yendi

Noooooo kidding. I think I would have selected "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" for that list as well. What's so hard about hitting a damn deadline? If you can't hit the deadline, then don't solicit the book until you can. Idiots.

What *is* holding up DK Returns #3, anyway?

cheers,
Phil

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yendi

I think it's being held up so the public can forget how bad #2 was.

I mean, I honestly think that if Ron Marz and Rob Liefeld were to collaborate on a comic, it couldn't be as bad as #2.

Hell, if Liefeld did the writing and Marz did the art, it still might not be as bad.

I made the entire ABC line a part of my "wait for the GN" policy from the get-go, mainly because Moore is too hit-or-miss, and I wanted to wait for full stories. I've picked up the first two Promethias, and the first Tom Strong, and enjoyed them, but haven't tried League yet.

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League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is excellent, and is already being made into a movie. You must read it.

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Yeah, Sean Connery as Quartermain, and who's Mina? I already forgot.

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yendi

I've added it to my Amazon Wish list. Which also has the DVD of League of Gentlemen, just to confuse people.

Speaking of Moore and late comics, anyone know the status of Lost Girls?

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Haven't heard anything new about it in ages.

I bought that for Joe years ago, not realizing it was erotica... that was interesting!

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yendi

It was erotica, but damned interesting, story-wise. I also liked some of the experimentation -- telling two stories with the same artwork, etc.

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Yeah, I'd love to see some more of it.

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According to Chris Staros from a few months back, Melinda and Alan are finishing Lost Girls and it will be released en toto as a graphic novel from Top Shelf.

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yendi

Excellent! Especially since I've been a Top Shelf fan for a while, too.

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Anyone read Top Ten lately? I like it because it reminds me of Homicide.

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Hell yeah!! Fuck yeah!!

I was using League as part of my undergraduate thesis on postmodernism in comic books. I wrote the first chapter, which was due in December, on the first four issues. I figured by April, when the rest was due, I'd have the whole thing to write on. I didn't even have issue #5.

And anything by Kevin Smith... as much as I worship him, the man is a worse procrastinator than I am.

(Of course, I wait for graphic novels because they hold up better. Barry Ween Gorilla Warfare!! Wooo-hooo!! Of course all the copies at Criminal Records were banged up and I told Rick he'd have to order me a fresh one -- yes, this is how neurotic I am about my books.)

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You're right to be neurotic about it. Comics are easy enough to damage as it is, why should you have to be handicapped by books that are already in bad shape when you get them? :)

Aside from "League", the worst example of a late comic that I can think of is Ben Edlund's "The Tick". It's been what, six, seven years since issue #12 and the man STILL hasn't admitted that he's never coming out with a #13....it's always "Someday....". Not to mention that it was one year from #11 to #12. :)

cheers,
Phil

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bethynyc.livejournal.com

Ben Edlund is my childhood dentist's nephew. I went to junior high with two of his cousins.

Small world or what?

Bethy
also wants to get more into indie comics

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Hear, hear! Fray is starting to make Paul Pope's THB #6 look punctual.

Each issue of Fray is frustrating to read, because it comes out so long after the previous one that I can't remember the story.

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yendi

Yup. It's one thing when the comic that's delayed is Action Girl, or Dork, or Optic Nerve. But if there's a running plot, anything more than six weeks is too long (and it's not helped by our soon-to-be-ex comic person, who hasn't gotten us any comics in ages now).

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You should make Criminal Records your new source for comics! Trish has that operation running quite smoothly since she took it over from Rick, who doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground.

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yendi

We actually shifted back to Westfield. I like Criminal a lot, but we like having stuff delivered to our door (jus too much of a hassle to make it to the store). We moved from Westfield because a friend of ours got a Diamond license, and could get us better discounts, in theory, but his service has been lacking, and the discounts haven't been that great. Westfield really kicks ass -- good ordering software, great customer service, and they package the books really well.

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But if you don't go to the store for the comics, you lose the browse factor. You don't have your comic book guy recommending stuff s/he likes that you might also.

You don't get the excitement of New Comics Day.

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yendi

Thing is, none of those really bother me. Thanks to the Internet and good friends, I can get recommendations from lots of places. And I don't need the browse factor that much. It just doesn't do as much for me, although I like hitting a shop every once in a while to just sample something randomly (which is how I found Wandering Star and Shades of Gray, two of my all-time favorites).

But New Comics Day just doesn't do it for me. Dunno why. I like the thrill of having them show up every couple of weeks, instead. Feels like opening a present.

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gallowglass.livejournal.com

Yeah but that only works if they show up regularly when they're supposed to, doesn't it? I've got mail order problems largely because the large supplier I use won't staff their subscriptions department properly, so things have tended to be late a lot of the time the last year or so. I mean, I'm on a group which is discussing issue 12 of a comic and I've only just received issue 11, thanks to the vagaries of international shipment and distribution inside the UK, makes things tricky at times.

I don't have much option, given my location. Mail order is the only way to get things without making round trips of hundreds of miles at a time and when the parcels do finally arrive it's great but it does add to the number of factors which can cause delays.

Of course, I don't think I'd make nearly as many informed choices if I was still going up to Central London every month, on past experience, so it's a bit six of one, half a dozen of the other.

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yendi

That's why we switched back from the friend who's not reliable to Westfield (which does ship internationally, but I doubt it's worth it). We're just in the two-month transition period. Are there any other mail-order houses over there aside from the one you're using?

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gallowglass.livejournal.com

Well, there's the other one that I'm using as well. <.g> More reliable, much more reliable (so I use it for the independant stuff, while the other one is largely for orders from the mainstream companies)but I'm not sure if it isn't a bit more expensive and FP lets me run a standing order, paying for what's ready to go out when it's finally shipment time, whereas the other place is still money up front and this pain in the backside refunding system if and when stuff I've ordered gets cancelled. I have enough 'fun' with that on the small monthly order I already make, so I'm not keen on adding the rest of it in as well.

Anyway, I'll probably stick with FP since I have a long-standing relationship with them, about 20 years now, almost half of that on mail order. It gets me a little slack when I need it from time to time, assuming I can get hold of the right people in the office.

And, most importantly, if I did change over, I'd have nothing to gripe about except more serious things and this helps keep my mind off them. ;-)

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yendi

That's how Westfield works, too. It doesn't bother us too much, since after two months, you're basically paying the same as always, and they handle the refunding nicely.

And there is something to be said for a store with whom you have a good relationship.

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Since your comics needs're taken care of for the time being, keep Oxford Comics in mind for when you need gaming stuff next. Look in the phone book if you don't remember the directions I gave you Friday. hehe

cheers,
Phil

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yendi

Oh, I know exactly where it is. Took

shadesong there when she was in town on her last honeymoon, in fact. :-) It is a nice store. I think it was the first comic store in Atlanta I ever went to (in the old location).

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shadesong.livejournal.com

This is why my plan has always been to have six issues of Shayara, which I'm thinking will start out bimonthly, in the can before soliciting issue #1. So we can be absolutely assured of hitting every deadline.

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yendi

*nod* 'cuz with an indie title, the blame does rest on the creators (Martin Wagner and Tara Tallan come to mind), since they're the publishers, too. Especially since Dave Sim has proven it can be done for a damned long time.

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shadesong.livejournal.com

Exactly. And it's hard enough just to get sufficient attention to attract readers to an indie title - I don't want to piss the readers off by not keeping deadlines!

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