News for the Week of April 1, 2009
Rick’s Writin’s
Tic tic tic...Time's a movin' quickly. April is here just about and this
next weekend is Emerald City Comic Con!! Recently added Battlestar Galactica
actors Michael Hogan (Col. Tigh) and Aaron Douglas (Chief Tyrol) combine
with already announced media stars Tahmoh Penikett (Battlestar's Helo,
also currently on Dollhouse), Jewel Staite (Kaylee on Firefly and also
Dr. Keller on Stargate Atlantis), Noel Neill (Lois Lane on the original
Superman TV show), and Star Wars' Darth Maul Ray Park and others to make
this years show a great one for those of us that like to hob-nob with
the stars. There'll be tons of goodies to buy, loads of comics to help
fill in your collections and costumed geeks and gals to gawk at (or you
can be one yourself!). Not to mention the writers and artists on most
all your favorite books on hand to sign your books, answer questions,
and bask in your hero worship. A grand time to be had by all. Even though
we work the show and it can be very taxing, I enjoy going because of the
show atmosphere. I love the buzz and excitement in the room. You can definitely
feel it and it kind of feeds you. I'm always surprised how tired I am
the days after a big show, and I'm sure part of it is coming down from
that energy feed. So, I hope you folks can make it out to the show, and
if so stop on by our booth sometime and say howdy! We're booth number
414, which is in almost square in the middle of the show. If you come
in the entrance and go running down the aisles straight back to get to
the writers and artists, you will pass by our booth. Just remember to
come back sometime, please. The week after Comic Con, both Norwescon and
Sakura Con take place. I wish there was some separation on these events.
Many of the same people would attend all these shows, but by having them
so close together, folks end up having to choose due to time, budgets
and whatever else factors in. The shows end up cannibalizing each other,
when if they were, say a month apart or more, all would probably have
better attendance. And maybe you attendees would have a bit more $$ to
drop on the table of a poor schmo like me that has to work like a dog
instead of getting to run around asking Gail Simone when the hell Welcome
to Tranquility is coming back and trying to play "nod nod wink wink
say no more" with Jewel Staite, Noel Neill and the beautiful gal
dressed up as Power Girl. After all that we're less than a month away
from Free Comic Book Day, which is Saturday May 2nd. We'll talk more about
that in the next couple weeks. On to comics...
Since both Paula and myself will be working the Emerald Con show next
weekend, there won't be a formal newsletter per se. We will get a list
of the items shipping out, but it will probably be on Monday after the
show instead of the usual Sunday e-mail. Perhaps Charles will be able
to put it together for Sunday. We'll see. This week the Previews catalog
a few were looking for last week arrives. Along with it there's a few
interesting items, the top one being (always, my opinion), DC's Flash:
Rebirth (#1 of 5) mini series. Barry Allen is back as Flash, and Geoff
Johns is writing him. Should be BIG Stuff! Ethan Van Sciver is doing the
art, which also looks nice, and though I don't exactly know the story
planned Johns is the guy to get it right. Someone said that there will
be a race with Superman sometime during this mini. SWEET. The Justice
Society (#25) is still having Black Adam and Isis problems so they go
out and get some help, and the Battle for the Cowl features Man-Bat in
a one-shot tie-in. On the Marvel side, to celebrate their 70th Anniversary,
aside from special variant covers on many of their books, Marvel is doing
a few one-shots featuring some of the original Marvel characters. The
first one is this week's Captain America 70th Anniversary Special, a combination
of original Golden Age Captain America Joe Simon and Jack Kirby 1940's
reprint and a new "untold" story by writer James Robinson (Starman
and the current Superman writer). The Simon/Kirby story makes it worth
it to me; the other story is a bonus. Deadpool (#9) continues his cross
over story from last week's Thunderbolts, with the third part of the Magnum
Opus arc, featuring Black Widow! This story concludes in Thunderbolts
#131 in a couple weeks. Other notables: Buffy (#24), Avengers/Invaders
(#9) and Boys (#29…I've really got to start reading these. I know
I would enjoy them). Hope to see you at the show!
Paula’s Picks
We had a winner for the Paula’s Tear Count Contest. Only 1 person
guessed 4: John W. It was neat to see the numbers that we got. We got
most of the Lost Numbers: 4 8 15 23 42. We were missing 16. The numbers
with the most guesses were 7 and 11 tied at 5 guesses. No one guessed
10 (which I thought was odd).
One of the books we’re getting this week is Killer of Demons #2.
I missed when the first one came out. I wanted to talk about it. It’s
about a guy that wakes up one day and can see demons. A cherub shows up
and tells him he’s on a mission to kill all the demons. The guy
works at a cigarette company and, of course, there are demons everywhere.
It’s full of dark humor. We’ve still got some 1s in stock
if you want to give it a try.
Mark Waid comes out with a new superhero series called Irredeemable. This
series is about the world’s greatest superhero when he decides to
become the world’s greatest super villain.
Buffy #24 ships this week with a 1-shot starring Faith and Giles. We’re
also getting in a Cars comic book (from Pixar). It’s part of a new
line from Boom Studios with the Muppets and Incredibles.