Arriving 10/21/2010

*sigh* Another leak at the hotel this weekend -- lost most of three racks of books. What is it with people staying at hotels that they don't know how to flush toilets or take showers with the door closed, or whatever? It boggles me every time it happens... Another nice week of comics -- I'm sure you'll find something excellent.

2000 AD PACK SEP 2010 25 TO LIFE #2 (OF 3) AIRFIGHTERS #2 GRINDBERG CVR A AMORY WARS KEEPING SECRETS OF SILENT EARTH 3 #5 ARCHIE #614 AZRAEL #13 BATMAN AND ROBIN #15 BATMAN BEYOND #5 (OF 6) BETTY & VERONICA DOUBLE DIGEST #185 BOYS HIGHLAND LADDIE #3 (OF 6) BRIGHTEST DAY #12 BRUCE WAYNE THE ROAD HOME CATWOMAN #1 BRUCE WAYNE THE ROAD HOME COMMISSIONER GORDON #1 CALLING CTHULHU CHRONICLES #4 CARNAGE #1 (OF 5) CBGB #4 (OF 4) CHAOS WAR #2 (OF 5) CONAN THE CIMMERIAN #24 DAREDEVIL #511 SL DARKWING DUCK #5 DC COMICS PRESENTS BATMAN #1 DC UNIVERSE LEGACIES #6 (OF 10) DCU HALLOWEEN SPECIAL 2010 #1 DEADPOOL #28 DMZ #58 DOCTOR SOLAR MAN OF ATOM #3 DOCTOR WHO ONGOING #16 DONALD DUCK AND FRIENDS #359 DV8 GODS AND MONSTERS #7 (OF 8) FABLES #99 FAME JUSTIN BIEBER FEVRE DREAM #7 (OF 10) GEN 13 #38 GREEN HORNET YEAR ONE #6 GREEN LANTERN CORPS #53 (BRIGHTEST DAY) GUARDING THE GLOBE #2 (OF 6) HAUNT #10 HELLBLAZER #272 HULK #26 IDES OF BLOOD #3 (OF 6) JOHN MOORE PRESENTS DEAD SOLDIER #2 (OF 4) JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA #50 KICK-ASS 2 #1 KNIGHTS OF THE DINNER TABLE #167 KODT BLACK HANDS 2010 #1 (OF 2) LAST UNICORN #5 (OF 6) LEGION OF SUPER HEROES #6 LOKI #1 (OF 4) MORNING GLORIES #3 MUPPET SHOW #11 NEW MUTANTS #18 NIGHT O/T LIVING DEAD #1 (OF 5) OFF HANDBOOK MARVEL UNIVERSE A TO Z UPDATE #4 PILOT SEASON 7 DAYS FROM HELL #1 POWER GIRL #17 PUNISHER MAX TINY UGLY WORLD #1 RAGMAN SUIT OF SOULS #1 SHADOWLAND POWER MAN #3 (OF 4) SL SIMPSONS COMICS #171 SIXTH GUN #5 SKULLKICKERS #2 SPIRIT #7 STAN LEE SOLDIER ZERO #1 STAND HARDCASES #4 (OF 5) STAR TREK CAPTAINS LOG JELLICO (ONE SHOT) STARGATE VALA MAL DORAN #4 STEVE ROGERS SUPER-SOLDIER #4 (OF 4) SUPERGIRL #57 SUPERMAN BATMAN #77 SWEETS #3 (OF 5) TALES OF THE DRAGON GUARD INTO VEIL #2 (OF 3) THOR FIRST THUNDER #2 (OF 5) THOUSAND ARTS ONE-SHOT TINY TITANS #33 TOMB OF TERROR #1 TORCHWOOD #4 TRUE BLOOD #4 (OF 6) TURF #3 ULTIMATE COMICS NEW ULTIMATES #4 (OF 5) VERTIGO RESURRECTED #1 WALKING DEAD #78 X-23 #2 X-FACTOR #210 X-FILES 30 DAYS OF NIGHT #4 (OF 6)

Books / Mags / Stuff ALTER EGO #97 ASTRO CITY THE DARK AGE HC BOOK 02 BROTHERS IN ARMS CARDCAPTOR SAKURA DARK HORSE OMNIBUS ED VOL 01 CHI SWEET HOME GN VOL 03 DODGEM LOGIC MAGAZINE #4 DODGEM LOGIC MAGAZINE #5 DRAGON PUNCHER HC BOOK 01 ESSENTIAL AVENGERS TP VOL 03 NEW ED ESSENTIAL GHOST RIDER TP VOL 04 FINAL CRISIS LEGION OF THREE WORLDS TP G-MAN TP VOL 02 CAPED CRISIS GOD COMPLEX COMPLETE COLLECTION TP GRIMM FAIRY TALES TP VOL 08 HELLBLAZER INDIA TP HI FRUCTOSE COLL ED HC VOL 02 COUNTER CULTURE REG HULK TP VOL 05 FALL OF HULKS ILLUSTRATION MAGAZINE #31 JOHNNY BOO HC VOL 04 MEAN LITTLE BOY JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE TP KEVIN SMITH GREEN HORNET TP VOL 01 SINS O/T FATHER KODT BUNDLE OF TROUBLE TP VOL 30 LONE PINE GN LUTHOR HC MARVEL ZOMBIES 5 HC MEGAMIND MOVIE PREQUEL TP NAOKI URASAWA 20TH CENTURY BOYS GN VOL 11 R CRUMB DEVIL GIRL 12 CT HOT KISSES DISPLAY (O/A) SAGA OF REX TP SHOWCASE PRESENTS SUPERMAN TP VOL 01 NEW PTG SHUDDERTOWN HC SIMPSONS HOMER FOR THE HOLIDAYS SC SIN CITY NEW MILLER CVR TP VOL 01 HARD GOODBYE SIN CITY NEW MILLER CVR TP VOL 02 DAME KILL FOR SPAWN ORIGINS HC VOL 02 SUPERMAN ARCHIVES HC VOL 08 THOR VS HERCULES TP TOYFARE #160 DC UNIVERSE ONLINE ULTIMATE COMICS AVENGERS PREM HC CRIME & PUNISHMENT ULTIMATE COMICS AVENGERS TP NEXT GENERATION VICTORIAN UNDEAD TP X-FACTOR TP VOL 09 INVISIBLE WOMAN HAS VANISHED Y THE LAST MAN DELUXE EDITION HC VOL 04 ZORRO MATANZAS TP

What looks good to YOU?

-B

A Very Public Thank you to Marvel Comics

I, as I think you've noticed, am a fairly frequent and vocal critic of Marvel Comics (though I sort of find it interesting that the tenor on the HaloScan threads here seems to be leaning with me being more "against" DC. C'est la guerre!), largely because I think that a company that is that big and powerful has certain responsabilities that go with those powers.

This, of course, is something Marvel itself taught me!

So since I'm always ragging on them I should, I think, also take the time and space to thank them when they do something nice.

As you saw from my last post, my "Marvel" section got wiped out. (This is not, in fact, EVERY Marvel comic in the store. I keep, for example, the X-books racked separately from the rest of the Marvel U, as well as the licensed titles or adaptations or kids comics or the Soliel books, and so on)

David Gabriel, VP of Sales at Marvel contacted me and asked me for a list of what I lost.

I gave them a list of stuff that I thought I should actually replace, in "appropriate" quantities (ie, I didn't mention completed mini-series that I still had on the rack, I didn't list anything b-list or under, and I only specified what I thought I might sell in the next 6 or so weeks, rather than what I actually lost -- which was a truly larger number of books), and I've been told that I'll have my whole list sent to me, for free, with free and expedited shipping so I'll have it by Friday.

Marvel did not have to do that, they were under no obligation, and, frankly, since we joust so much I am not entirely sure that I'd've done the same thing in their position. But they did, and that's awesome, and they deserve some public props for that, so here they are!

Thank you Marvel comics!

Tomorrow, however, I go back to writing mean things about you! (insert: smiley emoticon)

-B

I no longer carry Marvel Comics!

Well, not intentionally, or anything.

But I came in this morning to a "drip drip drip" sound.

Hm, that's not good, I thought, and, hey, why are there puddles on the floor?

Some moron staying at the hotel above apparently decided that if the toilet doesn't flush, they should simply flush it again and again and again until it finally flushed (which it never did). Gravity is a bitch, and it has nowhere to go but down, and down it did go, into my store.

The entire Marvel periodicals rack, completely wiped out.

Half a month's rent in product damage, not counting rack damage or my labor. YAY!!!!

I'm just glad my landlord (the hotel) has good insurance, and is usually fine working with me on this kind of thing.

*sigh*

On the other hand, I'm glad I keep the new comics separated from the Not New ones, so New Comics Day can proceed as normal... but I've now got hours of database work in front of me to adjust all of the inventory levels and whatever.

HAPPY WEDNESDAY!!!!

-B

Happy Birthday, Ben!!

He's Four Years old today -- how does the time fly? I know I have to upload some new pics soon, but things have been hectic.

Nor are things helped by what happened this morning.

I opened the store and was sitting down to my breakfast when I heard a pitter-pat sound. Um, wtf...?

Oh, water coming from the ceiling. Oh, the pitter-pat is becoming a gush gush gush. Oh, shit, it's raining!

Yep, from the hotel above us. Again. Water is shooting out from the ceiling, cascading along the track lighting, with not just a drip drip, but with the force of a garden hose. Its from a toilet, of course, so the water isn't exactly, um, pure.

I run to the hotel, scream that there's a problem, and rush back to the store to get buckets out, and clear what I can. It's almost Rube Goldberg-like -- put a bucket over here, new leak springs over there, move something from there, more water comes over here, whee!

I look up, realize that at least five minutes have passed, and rush back to the hotel. "No, really, it's an emergency!"

Brother at the front desk had decided to keep checking out guests, and not to figure out where the leak was coming from, sheesh.

Finally he comes over, ascertains which room it would be, and we find out it was a toilet overflowing in 112. Finally it stops.

Casualties: The Crime rack, and the Women Artists section. Everything on those two racks is GONE. We also lost most of the material on the bottom shelf of the Euro rack, meaning most of the British imports, the bottom shelf of the porno comics (Gasp, no more copies of DILDO, what a loss!!!), and the bottom shelf of the left side of the New Comics Rack, so there go this week's Kids books. On, and PREVIEWS, 3 months worth.

Total damage? Nearly $3300 in product, hurray.

Landlord promises to tile all of the bathrooms in the hotel so this CAN'T happen again. I sure hope so.

Me, my hands are sticky, I need to take a shower before Ben's birthday dinner tonight. Why does shit like this (no pun intended) always happen on something like a birthday day?

I had this whole plan today where I was going to write reviews and stuff, but instead, I'm in cleanup mode.

*sigh*

Retail is FUN!!!

-B