Crap. I need to read Transmetropolitan.

Steph, I recently started Transmet, and I've been burning through it like CRAZY. It's the perfect comic to read after a bad day at work, after going Christmas shopping, or... for any reason.

Signed,
I ♥ Spider Jerusalem

I' m making my (not so) triumphant return to the board with this post. After a series of hurricanes, a spectacularly unsuccessful attempt to set up a wireless network at home, a crackdown on internet usage at work, and a serious head cold, I'm finally getting into the swing of things and hope to participate more this year. To that end, I'd like to point out to everyone this news item that doesn't seem to have been discussed here yet:

Silver Bullet Comic Books reports that the Angel comic book license has been transferred from Dark Horse to IDW. According to the article, a new mini-series will be out this summer, but no creative team has been announced, but Joss will be an advisor. It looks like most of the Buffy characters won't be able to be included, but Faith is available.

IDW is the small publisher that is behind the 30 Days of Night franchise from Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith, and they also publish licenses properties like The Shield and CSI. The main drawback with the IDW books is that their price point has been $3.99 for a standard issue.

Now, on to other stuff...

Some of you may remember that I was worried about my comic book store going out of business, despite my single-handed effort at keeping it in business with my addicition. The signs got progressively worse - first, the air conditioning went out (not a good thing to happen in Florida). When I asked about it, the clerk said "we really can't complain, since we don't have a lease yet". Later on, customers couldn't make credit card purchases; there were "phone line problems". Then I came by one week and the power was totally out ("but it's just effecting our part of the strip mall").

Finally, the notices were posted - the store was going out of business on December 31 (announced on December 15). I was pretty worried, as there is only 1 other comic store in my area, and it is very inconvenient to get to from my work or home (having hours open only until 6:00 PM didn't help). I was looking into ordering comics online (the deep discounts compensate for the shipping costs), but I was worried that I wouldn't get the "instant fix" that I am accustomed to and would not be able to participate in current discussion.

Fortunately, it looks like there may be a happy ending. The store did not close, as the owner of the building that it was in decided to purchase the shop and keep it running. Hopefully, he will have enough capital to make the shop go, becuase they finally had the shop neat and organized before the sell-out.

Some responses from recent quotes:

Does anyone read The Authority? I read the Yuletide challenge fic that shrift wrote, and it was her fandom. I googled a bit, and found it has a supertextual same sex couple. Is it any good?

Not anymore. The first twelve issues were golden, but the stories and art began a swift downward spiral after Ellis and Hitch left.

I'm liking Ed Brubaker's work thus far on The Authority: Revolutions.

I'll second Shrift on this.

Let me third that. I'm pretty much a sucker for anything Brubaker writes, so I'm not the most objective, but I think his run has been refreshing.

I may flip through JLE in the store. I skimmed the first six -- didn't like them enough to buy, but kinda interesting. The lead chick with the fake arms is very compelling, and of course, there's my girl.

I pick it up because Ollie is on the team, and I'm turning into a Green Arrow completist. It's only a 12-issue maxi-series, so I decided to stick with it even thought the JLA #100 issue and the first issue of the mini didn't impress me. It has picked up the pace, and the Batgirl reveal means I have to go back and re-evaluate the earlier issues. I still think the Flash is really out of place here.

Huh. The third best-selling graphic novel at TFAW is a Conan collection.

• The first volume of The Chronicles of Conan has sold over 10,000 (continued...)

( continues...) copies in the first two months of release!

And Star Wars comics fill out most of the top ten.

TFAW is Dark Horse's preferred on-line retailer, so this doesn't surprise me. The Conan franchise is rolling along, with the new Busiek-Nord series bringing fans back in droves.

Wow, look at that. Automatic post continuation. Huzzah for the programmers!

Welcome back, Jeff. Yeah, the programming staff has been adding all sorts of new superpowers to the board. t Points at "subscribe/unsubscribe" link next to the "threadsuck" link.

Welcome back, Jeff! I was wondering about your whereabouts.

Hi Jeff! I'm so glad to see you back.

I talked with Dana about The Authority last night...now I want to read it. Sigh.

So, JZ got me Jaime Hernandez's Locas the other day (belated xmas present). This is the big hardbound collection of the Maggie and Hope stories.

Now, I have the original issues, but looking at all together like this is absolutely stunning. I hadn't realized how many of his images have been burned into my memory as iconic. It's breathtaking how much great art there is in this book. I mean - I've felt that way looking through Alex Toth collections, but he never did it on one continuing narrative like this. It's a huge, huge achievement.

SA, as far as I'm concerned, "V for Vendetta" is required comics reading. One of the interesting points for me, beside the political philosophy, is the fact that the artist (David "I Make This Look Gooood" Lloyd) and writer (Alan "Godlike Being" Moore) decided to do the entire thing without use of sound effects or thought balloons. Everything is communicated through the art and the dialogue.

Great stuff.

Oh wow, MM. I loved that series but I never noticed the lack of sound effects. The lack of thought baloons might have occurred to me at one point - I really need to go back and re-read that; it's been years.