This comic

is now 20 years old.

I’m only reminded of this because the Mephisto action figure came out today, and the packaging prominently features the above cover.

This is making me feel old, for some reason.

So let’s see what happens: our orders for the second printing of Captain America #25 come in today, and now that the general non-comic-reading public has pretty much forgotten about the “death,” I’m sort of interested to see how these reprints are going to sell to the regular funnybook-fan clientele.

There’s always that percentage of the customer base that’ll buy variant covers, since this second printing will feature a new image (or at least a differently-colored one…I don’t remember which, and don’t really feel like looking it up at the moment, since I’ll find out in a few hours anyway when I break down our shipment).

Then there’s the percentage who won’t be interested in the second printing, because it “won’t be worth as much.”

Then there’s the percentage who will be especially interested in buying the second printings, because they’re presumably “rarer” than the first printing…scarcer supply meaning higher potential price increase, supposedly. Though I wonder what the print run was on the reprint of #25…if folks ordered it while that brief period of panic buying was underway, it’s possible that the print run may be fairly close to that of the first print. I know that we ordered fairly large numbers on the reprint, at first…in comparison, when the Death of Superman issue went into second, third, and even fourth printings, we still had plenty of demand for any printing of the comic. However, when order adjustment time came for the Cap #25 reprint, it was obvious that the huge demand by the general pubic had dwindled to nothing, and we cut our orders down a bit to take that into account.

Oh, and then there’s the percentage of folks who just plain want to read the comic, and couldn’t give a rat’s tuckus what printing the comic is. I imagine there might be a few people like this out there somewhere.

Of course, the real trick is seeing what sales are going to be like on Captain America #26 and up, as well as the “Fallen Son” tie-ins. Given that the general public is no longer interested, and that even a large portion of them are now convinced that Captain America is no longer being published (as per the many requests we received for “the last Captain America”), any increase in sales is going to come from people who are already comic book readers. And that’s going to depend on them freeing up extra cash in their comic budgets, and just how much “big comic event fatigue” they’re experiencing, and so on.

…

I know this is all painfully obvious stuff, but sometimes I just need to get it out of my system. Oh, if only I had some kind of, I don’t know, “blog” that would allow me to write about such things.

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In other news:

I’d better mention the interview with John Totleben about his Swamp Thing work or my Swamp Thing Fan Club card is going to get taken away.

LOOK UPON BOOKSTEVE’S KERRY DRAKE BOOP AND DESPAIR.

Nerd rockers Ookla the Mok have new versions of a couple old songs on their Myspace page (one new recording, one new remixing). Have I told you that I love this band? I love this band.

Well, for those of you keeping up with STERLING BACK WATCH 2007, you’ll be pleased to know that, aside from some minor soreness, I seem to be recovering quite nicely from my injury and now I’m able to do things like sit, walk, put on socks in less than, oh, say, ten minutes’ time…things like that.

Some minor weblog business: I finally got around to having some kind of indicator for newly-added links in the sidebar. I thought about doing what pal Dorian did, and just having a separate “Latest Links” section, but I think coloring the new links red is…well, probably a bit obnoxious, but they certainly stand out, don’t they? I may have to reconsider the color.

Plus, I’m going to plug them here, too: first we have Bahlactus, as immortalized in The Rack; customer Weshoyot, who’s been doing some funnybook work for Archaic Comics, among others (and drew a way cool Hellboy sketch for Employee Aaron); and Siskoid’s Blog of Geekery, which I plugged a few days ago, and has now moved on to reviewing Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes. Right on.

Another new link in that sidebar is to BeaucoupKevin’s new forum. Yes, Kevin Church is moderating a new comics forum, the poor, poor bastard. He’s a mean drunk, and he’ll rule this forum with an iron fist (the hand not holding the shot glass), so that gave me the confidence to register. Because, you know, I just don’t get to talk about comics enough.

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So people do like the Pizzazz judging by reaction to my post from Saturday. I bought the mag off the newsstands…actually, at the local grocery store…for quite a while before breaking down and springing for the subscription. However, like commenter Mike, I subscribed just in time for the mag to get cancelled, and I was given the option to have the rest of the sub filled with another Marvel comic (Amazing Spider-Man in my case: issues 197-205, if I recall correctly).

I caught on to Pizzazz very early on, but I don’t remember ever seeing any of the “Dream Dimension” articles promised in the subscription ad. It’s possible they were in issues prior to my discovering the magazine, or I just don’t recall them, but like most of the other commenters, I would love to have seen them. It’d be like a proto-Roarin’ Rick’s Rare Bit Fiends, or, more accurately, a proto-Slow Wave. I’m picturing Sal Buscema drawing a reader-submitted dream strip about, say, missing a certain class for most of the school year, and finally showing up on the day of the final. Or a John Romita-drawn dream of the reader falling naked into school with his mother, while eating a banana. That sort of thing.

I do like the use of the phrases “Dynamite comics!” and Mad humor!” in that subscription ad…not so subtle references to competing magazines, I’m thinking. I can verify, however, that the magazines were indeed “mailed flat!” At least, until they were rolled up and shoved into our mailbox.

Alas, I no longer have any of my copies in the Vast Mikester Comic Archives, having long since read my copies to pieces. And even my place of employment is bereft of Pizzazz-ery. Which is probably just as well…I loved these mags as a kid, and I just as soon would keep those fond memories rather than look at them today and think “Wow…I actually liked this?”

However, I was able to find this scan online, featuring what may very well be one of my favorite magazine cover gags of all time:

This always, always, gets a laugh out of me. The sheer audacity….

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So long, Marshall.

Thanks to everyone for the comments and especially all the e-mail I received over the last day. I really appreciate it. My back is feeling much better today, but I’m still going to need to take it easy and not aggravate the injury again.

In the meantime, a few store notes:

I just noticed we went from having about 70 copies of Amazing Spider-Man #252 (the first appearance of Spidey’s black costume) in our backstock, to having NO copies of #252. We sold them all over about a month’s time.

Thank you, Spider-Man 3!

Also:

The side effect of the new Free Comic Book Day promo materials that say “1st Saturday in May” is that customers look at them and say “Oh, hey, Free Comic Book Day…May 1st!” (and not “May 5th” which is what it says along the bottom of the shirts, pins, etc.).

Also:

The one time Marvel doesn’t immediately crank out a collection for a recently or nearly completed storyline is also the one time I’m actually experiencing demand for a trade paperback from Marvel. In this case, for Planet Hulk. There’s a hardcover collection of the whole series coming, but I probably could have sold tons of a paperback reprinting, say, the first half of the storyline, which could have driven higher sales on later issues of “Planet Hulk.”

A forty dollar hardcover reprinting the whole shebang may be a good deal, and a handsome package, but given how past Marvel hardcovers of this type have sold, I’m thinking this may not be what our customers want. I expect to hear a lot of “I’ll wait for the paperback, thanks.”

Also:

A week or so ago, I managed to injure my back, and I was well on the way to getting better when I managed to do something stupid and set myself back to square one.

Thus, sitting at the computotron and typing is not a good idea at the moment. I am feeling better than I was yesterday, so hopefully I’ll be back to normal soon and able to provide real content again, rather than just posts like this and, um, a YouTube-riffic post I may be doing tomorrow.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll talk to you folks (and answer your e-mails!) again soon.

Wow:

“Buffy Season 8 #1 Set Both Covers Variants
Come and Get It Mouth Breathers! Fast Shipping!”

Okay, I’ll admit I’ve had days like this, but I don’t think I’d outright say something like that in the title of my eBay auction.

EDIT: Thought I’d save a screenshot for posterity:

Also…if you’re going to sell something by Neil Gaiman on the eBay, it may behoove you to spell both “Neil” and “Gaiman” correctly, and not spell them as “Niel” and “Gaimon.”

Pal JP, inspired by my Heap post, has put up a full classic Heap story for your bemusement.

Via Johanna: a 3 Geeks movie is in the works! Here’s the teaser site, and the site of the 3 Geeks’ creator Rich Koslowski.

And, just for some much-needed Swamp Thing content…a trio of interesting visual interpretations of everyone’s favorite muck-encrusted mockery of a man.

“Marvel in the Middle East”

“Bam. Zap. Splat. Kpow!

“Fans of comic book superheroes Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four and the X-Men will be able to see their favourite characters when a new theme park opens in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates by 2011.”

[…]

“‘Marvel is a brand that is recognized globally via its ever expanding list of superhero characters,’ said Mohamed Khammas, head of the Al Ahli Group, in a statement.

“‘Now, it won’t be much longer until the children in Pan Arabia and the world can experience new and exciting rides with Marvel’s Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, the Fantastic Four and many other superheroes right here in the UAE.'”

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“Hints for super pollies”

“It must be difficult going to bed one day thinking you’re an ordinary person. Sniff! Scratch! Yawn!

“But then wake up with supernatural powers. Eee-yow! Zap! Kerplop!

“But this is an election year and all politicians must go through this super hero transformation, especially party leaders. Wham! Bam! But no thank you ma’am.”

[…]

“Whoosh! Whoopee! As the election campaigning heats up, you see super hero powers emerging.

“Super John, aka Bland Man, dons a green and gold tracksuit and walks at an unruffled pace to save any Aussie in trouble anywhere in Australia.

“Whereas Captain Kevin, aka Neat Man, has shown such well-groomed poise under trying media conditions that he could give master classes on how to keep your hair in place in a cyclone.”

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In the “I’m totally jealous of this guy” department: “The comic book guy”

“This 73-year-old publisher can hardly wait to get to work every morning – it keeps him young.

“Comic book hero The Phantom may enjoy worldwide kudos as ‘the man who cannot die’ but his Australian publisher Jim Shepherd could perhaps be equally well celebrated as ‘the boy who never grew up.'”

[…]

“‘I can hardly wait to get to the office every morning,’ Shepherd says. ‘Right at this very minute I’m looking at a pile of artwork that dates back to 1939, just making sure that every single page is there. It keeps you young, it really does.'”

Employee Jeff: “Hey, that ‘Spoon!’ t-shirt…is it a Tick t-shirt?”

Me: “No, it’s a shirt for fans of silverware.”

Jeff: “Did you say ‘Civil Ware?'”

Me: “‘Which Side of the Dinner Plate Are You On?'”

Employee Aaron: “‘I’m with Spork!'”

Me: “‘Oh, no, someone’s killed Lazy Susan!'”

…

Okay, a Lazy Susan isn’t silverware, you got me.

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Finally got our restock of Captain America #25 in time for new comics day, delayed as it was by an error either at UPS or our distributor…I never did get the straight story on that. At any rate, the comics were here in time for that window for sales to folks who don’t normally buy comics to be pretty much closed. We still did brisk business in them, however, but mostly to the regular funnybook fans who missed out a couple weeks ago.

Oddly, we also received an extra ten copies of this issue with our regular weekly new comics order, with no mention of them on our invoice.

I did have one fellow look at the copies on the shelf and ask me “are these really cover price? And they’re first printings? Really?”

We also received our restock of Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 #1…because of the much-publicized second printing, I put a little sign by our restock stating that these were, indeed, first printings, because I didn’t feel like answering that question all day. And, granted, we’ve only had them back in stock since Wednesday, but nobody seemed to care. Uh, oh. Maybe we did order just enough copies the first time around.

Okay, I’m panicking too early…I’ve had enough requests for the new Buffy comic since our sell-out last week that I’m reasonably certain we’ll move most of these extra copies. Plus, with several more issues to go, having a wee bit of stock for the back issue bins isn’t a bad idea.

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I was chatting with former employee Nathan, who stopped by the shop yesterday, and as he was regaling us with his brushes with celebrities in his new stomping grounds of San Francisco, I was reminded of two incidents of celebrities in our store that I’ll relate to you, primarily because they both make me look dumb:

1. A bearded man in a heavy jacket and a baseball cap was lurking about the front of the store, poking through some of our newspaper strip reprint books and looking a tad suspicious. I kept half an eye on him, making sure he wasn’t “accidentally” putting some of our books into his jacket. Eventually, he gathered up some books and took them to the counter, where pal Dorian took care of the transaction.

After the man had left, Dorian asked me, “Hey, did you know who that was?” I didn’t, and Dorian told me that the man was John Ritter, who, at the time, was performing a play at a small theatre down the street from us.

Yes, I thought John Ritter, God rest his soul, was a potential shoplifter. Yes, I felt like a jerk.

2. Shorter story: John (Dukes of Hazzard, Smallville, Speed Zone) Schneider came into our store, I looked him straight in the face, and I didn’t recognize him. Again, celebrity spotter Dorian knew who it was right off, but not me, the guy who actually watched Smallville every week.

Sad, really.

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So long, Calvert