even sell them comics.

So what I’m saying is that our relationship with our customers is, I like to think, a strong and friendly one. And when someone comes in and takes advantage, undermining that relationship by attempting to steal from us…that feels like a betrayal.

I’m taking this too personally, I realize. But it’s hard not to. Part of the problem is thinking of this person as a customer, since he clearly wasn’t.

Anyway, that all sounds like I’m taking this a lot harder than I really am. I’ve done the retail thing for a long time…dealing with shoplifters and other thieves is just part of the job, unfortunately. I try not to let these rare incidents get me down, and remain grateful for the vast majority of my customers who are good, decent people.

…And the customers of mine who also read this site are going to give me all kinds of crap about this post, I just know it. (“So, you looooooove me, Mike?” “No, you’re in that 1% I don’t like.”)

I do like the detail on wall decorations, here…I suppose once Doom starts going face-commando maybe he’d want all the masked representations of himself changed accordingly. I could totally see Doom making his put-upon servants bust out the ladders and the hammers and the chisels to recarve all of these:

…

Anyway, as an apology for inflicting the always-inappropriate term “face-commando” on you, please enjoy this bonus Dr. Doom panel, with a great pose:

images from Fantastic Four #85 (April 1969) & #87 (June 1969) by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby & Joe Sinnott

“…and…go!”

this fantastic Dr. Strange emotive experience brought to you by
Defenders #100 (Oct. ’81) by J.M. DeMatteis, Don Perlin & Joe Sinnott

…when they were both serving in the military during World War II:

However, at no time during the story are the wartime flashbacks ever explicitly described as taking place during World War II. (It is called as such in a cover blurb: “All this and World War II!”) While Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos are known to most Marvel fans as an artifact of WWII, the setting for the flashbacks are only described as “The War.” No countries are named, no enemy insignia are displayed, the enemy soldiers generic (though some seem to have German-esque helmets). There are enough clues (such as the helmet) to still place these flashbacks during WWII, for the longtime fans who still tie Fury to that war, but still non-specific enough to not age Mr. Grimm by tying him to a specific historical setting.

Another clue, perhaps: it looks to me as if “the war” in Fury’s word balloon in this panel is a relettered addition, since those two words seem little outsized compared to the lettering around them. I wonder if that was a replacement for a usage of the term “WWII.”

Anyway, that’s just a bunch of itch-scratching re: Marvel’s continuity. Don’t mind me. …Though I do wonder when DC’s going to follow suit and bump the Justice Society’s WWII origins to a more recent conflict. That‘ll be a trick, I think.

THING LINK, DO YOUR THING: For more Thing action, may I recommend Bully the Little Stuffed Bull’s website, who has been celebrating “365 Days with Ben Grimm” since the beginning of the year? It’s a lovely tribute to Aunt Petunia’s favorite nephew, and well worth checking out.

images from Marvel Two-in-One #77 (July 1981) by Tom DeFalco, Ron Wilson & Chic Stone — man, I do love me some Ron Wilson Thing comics

..from this 1943 DC Comics house ad:

While hiding from the other children because
they keep making fun of your goofy red stockings

While keeping out of the factory

While prepping the demise of your no-good
cheating husband via your “Omelette Surprise”

While you should be paying attention
to that HUGE FREAKIN’ TANK BEHIND YOU
OH GOD LOOK OUT

• Pal Nat was good enough to craft that swell banner from the much-endured Life with Snarky Parker, so I’d thought I’d return the favor and highly recommend a forthcoming project from his publishing company. BEHOLD:
  
  …the Weasel Patrol trade paperback, collecting thirteen wonderfully wacky stories by Ken Macklin and Lela Dowling. It’s very funny, very beautifully cartooned stuff, and I can’t explain it any better than to tell you to head over to the site and download the PDF preview, which contains a full eight-page story. If you decide you want a copy, tell your retailers NOW, since they’ll be placing orders for it this month.

• Shambling into American funnybook stores this week:
  
  Yes, I’m likely getting one. This is the first of this little metal statue magazine thingies that I’ve bought for myself (I’ve previously bought a Spider-Man one for the girlfriend). I’ve been sorely tempted by a few (especially the Galactus one) but I’ve resisted, mostly because once I’ve justified buying one, then the second one becomes a little easier to justify, and then the third, etc. etc. Which of course means I’ll be facing this problem now anyway. (“Say, a Werewolf by Night figure? That’ll go great with the Man-Thing statue!”)

  I’ve talked about these things before…they are neat little packages, which come with a 20-page full-color magazine detailing the character’s history. And now there’s a DC Comics version, but unless they start doing Vertigo characters I may be waiting a while before I get my Swamp Thing metal figurine. (But dig this crazy Gorilla Grodd figure!)

• Pal Cully sent this along, from Fantastic Four #164 by Roy Thomas, George Perez and Joe Sinnott:
  
  Quite the fashion plate, that Johnny. Cully sez “you can shoot me if I ever show up wearing this and it’s not Halloween.” Hell, I’ve had people show up at the shop in bathrobes, in wrestling tights, and there was that one gal who was wearing a top made entirely of electrical tape. Someone dropping in dressed like a disco cowboy would almost be a welcome change.