COMICS CULTURE SHRAPNEL from CBEM 348
Thus do I sit here and write this column. It is my last final, and then I no longer need worry about school. And I just got a bonus at work. So things are starting to look up, and just in time. Yay, Christmas. Or as my friend called it, "the birth of a blasphemous Jew who may arguably be the world's first communist."
Whatever. I give stuff, and most importantly, I get stuff. I like stuff.
The thing is though, that I would like lots of comic stuff, and no one ever buys me comic stuff. Partly its because they're cheap. So making cheaper figures and books would be a good thing here. I saw the Planetary figures, I want them, but they cost a lot of money, $16.95 where I saw them. So I'm not getting them as a gift anytime soon.
Another reason, a very very big reason I never get comics stuff is that they can't find it. My relatives do not go to comics shops. They go to JC Penney and K-Mart and Barnes and Noble. Sure, we may sell trade paperbacks in big chain bookstores, but just try and find them in their little ghetto next to the science fiction section. Comic companies should really make arrangements with the bookstores, maybe sending out their writers and artists to do signing tours. Then there'll be huge displays of comics as customers walk into the stores.
What we do not have in the outside world is the other merchandise. The toys, the statues, the replicas. Like the DC Direct stuff. Maybe if department stores carried it, maybe they'd see even bigger sales. And I would see more stuff!
Do not think me merely selfish... I've already lost track of how much money I spent on presents. And I feel bad for missing so many other people. And I can't wait to give those gifts - all wrapped up and shiny and cute. I like Christmas. It's a really feel good time.
So I bid you all Happy Holidays, whatever your personal creed may be. And I'll see you next week.