Uncategorized

Last week, a new tenant moved into the empty storefront next door to us, and he asked us if we wanted any of the fixtures abandoned by the store that was previously there. Among said fixtures were several units of metal shelving, sized just perfectly for holding short comic book boxes. Our store didn’t need them, since we have shelving out the wazoo, but I certainly could use them…and thus, I now have a few hundred dollars’ worth of shelving, and it cost me absolutely nothing. Therefore, the storage arrangement of the vast Mikester Comic Archives will be undergoing some renovation over the next week or two…this is what I’ll be doing instead of yard work.

---

Yes, it’s DC Solicitations time…you know, I never do this for the Marvel solicits. Just not as fun, I guess, and each entry would probably have the simple comment “(slaps forehead in dismay),” so it’s probably just as well.

The big news is, of course, the confrontation I’d been hoping for turning up in Infinite Crisis #5. Okay, I know this makes me a complete fanboy, but I can’t wait to see it. (As a side note…please, before you do your panel-by-panel over-the-top lambasting of each new issue of IC, refer to pal Dorian’s pointed parody of same. Learn from it.)

Eddie Campbell cowrites Legends of the Dark Knight #200…it’s another Joker story, but with Campbell involved, it’ll probably be a good’un.

The history of the Earth-2 Superman runs through this month’s Superman books…I’m thinking that, after the whole Infinite Crisis thing is over and done with, we’re never going to see the Earth-2 Supes ever again. So enjoy it while you can, kids.

This Superman: The Daily Planet trade, reprinting some Silver Age stories focusing around that great metropolitan newspaper, reminds me of this Best of DC digest on the same topic. And, it looks like six of the stories from that digest are going to be in this book. It’ll be nice to have them at full size, since my aged eyes can’t easily take in those digests anymore.

Infinite Crisis Secret Files 2006 – this is the kind of thing funnybook retailers hate to try to order…it’s a tie-in to a very successful series, and it looks like it’ll be good (Marv Wolfman returning to Crisis on Infinite Earths, after all), and it should sell big numbers. But, it is $5.99 a pop, which will impact sales…so should we order high, and hope it sells like IC does, or order conservatively, like we would on most $5.99 items, and hope reorders are available if it does sell well? It’s gonna put our thinkers to the task, pondering the ordering decision on this one.

Showcase Presents House of Mystery – 552 pages of classic horror comics, in black and white, by Wrightson, Toth, et al…man, sign me up for this.

What th–!? Paul Levitz and George Perez doing a new JSA story? With the Earth-2 Superman fighting the Gentleman Ghost on the cover? Suddenly, I’m 12 again. Fan-tastic.

Wildcat’s in JSA Classified, which should make you-know-who happy.

Well, the damn thing is sixty bucks, but this 13-inch deluxe Luthor figure is darn cool:

And it comes with a ray gun. A ray gun! I can’t afford it myself, but one of you generous folk out there, feel free to buy it for me.

Now this is an old fandom observation, that if you were to take a copy of the old magazine-sized Elfquest #16 and put in the front of a standard cardboard magazine box:

…you’d have a weepy-eyed elf peerin’ right back at you through the handhold opening.

I was reminded of this the other day because, as I was walking through our backroom storage area, Angel from the cover of Uncanny X-Men #399 was staring at me from one of the boxes:

Of course, Chaos Comics and the like can offer up a surprise or two, such as the cover from Lady Death: The Crucible #2:

At our store, we’ve been in the habit of taping white cardboard backings into the inside-fronts of our boxes, mostly to protect the comics inside from accidentally catching on the lip of one of the inner pieces of the box, but partially to hide the images that may be seen through the box holes. It may not seem like a big deal, but considering the sort of things that may poke through that little cardboard window in our boxes of adult back issues, it’s probably best to take a little precaution.

Any other comics you can think of that can function along these lines?

---

This week Green Lantern #5 and Supergirl #2 are due to be released from DC Comics. Now, it seemed like it’s been quite a while since we’ve seen issues of either of these, so I whipped out the cycle sheets to see when they were last on the shelves.

According to the records, GL #4 came in on August 31st, which means that #5 probably should have been in around the end of September. So, this issue is about 1 1/2 months late.

The previous issue of Supergirl, #2, was in on September 22nd, so #3 probably should have been out the third week of October. Instead, it’s coming out three weeks later.

I know stuff happens, production delays and what have you, but these are two particularly high profile relaunches for both these characters…it would seem that these kind of delays would hurt the momentum a little. Plus, if these titles are tying in closely to events in DC’s Infinite Crisis crossover event (I know Supergirl is, don’t remember about GL), they may have to rush production to make sure the right issues are out at the right time.

On a related note, I have a mail order comics subscriber who gets his stuff mailed to him about every two to three months. He primarily gets Marvel books, and I was sorting his stuff out to make sure that, by some incredibly extreme and rare chance*, I didn’t miss anything from his pull list, when I noticed something. In a 2 1/2 month period, some titles had released three or four issues, while Fantastic Four released only one. It may not be the flagship title it once was, but it’s still the first of Marvel’s modern superhero era. You’d think they’d want this to come out on a timely** basis. I don’t know why it’s running so behind (if it’s at the creative level, perhaps no one at Marvel wants to tell their big-name writer to get the lead out…see also Kevin Smith)…but thankfully*** there’s something like two dozen other FF titles to take up the slack.

And then there are those titles that no one expects to come out on time. Superman/Batman, anyone?

---

So, when Archie Andrews first appeared in comics, under the “Archie” logo, the very first caption to describe our favorite red-headed teenager tells us to call him “Chick:”

That’s a bit of characterization that couldn’t be dropped fast enough. It’s my guess that it didn’t last past that first story…I didn’t spot any other examples in my quick scans of Archie in The Forties and Archie His First 50 Years, though those are hardly complete. I like finding things like this in early comics…those bits that the creators had second thoughts about and discarded, or just plain forgot about. (Remember when Superman was able to mold his facial features to disguise himself? That’s something he hasn’t done lately.)

And isn’t saying that if we shouldn’t call him Archie if we “value life and limb” overstating it a bit? C’mon, Dilton could probably take Archie in a fight****.

* That “ahem”-ing you hear in the background is pal Dorian clearing his throat, for some reason.

** It’s funny, because Timely was the company that would (more or less) become Marvel. See, it’s like a play on words…oh, never mind.

*** That would be sarcasm.

**** Sorry, nothing here. I had a leftover footnote and had to put it somewhere.

A few webpages that have come in handy at the shop for finding things for customers:

The Heavy Metal Magazine Fan Page, with story and artist listings for each year, plus cover scans. I had a customer looking for “Big” Bill Stout’s and “Frankly” Frank Thorne’s contributions to the mag, and this site took me right to ’em.

Inducks.org – Great name for a great site, which has a searchable index for Disney comics, both for American releases and releases in countries where comics actually sell well. I don’t know how many times I’ve had a customer come in asking for a particular Donald Duck story, and I was able to find not only the original appearance of that story, but every reprint, with this site.

Taskmastersite.com – Yes, I had someone looking to complete his run of Taskmaster appearances. One print-out from this site later, I’ve given this customer a shopping list to use for weeks to come. I’ve talked about this site before, I’m pretty sure, but this just amuses me. A Taskmaster site. Fantastic.

---

Last time I did this was when Ain’t It Cool News covered an alleged X-Men 3 script…but here we are, with a supposed new promo image from Nicolas Cage’s Ghost Rider movie – let the AICN readers’ talkback parade begin:

“mmmmmm undead leather gay-bondage”

“I hope his ‘eyes’ aren’t lit up all the time…”

“Nic Cage is as intimidating and Dynamic as a bowl of warm oatmeal”

“PS: National Treasure sucked SO Hard it had it’s own Event Horizon…”

“A Taco Bell tie-in would be great. What a great promotion for anything spicey – HOT. Does KFC have HOTWINGS? After all, this guy is the poster boy for anything spicey – HOT.”

“When are we going to get some more pictures of Eva Mendes?”

“I think they need to get Richard Simmons to play Johnny Blaze!”

“Oh this is going to bomb in ways no one thought possible…”

“This looks so bad it reminds me of the Spawn movie.”

“looks good to me. kind of manga-inflected.”

“Warm oatmeal always gave me gas. Then, I found out, if cooked in apple cider, oatmeal can be quite tasty and digestible. Do you think Nicholas cage would be more tolerable if I knocked back a shot or two of cider before watching him mope on screen?”

“Listen, Ghost Rider can’t even make it as a comic book, so…”

[NOTE: Some of the following links are Not Safe for Work, so don’t blame me if you get fired.]

[ALSO NOTE: The links in this post are certain to self-destruct in a few months, so if you’re looking at this in, say, May ’06…sorry, you should have read my site sooner!]

So I was poking through old auctions on the eBay, and, as I’m sure some of you eBay addicts out there have discovered, there is a pretty good market for amateur drawings of your favorite superheroines, usually in the altogether or in so little clothing you wonder why they bothered. Unsurprisingly, Power Girl is a popular subject, such as in this somewhat disturbing topless anime version.

Sometimes you’d only know that the illustration is of a particular superheroine because the listing says it is (like the “Bunnygirl Supergirl” — cute drawing, but what makes this gal Supergirl, really?).

It’s a little easier to tell who’s who in the very accurately titled “Supergirl/Wonder Woman Kissing” auction. Good Lord, what are you people getting up to? You know there are plenty of free dirty pictures of real live women on the internet, right?

I like this one: “Sexy Babs – Batgirl on Computer” – this one’s safe for work, if you want to peek.

This is a little more naughty, and a little more nerdy…it’s the Silver Age Batgirl and the original Bat-girl, for you folks who want some comics history with your nekkid girl pics.

There’s also the occasional commissioned piece from a real, live comic book artist, like this piece by Jim Mooney of Batgirl, Supergirl, Catwoman, and plenty of nuditivity. I don’t know…I would have been embarrassed to ask Jim Mooney for nekkid pictures of superheroines.

I fully endorse the Zatanna/Black Canary Fishnet Fight drawing. It’s as if the artist reached into my brain and pulled out this image.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit‘s Jessica Rabbit is a popular subject as well, which I’m sure thrills Disney to no end. Here’s a typical NSFW example.

I knew I was asking for trouble typing “Kitty Pryde” into the eBay search, but I had no idea. I warn you, this one will break your brain…and remember the NOT SAFE FOR WORK notice I gave you: “PHOENIX Jean Grey Rachel Kitty Pryde Spank XMEN Art.” I’m very, very sorry.

Well, if I’ve learned anything from this, it’s how to make some quick scratch on the eBay. I wonder how much I’d get selling my naked Swamp Thing drawings?

The Comic Reader #216 (February 1984) – art by Stan Goldberg

Today, for work, I found it necessary to type the phrase “Margot Kidder’s Pants.”

“Margot Kidder’s Pants.”

“Margot Kidder’s Pants.”

You can see Margot Kidder’s Pants, or at least a small piece of them, right here, in this auction I put up today on the eBay.

In case you’re unfamiliar with these things, “Pieceworks” cards (or “Memorabilia cards,” or something similar) are trading cards that contain little bits of costumes or props from movies and TV shows that have been cut up and pieced out in trading card form. It may seem a bit odd, but we’ve had some of these cards in the past go for several hundred dollars in auction, so somebody out there likes ’em. And they can be kind of neat, having even a tiny portion of something from your favorite show.

However, I can’t shake the vision of someone desperately trying to get the entire press run of a particular costume card in an attempt to reconstruct the original item. (“I only need 47 more pieces, and Buffy’s Homecoming Dress is mine, mine!”)

So Liberality for All was featured on the Fox News Channel, which should come as a surprise to no one:

“Immediately after the airing, ACCStudios.com was inundated with visitors placing orders for issue #1. Several panicked emails were also received from comic shop owners who had apparently failed to order, or did not order enough of, the first issue.”

We’ve managed to sell one copy…to employee Pope Nathan, who was amused enough by the synopsis I linked to last week that he felt compelled to pick it up. The debate rages on (well, between Nate and me) whether or not this is all being done completely straight-faced or if it’s a spoof of conservative attitudes. Either way…absolute genius.

---

Hey, Zen Intergalactic Ninja is still around:

“For the past 18 years, Zen has only had one facial feature: a pair of large, almond-shaped eyes. But now he also has a nose and a mouth.

“‘Zen wakes up to find he’s sprouted some new orifices,’ says writer/creator Steve Stern, ‘and anyone can witness the transformation for free by visiting www.ssscomics.com. It’s all logically explained—in comic-book terms, naturally.'”

Naturally.

C’mon, a press release to announce that your character now has new orifices? I call that 100% fan-tastic.

Here’s an ad I found in Reggie and Me #75 (Dec ’74):

Okay, first, “America’s Most Beautiful Doll” is a pretty high standard to live up to. And second, yeah, that’s some tan.

This doll suddenly became more interesting to me when I saw the top part of one of the panels in the ad:

…but once I took in the rest of the panel, disappointment set in:

---

Hey, I have a new installment of Behind the Counter at the new Comic Book Galaxy, in which I have some tips for the new employees. (“I’ve got wanderin’ hands, and you’re just gonna have to get used to ’em.”)

---

We recently acquired a sizeable collection of Archie comics, mostly from the last decade or so…”acquired” as in “we just wanted to buy the Archie digests, but the beat-up comic books we didn’t want got dumped on us anyway,” which of course means plenty o’website fodder here.

Anyway, in this collection was a particular cover I’d been wanting to address for a while, but haven’t had access to the issue almost since it originally came out. It’s Betty #8 (Sept. 1993), and while the Archie gals have always been drawn in an attractive fashion, this cover has Betty being drawn in a little more prurient style than usual. Or maybe I just have some kind of “upside down diving bikini girls” fetish I was previously unaware of. But it does feel a lot racier than most modern Archies tend to be.

And I don’t have a larger scan of that, since the original I was scanning from is completely thrashed and that’s about as large an image I can manage and still have it look passable.

I do like the coloring on that cover quite a bit…it’s actually quite pretty, though this Betty cover (#28, Aug ’95):

…is even more attractive, I think. Quite a switch from the flat-colored/cluttered covers Archies usually have nowadays.

---

Hey, Kid Chris finally posted again, finally, since he was too busy having a life and all to goof around on the internet. I’m disappointed he didn’t mention running into The Nelsons at a record store. That lucky bastard.

---

So finally I took home my copy of the Comic Book Guy’s Book of Pop Culture, and, as I feared, it’s made my site redundant. That’s okay, though, since the book kicks off with a reference to famed letterhack T.M. Maple, so they start off in my good graces. They cover some of the same ground I’ve covered here over the last couple years, such as the various types of customers, but they’re funnier about it, and they have illustrations, so they’ve pretty much got me beat. (I totally forgot about our own “Stinky Money Boy”-type customers…though it’s more likely to be “Wet Money Boy,” given our proximity to the beach.) There is lots and lots and lots of nerd humor packed into this tiny hardcover…well worth the price.

I should note that every comic shop owner and/or manager secretly envies the Simpsons’ Comic Book Guy. Every one. They might deny it, but they’re lying. If the owner of your local store denies it, badger him day and night until he owns up. Don’t badger me, though, because I freely admit it. Oh, to be that freely superior in my full-on nerdiness….

---

Oh, and for you interested parties, our store’s Midnight Madness sale is on Saturday, November 19th, from 7 PM until midnight (natch), or even later if demand warrants it. 2379 E. Main Street in Ventura, CA…drive on down. Or up. Or take a plane. Come visit, you.

I’m running a little behind today, so I’m knocking out this post fast like the bunny. I’ll fix typos, logical gaps, etc., later.

---

With pal Dorian having made good his escape from the wonderful world of comics retailing, I find myself having to be a bit more aware of what books have come out when, and whether we have them in stock. Not that I was totally unaware, but whatever I couldn’t remember off the top of my head, I could usually ask Dor and he’d remember. So now I must expand my brain power to remember everything, everything…soon I’m gonna look like this guy. I’ve already got the green skin.

---

It’s been a few years since our last “Midnight Madness” sale, and I finally got around to arranging for a new one in a couple weeks. I’ve printed up the flyers, started handing them out…and what’s the reaction I get from a bunch of our customers? “Oh, I’m out of town that week…can’t make it!”

Well, crud.

---

So last I checked, Absolute Watchmen is still out of stock at Diamond, as is Complete Bone…and guess which two items I’m constantly asked about?

And, about four months ago, I had a customer order a copy of volume 8 of the Fruits Basket manga…I checked Diamond’s stock list every week since then, and finally, two weeks ago, it showed up again. Every other volume was generally available, but #8? Pffft. Nada. (I’m guessing every Borders and Barnes & Noble in the country had as many copies of #8 as they could stand.)

This one isn’t Diamond’s fault, but it’s annoying that I can get every issue of the Green Lantern: Rebirth series from Diamond except #3, which is of course the one I’m out of stock on at the store. Rebirth is still selling as a back issue, but it could probably sell better if I had a full run to offer to the customers.

Speaking of back issues…the various Batman comics based on the animated series (the good animated series, not the new one they’re running now) are selling insane amounts for us right now. I have one young person who comes in every week and buys a pile of them, which is driving the majority of the sales, but there are several other kids buying them as well. I was wondering what was driving these sales, and for a moment I thought it was perhaps kids rejecting the regular continuity-heavy Bat-comics in favor of the simpler TV-inspired series, but it’s probably simpler than that. It may just be that the Batman in the comics based on the cartoon is the Batman they’re familiar with, since that’s the one they grew up watching. Or maybe it’s just because the animated series comics are just better than the other Bat-books. That’s why I read them.

---

Redboots.net…your Lois ‘n’ Clark reference site. Includes an article decrying “Clana” sex. (“Clana?”)

from Jughead #192 (May 1971)

Jughead is the one they’re being sorry at, in case you’re wondering where he is.