I will be getting a few sets of the issues that Diamond is refusing to distribute.  If there is enough interest, I can get multiple additional sets of each, as well as re-orders of #15.  Let me know!

I’ll be back in St. Louis, setting up at a comic show on Saturday, October 11.  From the website: St. Louis (Chesterfield, MO)
at the Hampton Inn and Suites 5 McBride and Son Center Drive (Boone’s Crossing- Exit 17 off of I-64 / Hwy 40) Open to public from 10 AM to 4 PM. FREE admission!

I have completely rebuilt my inexpensive stock since the last time I came to St. Louis – at least 10 boxes of new books.

The news has hit the net that Gene Colan has been hospitalized for liver failure. Clifford Meth is already organizing an auction to help with medical costs:

Quoted from here

Spoke with Gene this evening. He was exhausted but very optimistic. Good for Gene! But his wife Adrienne has no illusions. She writes, “My darling, sweet, handsome and brilliantly gifted husband’s liver is failing. The complications are very nasty. This week it’s fluid retention and encephalitis. He’s on powerful meds now to diminish the symptoms. He sleeps a lot and has very little energy.”

I’ve contacted a number of writers and artists this evening asking for a few signed items to auction on the Colans’ behalf. Stan Lee, Neil Gaiman, Mark Evanier and Peter David immediately pledged their support. Many more will join the list over the next few days. Not sure which outlet will be used to auction these items yet, but we’ll get to that soon enough. For now, if you’re a pro reading this blog, please contact me and pledge a few signed books or a drawing. If the rest of you would spread the news to your own blogs, that would be enormously helpful, too. Let’s get this ball rolling and give Gene and Adrienne a quick boost.

I had my best one-day sales totals at the Feb.16 show in Chesterfield yesterday – thanks to all the comic fans and dealers who came out yesterday!  Once I built up my show stock again, I’ll be back – I sold THIRTEEN solid longboxes of books!

The slumbering beast awakes yet again, unfortunately in winter.  After being dormant too long, I’ll be jumping back into the comic show circuit with a vengeance.  I’ll be at one Feb 16 in St. Louis, then Feb 17 in Springfield, IL.  Next up (currently) will be the Gem City Comic Con in Dayton, Ohio on April 6.  I just got new art for my highly popular flyers – just need to scan, edit and print out between now and Saturday morning…
I have four longboxes worth of new books, plus the piles I normally have.  If I could only find my current Overstreet.  I’ll have more in St. Louis, since I could only swing two tables on short notice in Springfield.  I plan to bring at least ten boxes of the ever-popular “three for $1.00” boxes and a pile of silver, gold and bronze focusing on horror and esoteric books.
Gem City should be excellent since the dealer tables are completely sold out!  Congrats to Jesse and Bill for getting a full house.

If that’s not a busy enough weekend, the mighty High on Fire is playing the Creepy Crawl on Sunday night – too bad I have to work on Monday.

OK, so I lied in the previous post about getting reviews up shortly.  The covers are scanned and the reviews WERE written, then a computer collapsed, destroying my hopes and dreams, well at least my most recent writings.  Almost everything was backed up or recoverable, the “mission-critical” stuff.  I’m now set up with a princely 22” widescreen monitor and all the coolness therein associated.

I did have time to read the Captain America Omnibus from Marvel – “the life of a legend, the death of the dream.”   As much as I hated the concept of Bucky coming back, the STORY is excellent and well-paced.  Highly recommended.

Over at myspace, the bizarro book club has started up – take a look, es surreal.  Very entertaining.

More to come.  It was hard to start up again after losing stuff on the hard drive (I’m sure the writers out there understand), that’s why I usually have a hard copy just in case.  Urgh.  Could’ve scanned stuff, but noooo…..

Starting later tonight, I will be doing a series of capsule reviews of some of the digest and mini sized comics I picked up in Chicago this year.  Some are funny, some serious all are the result of (usually) one person’s hard work.

Something else I picked up that will get a full review: War Fix.  Short review – buy it, you won’t regret it.  Like Last Days in Viet Nam and Fax from Sarajevo, its an examination of war from a very personal level.  I’ll go into more detail later.

Just a brief note to prove I didn’t drown again.

Vertigo,
$17.95,
96 pages, color

In the Shadow of Edgar Allan Poe (written byJohnathan Scott Fuqua and art by Stephen John Phillips and Steven Park) traces the life of Poe from an uncovered journal purporting to be by his own hand. His loves, triumphs, tragedies and his personal demons (literal and figurative) are given form, ending just prior to his mysterious demise. His unconventional home life is examined, as are the creative hills and valleys of his career. Was he destroyed by outside forces, or did his fevered mind create demons to blame for his failures?

This edition has been produced using photographic art. Every scene was staged with actors, then digitally manipulated to set the mood, backround or madness required for the passage. It is an effective device, lending its realism to the phantasmagoria of Poe’s life.

Worth a look if you are a fan of Poe or the modern mythology springing up around the man and his disappearance these days. Like the film Death of Poe, this is an attempt to interpret the why of Poe, not just the who.

Wizard World Chicago takes a lot out of me.  Not just doing laps of the floor, the socializing afterwards; the occasional three hour El trip (I’m glaring at you, Johnson); learning that people whose art you love are really cool (Arthur Suydam) or an ass (name withheld to protect the jerky).

Small press reviews and commentary to follow this week.  Still tired from the full frontal nerdity.

I was amazed earlier tonight – I was on Amazon for something, and I decided to look at the “genre fiction – horror” section:  There are over 1000 graphic novels there!  Granted, some don’t belong there, but still!

Kind of interesting, even though there’s a big chunk of manga listed and a preponderance of major publishers.  I’ve broken down and picked up a manga series (The Drifting Classroom).  I do actually like it, once I get through all the published volumes to date, I will definitely be reviewing it here.

I am prepping up for the fun of Wizard World Chicago, hoping to run into specific people and meet new ones.  Always a good time and I’ve been updating the want lists.  Who knows what I’ll drag back this year.

I have this Thursday’s review on deck and ready to go.  I’m hoping to find some more indy titles out there.  I’ve been focusing on tpb’s here lately so a full story can be had – small publishers (and large) don’t always finish the darn story.  I do believe the industry will go more and more towards the tpb as the ultimate moneymaker.