Went to a comic book store last night to pick up #4 of Fell. It wasn’t
my usual shop, Home Run Video, but I was close to this other store and
said what the hell, I’ll give it try despite the terrible memories of
it.

Shoulda keep on going.

It was a stereotypical store, buncha dungeons and dragons geeks playing
in the back, while a few regulars milled around the checkout counter at
the front, talking. When I entered they looked up, said nothing and went
back to talking. One of them was the manager. It felt a bit humid in the
air and there a faint smell of sweat and bo that smelled to grow
stronger as I moved to the back. So I turned on my heels and left. NEVER
AGAIN in that store.

Went back to Home Run, where the people behind the counter were at least
somewhat friendly, no D&D geeks in sight and there was also a great
movie collection.

Warren Ellis is writing a new column for Comicon Pulse, called The Ministry, about comics and other stuff. The first one talks about displaying time in comics and linlks to some interesting takes on this by Kevin Huizenga. If that link goes dead, I’ve got’em linked below.




Ellis also mentions Glenn Dakin for good reference on this also.




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According the the Observer, dolphings trained by Navy to kill have gotten loose due to Katrina damage. If this sounds a bit unbelievable, well maybe it is.

Still, the idea that a bunch of dolphin assassins are running around is kinda fun. The only other thing they would need is opposable thumbs.

Yeah, they could be named better, but they seem to be growing and providing more revenue. Go baby, bo!

Why the American comic book industry is going to hell. and this too. Where’s a magic sterilizing wand when you need it?

The other reason is that people can find what they want. Case in point, my wife: She’s not a big fan of comics, but she doesn’t hate them either. Just never got intook, which is fine. But for some reason, she got interested in monthly comic book called “Girls”. No idea why she got into it, since it seemed to be all the stuff she disliked about comics, but she called it good fluff, and who couldn’t use some fluff every now and then. By sheer luck, the first 3 issues were in the store which she quickly read. Then she got annoyed that the4th issue wasn’t available and wouldn’t be for several weeks, in July. She felt gyped. So in July, we checked out at the video/comic book store where we got the first three issues. We never found the fourth issue. NEVER. I suggested she ask for it and she shrugged her shoulders, saying it wasn’t that important. She lost interest and moved on because it wasn’t worth her wild to hunt down a comic, when there were so many other forms of entertainment in easy reach. Can’t blame, you shouldn’t have to go hunting for people when you want to give them money. Even though I AM into comics, I’m not a collector, needing to get every issue. In fact, I hate monthly issues, preferring Graphic Novels which give me a chunk of reading that resolves itself when I’m done. No hunting down back issues, side issues or cross over issues. Just a (hopefully) good story at a good price.

On the upside, there’s plenty of reasons signs that comics aren’t going to hell.

Keep an eye on this:

Webcomics Nation is meant to do for online comics what services like Blogger have done for personal journals, or Flickr for photo-sharing: enable anybody and everybody to reach a large audience with his/her ideas and creations — in this case, in comics form. WCN tames the latest and most complex online technologies (like, say, XML, RSS, and “web services”) and puts them to work for you, easily, invisibly, and in an automated way.

Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god: pure cartoon geek goodness is on the way. Fantagraphics is releasing “Willie & Joe The WWII Years” in March 2008. Willie and Joe (previously mentioned) is one the greatest comics ever made, done by Mill Mauldin, it captured the war through the infantry’s eye, boring, nerve wracking and tiring, criss crossed with moments terror.

I can’t wait.