pal plugging

So here’s a comic I’ve been trying to track down for a while.

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I talked before about how I’m not really looking for any more old comics for my collection, outside of an issue of Dog Boy or two, or ’60s and ’70s fanzines. I mean, sure, if something cool comes along I might snap it up for myself, but by and large there’s not a whole lot of specific back issues I’m actively looking for. This comic I acquired a few months back, for example, was the big one, a comic I’d spent years trying to find.

But there is this one comic that I’d been half-interested in buying, one featuring the debut of a character that’s appeared on and off over the decades, that I’d never seen in the shop in all the time I’ve worked here. I’ve always liked its quite striking cover, however, since I first saw it in a long-ago issue of Amazing Heroes, and decided then I’d buy a copy should I ever get the opportunity.

And then, this weekend, there it was in a collection (the same collection where I found the comic with this page, in fact):


Showcase #79, December 1968, featuring the debut of Dolphin as written and illustrated by her creator, J. Scott Pike.

Now I suppose I could have gone online and bought a copy from someone, but it’s not something I was absolutely going crazy from not owning…I just figured that sooner or later, a copy would come by the shop, and hopefully it would be in halfway decent shape (i.e. Dolphin didn’t have a mustache drawn on her). As it turns out, it was far more “later” than “sooner,” but, hey, good enough. And now I own a copy of this comic, and the cover looks just as great in real life as it did in that magazine article and on comic cover gallery websites.

Also in the comic is a reprint of the first appearance of Aqualad, and a one-page text piece explaining the idea of fanzines as well as promoting a couple…which is certainly an added bonus for me, given my appreciation for ‘zines.

In conclusion: just what I needed, another comic…but it is always nice to finally find that one elusive item you’ve been searching for, the long itch that finally gets scratched.

• • •

In other news:

Here are some folks who, unlike me, are doing interesting things.

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  • So close personal friend Chris Sims has created a new comic with some pals of his, in that digital format that’s all the rage with the young people these days. It’s Subatomic Party Girls, costing you only a mere 99 cents. If you don’t want to make such a large investment sight unseen, then check out the promo Tumblr.

  • Pal Andrew’s latest Nobody’s Favorites entry is about a character that first encountered as a young Mikester, and hadn’t quite yet grasped the whole multiverse thing that was the required backstory for this characters’s raison d’être.

  • Pal Dave talks about magically appearing bras, and offers an intriguing alternative. May be slightly not safe for work, unless you work at Bras A’Plenty at the mall.

  • Bully, the Little Scientific Bull, brings you SCIENCE!

“Oh, the fluids I’ve seen.”

filed under Categories free comic book day, pal plugging, retailing 12 Comments

So there were a couple of questions/comments/whatevers for my last post regarding Free Comic Book Day, and I thought I’d address them here, since I was apparently too lazy to actually respond in the comments section:

  • Snark Shark sez that my new strategy of de-emphasizing pre-bagged distribution of the FCBD books would “save [me] all that needless bagging!” Honestly, I wouldn’t say it was “needless,” as such…there is a measure of convenience to the customer, yes, but there is also the unfortunate fact that…well, how should I put this? You know how cable companies resist the idea of à la carte subscriptions, picking and choosing what channels you’d want and pay for? To steal the explanation from Wikipedia, “when channels are bundled into large subscription tiers, less popular niche channels are more likely to survive because their cost is borne by both viewers and non-viewers, alike.” In other words, if given the opportunity to pick and choose, subscribers would probably overwhelmingly support the Wrestling Bikini Girls Channel, or the Paranormal Horseshit Passed Off As Something Worthwhile Channel, while less popular channels like the Something Actually Educational Channel would wither away and die.

    So what I’m saying is that by slapping together bags of the freebie books, I’m distributing certain comics to people who, possibly, may not have picked the book up on their own. And half the battle to get folks to even look at certain comics is won just by getting them to take the darned thing home with them. Thus, it’s not completely needless…but it is a lot of work, and it does get rid of a lot of comics maybe a little too quickly. I’m interested to see how our new emphasis on “build yer own FCBD bag” distribution will go.

  • Casey notes “Mike, it seems you get quite a kick out of this FCBD business,” and, yeah, I do. It’s a lot of work, a lot of money up front, and a lot of frustration hearing about other retailers totally fouling it up…but the actual day of the event is a blast, always very busy and it’s a lot of fun chatting about comics with excited people all day. Plus, I get to write obsessively long blog posts about the behind-the-scenes planning, and you folks know I always enjoy writing obsessively long blog posts!

  • The amazingly-named ScienceGiant asks “if you did have to make a purchase what would be your age appropriate recommendation for an 8 year old? (Daughter, if relevant).”

    Well, that can be tough, because you never know what kids will want. I think it was on the Twitter where I noted that a while back I had a couple of young girls, probably 8 to 10, come into the shop and buy a bunch of Hulk comics…this was before the Avengers movie, if you wondering. So, you never know.

    If your local shop has ’em, Amelia Rules is a good one to try, or that perennial favorite Bone. Also, Ptor mentions a comment or two later that Owly is a good’un, too. If she’s looking for superhero-y stuff (or if that’s all that’s available locally), point her at the (unfortunately now cancelled) Superman Family Adventures, or back issues of Teen Titans Go. The rereleased Smurfs books are a lot of fun, too. Be sure to tell her those are better than the movie.

    This actually came up on Sunday, when I had a dad looking for comics for his 7-year-old daughter, who wanted Wonder Woman. There aren’t any current Wonder Woman comics that any parent would be comfortable giving his or her child, so I had to dig back into the back issue bins to find some issues of Adventures in the DC Universe, and some 1980s pre-Crisis Wonder Woman. I would have pulled out some of the Justice League comics based on the animated series, too, had it come to that.

    Or you can have her just look at the new comic rack and see what catches her eye. Kids being kids, she’ll probably gravitate to the absolute last thing you’d want her reading, but some trial and error will narrow things down to something she’d like.

  • Snark Shark returns with “what would be appropriate for an obnoxious 40 year old?” and boy, the jokes just log-jammed in my head, there. Everything from “a swift kick in the pants” to “[WRITER’S NAME REDACTED] has a new comic out this Wednesday!” to “just spin around a few times in the middle of the shop with your eyes closed and your arm pointing out, and see what you’re pointing at when you stop.”

  • The previously mentioned Ptor explained “I’m just a customer helping out a fellow while I shop and look for a nice place to pee on your floor (which seems to be a thing).” And yes it was, once, long ago, when a child probably old enough to know better decided to answer the call of nature right on the floor in front of the new comics…this was a couple of shops ago, so there is no Memorial Urine Stain in the current storefront at which anyone may pay homage.

    But anyway, the topic came up on Twitter the other night, as it does, and pal Carla up there at Metro Entertainment topped my story with her tale of woe of an encounter with a young lad in the process of twining the turkey and meeting the press. Frankly, I’ll take pee any day, he said expecting that sentence in no way to be taken out of context.

• • •

In other news…Bully, the Bull That Is Simultaneously Stuffed and Little, did another one of his fantastic Ten of a Kind posts, focusing on those classic Go-Go Checks covers…and I helped a wee bit! Go for the covers, stay for the always-swell commentary!

I said “Kryptonian elements” because I think I’m funny.

filed under Categories pal casie, pal plugging, sir-links-a-lot, superman 6 Comments


Another swell drawing by pal Casie, who is, perhaps, speculating on the next revamp of the Batman movie franchise featuring those two lovable scamps. (To see other pics by Casie featured on this site, just click the newly-created “pal casie” tag! Or follow her on the Twitters to see ’em as she draws ’em!)

In other news:

  • There’s a new trailer for Man of Steel out, and it certainly looks promising, but we’ll see. It’s apparently sparked some debate about revisiting Superman’s origin yet again, but 1) from the trailers it looks like Supes’ origin, both the Smallville and Kryptonian elements, will be thematically important to the film as a whole and not just something to plow through to get to the action, and 2) it’s the first film in a potential franchise, not just for Superman but seemingly for DC heroes as a whole, so a little world-building from scratch is likely needed. Oh, and 3) it probably doesn’t hurt to remind folks who aren’t immersed in the mythology what the Superman story is all about.

    I seem to recall arguing before on this site, years ago, that you really didn’t need to retell Superman’s origin since everyone pretty much knew it, and getting plenty of arguments in the comments section against that position. Clearly it depends on the kind of story you’re trying to tell, in what context, and in the case of Man of Steel, where it’s the (hopeful) start of a new series, and it’s been a while since the last film (itself an odd cousin of the Christopher Reeve cycle of films), and the origin appears to be important to the overall plot, retelling that origin seems necessary. So, okay, I may have been wrong about the origin thing, in that post way back when. I’m allowed to be wrong about once or twice a decade.

    I also just joked on Twitter that they should go the super-decompressed route in retelling Superman’s origin, and devote the entire first movie to a science drama about Jor-El investigating Krypton-quakes, which just goes to show there’s no debate to which I can’t contribute nothing of any real use.

  • Pal Dorian is back to reviewin’ Doctor Who, as is pal Dave, and they’re both smart guys with intelligent things to say about a show I’m watching, and if you’re watching that show too, maybe check them out.

  • Hey, you guys remember Ken Lowery, right? The guy I allowed to help me with writing Write More Good by, you know, fetching me coffee and stuff? Well, that boy’s got himself one of those fancypants Kickstarters to help him and his pal Robert Wilson IV fund a new one-shot comic. I contributed to the cause, and maybe some of you can help my pal out, too.

  • Speaking of helping, I was more than happy to assist pal Andrew with his latest installment of Nobody’s Favorites, even if all I did was shove a comic into an envelope and let the gentle hands of the post office bear it aloft to Woburn.

  • Bully, the Little Stuffed Bull Who Has Been Rebooted into a Stuffed Little Bull, gives those “WTF Certified” covers from DC Comics the ol’ what-for and shows everyone what “WTF” really means.

  • And lastly, on a more serious note…my best wishes to the people of Boston.

Try to focus on the cool rapper guy, and not on the hideously misshapen old guy standing next to him.

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So here’s a pic of me ‘n’ Euge AKA Adam Warrock from just before his performance at the store last night:


And here he is in the midst of performing:


A fun time was had by all, Euge put on a great show, the neighbors didn’t complain, the police didn’t show up, and we’re looking forward to having him back again next time he’s in the area. And a special thanks to customer Rich for the loaner of his PA system for the show.

Actually, speaking of the police showing up…I actually had to go to the store yesterday morning at about 5:30 AM because of yet another alarm notification. That meant zipping off to the shop and wondering during the entire drive there if Euge was going to have to perform in front of a giant piece of wood that would be in place of the plate glass window that was busted open by burglars. Thankfully, if annoyingly, something just happened to fall over in the back room and trip a motion detector, so there wasn’t a break-in.

It was a crummy way to start off the day, if admittedly not as crummy as it could have been, but the day certainly ended in fine form, with a great Adam Warrock show. If he happens to be performing in your area, try to make time and check him out. Even if you think you don’t care for the rapping…I think Euge will win you over with his charm and good humor.

Again, a big thanks to Euge for dropping by, and be sure to visit his site for free music and videos.

My two cents’ worth, times two.

filed under Categories blogging about blogging is a sin, cartoons, pal plugging, retailing 3 Comments

So I had a fellow bring by a couple of comics he wanted to sell…an issue of Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (1960s series) and a copy of Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos, both of which had these taped to the front covers:


As it turns out, these comics were stored in such a way that the tape essentially dried out, and with only minimal effort these additions came right off, leaving behind only minor discoloration where the tape had once adhered to the paper. And while I offered the customer many times that long ago asking price of two cents apiece, it still wasn’t a whole lot, since the comics otherwise were in what we like to call “previously well-loved condition,” and the customer opted to hang onto them. He did thank me for taking those tags off the covers, and now, here they are, for you to enjoy.

Also, please don’t tape things directly to your comics. Unless you’re going to bring them to me and I can show them on my site and say “look what this person did to his or her comic…can you believe it?”

• • •

In my End of Civilization post from a few days ago, I noted the existence of the Batman and Robin action figures done in the style of Aardman Animation and how I was baffled that such a thing would even exist. Now…well, it is sort of amazing that such a thing is in the world, these Bat-Aardman figures, but I honestly hadn’t realized there are actual animated shorts by Aardman featuring these characters. A quick Googling reveals that this is hardly news to anyone except me, since I 1) cancelled my cable long ago and thus haven’t seen this DC Nation thing, 2) don’t read comic websites aside from my own, because I’m so amazing and perhaps somewhat self-aggrandizing, and 3) don’t really have a third thing. In short, that these animated shorts passed me by is just One of Those Things, I Guess, and since I do enjoy Aardman’s output, I should track ’em down someday.

But honestly:


…this is a thing that is real. Just look at it. …Look at it.

• • •

Normally, I’d just delete spam comments, but this is a comment in French extolling the virtues of hentai, so I just left it after editing out the website address because it made me laugh. YOU WIN, SPAMMERS.

• • •

So I discovered (or, given my usual track record for such things, “found out long after everyone else” — see earlier this post) that our funnybook distributor Diamond Comics apparently has a Twitter account.

Huh. Well. …I mean, I’d happily run that account for them, for, you know, the occasional drop shipment of some coin of the realm, but, well, there might be a conflict of interest there for me.

• • •

In other news, pal and fellow Bureau Chief Euge, AKA ADAM WARROCK, will be performing at our shop in a couple of weeks! This will soon increase the number of Internet pals I’ve met and touched in person by one! PREPARE TO BE TOUCHED, EUGE.

To whom does this mysterious torso belong?

filed under Categories low content mode, pal plugging 6 Comments

WHO INDEED?


I suppose those of you who have not yet transcended desktop or laptop computing could just hover your pointer-mouse-thingie over the image and see the URL that’s linked there, but what’s the fun in that? Don’t ask, just click it and enjoy a swell pic by Jon Wolter.

A little bully, a lot of swamp.

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Starting off Year Ten with a short ‘n’ lazy links post.

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Hey, I’ve been busy, what can I tell you:

  • Tony Isabella has a few supplementary stories of his own to go along with the recently-released Marvel Comics: The Untold Story, and you can read them in these three blog posts: a one, and a two, and a three.

  • I’m a bit late to send folks to pal Andres’ Kickstarter page, as he’s already reached his funding goal, but go there anyway and check out previews for his forthcoming graphic novel Pariah, MO.

  • Pals Dorian and Ken take on the new movie trailers in this month’s installment of “In A World.”

Also if you see him there, ask Dorian what he wants for Christmas, because I have no idea.

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  • Bully brings you the Comic News for November 25th, 2012.

  • Pal Dorian is going to be a panelist at Bent-Con this coming Saturday, discussing the topic “Understanding the Gay Fanboy (and Fangirl!).” If you see him there, be sure to say hello!

  • Tangognat reads Amethyst comics, old and new. …It seems weird to have Amethyst, of all comics, in a black and white format, but…well, I’ll let Tangognat tell you how she feels about that.

  • I saw my old pal Fred Noland for the first time in quite a long while this past weekend, and that reminded me that it’s been a bit since I sent you to his site to enjoy his excellent illustration work. Be sure to check out the comics he has available for sale in his store…I recommend everything.