Year: 2014

Online Shoplifting, continued

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

digresssmlOriginally published April 20, 2001, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1431

Well, this has been interesting. Since my earlier column talking about net thievery and Harlan Ellison’s fight against same, I’m pleased to say that the majority of feedback I’ve received on it has been quite positive. At the very least, folks seem to be understanding why the current electronic assault on copyright is A Bad Thing. Some of the emails, however, have gone in some interesting directions. The first is from S. Drescher in Austin, Texas:

Continue Reading “Online Shoplifting, continued” →

Florida MegaCon 2001, continued and continued…

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

digresssmlOriginally published April 13, 2001, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1430

Continuing fun and frolic at the Florida MegaCon in March…

Bill Mumy brought the convention program book over to me as I sat at my table and, looking perturbed, said, “According to your biography, you and I co-created Crusade.”

I blinked at him, giving my best deer-in-the-headlights impression. “What?” I said, displaying my customary ability to cut past subtlety and go straight for the obvious.

“That’s what your bio says,” he said—and handed it to me.

Continue Reading “Florida MegaCon 2001, continued and continued…” →

Here’s what most concerns me about Robin Williams

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

There’s nothing I can say that can compare to the mourning expressed by those who knew him. Me, I was simply an audience member watching his ascent with everyone else, marveling at his wit and talent.

What concerns me is the notion that some religious right fanatics are going to declare that he’s burning in Hëll because he killed himself and try to picket his funeral.

On behalf of America, may I ask all you idiots to, for once, shut the hëll up.

PAD

Seriously, dictionary? SERIOUSLY?

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

According to an article here, dictionaries are now listing “literally” as meaning the same thing as “figuratively” because of its common usage.

So let me understand this: There’s no point in trying to settle wagers anymore over what words mean by consulting the dictionary, because the dictionary is going to list meanings even if they’re wrong.

I’m sorry, I thought that dictionaries were supposed to be bastions of correct word usage, not simply recordings of things that people are too ignorant to use correctly.

PAD

BID Mailbag: Marvel’s Slashback program (continued)

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

digresssmlOriginally published March 23, 2001, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1427

Before we continue with retailer feedback regarding Marvel’s (possibly aborted) Slashback program, this just in:

Dan DeCarlo, creator–let me repeat that word, creator–of “Josie and the Pussycats,” soon to be a film for which he’ll likely get nothing, has been hospitalized with triple pneumonia. I never even heard of triple pneumonia before this.

One of Dan’s close friends opined, “I can’t help but think all the stress of the Archie business has helped weaken him.”

Hear that, Archie guys? You may have helped put an old man in the hospital, rather than give him a share of the money you’ve got coming in off his creation. Feeling proud? Feeling tough? Pat yourselves on the backs, blackball an employee of nearly half a century, and call it time well spent. Typical day at the offices of those fun providers of harmless Riverdale antics.

* * *

With the above example in this column of how a publisher has managed to endear itself to its public, let’s move on to Marvel and its ongoing love affair/dance of death with comic book retailers.

Continue Reading “BID Mailbag: Marvel’s Slashback program (continued)” →