So it is once again Black Friday, that one big sales day of the year where the giant retailers sell, oh, I don’t know, 75-inch LED flat screens for a dollar and a trashcan full of Blu-rays for 50 cents (one flat screen and one bucket per customer, please) and little Mom ‘n’ Pop ‘n’ Nerd stores like our own watch tumbleweeds bounce down the empty streets while everyone is at Best*Mart or Walfry’s or wherever, waiting for that time late in December when people have finally devoured everything at the malls and their search patterns spiral out in the forbidden countries, where live stores that only exist in that one spot and not franchised across this great land of ours.
Er, okay, it’s not as bad as all that. We have a big sale all weekend, and our sales usually do pretty well, so I’m not too worried about that. But it does seem the focus is on giving money to the big guys, while the little guys gotta wait their turn, and…you know, I can dig it. In this economy, you’ve got to grab the deals where you can and stretch your dollars as best you’re able, so I completely understand. However, don’t forget your pals in the outlands away from the malls and the big-box stores…we’ve got some deals too, maybe, so after you get your two X-Station 180s for the price of one, drop by the shop and buy a graphic novel…for BIG BIG SAVINGS.
Also, come by and see my head full of totally naturally brown and not dyed at all hair turn grey again. That’ll probably be fun.
• • •
Speaking of my accelerating decline into decrepitude: I’ve been processing a pretty sizable amount of underground comix at the shop over the last few days…a collection that included several issues of Vaughn Bodé’s
Junkwaffel. And every time I see issues of Vaughn Bodé’s
Junkwaffel I think the exact same thing: “hmmm, I need to buy these for my own collection.” Which, of course, I did when I looked at the copies in this particular assortment I was working on.
Well, going through a box in the Vast Mikester Comic Archive, what did I find?
A run of recent printings of
Junkwaffel issues 1 through 4, so I already have them. BONUS: I talked about them
on this very site back in ’04. …Well, like they say, memory’s the second thing to go, right after breakdancing skills.
However, I am reasonably certain I don’t have the magazine-sized fifth issue, which is also in this collection, so perhaps I’ll be getting a copy of Junkwaffel out of this after all.
(CUT TO two weeks later:
“Oh, man, I already have six of these!”
throws Junkwaffel #5 into the extras box)
…even though I hate talking about things that I’ve already read and maybe other people haven’t read — well, not old things that people haven’t read that I have, since the likelihood of any of you out there just randomly having a copy of, say, Star-Studded Comics from the 1940s, and you’re all “oh boy, I can’t wait to read this issue of Star-Studded Comics, but first I shall check the Comics Internet for the latest news and besides, it’s not as if some inconsiderate blogger out there will spoil my forthcoming reading enjoyment,” and suddenly here I am, posting this story, causing you to fall to your knees and cry out “Dipsy Doodle, nooooooooo!!! Why, Mike Sterling, whyyyyyy,” as I laugh maniacally behind my computer — no, I talking about my preference to avoid talking about spoiling current events in comics that have only been out for a day or two, since not every single person on the planet rushes into their comic book store on New Comics Day to grab the new releases, assuming they are going to comic shops and grabbing the new releases, or at least purchasing them through legitimate online outlets, and not just being cheap bastards and torrenting them for free, but regardless of how folks get the new funnybooks, if they’re also the type of people who get their comic news online chances are they’ve already seen press releases about the big news I want to talk about but even if I do discuss it on my site, even behind big SPOILER! warnings there’s always someone who says “whoa, dude, you spoiled it for me” even though as online pal Caleb has pointed out to me, even mentioning the fact that people were emailing me about the latest issue of Brightest Day is kind of spilling the beans in and of itself, and as Caleb says, it’s not like they’re writing to me to say that Sluggo appears in that issue after all, but just the same I’d feel kind of funny just coming right out and discussing it the day after the comic came out even if plenty of people have already put in their two cents and besides I haven’t quite figured out what I want to say about it so instead I thought I’d vamp a bit to give me a little more time to ponder the matter…could you tell?
In short: yes, I’m glad the character is back. I’m also looking forward to his interaction with the rest of the DC Universe, after being away for so long. That should be an interesting novelty in and of itself, and given the nature of this return, it brings sort of an extra bit of meaning to the last sentence of this post of mine from a couple of weeks ago.
Also, I knew I should have been picking up that new Green Arrow series from the beginning. Ah, well…took home ten issues of it last night. Yes, just because of its connection to the returning character. As the saying goes, we’re all fanboys about something.
• • •
In other news that’s
not insane: oh, hey, whose book just got positively reviewed by
The New Yorker?
OH YEAH.
