Just doing a quick early afternoon update since I was too dog-tired to write anything last night by the time I got home:
1. In response to several inquiries about doing something for ’90s comics like I’m currently doing for ’80s comics…well, maybe. Let me get through the ’80s comics first because, as a reminder, I’m on Part Ten and haven’t even finished the books that got single votes yet. This is going to take a while.
I was a little hesitant about doing it again at first, but, eh, why not. But not ’til after I’m done with the ’80s books, so don’t, like, start casting votes now or anything because I’m not going to count them.
2. CalvinPittnoted that when he and a buddy visited my store a while back, I had “talked [his] friend into buying Scooby Apocalypse,” which makes he think a little like maybe his friend thought I pulled one over on him. No, honest, I love Scooby Apocalypse, and I sincerely hold your friend liked it! Please, CalvinPitt, assuage my guilt!
3. Only had two songs in me today, sorry. See you back here on Monday!
Those Church ‘n’ Birdie cats, they pulled a fast one…America’s most beloved comic strip about a comic shop, The Rack, has returned! The cast is reintroduced here, and behold, the first “new look” strip! Characters live, characters die, nothing will ever be the same again!
And now, as part of an ongoing examination of the work of filmmaker Jim Wynorski, here’s an in-depth look at the cinematic classic The Return of Swamp Thing.
I apologize for the brevity of today’s update…it’s been a busy couple of days. Real, actual content should return tomorrow.
Today’s installment of The Rack may be based on true facts that I perhaps made the mistake of relating to the strip’s creators. (In what will barely pass as my defense, I would like to note that I paid little to no attention to the titles of the books, just the volume numbers.)
King Oblivion of the International Society of Supervillains has written a book, Hate You Forever: How to Channel Your Rage into Effective Supervillainy, and has a sample chapter for your evil perusal.
§ September 1st, 2009§ Filed under lunchtime updateComments Off on Mike’s Lunchtime Update 3011.
Okay, I’ve been receiving some comments letting me know that my sidebar Twitter widget has been inexplicably presenting Twitter posts from another user, and I was able to duplicate the error here on the store computer (unsurprisingly, it seems to involve Internet Explorer).
I’ve switched to a different widget, which seems to work okay in both Firefox and IE, so hopefully it will work for you, too. Blogger is taking its sweet time updating the template on ALL my pages, so some archived pages may not feature the updated widget right away, but hopefully it should work at least on the most recent pages.
And as long as I have your attention, here are a couple of links that should have gone into this morning’s post:
Andrew provides a magical new entry in his ongoing study of Nobody’s Favorites.
Dave unleashes another installment of Space Cabby Sundays…if not Dave, then who? Who?
§ July 2nd, 2008§ Filed under lunchtime updateComments Off on Mike’s New Comics Day Lunchtime Update 3010.
Happy Hellboy Day! Our Hellboy promotional material showed up…today, an hour and a half after we opened. To be fair, UPS did try to deliver it Monday, at 7:30 in the morning when we weren’t here, according to the tracking info. (In our defense, nobody is at their stores at 7:30 in the morning anywhere on our block.) And apparently they tried again on Tuesday, though I was here all that day and never saw a UPS truck.
But all is well now, and we’re having a sale on Hellboy books, and we’re giving away bookmarks and posters, and everyone’s happy. The end. (Or…is it?)
Employee from the game store next door, looking at a copy of Superman #75, the “Death of Supes” ish: “Say, is this the issue that came with the memorial armband?”
Me: “Yes, it certainly is.”
Employee Aaron: “Mike, did you wear the Death of Superman memorial armband?”
Me: “Yes, but not on my arm.”
Employee from the game store: “Oh, man.”
Employee Aaron: “Mike, this Echo comic book….”
Me: “Yes?”
Employee Aaron: “You realize it’s about super-boobs, right?”
§ January 16th, 2008§ Filed under lunchtime updateComments Off on Mike’s New Comics Day Lunchtime Update 3009.
1. It occurred to me that more people are going to see that Wonder Woman Playboy cover in one month than will see actual Wonder Woman comics in an entire year. No point to make, really, just an observation.
2. Employee Jeff and I came up with our own take on the current Booster Gold series, where Booster is traveling through time in the DC Universe trying to fix things. Well, let’s say someone way too upset over recent DCU events (like, say, someone from scans_daily) gets hold of a time machine and tries to undo all the “horrible, terrible, contradicts my fan-fic” events…and of course ends up making things much worse. So Booster has to go back and redo all the things that were undone…kill Sue Dibny, steal and destroy Spoiler’s display from the Batcave, beat Jason Todd to death with a crowbar…okay, that last one isn’t that recent, and it’s been kinda undone, but I like the image of Booster doing this.
Employee Jeff and I are bad people.
3. Overhead in the store – someone describing Umbrella Academy to a friend on the phone: “Yeah, it’s this comic written by a guy in this stupid band….”
(NOTE TO THE OVERSENSITVE: I was just amused by the comment, and I have no particular opinion on either the comic or the band in question. Save the indignation.)
4. I suspect we would have received a second printing on Amazing Spider-Man #546 regardless of how it sold. “‘See, getting rid of the marriage in the stupidest way possible was a great idea!’ exclaims Joe Q.”
§ December 19th, 2007§ Filed under lunchtime updateComments Off on Mike’s New Comics Day Lunchtime Update 3008.
1. Employee Aaron (looking at the huge stack of Justice League of America while breaking down the order this morning): “Wow, look at that huge stack of Justice!”
Me: “‘Beware my stack of justice, for I am…Chimneyman!'”
Employee Aaron: “Wow, would Chimneyman’s arch-nemesis be the Chimney Sweep?”
Me: “No, I think the Chimney Sweep would be, like, his partner or assistant. You know, like Alfred is for Batman. His arch-nemesis would be ‘Gas Heating Man’ or something like that.”
Employee Jeff: “Mike, don’t you think you’re maybe too old to be making up stuff like that?”
Me: “I’m too old for a lot of the things I do.”
2. Speaking of that huge stack of Justice League of America, somehow another store’s order got mixed in with our shipment, doubling our JLA order, giving us extra Star Trek: Year Four variants, etc. So I got to box ’em all up and give ’em back to UPS, while also dealing with New Comics Day stuff. Sigh.
3. Out of context quote of the day, courtesy Employee Aaron: “I’m counting World War Hulk right now…I don’t want to think about polygamy!”
4. Ladies, gentlemen, Ian, I now present to you…Employee Jeff as Mario:
Employee Jeff would like you to know that this year-old student film project was a last-second rush job, and please not judge him (or his student film pals) too harshly. EDIT: There’s an unrelated George W. parody at the end of this YouTube clip.
§ November 29th, 2007§ Filed under big red cheese, lunchtime updateComments Off on Mike’s New Comics Day Lunchtime Update 3007.
1. So what’s up with the art in Uncle Sam and the Freedom Fighters #3? There seem to be a quite a few photocopied (or Photoshopped) faces and bodies used repeatedly throughout the issue, particularly with Uncle Sam late in the book. I know it’s a time-saving device and all, but it’s just obvious to the point of distraction this time around.
I’d make some scans, but our store scanner is dead slow and I don’t want this to be a Dinner Update.
2. All Star Batman and Robin #8 is a thing of beauty, and woe betide you if you think otherwise. I love you, All Star Batman and Robin.
3. I looked at the character descriptions on the package backs of the new Shazam! action figure set, and this is what they say about Hoppy the Marvel Bunny and Billy Batson:
“A quiet newsboy by profession, BILLY BATSON was chosen by the wizard SHAZAM! to take on the alter-ego of Captain and protect the world. He’s even more effective when similarly powered HOPPY THE MARVEL BUNNY is by his side.”
I love the fact that this is all the explanation for Hoppy that they give you. Okay, chances are most people buying this will be in their 40s or older and know who Hoppy is, but there’s a possibility someone somewhere is going to be totally baffled by a rabbit in a superhero costume.
This is all somehow Roy Thomas’ fault.
4. Eros Comix’s Blowjob has had 22 issues? Good gravy. Er, so to speak.
5. Employee Aaron: “This comic is very quality!”
Me: “This comic is full of quality!”
Employee Aaron: “This comic couldn’t be more quality!”
Me: “Quality? This comic is soaking in it!”
Employee Aaron: “This comic is oozing quality from every pore!”
Me: “This comic is suffering from quality leakage!”
Employee Aaron: “Er….”
Me: “Too far?”
Employee Aaron: “Quite.”
6. Well, Sensational Spider-Man #41 is out, and it looks like we were all right about what’s gonna happen to Peter, Mary, and Aunt May (and as I first alluded to way back when). ‘Course, there’s one more issue left in this story, which should come out sometime before Christmas ’08, so there could be a last minute twist — we’ll see.
But it’s a moot point, since, according to the last installment, the only comic you should buy was part two, so you’ll never read the rest of the story anyway.
Oh, and a quick glimpse through Death of the New Gods #3 would seem to indicate that my theory about what’s really going on is on the right track. I haven’t actually read the issue yet, but I’m going to interpret the info I gleaned from my quick scan as supporting my argument. It’s my weblog, so there.
§ November 21st, 2007§ Filed under lunchtime updateComments Off on Mike’s New Comics Day Lunchtime Update 3006.
1. Okay, I’ll explain the context of those panels from this morning.
Later.
2. That World War III trade paperback seems awfully flimsy for $17.99. I’ve had grocery lists thicker than this. And while I’m sure DC has economic reasons for that price point, I’ve already had people griping that “it’s reprinting four $2.50 comics…they’re charging us eight bucks for a cover.” Plus, the comic already has a bad rep among the fans, so it’s a hard sell to begin with.
EDIT: Occurred to me on the drive home that the book also includes one of the 52 issues…so it’s $12.50 worth of comics in your $17.99 book, which is slightly better. However, the book’s so painfully thin it still looks like you’re getting rooked.
3. So our discussion this morning about Captain America: The Chosen had us wondering if it’s “in continuity” or on one of Marvel’s apparently vast numbers of parallel Earths. That somehow brought us to wondering about what Marvel’s Earth 911 would be like, and at that point we went into directions better left unsaid.
4. I haven’t had a chance to look in the new issue of Wizard yet, but judging from the employees’ derisive laughter and mockery, it sounds like yet another stellar achievement in comics journalism.
5. Best news of the day: the next hardcover edition of Marvel Zombies will feature a cover based on this issue.
6. Today’s special guest appearance at the shop: pal Ian. I sold him Composite Superman comics and Mad Magazines. He left happy. My job here is done.
7. Boy, my Lunchtime Updates seem to be getting later and later each time. They’re turning into Supper Updates.
§ November 14th, 2007§ Filed under lunchtime updateComments Off on Mike’s New Comics Day Lunchtime Update 3005.
OVERHEARD AT THE SHOP: Which of these three statements, actually overheard at our store, was said by former employee and man-about-town, the world famous Kid Chris?
“If Lost Girls was done by someone who could draw, they’d be arrested.”
“Jack Kirby was the Rob Liefeld of the ’70s.”
“Smallville? That show’s for girls!”
Answer in the comments section for this post later today. Or tomorrow. Whenever.
As I Twitted this morning (and as Carla from our retail neighbors up north also Twitted), we were shorted on our orders for the long-awaited League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier hardcover. We received some copies, but not nearly enough to cover the customer pulls. We were shorted many, many things this week, but we can live with most of those shortages. But this book…feh. Very annoying.
Well, I pulled a copy aside for pal Dorian. Maybe I can crack open his copy and read it. I’m sure he’ll never notice.
And yes, my statement from a couple days ago, that Lombard has been missing from the Superman books for twenty years wasn’t entirely correct. I keep forgetting that he’s in Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely’s All Star Superman. And, speaking of which, Lombard fans, he’s in the newest issue of that book, out today.