So much to blog about..
I'll start with Wes Alexander. I'm very sorry to hear he died. He and I used to trade friendly e-mails about some reviews of his work I did. There have been a lot of deaths in the comic industry as of late, but Wes is the first one I've had some direct contact with. Condolences to his family and friends.
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http://www.TheComicbooks.com is now up and running. For years and years I've been telling people I was going to update my old History of Superhero Comics with something better and this is part 1 of that. It's a pretty detailed examination of the newsstand comics between 1922 and 1955. Plus lots of other odds and ends, the 1954 Subcommittee Transcripts with Gaines, Wertham and a host of others. Within that I included pictures of the covers and panels from the comic stories.
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I took a recent road trip to Ottawa to hand in my passport application and visit some comic shops. The first shop I hit was The Comic Book Shoppe. The store was a mix of toys, statues, anime DVDs, anime/manga merchandise and comics. The comic and TPB selection was a bit sparse in terms of diversity. Boom and Dynamite was about as far as they got from the big 4, with the exception of Local Hero by Dwight Williams. All the trades were face out and bagged. They were charging 25% off Canadian price rather than US price which is the first I've seen in a couple years.
The staff was friendly but I kinda got the impression they were snarky anti-fanboy types. I suspect Authority and Ultimates was a big hit there. The higher prices made me put some stuff back on the shelf and get it elsewhere.
The 2nd Ottawa shop was Silver Snail. I actually like this store more than the Toronto version as they have a much deeper and way more diverse selection of trades. They were selling for US cover too. I wanted to buy much more than I did. In terms of GN diversity it goes in my top 5 along with Beguiling, Hairy Tarantula, Captain Quebec and 1 Million Comix (in Toronto). The staff was friendly but stayed behind the counter. Which was fine as I was busy browsing.
Then I went to Cornwall to a small comic shop called Fantasy Realm. Right on the front store sign was "We sell Marvel Comics" which I was half tempted to snap a picture and make fun of. Inside I chatted with the owner about some paperbacks I saw on his website I wanted to look at before I purchased. He found them in his back room and sold them to me for a good price. The owner was very friendly and I hung around for a while chatting with him. Out of all the store staff I met that day he was the friendliest.
The store could use it's space a bit better. A bookshelf or two for trades would increase the amount of sell-able stuff he could have there. Most of what he had there was superhero stuff. I overheard a kid asking him about racking more manga books the owner said there was just too much of it to effectively rack. I suspect he'd be at a loss to which books to rack and how deep. But he was happily accepting and filling pre-orders for whatever people wanted. While there is some stuff I could pick at about his store I do recognize he's in a small town. Not every "good" book on shelf will sell even in bigger stores and shop owners must be careful about how much money they tie up on "good" stuff that just doesn't move for them. The risk of racking books where they is no voiced demand for is much bigger in a small town. When it comes to good books, the old cliché is true. You and bring a horse to water but you can't make it drink. The same goes for comic readers and really great non-superhero stuff. Some readers just aren't interested in trying it. The owner seemed to be doing okay for himself with the store and selling stuff on ebay too.
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I started up my diet again about a month ago. I ballooned up to 172 pounds over the past 6-8 months. In the last 4 weeks I've lost 7 pounds bringing me down to 165. My goal is to be down to 140 or less by mid/late summer.
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I'm doing an 8 day work week because I shifted days off with another co-worker. This is day 2. I gotta eat some breakfast now before I get to work so I'll have to split. Ta!
---
http://www.TheComicbooks.com is now up and running. For years and years I've been telling people I was going to update my old History of Superhero Comics with something better and this is part 1 of that. It's a pretty detailed examination of the newsstand comics between 1922 and 1955. Plus lots of other odds and ends, the 1954 Subcommittee Transcripts with Gaines, Wertham and a host of others. Within that I included pictures of the covers and panels from the comic stories.
---
I took a recent road trip to Ottawa to hand in my passport application and visit some comic shops. The first shop I hit was The Comic Book Shoppe. The store was a mix of toys, statues, anime DVDs, anime/manga merchandise and comics. The comic and TPB selection was a bit sparse in terms of diversity. Boom and Dynamite was about as far as they got from the big 4, with the exception of Local Hero by Dwight Williams. All the trades were face out and bagged. They were charging 25% off Canadian price rather than US price which is the first I've seen in a couple years.
The staff was friendly but I kinda got the impression they were snarky anti-fanboy types. I suspect Authority and Ultimates was a big hit there. The higher prices made me put some stuff back on the shelf and get it elsewhere.
The 2nd Ottawa shop was Silver Snail. I actually like this store more than the Toronto version as they have a much deeper and way more diverse selection of trades. They were selling for US cover too. I wanted to buy much more than I did. In terms of GN diversity it goes in my top 5 along with Beguiling, Hairy Tarantula, Captain Quebec and 1 Million Comix (in Toronto). The staff was friendly but stayed behind the counter. Which was fine as I was busy browsing.
Then I went to Cornwall to a small comic shop called Fantasy Realm. Right on the front store sign was "We sell Marvel Comics" which I was half tempted to snap a picture and make fun of. Inside I chatted with the owner about some paperbacks I saw on his website I wanted to look at before I purchased. He found them in his back room and sold them to me for a good price. The owner was very friendly and I hung around for a while chatting with him. Out of all the store staff I met that day he was the friendliest.
The store could use it's space a bit better. A bookshelf or two for trades would increase the amount of sell-able stuff he could have there. Most of what he had there was superhero stuff. I overheard a kid asking him about racking more manga books the owner said there was just too much of it to effectively rack. I suspect he'd be at a loss to which books to rack and how deep. But he was happily accepting and filling pre-orders for whatever people wanted. While there is some stuff I could pick at about his store I do recognize he's in a small town. Not every "good" book on shelf will sell even in bigger stores and shop owners must be careful about how much money they tie up on "good" stuff that just doesn't move for them. The risk of racking books where they is no voiced demand for is much bigger in a small town. When it comes to good books, the old cliché is true. You and bring a horse to water but you can't make it drink. The same goes for comic readers and really great non-superhero stuff. Some readers just aren't interested in trying it. The owner seemed to be doing okay for himself with the store and selling stuff on ebay too.
---
I started up my diet again about a month ago. I ballooned up to 172 pounds over the past 6-8 months. In the last 4 weeks I've lost 7 pounds bringing me down to 165. My goal is to be down to 140 or less by mid/late summer.
---
I'm doing an 8 day work week because I shifted days off with another co-worker. This is day 2. I gotta eat some breakfast now before I get to work so I'll have to split. Ta!