Hey, Folks!
Well, it’s another gorgeous Fall morning here in Northwest Ohio and I’m facing another blank screen as I try to decide what to blather on about in this week’s Editorial. You’d think it would be no big deal, especially with the way I tend to go on in person. I’ve never really explored the further limits of my abilities to chitchat. Unfortunately, and this may come as a surprise to you, but my life is not the thrill-a-minute whirlwind you may think it is…lol. So, let me soldier on and see if I can fill a sheet or two of paper and get this thing posted so that we can all get on with day.
I suppose I should mention that today is the Diamond deadline for submitting initial orders for the October Previews. I’ve been doing this for 30 years and yet this looming monthly deadline never ceases to sneak up on me. Month after month the initial orders are due on the fourth week of every month and yet I still manage to get surprised every time it jumps out of the bushes at me. I mean, I haven’t even looked very closely at the October Previews yet much less begun to assemble a coherent order. To be frank, I’m dreading going through the Marvel Previews which always takes about three times longer than main catalog. I guess it’s a little game I play with myself every month. Years ago the deadline made me so paranoid that I would insist on getting it done the week before it was due, but these days I guess I get some sort of perverse glee out of waiting until the last minute every month. Oh, well, at least I have episodes of the Flash and Arrow to listen to while I slave away at all the fiddly bits in the order form.
Speaking of the CW shows…how do you all do it!?! And by “all of you”, I’m specifically referring tot hose of you who manage to watch ALL of these darn DC/CW shows! Generally speaking, I’ve only been keeping up with my fave show, Supergirl, although I would always tune in to the other shows for the yearly crossover. It’s not like I particularly disliked the other CW shows. In fact, I kept up with Flash for a season or two as well. The problem became A time issue. I simply did not have the time to watch anymore regular network television, especially the way the shows relentlessly move onward, week after week, episode after episode. If you miss one week then you might as well miss three weeks the way the multiply like mice. After learning that this would be the final season for Arrow and that it was essentially “Bottoming out” into the Crisis crossover I decided that I would knuckle under and watch the last ten episodes so that I didn’t miss anything cool. Yes, Gentle Readers, I confess to having the same OCD issues as the rest of you when it comes to comic book stuff and needing to read/see every little bit of it. Of course, then the comments and reviews of the new Flash season started rolling in and it sounded that there was much Crisis material being included in the Fastest Man Alive’s series as well. So I figured I would watch Flash, Supergirl, and Arrow in order to get the full effect. Adding to the stress was the inclusion of the new Batwoman show which I had been eagerly anticipating since her first appearance during the CW crossover last year.
And, you know what? It’s just too much! Trying to keep up with four hours of CW shows a week along with American Horror Story AND The Great British Baking Show has been nigh on impossible, especially when coupled with the handful of other shows I’ve been trying to check out. I also have to divide my TV viewing time between Shows That I Watch Alone (typically while I’m handling work stuff like the shipping list), Shows That I Watch With My Roommate (which generally covers Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights), and Shows That I Watch With Hillman (which covers the weekend). I’m telling ya…I need a score card to keep track! As of today I have managed to catch up with Batwoman and Supergirl. I love both shows wholeheartedly despite their inclination to write scripts where everyone is required to react to quasi-adult situations as if they were teenage girls. I’m hoping to get at least two episodes of the Flash under my belt today while I’m fiddling with the order form. If you come into he shop and I have my ear buds in please don’t hesitate to throw something at my head if you need to get my attention.
Of course, my new viewing habits are not monopolized by merely the CW. It had completely slipped my mind that the new Damon Lindelof magnum opus, Watchmen, debuted Sunday on HBO. Watchmen is, for those of you new to comics, based on the classic graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons upon which the so-so movie was made by old What’s-His-Name back in 2009. The comic (and, to a more limited extant, the movie) dealt with a world where costumed heroes arose in the 40’s as a kind of fad movement and suddenly became much more serious when an actual super being inexplicably appears. One of the former costumed heroes, whose identity I won’t reveal on the outside chance that there is someone reading this who hasn’t read the book or seen the movie (Yes, Hillman dear, I’m looking at you…) is reading this and doesn’t want it spoiled, comes up with a plot both twisted and surprisingly simple to stop a world on the brink of a nuclear apocalypse. It’s a classic comic book story and one that richly deserves its towering reputation. With this in mind as well as the mediocre film attempt made ten years ago, I was cautiously interested in what HBO would make of the material.
Well, I watched the first episode of Watchmen last night and it was, well, both fascinating and truly bizarre. Apparently set in the Watchmen world some 30 years after the events of the comic/movies, we are greeted with a vision of a totalitarian state where law enforcement officers parade around in anonymity with scary masks and ninja outfits battling an apparently white supremacist domestic terrorist organization whose members have a fetish for wearing masks inspired by Rorschach, a sociopathic dead costumed adventurer. It begins with an extended historical flashback to the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921, a horrific event which ended in the estimated deaths of 100-200 people. The scenes are brutal and terrible and then the action segues into present day Tulsa where race issues are once again bubbling to the surface. This leads to the main plot in which are introduced to several characters on both sides of the fight and another terrible incident that leads to no small amount of death and destruction.
Into this mix there is a smattering of references to the original material, although not as much as I was expecting. Newspaper headlines mentioning Adrian Viedt and the Rorschach masks are introduced rather early in the proceedings, but for the most part there is very little to connect this story to the comic. There are other scenes, later in the show, that have more concrete ties, including a very strange interlude featuring a main character from the comic played to perfection by Jeremy Irons, a curious “rainstorm”, and the appearance of a piece of equipment also used by a former costumed hero. What any of this has to do with the main narrative of racial divides in the US or the apparent slow slide into fascism isn’t clearly addressed, but it is presented in such a frankly bizarre way that I couldn’t tear my eyes away from it. Even at its most obtuse, Watchmen is compulsively watchable, if only with the hope that all of this general weirdness is in some way tied together. I’m not really sure what I was expecting, but this wasn’t it and I mean that in the best way possible. Looking forward to checking out the rest of the season to see where it is all leading. If you’ve seen the episode please make sure to mention it to me when you visit the store as I am curious as to what you may have thought about it.
I have a big apology to regular readers of the Weekly Shipping List. I was getting everything ready for publication this morning when I realized I inadvertently erased the “Titles Not Stocked” segment yesterday while I was farting around with formatting. The time it would take to recreate it is way more time than I have to spare today so I am leaving it off. Never fear, intrepid readers, it will return yet again next week and I’ll try not to erase it before posting.
We seem to be cursed with feast or famine when it comes to Funko POP figures. Either we can’t get what we ordered or else three tons of them ship in over a two week period. We are currently in the throes of the later situation and after the tsunami of this week’s POP figures we have four more anticipated POPs coming in next week. POP Marvel 80th First Appearance Beast and Marvel Girl and POP Marvel Holiday Deadpool and Rocket Raccoon figured will all be making their Monarch debut next week. Those of you who preordered these figures will have them held behind the counter and you have two weeks to pick them up unless, of course, you get in touch with us and make different arrangements. This new wave of figures all retail for $10.99 each, although if you preorder the X-Men figures as a set you will still get them at $10 each.
For those of you who have been wondering, Hillman has recovered from his throat surgery quite nicely and is well on his way to acclimating to his “new” vocal abilities. While I have yet to hear him sing, I can report that his regular speaking voice is quite an impressive upgrade and much welcomed, especially when I’m talking to him on the phone. Because I am half deaf it was always a bit difficult to understand him over the phone, but now all of our conversations are crystal clear.
Thanks for tuning in this week and I hope all of you have a great weekend! As I mentioned ad nauseum above, I will be deep into the order form all day, but I will still be available for questions and inquiries through Messenger.
Eddie