10 Cent Plague

A local comic shop has been trying to clear out stock by marking some books down to ten cents each. Even at that price, the boxes sit mostly neglected. Nevertheless, I like to paw through this dross in search of some unexpected find. Mostly it's comics from the last few years, which have an immediate hurtle to overcome with me as my distaste for modern precision printing, "nice" paper, and "nice" coloring, hardens more and more into a dogma. Occasionally I'll look past this if the creators involved are transcendent funnybook geniuses.

Mixed in with all the others will be a few issues of early-80s "Groo", or some mid-90s "Bacchus". It's almost as if the comic shop guys planned it that way. Like an Easter egg hunt or something. But of course that's just from my subjective POV - clearly early-80s "Groo" is not the grail for others that it is for me, or this would be a different world. A world with more cheese-dip, for one thing.

It's pleasant to be back within the circuit of the comics-buying public again (though employees have indicated, through nonverbal gestures, that my occasional offering of dimes does not place me among the front ranks of their clientele.)

It reminds me of another blip in my life as a comics consumer: the time a local Dollar Tree franchise acquired an odd lot of comics and sold them three to a bag. (This must have been after the late-90s speculator bubble burst and distributors were left with gobs of stock to get rid of. Dollar Tree probably bought it by the pound.)

The beauty of it was that, again, mixed in with all the lesser lights of Image, and the die-cut, foil-plated issue of the 366th "Incredible Hulk" comic (No waiting for number 400 - foil is selling!) would be an issue of Crumb's "Hup" that got caught up in the bubble as well. Or maybe just some work-for-hire Ditko from around that time.

So, there on the speckled store-carpet carpet of the Dollar Tree, in the flourescent glow mixed with the setting afternoon sun (setting on another day of high school) I would put together custom 3-packs, ditching the holographic garbage and "clone" artists. That's right - you'll only find True Artistic Visionaries in my Dollar Tree shopping list.

So, the moral is: don't waste your life like I have mine! Buy the comics you want, when you want! Pay full price! Get a "pull list"! I don't know what the heck Eddie Campbell's "Bacchus" is about anyway - the "Eyeball Kid"? What?

rough character

New comic under way.. Here are some rough sketches I made trying to work out character designs. Basically I just needed a little guy to hang the story on.

I'm about a third of the way into writing it, and I'm sort of laying it out as I go as well.

If you have a rich uncle who wants to sponsor a small print run, who also has contacts with distributors that can get it into small grocery stores, convenience stores, etc. (where comics rightly belong) let me know..