Hey, Folks!
I had actually gotten this installment of my weekly EDitorial finished up yesterday, but I had to do a slight rewrite while cloaked in grief this morning. Diana Riggs, British star of stage and screen, has died at the age of 82. Ms. Riggs had a deep and distinguished career, but was perhaps best known for her portrayal of Emma Peel on the hit 60’s British television show, The Avengers. Playing opposite straight man, Patrick Macnee, Riggs helped create an amazing character, a thoroughly modern woman who was smart, sassy, and unapologetically sexy. I became obsessed with the show as a teenager and enjoyed every episode of the venerable TV show with a vigor that was previously reserved only for my comics. Rest in peace, Ms. Riggs, and I hope that you are enjoying a much deserved cocktail along with your vaunted kung fu kicks in the Great Beyond.
I can’t remember if I mentioned it in last week’s EDitorial and I’m too lazy to go back and reread it but I completed a very successful test of a new store promotion on Saturday. Monarch Comics first sponsored private movie showing went off without a hitch! Yes, I set up a private showing using Cinemark’s current discounted offer, sold some tickets, and hosted some of my favorite people for New Mutants! All but two people showed up for it and think that we all had a great time except for the small problem that the movie sucked bilged water in the worse way…lol.
I’ve always known that you could rent out theaters for private showings, but I never really considered the ramifications or the possibilities until recently. I always figured it would be too expensive or something. Well, not anymore it isn’t! For $99.99 (for one of the old movies currently playing) or $175 (for a new release) you can buy a private showing for up to 20 people! It makes social distancing in the theater much easier and you get to see your favorite geek films with an audience of dedicated fans! If the offer continues at this price point then I want everyone to know that I will be sponsoring more Cinemark private movie showing starting off with Wonder Woman 84 which debuts on October 2nd!
The Wonder Woman debut is still a month away, but I will be reserving at least one showing opening weekend for Monarch customers! Tickets for the Monarch sponsored event will $8.75 per person and will have to be purchased at the store before the event. Obviously I can’t tell you the time yet, but I will be attempting to get something in the 7-8pm time frame on either Friday or Saturday. If the demand is great enough I will add more showings to accommodate as many folks as possible. If it continues to be a success then I will also be sponsoring showings of Black Widow and James Bond as well.
By the way, that New Mutants movie? I’m sorry to say that calling it “hot garbage fire” would be an insult to hot garbage fires everywhere. Josh Boone, the man who brought us The Fault in our Stars, directed and co-wrote (with conspirator Knate Lee) this low budget dreck and he should have his pee pee whacked good and hard for it. The rumors were that it was the Disney acquisition of Fox that delayed the release of this movie, but after seeing it I would guess that the rumor was started by whoever was in charge of promotion for this stinker as a desperate attempt to cover up the stench. New Mutants is a scant 94 minutes long, but it feels like it takes 4 hours to get started. The film goes on endlessly without really saying anything at all. The special effects are nearly non-existent and the plodding pace encourages sleep rather than terror. The most interesting character is, of course, Illyana/Magik (Anna Taylor-Joy) and while she does get plenty of screen time she is never given very much to say and while the movie kinda sorta explains everyone else’s powers/situations apparently the sequence explain Illyana’s powers and origin ends up on the cutting room floor. In fact, I suspect most of this movie ended up on the cutting room floor as there are plot holes you could walk a giant demon bear through right to the end when an actual giant demon bear briefly saunters across the screen. Frankly, the bear is the best part of the movie, but maybe that’s just my bear obsession talking. Avoid this movie, Folks, I won’t warn you again.
It’s still a little early, but I want to remind everyone that I will be out of the office next week, September 18th-21st. Hillman and I are taking a little trip up the UP in order to visit Oswald’s Bear Ranch in Newberry as well as just bum around for a couple of days. I haven’t been on a vacation in a couple of years, mostly because something always comes up to stop me from leaving town. You know, Dad ends up in the hospital or there’s a pandemic or flaming meteorites or demonic infestations…something always puts a halt to my festivities. I’m hoping to actually make it out of town this time, but we will see how it goes. In any case, I will not be available for questions or comments the whole weekend, but you can leave me a message and I will get back to you as soon as possible. I will do my best to process any special orders placed on the subscription form that week, but chances are the orders will not be able to get filled until the following week.
I just received a little love note from Diamond letting me know that due to a problem at the printer a handful of Marvel titles may be allocated next week. They include Giant Size X-Men Storm #1 Alex Ross Timeless Variant, Thor #7, and X-Men #12. Diamond is working with the printers (presumably with thumbscrews and red hot pokers) and we should any allocated copies by 9/23. I’ll let you know if any orders (special or otherwise) are affected by this little problem.
There is second printing of Batman Three Jokers #1 currently being offered by D.C. Comics with a brand new cover by Jason Fabok. I will NOT be carrying nay copies for the rack because I have plenty of first printings still in stock. If you are, however, interested in a second printing then please let me know and I will order one in for you! I’ve posted a picture of the cover elsewhere on the Facebook page if you need to get a look at it before committing.
Next week we will see the release of Detective Comics #1027 and there will be 12 different covers at $9.99 each. In this extra-sized issue D.C. Comics celebrates Batman’s first appearance in 1938’s Detective Comics #27 with a huge all-star creative team! This issue will include stories by the following creative teams:
* Peter J. Tomasi, Brad Walker, and Andrew Hennessy
* Brian Michael Bendis and David Marquez
* Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky
* James Tynion IV and Riley Rossmo
* Kelly Sue DeConnick, John Romita Jr., and Klaus Janson
* Marv Wolfman, Emanuela Lupacchino, and Bill Sienkiewicz
* Grant Morrison and Chris Burnham
* Tom King and Walter Simonson
* Scott Snyder, Ivan Reis and Joe Prado
* Dan Jurgens and Kevin Nowlan
* Mariko Tamaki and Dan Mora
It will also include spectacular pin-ups by the following artists:
* José Luis García-López
* Jamal Campbell
* Jim Cheung
* Lee Bermejo
* Olivier Coipel
I have copies of all of the covers ordered for the rack and I have had very few preorders for specific covers, so I will try to do my best to stock the covers everyone wants!
Okily dokily! That’s it for this week’s blatherings! I’m pretty sure that I had a half dozen other things to go on about, but frankly I can’t think of anything else! Enjoy your weekend and I will talk to you next week before I head out into Bear Country!
Eddie