National Comic Book Day: "The only fat super hero ..."
Most of the free books for adults had been scarfed up by the time I arrived, but I bought Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns because it's a classic and because I could not resist the idea of Superman as the tool of a fascist government.
The store itself was the real treat, though. It had vanished without a trace a few months before, as if sucked into a parallel universe. Last night, looking for shops taking part in today's festivities, I found that the parallel universe was two blocks away; the store had moved, and the old location's evil landlord had taken down the signs that directed customers to the new address, the clerk ("Comics Guy") said.
It's good to have a comics shop in the neighborhood again, because where else could I have heard Comics Guy tell a colleague that "I'm going as Bouncing Boy from the Legion of Super Heroes because he's the only fat super hero who's not, you know, embarrassing."?
© Peter Rozovsky 2012
Labels: Batman, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, comics, Frank Miller, graphic novels, National Comic Book Day, Superman
posted by Peter Rozovsky at 5:11 PM
17 Comments:
I'd like to see a studio with the balls to make Frank Millers Dark Knight, but they never will.
You'll like this:
http://www.themorningnews.org/article/bagels-toasted
Even if a studio had the balls to make that movie, do you think DC would allow it? I know creator control is an issue in the comics world, and I'm pretty sure Frank Miller does not own the rights to the Batman character. (In a nice touch, the introduction to Dark Knight mentions a Schuster subway stop in Metropolis.)
I'll read the bagel article tomorrow over a bagel and coffee.
Wouldn't Herbie be considered a fat superhero?
Hey, talk to Comics Guy. Maybe I'll get him to do a guest post.
Herbie, I presume?
We have two comic book stores withing a stone's throw of the book store, and one of my coworkers clued me into this. I wasn't really sure about why I was doing this, but I went to the one out our backdoor and was given three free ones, and then on my next break went and got 8 or 9 at the other, which was what they were expecting you to do. Unfortunately I didn't retain any, because I realized it would be a great gift at a friend's birthday party tonight. I felt a bit possessive by the end of the day, because even the least interesting are interesting in terms of storytelling, but I decided that the bigger gesture would be to give her all, and of course I could actually go and BUY some from these nice people.
I'm just wondering what I missed. The comics guy showed me a virtually empty table off which he said piles of comics had been sucked up early. He said the store might have to get a much bigger stock next year.
Nice people at my local comics shop, too, and that generally has been the case except for the one I wrote about here, and she was so much unpleasant as she was either thick or else not as attentive to the customer as one ought to be when working in a retail shop.
P.S. The free comic I took was The Avengers, I was reluctant to admit. But everything else that remained was for kids. I did see a mother in the store with her son to pick up some comics, which was a pleasant sight.
One should never, ever have to do without a comic shop. Luckily you never have to: http://www.comicshoplocator.com
Brian: Thanks.For readers who can’t wait for comics. here’s the link in handy, clickable form. A similar search was how I found out that my local shop had moved rather than disappeared. I heard about National (Free) Comic Book Day, found a site that would search for comic shops taking part, and was suprised to find my local under the same name, on the same street, just two blocks away.
Yes, The Avengers was one of the ones available. The way they did it one store was to have the table of free things, and then have some special ones set aside for regular customers, which I only know about because one of my friends got a nice one when she picked up her special order.
I think my birthday present went over reasonably well, but definitely the person most excited about it was the three year old helping her unwrap gifts. He ended up taking the copy of Spiderman home with him.
I like it that the shop set aside something special for regular customers. That's like a bartender reaching under the counter or even sending a customer into the back room. I am happy for your friend and also for the three-year-old. I hope the comics lead him to books and not just to CGI blockbusters.
I have every hope of that, Peter.
If I'm ever back that way again, I'll buy the kid a comic to help the righteous cause!
One of my v words sounds like something I hope I don't need too many off: remedis
And that reminds me that I edited an article at work last week about CAPTCHAs. Let me look for its online version.
Here it is.
Good article, and of course, excellent editing.
I was glad to know that I was right about my hunch that you did not have to get the captcha words exactly right.
Thanks. I knew from experience that one did not have to get both the words right. And yes, I think that piece was edited before it went out on line. I liked the reminder that even such a weird phenomenon as CAPTHAs has a history of its own. And I liked that the writer managed to take a light approach without going over the edge into self-conscious cuteness. Doing what she did is rarer than one would think.
Make that CAPTCHAs. My misspelling in the previous comment is a lisper's nightmare.
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