The Comic Book Diaries (Movie Review)

Let's get one thing straight right off the bat: The Comic Book Diaries is a bad movie. Horrible in many ways. Acting, costumes, lighting, composition, script... they're all lacking.

But I'm not going to rip the film. It was made for somewhere around $7,000. That's impressive in and of itself. I've got to say that given that budget and my artistic ability I couldn't make this film. I find it to be impressive whenever ultra-low budget filmmakers create a finished produce with any merit whatsoever.

The general storyline is that comic book store co-owners are struggling to keep their business afloat at great personal cost. Then they have a stroke of "luck" (a once-popular comic book artist dies in their store after a book signing) that turns it around for their store.

And while this film fails in every aspect a film is measured by, I give the filmmakers credit for their artistic aspirations. Scenes are introduced by a still frame sketched out like a black and white comic book. The title sequence was done by flipping through comic book boards with the names of the creators on them. Pretty clever in fitting with the theme of the movie.

Oh, but I must mention that there's not even an actual diary (let along DIARIES) in the film, making the title a misnomer.

1LR REVIEW - 4 out of 20 (but it has the heart of an 12)! It's a Total Failure!

FCBD Enjoyment

Today, my family and I went to Comic Store West for Free Comic Book Day. As expected, we weren't disappointed!

FCBD logo

First, the store was PACKED. When I first entered, I would say there were a dozen people in line.

Second, the comic book selection was excellent, especially for kids. The store had a bunch of comics left over from previous years in addition to this year's offerings.

Third, the store had a Marvel comics trivia contest. I watched person after person go down in flames but I felt pretty confident myself. More on that in my next post.

Fourth, the store was having a screening of all of the Avengers movies. Very nice!

Fifth, the store had a tent and was offering hot dogs, chips and soda for the GREAT price of $2 TOTAL. Wow! What a great bonus! I could feed my whole family for $8!

Sixth, CSW had a Heroclix game demo based on the Avengers movies (it was a 600 point battle - Thor, Banner (Hulk), Iron Man, Black Widow and Hawkeye taking on Loki and a bunch of Skrulls (the 616 version of the Ultimate Shitari) on top of the Stark Tower playmat with a Cosmic Cube thown into the mix. SWEET!

Anyway, here's what we ended up taking home:

Smurfs/Tinkerbell
Yo Gabba Gabba
Dangerous Animals
Top Shelf Kids
Avengers
DC's 52
Star Wars/Serenity
Mouse Guard hardback book (not pictured)
2 Thor Heroclix
1 Green Lantern Heroclix

Not a bad haul for FREE! The kids loved it. Thank you, Comic Store West!

Free Comic Book Day 2012!

I know I'm pretty down on the comics industry... there's a lot to be down about, in my opinion. I may be doom and gloom, forecasting a bleak future for the once great American institution. But I do see some rays of hope. One of them in Free Comic Book Day! This is the 10th year for FCBD and the event has only grown and gotten bigger.

I, myself, always make sure I snatch up several hundred comics so I can give them out to kids. After all, they're going to be the future of comics.

I always get excited when I see what companies are releasing. This year doesn't disappoint with Mouse Guard, Peanuts, Bongo, Star Wars, Transformers, Avengers, Diary of a Zombie Kid, Spider-Man, Donald Duck, My Favorite Martian, Tinkerbell/Smurfs, Top Shelf Kids Club, and Animal Planet (to name a few).

 

Comic Book Industry: The Two Ring Circus

I've always known that the comic book industry was a two company business - DC and Marvel. But I guess I expected that to have changed in recent times because of the excellent product being put out by Dark Horse, IDW, and Image. Well, if the top 100 sellers listed in the January are to believed, that just simply isn't the case. In fact, of the top 100 comics only THREE aren't published by Marvel or DC. Ready? Here they are:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 9 comes in at 64 (yes, that's right - no non-DC/Marvel publisher breaks the top 50)

The Walking Dead comes in at 68

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comes in at 97.

That's it! Number 99 is Mr. Terrific by DC and #100 is X-23 by Marvel. So X-23 outsells every non-Marvel/DC comic on the racks except three! That's unbelievable!

How can this be good for the industry? How can this be good for the FANS? Bottom line - it can't be. And to make things worse, I wonder if these two companies are in an actual competition with one another. Fans are notoriously loyal. I know I'm that way. I don't care WHAT DC publishes or how good it is - I'll never read Batman or Superman monthly.

It's amazing that companies like Dark Horse can hang in there month to month. Keep pluggin' away, "underground" comic companies. Your efforts are appreciated!

Brett Stoner Retires From Comic Store West

Brett Stoner, part owner, of Comic Store West retired today. I couldn't let the occasion pass without stopping in to his retirement party and grabbing some cake. Brett has been in the comics industry for 25 years now. That's quite a feat given the fact that the majority of comic book stores go out of business in the first five years. I'll miss seeing Brett's welcoming face behind the counter at CSW. Brett was always willing to discuss or debate whatever hot topic I had on my mind and I appreciate that. Furthermore, Brett is responsible for the formation of the Keystone Gaming Society, of which I am a member. CSW isn't without hope for the future, however - Brett leaves the store in the capable hands of Brian Waltersdorff and Joe Miller with Scott as the manager.

Superman isn't really sad... he just uses any excuse  to cuddle with  Wonder Woman.

Attention: Comic Book Store Retailers! Want Sales? Let Me Punch You.

Obviously leader in the comic book industry, AlleyCat Comics (outside of Chicago, IL) has launched a revolutionary incentive program. Make fifty purchases and you get to punch a store employee in the stomach. Seriously. I spoke with a very friendly female employee on the phone and she informed me that there is no minimum purchase - any sale counts toward the fifty purchases! So, essentially, if you're a regular comic book subscriber and pick up your comics loyally every week, you'll earn your free jab to the gut of a comic store employee. That's awesome. I'm thinking other comic book stores need to up the ante to keep pace with the revolutionaries at AlleyCat Comics. Maybe "Mace an employee" or "Taze an employee." I sure hope AlleyCat Comics gives its employees good medical coverage. And I also hope Chuck Norris doesn't subscribe there.

AlleyCat Comics has only been around for four months or so and you can give them some love at http://twitter.com/#!/alleycatcomics or at http://www.wix.com/genna6/alleycatcomics.

You can also check out the newstory at http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-09-11/business/ct-biz-0911-web-loyalty-20110911_1_loyalty-programs-rewards-program-social-media

Comic Store West "Frontroom Sale"

Comic Store West, located in York, PA, is famous for its backroom sales where all sorts of gaming products are sold dirt cheap. Well, now the backroom has moved out onto the main sales floor. Introducing the Bargain RPG Books Section at CSW!

I checked out their stock the other day and found a bunch of great stuff. I myself picked up the core rulebook for Fireborn for $5 and two one-on-one solo D20 fantasy adventures for $1.88 each! You can't beat that! The Fireborn book alone would have originally retailed for $30!

I spoke with one of the store owners, Brian, and he said they were periodically renewing the stock on the Bargain RPG Books Section. No need to wait for those cool backroom sales anymore! Check out the bargain RPGs and give CSW a little love on the net at: http://www.comicstorewest.com/.

Comix Connection Variant Cover for Amazing Spider-Man #666

So, I stopped by Comix Connection in the West Manchester Mall the other day and I found a curious item. An item that intrigued me enough that I spontaneously purchased it even though I have given up collecting comics and I wasn't planning on spending any money. That item was Amazing Spider-Man #666. "So what," You may say. But this was no ordinary issue! The cover was customized with a picture of the Mechanicsburg location of Comix Connection! Check it out (the portion on the left is the back cover):

The special Comix Connection variant cover for Amazing Spider-Man #666.

I spoke with the clerks at Comix Connection. They said that 140 stores participated in the variant cover opportunity. That means that ASM #666 had over 140 different covers! To me, that sounds like a completionist collector's nightmare. They did say one customer was trying to track down all 140+ different covers. YIKES! Comix Connection ordered 750 copies of this bad boy so swing on over there and get your hands on a copy. 

Check out some of the other variants:

The Tenth Planet

I took a trip a while ago to Planet X.

Planet X Comics and Collectibles, that is, in York, PA. It's a relatively new comic book store. More comic book stores is a good thing, not a bad thing for the industry as a whole.

It was an interesting experience to say the least. The first thing I noticed when I walked through the door was kids. Lots and lots of kids - like, twelve or so. This was at 2:30 on a Wednesday. The second thing I noticed was the amount of staff on hand - three employees worked the small(ish) store. Two of them were cute women (Kimberly and Lara) which, in my opinion, is marketing genius.

Anyway, all of those kids were there for something cool: Art classes taught by a Planet X employee. Planet X also has comic book creator nights for adult comic book creators who wish to gather together, talk shop, exchange ideas, and hone their craft. That's pretty cool. Still, setting up the tables for the art instruction made it somewhat difficult to get to all of the merchandise.

The store is kinda smallish but even so it seemed somewhat empty (not uncommon for a new comic shop). Their stock seems pretty random - I wouldn't stop by expecting them to have as specific book - Essential Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 5, let's say. Lots of movie displays - Green Lantern, Captain America, Transformers. Makes sense since it is right there by Frank Theaters. Still, not all of their related merchandise is in one section. For example, Star Wars merchandise is in several areas (Star Wars, kids, novels, etc.). Their gaming stock is almost nonexistent. They had a spattering of other merchandise - statues, toys, etc. Generally, I would only go there expecting to find that week's new releases. No real back issue inventory. The back issues they had seemed overpriced.

The one unique feature this store had was a couch set up with a flat screen TV and a video game system (I believe it was an XBox - I couldn't see due to the art instruction but it would make sense, this being Planet "X" and all). This is cool but also odd since it has nothing to do with any of the products they sell. They'd be better off having a card table set up with a board game set up to demo on it or something.

Final evaluation - Planet X is a clean, uncluttered comic book store just finding its legs. Their current strength is their community outreach, while their current weakness is the quantity of stock on their shelves. Bottom line: In an economy that has seen the number of comic book stores shrink from 5,000 to 2,400 it's a good thing  to have another place to get comic books in York.