News for the Week of October 15, 2008
Rick’s Writin’s
It's October, and what with the re-do of the store and the other fun things
going on around us, like elections, financial brouhaha, and crappy football,
it nearly got past me that we promised you folks we'd hold an art contest
for October. So, here's the scoop: We will be taking comic backer board
art entries from Wednesday October 15th through Sunday November 2nd, with
voting by customers on the entries the week of November 3rd through the
9th (same as election week!!). The theme of the contest will be: Current
Events Comic Style. With so much subject matter to choose from we ask
that you tie that in with comics somehow. It could be Halloween, football,
political, or anything else in the news. Pretty much anything goes, but
remember we'll be posting the entries for all to see, so nothing nasty
please, unless it's such a great idea you can't help yourself and then
we'll just enjoy it amongst ourselves. I'm sure most of you have backer
boards, so no purchase necessary to enter. I'll come up with First, second
and third place prizes. We didn't have many entries last time, but that
was our fault for not promoting it well, so this time I'd sure like to
see you guys do your stuff.
Stephen Colbert, of TV Comedy Central's Colbert Report, has made it clear
he's a comic geek, with his Captain America Shield on the set and guests
like Marvel's editor in chief Joe Quesada. This week he gets a double
scoop of Americone Dream with his Tek Jantzen's Alpha Squad Seven (#3
of 5) mini AND a photo variant cover on this week's Amazing Spider-Man
(#573). I'm not sure how he pulled that off as he must've got it done
on a show I missed. The Spidey story has our Web-head battling new villain
(?) with old roots Anti-Venom among others in the New Ways to Die story
arc. There's some eventy stuff this week too: DC's Final Crisis catches
up a bit with the Legion of Three Worlds mini (#2 of 5) and the last piece
of the Rogue's Revenge mini (#3 of 3). It seems to me that DC is falling
behind on the Final Crisis event, which is not typical of them. I hope
they get it together quickly, because a large event that falls behind
effects the future books tied into it, and could delay those. It gets
messy fast, as Marvel found out with the Civil War delays a year or so
back. Readers get confused and frustrated with the delays, we and the
publishers lose sales, so generally it's not good for all involved. On
track though, are the Secret Invasion books, with SI Front Line mini (#4
of 5), Mighty Avengers (#19) and Guardians of the Galaxy (#6). DC's Batman
RIP has one piece: Batman and the Outsiders (#12), with my girl Cassie
Batgirl also having her mini (#4 of 6) this week. A couple other biggies
to note: The last issue of the Ultimate Origins mini (#5 of 5), building
up to the "Ultimatum" event which will tie in all the Ultimate
title books, including Ultimate annuals featuring guys the don't have
Ultimate books like Captain America and Hulk. That's for November though.
We've been handing out a freebie comic that catches you up on the Ultimate
titles, so if you haven't gotten one, just ask us. On the DC side, the
Justice Society (#19) is in the midst of the Kingdom Come sequel, leading
into a weekly set of specials next month featuring Magog, and Kingdom
Come Superman among others as that story heads for the finish. Superman
is about to start a New Krypton story, as I mentioned last week, and this
week's Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen Special is technically the first piece
of that as the Special's story leads directly into the New Krypton story.
The forgotten group seems to be the X-Men, though they're trying with
Uncanny X-Men (#503) and the Manifest Destiny story. Guess that's it for
me and comics this week, though to be sure there are plenty more good
titles this week as well. Check the list below. I'm off to watch the Seahawks
try to beat the Packers and prevent their season from going completely
in the dumper. And the baseball playoffs have been pretty darn good, as
far as I'm concerned. Go Phillies and Rays! Mariner executives: Look at
those two teams...that's how it's done. How is it that Jamie Moyer and
Gregg Dobbs are producing so well for the Phillies, when we discarded
Dobbs for nothing without even giving him a chance and traded Jamie for
two "Single A" ball nobodies? Thanks again, Bill!
Paula’s Picks
With the weather getting colder, my mind is turning to how to stay warm.
I’m almost always pretty cold; particularly my hands and feet. I
think maybe (deep down) that’s why I started knitting: so I could
make warm, wool socks and gloves. I will probably be wearing my knit socks
more often and I love to show them off! Also, at my new (to me) condo,
it’s absolutely freezing! I think the insulation is just not very
efficient (the place was built in 1979) and the windows are old and single
paned. We spent a good part of the day yesterday running around trying
to find solutions. We picked up a space heater, some light blocking curtains
(they also keep in heat) and some plastic for the windows. I put the plastic
on one of my windows and it doesn’t look bad at all. I can see the
edging of the plastic, but only on the inside and I have sheers on my
windows anyway, so it’s not like anyone else will ever see it. If
anyone else has some keep warm tips, I’d love to here them!
This week, we’re getting in the newest issue of Fables #77. This
issue focus on some Fables post war in a story titled “Life in a
Headless Empire.” This book seems to getting more and more political
as we get closer to election time.
We’re also getting Astonishing X-Men #17. This book is written by
Warren Ellis with art by Simone Bianchi. This story ties into the Manifest
Destiny story going across the X-books. I love Simone Bianchi’s
art!
Brave and the Bold #18 continues with classic author, Marvl Wolfman writing.
This story teams up Supergirl with Raven. That should be an interesting
combination!
Also from DC, we’re getting Trinity #20, Titans #6 and Booster Gold
#13 (starring Starro).