Lost in collecting- Om's Journal by oldmilwaukee6er

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Man, wish I had known you were interested in that Rust book. I had pulled a set of that series from a 25 cent box and flipped them on eBay quite a while back. Had copies of both the regular and limited #1. Don't think I have any more, but I'll take a look. We're still thinking along the same lines as I also just picked up a copy of person_without_enough_empathy Planet #1 for $4 from my local shop. Glad to hear the panel went well.

Man, wish I had known you were interested in that Rust book. I had pulled a set of that series from a 25 cent box and flipped them on eBay quite a while back. Had copies of both the regular and limited #1. Don't think I have any more, but I'll take a look. We're still thinking along the same lines as I also just picked up a copy of B i tch Planet #1 for $4 from my local shop. Glad to hear the panel went well.

Thanks hombre! I was hoping the con report might draw you out. I am totally throwing the ANY and ALL B i tch Planet #1s into the spec box to marinate for 10yrs or so... that will be a good book one day. Lots of young women entering the hobby right now and that book is 'around the way' at about 39k pre-sales in Dec. 2014. What are you thinking on that book? Buy & hold or are you planning a flip?

I honestly wasn't too interested in the preview Spawns before this show. I received an education from one guy (I couldn't close) and sorta paid for an education from another. Malibu Sun 13 is the much better of the two, as well IMHO. That be said, Rust #1 Bronze foil in NM+ may just be on my pick list for a while. We'll see. I bought a copy #'d in the 7k and left one #d 10k. 15k copies? More? Likely about 11k based on research. It is available, I am thinking. There is also a NM+ MS13 available locally that is priced competitively (but still strong) and that book will be on my long-term want list.

Man, wish I had known you were interested in that Rust book. I had pulled a set of that series from a 25 cent box and flipped them on eBay quite a while back. Had copies of both the regular and limited #1. Don't think I have any more, but I'll take a look. We're still thinking along the same lines as I also just picked up a copy of B i tch Planet #1 for $4 from my local shop. Glad to hear the panel went well.

 

 

Thanks hombre! I was hoping the con report might draw you out. I am totally throwing the ANY and ALL B i tch Planet #1s into the spec box to marinate for 10yrs or so... that will be a good book one day. Lots of young women entering the hobby right now and that book is 'around the way' at about 39k pre-sales in Dec. 2014. What are you thinking on that book? Buy & hold or are you planning a flip?

Buying and holding, only because it doesn't look like they are going for much on eBay right now, so not something I would sell yet.

Here's my list of stuff that I've sold on eBay recently, been doing well selling some oddball stuff that not everyone else lists:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/brotherjcomix/m.html?_nkw&_armrs=1&_ipg&_from&LH_Complete=1&LH_Sold=1&rt=nc&_trksid=p2046732.m1684

Here is my copy...was lucky enough to pick this up from a boardie several years ago. I couldn't hit the button fast enough!

A little free-writing at halftime of Liverpool v Bournemouth match. I should be walking or posting in my online courses (currently have 3, including two large online). I still have some 10+ hours of grading staring me down today. But I want to write a little bit while I watch the game.

Last Week’s Wednesday One- Black Panther #1- Last week I pulled Black Panther #1 (sold out at Collector’s Edge) as a future gift for the chef, along with Poe Dameron and the latest Star Wars.

I missed Assassin’s Creed #7? for the lady and so I threw it in my pull box until I can get back to the store. I messed around, cleaned and had a nice morning with the lady SAT, worked a solid 9 hours on grading. I popped my head up around 6pm to hit the corner store for a sandwich and then the comic store and it WAS CLOSED! Ahh *spoon* I forgot that they close at 5pm on SAT. And closed SUN & MON. And that means I missed out on this week’s pulls (oops).

I have comics lying around everywhere… by the desk, stuff I’ve scanned, new readers in the bathroom (Spawn #26 and Lobo’s Comic Con Special from 1992 are current faves), Usagis that need to be filed, and more. My comic closet is not exactly overflowing, but I stuffed a bunch of stuff in there after Madison and I cannot step in there as I should. I have sold next to nothing in 2016, squatford, instead opting to expand my collection through my run-collecting Spawn and Usagi Yojimbo.

I threw all that stuff in there because I had such a con hangover after WW Madison. It was a great con for us, one of the best all-around, a great combination of Type 1 (small free-spending budget) and Type 2 (panel) fun. The first WW St Louis was like that for us too, visiting friends, watching March madness college basketball, buying X-Men #1. I read in the WIZARD STOCK IN FREE FALL thread that there is no date for 2017 Madison… I wonder if that show was a money maker for Wizard? 2015 certainly had to be a money loser, but 2016 looked good. When I get a few extra moments in the coming weeks, I will pay attention to the financials and see what’s good. At any rate, Mighty Con is quickly becoming a more comics oriented Wizard-lite, so Milwaukee looks covered for years to come.

And I for one am ready to buy more. Part of me woke up this morning thinking… comic show? Pick? Fun!?

What up, Journals!? It has been busy up in Milwaukee, and I am just popping in to do a little free-writing. The last two weeks have been busy BUSY with the lady mired in the final quarter at the engineering college and me teaching 3 (2 online). The last two weekends were grading weekends, with no fewer than 9 hours grading per day SAT-SUN; grinding at the computer and ain't no lie.

I was also volunteering for 88Nine Radio Milwaukee during the Spring fund drive, something I do a few times a year. Check us online at: http://radiomilwaukee.org/ (commercial free, new music, local, community stories & more).

I volunteer fundraising during the early mornings (7-10am) and have since 2010. Too much fun, so many positive people making a positive impact on the community; it is just so uplifting. And cute girls too. D*mn (sorry, dahling... know you lurk).

If I am honest, it is a feeling that I do not get from work. I often think about the things in my life I would do for free- naturalist, disc golf, help out at the corner spot, work a comic con (e.g. 2007 SDCC when I worked for Mile High Comics), & volunteer for 88.9. So, I put in about 15hrs over 6 mornings the last 2 weeks. The lady sacrificed her part too, commuting on the bus while I had the car (props).

So. ANYways… it was during my volunteering that I discovered the following on recommendation from one of those left ‘o dial suicide girls (image coming once Photobucket chillz):

Uhhh… Yup. I am a Konvert *choke* convert. Of “kondo-marie-ing” as the lady pokes fun. Or the #konmari method . Because, well, you know… “Lost in collecting” is where 2015 mommy-blogs collide with comic books.

Sadly, more to come…

The KonMari method- The art of downsizing flipped on its head

OK, so in the midst of a recent busy period, I found Marie Kondo’s “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.” As a sporadic reader of non-funny books, and a constant reader for work, a book has to speak to me for me to pick it up. And this one did.

So while I was awaiting the lady’s procurement of said tome, I embarked on a little research ahead of my reading (currently underway). The basic premise is this… you take EVERYthing you own in a particular category, pile it on the floor, handle each item in turn and ask yourself “does this spark joy?” If the item does not (or you hesitate or the feeling is one of quieter sentiment), then you discard it; if it does create a visceral spark, then you keep it.

If one keeps at it diligently, eventually one can purge down to only those items that inspire joy (after Summers, 2015; “8 lessons our editor learned from the…”). No music, no movie, no distractions from your internal dialog… just you picking up each item and asking “Does this spark joy?” and “If I keep it, will it bring me joy?” When done mindfully, it forces your intellect to fight you at every step. And eventually, if you practice this often enough, it becomes easier and easier. The KonMari method is a metaphor for discernment that is obscured by capitalism (Brockes, 2016; “Tidying up guru Marie Kondo…”).

In my research of mommy-blogs and or magazine editors trying the process, I noted how easy it seemed, how it was effective, and (eventually) how most everyone attempting the KonMari method did not follow it, rather picking and choosing parts of it to apply. I was also struck by a nice article in the Atlantic by Lam (2015) titled “The economics of tiding up,” which makes connections between aspects of the method and behavioral economics.

There are plenty of ‘rules’ for the method, which I will loosely outline here:

1. Tackle categories and not rooms or locations. This is because we store the same things in different places. It is important to tackle everything in a category before moving on.

2. Proceed in a particular order. Start with clothes > books > papers > miscellany > personal mementos. This gives one a chance to hone decision-making skills before the more sentimental items. Also, Kondo (2015) offers advice for using subcategories too.

3. Respect your belongings. There is a fair amount of anthropomorphism of objects in the book (and indeed in Japanese culture). Many get hung up on this point, e.g. jokes about thanking clothes for their service or their lesson, or even considering the ‘feelings’ of one’s socks all balled-up tight during their only rest period. For example, not all clothes come to you to be worn threadbare. Some merely give you a joy-spark upon purchase and others teach you a lesson about the type of item that does not give you joy. Thank the item for its particular service and move on.

4. Nostalgia is not your friend; “someday” never comes; and you really will not miss it. Stick to the category at hand and be honest… does this object bring you joy? Ultimately, purging feels good. As such, it is unfair to subject other family members to KonMari (Chapin, 2015), as this increases sentimentality and distracts from hearing one’s own cognitive biases.

5. Discard first, then store your belongings. If one does not, one runs the risk of storing items that should realistically be discarded. Ideally, you should discard without input from family and do so in a way that they do not see, as it is inconsiderate to expose others to one’s trash.

There are probably a few more, but that gives you an idea of the basics. However, you no doubt see the main point… that throwing things out and putting one’s belongings in the right place involves jumping through psychological hoops. As Kondo (2015) notes, putting your belongings in order involves putting your affairs and past in order too. Tidying up means confronting oneself (after Malle, 2016). This is certainly true for me and my comic books.

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"No matter how wonderful things used to be, we cannot live in the past. The joy and excitement we feel here and now are most important" (Kondo, 2015) .

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So the method is designed to help one overcome anxiety-induced limits of human decision making (Lam, 2015). The argument, then, becomes one of behavioral economics- clutter is a product of people’s cognitive blunders. And, as Lam (2015) notes the KonMari method has many parallels with aspects of behavioral economics, including addressing:

Sunk cost fallacy- that payments in both time and money have already been accrued and cannot be recovered. This leads us to ignore the joy or utility of an item.

Opportunity cost- the mental and psychological toll of keeping an unused item is greater than throwing it out.

Status quo bias- Most stuff stays because we cannot think of a good reason to get rid of it (anchoring). The KonMari method flips the status quo- everything will be thrown away unless one can think of a compelling reason to keep it (joy).

Diminished returns- The more you have of something, the less valuable each successive item is. For example, I have some 20 geek T-shirts and more than a few I completely forgot I owned.

The folly of prediction- Generally this means that people make poor decisions about the future and instead focus on the present. Often it is those optimistic “someday” predictions about the future that keep people from purging. And according to Kondo (2015) someday never comes.

Loss aversion- Losing something it twice as painful as gaining the same object. People ascribe a much higher value to things they own; things seem valuable just because they belong to us.

At the end of all of it (Kondo recommends working through your entire space within 6 months at the longest), one will be unencumbered by items with baggage- unwanted gifts, clothes that do not fit, or anxieties about the future- surrounded only by things that provide clarity (Associated Press, 2014).

A first pass at KonMari…

So the past two weekends have been a grading grind (for me) of epic proportions, easily putting in 9 hours at the computer on FRI-SUN. As I posted on my Facebook, I would complain except the lady does this all the time; she is a pro. My point is that upon discovering the “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” by Marie Kondo, I was ready to start. However, I could not. And so I read, took notes, and waited; I wanted to do this right. So MON was the day that I tackled my clothes.

I posted before that it is important to progress through the KonMari method in a particular order. And one starts with clothes for a variety of reasons, but mainly because they are largely utilitarian in nature and we are often used to cleaning out closets cyclically and storing seasonal clothing. I know I am proud of my closet. It is not HGTV ready, all decked out with organizational hardware… but it IS functional, somewhat organized, all clothes in one place, AND I can close my closet when company is over (hehe the lady cannot do that). However, I am a sentimental clothes horse.

I have some items of clothing from high school still- e.g. my letter jacket, one sweatshirt (since age 16), one T from 1994 (a package liquor store I worked at briefly while bumping around junior college), etc. I also collect clothing to some degree. If I find a piece that is ‘just butter’ I might buy an extra and store it away so that I have a replacement when I wear one out (you know, ‘someday’). I also used to have this weird thing about how I wouldn’t wear a concert T-shirt for a period of time, say 3-5 years. It ‘needed to marinate some’ before I would pull it out and put it into the rotation. Small little weird habits created over time, and my point is that I thought clothing might be a little harder for me to purge than what is on the surface.

So MON at 630am, I began… first my doing all my laundry at a local Laundromat to make sure everything was clean. Then I purchased some 30gal trash bags for the cull. Finally, I ventured into the second bedroom and began pulling everything out of my closet onto the floor, including all seasonal storage.

I chose a little light IDM music on Google with no lyrics (a curated list I sometimes use for grading), opened the windows to let the sunshine and fresh air in, and went to work. At first, it was easy. There are lots of items that I held onto because of guilt over the money spent, or a it was a gift, or I thought I might someday squeeze back into. There are lots of reasons that we keep clothing that no longer brings us joy. After a while, I was humming…and the discards were piling up. However, then something happened… I discovered a cache of one of my ‘clothing collectibles,’ my collection of other people’s work shirts- Brian from Fleet Farm, Conrad from a sheet metal company, Howie’s vintage Pabst wear, or Stan’s PBR- and a few of my own- a nice Great Northern Brewery work shirt, and even more that I have picked from thrift shops. Many of them are a ‘someday’ project. It was in this moment that I started to stray from the path… I was suddenly thinking how I was going to store these, where I would put them, and my mind was wandering, unfocused. And then I looked it my growing pile of ‘keeps’ and I was wondering if I really was making good progress? Doubt was creeping in. However, I refocused and dealt with the task at hand- discard first, then store.

In the end, I accomplished the following:

• Discarded four 30-gallon trash bags to Goodwill. I made a list for tax purposes.

• I allowed the lady to take 5 of my geek shirts for a T-shirt quilt project she is putting together (partially inspired by my incessant talking about the book). I mailed those shirts off THURS.

• Eliminated nearly all of my seasonal storage, with the exception of one Rubbermaid bin for my hunting gear (use maybe once every 3 years).

• Stored everything easily, indeed I now have room to store 2 short boxes in my closet should I choose.

• Addressed 3 ‘someday’ projects- including leather cleaning and repairing a fave old jacket, mending a fave sport coat that still has life, and fixing / cleaning a suit.

Next up… the books (once I get out from under these classes).

The Lady Speaks. . . Peak Geek?

This is just some rumination about whether we’ve hit what Forbes dubbed “Peak Geek” and what this might mean for superhero movies and geek culture. As usual, it’s part of a larger work between Om and myself.

Shortly after Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice hit theatres a meme titled “Sad Ben Afleck " made its way around social media. I saw it first on io9. In this 1:09 long video one watches as Affleck and co-star Henry Caville are asked questions about the negative critical response to DoJ. As Caville gamely performs the pole dance and answers the question, the camera focuses on Affleck who sits with his head tilted down, eyes cast into the distance, a tight frown on his face, and an overall grim countenance. Someone added “The Sound of Silence” by Simon and Garfunkel completing the air of sadness that gives rise to the title.

“Sad Ben Affleck” has become a watershed moment in the world of movies and geek culture. The meme debuted around March 25th or so. In the weeks since then many articles have been published that are asking the question if we’ve hit the pinnacle of the superhero boom. Everyone from Kill Screen to Slate has opined that we are, indeed, seeing fatigue set in. Om said back in January 2016 that he thought Deadpool would be the tipping point and that superhero saturation would be reached.

In order to back that assertion up I want to offer some hard numbers. According to Den of Geek, Marvel and DC are both slated to release 9 superhero movies a piece between 2017-2020. IMDB lists that Marvel and DC released 23 superhero movies in the years 2000-2012 and another 11 between 2012 and 2015. Wikipedia (and just looking at theatre adverts) tells us that there will be 6 superhero movies this year from the two (Deadpool, Bats v Supes have already come out, Civil War will be out next week leaving Suicide Squad, X-Men: Apocalypse, and Doctor Strange to finish out the year). That’s 58 superhero movies in 20 years. These numbers also don’t reflect indie comic book superheroes (Kick , Super, Sucker Punch) nor do they reflect animated offerings or television shows. I would also like to take this time to give a shout-out to Blade. Released in 1998 it technically falls outside the super hero boom and yet it is arguably Marvel’s first successful comic book film. It remains one of my favorites to this day.

As a geek this is a great time to be alive. For the first time in my comic book/popular culture consuming life, I can wear my geek with abandon. Almost everyone now admits to having a geek and conversations flow like honeyed wine. Super hero shirts, hats, backpacks, hoodies, shoes, etc., can be found on everyone from the jockiest jock to the nerdiest nerd. These are halcyon days, people.

So of course it’s natural that there would be a moment when the fatigue would set in. The movies are still making major bank at the box office (especially overseas) and the actors seem to enjoy making them (the young X-Men cast aside, although even they’ve come around to the fact that the steady paychecks shouldn’t be dismissed out of hand). Was Bats v Supes a bad movie? No. Six years ago we probably would have been raving about it. But we’ve been spoiled. Snyder gave us a Watchmen that proved that paranoia and violence could be beautiful. Marvel has offered us a template (which they use again and again) for fun superhero movies from the Tobey MacGuire Spiderman movies to the current Avengers. The Winter Soldier demonstrated a dark super hero movie could still have a spark and a sense of humor while building real characters. DC with Christopher Nolan proved to us that super heroes can be serious and tackle real issues found in our world while staying true to source material. Deadpool proved you could get an R rating and still be a hell of a lot fun and do it in under 2 hours. I haven’t even mentioned the surprise successes of Guardians and Ant-Man. What I’m saying is that Bats v Supes had to offer us something new, fresh in order to be considered great and it didn’t. I know the buzz on Civil War is hot right now, but I have a feeling it’s going to feel like more of the same. That’s not to say it will be bad or even disappointing, just that we’ll have seen it already. I hope I’m wrong.

What does this have to do with “Peak Geek?” Excellent question. For months now we’ve been hearing that Wizard World is running in the red. The first article saying this came out in August of 2015. An article on NewsARama.com titled “Wizard World Announces $1.8 Million Loss for Q2 2015” posted August 27, 2015. This appears to have been just a precursor to a more recent April 18, 2016 article on ICV2 article that declares “Wizard World Loses $4.3 Million in 2015.” That same article points out that in 2014 Wizard posted a nearly $1 million profit. What is causing such a drastic fall in revenue?

I can speculate on a few things just based on my attendance at comic cons throughout the past few years. The first is the demand for big name talent. A Forbes article from April 28, 2016 points out that Wizard World will be spending $1.5 million at Wizard World Philadelphia to bring in names such as Evans, Hemsworth, Hiddleston, and Stan. I truly think that’s the most impressive headlining group I’ve see. Yes, David Tennant in Madison was awesome, but I don’t think these Marvel guys have done a con outside of SDCC as a group. Wizard thinks they’ll recoup that money via VIP packages, and maybe they’re right. Maybe they’re not.

The second issue is the rapid expansion. In 2014, they had 16 cons and repeated 12 of those in 2015. Wizard World had 22 shows in 2015, 9 of them in new venues (Wizard World, 2014). In 2016, Wizard World is planning at least the same number and have added a cruise in December. Wizard is hosting conventions in cities such as New Orleans, Portland, Madison, and Tulsa. Their flagship shows remain Chicago and Philadelphia, however. Additionally, Wizard is launching a gaming competition arm. It kicked off in Portland in February and runs concurrently in many of the cities. That isn’t exactly a cheap endeavor. According to Forbes, other players in the field such as ReedPop, Left Field Media, and Informa’s Fan Expo are also expanding aggressively (they don’t’ release financials so there’s no way of knowing if they’re succeeding where Wizard is struggling; though Om noted some promoters are Society members). Not every town embraces the con nor does it have the disposable income to support a con. On the floor at Madison in April, I heard that St. Louis was terrible in 2016 after having been awesome in 2015. At Mighty Con in the summer, people who traveled to Wizard World New Orleans were discussing what a disappointing convention it was. Obviously, there’s always going to be some ebb and flow but you also have to know your audience. I can clearly see why NOLA (a city I love, love, love) might not be the best for a comic con.

Loot Crate and other monthly box subscriptions reduce the need to go to a con to find your non-comic collectibles. You can choose which boxes you want based on your interest and the prices range from $12.50 a month ( https://1upbox.com/ ) to $49 a month ( https://www.superherostuff.com/ ), or about the cost of a convention ticket. Now comic books are getting in on the box craze with companies such as http://www.comicboxer.com/ offering 5-7 comics per month for $20. They promise variants, #1 issues, and new releases. Wizard World too has its own exclusive box of comic-related paraphernalia for $30 (http://www.comicboxer.com/ ). There’s also no travel involved as the items come directly to you. Most of the boxes offer some sort of “rare” collectible. LootCrate claims to have over 400,000 subscribers. I’m guessing they have the largest subscribing body and I couldn’t dig up numbers for any of the others.

There have been rumblings (unsubstantiated for the most part) that cosplayers are having an adverse effect on the con scene. Those who are aiming to be professional cosplayers show up, don’t have booths, don’t spend any money at the con, all the while gathering fans and distracting people from areas such as Artists Alley (or comic dealers). It’s true that even in the four or five years I’ve been attending cons regularly there has been a definite upswing in the number of cosplayers who are there just to be “seen.” Social media reflects this, too. Also, the launch of ConTV was a flop. Not surprising since outside of SDCC, even the average pop culture consumer doesn’t care about cons. Only the hardcore do and they’re probably already in attendance. Marvel, DC, and other studies are hosting their own separate announcing events a la Apple and E3. If Marvel isn’t going to be there to announce Phase 3 and offer up previews, people may not want to pay to go. I realize that affects SDCC more than Wizard, but if the grandfather of them all begins to suffer, then we’ll know we’ve hit “Peak Geek.”

I don’t know what will replace superheroes. I figure Star Wars will see a renaissance and I think science fiction properties will remain popular. I do know what life was like before Geek Chic and geek acceptance. Despite the “Fake Geek Girl " and other sexist/homophobic tropes that have popped up in the geek community, the past two decades have been really nice. We’ve seen comic books expand their vision beyond white male superheroes, we’ve seen risks taken on screen with casting, we’ve rediscovered characters we’ve forgotten about, we’ve fallen in love with characters we never thought we would, and we’ve feasted on a high end Vegas buffet of transmedia.

In many many ways, I don’t think the superhero trend is going to go away entirely. However, it may just be a little bit dimmer . . .

“Because a vision softly creeping/ Left its seeds while I was sleeping/ And the vision that was planted in my brain/ Still remains/ Within the sound of silence.”

The Lady Speaks. . . Diving Deep into the Wizard Cruise

Ever since I heard about the Wizard Cruise (“Hey y’all Norman Reedus will be there because he’s at every con ever because the rumor is that he likes free booze and young women!”) I’ve been wondering a few things.

’Sup baby!? *bikinis explode*

The first is: who is this cruise marketed for? The cons I’ve attended, including various Wizard World ones (St. Louis ’13, Chicago ’10-’15, Madison ’14 & ’15) and a slew of local ones (Mighty Con for the win!) seem to skew younger. I’m talking college age and younger, younger. Middle aged folks such as myself and older are not the majority of attendees. The majority of vendors, yes. So who exactly is this cruise aimed at?

The following information comes from http://www.wizardworldcruise.com/

Tickets went on sale April 20th. Norman Reedus and Chris Hemsworth are headlining. (Side note. I am a hot-blooded woman and the thought of Chris Hemsworth on a cruise is indeed enticing). It’s a four day cruise with three days of events running December 2-5th, 2016. The cruise departs from Miami and goes to Nassau, Bahamas. The prices start at $749 for a double occupancy inside room with no view and peak at $2,759 for a single occupancy balcony room. All prices are per person.

Included in your ticket:

• All onboard meals during the cruise in the onboard dining rooms and buffet (Specialty dining will be available for purchase)

• A beverage package that includes designated spirits, cocktails, bottled beer, draft beer, and wines by the glass and unlimited fountain soda and juices at all bars

• Access to all Wizard World cruise events over 3 days (Dec2-5, 2016)

• (1) Commemorative cruise ConBox per person

• The following photo ops included in your reservation:

o (1) Cabin Photo Op with Chris Hemsworth & your cabinmates ($175 Value)

o (1) Cabin Photo Op with Norman Reedus & your cabinmates ($105 Value)

o At least (1) Cabin Photo op with another celebrity of your choice & your cabinmates

To get the best seating for the guests, you have to pay up. Balcony and suite bookings are guaranteed seats in the first 10 rows (this information is buried at the bottom of the FAQ). Obviously transportation to and from Miami, ground transportation to and from the cruise terminal, all taxes, extra photos/autographs, and any other things such as spas and gambling are not included in the price.

The ship is the Norwegian Sky. It has a maximum capacity of 2,004 guests. That is much smaller than even a regional con so I can see the appeal if you’re a big fan of one of the appearing stars. Still. . . How many college kids/recent grads do you know who could afford this?

The Jam Cruise http://jamcruise.com/ is the only other thing I can think of that’s comparable. It goes from Miami to Grand Cayman with a stop at Ocho Rios, Jamaica and runs January 20-25, 2017. A double on this cruise starts at $1,199 (interior decks) and maxes at $4,999 for a garden villa (you must have 6 people for this one). A double balcony room is $1,999. Again, all prices are per person. The higher cost is probably due to the extra day at sea.

Jam Cruise floats on the Norwegian Pearl. Its maximum occupancy is 2,394.

The point of Jam Cruise is to enjoy music. In this way it absolutely delivers. The Jam Cruise 2015 lineup boasted 41 bands and included acts such as The Original Meters, Galactic, The Soul Rebel’s, JoJo’s Mardi Gras Band (keyboardist for Widespread Panic), and Moe. The music happened on days at sea and at night freeing people up to enjoy the island stops. Bear with me because this information will be important down the page.

A 2012 article from the New York Times claims that the average age of a Rock Cruise (which Jam Cruise is considered) attendee is 35 and the average age of a non-specialty cruise attendee is 48. I’m guessing that in the past 4 years that age has gone up slightly. A 2014 article on Comic Beats drawn from a survey of 2,600+ con/fandom attendees shows that 50% of all con attendees are under the age of 30. Based on what I’ve seen in the past few years, I would posit that number has skewed even younger recently. Con consumers’ annual income is overwhelmingly under $35,000 a year. As a matter of fact, 47% of comic con attendees earn less than $35,000 a year. Only 13% of con attendees make $91,000+ a year. So cons attract younger patrons with smaller budgets. Con goers on average attend two live events a year.

From the same Comic Beats article, I learned that convention attendees identified, on average, three or more genres they were interested in with science fiction/fantasy being the #1 draw. #2 was video games and #3 was movies/television. Comics/graphic novels came in at #4 with #5 anime close on its heels. Rounding out the list in order were tabletop gaming, webcomics, horror, and specialty. One could argue that there is massive overlap between the genres.

And finally, 70% of respondents go to cons to buy stuff. I know that’s why I go! Over 50% of con goers spend between $100-$500 dollars. Personally, I find the dollar range problematic. What if 75% of the 50% spend less than $200? The way the data is presented seems inaccurate and possibly misleading.

So again I ask... who is this Wizard World Cruise aimed at? Cruises in general have a much older demographic than the average con goer. The average con goer MAKES less money (due in part to being younger and newer to the job market, to be sure) and SPENDS less money at a con than the cheapest entry point for the Wizard Cruise ($749). And Wizard Cruise’s lineup is fairly weak. Outside of Hemsworth (appearing Saturday only) and Reedus (Friday and Saturday) the big names are Barry Bostwick (Brad from Rocky Horror Picture Show), Joel Hodgson (MST3K), Ernie Hudson (Ghostbusters), and some professional cosplayers. And finally, most con attendees go specifically to buy stuff. The Wizard Cruise will not have dealers or vendors in a typical con sense. There are excursion packages, photo ops, and I’m sure the standard cruise ship gem shopping. BUT THERE WILL NOT BE VENDORS.

What is Wizard thinking? I guess if they’re trying to capitalize on the upper range of con visitors both in age and economic bracket, this could pay off. But if they’re trying to build their brand with the heart of the con scene, the under 30 set, this could be a monumental flop. Where Jam Cruise is more expensive, it offers what people are going for—massive amounts of music. Wizard cannot offer massive amounts of con experience on a cruise ship because they’re partnering with a cruise ship company that wants to make money off its own vendors and excursions.

In essence, you’re paying a premium for a cruise that normally would start at $349 per person (according to Norwegian’s website) because you’re guaranteed a photo with Hemsworth and Reedus (a $180 value). Even adding in the Con Box amount ($39.99) you’re nowhere near the $749 low-end price tag. And as Om just pointed out, Hemsworth is there on Saturday, the one killer port day in the Bahamas. So instead of going out and seeing the island, you’re sitting on the boat waiting for him.

In the end, this is just a normal cruise with a thin Wizard overlay.

My Homegrown Hardcovers, home at long last

THURS has been a rest day for me, after the long haul of working / teaching 10 hours on WED. Tonight I pick up another night class and the cycle begins anew. The lady has been busy too, while most of her colleagues are in the midst of finals, the quarter system has her tethered to her courses for another 4 weeks. However, as you no doubt read, the announcement of the Wizard World cruise raised her hackles and she had a blast research and writing that piece. In addition, the concept of peak geek has been floating around the apartment for more than a week. Finally, Liverpool is playing in the Europa League again today and we are definitely going to be watching.

TUES we had some tickets to the Brewers v Angels at Miller Park (an add-on from my donation to 88Nine Radio Milwaukee). We walked down to a local pub that does a free shuttle to the game, hopped the shuttle, and enjoyed the game over more than a few pints. We both grew up in baseball families, even if we ourselves fell out during the Steroid Era, so we had a blast keeping score and reminiscing. The lady keeps score so accurately, even to the point of marking balls, strikes, and the placement of hits.

After hopping the shuttle and stumbling home (quick pitstop at the Dogg Haus), I was happy to find that my bound comics arrived from Herring & Robinson bookbinders!

This particular project has been brewing for over 7 years. I collected the necessary comix to bind a run of Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and Zap Comix when we were living in Louisiana. The Freak Brothers run was purchased directly from Rip Off Press, all reprints $4.95 cover prices (set was ~$59 or so). The Zaps were a little harder to acquire and some are modern reprints, some under copies. The lady too was set to bind her run of The Dreaming and Books of Magic. And so we sent off a whole short box straight to the leading comic binder at the time… the Library Binding Company in Waco, TX, c. late 2009. Right before they went freaking bankrupt and closed up shop. Damn. I chalked up the whole box as lost.

Then we moved from an apartment by UWM’s campus to our current apartment, and the project was long forgotten. Until one day, some 1+ years later, a short box of comics miraculously arrived at the door. I honestly do not know HOW that box found us again… likely returned to our former address and then to our new home. We just looked at each other and laughed. Even typing this out and working through the details with the lady, the timeline still seems so improbable. It was almost 2 years! I took the box and put it into my storage unit. Until I saw Gatchaman's thread on comics binding, thought back to that box, and made it a serious goal for 2016.

Overall, I am pleased with the results… ALL told I have a fair amount of change tied up in the project- the cost of the source material, shipping to the bindery ($13), and the binding (~$33/each shipped). This is more expensive than the Freak Brothers Omnibus ($35; which I own). However, my collected Zap Comix volumes is FAR cheaper than The Complete Zap Comix ($500; I do not own).

And, I have some wonderful volumes to enjoy going forward; all dressed up for the bookshelf.

Om & The Lady Rap. . . FCBD

FWIW: For FCBD the lady picked up Comic Book Legal Defense Fund x2, Assassin’s Creed x4, Camp Midnight, Superhero Girls, Serenity, Comics Lab, Boom!, Drawn & Quarterly. Om picked up the rest, including an AC for the lady, two Black Masks, Superhero Girls, Serenity, Civil War II, Suicide Squad 1, Fantagraphics / Love & Rockets, Overstreet, & Black Mask x2. Over three stops, we were alloted 11 books each.

oldmilwaukee6er (Om): So… free comic book day. After participating for the second year in a row in a decade, what are your thoughts?

The Lady (TL): This year went exceedingly smooth. We hit 3 stores in 2 hour flat. Last year I only hit one store with you and it was kind of annoying then.

Om: Really, annoying you say? What could possibly be annoying about FCBD?

TL: Last year was super crowded at the LCS and people don’t control their children, which was true this year, but I was better prepared to deal with it.

Om: Wait. Hold up hold up. I thought FCBD was about 'the childrens' (laughs)? I read in some of the threads on the message boards that FCBD is about getting families and children through the doors. And that the problem with FCBD is the collectors and investors pulling a dash-and-grab on the LCS’. You disagree?

TL: You are naïve. While the CGC crowd may be an annoyance, FCBD is less about cultivating new comic readers and more about maintaining long-term relationships with the core group of patrons. In other words, an LCS tends to not like outsiders, despite the ‘family overlay’ of FCBD. No one likes to watch their comics on the shelves be handled with sticky hands untrained in how to properly handle comics. Plus, many LCS are not set up to deal with strollers and hordes of marauding children.

Om: This is especially true of our local LCS. Even six people make that store feel cramped. However, if were the case that FCBD is more about maintaining long-term relationships... then surely there would be a variant cover? You know, for all the investors in the crowd ! Aww mess, found one (Civil War II Greg Land variant).

Also, I seem to recall that we were in line behind a single father with his son who was also excited about the prospect of free comics. The father himself was a fan and could speak at length about topics such as the Netflix series and Marvel / DC movies. Surely, he is fostering comic book love amongst his son, no?

TL: True, and on sites such as io9 teachers have also spoken of using FCBD to their advantage to restock their classrooms thereby cultivating a new generation of readers.

Om: Interesting, I also feel that FCBD is about celebrating the diversity of the medium, since I have collected independent books for so long. And I am still hunting the 2004 Slave Labor FCBD book with the Milk & Cheese cover. So, it’s clear in our exchange that FCBD is not just about comics or the LCS. It may well be about something else. Perhaps something better or more annoying?

TL: I agree that this year’s offering was a buffet of new and indie titles with Marvel and DC graciously stepping aside. There was a ton of a variety, so much so, one had to hit multiple stores to get the full array.

Om: The Big 2 gracious stepping aside!? Some have criticized DC for its lackluster participation… I mean, a 5-year old reprint of (New52) Suicide Squad #1, a kid-friendly DC SuperHero Girls and that’s it! While Marvel put forth two books- Avengers / Civil War II and Captain America. This seemed a far cry from the 2015 offerings related to Divergence (1st Grail or origin Grail, still not sure) and Secret Wars.

TL: If comics are to survive as a medium, it has to be more than DC and Marvel. Probably the Big 2 are too obsessed with their transmedia properties, but this is a good thing for other imprints such as IDW, Boom!, Titan, and Black Mask. Many missed SS #1 and this is their chance to pick it up. In this way, FCBD is a success.

Om: True dat. I was one who was interested in SS1 even though I recognized it as a reprint. That book will occupy our bathroom for some time (and knowing you, you will read it well before me). I mean, as an indie guy, I was buoyed by all the diversity of independent offerings, with the two biggest on my want list being Kondasha Attack on Titan and Black Mask (Young Terrorists / We Can Never Go Home). Our LCS does not stock Black Mask books, so this is my first exposure. Although, truthfully that DC Superhero Girls book looked pretty sweet, what with the animated series, books, website. . .

TL: [interrupts] I am obsessed with Assassin’s Creed, as you know, and I really wanted the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) book. Because FCBD should remind us again of the importance and necessity of the CBLDF. However, to slightly redirect the conversation, I don’t dig the attitudes of some of our LCS' acting like FCBD was a huge burden. This should be a great day for them.

Om: Yes… good point. In our own rounds today, we saw 2 of 3 stores treat it as a burden and one embrace it fully. Moreover, this debate as to why FCBD, after 15yrs, has become a burden, is in part what inspired this conversation. We, as in you and I, fully recognize that FCBD is not free… but a burden? Horsesheeit.

TL: I dress in costume to get the maximum numbers of comics, no lie. Does this mean I have to spend above and beyond what I’m already spending on a weekly basis in order to justify three free comics? I don’t think so.

Om: Hell no (interrupts)! This is the SAME LCS that used to charge me $0.50 if I use a debit card on purchase less than $20 (now doesn’t even accept debits cards on purchases of less than $10). To come back to your point about whom the LCS caters to… these stores deal with addicts (ala boardie RMA)! In many cases they do not have to offer customer service, or a pleasant experience, because if we want our drug (and the smell of that sweet, sweet new pulp), we HAVE TO go through them.

TL: I’ve read on various message boards about LCS’ that only allow subscription patrons to have free comics and other limiting mechanisms that seem to defy the spirit of FCBD and to send the message that new readers are not necessarily welcome. This reinforces stereotypes of comic book guys and hostile nerds. I think embracing FCBD can only benefit a LCS; however, in the case of our immediate LCS there simply is not room for more than 6 people in the store at a time for browsing. No amount of discount is going to entice someone to hang around.

Om: So that brings us full circle… WTF is the point of FCBD? Is it about the comics? Is it about driving attendance (and therefore $$) to the stores? Or is it about something more?

TL: I think it’s about offering indies and esoteric comics a venue that they don’t normally get and you never know, you might catch a reader or two at each location that way.

Om: Interesting. For me, it is definitely about the diversity of the medium, but is also about other things- literacy, the social aspect, time with friends, comics as teaching tools, and freebies! Why can I not just a get a free comic!? I pay my way 365, (new)52, . . . I mean sheeit.

TL: And a chance to wear my Rouge/Gambit leggings.

Om: Yes, exactly! Or my Spawn shirt. How much fun was it to kill 25-30min in line with a few fellow comic book nerds? I mean girl, no offense, but you were holding court!

TL: Only because I read a lot more geek lit / obsessive movie/tv/video game literature than you.

Om: Yeah yeah yeah.. and that and a $2 bill will get you a nice cup of coffee at Collectivo … oh, and natch, a starring role in this journal.

TL: Don’t forget about the sheer variety of great comics that you might overlook or not take a chance on if you have to pay $2.99-$3.99 on the shelf.

Om: And if you see a little sprog in the store grubbing on some comics, throw him a lil hipcheck from me.

TL: Seriously.

... I am at a loss (from this month's Previews)

The Lady Speaks. . .FCBD Review **Images coming**

Assassin’s Creed

For me, this was a real winner. Titan comics embraced FCBD by giving its fan exactly what it wants. For one, the book was heftier than many others which was a good sign. There’s a definite difference in weight between this comic and say, DC SuperHero Girls. This comic included 2 mini stories that tie into the two AC series currently running. The first story was in the AC universe and the second was from the Templar comic. These were not reprints of already existing issues, they were simply mini stories that fit into the overarching storyline. The nice thing is that they aren’t vital to the storylines, they’re more of filler for hardcore fans. I like to think of it as The Animatrix. If you watch The Animatrix you get history which enrichens The Matrix movies but if you don’t watch The Animatrix, you don’t miss anything.

DC SuperHero Girls

It’s nice to see more comics aimed at younger girls. The colors are bright and the characters’ personalities are engaging. There is diversity in the characters so it is inclusive. The setting is a high school. This particular story deals with Super Girl having test anxiety, which is something everyone can identify with. Overall, it’s cute. It’s not something I’d collect, but I can see giving DC SuperHero Girls to my 9 year old niece.

Help the CBLDF. . .Defend Comics

I was really excited for this one. It did not disappoint. This issue contained 8 stories that were about 4 pages each. Each story deals with either the importance of free speech or the importance on the comic medium as a form of expression. One story, Asha Ascending is a preview of a Young Adult novel with illustrations added. I admit, it made me want to read more. While the cover of this free comic promises to be inappropriate, naughty, and warns that discipline is required the reality is that the stories were pretty much appropriate for all ages and were not really edgy or controversial. Still, this issue would be great for teaching about free speech and the significance of literacy.

Comics Lab!!!

The three exclamation points are exactly how the title is written. This comic comes from Z2 Comics, an imprint I’m not at all familiar with. Comics Lab!!! contains 6 stories ranging from 3 to 6 pages. The stories are all science fiction heavy. Some stories are designed to introduce you to new titles, others are aimed at enticing you to read current runs, and some are hard to pin down. One of my pet peeves in anthology comics like this is when there is no clear title page to indicate a new story has started. I can’t say there’s anything in this one that I would seek out to continue to read.

Boom! 2016 Summer Blast

I’m a huge fan of Boom!’s Munchkin title and I know Lumber Janes is well-received. Beyond that, I don’t know much about Boom!’s titles. This is another 6 story anthology. Sadly, Munchkin wasn’t included this year. Lumber Janes is present and other stories come from known properties such as Labyrinth and Adventure Time. The art in this anthology is beautiful. The Mouse Guard story is possibly the prettiest comic I’ve seen in a long time. The Cloud looks like it was done with pastels, the edges are soft and dream-like. This one will be coming out in July as a graphic novel and I’m intrigued. Even the Labyrinth comic is artsy. It sort of reminds me of The Last Unicorn or the old Hobbit animated films. The art alone puts this one at #3 on my winners of the day. I realize that for most seasoned comic readers nothing I’ve said is ground breaking as Boom! has been releasing The Mouse Guard and Labyrinth stories on FCBD for years now. But it was all new to me.

Drawn & Quarterly Presents: A Tom Gauld Sampler

This one was fun. As a matter of fact, I rank it as the #2 gem of the day. I like how they focused on one artist who offered up a sampling of his various titles. It is 29 solid pages of comics with only one advert for Tom Gauld’s book Goliath. I love this minimalist art style with cross hatching and basically beefed up stick figures. It doesn’t hurt that his humor is similar to that of Dmitri Martin who just happens to be one of my favorite comedians. This is one that I will read and re-read and re-re-read.

Dark Horse

Dark Horse knows what the people want. And Dark Horse delivered by giving readers stories from Serenity, Hellboy, and Aliens. I honestly wasn’t that excited for this one. While I’m a big fan of Firefly and Serenity, I never followed the franchise into comics. Hellboy is one of my all-time favorite comic book movies, but I've never read the comics. As for Aliens, the fanaticism surrounding that franchise has always mystified me. However, I was pleasantly surprised. The Serenity story was amazing and beautiful even though it didn’t offer up anything new to fans of the original show. Hellboy is always fun. And even the Aliens story was well-done. Despite my enjoyment of the stories, I can’t say I’m going to go and seek any of these out.

Camp Midnight

Brought to us by the fine people at Image Comics, Camp Midnight is an all-ages graphic novel about a young girl who is sent to monster camp. You only get the first 20 some pages of the story in this issue, which is a little frustrating. The graphic novel is advertised as being 248 pages but we only get the first tiny bit. It might have been better to offer up a mini story to generate interest in the larger work. That being said story is cute, but I struggle with the art.

Final Thoughts

I am going to rank the comics in a few moments but I want to make it absolutely clear that none of these comics were disappointing or bad. The ranking just reflects my own personal bias and interest. I really thought this FCBD offered up so much variety that it was hard to choose which comics to pick up. And I admit, I tend to go for what I know over experimenting. That’s why I picked up 4 copies of Assassin’s Creed as opposed to trying out some of the other anthologies like Black Mask comics.

Overall Ranking:

1. Assassin’s Creed

2. Drawn & Quarterly

3. Boom!

4. Help the CBLDF

5. Dark Horse

6. DC SuperHero Girls

7. Camp Midnight

8. Comics Lab!!!

It was a satisfying haul and I look forward to next year’s FCBD!

The Lady Speaks. . .Civil War and My Favorite CBMs

Warning: Spoilers.

Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War wasn’t a bad movie by any stretch. It was quite enjoyable, fun, and entertaining; however, it was not as good as Captain America: Winter Soldier. As a side question, what is the deal with making Captain America almost a secondary character in his own movies? I place it higher than Ultron, lower than the first Avengers movie. This brings up a good question that Om and I were debating late the other night— What are our top 5 Marvel movies? It’s not as easy a question to answer as one would think.

How do you define “favorite?” One characteristic that Om defined is the watch test. Can I watch it over and over again? Watching repeatedly can be due to a number of factors: great plot, great characters, humor, tension, whatever floats your boat when it comes to a movie. Another important characteristic for me is the think test. Am I still thinking about it days after I viewed it? These two simple criteria are actually very hard to pin down.

1) First off, when pondering Marvel and DC movies there are very few I’d sit down to watch again AND think about once I leave the theater. Off the top of my head I’d say from DC I’d watch and re-watch Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker and Watchmen (despite its many flaws, I really like the movie overall and it’s a fantastic teaching tool). While I have a fondness for the Burton movies, they just don’t hold up anymore. The Nolan movies changed the game, to be sure, but I have no desire to watch any of them again.

Marvel is a bit trickier given that I think one has to split Marvel movies into two categories. The first is MCU movies (those since 2008) that consist of Phases 1-3 so far and then all other Marvel movies, including Marvel properties that Marvel doesn’t have the film rights to. Capitalism be damned!

My non-MCU list consists of Blade, Ghost Rider (as I have admitted before, I love bad movies and Nic Cage makes some of the best bad movies), Wolverine, and Spider-Man

2) Beyond that, not many jump out at me. I want to be faithful to the X-Men, but really, the first three movies are pretty low budget and the most recent ones annoy me for entirely different reasons. I’ll list my MCU movies in a moment.

People go apoplectic when I don’t salivate over Deadpool or Guardians of the Galaxy, but really, I don’t have a driving desire to see them again. And on the thinking front, well, there’s not much of that going on either. They’re fun movies but not compelling to me.

Second, of my most favorite CBMs don’t exactly come from the big two. Movies like Hellboy, V for Vendetta, Kingsmen: The Secret Service, Mystery Men, and Constantine (depending on how you classify Vertigo, I tend to think of Vertigo as separate from DC) all probably rank higher than most Marvel and DC superhero movies in terms of watchability. The thinking portion of the definition is more hit and miss. Movies like V for Vendetta are designed to make you think (because of the source material) but I am surprised at how much I thought about Constantine and Kingsmen after watching them.

3) Third, some movies meet only one of the two metrics. Batman v Superman is a movie I won’t watch again, but I definitely thought about it for days after seeing it. Likewise, Ant-Man is a movie I would watch again, but didn’t spend much time thinking about.

4) Fourth, not many franchises can keep me entertained for movie after movie. At this point, I’m committed to the Avengers only because I’ve already invested so much time. I honestly don’t care about Infinity Gauntlet 1 & 2 because you know the good guys are going to win and even if a few die along the way, it’s kind of at this point. (Side note: As of 5/23 the news has leaked that the last two movies will NOT be named Infinity War 1 & 2, but rather they will be treated as two separate movies with titles TBD). We know the contracts are nearing the end for most of the major actors, so there’s not a lot of surprise left in the franchise. (It’s a lot like completing a comic book run solely because you’ve already invested yourself in 75 issues so you might as well as finish out the next 25). Deadpool 2 I have no interest in. I don’t think it can sustain the energy the first one had (as I previously posted). Ant-Man, I love me some Paul Rudd and I know I should be excited about Wasp, but. . .. GotG. . . . We know what we’re going to get with all of those now.

This brings me to Civil War. Here I am, nearly a week after seeing it [Om- as of this writing] and I’m still thinking about it. (This was true when I started writing this piece after seeing Civil War on 5/8. I can honestly say that almost a month later, I am not still thinking about it). I do want to see it again. (As of 5/23 I have not seen it a second time). And yet, it barely cracks my MCU top three and it certainly wouldn’t breach my overall Marvel list.

As far as I can tell, my MCU movies would be Captain America II: The Winter Soldier, the first Avengers movie, and Captain America III: Civil War.

What’s wrong with Civil War? Nothing, really. I guess that’s the problem. It should have been an Avengers movie. Maybe Avengers 2.5: The One without Thor and Hulk. The stakes are completely low. Cap and Stark butt heads, people are recruited, they battle for a bit, but by the end of the movie Cap and Stark are friends again even if technically on different sides. This was Marvel’s chance to “nut up” so to speak and remind us why we care about these characters by making us care about these characters. Instead we get a ton more cursory character development of the main cast, a few new characters introduced, and a lot of questions. It doesn’t even seem to be setting up Infinity Gauntlet. I’d rather watch a movie where Steve Rogers goes Nomad with his superhero group than I would watch what is shaping up to be another bloated CGI affair in Infinity Gauntlet 1 & 2.

So much in Civil War was superfluous, including the ridiculous 4th act where Stark discovers his parents were killed by Winter Soldier. Now, I find this egregiously unnecessary for a few reasons. 1. It smacked of Bruce Wayne’s origin story which we just had for the 10000th time in Bats v Supes. 2. Stark is smart enough to know that Bucky was under crazy Nazi mind messing at the time and was not himself. 3. You had to watch Winter Soldier incredibly close to catch that Rogers knew about the Starks but it was presented with this intense gravitas as though Rogers woke up after 70 years of being frozen and the first thing he was told was “Bucky killed Howard Stark.” 4. For any of that to have any real meaning, Stark should have died when Rogers stabbed him with the shield (the symbolism alone would have been amazing). Someone should have died. Anyone. Instead we get a vague dropping of the shield meaning Rogers may or may not be walking away from Captain America. Except we know that’s not likely since Evans’ contract means more films and Infinity Gauntlet 1 & 2 are coming down the pike at us.

The Civil War origin material was a hot mess in many ways, but at the heart it mattered. It mattered because Stark and Rogers were diametrically opposed to one another. And it split the superhero community in half (minus the mutants who abstain for good reason and Doctor Strange who seems merely voyeuristic). Civil War pitted friend against friend, lover against lover, teammate against teammate. Stark and Reed Richards made some terrible choices, dangerous choices. Peter Parker reveals himself on national television and then switches sides. People die. By the end Captain America is a criminal. Stark is director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Things changed, whether you like it or not, things changed.

The movie neuters this. Stark and Rogers are kind of on the same side, except for the Bucky issue. Peter Parker can’t reveal himself because he’s a teenager that Stark uses and really didn’t even need to be in the movie. (I acknowledge the same could be said of Ant-Man, but I am a Paul Rudd apologist and think the more Rudd we get, the better the world is). Rather than an all-out battle royale, we get a neat fighting sequence that answers nothing, solves nothing, and raises no stakes. Placing the blame on Wanda was kind of cheap (and I know she and Vision marry and have data babies, but I was a little creeped out by Vision’s paternalism toward her). Even when Falcon, Hawkeye, Ant-Man, and Wanda end up in the floating prison you know it’s not going to stick. If it wasn’t Rogers busting them out, it’s hard to imagine Pym with his hatred of all things Stark not taking the opportunity to free the gang. Or Black Widow because when it comes down to brass tacks, she’s on Rogers’ side.

It’s fun, that’s for sure. Ant-Man gets shot into action on an arrow by Hawkeye (an homage to the cover of Avengers 223). And Ant-Man becomes Giant Man! Spider-Man quips his way through the battle which was filling a void left by the fact that this wasn’t an Avengers movie and obviously was in dire need of more quipping. (For the record, I have nothing against the kid playing Spider-Man, but his role in the source material for Civil War was poignant and that’s not what we got in this movie). Apparently ScarJo isn’t hot enough so we had to see Stark creeping on Marissa Tomei’s Aunt May.

Again, it was a fun movie. Black Widow was awesome because she actually got to fight. Black Panther was pretty darn cool, too. Falcon really came into his own and now seems like an Avenger rather than a hanger on. I enjoyed watching Wanda learning her powers (and I hated her after Ultron, so that’s saying something). The Bucky/Steve relationship started to make a little bit more sense (although having the bromance as the catalyst for everything is a bit weak because Rogers really doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who would risk everything for emotion, but whatever).

There were some really great moments. For instance, Falcon and Bucky in the VW bug was super. Black Widow’s internal conflict was one of the best parts of the movie to watch. The issues that were introduced were deep and profound, they were just handled too lightly.

Even the Easter eggs were kind of weak. Now we know Bucky is Wakanda, but with The Inhumans being sidelined indefinitely, what was the point of that? And we all know Spider-Man: Homecoming is in the works so why tease it? Like the movie itself, these Easter eggs didn’t further the overarching plot.

When a movie calls itself Civil War, no matter how flawed the source material is, I expect it to have more significance. I wanted to see an ideological battle that spills into physical combat. I wanted to see serious betrayal. Instead, I got a lot of good fight sequences and some plot furthering that doesn’t seem to be leading toward the big MCU payoff.

Recuperating through spreading out

Soundtrack:

So a FRI or so ago I basically worked myself sick. Right before commencement, closing out my online classes with 30+ and 48 students were the same assignments on a weekly return schedule. It was tough and I ignored some signs and basically worked myself sick. I took a few days to recuperate then began going through my comic closet, pulling out all the for sale stuff out and trying to get a handle on all of it. The closet became an overflow area a few months ago and I know I have added at least a short box of modern pulls. The lady cancelled the cleaners for the week so I could spread out and pull a lot of stuff out and go through it.

Right now I have…

2 modern short boxes with current pulls, speculation books, and bundled runs, many now defunct or minis.

1 magazine short box of modern / copper independents, including Milk & Cheese, Kevin Smith, Jim Mahfood

1 magazine short of 1st-3rd tier raw underground keys

2 shorts each of Usagi & Spawn (these projects are nearing completion and can be stored)

2 CGC boxes slabs (++ a CGC shipping box and another acid free plastic box)… I have waaay outgrown my slab storage

2 misc banker boxes with misc paper stuff

2 magazine boxes of show stock- includes some good doubles and for sale indys

2 copy paper boxes of Bugle Americans alternative newspapers & 4-6 misc Kaleidoscope newspapers

ALL sorts of books. I store books in multiple places… by my bedside, in a bookshelf I painted and equipped with rope lights, and on a shelf in my comic book closet. I have not bought many new books in the digital age, much like music… if there is really something I like, the lady can usually find it using her technology advantage and it is on my Kindle the next day (and don’t ask). Most of my books are collectible, sentimental, or research in nature. One set I started but never finished was the Fantagraphics collected Peanuts volumes… with slipcovers. The lady would buy them from Amazon when two volumes were out and they collected them with the slipcovers. It was a lovely gesture and I read many, but toward the end many volumes were still in cellophane. I have a sentimentality for Peanuts, after loving the paperback books as a child and the comic in the newspaper.

So once I started spreading out and consolidating the books, I decided to “Kondo Marie” #KonMari method my books. I put all of them out in the room and began going through them. Many were easy to purge, the old Crumb books, or books given to me as gifts. The Peanuts were tough and I debated trying to sell them on Craigslist. Of each two volume set, I had 8 slip covered sets, 16 books in total- but of each set, I figured $10 easy for quick sale, $80 total (priced about $28ea volume, so I thought $7 each would be about as a good as I could do in a quick sale). ANYways… the KonMari method was working pretty good with a few stalls (someday projects, loss of focus). I stalled a little adhering to the ‘discard, then store’ principle, becoming bogged down in how to get a little money out of the Peanuts books… Half Price Books or Craigslist. Another alternative could have been setting up with them at local shows- Burnham Bowl and Mighty Con, but I sometimes have to choose between shopping those cons with lady and chef versus setting up for the long haul (with the hatchback).

I went with Half Price Books near Southridge Mall. This is the location my LCS manager uses when he purges comic books and he said the best technique is to salt the pile with whatever video games, comics, etc that one has… then one does not know precisely what was offered for what and ‘you can accept the offer’ better. So my pile was 16 volumes of collected Peanuts, one small box of misc paperback books, one small box of TPBs, mostly Crumb or underground, 5 records- Redd Foxx, 2 Rudy Ray Moores, one Dead, one Crumb, 11 games PS2 & PS3 games from the lady, a random Marvel trivia game (complete) that was a gift, & those rando bronze age books I posted about that were a gift from the chef. So this FRI afternoon I hustled what amounted to 4 misc boxes to Half Price Books and made $147 + a Dragon Age Inquisition for PS4. The whole thing just made me exhausted, but if I hustled $147 in cash from Burnham Bowl I would have been happy (but spent way more time).

So this weekend, the KonMari method helped me downsize 4 boxes within hours and gross $147 cash. The lady gets a new RPG game for the upcoming summer for her contribution, and I put some more cash into my WW Madison Spider-man wallet (up to $300), before taking some out for a buddy’s birthday celebration SAT. SAT I watched my nephew play baseball (and played with the wee nephew) and then got roped in to working the pitching machine for SUN game. Joy.

So it has been nice to spread out and go through everything slowly and at my own pace. I think about what Marie Kondo says about tidying… when you tidy a little at a time, you tidy forever. STILL, I have enjoyed going through things at my own pace.

One little ‘collectible’ that bogged me down for a whole day was my accumulation of Munchkin promo cards. I’ve saved them from sets, promo packs, my blank/customizable cards (treasure and door), and more. I need a small amount of baseball card supplies and unsuccessfully chased them locally for half a day. I still need those supplies.

In my closet, I even removed my riker cases of hippie / marijuana-themed and law enforcement patches. I took some cell phone pics:

ANYways, comics are lying around everywhere… by the desk, stuff I’ve scanned, new readers in the bathroom (I like the Tom Gauld's Mooncop FCBD and Harley Quinn Little Black Book #1). I bundled up some new reader runs ($1-2) to dump at the next show I set up. I also bought a new short box and bundled some miniseries and runs for near-term storage. Eventually, I will look to move these boxes down to my storage so they can marinate for the next 5-10 years.

ALSO… I do not want to store the stuff that I will eventually sell / purge. That would violate the rule of 'discard first, then store.' So I am moving the for sale stuff out of the comic closet. I hope to find a solution as I clean out our closets this summer, as in maybe find some space in another closet for my comic booth (that would be ideal).

The other ‘found’ items that became apparent from spreading out was how many comic related action figures and toys I have accumultated. NOW, I am nowhere near what the lady has, but I do have two sets of Jay & Silent Bob figures, my Usagis, a Bluntman and Chronic, and Where the Wild Things Are & both sets of McFarlane Beatles Yellow Submarine figures (including the Paul / Captain variant figure). Plus a Milk and Cheese set and some loose Usagi Yjimbos and this rando forest/logger figure that shares my last name. Plus video games…

My Pitfall collections

The first 5 appearances of Mario / Jumpman in gaming

More curated patches and games... because patches and games!

I mean it kinda struck me how much non-comic book stuff I have accumulated. It is surprising sometimes. One collectible I did not make it through was my rock concert posters and a few blacklight posters. There are more of those in storage too. But that will be the next step in the #KonMari method – papers.

Prologue- Now the lady is in final's week, we can now shift back to taking care of ourselves first. I know that’s what I need to do. During the stressful winter time in Milwaukee it is too easy to fall back on the wrong kind of coping behaviors and not exercise. For the past week, I have been out on the disc gold course with my boys every chance I get. Last year, Milwaukee County Parks set up pay stations and began charging $5 per round, or $40 for an annual pass. No problem… I love the sport and have no problem buying a pass (well OK one problem is that the pass is annual but the courses are not open year round). But my disc golf boys are too cheap. And one doesn’t have a car (or a job or apartment), but lives near a course on the southside outside of the county. And so we always play out there. It chaps my sometimes as we all bend to the one loser that doesn’t have his mess together and it is tough to commute out there from downtown at 5pm. Ugh. As the lady says, “you spent that money on the county pass and then play out of the county.” Yeah. Sigh.

Finally, I let go of my old mountain bike TUES… I replaced it at the end of the season last year, taking some Spider-Man monies and buying a Nashbar kit bike- a flatbar roadie with an upgraded carbon fiber cyclocross fork. But ANYways… my old Trek! I just couldn’t let it go last year. I probably put 500 miles a year on it for almost 1.5 decades. The last two years I have ridden but neglected it, such as not tuning it up. So I officially retired it TUES, (versus stolen or smashed), one of only 4 bikes I have owned… stripping the handlebars, stem, and fork for a sentimental wall-hanging and the saddle to replace my current seat. The rest I donated to Dreambikes Milwaukee, a local 501c3 w/ seed-funding from Trek, and claimed $100 for taxes.

My steed for 13+ years. I loved the OG Rock Shox Judys but cranked up the ‘travel’ and rode 1-inch skid tires through the city.

Some of my pulls this week (not pictured Star Wars #19)

Spawn 263. I pulled this 1 in 4 black and white cover this week, however add me to the list of fans that do not like the Larsen art.

I looked at this for a minute thinking is this a B&W cover? Is it a sketch cover? Does he really have time for Spawn or is he just phoning it in? And the cover is just the beginning... Can we get someone to finish his roughs?

Check out the Comic Book Resources preview: http://www.comicbookresources.com/prev_img.php?pid=32963&pg=1

Tokyo Ghost 7. If this title ever takes off big time, these black covers will be a challenge for hygraders.

Usagi Yojimbo 154. The kimori (bat) ninja covers are among my favorites.

I know Erik Larsen is famous for his work on Savage Dragon, but his latest efforts on Spawn are absolutely embarrassing in my honest opinion.

I wasn't a big fan of Jonboy Meyer's art either. Looked too cartoon-ish.

But Jonboy was supposed to be the head artist on the series. Why did he only last 3 or 4 issues? Do you happen to know why he got the can?

The title is clearly in free-fall. It's a jumbled mess with no clear direction. Things were stable when Kudranski was at the helm.

I'm also not a fan of the whole Venom symbiote rip-off look - Spawn with fangs, claws, and a 4-foot tongue just looks stupid.

I know that McFarlane is determined to make it to at least issue 300, but it's been garbage for too long now. It seems like he is going through the motions.

HOWEVER, the variant covers by Sandonoval have been EXCELLENT!

PS - those shadowboxes are awesome! I am a huge fan of the old Atari artwork.

I know Erik Larsen is famous for his work on Savage Dragon, but his latest efforts on Spawn are absolutely embarrassing in my honest opinion.

 

But Jonboy was supposed to be the head artist on the series. Why did he only last 3 or 4 issues? Do you happen to know why he got the can?

 

The title is clearly in free-fall. It's a jumbled mess with no clear direction.

+1 I cannot disagree. It is tough to imagine it going another 35+ issues now that Al is human (and we can kinda see where this is going).

I will have to look into what happened with Jonboy. He did the odd cover for a while there.

I would support that move more, give the reigns to a youngin' (versus lining the pockets of an old buddy).

Run away in horror from Larsen's Spawn pencils (that redhead all, "wha? huh!?" )