Wonder Woman certainly finds Green Lantern’s comic amusing.

filed under Categories dc comics, publishing, smurfs, this week's comics 12 Comments


Trying to get a read on Batman’s expression on the cover, there. Bemusement? Concern? Anger? Bewilderment? Who can say.

Anyway, this is a freebie book that should be available at your local funnybook slinger emporium, spotlighting DC’s back catalog of trade collections divided up by character, imprint, panicked line-wide relaunch, kid-friendly reading, et cetera. There’s even a section spotlighting graphic novels by Alan Moore, which probably thrills him to pieces.

Of note is a section devoted to “suggested reading order” for books featuring some of their major superhero characters, which is useful since I kinda lose the thread of the Batman continuity after Final Crisis. The Superman section appears to give up on continuity order about halfway through its list, placing New 52 reprints before, like, all the pre-New 52 Superman/Batman reprints, among other things, and lumping all the non-continuity-ish books like Red Son and All-Star Superman and Birthright at the end. Superman Vs. Muhammad Ali is also near the end of the suggested reading order, when in fact it should be first in line. Heck, it should be the only Superman comic you need to read.

At the end of this book are three “blank” pages with a “NOTES” heading, in case you need to jot down your thoughts and feelings about Superman: Earth One being placed in the “25 Essential Graphic Novels” section of this freebie. The notes pages are designed to look like original art boards, which is a little strange…make sure your notes don’t result in more than about nine panels per page; you’re not George Perez.

In conclusion…I like the cover. Ryan Sook did a good job. Even Superman’s new costume is almost bearable. But surely the Justice League has better things to do than waste their time reading comic books.

Also out this week:


Okay, I figure if they make at least two more Smurfs movies, that should give us enough time, and the publisher enough incentive, to keep reprinting the Smurfs comics in U.S. editions ’til they’re caught up.

…I have big dreams.

The day after the day after Free Comic Book Day.

filed under Categories employee aaron, free comic book day, pal casie 9 Comments


I did indeed get a free comic. And so did the several hundred folks who passed through our doors on Saturday, most of whom didn’t get just one free comic, but many free comics pulled from the several tables we had set up for funnybook distribution.

This shot:


…is from much later in the day, when we’d taken down one of the tables once we were out of a handful of titles. But this should give you kind of an idea of what was goin’ on at our store for pretty much the entire day. And yes, that’s a shelf of pogs. There is no escape.

Here’s a shot from sort of behind the register “island” near the front of one side of our shop…that’s Employee Fredat the far right behind the register there:


And here’s the boss, Seth himself, posing with a box of Bongo comics, Employee Timmy lurking just over his shoulder:

Part-Time Employee Aaron and his lovely wife Kempo manned and womanned the Cash Only register we set up on the other side of the store, with only the occasional bout of violence:


And then there was this fella, Customer Brandon, who helped out a bit, too. I think he’s dressed up as someone from Speed Racer or something, I’m pretty sure:


Special thanks to Pal Casie, who dropped off a box of cakes and cookies, decorated in such a way that clearly indicated they were all meant for me and not for any other of those crummy employees:


Those were the only pics I managed to take; Employee Mark took more photos but hasn’t yet sent them to me, but as soon as he does, I’ll toss ’em up on the site. One of those photos includes me, so consider yourself warned.

Anyway, remember how in this post I mentioned I was going to de-emphasize the distribution of our free comics in age-appropriate bags…a bag of freebies for kids, one for teens, one for grown-ups. Well, I de-emphasized the heck out of it since I ultimately decided not to bag any of the comics at all. The goal was to keep some stock of freebies through most of the day by not giving everything to everybody. And I have to tell you, that morning, as I was unloading and stacking all the comics on all the tables I had a moment of panic. “Oh man, we’re never going to get rid of all of these, I shoulda bagged ’em, oh we’re screwed,” which is a variation on my usual FCBD pre-opening panic that no one’s going to show up and that it’ll be a disaster.

Shouldn’t have worried. We were slammed from the second we opened our door at 10 AM, and the store was crammed full with people until mid-afternoon, when things slowed down to just merely insanely busy. Seth and Employee Mark even had to function as gatekeepers for a couple of hours, standing at the door and letting customers in only a few at time, and we still had a line stretching around the interior of the store, down one side, across the back wall, and forward by the tables as they head back towards the the register and the exit. As previously noted, the shots of the store above were later in the afternoon, when folks were just heading straight in from the door toward the tables, when the crowds were slightly more manageable.

Also as previously noted, we had a second register set up for cash only transactions, having learned my lesson from last time when we had register lines a mile long. As it turns out, not a whole lot of people carry cash nowadays, but enough did to help lessen line wait times at least a little.

Back to this year’s free comic distribution test (i.e. “Mike was too lazy to sort out the comics into bags this time”), there were two main results. First, yes, as I’d hoped, the comic stock lasted a bit longer this time around. In fact, for the first time in a few years, I still had a small assortment left over, enough to fill a small Diamond shipping box, which is quite the reduction from the many dozens of Diamond FCBD shipping boxes I originally received. That’s probably a combination of the non-bagging and of my increased orders this time around. That’s okay…we’ve left some out for anyone who couldn’t make it in on Saturday.

Second, it did increase customer wait time as everyone picked out the comics they wanted instead of just grabbing a pre-packed bag or three and running off. Nobody really seemed to mind, however, and the wait time wasn’t that long.

Another thing I did this year was take a bunch of those bargain-priced comics we still had hanging around (all those 50-cent Invincibles and $1.00 “Image Firsts” and 25-cent Vampirellas and such) and put those out for giveaways, too. And that giant stack of free Marvel Point Ones that Marvel overshipped to us a couple years back, and that one issue of Garfield that, ahem, I may have accidentally overordered by entering the wrong number on the order form and not noticing…all put out for giveaways, all gone.

AND I think I am finally, finally out of that Avatar Comics Robocop freebie from years ago. I thought I was done with it before, but more keep turning up. But I think I finally unloaded all our backstock of books from FCBDs past. …Well, it wasn’t more than two or three shipping boxes’ worth, so it wasn’t that much, but it still feels good to have found good homes for them.

We didn’t have any in-store signings or other planned special guests…there just wouldn’t have been room…but I did briefly greet pal Nat; got to see the bearded visage of Matt Digges and his non-bearded niece; reader Dave Z., who makes the trek from Bakersfield every year to get free comics that had been personally touched by my filthy, filthy hands; and hugged Gina, my former editor at Music Confidential magazine.

In addition to the goodies pal Casie brought us, Heather from the local library brought us a tray of cookies, thanking us for providing a bunch of this year’s FCBD books for them to distribute. And Employee Mark’s uncle Jay brought us his candied balls. …Before you ask, yes we did. How can you not.

End result: the busiest, most successful Free Comic Book Day yet…gave away more comics than ever before, and made more money than ever before. I’m not trying to be crass by mentioning the money thing, but it’s important to note that the expense of Free Comic Book Day…the cost of the comics, the employee wages, the trapeze artist, the stunt drivers…was more than covered.

I have been sent a few stories, in comments and via email, from people whose own FCBD experiences at their local shops were less than exemplary. I’m sorry to hear it, but I’ve also heard from folks who had wonderful times, so maybe things have been improving on that front. Like I’ve said many, many times before…it doesn’t take much to make Free Comic Book Day into an event, and boy, what an event we had this time around. Plus, I think I’ve convinced Seth into letting me spend even more money for Free Comic Book Day next year.

I should also note the efforts of Employee Robert the Friday night before, who did a lot of set-up rearranging part of the store to accommodate the free comic distribution. EFFORTS ARE NOTED.

…

And yes, I know that’s Goku…don’t send me emails.

Hey. Free Comic Book Day. It’s tomorrow.

filed under Categories blogging about blogging is a sin, free comic book day 6 Comments



…In case you needed reminding. Also, pal Dorian runs down the FCBD books for this year.

In other news:

  • A not-exactly-safe-for-work ad popped up in my Project Wonderful sidebar spot yesterday. My settings are supposed to disallow ads of an au naturel nature from appearing there, but sometimes they get through. My apologies to anyone fired from their job after looking at my site on Thursday.

  • For those of you who don’t look at my site directly and thus avoided all that sinnin’, I’m guessing you’re probably using some kind of RSS reader to enjoy my nonsense here. Well, the big feed reader, Google Reader, is about to go away, as I’m sure you’ve heard. I’m using Feedly right now, and for my purposes that seems to be a suitable replacement. However, if you folks out there are using other readers, please send me their URLs (or just post ’em in the comments) so I can allow them access to my images.

  • Back to you folks who read my site directly…I’ve noticed some extra lag on page loading times here of late, and I know there’s a huge amount of brute force attacks attempting to get access to WordPress sites (like my own). I have a plug-in on the site that locks out IP addresses after a certain number of failed log-in attempts, and I seem to get an email telling me about yet another blocked IP every half hour or so. I don’t know if these excessive attacks are slowing down the site, or if my webhoster is doing something to block these attacks which in turn is slowing down my site, but something’s going on and I hope you all have patience while this is straightened out.

    In the meantime…c’mon, China and Luxembourg, lay off my log-in page!

“Ah Ethel!”

filed under Categories freak out 12 Comments


CRAZY

 
 

TO TRUST

 
 

THAT OCTOPUS

 
 
 

from Airboy Comics Vol. 4 #2 (March 1947)
reprinted in Roy Thomas Presents the Heap Vol. 1 (2012)

You have your nostalgia triggers, and I have mine.

filed under Categories collecting, retailing 16 Comments

Yup, a few more of these Whitman funnybook pre-packs made their way into the shop, only a few short months after that Star Wars one popped up. And while none of these were from series I particularly perused at the time (aside from my Battlestar Galactica treasury edition, and a single issue from the monthly series), even just feeling the (still-sealed!) bags in my hand took me back to that time, so long ago, when I was reading comics. …Oh, wait, I’m still reading them now. Well, you know what I mean.


Like I said, I had the treasury edition (adapting the pilot film) and one issue…that one issue being #3, which was part three of the adaptation of the pilot film, so, well, my 1970s comic dollar wasn’t very well spent, there, I guess. I keep meaning to check out the issues of this series illustrated by Walt Simonson.


I don’t know a whole lot about Shogun Warriors. I mean, I remember it being on the stands an’ all, and I may vaguely recall the toys the comics were based on as well. This is one of those series that had a price bump partially because it’s a ’70s Marvel title and those are getting harder to find in top condition, and maybe kinda sorta from riding that ’70s toy nostalgia wave even though nobody’s nostalgic for this. (NOTE: I exaggerate for lightly-humorous effect…do not email me with links to your comprehensive “Shogun Warriors Forever” web shrine.)

I can’t even say for sure I’ve ever even looked inside a copy. I’m pretty certain we have a full run in the back issue bins at the shop…maybe I’ll take a look. Someday.


So I was absolutely fascinated with the Micronauts toys as a kid…I think I had a couple of the figures, and maybe a vehicle, but I think a foot was put down at some point and I had to pick between one or the other parents’-wallet-draining sci-fi franchise toy line, and Star Wars received my young nod. But boy, did I pore over the one or two catalogs I had for the Micronauts toys, imagining how wonderful they must have been. The only person I encountered back then who had any extensive collection of these toys at all was some friend of a friend, so my direct exposure to these items was tantalizingly brief.

I only ever read one issue of the series…guess which one…though I kept meaning to get around to reading a couple of the later issues that tied into John Byrne’s Fantastic Four run. Though, oddly enough, this mini-series, which I inexplicably bought off the rack, still remains a favorite.


Most of the three-packs shown here contain the first three issues of their respective series, but this Buck Rogers pack, featuring comics based on the Gil Gerard TV show, holds issue #2 – #4. According to the interesting publishing notes on this Grand Comics Database entry, the numbering of the series picked up from the previous Buck Rogers series published by Gold Key back in 1964. So, you know, just 15 years between issues. I wonder if any of the kids buying Buck Rogers #2 in 1979 were driven crazy, desperately seeking that first issue, thinking they were missing some exciting four-color adventure starring Gerard and Erin Gray and Twiki. Plus, according to that same entry, #10 of the series also went AWOL, just to pick up a few of the Buck Rogers fanboy stragglers not yet driven to madness by the lack of an obvious #1.

Progressive Ruin presents…the End of Civilization.

filed under Categories End of Civilization 17 Comments

Well, saddle up, pardner, as it’s time to lasso up some new, um, stuff out of this…okay, I’ve already lost the thread on the whole cowboy intro thing, so let’s just get cracking on what awaits us in the newest Diamond Previews, May 2013 edition. Grab your copy and follow along:

p. 128 – Batman ’66 #1:


Okay, this doesn’t really represent the End of Civilization, since this is absolutely fantastic, but I am pretty sure Hell has frozen over.

p. 135 – Batman The Court of Owls Book and Mask Set:


Okay, that’s all well and good, but honestly, DC, where’s your Justice League Versus Starro Book and Mask Set?


I mean COME ON.

p. 133 – Batman Vol. 3 Death of the Family HC:


Okay, I’m presenting this one a little out of order just to emphasize how lucky we were this particular storyline didn’t come out as a book and mask set.

p. 153 – Superman & Wonder Woman “The Kiss” Statue:


Hey, remember that time Supes and Wonder Woman were shrunk down by Brainiac and they shared a smooch on top of a “giant” pile of popcorn? Man, this New 52 sure is somethin’.

p. 157 – Before Watchmen Ozymandias Statue:


Painstakingly sculpted and hand-painted, coated with a glaze of Alan Moore’s tears.

p. 261 – Peanuts Ultra Detail Figures:


“Gothic Brown, you blockhead!”

p. 380 – Doctor Who The Complete Guide SC:


“Whew! Finally finished writing this book! I’ve successfully and completely covered all fifty years of Doctor Who’s history!”

“Uh, Mark, there’s a new episode next Saturday.”

“OH SON OF A BITCH”

p. 388 – William Shakespeare’s Star Wars HC:


Ah, Shakespeare in the original Star Warsian. I don’t see how any sci-fi fan could have a problem with…


…Uh oh.

Oh, well, maybe J.J. Abrams can resolve this in his eventual Star Wars/Star Trek crossover movie.

p. 392 – American Horror Story Trading Cards:


Oh please let there be costume prop cards with little bits of the black leather body suit embedded in them. “Oooh, this one’s still moist with sweat!”

p. 396 – Doctor Who “Future Companion” T-Shirt:


“I hope I’m the one with the unrequited love for the Doctor!” “I hope I’m the one with a mysterious past that they keep teasing everyone about all season!” “I hope I’m the one who totally overstays my welcome but they keep bringing me back anyway!”

p. 399 – Man-Thing Indigo Black T-Shirt:


I’m not sure I’m quite ready to tool (heh) around town with “MAN-THING” plastered across my chest. And I’m sure we’re all anxiously awaiting the obvious “Giant-Size Man-Thing” joke, but I’m not going to tell it. YOU TELL IT.

Also (ahem) Man-Thing on that shirt has the wrong number of fingers and also while Man-Thing’s touch can burn you as implied by the ad copy over the image, the burning sensation is triggered by fear, not love, and Man-Thing himself can’t feel love as he is an emotionless, mindless beast only responding to the feelings of others. …YOU’VE BEEN PEDANTED, OH YEAH

p. 405 – Robin R.I.P. T-Shirt, Robin Symbol Youth T-Shirt, Robin Symbol T-Shirt (not pictured):


One, the dead Robin shirt is kind of weird. Try explaining this to the uninitiated. “Well, Robin died…not, not that Robin. Or that Robin. …Batman’s son. Yeah, with Talia. …Okay, lemme ‘splain Talia….” Two, I’m reasonably certain that the not-pictured Robin Symbol T-Shirt looks relatively similar to the Robin Symbol Youth T-Shirt (pictured). Okay, maybe the “R” is a little larger in relation to the rest of the shirt, but, c’mon.

And “Robin takes a dive?” So you’re saying he…faked his death? IS THIS SHIRT AD A SPOILER?

p. 424 – TYO X USPS Mini Drop Box:


When I was but a young Mikester, I actually had a toy metal mailbox that was, oh, I don’t know, about a foot tall, that I played with. A lot.

Look, this is what kids did before they all had their Grand Theft Portals and their Zunedroids.

p. 438 – The Hobbit The Goblin King Mini-Bust:


“Hmmm…I don’t think I can sign off on this quite yet.”

“Ah, give us a break, Goblin King, it looks just like you.”

“WHAT? Look, that’s not flattering at all. Here, you need me to make me look more like this. Lemme DM you a picture.”


“Yeah, okay, Goblin King, we’ll get right on that.”

p. 440 – Star Wars Grand Admiral Thrawn Mini-Bust:


“Hey, Bill, I don’t remember any of the guys in Avatar looking like that.”

“IT’S NOT FROM…sigh, never mind.”

p. 452 – Doctor Who Dalek Head Torch Booklight:


Affixing a light to your kid’s head with a strap that reads “EXTERMINATE!” Sure, why not. And why this isn’t a representation of a Dalek eyestalk, I have no idea, aside from kids probably having to hold their books out at arm’s length for the light to be used properly.

p. 460 – Star Wars Collector’s Watches:


Designs include Darth Vader (breathes heavily instead of ticks), Stormtrooper (time’s never quite on target), and Boba Fett (alarm mode: screams once, falls off your wrist). NOT SHOWN: the Chewbacca design (just completely covered in hair).

p. 479 – Doctor Who Sonic Screwdriver Toothbrush:


Man, that one year where the Doctor regenerated into a toothbrush was really weird. And let’s face it, his tiny toothbrush companion was really just gilding the lily.

p. 495 – Firefly The Game:


Sadly, no one ever wins because the game always gets cancelled a few moves in.

p. 497 – Monopoly My Little Pony Edition Boxed Game:


Do not pass GO…no, really, don’t pass GO, there’s a bunch of adult male Bronies there, I don’t want you hanging out with them.

p. 497 – Monopoly Power Rangers 20th Anniversary Edition Board Game:


Do not pass GO, do not be amazed that this thing’s been goin’ on for twenty freakin’ years.

p. 497 – Monopoly Skylanders Edition Board Game:


Do not pass GO, do not…um, look, I don’t know what the hell this is. I’m old.

Marvel Previews p. 70 – Wolverine In The Flesh #1:


“Reality star Chris Cosentino tells a tale about Wolverine and food like only a Top Chef Master can!”

Hey, maybe they can get Stan what’s-his-name from that Who Wants to Be A Superhero reality show to write a comic for them next!

“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!