Wait, What? Ep. 28: Good Old Boys

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Posted by: Jeff Lester on February 28, 2011

Categories: Podcasts

Ah, yes. The podcast. You haven’t forgotten about us, have you? Believe it or not, we haven’t, either. My new method of allowing the podcast to upload to iTunes before creating an entry here on the SavCrit, however, has led to a bit of lag on my part, for which I apologize.  We hope to make it up to you in the coming week. In fact, in this very entry, we’re giving you both installments of Episode 28–our comic-free prologue, in which Graeme and I talk They Might Be Giants, Randy Newman, and the British TV comedy triumvirate of The IT Crowd, Father Ted, and Brass Eye; and Episode 28 proper, where we discuss at length books like Iron Man…  Read More…

Arriving 3/2/11

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on

Categories: Shipping Lists

May I say: Good Riddance February! I’m a week now done with cigarettes, and my brainpower seems to be slowly coming back — I’m virtually certain that reviews will resume tomorrow. Here’s what’s coming this week, below the cut;

Arriving 2/23/11

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on February 21, 2011

Categories: Shipping Lists

I can’t concentrate properly — I had my final cigarette yesterday. Everything is slightly askew. Gr. I hate feeling like this. Here’s what’s shipping this week, below the cut:

ComicsPRO ’11: Hibbs’ Last Year

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on February 17, 2011

Categories: Retailing/Industry

There have, over the years, been several attempts to build a comics retailer organization. There was PACER, there was the DLG, there was one more back in the day whose acronym I’m blanking on. The main reason we’ve succeeded, I think, is because of the astonishingly hard work of Amanda Emmert, who does so much insanely detailed and strong work behind the scenes, and without whom this would have been another one of those Noble Failures. I also think that ComicsPRO had a certain amount of cachet coming from that the original founders included <<booming voice>> BRIAN HIBBS, and also <<booming voice>> JOE FIELD. Joe’s the other guy who might run neck in neck with me on the “celebrity retailer”…  Read More…

ComicsPRO ’11: Bonfire

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on February 16, 2011

Categories: Retailing/Industry

One of the last bigger observations I want to make is that, regardless of whether or not you think that the Direct Market, as currently constituted, is doing a good job or a lousy job at being the stewards, “geek culture” really is the Ground Zero for culture-at-large. And the DM environment is the incubator of that “geek culture”. For decades, really, we’ve begged and pleaded to be taken seriously by the world at large. One of my go-to stories has always been that, 10-ish years ago, the quickest visual short-hand to show emotional or intellectual retardation in an adult was to show them with a rolled up comic in their backpocket. “Please please love us!” we geeks and nerds…  Read More…

ComicsPRO ’11: Speed Dating

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on February 15, 2011

Categories: Retailing/Industry

I don’t know how many of you have been to a trade show/Diamond Summit, that kind of thing? Generally speaking they’re run a lot like comic cons — there’s usually a trade show floor, with normal booth setups, handing out shwag to try and get attendees’ attention. There’s often also a number of panels, which too often become bitchfests… especially when you get some peeps wasting the global retailer time with “last week my shipment had a 15% damage rate, what are you going to do to make me whole?!?!?!”, rather than being more universal like “can you discuss overall national damage rates, and what steps you’re taking to lower them?” ComicsPRO doesn’t have a “dealer’s room” set up, we’re…  Read More…

ComicsPRO ’11: CP’s Bus Ride of Doom!

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on February 14, 2011

Categories: Retailing/Industry

Y’know, given that my next TILTING is like 3 weeks away (well, I *could* do something and Jonah, I’m sure would print it, but I like to keep my schedule for sanity), I’m thinking now that maybe I’ll just write a series of smaller posts about the ComicsPRO ’11 meeting as we go along. We’ll see how this goes. Spurgeon characterized from the last post that the meeting was “good”, and let me tell you that this is wrong.  The meeting was GREAT. Superlative. Splendiferious. Astounding. Amazing. Spectacular. Web Of. Honestly, and this is my really-I’m-not-lying-to-you voice, there’s not a single more productive weekend of the entire calendar year. I can’t tell you a lot of what made it so…  Read More…

Arriving 2/16/2011

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on

Categories: Shipping Lists

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! I’m still getting caught back up from Dallas, so “pardon the dust” or whatever. Below the cut, here’s what’s shipping this week….

Wait, What? Ep. 27: A Quick One While He’s Abhay…

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Posted by: Jeff Lester on

Categories: Podcasts

Howdy, everyone. Jeff again with the ultra-quick podcast descript-o. It’s ultra-quick because the podcast is itself charmingly bite-sized, spanning barely more than half an hour and discussing such disparate subjects as the press release for Avengers Academy Giant-Size #1, technology and modern memory, and Abhay’s Jimmy Olsen story. Perhaps some of you have already discovered the podcast waiting for you on iTunes–it was certainly there the last time I checked–but you can also check it out here if you’re game: Wait, What, Ep. 27: A Quick One While He\’s Abhay… We hope you enjoy it (and if you happen to Abhay, I hope you end up neither too mortified nor too appalled) and thanks for listening!

Jim Lee’s Digital visual analogy

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on February 13, 2011

Categories: Retailing/Industry

I’m just back from Dallas, and the 2011 ComicsPRO meeting. It was a very very very good meeting — there is literally not a more productive weekend in comics on the calendar, though a lot of what happened and was discussed won’t, necessarily, interest you the consumer. I will, I think, have a much fuller report in a few weeks in  the next TILTING, but in the meantime I want to share one bit while its still fresh in my mind. A lot of time was spent on discussing Digital, as you might expect, but early on on the first day, DC co-Publisher Jim Lee made a visual analogy that sort of guided my thinking for the rest of the…  Read More…

Tilting at Windmills #200: BookScan 2011

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on February 9, 2011

Categories: Retailing/Industry

It is now up at Comic Book Resources — 15,103 words long! Read it, absorb it, let me know what you think. -B

Wait, What? 26.2: Too Much of a Good Thing?

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Posted by: Jeff Lester on

Categories: Podcasts

I like to think of Episode 26 as a big ol’ dish of Sweet & Sour Chicken [or vegetarian chicken-alternative of your choice]: The first installment was mostly on the sweet side (but still tangy); this installment you might find a bit more sour (but also tangy!). I don’t know, you will have to decide and let us know. I checked in and saw it on iTunes so you should be able to get it there with minimal Montgomery-izing, or you can also check it out here: Wait, What? Episode 26.2: Too Much of a Good Thing? And because John K(UK) had a point, let me add–we cover the state of the industry, whether there is an inherent value to…  Read More…

Wait, What? 26.1: Catch Us if You Can

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Posted by: Jeff Lester on February 7, 2011

Categories: Podcasts

So, yeah. iTunes. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with iTunes and podcasts.  As you know, iTunes has been slower and slower to update our podcast, requiring some of us to resort to the B.D. Montgomery method (and god bless you, B.D. for both coming up with the solution and for never saying boo when we all started using your name —if you wanna send me your snail mail addy to my e acct of pig DOOT latin ART gmail DOOT com, I’ll try to send something your way as thanks) to get iTunes to find the path. So. Unless I thoroughly and permanently befouled the RSS feed as iTunes reads it, this may not be my fault–everything I…  Read More…

Arriving 2/9/11

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Posted by: Brian Hibbs on

Categories: Shipping Lists

Reviews from me should resume tomorrow (or Wednesday evening, latest, since I’ll have time to kill on the airplane…), but in the meantime, here’s what’s shipping this week, below the cut…