the stuff inside my head that must get out
archives
Sun, 31 Oct 2004
In honor of Halloween, check out this gallery of cool jack-o-lanterns. These folks have elevated pumpkin carving to a true art form.
Sat, 30 Oct 2004
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Fri, 29 Oct 2004
manga: the followup
The last time I wrote
about manga it was just gaining a foothold at Hijinx. I vowed to
devote more shelf space to it, but I also promised myself to be
selective. I
talked to my customers to understand which people were looking for
which titles, and I make sure to stock any title that they express
even a casual interest in seeing. Most importantly, I read it myself
to try and understand what popular titles had in common. I've really
grown to appreciate the variety of titles that appeal to readers outside of the usual suspects. Just like in big bookstores it's the
fastest growing category in the store.
What I like the best is that I'm selling books to people that otherwise have no interest in comics. Young boys and girls as well as adults have started to shop here when other local stores refuse to carry manga at all. It's been slow but sustained growth for the category all year. The very best decision I made was that it was ok not to stock every volume of every series, as long as you're responsive to customer requests.
Like Ray Kroc used to say "look after your customers and the business will take care of itself".
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Wed, 27 Oct 2004
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Check out this site for more cool pictures you can make yourself using 12 sets of dominoes. Complete instructions are included for making several really cool pictures. I saw this link on boingboing.
a great comics website
Tom Spurgeon, a long time contributer to the Comics Journal and co-author
of the recent Stan Lee biography has a great website called
the Comics Reporter that
I plan to check out regularly. I like it so much I've added it to the
syndicated news feeds that appear below my semi-coherent ramblings.
Don't let the feeds stop you from checking out the site though. It's
a hum-dinger.
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Peter Bagge's Hate will always hold a special place in my heart. Hate was the first comic outside of the mainstream that really resonated with me that wasn't about homicidal milkmen or vigilante vegetables. It was about people a lot like those I knew or would soon come to know as I ventured into the realm of hipsters and grifters known as the real world.
A new Hate Annual was recently solicited from Fantagraphics, as well as a new collection of the early black and white issues of Hate. I highly recommend any of the works of Peter Bagge, especially Studs Kirby, Junior and The Bradleys. All of them in stock at either Hijinx!
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Sun, 24 Oct 2004
Click on the thingy above for more grainy on-set pics of the upcoming FF film. Thanks go to Danny on the message board for the link.
I'm still not sold that this movie will be of the same caliber as the X-Men or Spidey flics. Maybe I just remember too much of the Roger Corman produced bootleg tape I watched.
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decompression
If you're among those folks that don't feel like you get enough story
in a single issue of a modern comic check out this. Fairly juvenile, but pretty
funny too.
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Two-hundred years ago, the evil Dire Wraiths threatened the peace-loving planet, Galador. In their homeworld's darkest hour, a thousand brave, young Galadorians sacrificed humanity itself to become Cyborg Warriors, a last desperate line of defense. Though hopelessly outnumbered, these Spaceknights triumphed and pursued the remnants of the Wraith horde across the universe. Now, alone in the Enemy's mightiest stronghold, on a backward planet called Earth, one Galadorian Warrior faces his most awesome challenge. Stan Lee Presents: The Greatest of the Spaceknights-- ROM!
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Everybody's favorite vegetable-themed blue collar superhero is coming back from Image Comics. From the press release:
FLAMING CARROT's amazing No. 1 IMAGE/DESPERADO Issue!! (Also FC 33 in Reg. Series) "Crouching Carrot, Hidden Hot Wing!" Flaming Carrot Comics celebrates its 20th Anniversary with an all-new quarterly series! America's first surrealist superhero partners up with the sassy, saucy, former juvenile delinquent, Dynamite Girl, to battle Burden's most asinine villain yet: an eight-foot, anime-loving, poker-playing, baby-eating Hot Wing! Sponge Boy, The Flying Dead Dog and Miniature Abe Lincoln return, with a guest appearance by Mullet Force 6.
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my favorite comic book character
I'm asked about my favorite comic book character a lot. Occupational
hazard, I guess. The truth is I read way too many comics to have just
one favorite. But I suppose if you pressed me on it, I'd have to say
it's Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen.
Jimmy was possibly the most realistic character in the Silver Age DC universe. He wasn't like the nobly driven heroes of most of the other titles, Jimmy was motivated more by base instinct. Throughout the series he acquired lots of different super powers, fabulous wealth, power and more, but he usually lost them by the end of the issue.
For some reason, Superman liked Jimmy enough to give him a hypersonic signal watch he could use to signal when he was in trouble. Thus, superman could act as a deus ex machina and swoop in at the last minute for a little super-ventriliquism or other outlandish stunt to extricate Jimbo from his latest SNAFU.
Jimmy Olsen proves the age-old adage that it's not what you know, it's who you know. It especially helps if who you know can change the course of mighty rivers and bend steel in his bare hands.
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Wed, 20 Oct 2004
I'm willing to give the guy a chance, buy he's got big shoes to fill.
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Tue, 19 Oct 2004
I'm officially changing the sale from a 1 year anniversary sale, to the Hurricane Hijinx Disaster Relief Sale.
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Sat, 16 Oct 2004
I just read about Inkulator 9000 on slashdot. It's software designed to render a 3D model as if it were drawn with pen and ink. The site describes it as Experimental software for creating graphic novel style images from polygonal meshs. I'm not sure what a graphic novel style image is, but some of the images on the site are pretty interesting.
Some will decry this as cheap gimmickry, but it's really just another tool for artists to chose from. Lots of artists are turning to the computer for labor-saving techniques that liberate them from some of the drudgery of drawing and giving them more time to be creative.
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Wed, 13 Oct 2004
I'll admit it. I like a good superhero comic as much as the next fanboy, maybe even a little more. The key is it has to be a good comic, not just feature a character I read when I was a kid.
Kurt Busiek's Astro City is a great comic, both because of it's freshness and familiarity. All of the characters seem sort of familiar, but story is told from an extremely human perspective, focusing on the humanity of the characters rather than their more fantastic trappings.
It's the focus on characterization and strong storytelling that makes the book work so well. The solid interior art by veteran Brent Anderson and stunning painted covers by Alex Ross add up to a package that is irresistable to the spandex-lover in me.
This week brings us Astro City: a Visitor's Guide (cover shown above) a sort of official handbook to the AC universe. It starts with an all-new eight page story before delving into all of the dirty details of the series. It makes for a nice intro to the series, and then you can dive head first into the trade paperbacks, always in stock at either Hijinx location.
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Mon, 11 Oct 2004
I answered his questions by email almost a year ago, when he was working on an article for his Minimalism column in the Journal. Since the last issue had the very last installment of Minimalism I thought these comment would never see print.
The store layout has changed a lot since I answered these questions, so some of the answers about how I display minis aren't true any more. It was gratifying to read that many retailers have experienced the same frustrations I have when trying to deal with mini-comics creators.
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Tue, 05 Oct 2004
triple triple
Craziest
tells the story of a young woman searching for meaning in the game
of Scrabble. Her ultimate goal is to score a triple triple,
meaning a single word that spans 3 triple word score squares on the
board.
Normally I wouldn't link to a Flash-driven website, but this one is just too good not to share. I read about it on screenhead, a new weblog about funny stuff.
Sat, 02 Oct 2004
1 year of Hijinx Downtown
I can't believe it's been a year exactly since we opened the doors to
Hijinx Downtown. I honestly wasn't sure if we would still be open
this long.
It's been just about the toughest challenge I've ever taken on. Besides the general economic mood a year ago, downtown San Jose has never been a safe bet for retailers of any sort. We've developed a real core of customers who are helping to keep the store afloat and constantly improving.
We don't have a lot of money behind us, but we've got a solid foundation that I intend to keep building on. I promise that for the next year we will double our efforts, and truly deliver on the promise of a best of breed comic book store for downtown.
Keep watching this space for info about our blowout 1 year anniversary sale!
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Fri, 01 Oct 2004
the grand comics database
The Grand Comics Database is a totally
non-profit project with the noble intent to scan the cover and index
every single comic book in existence. They've got a sizable hunk indexed,
and anyone can participate in the project. Here's a handy interface you
can use right now:
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| Sort by: Name Year |
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