Mason’s Wonderful Wednesdays
Posted by themasonIt’s Wednesday and it’s wonderful and here’s the shit I want to talk about.
Scott Pilgrim
There’s a new Scott Pilgrim book out today. Scott Pilgrim is only the best graphic novel series being published. Go buy it!
Diamond Schmaimond
I’ve kept myself from weighing in on Diamond’s new policies because I just ain’t smart enough. Sure I worked in a comic shop (I didn’t get close to the ordering pack) and sure I’m a small press publisher (my circulation has reached the double digits people, yep, that’s right, 11), but I didn’t feel I could accurately say anything worth reading like so many others. But! Here I am, right now, opening my big mouth. Do you wanna know what I think about Diamond’s new policies? Do you really wanna know? Well I think they’re just fantaaaastic.
Why is it fantastic? Well I don’t want Diamond to wither and die. But, even more importantly, I don’t want them to control all that is comic book distribution. Since Diamond has announced its douche-baggery Ka-Blam, the print on demand service, has announced that it’s starting its own distribution service. We’ve all heard a bit about Haven distributors, who may also be picking up some of Diamond’s unwanted, discarded, grotesque slack.
Diamond needs competition. They need incentive to not screw up every order they send out to shops. They need incentive to pan handle to the little guys. They need incentive to, uh, not be dick-fucks. Ok, that last one wasn’t so creative, but you get the point. Now, does more distributors mean a better industry? Well, not necessarily. It’s debatable whether there’s enough market to allow multiple distributors to suck on the teets of comics. Will this make order for stores more streamlined? Well, more ordering from different distributors might make their jobs take up a little more time, so, also, not necessarily. Regardless, I think this could improve the industry immensely. Why? Because Teddy Roosevelt would want it this way.
Chicago Rox
I’m from Chicago (that’s debatable, but I don’t care) so more comic conventions, thanks to Reed Exhibitions, is pretty awesome. I also noticed this is a month away from ACEN, the big anime convention in these part. The best part about ACEN? Nerd raves on Friday nights, drunken geeks at the hotel, free hugs… Oh, yeah, there’s tons of anime crap if you’re into that too.
Final Crisis
I finally got through it. Some parts angered me, but at the same time I lay in bed at night and think about some of the wonderful ideas and twists introduced by Grant Morrison. I’ve always been a DC kid, but I don’t think I can really endorse this mess. As I told the double B (Robb) the other day, “if crisis was my mother on life support, and her plug got pulled, I’m not sure I’d get up to put it back into the socket.”
Final Crisis is not my mother though. My mother, as crazy as she may be, makes more sense. So I would, in fact, plug her back in.
