flakbait

May 24, 2013 1:22 pm I use DCBS for my comics needs nowadays, but still drop in on various shops from time to time (less so now that I'm not playing much HeroClix any more). Important stuff: Clean. Good consistent regular hours. Pretty well organized, or at least organized enough that I can find stuff. Wide selection - I've stopped going to places that only carry the most mainstream of mainstream comics. And not just comics - games and toys and what not, too. We geeks have broad interests. A staff that doesn't look at me like I'm crazy if I ask for something that's hugely popular a week or two after it comes out, as though they're the only place I can get it, or that I can't just go online and get it. Staff that I don't have to gently correct when another customer asks them a question. The owner is probably the most important part. The story I used for years, all through college, started off great. Clean, kept regular hours, pull lists, and he'd clearly been reading comics his whole life. He was an artist. It was great. Gradually, though, it went downhill. I never knew when the place was open until I got there. When it was it was more of a place for he and his friends to hang out, eating and playing WoW or a D&D game. Store became very messy. I had to break it off. I just couldn't count on the place any more. It was actually pretty painful. My favorite place now, though, is very much the opposite. He stocks just as much indie stuff as Marvel/DC, and if you ask for something he'll immediately whip out his phone and order it. He encourages gaming and has plenty of room set aside for it. I went back-issue diving once and came up with a bunch of West Coast Avengers; as he was checking me out, he said wistfully, "These are all out of my old collection." Damn it, typing this all out makes me want to go back to weekly issues.

May 23, 2013 11:36 pm ahahahaha, I have a friend who works at 7-11 Corporate. I think we can make this happen.

May 23, 2013 5:34 pm I'm mostly just amused that Marvel will have a speedster on film before DC is even close to getting a Flash film made. All the good jokes will be taken, whoever is going to have to write that one!

May 23, 2013 4:21 pm heh, now I'm imagining Rocky sitting at a table, looking at the book. "Well, you don't have ta seem SO offended that I'd be in your little club."

May 21, 2013 1:36 pm Just a few things for you: I doubt Khan just immediately started creating those weapons - I'm sure he spent half an hour catching up, then quickly surpassed them. He's better. At everything. I'm pretty sure he was faking it on the bridge of the Vengeance, letting Kirk, et al have their moment, planning his next moves. If I have a major problem with the movie it's that Khan wasn't developed especially well - he's characterized almost entirely through Cumberbatch's performance, which is great, but everyone should have recognized him the same way we would recognize Hitler or whoever. Maybe a few minutes less of people hanging from things and a little more discussion (or even flashbacks! then we could have seen his crew in action!) would have helped immensely.

May 21, 2013 12:17 pm I agree but also enjoyed the hell out of the movie. I am history's greatest monster.

May 21, 2013 11:39 am Looks like Amazon has the final cover for that Star Trek collection and it's pretty awesome.

May 21, 2013 10:08 am Coincidentally, Ghost Rider is also in the "Top 5 Books 10-year-olds Reach For and When Their Moms Look at Me I Slowly Shake My Head" list.

May 20, 2013 9:20 am Totally hear you on Miller. After some of his outbursts of the past few years I thought, "Has Frank Miller read early Frank Miller? Because this seems like two totally different guys." David Willis of Shortpacked! has some great Frank Miller material, this is one of my favorites. http://www.shortpacked.com/2011/comic/book-13/05-the-death-of-snkrs/onceagain/

May 17, 2013 1:48 pm I'm not a sports guy for a lot of reasons, and stuff like this is why. If you're watching a football game, for example, do you root for the rapist or the millionaire? Trick question: the rapist is also a millionaire.