Miraclo Miles

Marvel Two-Step I see that Marvel has made a move to get its comics back into 7-11 convenience stores, and another deal with Barnes & Noble to get them into some 300 additional locations . Both of these are potentially good moves for comics as an industry, increasing exposure as they will and so increasing the likelihood of someone trying something out for the first time or taking a nostalgic, impulse-buy dip into the current waters of old, favorite characters. With the average Marvel "impulse" running $2.99, it remains to be seen how casual that impulse will prove to be, but by and large this is a positive move for Marvel and perhaps comics in general. Comics shops really can't realistically view this as competition, but simply as a potential gateway for new customers. Anyone who finds himself (re-)hooked on the the characters will soon enough find out that there are specialty shops capable of more fully serving their needs. On the other hand, demonstrating that ther...

Legacy: First $trike Okay, I buckled as planned (revel in your weaknesses!) and picked up five boosters during lunch today. (A friend up in Chicago bought 6, making me feel almost saintly in my restraint since I'm usually far worse about it.) I really cannot complain about the mix, though that won't stop me entirely. Anyway, here's what I pulled: Rookies: Jade, Jinx, Mr. Freeze, Power Girl & Super Woman Experienced: Hourman, Joker, Persuader & Wildfire Veterans: Batman, Kid Quantum, Mr. Terrific. Power Girl, Spoiler, Stargirl & Wildfire ( Corrected : I'd forgotten the vet Wildfire) Feats: Stunning Blow & Trick Shot Battlefield Conditions: Bright Lights & Overconfidence Bystander Token: Harvey Bullock Super-Rares: None! (Curses!) Uniques: Steel (giant-size fig), Ares & General Zod My pal in Chicago managed to pull two super-rares and both the Ares and Green Lantern u...

Wednesday Morning Grab Bag Here's a frightening selection of right-wingers looking for love . More of these are found at their Hannidate source. If you happen to know any of these people, they hit it off and you're looking for a wedding gift for them, perhaps you could do some shopping here . Surely the couples would want a velvet shot of Jesus and Elvis in Heaven , though Jesus may look decidedly too Liberal for them, come to think of it. Do you think he's Elvis' dealer? Well, maybe they'll go for some instructional Jesus cartoons for our modern times to give to their spawn? Or, for an alternate view, maybe it was mostly thanks to Spider-man ? (Thanks to Tammy for the first few links, and Tom Peyer for pointing out the Bible comics.) Oh, while I'm at it I should point out this page spotlighting Jimmy Olsen's propensity for cross-dressing . I saved that for today, not wanting to get it too close to the piece on the Joker's boners. (This l...

A good cause for the fans Thanks to Tony Collett for this notice. Honestly, I didn't realize Bill Messner-Loebs and his wife were not only still in dire financial straits, (I'd contributed to a fund for him a long while back, when they were in danger of losing their home, after which there had been no word so I'd thought the best -- talk about proving me wrong!) but are in worse condition than ever. This article is from late January, and the situation's only gotten worse since then. While I don't care a bit about Clifford Meth (though I only know him via this piece , which irritates me at several ultimately unimportant turns -- I find his style and approach abrasive and affected -- but none of that is important) the bottom line thrust of the piece is solid. I briefly met Bill back when he'd just taken over Flash following Mike Baron's run, and found him to be an intelligent, interesting guy who was making his way in more mainstream genres of ...

Noble Fight or Misplaced Obsession? Does it really matter? Regardless of one's view of the show, fan efforts to directly fund a sixth season of Star Trek: Enterprise demonstrate strong support. The general overview of their efforts is found at the link above (it goes to saveneterprise.com), including a link to the fundraising wing of the group at Trek United . Thanks to Dwight for the site note, btw. As he mentioned in his comments following an earlier post, the official contributions have reportedly grown considerably today, and someone who truly does need to get a life has reportedly been hacking the site. When I could get through I saw that the official contributions were just a bit beyond $3, 067,860.00, with a separate link announcing that today the $3 million portion arrived via a contribution from anonymous investors in the commercial space flight industry. ( Note : They make a point that "if no agreement can be made, you will be refunded," which ...

Well, no wonder he's so angry... This, and more, in the "Frames and Pages" section of Superdickery . I wonder if this plot's due for recycling thanks to some little blue pills?

Geek's Countdown This afternoon the automated shipping tracker email from UPS came through, so by later tonight I'll have confirmation of when my case of Legacy Heroclix will be arriving. The usual pattern will see it landing here next Monday. Checking around I've found that some people (ordering from other vendors) will be getting theirs tomorrow or Thursday, but so far they all appear to have paid $19 and up more dollars for each of their cases, so I don't feel pinched by the relative delay. Whether I have it tomorrow or next Monday, by this time next week I wouldn't be able to tell any difference. Tomorrow the boosters will be available in the comics shops, so we'll see how far overboard I go by evening. On the topic of Heroclix and shifting to the sub-realm of Idiocy, I see that the new Marvel FAQ is up, and they've neutered Marvel's Trick Shot (this link still shows the unmodified text) to match that of DC's version ; now it can o...

Where we went wrong A friend's son celebrated his birthday today, and a late-day report from his dad tells of how part of the late-day festivities involved watching some Johnny Quest cartoons ('64 vintage, of course) from a DVD set, which his wife noted had to be the "ultimate boy's cartoon." Along the way he also mentioned how the kids don't seem to have the stomach these days for much birthday cake. When we were kids a birthday cake would easily be half-gone after just the first wave of attack, but these days and these kids they barely make a dent. During a quick reply I noted: I think this is where we lost the battle for the future we were supposed to have. We grew up in the '60s, when the year 2000 held Moon cities and rocket packs. The '60s, when man started the decade aiming for the Moon and ended it reaching there. We had cartoons like Johnny Quest , and there was sugar in everything. Even the astronauts were supercharged with a Ta...

"I always wondered why there weren't any Arabs leaping off buildings." Aside from us not flying an airliner into a highrise, I'm stumped, too. Okay, a terrible cheap shot, that. The above, terribly out of context line, is from a piece on a line of Arabic superheroes . AK Comics , which I admit I'd never heard of prior to this, claims to have been operating for a year --- and could very well have been, with current distribution only in Egypt but branching into Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf states --- is obviously making a bid for global attention. They should have gotten their website set up a little better first, but it's a potentially interesting set of projects. Depending upon how much they charge and how easy they make electronic payments I could see giving them a try just for curiosity's sake. From the looks of it they'll be dealing with many a flaming hoop when it comes to censorship; I'm wondering if what will come out the other side ...

Zombie Terror This one's out of Kentucky, where a high school junior was arrested this past Tuesday because of a story he wrote in his private journal concerning zombies overrunning a high school . Apparently this constitutes a "second degree terrorist threatening charge" Even so, police say the nature of the story makes it a felony. "Anytime you make any threat or possess matter involving a school or function it's a felony in the state of Kentucky," said Winchester Police detective Steven Caudill. The above statement is incredible. Well, rather, my mind rebels at accepting it, especially the section I emphasized. Never mind the rest of the story, including that this kid's grandparents decided to read his journal and turn it over to the authorities. I wonder if the kid would have been taken down as strongly if he'd finished the story and submitted it in his English class; at that point, I suppose, it would have been at the discretion of his tea...