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PIPELINE COMMENTARY AND REVIEW #76
15 November 1998
by Augie De Blieck Jr.
http://www.nic.com/~augie/pipeline
Beware the Ides of November!
UPDATE: I re-reorganized my comics collection this afternoon.
Realizing it was too cumbersome to have everything in strict
alphabetical order when it meant often having to push around 2 or 4
boxes to get to something, I've gone back to my previous system of
keeping boxes thematically, with the most active boxes on top, and
the inactive boxes on the bottom. Since I can stuff the latter
boxes completely full, it means I have more room in the boxes which
are still growing. Let's see how this works. It took me the better
part of three hours this afternoon to get this done.
(In case you're curious, one box is devoted completely to Peter
David's comics. One box is John Byrne's. Both boxes at about 85%
full. Erik Larsen (and all books he's been associated with at
Image) take up about 3/4 of a box. That's about as simple as it
gets. It's much more complicated afterwards, but I have the boxes
labeled. Mark Waid and James Robinson share a box, for example.
Warren Ellis, Alan Davis, Karl Kesel, Joe Kelly, and Dan Jurgens
take up another. Superman and a couple of other inactive DC books
fill another box. And so it goes. . .)
Why Kyle Baker is a Genius
WHY I HATE SATURN was just reprinted by Vertigo this past week.
Completely unfamiliar with this book - but having loved THE COWBOY
WALLY SHOW - I picked it up immediately. It's just an hilarious
book. Not necessarily in the same way as Wally, though. It's
reminiscent a little of Warren Ellis' works. It stars a neurotic
writer, although in this case it's a New York female with her own
set of hang-ups, including being tormented by the whole "When Harry
Met Sally" question.
Some of the strongest material in the book -- which does vary in
tone a lot -- involves the discussion of interpersonal
relationships. The whole dating thing. Why people say what they
say. It's very well done.
My comic shop owner says it's the book she shows all the girlfriends
who walk into the shop apprehensively. I can see why. It's only
tangentially superhero-related, but it's funny stuff without being
condascending.
The book retains a distinct 80s feel to it, I think, but it's
something I like a lot. I'm big into 80s nostalgia. Just bought a
Rubik's Cube, in fact. =) Some of the political satire and the
fashion styles will scream the book's age, but I like it.
Baker has another graphic novel coming out this week called YOU ARE
HERE. I'll be sure to review it next week. I'm looking forward to
it.
Big Apple Con
I attended this weekend's BIG APPLE CON. You might remember it from
my previous visits as being the stinkiest comics show in town.
That's no value judgment on the dealers or the guests -- it relates
directly to the aromatic flavor of the basement in which it is held.
It's too small with too many people in it.
But yet I managed, despite myself, to enjoy it once more. There was
some interesting stuff going on at this one, for better or worse.
Kevin Smith kept the place packed with autograph-seekers. It was so
overwhelming, they resorted to calling numbers for people to get
into line. I never got to get on line since I was
#2700-and-something, and when I walked in they were just calling
2000-2099. By the time I left they were up to the 2400s, but I
wasn't interested enough to wait another hour for my autograph. (I
brought DAREDEVIL #1 with me, just in case the opportunity presented
itself.)
The highlight in an odd sort of way for me was the appearance of
Sonny Shroyer, Sheriff Enos on the Dukes of Hazard. Dukes was my
absolute favorite show when I was younger. Better, even, than
ChiPs. He hasn't changed all that much and he tells me he just
finished playing an attorney in a recent movie. That's the good
news.
The bad news is that it was kind of sad. He looked like one of
those actors trying to make a living out of one role he played
twenty years ago for a short time. He was there in Dukes uniform,
with a mini tape recorder to play Dukes music on as he signed your
autograph. Once or twice, he even lapsed into Enos character to the
delight of fans.
I don't know. Something just seemed wrong about all that.
Star Wars' Uncle Owen was also there, but I didn't get a chance to
get his autograph. He seemed a little less exhuberant, though.
Which is good, actually.
I managed to pick up a couple of trading card sets at good prices
from a dealer liquidating his stock at 50% off. I've never really
been a big trading card fan, but as it harkens back to my baseball
card roots, there are still some things I like. I bought a Savage
Dragon and Babylon 5 card set for myself, and a James Bond set for
my bother-in-law for his birthday. They look nice in their plastic
sleeves.
I saw a dealer who had bootleg DVDs. Wow, that was quick! I didn't
get a chance to find out how expensive they were, but I imagine they
couldn't have been cheap. Commercial DVDs go from $15 to $35,
generally, and a DVD recorder still costs in the thousand-dollar
range.
One last thing I saw at the convention, but was not an official
announcement: I saw a dealer being handed a promo flyer for a new
comic convention in New York City next year: Madison Square Garden,
May 7th and 8th. The ad had pictures of Vampirella and Spider-Man
on it.
Could this be The Big East Coast Convention we've all been waiting
for? Or another small con? Or another big flop, due to the
stupidity of unions and their tight-fisted control over New York
City? We shall see, I suppose.
-Augie
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