Comic Book Candy

This is old news for those of you following the comics blogosphere, but individual comic books are now more commonly priced at $3.99 versus the $2.99 cover price we have grown accustomed to over the last several years. In other words, bummer . I'm feeling the pinch more than ever, and not just because of the economic downturn. Two things are putting my comic book budget under scrutiny: the first one being that as successful as I have been to convince my pals to read comics in trade paperback form, I still see the same expression cross their faces when I suggest they pick up an individual issue at cover price. It's a combination of "Are you for real?" and "Umm....Why?" That is, except when I hand them one of the increasingly popular $1 first issues. Everyone's doing it! I'm pretty sure Vertigo started the trend, and now every major publisher is jumping on board . I've even seen some stores setting up a $1 issue rack to entice readers, often cl...

Lately I keep harping on about missing comic book stores in the states. It just goes to show how much actually visiting comic book stores on a regular basis effects my reading experience. Sure I'm getting plenty of reading in - I'm up to volume 4 of Scott Pilgrim - but I miss those fresh new books, talking to folks about them, seeing what sells out, and the satisfaction of knowing it will happen again the next Wednesday. Sitting in my apartment here in Tassie, unemployed and reading comics, makes for a very isolated existence. In addition to the usual comic book banter, my last visits also involved a bit of photography. I took some portraits of comic book store employees (a few of them old co-workers) and asked them to give a recommendation to an imaginary first time comic book reader. It's a hard thing to do, even with a real live person in front of you to find out their interests...but I let these guys be as detailed as possible, even saying they could give recommen...