Wizard World/Comic Con 2010

Ok, I'm late on this one, the convention was last month. But I have a one year old and a full time job and well... excuses abound.

Anyway, I found it funny this year not seeing it called Wizard World. Instead we're now to refer to it as Comic Con again. Wizard runs it though.

I also missed the chalk artist guy. He always does amazing work and if he was there he certainly didn't have a location where I could find him. Where are you chalk artists guy?

Even with calling the convention Comic Con it felt less comic book focused than in years past. In fact it feels less like a comic convention each year and more like a pop culture convention. Now, I don't mind pop culture conventions. I got to see Michael Trucco of BSG up close and he IS just as good looking in person as he was on the show. But let's not call it a comic book convention if the only thing representing comic books is a handful of dealers. Even the panels were primarily meet and greets with actors and screenings of upcoming shows, not the discussions of comic books that they've had in years past. Once again this year Marvel and DC were not present either. I don't mind seeing small publishers at conventions, I like to see them out promoting themselves. But even those were few and far between - comic creator-dom was largely represented by artist alley where individuals were out to promote themselves regardless of publisher. Again a good thing! However artist alley seemed like it was an after thought this year for the convention except for the occasional appearance of a bigger name artist who would have a line.

Sure, there were some fun comic book character costumes. We always get a kick out of those. But even those, at least on Saturday, seemed fewer in number. More costumed people that I didn't recognize who they were than in years past, a lot of them looking rather scary.

These are really just observations. I still enjoyed the convention, but would really like to see something more comic book focused I'm going to check out C2E2 next year - I've heard good things about that. But there was one BIG thing that REALLY ticked me off about the convention and I know other people found it alloying to - the presence of Rod Blagojevich, former Chicago governor outed due to political corruption. Sure, he's from Chicago and the convention was in the Chicagoland area. But why do we need to promote this guy? Who made the decision to give celebrity status to a guy who gives politicians, and heck even people, a bad name? I'm embarrassed at having attended an event that was publicized in local media not as a great place to find out about comic books and have fun, but the place where people could pay to have a picture and/or autograph with a political criminal.

(Thanks Phil, for this pic that summarizes my opinion soooo well!)

Wonder Woman's Make Over

In yesterday's new Wonder Woman #600 she gets a new look, as seen on the left. It's an OK outfit, not necessarily one I'd have designed, but not horrible. More practical, that's for sure. How she fought baddies in a strapless halter and heels (on right) is beyond me. Now I don't think this outfit will last because one can't mess with a classic like this for long. She now looks like a hip teen from the late 1980's rather than the Amazon warrior we know. But it's about time she added a few different outfits to her wardrobe. Any real woman would!

The new outfit is just a portion of the "recreation" of a classic super hero icon. In this issue Straczynski also remakes her past. This is more troubling to me. An outfit is just fashion, which changes over time. But changing the history of this character makes her a different character completely--not just a make-over but a re-creation. Granted it's just another one of Straczynski's "time line alterations" and, like the outfit, won't last (yes, this is also the writer who broke up the Spider-Man Mary Jane marriage). But I don't like it. One could make Diana more grounded without having to completely re-invent her. If Straczynski wants to write the story of a woman stolen from her home and raised in an urban jungle who becomes a hero in her own right, pitch THAT story to DC - create your own new character. Heck, she could even be a sister Diana didn't know she had. But why mess with the original? Straczynski says because the sales numbers on the title were low and "it was long overdue." He also said in an interview with Vaneta Rogers from Newsarama.com, "Putting the timeline back in order doesn't mean that some changes don't stick, especially if some of those changes end up being popular or well accepted. It'd be a shame to reboot a character and make her popular only to later throw it all away and go back to what wasn't working as well as it should've."

Sometimes characters do need a reboot, to have something different done to get people talking and reading again. Straczynski's "One More Day" did that, until people stopped buying Spider-Man in retaliation. Time will tell if his re-imagining of the Princess of Themyscara does anything to change the readership of the title. I know that We've seen ebbs and flows in the sales of the title at Neptune. There was even a time when we'd sell 2 or 3 issues at most. But when DC would have a good story or artist or writer on the title we'd see readership increase. Personally I think there have been some great Wonder Woman stories out there recently, and it doesn't hurt her to test out a new outfit or two. But I'm pretty unsure about this total revamp. Straczynski in the newsarama.com interview compares her to a Ferrari that doesn't get taken out of the garage because it's owner doesn't want to damage the beautiful car. Using that analogy this change is like owning a Ferrari but coming home one day and finding a Corvette in it's place. Still a cool car, but a completely different car, inside and out. What happened to the Ferrari? Will the Corvette eventually get a Ferrari engine, or will the Ferrari return with a new paint job and spoilers? Time will tell.

A closing statement--once again this has people talking about comic books. It was even in the New York Times. Publicity is good for the medium weather you like the outfit or not.

The Great Comics Sort

I have some time off right now and I've been helping Craig sort through a huge collection he bought last year that he just didn't have the time to really get through. He'd done some and Shane did some but it just hadn't gotten completely sorted through and so I decided to take on the task. After all, you can't sell anything that's hidden in the back room, right?

I've found some pretty awesome stuff... the full set of "300," 1-12 of "Watchmen" first print, the run of "Next Men" where Hellboy first appears, a bunch of runs of the various volumes of "Strangers in Paradise", nice run of "Preacher", the first appearance of The Crow... some really good stuff. My favorite find so far is a full, complete run of "Wonder Woman" #1-144. The Perez and Byrne stuff is great, and there are the Adam Hughes covers in there too. I'd keep it for myself if I wasn't so compelled to drive revenue to the store.

Oh, there was some CRAP too, don't get me wrong. A full box of Adults only junk with titles like "Crypt of Cum" and "Vamperotica." Lots of Valiant comics, and let's not forget Epic and Malibu imprints of old. There are the DC and Marvel titles long forgotten too, like "Hawk & Dove" and "Rom" and "Quasar" in nice runs, many the whole volume of that title. And even DC Marvel crossovers - something that will probably never happen in the future.

I've pulled out the runs that already existed and then sorted the rest by publisher. Now the next step, sorting through those by title to find additional runs of titles. We're selling the bundles in the store and on our ebay store, but again it's a process. Be sure to check both places if you want to run off with my Super Awesome Wonder Woman run or any of the cool stuff we have.

New Comic Talent Wanted

The Eagle Awards, the UK's version of the US's Eisner Awards, is seeking out new comic book creators. The top 3 will receive cash prizes and also have their comics included in the 2010 Initiative Anthology that will be published in print and also available digitally in a variety of languages. What a GREAT way to get some new talent recognized!

The CBR column says:

In what is an unprecedented global talent search, entrants will be asked to submit an original self-contained illustrated story. The thousands of projected entries will be assessed by a hand-picked jury of comics readers, which will present a final dozen to the panel of judges comprising many of the comics industry's top talents. Among those who have already agreed to participate are Peter Bagge, Karen Berger, Chris Claremont, David Finch, Dave Gibbons, Geoff Johns, Gilbert Shelton, Jeff Smith, Bryan Talbot, Ethan Van Sciver, Mark Waid and Brian Wood.

The judges will select a top three from the final 12 with the winner be awarded a £1,000 cash prize. The runner up will win £500 with the third place submission being given £250. All three stories are to be included in the Initiative Anthology, which will be released as a print publication and in multiple languages across the digital media.

"The Initiative is the first stage in a several year plan to reform the Eagles into a tool for developing new talent, for educating young people about the potential in the medium, and to help connect the many disparate elements of the comics industry together," added Renshaw. "As an example, we have creators, editors, publishers, journalists, festival organizers, distributors and academics from across the world among our judges."

And this isn't just for people in the UK, it's a WORLDWIDE event open to anyone and everyone. Now THAT'S exciting!

complete submission guidelines, go to http://www.eaglesinitiative.com/.

Neptune's Top Sellers 916/09/9/22/09

Top Sellers for the Week.

. This week top sellers in comic books at Neptune: 1. Blackest Night #3 2. Captain America Reborn #3 3. Dark Avengers #9 4. Invincible Iron Man #18 5. Mighty Avengers #29 6. Amazing Spider-man #605 7. Deadpool Merc With a Mouth #3 8. Dark Reign List Daredevil 9. Dark Wolverine #78 10. X-men Legacy Annual #1

More on Marvel/Disney Merger

Vaneta has a great column on Newsarama.com today with initial retailer reactions about the Marvel/Disney merger.

Some worry about how this new merger will impact the Boom! Studios Disney owned properties already being published. Others are concerned with how Disney will handle distribution of Marvel comics - will they leave Diamond and try to self distribute? will they want more visibility in large retailers like Target and Wal-Mart and leave the direct market in the cold? And what about the MAX line? Will a child-focused company like Disney want to be tied to mature themed titles like Punisher?

Those that are optimistic believe that Marvel will continue the way they have been, publishing their titles as usual because Disney will be more interested in merchandising and movies - comic book revenue is a pretty small part of Marvel's profit, believe it or not. Marvel's relationship with the direct market has not been that strong of late, so some suggest that this gives retailers a chance to reestablish relationships with the Disney version of the comic book company. Some believe the reach of Disney is greater than Marvel's, and that can only help to spread the popularity and familiarity of comics to the general public.

Everyone makes reasonable points, but let's face it, right now it is too early to tell what, if anything the buy out will achieve, and if it ends up being good or bad for us retailers here in the direct market. Definitely check out Vaneta's column, linked above, it's an easy read and very intersting. At the bottom are some other good links to other columns related to the buy-out. Feel free to share you're opinions here!

Neptune's Top Sellers, 8/26/09-9/1/09

Top Sellers for the Week.

. This week top sellers in comic books at Neptune: 1. Green Lantern #45 2. Batman and Robin #3 3. Blackest Night Titans #1 4. Dark Avengers #8 5. Flash Rebirth #4 6. New Avengers #56 7. Deadpool #14 8. Justice Society of America #30 9. Batman Widening Gyre #1 10. Dark X-men Beginning #3

The Big News of the Day - Disney is buying Marvel

I just saw this and thought it was pretty big news. I see other bloggers have posted about it already, but this former stock broker can't resist the urge to post it as well.

BURBANK, Calif. & NEW YORK-- (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Building on its strategy of delivering quality branded content to people around the world, The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) has agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:MVL) in a stock and cash transaction, the companies announced today.

Under the terms of the agreement and based on the closing price of Disney on August 28, 2009, Marvel shareholders would receive a total of $30 per share in cash plus approximately 0.745 Disney shares for each Marvel share they own. At closing, the amount of cash and stock will be adjusted if necessary so that the total value of the Disney stock issued as merger consideration based on its trading value at that time is not less than 40% of the total merger consideration.

Based on the closing price of Disney stock on Friday, August 28, the transaction value is $50 per Marvel share or approximately $4 billion.

“This transaction combines Marvel’s strong global brand and world-renowned library of characters including Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Thor with Disney’s creative skills, unparalleled global portfolio of entertainment properties, and a business structure that maximizes the value of creative properties across multiple platforms and territories,” said Robert A. Iger, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company. “Ike Perlmutter and his team have done an impressive job of nurturing these properties and have created significant value. We are pleased to bring this talent and these great assets to Disney.”

“We believe that adding Marvel to Disney’s unique portfolio of brands provides significant opportunities for long-term growth and value creation,” Iger said.

“Disney is the perfect home for Marvel’s fantastic library of characters given its proven ability to expand content creation and licensing businesses,” said Ike Perlmutter, Marvel’s Chief Executive Officer. “This is an unparalleled opportunity for Marvel to build upon its vibrant brand and character properties by accessing Disney’s tremendous global organization and infrastructure around the world.”

Under the deal, Disney will acquire ownership of Marvel including its more than 5,000 Marvel characters. Mr. Perlmutter will oversee the Marvel properties, and will work directly with Disney’s global lines of business to build and further integrate Marvel’s properties.

The Boards of Directors of Disney and Marvel have each approved the transaction, which is subject to clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act, certain non-United States merger control regulations, effectiveness of a registration statement with respect to Disney shares issued in the transaction and other customary closing conditions. The agreement will require the approval of Marvel shareholders. Marvel was advised on the transaction by BofA Merrill Lynch"

Interesting... very interesting. I had no idea Marvel was for sale. When it comes to Marvel's interest in merchandising and movie making it seems like a good partnership. But Disney hasn't been known for their comic book production, they don't even publish their own licenses - they've sold that off to Boom Studios.

So, how will this change the face of Marvel in the comic book industry? And what about those in charge over there now? These are just a couple of questions I have. And as the information unfolds you can believe I'll be discussing it here!

Neptune's Top Sellers, 8/19/09 - 8/25/09

Top Sellers for the Week.

. This week top sellers in comic books at Neptune: 1. Blackest Night Superman #1 2. Mighty Avengers #28 3. Amazing Spider-man #603 4. Deadpool Suicide Kings #5 5. Justice League of America #36 6. Batgirl #1 7. X-men Legacy #227 8. Daredevil #500 9. Batman Streets of Gotham #3 10. Supergirl #44

Neptune's Top Sellers, 8/6/09 - 8/11/09

Top Sellers for the Week.

. This week top sellers in comic books at Neptune: 1. Captain America Reborn #2 2. Amazing Spider-man #601 3. Justice League Cry for Justice #2 4. Hulk #13 5. Invincible Iron Man #16 6. Deadpool Merc with a Mouth #2 7. War of Kings #6 8. Ultimatum X-men Requiem #1 9. Superman World of New Krypton #6 10. Doom Patrol #1

Chew Mania

Have you heard of Image's Chew series? Issue #1 recently came out and it's white hot. Issues on eBay are selling for 3-5 times cover price.

Newsarama.com has a 9 page preview, if you haven't had a chance to check it out.

This comic is definitely a surprise hit. We didn't order it initially at Neptune - we'd heard nothing about it and none of our customers asked us for it. That seems to be the case at many comic book stores since the comic is so hard to find now and the demand after it's been released high enough to run up the price on eBay. Something like that is fairly rare for these types of independent comics.

Yesterday we had a customer come in and share with us how he had to trade a Red Hulk for this with a friend of his, and s summary of the story so far. One thing I was amazed with is how much happened in just one issue of this comic book. It seemed like he was describing a story told in a graphic novel, not in one issue of a series.

Personally I will have to pick up the issue when the second print comes out next month and see if it is as much fun as it sounds. That's right - there WILL be a second print coming, so if you missed it and don't want to pay those eBay prices, sit tight because there will be a second print of #1. Make sure you let your comic book retailer you want it, as well as the next issues, so you don't miss it.

Major Marvel Announcement

As of today we're not sure what the big announcement is, but we've been promised that it IS big! It has to do with Captain America and takes place in issue #600 of Captain America.

It is SO big in fact that in an unprecedented move Marvel comics and Diamond Distribution are partnering to get that issue into comic book stores the day the news hits the wire - Monday, June 15th. This advanced sale opportunity is extremely unusual, in fact aside from the midnight release of The Stand #1 I don't recall another time in the years Neptune has been open in which retail stores were sent a comic book before it's Wednesday release date and allowed it to be sold before that date. Marvel seems to be banking on the fact that this will definitely be news that not just comic book readers, but the general public, will be interested in and want to own.

Not every comic book retailer is taking advantage of the advanced release, but we are at Neptune Comics! Our UPS typically arrives between 11 am and 2 pm, and we will have the comic book ready to be sold as soon as we can tear the box open.

There will be an additional wave of the comic arriving on the regular Wednesday release day, so if you miss out on Monday you should be sure to put your name on a list for Wednesday. But personally I recommend heading to Neptune or another store that will have the books for sale on Monday and browsing while you wait for the issue to arrive. By then the word should be out on what the big news!


UPDATE: Comic Book Resources Cup O Joe, Joe Q says about Cap #600: From the retailer standpoint, what they simply have to observe is the sort of investment we're making in this. We're putting a lot of effort into promoting #600. If we didn't think #600 was going to be something that's going to blow off the stands, we wouldn't be doing this. I can't think of an occasion where we sat here and bait and switched people. "You have to buy this monumental issue. You have to order hundreds of these" – and then not have something significant happen in the story. You may notice in the preview pages an emphasis on African American characters, reinforcing Craig's Theory I blogged about a couple of weeks back.

Newsworthy

Most of the time comic books are our private little thing - the thing that the 5-6% of cool Americans enjoy. But every once in a while the media jumps onto a comic book event and suddenly people who haven't bought comics in years, or ever, want to see what's going on and buy a piece of that history. Of course many are doing so in the hope that if they save it for a few years it will be worth big money.

You may have seen that recently even Archie comics has been getting in on the media action. Diamond notified retailers in our daily mailer that, "Coverage on Yahoo.com, in the New York Post, ABC News’ Good Morning America and CNN are sure to drive curious readers to the newsstands and comic book shops, some of whom may not have picked up a comic book in years"

And keep your eyes peeled because Marvel is insisting that the media will jump on Captain America #600 with such force that retailers can get an advanced release of this issue (more on that as events unfold!)

As always, if you want to be sure to get a copy you can reserve one from Neptune in advance. Once the buzz hits there's no guarantee you'll be able to get one if you want it unless you have asked ahead.

Stolen Identity

Fellow blogger of all things awesome, Jim Smash, had this posted on his blog and it was SO blatant that I'm posting it here too.



Seems that Emily is just a young gal who stole the identity of Rosamond. Look at the covers - the cats are almost in the SAME EXACT position. Both gals have dark hair and white Mary Jane shoes on. And both young girls are, of course, strange. There are two words changed in the intro, not including the name. Seriously, this is a clear case of stolen identity! I hope Rosamond has Lifelock or checks her credit report because I would not be surprised if Emily has taken out credit cards with Rosamond's SSN.

The owners of Emily, Cosmic Debris, claim that Emily is not even inspired by Rosamond. Instead she is inspired by Morticia and Wednesday from "The Addams Family," Lydia from "Beetlejuice" and Vampira of "The Vampira Show." But DEFINATELY NOT Rosamond. In fact, Cosmic Debris is even suing the creators of Rosamond, Marjorie Sharmat and Marc Simont, in order to keep the two creators from recovering any damages from the incredibly "coincidental" resemblance between Emily and Rosamond.

According to the brief article about the suit, "Though Sharmat and Simont claim Emily was inspired by their "Rosamond" character, Cosmic Debris denies it. "Emily" has dark bangs and pale skin and wears a black dress, but "Rosamond" is "rosy cheeked and smiling," and wears dresses of varying color. The only similarity seems to be that the two are often accompanied by cats, the complaint states."

REALLY?? That's it, huh, the 3 black cats in identitical poses. The long black hair. The shoes. The similar dress style. The poem that is 90% copied. Those items we'll just disregard I guess. Nothing similar there at all. After all, Rosamond was just a story book girl. Emily is a merchandising license with her gothy gal face on shirts, skate boards and guitars.

Captain America is Back and Black

Not to focus on Marvel or Captain America, but I'm doing another post on Captain America rumors floating around. As I mentioned in my last post, there is a LOT of buzz about what is/might be going on with the title and with Steve Rogers.

You may have picked up the May Previews catalog and seen a solicitation in Marvel's catalog for "Reborn," a Captain America story without any description in the solicitation. You may also have noticed in recent Marvel comics a "July 2009" teaser featuring a black background with a white star, resembling Captain America's logo. Marvel has been VERY hush-hush about the story, even with retailers, encouraging order increases on the title's final-order-cutoff deadline, but not providing reasons why other than we NEED to have a lot on hand because there WILL be demand.

You might also know if you're a movie fan that there had been talk of a Captain America movie coming out mid 2009. That doesn't seem to be happening now, but you Hollywood insiders probably heard the talk. And MTV said that they'd heard rumors that Will Smith would play Captain America.

AND you might have seen back in February the collected edition of "Captain America: The Truth" return to comic book retailer's shelves. Marvel did a nice hardcover reprint of it. In case you don't know, here's Marvel's summary of the story: "In every war, people demand their champion. In World War II, that hero was Captain America. TRUTH is the controversial, declassified story of the African American men involuntarily subjected to the U.S. War Department's "Super Soldier" project, in a race to develop a serum that might turn the tide against the Axis powers ... if the Nazi's didn't get to it first. An epic spanning the time just before the attack on Pearl Harbor into the present day, TRUTH finally reveals the tragic sacrifice that a Black infantry unit made for their country — and what those sacrifices mean to a white man named Steve Rogers." Basically before Steve Rogers received the Super Soldier serum that made him Captain America, the US tested the serum on black soldiers. Also note that in that story the experiments were called "Project Rebirth." AND the cover of issue #1 (pictured) shows a black shirted individual with a white star on the shirt.

Let us also not forget that here in the United States we now have a black President. And that same President has enormous popularity, and even claims to read comic books himself.

All of these little things point to a theory that Craig, yes our Neptune Craig, put out there - there will be a new black Captain America story. As one retailer pointed out on a comic book forum where Craig shared his theory:

It's the only thing that hits all three of the main criteria:

1. It'll get media coverage.

2. It fits the title.

3. It'll sell.

What do you think? Does this idea have legs? Would YOU buy it? Would the media jump on it? Other speculation?

Rogers Returns?

Rich, in his Lying in the Gutters column found on Comic Book Resources, put out a rumor that continues to solidify my opinion that Steve Rogers, Captain America, killed off by Marvel a couple of years back, will at long last be returning

I'm told that the upcoming August edition of Diamond Comics' "Previews" solicits an upcoming issue of "Wizard" that makes it clear that the teased "Reborn" book from Marvel by Brubaker and Hitch is, indeed, The Return Of Captain America.

Unless this is Wizard just making it up based on supposition, marketing misdirection and general tomfoolery on Marvel's part.

I have been hearing chatter that has been indicating that Rogers' return IS going to happen, and that it would be this year. This is just one more bit of chatter that makes me believe this is not just a rumor or speculation. But of course, time will tell.

Free Comics!

Don't forget that tomorrow is Free Comic Book Day. Many comic book stores all over the place will be participating, including Neptune Comics. It's a GREAT day! There's a wide variety of comic books available for any age. This year's big book is sure to be the Green Lantern "Black Reign" kickoff.

At our store we'll have cake and from 11 am - 1 pm Star Wars people will be present.

Really, you won't want to miss this. I know you want to go see Wolverine, but make time for Free Comic Book Day too.

If you don't know how to get to the store, check out our web site - we have a map and directions.

SEE YOU THERE!!

The Price You Pay

Recently comic book shoppers have seen cover prices increase. Marvel specifically announced that they would raise the price on their mini-series titles (which are now dominating their solicitations) to $3.99 while maintaining a $2.99 price for "most" of their ongoing titles. DC comics did not follow suit. While they do have some titles in the $3.99 zone, many are still $2.99.

The other day I rang up a customer's comic book purchase and noticed that most of what he bought came up at $3.99. There was only one DC comic on the list, and only one comic for $2.99 - they were the same comic.

This got me to wondering - who really does have MORE comics at $3.99 or over? Marvel or DC? So I looked at their May solicitations for the answer. Here's what I discovered:

Marvel comics had (not counting the Marvel Adventures comics) 100 comic book solicitations (this is plus or minus 2, since I could have counted something twice or missed something). 59 of those Marvel titles were $3.99 and 6 of them were priced OVER $3.99. There were a total of 35 comics priced below $3.99. This puts Marvel at 65% of their titles with a cover price at or exceeding $3.99.

DC & Wildstorm (not including the DC kids titles or any Vertigo titles) solicited a grand total of 62 comic books (again, plus or minus 2), including their new weekly series (which does come in at $3.99 per issue). 20 of those May solicited comics had a cover price of $3.99, and they did not have any over that price listed. 42 of the DC titles had a cover price of $2.99. DC rings in with 32% of their titles having a cover price of $3.99.

Could this all change? Of course! But based on my quick research of upcoming titles, DC comics are a lower cost of purchase. Does this make them better? Worse? Well, that's for fans to decide. As long as people continue to enjoy them and purchase them it doesn't make much difference to me what the cover price is.

Sales Slip

The economy has hit everyone. There's plenty of evidence of it - #2 electronics retailer Circuit City had to close down, Linens and Things is history, local Milwaukee book seller Harry W Schwartz has closed up. Plenty of people are without jobs or with cuts in pay. But, there are some signs of improvement. New housing starts are up a bit, unemployment claims have leveled off in some areas, and banks that were thought to be on the edge of collapse announced positive earnings.

The comic book industry has also been hit by the slump in the economy, as you would expect. If people aren't spending money they're not buying comics. Numbers aren't down as much as I feared, so that's good. People ARE still buying comics, they just don't seem to be buying quite as many. And part of that might be that right now the publishers seem to be in a lull before they get to their big summer stories. In past economic down turns comic books often did well as people turned to inexpensive forms of entertainment to distract them from their real life predicaments. Today, with many comics having a $3.99 price tag, they don't feel like quite as good of a deal as they once were. Sure, that's still inexpensive when compared to going to a movie or buying a video game. But plenty of people have a hard time handing over close to $5 for a 32 page pamphlet. Here at Neptune we've seen a slight decrease in comic book sales, but we have seen an increase in sales of graphic novels and games. We have had people stop buying altogether and others cut back, but at least a couple new faces come into the store each week to see what today's comics are all about or revisit the heroes of their childhood.

Read the article here, and see what you think.

This Week's New Stuff

Here's Neptune's new comic book list for this week:

ANITA BLAKE VH LC CROMANCER 1 (OF 5)
ARMY OF DARKNESS FROM THE ASHES 19
BATMAN BATTLE FOR THE COWL 2 (OF 3)
BATMAN CONFIDENTIAL 28
BOOSTER GOLD 19
BPRD BLACK GODDESS 4 (OF 5)
CAPTAIN ACTION 3
CAPTAIN BRITAIN AND MI 13 12
DAREDEVIL NOIR 1 (OF 4)
DARK REIGN HAWKEYE 1 (OF 5)
DARK TOWER GUIDE TO GILEAD 1-SHOT
DEAD IRONS 3
DEADPOOL SUICIDE KINGS 1 (OF 5)
EXILES 1
GEN 13 29
GREEN LANTERN 39
GRIMM FAIRY TALES 37
HOUSE OF MYSTERY 12
IGNITION CITY 1 (OF 5)
INFITINE HORIZON 4 (OF 6)
JUGHEADS DOUBLE DIGEST 149
LOCKE AND KEY HEAD GAMES 4
MARVEL ADVENTURES SPIDER-MAN 50
MARVEL APES AMAZING SPIDER-MONKEY 1
MARVEL ILLUSTRATED ODYSSEY 8 (OF 8)
MARVEL ZOMBIES 4 1 (OF 4)
NORTHLANDERS 16
PUNISHER MAX 69
SALEMS DAUGHTER 0
SCOOBY DOO 134
SECRET SIX 8
SHE-HULK, ALL NEW SAVAGE 1 (OF 4)
SOLOMON GRUNDY 2 (OF 7)
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 199
SOULFIRE NEW WORLD ORDER BEGINNINGS 1-SHOT
SOULFIRE SHADOW MAGIC 5 (OF 5)
SPIRIT 27
STAR TREK MISSIONS END 2
SUPERGIRL COSMIC ADVENTURES IN THE 8TH GRADE 5
SUPERMAN WORLD OF NEW KRYPTON 2 (OF 12)
SWORD 16
TERMINATOR REVOLUTION 4 (OF 5)
TERMINATOR SALVATION MOVIE PREQ 4 (OF 4)
TERRY MOORES ECHO 11
TIMESTORM 2009 2099 1 (OF 4)
TITANS 12
TRANSFORMERS REVENGE FALLEN MOVIE PREQ DEFIANCE 4
TRANSFORMERS SPOTLIGHT DRIFT 1-SHOT
TRINITY 45
ULTIMATE WOLVERINE VS HULK 4 (OF 6)
WAR OF KINGS ASCENSION 1 (OF 4)
WARLORD 1
WOLVERINE WEAPON X 1
WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ 5 (OF 8)
YOUNG LIARS 14

At Neptune we're also restocking on a bunch of graphic novels-gotta be ready for Free Comic Book Day with shelves full of great graphic novels. Plus we've seen an uptick in graphic novel sales since the move, so those have to be restocked too.

And if you are a Star Trek fan we're getting in some communicators and phasers. Those are must-haves for any good Treckie. You can take yours to the movie!

I'm excited to get my Ame Comi Harley Quinn PVC figure. I have Wonder Woman at home too. Those are my two favorite DC gals and two of the best looking Ame Comi's too - lucky for me.

And we only ordered one Zombie Outbreak Survival Kit - so if you want it you'd better come in Wednesday - I doubt it will be on our rack for long.

Wondering what issues are late, late, late this week? Well wonder no longer. DC's Spirit #27 just makes the list, with the last issue coming out 2/10/09--two months ago. But the big offender and the only other comic to make this week's list is Infinite Horizon #3, courtesy of Image comics. The last issue of this came out almost a YEAR ago, on 4/16/08. That's WAY too long! Who even knows where their copy of issue #2 is anymore? And it's too bad because it was a decent story, from what I remember.