We haven’t done one of these in a while and X-Factor #213 came out this week, so…
PAD
The Future Social Event of the Nerd Season
It’s recently been announced that David Tennant is engaged to Georgia Moffett.
So let’s see if I’ve got this straight:
The Tenth Doctor is going to be marrying his own daughter who also happens to be the daughter of the Fifth Doctor and Trillian from the TV version of “Hitchhiker.”
Most meta engagement EV-er.
PAD
Marvel vs. Distributors
Originally published July 29, 1994, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1080
“Things change.”
–Penguin to Batman, and vice versa
Batman Returns
A decade ago, when Carol Kalish was running Marvel direct sales, and I was her assistant… the market suffered from growing pains. There were any number of times when we would come into conflict with distributors over policy decisions; over actions taken by other arms of Marvel (Marvel Books landed us in hot water quite a few times); over opening up new distributors in order to prevent a situation where a handful of distributors controlled the majority of the market (a strategy that ultimately failed); over all kinds of things.
It was also a time when expectations were different. When X-Men (there was one mutant book at the time; what a concept) sold, as I recall, between a quarter million and 350,000, and was the pinnacle of success at Marvel. There was X-Men and there was everything else. When we solicited for the New Universe titles, we pegged sales for the first issues at somewhere around 125,000, and lo, we were thrilled.
There were arguments and disagreements and occasional feuds between all parties. Any number of times there were face-to-face confrontations at distributor meetings, back when such meetings consisted of get-togethers in cramped New York hotels and the editorial presentation consisted mostly of editors talking about what was coming up in their books while distributors took notes.
There was even the occasional blow-up, from which it seemed there would be no way back. But eventually such things would pass over, and all would settle back down to business as usual. Sometimes feelings remained bruised, but we pushed past it and moved on. Because we could afford to.
Things change.
The Things We Do in the Interest of Karmic Payback
Caroline was dying to see “Yogi Bear.” I balked at taking her because it just held no interest for me, but then I realized that when I was the exact same age, my father was game enough to take me to see “Hey There, It’s Yogi Bear!”, which I haven’t seen since I was eight but am willing to guess did not represent the pinnacle of filmic achievement if one is an adult. So I figured, Ah well…it’s karmic payback. And I took her.
Long story short, if you’re eight years old, it’s incredibly engaging. Caroline was literally bouncing in her seat during the action sequences. The animation’s solid (indeed, Yogi and Boo Boo are more animated than most of the flesh and blood actors) and the 3-D effects are occasionally fun. Plus the nice thing about the 3-D glasses is that you can catnap here and there and, as long as you’re not snoring, the kid won’t notice. And, hey: in front of the main feature was a perfectly entertaining original computer generated Road Runner cartoon that featured the Coyote attempting to employ a newly acquired Segway in his endless pursuit of the high-speed bird, which goes about as well as you can imagine. I’m starting to think it may have actually been Caroline’s first real exposure to the Road Runner because she seemed rather bewildered by the core concept. “Why is he trying to catch him?” she asked. I explained, “Because he wants to eat him.” After about thirty seconds, she said, “That’s too much trouble. He should just go eat something else. This is silly.” If she’d been the daughter of a Warners executive fifty years ago, the series would never have gotten off storyboards.
PAD
Happy New Year
I have a cold.
PAD
The Operation
Originally published July 22, 1994, in Comics Buyer’s Guide #1079
I debated with myself whether to write about this, since it has nothing whatsoever to do with comics. But it’s an interesting little saga in my life, related to my getting older, and also provides a cautionary tale for anyone who finds him- or herself in similar straits. So I relate it to you now:
At This Time of Holiday Cheer
I think it helps to remember those of us less fortunate. Like this unfortunate guy, whose email showed up in my box six times in a row.
Happy christmas to you,how are you doing hope you fine and in perfect order.My names are James Morttey i am 16 yrs old and i am from DR Congo,i came to Ghana after the murder of my parents 2 mouths ago by hired assasin by someone i don’t know,before they got to him in the house he revealed to me that i should come to Ghana with the documents in a small box,if i get a trust worth foreign partner to help me make claim to the fund he deposited in an Escrow account in International Commercial Bank Ghana.The woman whom i am with now cannot read she is not correct and people around call her crazy woman,and she cannot help me in this matter,i am contacting you to help me as my foreign partner so i can get my life back,go to school and have a family that will care for me,i do know what to do that is why i am contacting you to assist me. Thank you.
Poor bášŧárd. Where’s my checkbook…?
PAD
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