Comics time!

OK. Message received. I will try and post more often.

I hope to have the sketch that Scott Kurtz did for me up sometime in the next week or so. But before I review some comics, I have a general thought I want to throw out. I observed at the Baltimore Comic-con last weekend some interesting things. What I would like to talk about is the dealers and some of the dealings going on. I don't know if we had a "rape me" sign hanging somewhere on our booth, but for some reason dealers kept coming over asking if there was some "deal" we could work. Now last year, Rusty (the owner) worked a deal with a big group and pretty much sold the booth out on Saturday. That's cool and all, he is the owner and it's his livelihood. But these guys sidling up to me and asking if there is something we can "work out", made me feel kinda oogy. These guys had been there all weekend and had to know that I wasn't the owner. Even said so on my badge: "staff". And there was no way I was going to do anything without Rusty's consent.
Now, to be fair, I did do some deals with people who were either fans or retailers coming for the show. We sold out the manga, which did really well with both. But these guys, who I'm guessing are pros on the convention circuit, were really interested in making deals. As opposed to some of the boothmates we had, who could not look more disinterested and bored to be there. But who can blame them? They had no real business, nothing but really older books, and looked for all the world like they couldn't get out of there fast enough. OK, that's enough on that. FUN TIME!

I want to try and give some quick reviews of the comics I read. I tend to stick to the mainstream stuff, and my budget has been really screwed with.
Countdown- This series started off with some promise but has really fallen apart. I'm not sure if it is the "52" curse or not, but I am finding it hard to stick with it.
Detective Comics- The best Batman book being done out there. This book has managed to reinvent the best rogue's gallery in comics to a new level. Paul Dini has done a terrific job.
Batman- Deserves a mention for Grant Morrison's run. His knack for taking obscure things (the league of Batmen?!?) and making them a viable story has paid off.
Green Lantern- I have always been a GL fan. But the "Sinestro Corps War" has been one of the best things done in the book in a long time. DC really dropped the ball by not promoting this more instead of Countdown.
Amazing Spider-Man- I now have to lump all the Spidey books into one since they are cancelling them to make Amazing the core book. This past week started the "One more day" arc. I am not sure where they are going with this, and really until they get there, I don't care. I will read this with some trepidation because I am expecting a major fake out from Marvel.
World War Hulk and Incredible Hulk- Now THIS has been a great read! The main Hulk title not so much. But WWH? WOW! I have enjoyed every issue so far. Why? Two words: HULK SMASH! No whiny exposition, no hidden agendas, just pure aggression. What any Hulk fan wants.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8- This book has apparently started a trend. A lot of books (Angel, Star Trek) which were TV shows have picked up on the sales trend of Buffy and tried to copy. The newest arc began this week, and I recommend it to both fans and non-fans alike. It's a great jumping on point and it will not disappoint.

Alright, that's enough for now. Maybe there will be more on comics, or something on the sad state that is my life in general. We'll see.