News for the Week of December 24, 2008
Rick’s Writin’s
I hope that all you folks out there that wish for snow so they don't have
to go to work or school, have gotten their wish fulfilled and now the
rest of us can get back to trying to earn a living and getting stuff done.
Admittedly, I like seeing snow on the trees and grass, just not on the
roads. The bills are still due and the comics don't stop coming out so
we need to be open and customers need to be able to get to the store.
It's a disruption that hurts financially, and from experience it's money
you don't make back. This doesn't count having frozen pipes burst at home,
a $672 dollar lesson I got as to why you should have your faucets dripping
in freezing weather. Not to mention the shock of coming home and hearing
the water, going to the room where the dripping sound is coming from and
turning on the light to see that said water is coming from the ceiling,
through the light fixtures I had just turned on. Seems the knuckleheaded
former owner cut some corners when he added on to the house and ran plumbing
pipes through the ceiling to the bathroom addition. Guess I could've gotten
a worse shock, all things considered. The potential for driving accidents
is another reason I hate the snow on the roads, and freezing temperatures.
Paula's been so worried she left her car at work and has been walking.
I've gotten around alright, but obviously some haven't. It is gratifying
to see that some drivers are still so confident and great that they can
one hand it and talk on their cell phones while driving in this. Boy,
I'm impressed. That goes for you too Mr. Four Wheel Drive, I can go anywhere
at any speed guy, or you too Mr. Piss-Ant car swerving all around clown
acting like this is a game, screwing around and having no clue as to how
dangerous your stupid driving really is. Ms. Scaredy Mary shouldn't be
on the road to begin with, you should just stay home. The rest of us,
and I assume that means most all of us, I think are showing extra courtesy
and care on the roads. I've seen help offered by strangers to folks in
trouble and that makes me glad to be out and about, if I have to be.
Comics are still scheduled in for Wednesday Dec. 24th, Christmas Eve, and assuming the weather doesn't get in the way, I'll be there with the comics. My plan on Christmas Eve is to be open until 5:00 pm, obviously closed on Christmas, and then open for regular business on Friday Dec 26th and so on. The comic shipping schedule is off on New Years week, when we'll get the books on Friday the 2nd, the day after New Year's day. Then back to normal. This week we have some good ones coming, aside from the new Previews catalog. Top on the list for me is Batman (#683), which has the second part of the Alfred narrated Last Rites, history of Batman recap. I want to see where all this is going. In the short term I have my guesses, but I'd like them to get to it, yet I don't think DC will until February. A treat in February though: a Neil Gaiman written "What Ever Happened to the Caped Crusader" two part story, along the lines of the Alan Moore written "Man of Steel" Superman story from the 1980's that lead up DC basically relaunching Superman. Next, my all time favorite SciFi show Farscape, featuring my girl friend Gigi Edgely as Chianna, has a new comic mini series (#1 of 4), from Boom Studios and written by the original show's creator Rockne S. O'Bannon. This series is supposed to be the Season Five continuation of the TV show, same as the Season Eight Buffy comic series with Dark Horse and Angel: After the Fall series is with IDW. Any new authentic Farscape is gravy for me, after the Farscape: Peacekeeper Wars TV mini series got made through the efforts of the Save Farscape campaign many, many folks, including myself, participated in. Zenoscope Grimm Fairy Tales fans get a double scoop with Grimm Fairy Tales (#33) and the 2008 Grimm Fairy Tales Annual. Both should be fun and have great comic covers too.
Marvel has a couple big hitting fan favorites this week with both Hulk (#9) and Thor (#12) arriving. I haven't been reading Thor, but I actually have picked up the last couple Hulks, the first time I've ever done so. Frank Cho's art and the lady Liberators are a couple of the reasons, but I also admit, I'm wondering who the Red Hulk is. Perhaps we'll find out soon. Stephen King's Dark Tower: Treachery (#4 of 6) comes in missing it's usual The Stand companion. Wonder what happen there? Lateness is already plaguing the Marvel Ultimate Universe Ultimatum (#2 of 5) as the deuce arrives a month late (I use the word deuce as it what some of the reviewers of this series think of it). New Avengers (#48) has this week Dark Reign, and Daredevil (#114) is still dealing with Lady Bullseye complete with an “all out kung-fu ninja battle in the heart of New York City". Who wouldn't want to see that??
Paula’s Picks
it
looks like the weather is going to be very…wintery this week, please
check out our website for hours, delays and closures updates. For example,
today we're closed because I couldn't get in to work. More than likely,
we will be closing early all this week due to the ice. You'll have to
call to check when we are going to close that day since it will vary depending
on the road conditions.
I did get out yesterday and get some sledding in. It was pretty fun. The snow wasn't nearly as deep as it is now though and it's still coming down here. I had hoped it would stop so the road crews could get some work done but it looks like that may not happen for a while.