RP: The Death Issue

[jayshawoddball]

Date: 25 Jan 2011
Characters: Jay Shaw, anyone else who wants to pop in
Location: Oddball 42
Status: Public
Summary: Today was a Big Day in the Comics World
Completion: Incomplete
Warnings: Possible spoilers for Fantastic Four #587.

Comments

[tegan_bell]

Tegan walked in, hand out, money in-hand, ready to exchange it for the comic, like a relay racer passing a baton.

"Hi Jay, gimme," she said, grinning at him. She'd put her money on the Human Torch and she was absolutely determined to devour #587 as quickly as she could (she would, of course, go back to re-read it and devour the art, but she had to know!). She knew that today's society would be the one to snuff out the character that represented childlike optimism.

The Fantastic Four had been one of the comics she'd discovered while living on the streets. She'd devoured the issues whenever she could afford them and these superheroes had become her family. She could be strong, flexible, invisible, and hot-headed (and optimistic), like her heroes.

Truth be told, she loved them all.

[jayshawoddball]

Jay grinned widely, handing her one of the polybagged copies with the big 3 in place of the normal 4 on the logo. "Here you go. Going to hang out in the reading room until you finish it? Restocked the room with extra tissues."

He knew he'd needed them after reading the issue. The Fantastic Four weren't his favorite superheros ever, but man. It was just like when Vector Prime, the first in the New Jedi Order series hit the shelves and the backlash of the huge character death in that book got out.

[littlelionart]

Excitement thrummed through Lev as he hopped off the bus and immediately made a beeline for Oddball. Today was the day that history would be made in the comic world. He couldn't wait to see who would get offed in the Fantastic Four. As someone who had grown up reading X-men and Spider-man, the Four were more than a little bit lame to him. Just a bit too dorky and science oriented for his tastes. Any time he had read them, he had found himself preferring them to be separated and teamed up with other superheroes.

He bounced on his toes as he yanked Oddball's doors back and rushed inside. Lev spotted the girl at the counter with Jay already but didn't pause, sliding up beside her and waving a five dollar bill like he was at a betting line. "Yeah, Jay, gimmie gimmie," Lev repeated the girl with a grin jokingly. Unlike most people, he hadn't been in on the betting anyway (although considering team dynamics and rumors he'd heard around it was likely to be the Torch), but was still excited about the big reveal.

[jayshawoddball]

Jay shook his head with a grin and handed Lev the polybagged issue. "Here you go, Lev. You know where the reading room is." Jay gestured toward the back of the shop as he made change for Lev.

"Stop by the counter when you're done and let me know what you thought of it?" He was planning a review of it himself to go up on the site and stuff, but he always liked to know what the regulars thought about things like this.

[adaarondack]

Aaron wasn't a Marvel person, except in the case of X-Men, so he'd been able to wait until his lunch break to pop over to Oddball 42. A guy had to work, after all. But even though he was more into DC comics, he'd still been keeping up with Fantastic Four over the years, and today was history. He didn't want to risk waiting until after work to pick up a copy; they'd be out by then for sure.

Now that he was here, he couldn't wait to find out who was going to bite it. Then after work, he might drive out to his folks' house in Dallas and give it to RJ to read, if he hadn't got his hands on it yet.

The sacrifices of a big brother.

He grinned at Jay as he approached the counter. "Hey, man. You know what I need." He pulled out his wallet. "Please tell me you've got one left."

[jayshawoddball]

Jay grinned, "Yep. I do. Did you want the two issues leading up to it as well? Special price if you get all three today." He grabbed another copy of Fantastic Four #587 and handed it to Aaron, "Yeah the news about Marvel not putting this issue into overprint really has everyone going nuts over it."

Which he didn't mind at all, he was making in a day what he normally made in a week. There were people coming in that he hadn't seen in months, and for a few of them, years. There were a whole passle of new people coming in as well, some tourists as well as locals.

[adaarondack]

"That'd be awesome -- I only have #586, and it's just an e-version at that, courtesy of the Marvel app," he added sheepishly. He'd still paid for it, of course (he wasn't totally opposed to downloading free stuff, but comics were sacred). The Marvel iPhone app had served Aaron well. For the franchises he was most into, he still preferred hard copies as there was nothing quite like holding a paper comic book. But if he was out and about and wanted to something quick to read, it was nice to just be able to download whatever he wanted. He took the poly-encased issue from Jay and whistled. "I wouldn't want to read a digital copy of this one, though."

He handed over the cash. "Bet you've been swamped today."

[jayshawoddball]

Jay grabbed #585 and #586 as well and stuck them in a bag for Aaron. "Yeah, I can understand that. My copy's upstairs in my one case for all of the history making comics. Though this entire run has been pretty good. Hickman's talented, and I've heard good things from people who actually don't like the Four about this run."

He grinned at Aaron, "And yeah, we've been pretty busy today. Lots of new faces and people I have haven't seen in a while. This kind of thing brings everyone out."

[max_stuart]

It was after Max's last class that he thought about stopping by Oddball 42. He'd been hearing the buzz from Jay and the other folks there for a while, but he wanted to see for himself how people were taking it. Character death in a comic was treated like Serious Business, and even if he wasn't as caught up in it, he wanted to see it.

"Man, you look like someone died in here." He said to Jay, joking, waiting for the dirty look.

[jayshawoddball]

Oh the dirty look that Jay gave his best friend. There were new levels of dirty look that were invented at this precise moment. "Someone did die, you ass."

There had been a steady stream of people flowing in and out of the reading room, red-eyed and sniffling after reading the issue. And it was a beautiful issue, the art was magnificent, the plots were well-executed, he had gotten a kind of Prince Xixor vibe to Namor in some of the Namor and Susan scenes (and he'd have loved to ask that question to Hickman)...but despite the good sendoff to Johnny, it was still a sendoff. And that last panel had made him cry.

"Business has been amazing today, though." He commented. "Seen people I haven't seen in years come in."

[max_stuart]

Max rolled his eyes. "Sorry. Forgot how it was." And he'd continue teasing if he hadn't noticed the red eyes in the room. Even he wasn't that much of an ass.

"So, who won the betting pool?" He asked, leaning against the counter.

"Wow, that big?" He was reluctantly impressed. "When was the last time someone got offed like this?" Jay knew far better than he did, for all of Max's interest in the subject matter.

[jayshawoddball]

"Captain America in Civil War." Jay replied, "The death that shocked the entire comics nation." And it had been that big of a deal. The Civil War arc was tough to read but losing Cap the way that they had was just...Jay still had no words for it and it was years after the fact. The Confession with Tony and then the last panel in that book was so gutwrenching...that it still defied description.

"And I believe that out of the people who put money in, Tegan actually won the pool." Jay said, in a quieter voice.