Girls Don't Read Comics

What a month!

I love my job

Free Comic Book Day was on Sat May 1st. I know it has been awhile, but it was so much fun, I feel that I have to mention it.  Very big thanks go to Mark and Carly, both of whom helped me a lot by manning (or womanning, in Carly’s case) the counter so I didn’t have to worry about it.  We actually almost ran out of comics twice, and Craig had to do emergency runs from Division with more.  And when it came time for the 501st guys, the area around my store became a sea of people. Next year I will have to implement some kind of crowd control scheme, because it was insane.  It was so much fun though.  I always love these social events, which is so weird.  Usually I’m a complete hermit, but Free Comic Book Day and the local Comicon are just about my favorite days of the year.

Yeah, I have a lot of Wonder Woman shirts. Image via Sasquad Comic Book Club

Speaking of which, we also went to Spokane Comicon and had a table.  Craig and I sold a ton of shirts and a sadly much smaller number of DVDs.  I got to see a lot of people that I don’t usually get to, and I had the best time.  I even got to talk to the very nice John Layman and have my copy of Chew #1 (2nd printing) signed.  I got into a conversation with him and Rotten creator Mark Rahnor about retail marketing.  It was kind of surreal, because these guys are well-respected creative types, and they were listening intently and taking me seriously.  I will have to do a special on retail and marketing for self published creators.  It seems like after all these years in retail there is a lot of stuff that seems like common sense to me, but that the actual people that make the books don’t think about.  Small things like book dimensions can make the difference between stores carrying your book and letting it go.  If your book isn’t in the store, it can’t sell.  We’ll have to revisit this.

Manny in mid-story. image via Sasquad Comic Book Club

Ooh, one more picture from Comicon.  Both of these images are via the Sasquad Comic Book Club.  A lot of the Sasquad folks are regulars of mine and they are all great.  One of them managed to get a picture of Eric (my husband) and his creative partner Manny at their table.  This year they were selling their books and their brand new poster prints.  Look how cute they are.  I’m going to get in trouble for this.

Finally I am reviewing a book in this week’s podcast.  I had the pleasure to read Library Wars Vol 01 with art and story by Kiiro Yumi, taken from an original story by Hiro Arikawa.  This was a pretty big step away from what I normally read, manga-wise, but it was so very enjoyable.  Library Wars tells the story of Iku Kasahara and her Library Task Force training.  The LTF exists to protect books and peoples right to read them from the forces of a fascist-sliding future Japanese government.  The government forces have been going into bookstores and pulling “objectionable” titles off the shelves and then burning them.

Library Wars Vol 01

It’s sort an prequel to Farenheit 451, only with angsty romance. Iku is a tough, smart girl who was inspired by the kind bravery of a mysterious LTF agent.  When she was young, a government official tried to take away her book, and this heroic agent saved it for her.  But who was he?  And why is her drill sergeant so hard on her? I love everything about this, and I will be pre-ordering the 2nd one.

Yay! so much good stuff. Now I have to run away. I have 2 friends with babies on the way, and I’m running out of time to knit.

Subscribe to my podcast to get the full reviews.

Or click here to listen to it now.

Posting pictures of one’s pull pile seems to be the thing the cool kids are doing. So here is this week’s pull. The one on the left next to the JLA hardcover is The Last Unicorn. It’s very pretty.

100% Awesome

Wow, it’s been a busy month or so in comics news.  I’m been so busy with the spring time home ownership stuff that I’ve been neglecting GDRC again.  The biggest news has been, to me anyway, Gail Simone leaving Wonder Woman.  There was a couple of days where we all held our breath to see who would pick it up. There was speculation that it would be the rumored Grant Morrison Story, but no confirmation.  We mostly just crossed our fingers that it wouldn’t be some misogynist ass-hat.  Finally the announcement came that it would be J. Michael Straczynski.  I am sad to see Gail Simone leave the title, but I am sort of ok with JMS picking it up.  I have liked most of what I have read of his, and he has this way of taking over a title that then gets made into a movie.  So I am hopeful, but in a “withholding judgement” kind of way.

The really happy news is that Gail Simone will be returning to 2 of my favorite titles, Welcome to Tranquility and Birds of Prey.  I am over the moon about Welcome to Tranquility.  I remember picking it up and loving it, only to have my heart broken by Andy telling me that it had been canceled and that  I had just read the entire run of it. Sadness.

Cosmic!

I have been buying a lot of stuff lately.  Like a ridiculous amount of stuff.  Happily, it’s all been things that I am very excited about.  I used to read a ton of Archie when I was a kid.  I wanted so badly to grow up to be Betty Cooper, and as I saw it, the only thing standing in my way was that I was a brunette.  I read all the Archie family books too, like Josie and the Pussycats, and Katy Keene.  When I saw Jetta in Preview a couple of months ago, I was so spiffed.  It was an Archie family book that I had never read, and it was about a rocket age teen girl! Holy Crap!  I am loving it so far.  I haven’t had a chance to read it cover to cover yet, but what I have had time for has made me really happy.  There is tons of historical stuff in here, and pages and pages of homage pin-up art by modern artists.  I looove this book.

Not For Young Readers!!

This is going to be an awkward transition.  Um.  I also love this book…Wow.  Ok, so Crossed is like as far away as you can get from Jetta without folding reality somehow.  It’s really good though.  The problem for me is that as a retailer I have trouble recommending a book where a character is named “Horsecock” because he uses one to hit people over the head.  This is a dark, violent book.  That makes it sound too dainty.  This is a vicious, disgusting book that happens to have a really compelling story with interesting characters and a fascinating setting.  And it has a rampaging mob of sort of undead crazy people that stab people and then rape the stab holes.  So yeah.  I actually really like it, but it’s a tough one to sell.

If you are a Spokane dweller, make sure you come visit us on Free Comic Book Day, which falls on May 1st this year. There will be all kinds of awesome going on.  For details visit The Comic Book Shop online.  At 5:30 the Northtown mall will be honored by a visit from the 501st Legion.  Come get a picture with Lord Vader, a Tuskan Raider, or a Scout Trooper.  I am personally very excited.

Also coming up soon is Spokane ComiCon. It will be at SCC this year, and there are going to be a boatload of cool guests.  I’ll be there, and so should you.

Subscribe to my podcast to get the full reviews.

Or click here to listen to it now.

Batwoman Lives!! Probably for real this time! Maybe..

Today DC announced a new ongoing series written and drawn by J.H. Williams III, with Amy Reeder Hadley coming in on art for the second arc.  To say I’m excited would be a huge understatement, but I’m also a little wary.  After several announcements over the last couple of years about a Batwoman title, I’m afraid I’ll have to see it to believe it. Rich Johnston over at Bleeding Cool expresses this sentiment very succinctly: “But I’m grown very distrustful of Batwoman announcements. Odds are before publication, it’ll suddenly be relegated to a back up strip, then online online, then postponement for a crossover series then it’ll vanish hoping no one will notice.” *sigh*

The Batwoman run of Detective was the first mainstream superhero comic I ever subscribed to.  I read the first issue and called up Matt (who handles subscriptions) with the issue still in my hand.  I had to have it.  I’ve been chomping at the bit to do a formal review of it, but I have been waiting for the collection to come out.

When Greg Rucka announced a couple of weeks ago that he was leaving DC, I was heartbroken.  This character has filled a spot in my monthly pulls that will leave a vacuum when she’s gone. I was just starting to get used to the idea that she was going to be out of Detective after Bruce Wayne’s mighty return, but with Rucka gone it seemed like she was just going to vanish into the mists, maybe to be pulled out for a big crossover or to be killed to set up someone’s revenge story.

If they do actually get this new series out, it will be an automatic add to my pull list.  With Williams doing the art and story, I can’t say no.  With Amy Reeder Hadley for the second arc, I will probably sit in my car in the parking lot of The Comic Book Shop on a Wed night to read it.