Rick’s Writin’s
This week puts us into mid-January and marks kind of an anniversary for me. As a start into the comic selling business, I did my first mall show fifteen years ago in mid January of 1995. I’d been fired a few months previously from my movie theater manager job, for talking to the Seattle P.I newspaper about popcorn. I was out of work, had time and of course, needed money, so I thought I would try and sell some of my extra comics. Who didn’t have “extra” comics in the early-mid 1990′s. That was the thing then, buying multiple copies of first issues and hot comics, gimmicky covers, SPAWN!!! Youngblood!! Rob Liefeld!!! The show was at Sea-Tac Mall, or The Commons in Federal Way as it’s now stupidly called. Back in the olden days, before on-line shopping became common and E-Bay didn’t exist, money could be made by setting up in the malls on weekends to peddle your comics, cards and such. I was one of the few comic dealers doing that, amongst very many sports card guys, so I ended up doing quite well…for a while. The mall shows were fun. I met some of you for the first time when I was doing them. Got lucky enough to be at a mall that had a Ticketmaster when the 1995 Mariners ended up having to play an end of the season playoff game against the Angels. Some of us guys were first in line and got great seats for that historic game. But then, there were too many mall shows every week and people weren’t spending as much at them, so it became tough to make ends meet. I was pretty broke when luckily, the having an actual comic shop opportunity came up. I wrangled a way to get in and you know the rest. Turned out being fired was the best thing that ever happened to me. Funny how things work.
In TV news, NBC has confirmed that Jay Leno will be ending his 10:00 pm show and moving back to 11:35 pm in mid February, when the Olympics starts. Faithful readers will note that this was pretty close to what I predicted when NBC first announced the Jay Leno 10:00 pm plan last year. I was a bit off on the timing as I thought NBC would pull the plug on at least a couple days by Christmas, but overall, I think I got this one right. Now, I’ll be curious as to what shows NBC is going to run at 10:00 pm once the Olympics are over. They don’t have many new programs in the wings because Leno was on five nights a week, and most of the shows they’re already running have taken big ratings hits because NBC overall is way down. I think they’re screwed until next year’s fall season, but it’ll be interesting to me to see what they do in the meantime. Their highest ratings show is The Biggest Loser, so I think that says something. On to the comics…
DC’s Blackest Night has a tie-in issue and a couple of the gimmicky “last issue” books DC is putting out this month. The new last issue of Catwoman (#83) has Selina Kyle facing Black Lantern Black Mask, the Gotham City crime boss she killed during her original comic run. Weird Western Tales (#71) is somehow going to tie Jonah Hex into the Blackest Night. Not sure how that can happen, but there you go. The other Blackest Night tie-in is Secret Six (#17). There’s two Batman books: first, the Kevin Smith written Batman: Widening Gyre (#4 of 6) mini. Mr. Smith, Silent Bob of Jay and Silent Bob fame, will also be writing the up-coming new Green Hornet series for Dynamite Comics. Looks like Kato’s a girl in this new version. Dynamite is tooting that this series is going to be big!, Big!, BIG!! so keep an eye out for it come March. Batman (#695), the main monthly is the other, and I’m sorry to say that in my effort to keep up on Blackest Night, I’ve neglected Dick Grayson’s Batman for a while. I’ll soon remedy that. Stephanie Brown is starting to get the hang of being Batgirl (#6), but she’s still got to convince Dick and Damien that she’s worthy.
Marvel has a bunch of smaller titles along with Amazing Spider-Man (#617) as The Gauntlet story now features villain The Rhino. Hang on to your shorts boys and girls, this one also has four covers. Another book I’m wanting to read, but haven’t got to yet is Marvel’s alternate origin history Marvel’s Project (#5 of 8). I love the alternate/Elseworlds books. I wish there were more. Marvel’s mutant Utopia mini Nation X (#2 of 4) also arrives. I can’t tell you much about the story as I don’t have my notes, but the series is selling pretty well. Also coming in are both Buffy (#31) and Angel (#29) as well as the first new Aliens VS Predator mini (#1 of 6) in quite a while. Last book to mention this week is Boom! Studio’s new ongoing Muppets (#1) series. The previous Muppet books have all been mini’s so It’s be interesting to see if Boom can sustain an on-going Muppets book and keep it interesting and true to the Muppets spirit. That’s it for comics. Please check the list below to see if your favorites are coming.
Paula’s Picks
It seems that there’s a bunch of people out there trying really hard to be a celebrity of some kind. There’s Balloon Boy’s dad, The White House Party Crashers, Tiger Wood’s Girlfriends and probably more. These people have gone out of their way to get into news and pop culture interest. I include Tiger Wood’s Girlfriends because there is no reason for them to come out and proclaim “I slept with Tiger!” except for having their faces shown on the news and tabloids. I call these people “fail-ebrities.” They’ve tried to be a widely known name, but all we don’t know their names, just one thing that they’ve done. I bring this up because last week, Johnson & Johnson Heiress died. I happened to be watching the Today show on the day she died and they talked about her. It seemed like she just kept trying to get in the tabloids or in the news for various reasons: crazy partying, adopting a child, public fighting and getting engaged to Tila Tequila (another fail-ebrity). This woman tried so hard to be known, but very few people knew she even existed until she died. It just seems odd that someone would try so hard to be known. Why not do some good first? Then when you fall, the tabloids will care. It’s more interesting for them to report the fall of the mighty, than the fall of the fail-ebrity.
I was listening to This American Life this weekend and they were talking about predictions for 2010. Real solid predictions. I thought it sounded like fun. I’d like to hear about your predictions for comics in 2010. Post them on our website (spycomics.com) or on our Facebook! These predictions can be about anything comics related. What will happen to your favorite character? What will happen in the comics industry? Which comic movie will be a surprise hit or failure? What will be the big event reported on in mainstream news?
On to books! Rick covered most of what I was going to talk about. I’m looking forward to Buffy #31. How will they get themselves out of the mess they got into in the last issue? It also has a really cute retro romance cover! Another one I’m looking forward to is Weekly World News #1. I used to buy the magazines all the time when I was a kid. I think they were 75 cents. I read them every week and kept them in my closet when my dad said he didn’t want me spending my money on them. I kept getting them until they went above $1. This comic will feature some of the main staples (such as Bat Boy) of Weekly World News in fictional stories. Because those stories were real. Especially the mermaid ones. And the world’s fattest cat having the world’s fattest kittens.
Shipping This Week 1-13-09
ABSOLUTION #6 (OF 6) (MR) $3.99
ACTION COMICS #885 $3.99
ADVENTURE COMICS #509 VAR ED PI
ADVENTURE COMICS #6 $3.99
AGE OF REPTILES JOURNEY #2 (OF 4) $3.50
ALTER EGO #91 $6.95
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #617 GNTLT $3.99
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #617 QUINONES VILLAIN VAR GNTLT PI
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #617 RHINO IS COMING VAR GNTLT PI
ANGEL #29 $3.99
ANGEL #29 10 COPY VIRGIN FRISON INCV PI
ANITA BLAKE LC EXECUTIONER #3 (OF 5) (MR) $3.99
ARMY OF DARKNESS TP VOL 09 HELLBILLIES & DEADNECKS $16.99
ARMY OF TWO #1 $3.99
AVP THREE WORLD WAR #1 (OF 6) $3.50
AVP THREE WORLD WAR #1 (OF 6) LEONARDI VAR CVR PI
BACK ISSUE #38 $6.95
BARACK THE BARBARIAN #4 (OF 4) (NOTE PRICE) $3.99
BATGIRL #6 $2.99
BATMAN #695 $2.99
BATMAN WIDENING GYRE #4 (OF 6) $2.99
BATMAN WIDENING GYRE #4 (OF 6) VAR ED PI
BILL WARDS TORCHY TP VOL 02 $25.00
BLACK PANTHER 2 #12 $2.99
BLACK WIDOW DEADLY ORIGIN #3 (OF 4) $3.99
BLADE OF THE IMMORTAL TP VOL 22 FOOTSTEPS $19.99
BOOSTER GOLD #28 $3.99
BORIS KARLOFF TALES OF MYSTERY ARCHIVES HC VOL 02 $49.99
BUCK ROGERS IN 25TH CENTURY DAILIES HC VOL 03 $39.99
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER #31 $2.99
CARS #0 (C: 1-0-0) $2.99
CATWOMAN #83 (BLACKEST NIGHT) $2.99
COMPLETE CHESTER GOULDS DICK TRACY HC VOL 09 $39.99
CONAN THE CIMMERIAN WEIGHT OF CROWN ONE SHOT (OSW) $3.50
CREEPY ARCHIVES HC VOL 05 $49.95
CYBERFORCE HUNTER KILLER #4 (OF 5) $2.99
DANTES INFERNO #2 (OF 6) (MR) $3.99
DARK X-MEN #3 (OF 5) $3.99
DAYTRIPPER #2 (OF 10) (MR) $2.99
DIE HARD YEAR ONE #4 $3.99
DMZ #49 (MR) $2.99
DOCTOR WHO ONGOING #7 $3.99
DRONE #2 (OF 4) $3.50
ED HANNIGAN COVERED $5.99
FARSCAPE DARGOS QUEST #2 $3.99
FEMFORCE OMNIBUS TP VOL 02 $29.95
G FAN #90 $5.95
GALACTICA 1980 #4 $3.50
GHOUL #2 $3.99
GI JOE MOVIE SNAKE EYES #4 $3.99
GOLD DIGGER #113 $2.99
GOON TP VOL 00 ROUGH STUFF REVISED ED (NOTE PRICE) $13.99
GREEN ARROW BLACK CANARY #28 $3.99
HUMAN TARGET CHANCE MEETINGS TP $14.99
INCREDIBLES #4 $2.99
INU YASHA TP VOL 44 $9.99
INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #22 $2.99
JERICHO SEASON 3 #2 (OF 6) $3.99
MAGOG #5 $2.99
MARVEL ADVENTURES SUPER HEROES #19 $2.99
MARVELS PROJECT #5 (OF 8) $3.99
MARVELS PROJECT #5 (OF 
EPTING COVER PI
MARVELS PROJECT #5 (OF PAREL VAR PI
MUPPET SHOW #1 $2.99
MUPPET SHOW #1 INCV CVR PI
NATION X #2 (OF 4) $3.99
NO HERO TP (MR) $19.99
PINKY STREET HARUHI SUZUMIYA FIG $29.99
POWER OF SHAZAM #48 (BLACKEST NIGHT) $2.99
PSYLOCKE #3 (OF 4) $3.99
PUNISHERMAX #3 (MR) $3.99
REALM OF KINGS IMPERIAL GUARD #3 (OF 5) $3.99
REBELS #12 $2.99
RED HERRING #6 (OF 6) $2.99
SCOOBY DOO #152 $2.50
SECRET SIX (BLACKEST NIGHT) #17 $2.99
SHIELD #5 $3.99
SILENT MOBIUS COMPLETE ED GN VOL 02 $14.99
SKY DOLL DOLL FACTORY #2 (OF 2) (MR) $5.99
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG #208 $2.50
SPIDER-MAN AND SECRET WARS #2 (OF 4) $2.99
STAR TREK CAPTAINS LOG SULU #1 $3.99
STAR WARS KNIGHTS O/T OLD REPUBLIC TP VOL 08 DESTR $17.99
STAR WARS OMNIBUS SHADOWS OF EMPIRE TP VOL 01 $24.99
STRANGE #3 (OF 4) $3.99
SUPER FRIENDS #23 $2.50
SUPER HERO SQUAD #1 $2.99
SUPER HERO SQUAD #1 SCHAUER VAR PI
SWORD (MARVEL) #3 $2.99
TALISMAN ROAD OF TRIALS #3 $3.99
THE GOOD THE BAD & THE UGLY #7 $3.99
TITANS #21 $2.99
TOYFARE #151 $4.99
TRANSFORMERS CLASSIC MEGATRON BOBBLE HEAD $11.99
TRANSFORMERS CLASSIC OPTIMUS PRIME BOBBLE HEAD $11.99
TRANSFORMERS ONGOING #3 $3.99
ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN TP VOL 22 ULTIMATUM $19.99
UNCANNY X-MEN FIRST CLASS #7 (OF 8) $2.99
UNWRITTEN #9 (MR) $2.99
WALT DISNEYS COMICS & STORIES #702 $2.99
WEEKLY WORLD NEWS #1 $3.99
X-MEN FOREVER #15 $3.99
X-MEN ORIGINS CYCLOPS $3.99
2 Responses to “Shipping This Week: January 13th”
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37 | Unique Visitors |
While I admit that the Commons at Federal Way wouldn’t be on my top five list of names for the mall, I can’t say its any worse than Sea-Tac Mall. I think Rick just doesn’t like change.
I could be wrong (it happened once), but I don’t think Marvels Project is an alternate origin of the Marvel characters. Its more an “enhanced” version of Marvel history. That is, it has more details than have been previously revealed, but does not change anything. At least not the core facts.
To answer Paula’s cry for comments, I’d predict that Marvel will use Marvels Project as a way to bring the Marvel Universe back from the abyss it currently finds itself on and allow Marvel to reboot their continuity. There is an apparent time travel aspect to Marvel Projects and the character Angel (a real Golden Age character for those who don’t know) seems to have some knowledge of the future.
Hey Rick and Paula;
Wanted to wish you Happy Anniversery Rick. You have been a wonderful friend and help to us. We are so glad you got fired back then, turns out we really needed you!
Happy Everything to the both of ya!
Cheyenne