If I use any more “quotation marks,” I’m going to turn into a “Jack Kirby” script.

filed under Categories pal plugging, retailing 1 Comment

 

  • There’s really nothing quite like standing there and feeling the covers to multiple copies of R. Crumb’s Big Ass Comics #1, trying to determine the relative glossiness of the cover stock (which indicates what printing the book is, according to the Underground Price Guide), and then noticing someone is watching you do this with a “what the hell are you doing?” look in his eye. “Just can’t get enough of these sexy, sexy vulture women,” sez I.

  • Thanks to DC sticking to their strict new scheduling for the New 52 books, last week was a “skip week,” meaning no New 52 books on the stands. Seeing as how it’s been a while since we’ve had a real skip week, giving the general publishing strategy of “get it out there as soon as it’s ready” that everyone seemed to be following, I’ve had to explain the concept of “skip weeks” several times over the last few days. Not just to folks coming in for the new Action Comics, but to some of the newer employees as well. …At least there was no “fifth week event” to fill the shelves this time around, and some of my customers were grateful for the break.

  • Speaking of things that came out last week, the Gumby Arthur Adams Specials trade paperback apparently had some behind-the-scenes shenanigans going on, as it was released with big ol’ color stickers over the logos, replacing them with a logo that reads “Gumby Spring Specials.” (And, as Greg notes, neither of the comics reprinted inside were “Spring Specials,” so…huh?) One sticker on the front cover, another sticker on the back cover, one on the copyright page inside, and “Arthur Adams” inked out on the spine. …Hopefully, this will be returnable, since it was going to be a hard sell at $12.99 as it was for this thin digest. The stickers are just going to make it more difficult. Too bad, as it is absolutely wonderful cartooning from Adams, with scripts by Bob Burden and Steve Purcell, which totally deserves being kept in print. With any luck, a future edition will be sticker-free.

  • And this has nothing to do with funnybook retailing, but I wanted to note that pals Dor and Ken have trailer reviews up. Always a good read.

Even that logo is amazing.

filed under Categories found art 5 Comments

I don’t mind having piles of comics we don’t need dumped on us, so long as I find original fan art like this mixed in with them:


There is nothing about this I don’t love.

(This doesn’t mean that I will happily take your long boxes of Youngblood Strikefile on the off-chance there might be one of your drawings of Crypt in there, by the way.)

Progressive Ruin presents…the End of Civilization.

filed under Categories End of Civilization 15 Comments

It’s like Christmas Day without bags full of ripped-up wrapping paper or any actual stuff in your possession…it’s the End of Civilization, where I poke through our distributor’s catalog and point out the best and the brightest of the items offered therein. Or at least the items I can make a smart-ass comment about. Bust out your copies of the December 2011 edition of Diamond Previews and follow along, why don’t you already:

p. 142 – Starcraft Premium Series 2 Collectible Figures:


“Moooom! This jacket’s way too big for me!”

“Oh, don’t worry, son…you’ll grow into it.”

p. 207 – Pigs #6:


…The same Previews that let this through last month:

p. 215 – Marvel Select Avengers Movie Hawkeye and Hulk Action Figures:


Thank goodness they used a whole page to show us the figures weren’t ready to be shown. Well, it’s just one page out of the solicitations…no big deal.

p. 228 – Richie Rich Valentine’s Day Special 2012 One-Shot:


The inherent tragedy of Richie Rich: never knowing if he is truly loved for who he is, or simply loved for his money. EVERY VALENTINE’S DAY: wallowing in rampant consumerism and shallow meaningless relationships, showering others in gifts while ignoring the nagging doubts, and the gaping emptiness, in his heart.

p. 337 – Batman Bat Signal Kit:


If you light up this two-inch high Bat Signal replica, one of the Borrowers turns up in his homemade Batman outfit, who then fights the Indian in the Cupboard, who is inexplicably dressed as the Penguin. …Hey, I don’t make it up, I just report it.

p. 337 – DC Superhero Figurine Collection Magazine Special – Swamp Thing:


Oh, and it has to be one of the larger statuettes, making this one of the $38 specials, and not the regular $14 mag. You bastards.

p. 348 – Angry Birds Bad Piggies’ Egg Recipes HC:


Recipes presumably created by Piggies experimenting upon the eggs they eggnapped from the Angry Birds, which is the reason the Birds are so Angry in the first place. …Surely this is a Geneva Convention violation of some sort.

p. 358 – Superhero X-Ray T-shirts:


They should do a Plastic Man version of one of these shirts, just so we could see what the hell is going on in there. Or maybe Bouncing Boy.

p. 363 – Green Lantern “Classic Word” Snap Back Cap:


If only this were actually how the logo was mounted on the hat. And it could spin around like a propeller. With a whistling noise, like this: “WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE”

p. 366 – Marvel Select Avengers Movie Hawkeye and Hulk Action Figures:


Oh, say…a second full page devoted to not showing you the figures which apparently weren’t ready at press time. But hey, what’s two catalog pages between friends, right?

p. 373 – Hope Diamond Barbie Doll:


Sadly, the Hope Diamond Curse struck again, as Hope Diamond Barbie was attacked and killed by a pack of wild dogs while visiting Moscow.

p. 373 – Hot Wheels Video Racer Micro Camera Car:

“Hot Wheels Video Racer cars are the first 1:64 track-compatible cars with a fully functional camera encased in the body! Using the clips and straps provided, it can be also attached to bikes, helmets, skateboards – nearly anything that moves! […] Video can be easily edited…and shared to show off your thrilling race footage with friends and family!”

“And now…presenting our remake of Fantastic Voyage, starring our Great Dane, Barkimus!”

p. 388 – Star Wars Kenner Walrus Man 12-Inch Action Figure:


This is unholy.

p. 394 – Star Wars General Veers Mini-Bust:


This is someone’s favorite Star Wars character. …That person’s time has come.

p. 406 – Cars 2 Mater & Speed McQueen Be@rbrick 2-Pack:


You wouldn’t think seeing the Cars characters in human form would be as upsetting as it is, but it is. Oh Lordy.

p. 406 – Star Trek Khan Noonien Singh Maxi Bust:


You’re darned tootin’ this is a Maxi Bust. Ricardo Montalban’s chestiest performance, immortalized in this most manly of statues.

Marvel Previews p. 75 – Marvel Select Avengers Movie Hawkeye and Hulk Action Figures:


What is the mystery of…”Hawkeye” and “the Hulk?” What secrets are they hiding? Are they friends…or foes? Surely this third full page ad will whet your appetite for these two exciting new characters!
 
 
 

Special thanks to Evil Bully for tracking down that Boys scan.

Decided I needed to beef up the “Gelatinous Cube” category a bit.

filed under Categories gelatinous cube 4 Comments

Just get your hands on card #577 from the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition 1991 Trading Cards Set:


…and paste it into that big ol’ blank space next to the Gelatinous Cube entry in your first edition Monster Manual (provided you haven’t already supplied an illustration of your own), and you’re all set.

Yes, yes, I know that means crossing the 1st Edition/2nd Edition AD&D streams. Don’t you rules-lawyer me.

Yes, it’s another links post…sorry, been busy.

filed under Categories sir-links-a-lot 5 Comments

 

From the backroom of misfit toys.

filed under Categories misfit toys, wolverine 3 Comments

Well, it’s not really a “toy” as the term is generally used, and it’s not an item that’s been sitting around in our backroom for years and years (it’s from a box of another store’s stock dumped at our shop), so I’m abusing the title a bit, I guess. But it’s certainly a misfit item:


I don’t know if anyone’s still doing the mini CD-ROM “multimedia collector cards” thing, but I seem to recall a number of releases along these lines about ten years ago. (My particular favorites were the randomly-packed “chase card” die-cut CD-ROMs that came with this Star Trek set.)

Anyway, as it says there, the CD (dated 2002) contains screen savers and desktop pics and “hotlinks to websites” that are probably defunct (aside from Marvel.com, if it’s there), and “Motion Comics,” which, sight unseen, I can safely guess are likely terrible.

And it’s in the 3-inch format, so you gotta tray-load this sucker:


…which means, even if I wanted to open the package and check it out (which I’m not, since I’m throwing this bad boy on the eBay) I can’t put this in the front-loading slot drive on my Mac. I suppose I could bust out the old 3-inch CD adapter plastic ring (originally bought back in — ’87? — to play the original They Might be Giants “Don’t Let’s Start” 3-inch C-Dingle on my first CD player) but I wouldn’t want to run the risk of the disc coming loose from the adapter and spending the rest of the day trying to fish it out and boy am I on a tangent.

This is the first of a planned six, it seems:


“Collect all VI.” Oh you guys. Anyway, a brief Googling only turns up this same disc, so maybe that’s all that came out? I’m sure if someone out there did buy all VI, they’ll let me know.

Questions I am asked at the store.

filed under Categories retailing 7 Comments

So I had a phone call from one of regular customers, who asked “which side of Composite Superman is the Superman side?” I wasn’t able to get on the computer and check at the time (and I didn’t ask why he didn’t Google it up), but, well, I had to think about it for just a second. We all know half of Composite Superman looks like Superman, and the other half looks like Batman…but after not having read a Composite Superman story in a while, and not having looked at a Composite Superman action figure lately either, I wasn’t able to answer the gentleman with 100% confidence.

I did give him a reasonably-certain “his right side” and, when I got a chance to hop onto the internettings, I discovered I was correct:


…And the return appearances of the Composite Superman in the ’60s and ’80s, despite being a different Composite Superman at least one of those times, retained the same arrangement:


However, my goo-goo-Googling-about revealed images of a Compy Supey (as his pals call him) with the sides reversed, and that appears to be from Superman/Batman Annual #3:


…which of course resulted in that one episode of Star Trek where Kirk landed on a planet of Composite Supermen, and just could not figure out why some of the Composite Supermen hated each other so much.

Anyway, I’m glad I was able to come through with the more-or-less correct answer for that customer.

Here’s a question another customer asked:

“How come there aren’t any Miracleman trades out?”

My response: “rights issues.” …For this particular query, sometimes that’s a better response than getting into all this hoohar.

 

images from The Grand Comics Database

Another sign of age is saying “I can dig it.”

filed under Categories old, retailing, run-on fun-on 2 Comments

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)