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I have a new comic book store. Pretty sure I didn't mention this. It's a small store. Upstairs and out of the way of foot traffic, but well-stocked, tidy and nicely lit. These things are all key to me. They're even more important than the proprietor's ability to rec me crazy new books, though that's important too. I generally shop during school hours, which cuts a swath through the human wave of irritation that are is the consuming class. (In case you hadn't guessed, I'm not, repeat NOT, a shopaholic). Even so, I'm physically incapable of spending more than five minutes in a crowded and/or dank store. The chair-throwing urge just rises and rises, until I have to leave, or kill someone. Possibly, ok probably, many someones. (I DON'T HAVE RAGE CONTROL PROBLEMS!)
So it was great to find this store, which is like any other small store, but geekier. The owner and staff are so... normal. We talk about the new Brubaker book, and debate whether Grant Morrison will ever be able to work on a franchise without screwing it up for the next guy. We exchange jogging tips, and debate the merits of swiss balls, protein shakes and granola bars. We talk about Canadian politics, the best places sushi places, and annoying neighbors. The city's new plastic bag surcharge, and the impact of POS on inventory and sales. It's so refreshing be find a store where the geeks aren't all about their geekery. Where geek space and rest-of-the-world space coexist comfortably. It's like a slowed down espresso bar, minus the espresso, and as someone who spent years working in exactly that kind of environment, I'm so, so happy to find a chatty, laid back comic store. Best of both worlds for me.
The new Brubaker book, by the way, is Incognito. I have issue two, but missed out on issue one. I'm hoping to have my hands on it next week, when I go pick up the new Madame Xanadu. According to Bru:
Who's surprised? Not me. But I like noir and I like Bru; the target audience for this book = me. I'm also jumping into the next arc on Daredevil. Pray for me flist, I hear Matt brings the angst liek whoa.
I think I did mention that Madame Xanadu is really quite good. The art has a strong shoujo feel, but with some hard edges. The first arc, in and around the Arthur mythology, had some fairies and goblins that were both supercute and menacing. Next week's issue, if the book continues to follow its pattern of two-issues-per-chapter, should wrap up the Jack the Ripper story. We're getting closer to contemporary MX, so I'm wondering where we'll be traveling to next. I want to fill the couple issue gaps in my collection of the series so far, and do a proper review here, and mega scans post at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
scans_daily.
***
I watched De-Lovely last night. What, five years later? *facepalm* Still - awesome, awesome musical bio, with a little meta thrown in there. De-Lovely is the story of composer Cole Porter's adult life, as staged by the archangel Gabriel, complete with musical numbers. Kevin Kline is great and Ashley Judd is stunning. And for the Who geeks amongst us, it's got Captain Jack.
So it was great to find this store, which is like any other small store, but geekier. The owner and staff are so... normal. We talk about the new Brubaker book, and debate whether Grant Morrison will ever be able to work on a franchise without screwing it up for the next guy. We exchange jogging tips, and debate the merits of swiss balls, protein shakes and granola bars. We talk about Canadian politics, the best places sushi places, and annoying neighbors. The city's new plastic bag surcharge, and the impact of POS on inventory and sales. It's so refreshing be find a store where the geeks aren't all about their geekery. Where geek space and rest-of-the-world space coexist comfortably. It's like a slowed down espresso bar, minus the espresso, and as someone who spent years working in exactly that kind of environment, I'm so, so happy to find a chatty, laid back comic store. Best of both worlds for me.
The new Brubaker book, by the way, is Incognito. I have issue two, but missed out on issue one. I'm hoping to have my hands on it next week, when I go pick up the new Madame Xanadu. According to Bru:
Incognito is a noir pulp story about a bad guy hiding who he really is, but told from totally different perspective than we've seen before. It goes in a lot of different directions than anything else I've ever done, and does some things with the genre that I've never seen done. [...]
Well, after saying it's not intended to be like Sleeper, I have to admit this is an idea I've been kicking around since right after we finished that project. I was wondering what the flipside of that story would be like, because you never know what you'll find when you flip something around and look at it another way. So I was thinking... What would the story be of a bad guy forced to pretend to be good to survive? And then it hit me -- Witness Protection. And the wheels started spinning and I was thinking about a guy who used to be a super-villain or a henchman and he's trying to build this new life that he just despises... and pretty soon it was in the back of my mind all the time, trying to kick its way onto the page.
Still, as the story developed, it was as influenced by what I was doing on Captain America as much as anything else. Thinking about all the big Hydra-sized organizations, and the bureaucracy of government agencies, and writing about genuinely evil bad guys like the Red Skull... I started thinking more and more, what could I do in Incognito that I could never do in Cap? Because I could do an issue of Cap that was about the Red Skull's daughter living in Witness Protection. But what couldn't I have her do? A lot. And that's where the fun stuff begins.
Who's surprised? Not me. But I like noir and I like Bru; the target audience for this book = me. I'm also jumping into the next arc on Daredevil. Pray for me flist, I hear Matt brings the angst liek whoa.
I think I did mention that Madame Xanadu is really quite good. The art has a strong shoujo feel, but with some hard edges. The first arc, in and around the Arthur mythology, had some fairies and goblins that were both supercute and menacing. Next week's issue, if the book continues to follow its pattern of two-issues-per-chapter, should wrap up the Jack the Ripper story. We're getting closer to contemporary MX, so I'm wondering where we'll be traveling to next. I want to fill the couple issue gaps in my collection of the series so far, and do a proper review here, and mega scans post at
scans_daily.***
I watched De-Lovely last night. What, five years later? *facepalm* Still - awesome, awesome musical bio, with a little meta thrown in there. De-Lovely is the story of composer Cole Porter's adult life, as staged by the archangel Gabriel, complete with musical numbers. Kevin Kline is great and Ashley Judd is stunning. And for the Who geeks amongst us, it's got Captain Jack.