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An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Buzzscope Interview: Alias’ Miller In the Hot Seat

Miller owns up to mistakes, promises 30 years of comics Alias Enterprises burst onto the comics scene a few months back, hot on the heels of a trio of successful titles published under the Image banner: Lullaby, The Imaginaries, and Lions, Tigers and Bears. With multi-page advertising spreads in Previews, and an all-out internet PR-blitz promoting their relatively little-to-unknown creators and/or properties and their $0.75 first issues, Alias was poised to make a bang throughout the month April with an aggressive slate of 12 brand new titles all scheduled to hit the stands before Free Comic Book Day. As the…

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An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Retailer Spotlight: Richmond Comix

A few weeks back, we took a trip south to visit my mother in Virginia, and I decided to hit Diamond's Comic Shop Locator to see what the four-color world was like outside of New York City. Punching in the zip code of her suburban Richmond town, I was surprised to see only three shops pop up, none in Richmond itself. I input a few more zip codes for Richmond proper and parts due north, and still came up with the same three shops. Odd, I thought, but Virginia is a bit of a conservative state - to this NYer,…

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Free Comic Book Day

Interview: Joe Field on Free Comic Book Day

Who doesn't like free comic books? On Saturday, May 7th, 2005, participating comic book shops across North America and around the world will be giving away comic books from more than 25 different publishers absolutely free to anyone who comes into their stores, as part of the 4th Annual Free Comic Book Day, celebrating "an original American art form." "The selection of titles is a testament to the diversity in the industry," says Diamond Comic Distributors Marketing Communications Manager and Free Comic Book Day Committee spokesperson, Barry Lyga. "More than anything else, Free Comic Book Day exists to show that…

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An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

Comment: A Fanboy’s Rant #1

1. One of the sequences in Comic Book Superheros Unmasked (2003) dealt with the crash of the comic industry during the early 90s. I'd like to bring up one point made by Marvel's Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada during the interview, where he basically states that the variant cover phenomenon during that time played a big part in the industry's crash. Back then, the hottest books were selling in the several hundreds of thousands. Nowadays, a publisher would kill for 150,000! Well, more than a decade removed and it looks like the industry is back at it. This time though, rather than…

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An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

COMMENT: On Reloads and Relaunches

Answer: Everyone that bought a copy of Astonishing X-Men #1. [See the end for the Question.]As someone who stopped buying comic books back in the early 90s - missing the worst of the speculator-driven boom and bust - and started again last year, I can see both sides of the "Relaunch/Reload" debate that seems to be flaring up on several fan sites.As Comics Buyer's Guide pointed out in a great article a couple of months ago, the comic book industry doesn't really know very much about its audience. Other than the accepted stereotypes - predominantly young, male, into superheroes and…

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An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

President Forever 2004

President Forever 2004 is the perfect computer sim for political junkies. I bought the full version last week (only $12, well worth it!) and have run through six campaigns so far with Dubya kicking my ass all but once. He beat Kerry twice, paired up with Edwards and then Gephardt, neither of whom helped carry their home states. He beat Kucinich twice, with Edwards and then Clark, again with neither VP delivering their home states. Kucinich's default setup is oddly to the right of the real deal. Not drastically, but subtly enough to illustrate the annoying nuances of politics that…

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An arm with a tattoo: "I was made for the library, not the classroom."

From the "No wonder people don't bother" file: Went to vote this morning and realized that it's the first time I'm voting IN New York City. I've voted absentee while in the Army, in New Jersey while living there, and even in Virginia last year, where I was impressed by their hi-tech setup. My polling place for today was a beat-up warehouse of a church manned primarily by what appeared to be beneficiaries of their Meals On Wheels program. Seriously. Other than the three college-age kids helping out, there wasn't a volunteer there under the age of 70. I'm just…

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