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So two discussions/debates broke out in the comments section for yesterday’s post…one, regarding the Superman revamp of the mid-1980s, I plan to address at some point in the near future. The other is about, well…

WHICH IS NERDIER?
OR OR

Yes, I’m putting it up to a vote, which I’m sure will settle this subject once and for all and it will never be discussed upon the internet again. Feel free to engage in some (friendly!) debate and discuss your vote in the comments section here. (And yes, I threw Doctor Who into the mix, since pal Dorian brought it up.)

If your skin’s feeling a little thin and you think I’m picking on nerds, keep in mind a couple of things:

1. It’s all in fun…I’m a fan of all three of these properties.

2. I manage a comic book store and write a daily comics weblog. I should know from nerdiness.

So anyway, there you go. Let the mayhem begin.

An item or two of note from the new DC Comics solicitations:

• Batman: The Killing Joke is getting another comic-sized reprinted with the original coloring, as opposed to the recolored hardcover which had been the only way to obtain the story as of late. And that’s good…I’ve had a handful of people ask for the story who didn’t want to put out the cash for the deluxe hardcover. Having a cheap…well, cheaper version around is very welcome.

  On the topic…I know Killing Joke went through about a hundred different printings, most of which sold well, and yet the only copies that ever turn up in collections are first printings. I know the first print moved tons of copies, but you’d think we’d come across at least the occasional fifth printing or something. Ah, well.

• DC Comics Classics Library: Shazam! The Monster Society of Evil HC – reprinting the classic C.C. Beck serial from the original Captain Marvel comics. This had been reprinted before, in a nice oversized slipcased hardcover, many years ago, and a friend let me borrow his copy so that I could read it. It’ll be nice to be able to get my own copy of this story, finally.
• Superman: Secret Origin #2 – So they’re establishing Young Clark Kent was Superboy again, if only (I’m assuming) for his adventures with the Legion. BUT THAT CONTRADICTS A REVAMP FROM 23 YEARS AGO HOW DARE YOU.

  Okay, I’m only kidding. It’s a little weird, if only because I still remember the big deal they were making about the changes to the official Superman continuity during the mid-’80s revamp, including the ousting of the whole Superboy thing. But as how I’m one of the, oh, maybe dozen of readers at the time who are still reading Superman today, there’s no particular reason to be beholden to a continuity fix only a few of your readers really care about, or even remember, any more.

  And I’m sure the reintroduction of Superboy can still be explained even within the context of the ’80s revamp…but, to reiterate, it doesn’t bother me. I’m more interested in it as an example of the ongoing undoing of the ’80s reboot…kinda like how “Contemporary Acquaintance of Clark in Smallville” Lex eventually supplanted “Contemporary Acquaintance of Perry White during the Depression” Lex.

• Good Lord, are there enough Batman comics coming out? Maybe they should give a new ongoing series to…oh, I don’t know, how ’bout Alfred. Sure, I’d go for a series about Alfred. “The Dark Knight Domestic in…I BUTTLE BY NIGHT.” Would totally read it.

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In other news:

• Andrew is starting a new series of posts on this site entitled “Nobody’s Favorites,” in which he talks about those comic characters that are…well, you know, like it says in the title I just told you. First installment is here, and at the very least, this is a good way to find out if any of these characters have “#1 FANs” because they’ll surely turn up in the comments sections.
• Big, bold and brassy Chris Sims wrote an article called “The 40 Most Violent Comics Ever” which probably leaves out your favorite, so be sure to leave a comment that reads “um, actually, you forgot….” because Sims will love that. Also, it’s one of those lists that make you click through multiple pages to see all the entries in order to present more ads, but it’s Sims, and therefore worth it.
• Pal Dorian is going to San Diego, the bastard, and he’s taking along employees Aaron and Timmy, probably to sell for parts so he can afford parking and overpriced bottles of alleged water. Anyway, in the meantime he’s got some amusing goodies arranged for his site, including this bingo card inspired by a particular sci-fi show message board.
• Was informed by my girlfriend’s niece that some television show she was watching was attempting to settle the question of which is nerdier: Star Wars or Star Trek.

  The nod was given to Star Trek, natch, since it is sort of the baseline standard for all things nerdy. And I’m saying this as someone who’s been a lifelong fan, you realize.

  But then again, it’s hard to top this, which may not be nerdy, but is certainly this side of terrifying.

So there I was, watching the trailers attached to the new Harry Potter movie, when this comes on:

And for just a few seconds, beyond all reason (since if such a thing existed I probably couldn’t have avoided any discussion of it online), I thought that maybe what I was watching was the trailer for the Captain Marvel/SHAZAM! movie. You know, what with all the talk of gods and lightning and heroes and so forth. Okay, so he went into a building instead of a subway…I thought maybe they could have updated the origin.

Yes, I realize that I was being stupid. Again, if there was a Captain Marvel movie this far along in production to have a trailer, I’m sure I would have come across folks complaining about it on Twitter or something. But just for one brief, magical, deluded second…I thought I was going to get to hear the shout of “SHAZAM!” from the theatre speakers. Ah, well.

I guess that means I’m a fanboy. Because, you know, I wasn’t sure before.

Oh, and the new Harry Potter film ended up being not too bad. Kinda talky, mostly just setting up the mayhem in the next installment, but still nice to see all the actors again. (Who rules? Alan Rickman rules.)

(Here’s the official site for the Percy Jackson movie, in case the trailer is “disappeared” off the YouTube.)

LAST WEEK:

• I’m happy to report that the “Guest Starring A Joss Whedon Character” strategy has worked much better for our in-stores sales of Fallen Angel: Reborn #1 than did the “Guest Starring Shi” strategy for the previous Fallen Angel series.* We’ve had a few Buffy/Angel fans pick it up specifically for the guest appearance of Illyria, who…well, I’ll just let Wikipedia explain that one, but if you’re not familiar with the character, enough is explained in the comic. Anyway, I hope some of these new readers stick around for the non-Buffy related adventures of the book, as it’s a pretty good series and would like sales to stay up so I can continue to read it. Yes, that’s a totally selfish reason. Hey, I’m entitled.
• I’ve been putting tags on the shelves for Marvel’s “Utopia” crossovers with the actual title and issue number, since at first glance the comics (such as this week’s Dark Avengers #7) look like issues of Utopia due to the huge logo with that name, instead of issues of ongoing monthly series. The trade dress for the crossover seems to be detrimental, is what I’m saying. Dark Avengers is a strong seller for us, and disguising it as something else that isn’t selling quite as well doesn’t help.
• I don’t think we’ve sold a single issue of Iron Man Armored Adventures #1 so far. Well, except maybe to the folks who get every first issue.
• Sold out of Dark Horse’s Creepy #1, the revivial of the old Warren magazine. I’m sure this great Eric Powell cover didn’t hurt.
• Blackest Night #1 is still flying off the shelves, and everybody’s thrilled to get their replica Black Lantern ring. Also, we apparently underordered the Tales of the Corps tie-in, as we sold out of that before the weekend. Ah, well, that’s what reorders are for.
• Okay, the 1970s variant for Amazing Spider-Man #599 is pretty awesome – a nice play on that Obama cover:
  
  This sample art does leave off the word balloon (“Face it, tiger…I am not a crook!”) but you get the idea.

• Nexus is over (or at least on extended hiatus) for now, with the latest double-issue…and there were so many plot elements, old characters, new characters, references to previous adventures, etc., that I felt a little bit like I was going crazy while I was reading this. Not in a bad way, I hasten to add. There’s nothing quite like a Nexus comic, and I’m glad to have had it back, even for just a little while.
• We received our second printings of Deadpool: Suicide Kings #2, which is a good thing since we were shorted our shipment of first printings, and replacements were not to be had. Our customers have been okay with it, especially when I explained what happened, but still…would have liked to have had those first printings. Especially at the momemt, since Deadpool comics seem to be like printing money.
• Wednesday Comics #2 didn’t have as strong of sales as the first ish, which was to be expected. But still doing well. A few people picking up #1 and #2, I’ve noticed.

THIS WEEK:

• Yes, yes, the last issue of Final Crisis: Legion of 3 Worlds is coming out this week. At least, it’s on our invoice, so we’re getting charged for it, anyway.
• Archie #599 – sorry, still not the marriage issue. Try again next month.
• Lenore Volume 2 #1 – first issue from Lenore‘s new publisher Titan Books. Hopefully they’ll be able to offer continual reorders on this comic like the title’s previous publisher did, since the title is one of those that continually sells off the shelf over extended periods of time…we’ve kept stock of this title on the shelves (not in the back issue bins) for years, and it still sells. And it sells to teenage girls, a demographic generally foreign to funnybook stores (except during the Great Manga Scare** of ’05 – ’07).
• Did someone say…Weasel Patrol? The trade paperback is due this week, and it’s funny stuff. (And it’s published by Pal Nat, who deserves your money because he’s swell.)
• The long-awaited Beanworld volume 2 is coming this week. I’ve tried to explain Beanworld before, and this wiki may confuse and frighten you, but trust me on this…Beanworld is brilliant, and you need to check it out. Nothing can really explain Beanworld except a Beanworld comic, so here’s a brief sample.
• Star Trek: Spock Reflections #1 – “Why, I remember when I was young and used to look like that guy from Heroes….”
• Two…count ’em, two extra sized “#600” special issues from Marvel this week. And I have to get ’em both: Amazing Spider-Man #600 for the girlfriend, and Incredible Hulk #600 for me. …A hundred years from now, the three comic collectors who are left are going to try and figure out Marvel’s renumbering shenanigans, and all I can say is “Godspeed, future panelologists…godspeed.”
• Freddy Jason Ash: Nightmare Warriors #2 – not quite catching on this time around. The original series teaming these three horror icons had quite the following. Someone tell Fangoria to tell its readers that this new series is out.
• The second printing of Muppet Robin Hood #1 is coming this week…not quite as excellent as the Muppet Show comic, but still amusing and well drawn.

YESTERDAY:

• “…IS HORNY” would have been the obvious joke, you see.

* But still not as strong as the “maybe it’s Supergirl, maybe it isn’t” strategy at the series’ very beginning.

** Just a joke. Relax.

In response to a few comments from yesterday:

Just Some Guy opines

“I think the ring set looks pretty cheap. That picture makes it look like a plastic toy. A cute desk doo-dad but not worth anything close to $250 ($50 would be pushing it).”

Fair enough. I think my initial positive reaction to it is primarily due to the rings themselves…I’d love to have a replica set of all these Lantern rings. I keep hoping (though I’m reasonably certain it’s not going to happen now) that DC would put out more promo rings to help us poor, needy fanboys fill out the collection. I know there’ve been a number of Green rings given out over the years (the one with the glow-in-the-dark bit in the center, another smaller ring, and a couple of different pack-ins with the action figures, both Golden and Silver age if I recall), and if I remember correctly there was a Yellow ring included with a Sinestro figure.

Mike Walker sez

“I’ve never been into the statues, but I do pick up a random vinyl figure from time to time. You know, the type where you don’t know which one you’re going to get?

“I’ve never tried to ‘catch ’em all,’ but I do like the random menagerie that I’ve built up of vinyl figures. I always wonder how those things sell. Do people try to get a full set? Dose the Wednesday crowd pick them up, or is it a different group?

“Do you stock them at the store, Mike?”

We’ve carried those figures, to differing levels of success. Apparently there were enough complaints about the random nature of these figures that the “random” element was removed and they started marking on the outside of the box which figure was contained therein. Missing the point, obviously, but this kind of marketing of figurines probably isn’t going to catch on in the U.S.

Once in a while we’d have someone trying for a full set, but not very often. I myself went for a full set of the Bone figures that were released this way, but I had an advantage in that I was at the shop and was able to trade with customers who ended up with doubles.

Usually, though, folks would buy one or two as a whim, and that was pretty much it.

Super-rob wonders

“Question though: why did they put labels on the colors of the rings display? I mean, I can see labeling FEAR and HOPE, but does DC assume that if you’re stupid enough to pay $250 for copies of rings that you do not know the difference between your colors?”

My guess is that the labels are there simply as a design element to fill space, to give the item more color and make it more visually interesting, and more worthy of your two hundred fifty bones.

Seriously, just give us a pack of plastic replica rings for all the colors. That’s all we want. We don’t need the fancy-schmancy display thingie. “DC DIRECT: LANTERN CORPS RING ASSORTMENT – Features 8 plastic rings, representing the colors of all the different Corps! Packaged in a clear baggie. $9.99.” Would totally buy it. Could sell TONS of them.

Speaking of the plastic rings, the Black Lantern rings were a big hit at the store. Right now we’re giving them away with each purchase of the Blackest Night comic, and I posted a sign to that effect by the comic on the rack. I had a few folks buy the comic just to get the ring, which I thought was interesting.

I thought the comic itself was a strong start for this new crossover brouhaha…I mean, it’s essentially DC Zombies, and thus was as gruesome and icky as I was hoping. The difference, though, is where Marvel Zombies is basically an extended dark joke, which softens the horror a bit, Blackest Night is playing it straight and, so far, humorless, which could drag a bit. But, it’s got me reading right now, and it’s nice that the series proper has finally started after the approximately thirty years’ worth of prelude stories.

At the very least, we’ve had some lively discussions at the shop about which dead characters should come back as Black Lanterns. As I dropped on the Twitter a while back (and has been picked up by other bloggers here and there), I’m pushing for the Red Bee and his pet trained bee. THE RED ZOMBEE.

Also, I’m reasonably certain the event’s going to end with resurrections for several of the dead characters. Except, you know, the ones that need to stay dead. Sorry, Thomas and Martha Wayne.

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In other news:

• A big congrats to Jog on his five year anniversary!
• Help comics writer John Ostrander in his battle with glaucoma at Comix4sight.com.
• The wise and mighty Neilalien posted a couple of swank Steve Ditko fanzine covers. Man, I do love old fanzines.
• Also, via Neilalien, as good an explanation as you’re going to get for Al Jaffee’s predilection for featuring full fish skeletons embedded into his depictions of vomit. Yeah, that’s right, my weblog is all class.
• Have a link to Nerdsayswhat.com. I may have helped a bit with this site. I may have also said a few of things presented there. Except “Meh.” I loathe “Meh.”
• This Let’s Be Friends Again has been getting a lot of linking love lately, and for good reason. It’s nerd humor, but it’s good nerd humor. And I’m a big ol’ nerd, so it all works out. Plus, Mystery Science Theatre 3000 humor! (And, tying in to recent Green Lantern events, Lantern humor!)
• Rich has photographic evidence of some anonymous con-attendee not being very happy with having to wait to see Brian Michael Bendis. Creepiness ahoy!

…and I’m dead tired, so I’m gonna put up this pic of Batman that I’ve had sitting around for a while:

Not even quite sure why I scanned it. It’s from an issue of Brave & the Bold (#172, March 1981) by Gerry Conway, Carmine Infantino and Steve Mitchell. Maybe there’s just something about the juxtaposition of that caption of off-panel dialogue combined with the goofy grin and jaunty head angle of the Caped Crusader. “Yeah, that’s right,” thinks Batman, “I am Batman! Hyuk!”

Anyway, while you’re contemplating Batman, I’m off for some shut-eye. Good night!

Still making some slow progress on getting posts labeled here at Progressive Ruin Industries: there are now tags for the 1990s market crash, not to mention racial sensitivity in comic books, if you want to see all (or most, anyway) posts relating to those.

Like I said, it’s slow going, and many of the other labels you’ll see on those posts don’t link to too much so far. But there will be an “All Star Batman” label, and God help me, I’ve tagged at least one post “pogs.”

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Thank you for all your responses to yesterday’s Wednesday Comics post. (There was also some completely random Canada bashing…hey, I’ve no beef with Canada. I love Bob & Doug MacKenzie, and I’m sure every Canadian is exactly like them.)

Let me address a couple of questions/comments that popped up there:

Bryan wants to know

“Will stores be able to back order issues over the next few weeks? Because I can sort of see this as being something where if you don’t get in on the ground floor, the serialised natured will make it impossible to start reading it after a few weeks, and the chances of a ‘breakthrough’ comic deflate with each passing week.”

I certainly hope so. We ordered plenty of the first few issues, assuming that the odd format would possibly mean little to no overprinting for later reorders. But, I just checked Diamond’s retailer site as I was typing this, and the first issue is still available for reorder. Of course, it’s only been out for a day or two, but that it’s not sold out at the distributor level already is a little reassuring that there is some kind of overprint for reorders available.

Richard asks

“I haven’t gone to the shop and picked up my copy yet, but are there any other type of characters included besides superheroes?

If not, why not?”

A couple of folks (including one of the project’s writers!) already answered this, but no, it’s not all superheroes, depending on how you define the term. Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth, is sci-fi fantasy, I suppose, though as the character’s adventures are usually presented, it’s only barely distinguishable from superhero-style books. In the case of Wednesday Comics, however, the strip is given a more Prince Valiant-esque treatment, which is quite nicely done. Sgt. Rock also appears, and I’ve seen the argument made in the past that Rock is basically just a superhero strip done in war drag, and in the comments the argument is made that Adam Strange is more in the pulp sci-fi hero tradition than in the superhero tradition. That’s fair enough, though Strange toes the line a bit, I think. But, as I was discussing this with some pals, someone much wiser than me noted that if I stretch the meaning of “superhero” too far, it’s just going to lose any meaning.

So, for the sake of not being contrarian, I’ll agree that Kamandi is post apocalyptic sci-fantasy adventure, Sgt. Rock is a war comic, and Adam Strange is pulp hero sci-fi. Thus, there’s at least a little variety outside the super-guys.

However, I’m still sticking to my contention that Neil Gaiman’s Sandman is totally a superhero comic. Don’t you argue with me, I’m totally right on this.

CW sez

“What’s going to be interesting is to see in thirty years how many mint examples of the ‘Wednesday Comics’ will be in existence. It’s a difficult format to keep in a collection.”

We were joking about that at the shop on New Comics Day. “Dear God in heaven, IT’S NOT MINT!” Plus, we were wondering if CGC would slab these folded, or manufacture an oversized plastic covering that could accommodate an unfolded version. There probably is one that size already, which I suppose I could find out if I felt like checking.

I suppose if I had to preserve ’em, I’d just put them in bags and find a place on my bookshelf, or just keep ’em in magazine boxes.

Rob notes

“…In my interview with Mark Chiarello for my TreasuryComics.com site, he said that if WC is a big hit, then they’d do another series–which might mean there’d be a wider, more diverse set of characters (I’d love to see a Jonah Hex, Plastic Man, even Sugar and Spike!)”

Jonah Hex would be a good idea, particularly since I hear tell there’s a film coming out based on the character. Plastic Man would be good, since he has a pretty high recognition factor among those folks what don’t normally read the funnybooks. Sugar & Spike, if it ran, had better be Shelly Mayer stories reedited for this new format.

And how about a Swamp Thing strip, he said unbiasedly.

JBS asks

“Is this being distributed to outlets besides funny book stores?”

Not that I’m aware of. Probably some marketing/distribution thing that makes it a little more difficult getting it into stores that generally just handle the regular comics. Or perhaps DC didn’t want to take the chance on massive returns for this experimental item. Or whatever the reason, I have no idea. I suppose it could sell if a miracle happened and it was put on the shelves next to the grocery line, but don’t hold your breath, because that ain’t happening. Unless another 3 or 4 tabloid magazines go out of business.

And then there are a few more comments about storage and handling of this item, and that had me wondering about how they’re going to eventually reprint these stories. I’d like to see thin, 12-page oversized magazines or even hardcovers for each story, on nice paper. Again, breath, do not hold. But those would be neat!

The big release that’s got folks’ attention this week is, of course, Wednesday Comics, the Sunday Funnies-esque comics tabloid we’ve been waiting for. It’s beautifully done, with a variety of styles showcasing a good sampling of DC’s adventure/super hero characters. I was going to note a couple of favorites, but I can’t really narrow it down. All the entries grabbed my interest, and I certainly look forward to future installments. (But I have to note that Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez’s Metal Men looks just as fantastic as I was hoping, even with the characters appearing (with one exception) in their human costumes. So, so good.)

In addition to the copy I picked up for myself, I grabbed one for the girlfriend’s nieces and nephews to share and read, and as it turned out, I wasn’t the only one picking up extra copies for other people. We had several instances of multiple copy sales for Wednesday Comics for, we were told, the express purpose of passing them around.

I’m a bit skeptical the idea of “breakout” comics — those titles that allegedly will be the ones that’ll finally get the general public popping into the comic shops every week to pick up all the latest issues. At best, what we get are “fad” or “fluke” sales to the general public, such as the death of Captain America: high sales on just the one hyped issue to clientele outside the regular customer base, who do not return for any follow-ups. Or there are situations like Stephen King’s Dark Tower or Anita Blake or, to a lesser extent, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8, where sales to the general public were high on initial issues, until that section of the customer base decided that popping into the funnybook store once a month was too much trouble (or, depending on the store, too unappealing a prospect) and opted to buy the eventual hardcover or trade collections on Amazon for 40% off cover price instead.

If these sales to the general public, temporary as they may be, do anything for the comics industry, at the very least it’s keeping comics in the public eye. It reminds folks that hey, comics still exist, we’re still an entertainment option, you know, if you’ve got nothing else to spend money on at the moment.

(I realize this is ignoring things like Naruto and Dragonball and other popular manga, that seem to have “broken out” just fine, but when people talk about the magical “breakout comic,” it seems like they’re talking which title from the Big Two is going to finally turn Mr. Chad T. Accountant into an X-Men fan.)

Anyway, the reason I laid all that out on you was to suggest that Wednesday Comics has the small potential of, if not being a “breakout comic,” at least being a bit more appealing to the average non-weekly-comic-shop-visiting person. Primarily it’s the packaging: most people are pretty familiar with the Sunday funnies format, which may make the content more attractive than the standard stigmatized comic book format. Plus, I think people by and large do like comics…if you can get comics in front of people’s faces, in a format they’ll accept, they’ll likely read them. Someone who won’t want to read a 32-page story in your standard booklet may be more amenable to one page installments on a weekly basis. And, to tie it back into what I was saying earlier, there seems to be some understanding, or hope, among our regulars (and, apparently, myself) that this is the case, judging by the multiple-copy sales.

I realize that’s all pretty thin. Wednesday Comics is nearly all superheroes, after all, and even in this familiar format, that the comics aren’t Cathy or Garfield or other gag strips may be a turn-off. And those people may not want to come into a shop week after week for each issue (as noted above), not to mention that at $3.99, it’s a bit pricier than your standard Sunday paper. But overall, it’s not a bad try at grabbing some new readers. I saw a few new faces in the shop on Wednesday who came in specifically for this item, so it’s getting somebody.

At the very least, this series will make a nice, attractive novelty for those of us already among the converted.

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On a related note, if there’s a delay during this series’ run, and new comics arrive on Thursday, I’m warning you know that if you come into the store and joke about how this should be instead called Thursday Comics, I will hit you.

So we’re going through another box or two of miscellaneous stuff…from the collection that most of the items on this page came from, in fact. But these items are the ones that are a little outside our product line, and require a little bit more effort in prepping them for store or eBay sales.

Like this:

Yes, Angel Love, that’s indeed what it is. Please note the nice gleam of light added to the glistening rock there. Anyway, the ’70s were an odd time, to say the least, and that there was a book marketed for the discerning user of this particular substance is…well, I don’t know if “surprising” is the right word, but it certainly caught me off guard. Perhaps “unexpected but not beyond expectation” may be closer to it.

I was going to transcribe the description from the back of the book, but 1) I thought you wouldn’t believe me unless I actually showed you what it said, and 2) I don’t need the Google results created by putting the actual text on my site, so here’s a scan instead:

Wow. I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to do with this…the plan was to list it on the eBay, but not sure how that’d go since some folks over there tend to be nervous Nellies about that kind of thing, and I don’t exactly want to put it up in the shop, either. Ah, well, maybe I’ll throw it on Amazon. We’ll see.

Anyway, some other books of a more legal nature:

Copyrighted 1964, a little worse for wear (top half of the spine “repaired” by tape), features lots of short nonsensical stories and bits by John Lennon, along with several of his drawings. Features an introduction credited only to a mysterious “Paul,” since they didn’t bother with a last name. Boy, I hate when they do that. How’re we supposed to know who this alleged “Paul” is 45 years later?*

Copyrighted 1959, this edition published in 1976. Souvenir guidebook, filled with historical data and theories on the construction of the sites, and thankfully bereft of the kind of woo that tends to spring up around these things.

But that’s okay, because the next book brings plenty of woo for me and you:

Now, some of you may know I tend toward a more skeptical view of things like this. Not “skeptical” as in “completely close-minded,” as some true believers may claim, but “skeptical” as in “let’s have some real evidence before we start pinning this stuff on f’ing aliens.” That said, I love books like this, even though they tend to be parades of logical fallacies…though to be fair, I haven’t read this particular book yet, and I’m sure this is the one that finally lays out the complete truth about UFO visitations.

But, as I was saying, I still enjoy these books of UFO stories and Bigfoot hunts and what have you…occasionally you’ll find me, along with my Twitter pal Roscoe, liveTwittering Coast to Coast AM whenever they have a good flying saucer show on. It’s possibly some remnant of my more credulous youth, when I totally bought into all this stuff…in my defense, it was the ’70s, where paranormal beliefs were all around, and frankly it was better that I was into this than what was covered in the first book in this post.

In a way (and I’ve heard it described in this fashion before, so it’s hardly an original observation with me) all these tales of UFOs and Bigfoot and such are like modern mythmaking, finding new mysteries in a world that’s pretty much done away with demons and ghosts. (Well, okay, maybe not ghosts just yet.) (Or demons.)

But “psychics” still piss me off. Don’t get me started on them.

* Yes, I know who it really is. I was only kidding. But on that topic…there was a handful of teen idol magazines from the late ’60s/early ’70s in this same collection, where a number of the celebrities featured therein are only referred to by their first names. That was probably fine then, since anyone buying the mags knew full well who these idols were. But trying to piece some of them together 40 years later, with some of them lost to showbiz obscurity, that can be a trick, sometimes. It makes the gossip columns amusing, though: “JOHN was seen out dining with CHERYL, and boy was BETTY mad!” What? Who?

1966 DC Comics house ad

This feels a bit like a game of “one of these things is not like the other,” because, you know, if there was one thing the “in” and “with it” kids were going to be into, it was WWI war comics. Nothing against the Balloon Buster stories, which were fine, but he just looks a bit out of place there.

Then again, maybe the hip kids were reading the war books. Sure, you can be just like anyone else and read the superhero/sci fi books, but it’s the truly discerning reader who follows the war comics…okay, I’m overthinking it.

Also, “Wild, way-out adventures of DC’s swinging junior super-heroes!” That’s just this side of maaaaaybe trying just a little too hard.

I think DC should revive this particular “Destination Cool” advertising campaign, I think. “You’re not ‘in’ unless you’re reading All Star Batman!” (Er, when it comes out, that is.)

Here’s another ad that ran in ’66 DC books:

First, that cat terrifies me. How does that spindly neck support his ginormous noggin? Quite the natty dresser, though.

Second, thank goodness they gave all of Grandpa Munster’s death puns “comedy quotes,” since that certainly makes them funnier.

Second point five, those quotes become “legal disclaimer quotes” for the “‘chrome’ goodies.”

Third, and I didn’t know this, that George Barris fella in the ad is a car customizer, who apparently supervised the vehicle construction on the Munsters TV show…hence the connection there. Here’s his site, but watch out for the autoplaying music at that link.

Fourth, that $1.70 price quoted in the last panel just makes me sick. How many of these would you buy for $1.70 now?