Scott Pilgrim-mania!

So in addition to the Scott Pilgrim movie being excellent, the video game is a lot of fun. But don’t forget where all of this Scott Pilgrim mania originated – The comics!

We’ve currently got every volume of the Scott Pilgrim graphic novel series from Oni Press in stock, so be sure to get caught up on what some are calling the next big fad!

Alan Moore’s ‘Unearthing’

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Please go read this cool article in the New York Times.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/27/books/27moore.html?_r=1

This is about Alan Moore’s new project called Unearthing. This is a very different thing for Alan Moore to do, in fact it is not even a comic book. Unearthing is a spoken word interview with weird music and photographs.
We also learn a lot about the history of British comic books.

here is the video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMTWDYdVXV0&feature=player_embedded

Westboro Baptist Church Protests At Comic Con: ‘God Hates Nerds’

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Kansas’s Westboro Baptist Church arrived at the recent San Diego Comic Con to protest with a big sign that said “God Hates Nerds. Rom 9:13″

Here’s what one of them said:

They have turned comic book characters into idols, and worship them they do! Isaiah 2:8 Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made…

The destruction of this nation is imminent – so start calling on Batman and Superman now, see if they can pull you from the mess that you have created with all your silly idolatry.”

the full story is here:

http://nerdbastards.com/2010/07/12/westboro-baptist-to-protest-at-comic-con/

Luckily there is another group somewhere with a “God Hates Signs” sign:

http://ecopolitology.org/2010/04/09/westboro-baptist-church-gets-out-protested-in-west-virginia

laterz

-Avery

Darth Vader the Bank Robber

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Avery here. This is a New York Post article about a guy who robbed a Chase Bank in Long Island dressed as Darth Vader. If Boba Fett tries to mug me that would be cool. when Ewoks start committing crimes then we’re in trouble.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/man_wearing_darth_vader_mask_robs_jrawp2Q3PbnsdKTz60DQ0L

Man wearing Darth Vader mask robs Long Island bank

A man wearing a Darth Vader mask and cape robbed a Chase bank branch on Long Island on Thursday, police said.

The thief entered a branch in Setauket at 11:30 a.m. and demanded money from a teller. But instead of using a light saber, “Darth” threatened the teller with a semiautomatic gun.

The teller gave the robber some cash from the drawer.

The Darth Vader thief, described as between 6 feet and 6 feet 2 inches tall, took off heading east through the bank’s parking lot.

To read more, go to MyFoxNY.com.

Suffolk County Police Major Case detectives are investigating the robbery of a Chase bank branch in Setauket by a man wearing a Darth Vader mask and a cape.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/man_wearing_darth_vader_mask_robs_jrawp2Q3PbnsdKTz60DQ0L#ixzz0v5mTZQcm

Digital Comics Revolution?

I wrote this as a long-winded response to a post made on Comic Zone’s Facebook profile, yesterday. I figured posting it as a blog wouldn’t be a bad idea.

FACT: Both Marvel and DC’s editors-in-chief (Joe Quesada and Dan DiDio, before both of their recent promotions) have stated for a fact that they do NOT want to stop printing comics. However, after watching what happened to the music industry, they recognize that by NOT embracing digital publishing, they’re missing out on an entire stream of revenue that will lead to future problems.

FACT: So far, Marvel is doing a good job of keeping 99% of things fair for the brick-and-mortar comic stores, as 99% of what hits their digital store comes out SIX MONTHS AFTER the print version. Yes, there are exceptions – the recent SPIDER-WOMAN series was a motion comic before the seven individual issues were printed, and the upcoming INVINCIBLE IRON MAN ANNUAL will see physical and digital stores at the same time. But eight items over the course of 9 months is nothing, when you consider that Marvel have had over 1,000 issues published physically six months before digitally in that time frame.

FACT: DC, meanwhile, have announced exactly ZERO plans for digital distribution. They seem to be content with things as they are – Which is an opinion that is hard to argue with; They’re constantly in 2nd place in sales numbers and sales dollars, but they also print about 75% the material that Marvel does (if not even less!), on a per-month basis, and are generally not very far behind Marvel in terms of direct market sales. It’s hard to make a argument claiming that DC doesn’t want to print comics anymore when they have zero online distribution methods in place, currently.

FACT: Smaller publishers (Dark Horse and IDW, specifically) Are the ones who are jumping to the same-day distribution models a lot faster, particularly with their licensed material. However, maintaining those licenses is an added expense that Marvel and DC don’t have, so it makes sense that Dark Horse and IDW would want to get an extra stream of revenue going as quickly as possible. Also, both Dark Horse and IDW make up less than 10% of the comics market share (even combined they make up less than 10%), so they’re taking far less of a risk of alienating current fans and finding new ones.

FACT: Paul O’Brien of HouseToAstonish.com (formerly of TheXAxis.com) is an X-Men completist, and has reviewed almost every single issue of X-Men, ever. Do you really think he’s going to STOP buying every X-family comic in print format just because online distribution is now available to him? I can tell you for a fact that he isn’t, DESPITE the constant problems that the UK’s postal service has, causing him to consistently have books shipped late.

It will take several years before online distribution becomes the norm for the comics industry. There are far too many people who have all 700+ issues of the various Avengers titles (Avengers, West Coast, Solo/Spotlight, New, Mighty, Initiative, Dark, Secret, new New, etc.) to just STOP the monthly habit of buying physical copies.

Will there be a shift in current readers who want to jump on the digital bandwagon? Absolutely. But it’s far too early to tell what that percentage of current readership that will be, especially if Marvel continue their six-months-later policy.

But what we DO know is that their online sales have created new readers. And as long as people are reading comics in one form or another, the industry survives. And that’s why the online distribution model began in the first place.

Dawning of the Heroic Age

A couple months ago, in an earlier blog, I speculated that The Sentry may have been too powerful a character to keep around the Marvel Universe. With his seemingly-unlimited powers, and his suffering from multiple personality disorder, it seemed like he was destined to be destroyed, because he was too great a threat to the safety of everybody in the Marvel Universe – Be it an innocent bystander on Earth, an unfortunate member of the bird-like Shi’Ar race, or even the bizarre Popuppians. And The Sentry was intelligent enough, himself, to recognize this fact, and had Thor throw him into the sun.

So, now, Norman Osborn is no longer in charge. H.A.M.M.E.R. is back to being known as S.H.I.E.L.D., and Steve Rogers is the new “top cop” in the Marvel U.

The overall feel of this era of the Marvel Universe is much lighter than the one that began with AVENGERS: DISASSEMBLED in 2004 and ended with SIEGE in 2010.

In 2004, there was an overabundance of mutants in the Marvel Universe. It seemed like every third character that was introduced was a mutant, for no reason other than just so another origin wasn’t needed to be written.

The Avengers experienced their worst day in history, when the Scarlet Witch went insane and killed Hawkeye, Vision, Jack of Hearts, Scott Lang/Ant-Man, and cause She-Hulk to go into an insane rage.

Even when the New Avengers were founded, it was because of a breakout at The Raft, Marvel’s maximum security prison, and an endless number of super villains escaped.

During the next six years, the world was completely changed to an alternate version where mutants are the dominant species, only to be changed back to its previous state, but with less than 1% of the mutant population retaining their X-Gene.

Due to a super villain attack on a school, the heroes were divided on whether or not the new government-mandated registration-if-you-have-super-powers was a good or bad idea, and found themselves in the midst of a superhuman civil war, which ultimately led to the death of Steve Rogers, aka Captain America.

While Cap was gone, it turned out that there was an invasion from the alien shape-shifting race known as the Skrulls. And when they proved too much for Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, it was the Green Goblin himself, Norman Osborn, who saved the day and publicly killed the Skrulls’ queen, putting him in the role of #1 security guy. So what’s he do? Hires a bunch of other villains to be his version of the Avengers.

But, this time around? Everything is optimistic. Things are being fixed. Norman Osborn’s Dark Reign of terror is over, and the good guys are in charge, again.

Steve Rogers has founded a new team of Avengers, and the first mission’s roster includes Steve, Bucky Barnes as Captain America, Spider-Man, Wolverine, Thor, Iron Man, Hawkeye, and Spider-Woman… up against Kang the conqueror?

Steve’s also founded a team of black-ops Secret Avengers, consisting of his girlfriend Sharon Carton, The Beast, Valkyrie, Moon Knight, the irredeemable Ant-Man (Eric O’Grady), Nova, and War Machine.

And coming later this month, there’ll be yet a THIRD team of New Avengers, consisting of Ms. Marvel, Wolverine, Spider-Man, The Thing, and Jessica Jones, being led by Luke Cage.

With three Avengers teams actually consisting of Avengers, the world has got to be a safer place, right?

…Right?

I guess time will tell.

Phoenix Comicon preparation

We are down to the home stretch now…. only two more days until we are at Phoenix Comicon. We are excited! This is our first year having a booth at the show. Last year, we were there, handing out flyers, but it’s not the same. This year, we are busily choosing what to bring with us and getting it all ready.

Our store looks like a cyclone hit it – boxes in front of our back issues bins as we choose what to take with us – and plans galore. This year, we are introducing our newest product – something very new and different! We now have custom short boxes, covered with art work done by Andy. Each box is individually created, and we have some beauties! We can also do themes on request. Isn’t that fantastic? Wouldn’t you like your comics stored in a box decorated with your favorite themes rather than the plain white? In the future, we will also be decoupaging boxes, and we also have a fantasy artist who will be drawing for us. Decoupaging is MY specialty, and I hope to have at least ONE sample done before Thursday.

All in all, it’s an exciting time – AND a scheduling nightmare! Comic Zone WILL be open at our Scottsdale location throughout the whole Con…. but I really want to encourage you to join us there.

Phoenix Comicon is really special, and this year’s lineup is superb! Where else can you go to be around so many like-minded people?

Look us up while you are there. We are at booth #610 – right next to our friends, World-Wide Villains. See you soon!

Captain Fantastic Faster Than Superman Spiderman Batman Wolverine Hulk And The Flash Combined

A British 19-year-old boy, originally named George Garratt, legally had his name changed to “Captain Fantastic Faster Than Superman Spiderman Batman Wolverine Hulk And The Flash Combined.”

Little does he realize that his name has a typo, as the proper spelling for “Spider-Man” includes a hyphen.

Also, reportedly, his grandmother is so upset by the change, she is no longer speaking to him.

Read more at: http://gfestblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/british-teen-changes-name-to-captain.html

This was too amazing to NOT share.

Iron Man 2

First impression? Fantastic. Not quite as good as the first movie, but far better than most sequels. It’s too bad IM2 came out three weeks AFTER Kick-Ass, because while it definitely carries Kick-Ass’s momentum, it doesn’t necessarily build upon it. Had the two movies been reversed, I think IM2 would’ve felt a lot more special than it does, now.

Below are random notes as I think of them:

Changes a-plenty to many characters’ origins and backgrounds, but nothing that Bendis, Millar, or Warren Ellis wouldn’t have done in the Ultimate Marvel Universe. A much bigger role from Sam Jackson as Nick Fury, this time around. Scarlet Johansson as the Black Widow (Natalie Rushman/Natasha Romanov) was kind of superfluous, and her fantastic fight scenes are unfortunately severely overshadowed by Hit-Girl’s, but she was a welcome addition to the cast, at least for the eye candy. Don Cheadle replacing Terrance Howard as Lt. Col. James “Rhodey” Rhodes (War Machine) was 100% unnecessary from my perspective. Unless there was something going on behind the scenes that we don’t know about, I don’t think the change was a wise decision.

Mickey Rourke as Ivan Vanko (or Whiplash, if you must) was awesome. It was the first time I ever felt as though Whiplash/Blacklash was a threat to Iron Man, but he was QUITE a threat. Sam Rockwell’s role as Justin Hammer was very entertaining. I don’t know much about Hammer’s character in the comics, but I completely buy the film’s version being a solid interpretation.

Robert Downey, Jr. owns the Tony Stark role. It will be a shame when he can no longer play the Golden Avenger due to real life getting in the way. Gwyneth Paltrow is also a solid return to form as Pepper Potts. She’s got a smaller role this time around, but is just as essential to Tony Stark’s life. And the after-credits bit will pump up audiences for Marvel’s next movie offering.

I feel that Iron Man 2 is a worthy successor to the first movie, despite what the critics may have been saying. I’ll see this at least once more in theatres, and it is definitely going to end up on my DVD shelf.

Post-Free Comic Book Day 2010 message from Andy

As just the second FCBD that I’ve participated in as a retailer, I was very excited at yesterday’s turnout. As a business co-owner, it was wonderful to have so many new faces in our store. As the guy who works at the store, it was absolutely fantastic to see so many of our regular guests returning to see what the comics publishers were offering for free. And as just me, it was so much fun to get to hang out with so many of my friends, throughout the day.

I just wanted to take this opportunity to give a huge thanks to each and every person who came in and helped make May 1, 2010 one of my favorite (if completely exhausting) days, ever. And an even huger thanks to Tom Leveen and his wonderful wife, Joy, for shilling Tom’s new book, PARTY. We still have a few copies left, which Tom has pre-signed for their future owners. Come on in and get one before they’re gone!