So I understand there’s a new Superman movie coming out…

…as evidenced by this auction found on the eBay:

“Superman Returns KFC Limited Variant Bucket”

“This special collectable bucket from Kentucky Fried Chicken displays scenes from the new movie Superman Returns, is a super addition to any Superman fan’s collection. Picture shows the scenes as depicted around the bucket. A variant design which is hard to find.”

I so want to make fun of collecting buckets from Kentucky Fried Chicken, but I, um, sell funnybooks for a living, so “calling the kettle black” and all that.


And there’s a Spider-Man 3 teaser trailer out, and yes, it looks like we’re getting Sandman, the black Venom-esque costume, Harry as the Goblin, and a new expression for Tobey Maguire:


And now, for no good reason whatsoever, a subject near and dear to my heart:

“Meet Any Weird People At a Comic Shop?”

“There’s a Jamaican guy at mine. Seeing as I’m from Nova Scotia, it’s kinda funny.”

“That same day I also had to mediate (i.e. kick out temporarilly!!!) two Green Lantern fans that were arguing(ie yelling at the top of their lungs!!!) over Hal vs Kyle!!!! These guys were regular customers who went a little nuts.”

“I happen to have a CIA Operative, working DEEP undercover (so don’t tell anybody!), shopping at the comic store I frequent.”

“At my neighborhood comic shop there’s this gawky 6’1″ acne-fied sales/stock girl who all at once channels Blossom meets Daria meets Alice the Goon. As if that wasn’t jarring enough, she walks around the comic store in an ILL-fitted Wonder Woman costume and calls herself ‘Diana of Themyscira of Earth 17.’ I kid you not.”

“I’ll always remember the guy who was looking at a D&D calendar featuring some cheesy good-girl art. He licked his lips and, with a natural lisp, said ‘mmm…nith firm breathts…’, and then stroked the painting’s chest area for a moment.”

“I met this weirdo once who liked All-Star Batman and Jason Todd’s return. I had to cover my son’s eyes. Talk about a weird things going on in that guy’s brain.”

“He had a fixation of Hitler openly talked about dying the same way Hitler did. This fellow said he had a complete German uniform for the day he was going to kill himself, I spoke to the owner about him and the owner said that he really didn’t like the guy coming into the shop but he thought the guy was harmless”

“I saw two women in the comic shop at the same time yesterday. That was pretty weird.”

Too tired to do a real post.

If you’d like to see the cover of another of my vintage Comic Reader fanzines, hie yourself hither to Neilalien and check out this recent post. I think you’ll see why I passed it along to him.


Found on the eBay:

“#3 HOT SEXY CATWOMEN NUDE COVER APPEARANCE DC COMICS NM”

“THIS COVER SAYS IT ALL!!

HOT SEXY NUDE!!!

NEED I SAY MORE!!”

No, I suppose not. Except no one is actually nude on the cover…well, it was drawn by Jim Balent (link probably not safe for work), so I guess I can see where the mistake can be made. Or maybe she’s nekkid inside…that’s probably a safe bet.

“Moon Knight # 5, MK is NOT the Poor-Man’s Batman !!”

Okay, he’s NOT. Geez.

“Rare Lil Abner Figural Glass Blue Shmoo Bank”


I know I talked about Shmoos relatively recently, but I found that auction on the eBay and had to share. Ended at over $300, too. And definitely not a bong, officer.

"You’ll get to doing a post all about Kitty Pryde by about 2017 at this rate, Mike." – pal Mojo_IV

The Marvel Universe entry on Kitty Pryde…and here’s an entry on the “Fairy Tale” version of the character.

The Catbox…Home to All Things Kitty … watch out for the embedded sound file.

Interview with Ellen Page, who played Kitty in X-Men: The Last Stand.

LiveJournal Kitty Pryde fan community — more icons than you can shake a mutant at.

The Urban Dictionary definition, which, alas, isn’t something completely dirty and horrifying.

The Kitty Pryde and Lockheed bust.

Joss Whedon quoted as saying that Kitty influenced his creation of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

A thread on my all-time favorite message board, Killer Movies, discussing the Kitty and Iceman kissing scene from the third X-Men movie. At least, it starts out that way, until the posters’ miscellaneous fantasies come into play:

“She is hot, it wasn’t Bobby she was kissing it was me.”

“No it was me, they decided I don’t need a stunt double.”

“you guys were kissing …um… fake kittys the real kitty/ellen page was in my trailer with me.”

“can u guys get over urselves, she hasnt even met any of u, u should stay on topic about kitty and bobby, not ur own fantasies, there is a thread in the off topic forum about that”

Pics of Ellen Page as Kitty Pryde from the third X-film.

Someone trying to trade a Kitty Pryde figure for a Swamp Thing figure. Good show, sir.

“These are logs of roleplay on Project Infinity, a text-based online RPG. I play Kitty Pryde there, a young woman sometimes better known as Shadowcat. Kitty is not by any means my original creation; she belongs to Marvel Comics. The take on her is original, though, as this Kitty’s timeline diverges from mainstream continuity close to twenty RL years’ worth of comics ago.” May I recommend this story: “Pete, Kitty, and John Constantine run into Steve Rogers in Chinatown.”

Kitty Pryde mod for Sims 2.

A discussion of Kitty’s Jewish faith.

…And on a related note: JEWS KICK A$$ (Kitty Pryde Edition). (YTMND link, and therefore noisy.)

Synopses of Kitty Pryde: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Kitty Pryde & Wolverine. She’s a secret agent and a ninja!

“This is an opinion that is probably very unpopular among readers of Marvel comics but…I don’t like Kitty Pryde.”

Nice Casey Jones sketch.

“Kitty Pryde. Lonely. Tissues.” No, it’s not what you think.

Kittypryde.com goes to a Warhammer 40,000 weblog. Wha-huh?

X-Entertainment takes on the Pryde of the X-Men cartoon.

I don’t think this is supposed to be the X-Men’s Kitty Pryde, especially since there are references to Starfleet in some of the entries, but I’m going to pretend it is, because it’s funnier:

“Bare breasted, my chest only crossed by the straps of my twin blades, in tight leather pants, stradleing an unconcious man. His buddies lay dead not more then five feet behind him.”

“Blood. Blood on my clothes, blood on my hands, blood in my mouth. I taste blood and it excites me. I haven’t felt this thrill in a long long time. The animal that was caged inside of me is barely being restrained. I’ve killed two men today, severly injured another as well as stripping him of his clothes and what little dignity he had with my bare claws.”

The body of this Kitty Pryde custom action figure comes from an Aunt May figure. So how does that make you feel?

Approximately one kazillion Kitty Micro-Heroes.

Discussion of Colossus’ inappropriate advances toward Kitty in Uncanny X-Men #165.

Speaking of “inappropriate” — “Kitty Pryde and Coloss X-men Original Sketch Pinup Art.” Not safe for work, probably.

A character overview of Kitty from X-Men: Evolution. The main site has embedded sound, but also has the greatest animated gif ever at the bottom of the page. (You may have to click away a Tripod password dialog box.)

In the “don’t hold your breath” department: “David O. Russell is now considering a spin-off based around Kitty Pryde…”

“Yeay!!! I am dead pleased to hear that, and i can only imagine hwat one Ms KittyPryde must feel about it! Personally I think I’d be more excited to see that than either Wolverine OR Magneto…GOSH.”

“who is this david o Russell?? because I LOVE him, I need to tell him he has such good ideas, no not good BRILLIENT. Oh my gosh movie based around Kitty pryde […] I wonder what they will do?? Days of future past? somthing from astonishing? Shadow and flame!?”

A “9.9” CGC-graded copy of Kitty Pryde and Wolverine #2. In other news, someone sent in a copy of Kitty Pryde and Wolverine #2 to be “professionally graded.”

Phantom Girl (of the Legion of Super-Heroes) versus Kitty Pryde…who would win? WHO?

“Sure, Kitty’s got ninja training, but if her opponent can’t be touched, then it ain’t happening. Unless… when two intangible-turning-people both turn intangible, can they hit each other while they’re intangible? Cause maybe they’re… geez, I dunno…”

Comics Should Be Good tells you about the real Kitty Pryde (about halfway down the page).

“Welcome to the exclusive fanfiction archive dedicated to Kitty Pryde (Shawdowcat)” [sic] “& Lance Alvers (Avalanche) of X-Men: Evolution.”

And if the fanfic about Kitty ‘n’ Lance isn’t enough, have a video:

More answers.

Here are a few straggling questions from the original comments section and the comments section for my initial post of replies.

By the way, if you run a weblog, and you’re a bit under the weather one day, asking your readers to supply questions for you to answer is no way to take a break from the site. Sheesh, that’ll learn me.


Chance: “What are Ace (of the Ambiguously Gay Duo)’s powers?”

According to the Wikipedia entry, Ace has powers on par with Superman’s. Flight, heat vision, tight-fitting costume, the works.


Chris “Lefty” Brown: “1) Mike what new cd is currently making your ears sing, and what we must run out and purchase?

No Business by Negativland.

“2)What’s the best 4 issue miniseries? Six issue? And 12?”

4 ish – The Phantom Zone by Steve Gerber and Gene Colan.

6 ish – The Mighty Magnor by Sergio Aragones and Mark Evanier.

12 ish – Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.

“3) You get to plot out 12 issues of Swamp Thing. What would be some storyline ideas?”

I don’t know if I have specific ideas, but I’d like to see Swamp Thing merged back into the mainline DC universe. The Moore and Veitch runs cast such a long shadow that everyone who comes on the book is still playing with plot elements from 20 years ago. Besides, I’m a little Vertigoed-out on the character…I think going back in the other direction would be a nice break.

That said…Swamp Thing battles the Swamp Thing of Earth 2, travels into the future to team up with the Legion of Super-Heroes, and then, when he returns to the present, finally has that battle with Hawkman promised at the end of #24 (original series):

Fantastic.

“4) Best superhero villian ever. Who would that be?”


Pal Ian: “If there’s one thing you could change about the Direct Market what would it be?”

An end to Diamond’s effective monopoly of the direct market. More competition would mean, hopefully, improved service…and fewer instances of “whoops, forgot to send you your entire order of Batman…we’ll get it to you in the next week or two.”


Chalk: “Who is your favorite super hero/super villain? I’m well aware of your love for Swamp Thing, but we’re talking traditional ‘men and women in tights’, here.”

I mentioned DOOM above as my favorite villain…my favorite superhero is Superman. How unimaginative, I know.

“How about your favorite bloated, company-wide mega crossover (as much as it may seem the two concepts are, as a rule, mutually incompatible)? Worst crossover ever?”

Best is probably Crisis on Infinite Earths, in terms of art (Perez drawing every character ever? Yes, thank you) and in lasting impact. Worst crossover…DC’s Genesis series. So there’s a wave of energy disrupting superpowers, and, um, something happens, and, uh…BIG FAT WHO CARES.

“In your opinion, what is the biggest positive trend perpetrated by the ‘Big Two’ over the past few years? The worst potential blunder?”

Best trend: Cheap reprinting of older material.

Worst: constant restarting and renumbering of series for short term order increases and readership, as well as continual additions of new titles featuring characters and teams already being published.

“Which non-super person genres would you like to see attain greater prominence on the stands?”

I want more pirate comics. I’d especially want one drawn by Sergio Aragones. How cool would that be?

“J*** B****: Great creator or greatest creator?”

Sorry, I don’t talk about that person on my site any more.


High Priest, Church of Klugman: “Is it true you are actually a ‘big cheater pants’?”

According to this site, I am. And it’s on the internet, so it must be true.

“And what size pants do you wear?”

34 waist, 30 length.


Acorn: “Best Vertigo series current and all-time? Best DC and Marvel ongoings?”

Whew, we’re wrapping this up with the big questions.

Best current Vertigo series? Probably Fables, but I’m biased, since myth and folklore stuff is really right up my alley.

All time? Swamp Thing, natch. Well, okay, it wasn’t always under the Vertigo banner. Preacher was, so we’ll go with that one.

Best current DC title? Hmmmm…I could tick everyone off and say All-Star Batman and Robin (some people don’t like it, but they’re oh so wrong), but I think I’ll say the astounding and beautiful All-Star Superman (with ASB&R a close second).

All time? Sugar and Spike. No doubt.

And now, some answers.

From the comments section of my previous post:

Daniel85: “Do you have a favourite month in comics?”

I suppose if I’d had to to pick one month, it’d be my birth month of March ’69 since I have a comic that was released on that very day.


Gordon: “Is there a comic that you are personally ashamed of having sold? That someone paid good money for, and you knew was less-than-stellar, but for some reason, you never said anything?”

I could go with the cheap, snarky answer — “Anything starring Gambit” — but, no, I’m pretty much live ‘n’ let live with customers’ comics purchasing. If I piped up every time someone was buying something I thought was terrible, we’d never sell any X-Men.

I would have the occasional twinge back in the boom times, when someone would buy, say, 15 copies of the same book…I’d ask “you sure you want this many?” and the reply was always in the affirmative, so, oooookay, thanks for shopping!


Robert: “Any recommendations for TPB’s to pick up? […] I mainly read TPB’s and HC Comic Collections like DC Archives and Marvel Masterworks.”

If you like DC and Marvel’s high-end reprints, you might want to try some of DC’s “themed” reprint books (Crisis on Multiple Earths, with the JLA/JSA team-ups, or the recent Superman Versus Lex Luthor book). If you’re not adverse to black and white, the Essentials and the Showcase volumes are good value.


SanctumSanctorumComix: “Is The End of Civilization coming soon?”

As soon as the new issue of Diamond Previews is out! Usually it’s the Thursday just following its release. (He’s referring to this for any newcomers out there.)


Shane: “Approximately how many comics do you personally own?”

After doing a box count and a rough estimate of about how much each box can hold (an estimate I’m fairly confident about after having counted out 100,000 comics at the shop and stored them in similar boxes), I believe I own about 20,000 comics.

At one point, I was actually trying to keep an exact count of my inventory, but ending up losing track at about 10,000 (as I sold several thousand comics at about that time, and I never got around to subtracting them from the count).


joncormier: “I’ve got the trial for City of Villains and I seem to be blanking on names for some potential characters. Do you think you could help out?”

Wow, I’m terrible at cooking up superhero names. Um, “Chill Pill?” “The Biting Bedbug?” “Menarche?” (Ooh, on second thought, don’t use that one.) “The Vainglorious Bastard?”


Reed Richards: “How would Swamp Thing trisect an angle?”

First he’d grow himself a big ol’ brain to figure it out, then he’d grow a wooden pencil, a wooden compass, and a wooden ruler, then he’d get crackin’.

Also: “How much wood could Swamp Thing chuck, if Swamp Thing could chuck wood?”

Presumably a lot, given his mastery of all plant matter. Though he’d probably just grow and shape it whereever and however he wanted, rather than simply chucking it.


Pal Dorian: “Why do you hate the scene?”

BeaucoupKevin: “Why are you such a scene-hater?”

Because the scene sucks. Have you seen the scene? Blargh.


Bully: “Mike, what’s the first comic you remember getting that inspired the feeling I MUST get the next issue?”

I don’t remember the exact issue, but I’m almost certain it was one of the early issues of Marvel’s Star Wars series that put the bug in me to return to the newstand on a regular basis in order to keep up with the story.


H: “And how about your favorite fanzine of all-time?”

That would be The Comic Reader, which ran from the early ’60s until the early ’80s. A Google search should reveal the number of times I’ve brought it up here!


Derek B. Haas: “On what day of the week did new comics arrive in October, 1982?”

It’s my memory that new comics arrived at comic shops on Friday, though I may be wrong. At newstands and such, at least in my area, the new comics came in on Tuesdays and Thursdays.


Milo: “When are you going to post a review of that RUDY IN HOLLYWOOD collection?”

Oops, I said I was going to review it, didn’t I? I suck.

Here’s a quickie review: it’s good. Glad I bought it.

I’ll post a real review in short order. Honest. I mean it.


Erin: “If you only had one day left to live, what favorite comics would you reread before slipping into eternal bliss?”

Hmmm…I’d probably reread my House of Secrets #92, with the first appearance of Swamp Thing…which is going to be buried with me, by the way. I’d also probably want to read an issue of Groo the Wanderer, since I loves me the Groo, and if I’m gonna go, I’m gonna go with a smile on my face.


David Lawson: “Who would win in a fight between Swamp Thing and Metallo if Metallo has a heart of white kryptonite instead of the usual green kryptonite?”

Swamp Thing. Like Superman ever lost just because Metallo had a green Kryptonite heart.


Nik: “What’s the WORST Swamp Thing story you ever read?”

Hmmm…good question. Probably the “Quest of the Elementals” story (which started here). Swell covers, but poorly illustrated within, and the story was no great shakes either.

“What’s the BEST Man-THing story you ever read?”

“The Kid’s Night Out!” from Giant-Size Man-Thing #4. This needs to be reprinted on good paper, and soon, since the paper ’70s Marvels are printed on was halfway to turning to dust even when it was new.

“What’s the ONLY Black Goliath story you ever read?”

Wow, I don’t recall. I’m sure I’ve read at least one issue of his own series.


Buk: “I would love to see a top 10 Graphic Novels, both your favs and one based on what your shop sells.”

Wow, that’s a biggie. I’m going to not bother with the “cite” formatting tags, just to save time.

This is just a guess, mind you, but the store’s top ten may be something like this, in no particular order:

Watchmen
V for Vendetta
Preacher series
Y The Last Man series
Fables series
Love & Rockets (series)
Invisibles series
Kingdom Come
Superman: Red Son
Scott Pilgrim series

I swear we sell independent comics, too.

My own top ten:

Watchmen
From Hell
Mister O
The Cowboy Wally Show
The Book of Jim
Dr. Strange & Dr. Doom: Triumph and Torment (shut up, it’s great)
Don Rosa Archives I & II
Love & Rockets (series)
Hulk/Thing: The Big Change (Wrightson-riffic)
Complete Carl Barks Library (all ten-zillion of them)

“And also I’d love to know if you agree with me that with in what, 18 months, New Avengers has gone completely off the rails and is the worst book Bendis has done.”

Unfortunately, I’m not much of a New Avengers reader, so I couldn’t say. I do flip through the issues as they come in, and I have to say they all sorta look the same to me. I would guess that any change in quality or tone in the book would have more to do with editorial edict to toe the company crossover line than anything else.


Matt: “When were you planning on answering these questions?”

Right now!


Just lurking: “If Man-Thing looked into a mirror for a moment and startled himself, would he burst into flames from the inside out?”

No, because Man-Thing can’t startle himself…he’s an entirely-mindless being, with no emotional responses of his own.


Enargy: “When will all the people asking for a Dr. Strange monthly actually *buy* a Dr. Strange monthly as it’s being published?”

As soon as they do a good one!

A lazy post.

I left work early on Thursday, as I was under the weather, and spent that afternoon and evening napping, watching the Lost Season One DVD set pal Corey lent me, rereading issues of Three Mouseketeers and Identity Crisis (now there’s a combo), and receiving about two dozen phone calls from telemarketers.

So what I’m saying is that I didn’t spend any time generating content for today on this here website. I’m a bad, bad weblogger.

I’m going to be lazy, then, and turn things over to you, the folks what tune in to my site on a daily basis. If you have a question for me, hopefully related to comic books, the comic industry, or even comic blogging (no “what’s the meaning of life,” “how do you trisect an angle,” or “boxers or briefs”-type questions please), leave it in the comments section and I’ll give you some answers later today.

Ask away!

"He seems to thrive on controversy."

Found on the eBay: “Alan Moore Miracleman 1-4 Near-Mint Vendetta Watchmen – Extreme Controversy Brewing Over Latest Alan Moore Proj”

“Alan Moore is already one of the most controversial writer’s in the Comic Book Industry.He seems to thrive on controversy.With every project he gets more attention due to his controversial actions.Now he is about to outdo himself bigtime!!!

“In August Alan Moore will be publishing a series of beautifully illustrated hardback graphic novels* which will create a ‘huge uproar’ in the comic book Industry and thru-out the publishing world.This latest Alan Moore adventure will create a ‘commotion’ that will reverberate for years!!!

“This huge controversy will be very good for raising the ‘Alan Moore Collector Conscience’ to an all new level!!!

“Prices of Alan Moore collectibles could shoot up quickly!!! Now is the time to invest!!!”

* Referring to the forthcoming release of Lost Girls, don’cha know.

A tree grows in Ventura.

Occasionally, when we get in restocks of some of the more popular trade paperbacks at the store, I’ll take a quick peek at what printing the book is at. No real reason, aside from idle curiosity.

This Wednesday we received a large restock of Superman books (which I thought the store had better have, since I hear tell that there’s a new talkie with Supes coming soon), and in that order were The Death of Superman and its follow-up, World Without A Superman.

The Death of Superman is on its thirteenth printing. That’s no surprise…it was an enormous seller right out of the gate, during the ’90s comics boom, and it’s been a steady seller ever since.

The copies of World Without A Superman we received? Still first printings. The book is thirteen years old, and I’m still able to get first printings (assuming that’s not some kind of misprint) as new items from our distributor.

I know WWAS is hardly the seller DOS is, but I’ve moved my fair share of copies of the book over the years, and surely we’re not the only ones selling the book. So either it’s not selling nearly as well as I thought it had been, or DC, buoyed by the success of the DOS trade, vastly overprinted WWAS…almost certainly a combination of both.

Just thought that was interesting. Yeah, I know, I’m the only one.


Dear Marvel: Why is the Uncanny X-Men Annual numbered #1? Did the previous couple dozen annuals not count? Did the Uncanny X-Men monthly series restart from #1, too, requiring a renumbering of the associated annuals, and I didn’t notice? And why did you release the annual on the same day as the new issue of the monthly series? That annoys me, for some reason.

And cancel New Excalibur already. I mean, honestly…who asked for this?

Love, Mike


Giant-Size Hulk #1 – On one hand, I’m glad that Marvel finally reprinted the Hulk: The End one shot from a few years ago. On the other hand…crap, I already own half this book, but I’m still buying it to get the new stories. Which isn’t as bad as it sounds, really…the new stories are pretty good, with a couple nice self-referential gags — what? In a Peter David story? Surely you jest — in the Hulk/Champions clash, noting the “sliding time scale” of Marvel continuity. And the second story includes a gag reference to events in that Mystery of Edwin Drood of the comics industry, Ultimate Hulk Vs. Wolverine. Plus, it’s nice to be able to read The End in a format that allows you to lay the book out flat on the table, instead of the squarebound “prestige format” which you have to hold open while you read. That last sentence may be the laziest thing I have ever written.


Couple new Boom! Studios books:

Stardust Kid #4 – Picking up where the Image series left off, J.M. DeMatteis and Mike Ploog continue their lushly-illustrated fantasy series, which remains one of the most beautiful-looking comics on the shelves. No one does fantasy setting quite like Ploog, and having his work on the shelves again is quite welcome. DeMatteis’ strength is evoking the emotional depths of characters, and there’s one page in the book, in which two of the characters have a heartfelt discussion, that suprised me at just how effective it was. It’s a full-page splash, with the conversation restricted to a baker’s dozen of captions, and I don’t think it would have been improved by expanding it to a more traditional ten or twelve comic panels filled with word balloons. So, yeah, both these guys really are at the peak of their form here.

X Isle #1 – This is Boom!’s latest entry in the “people thrust into mysterious, unexplained happenings” cultural zeitgeist that’s generated TV shows like Lost and Invasion…this time, it’s mysterious animals washing up on beaches, driving researchers to seek their source.

Now, when I was a kid, I was fascinated by stories about UFOs, ghosts, Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, and so on…and one of my favorite books was a big hardcover book (still in the Mikester Library) about supposed seamonsters. As an adult, I’m quite a bit more skeptical about this sort of thing (as in “if these things do exist, I haven’t seen any convincing proof yet” — and please, dear reader, don’t take that as a challenge and fill my comments section with links to “evidence”), but seeing the panels in this comic, with the crowd standing around the beached carcass, and the image of the unusual animal found in that carcass’ stomach, reminded me of that same sense of mystery and wonder I once had looking at the grainy photos and old woodcuttings in that seamonsters book. So the comic got my nostalgia sense tingling right from the get-go.

Which doesn’t tell you much about the comic, I realize…Andrew Cosby and Michael A. Nelson do a good job gathering the charcters together and giving them individual voices, while keeping the plot barrelling along and moving our heroes to the source of the mystery. Greg Scott’s art is well done and appropriately moody, but it seems a bit…stretched, as if the art were slightly reformatted to fit the proportions of the page. Everyone seems to be a tad on the skinny side. Yeah, I know, that’s an odd criticism…I’m unfamiliar with the artist’s work, and maybe that’s just his style. If so, don’t mind me. But go get yourself a copy and check it out…it’s a fun read.


For most of our new comics day, the city disallowed all parking on our block while workers jackhammered and ground and dug and just generally made lots of noise. I was thinking we were going to have no business whatsoever, but thankfully our customers’ need for comics outweighed their need for convenient parking and we had one of our busiest Wednesdays in quite a while.

The end result of all that work in front of the store? We now have a tree in front of our shop. A pencil-thin, Charlie Brown Christmas tree-style tree, but a tree nonetheless. Not the tree that was dedicated to my memory, but I’m going to pretend it is, and none of you can stop me.

Want to see a nice rack?

So I’ve been wanting to get myself a comic book spinner rack for home use for quite some time now. Yeah, I know, I’ve got spinner racks at the shop, but they’re being used. And Diamond Distribution occasionally offers new ones for sale, but they’re a couple hundred bucks a pop, and that’s a bit much to spend on something that’s just basically satisfying a random whim of mine.

However, I was able to purchase a surplus rack from a comic shop that just recently changed hands. The new owner decided he had one rack too many, I let him know I was in the market for a spinner rack…and twenty bucks later, this beauty was all mine:


Each side of the rack is topped with these metal signs, showing the new Justice League line-up:


I wasted no time filling the pockets with some quality reading: