News for the Week of February 25, 2009
Rick’s Writin’s
Time sure is flying by. It seems only a bit ago that it was Christmas
and the New Year and now we're pushing into March and only weeks away
from the Emerald City ComicCon on April 4-5 as well as Sakura Con and
NorwesCon. Man, I need more time. I always do. Oh well, I don't get any,
so I must make do. Actually what I want is to control my time better than
I am able. A fallacy about owning your business is that you can do what
you want to because you're the owner and nobody can tell you what to do.
In actuality, you are beholden to the store hours and customers needs,
if you want to STAY in business. This means doing what you need to do
to make that work. I can't just show up when I feel like it because I
own the place. I mean, sure I could...but what about the people that drove
all the way over to shop, and then I don't show up because I don't feel
like being there on time. Soon, it's good bye for the shop. You have to
do what you need to do to, and the real truth of owning your own business
is that most times the business owns you. And I still want more time.
I guess I can take satisfaction that the baseball season is coming and
it looks that even the M's probably aren't contenders or really even close,
this season should be way more interesting and fun than last year. I'm
surprised Junior came over, and with him here I think it'll pay off in
many ways more than just on the field. The clubhouse tension and Ichiro
problem should go away. I like the tone of the spring training reports
too. I think we may be seeing the building blocks for a nice rebuild of
the team and that we should be back in it in a year or two. It's probably
too much to expect something like contending this year, but I think a
goal of .500 ball, which would be a twenty game improvement from last
year's stink fest, is a reasonable goal. First game on the radio is Feb.
28th, and we also have some great baseball in the World Baseball Classic
coming. I want Japan to be put out early so Ichiro and Johjima get to
the Mariner camp quickly, but I'd guess they're pretty good so it might
not go that way. Let's hope the USA hangs in there longer than last time.
It is our game, after all. One of the reasons some folks don't like baseball
is that they say it's boring and takes forever to play. Maybe that's why
I like it. I get more time if it takes forever.
Thanks to you folks that came out to see Jeff Grubb this past Saturday. As it was our first ever guest signing, we learned some things we can apply to the next time. Stay tuned. We've got some decent goods this week, along with the new Previews and Wizard magazines Orders for the February catalog are due ASAP. I need them no later than this coming Saturday Feb 28th (hey, I'll be listening to baseball that day...YES!). Top of the list this week would be DC's Green Lantern (#38), given that it's part of the Origins and Omens line and also a prelude to the coming Blackest Night story most everybody is wetting themselves in anticipation for. Marvel has a pretty good one too, with New Avengers (#50) as they battle the hugely popular new team the Dark Avengers, setting the stage for a shake-up of the New Avengers team in issue #51. I think this also affects the Mighty Avengers (#22) team, and both are part of the Dark Reign as is this week's Ms. Marvel (#36). Other highlights this week are Marvel’s Hulk (#10) where we still don't know who the Red Hulk is, and the last issues of She-Hulk (#38) though don't worry, she’ll be back in The Savage She-Hulk, but personally I like the funny, lawyer She-Hulk better, and DC's Blue Beetle (#36). He probably won't be back in his own book, until they kill him off and replace him with somebody else 5-10 years from now, or there's a change at DC editorial. Stephen King's The Dark Tower: Treachery mini (#6 of 6) also has its last issue, but I'm sure there's more coming. Last book I want to mention is a Dark Horse hardcover collection of Larry Marder's Beanworld Vol. 1 called Wahoolazuma. Beanworld is a different type of comic, a whole different world kinda like Bone is. It's hard to describe, but trust me; it's not like anything you've ever read. We had a Christmas special earlier, so that may be a cheaper way to try Beanworld, but this collection is the original stuff. I hope you'll give it a look. Til' next week...
Paula’s Picks
Our comic book distributor, Diamond, has been doing a major move at their
East Coast warehouse this last month. It looks like they are all done
and shipping out our re-orders that we’ve placed during that time.
So, if you’ve special ordered anything and have been waiting for
it to come in, it’s probably in this week.
I’ve mentioned this
to some people, but not everyone yet. Spy Comics is finally moving into
the 20th century with a point of sale system! Yay! What does this mean
for you? No more missed books on your subscription list. We’ll be
able to look up what you’ve purchased in the past. So, if you don’t
remember if you picked up the last issue of Thor or Batman, we’ll
be able to tell you if you did. I’m hoping we’ll be ready
to go with it by next week. We’ll see. I’ve had one problem
already today and I’m still pretty upset about it, so I’m
going to end my writings here. Oh yeah, and tear count so far: 1. Yes,
we’re keeping track of how many times setting up this system brings
me to tears. Feel free to take bets! I’ll let you know what the
final tally is.