The Sunday Spotlight: The Mucus-Filled Zip Around Your Comics News
by Richard Bruton
Welcome once more to The Sunday Spotlight, the weekly roundup of a few items of interest that have been spotted in the week…
This week, a bit shorter than usual, as I’ve spent most of the week drowning in my own mucus as the Brutons finally caught that damn Covid. Apologies all! Roberta Grergory‘s Bitchy Bitch is a perfect illustration of the problems…
It’s all a Taylor Swift conspiracy…
Last Sunday was, of course, Superbowl Sunday, where Agent Taylor Swift put into practice the fiendish plan to get Joe Biden back into the White House thanks to her relationship with Travis Kelce… well, that’s Tom Tomorrow’s take on the right wing nutjob conspiracy theories floating around…
Thought Bubble is open for exhibitors and has a queue plan…
As reported by Olly earlier in the week, Thought Bubble Comics Festival will be happening 11th-17th November, with the two-day comics convention on the weekend. As Olly said, the bad news is that Harrogate’s hoteliers have wised up to the demand and prices for staying the weekend are rather inflated. The good news… well, there’s a hell of a lot of it coming over the forthcoming months. The first bit of good news comes with TBubs having a plan for sorting the queues out, as detailed here. As attendance for 2023 jumped up, they were a little caught out with the queues to get in getting too long. But, like any good event, TBubs takes note of feedback and does something about it. That’s what makes it such a damn fine comics show.
Gosh Comics welcomes Al Ewing for a March signing…
Whosoever attends this signing, if they be worthy or just willing to queue, shall possess the signature of… Al!
March 16th, 1-2pm, Al Ewing will be signing copies of his latest Marvel success, Immortal Thor Vol 1: All Weather Turns to Storm! Join Al on Saturday 16th March 2024, from 1-2pm.
Collecting Immortal Thor #1-5 and Thor Annual 2023, this collection is the latest of Ewing’s rather successful comics at Marvel, hot on the heels of work with Hulk and Loki. Here’s what Marvel’s PR has to say about the book…
“A bold new beginning for Marvel’s God of Thunder, from acclaimed author Al Ewing! The Mighty Thor has gone by many names over the millenia. In Norse myths, they called him Thunderer. Vuer has he been named, and Hloriddi. He is known as the keeper of Mjolnir, hero of ancient tales. But this day, what Thor is most of all, is All-Father and the King of Asgard. He is worthy, and he is triumphant. But with greater power than ever before there inevitably also comes greater threats than ever before… If Asgardians are the gods to mere mortals, who are the gods to the Asgardians? If Thor is God of the Storm, who is the God of the Superstorm? Enter: The Elder Gods – ancient, primal forces sent by Thor’s own mother, Gaea, as part of a reckoning against both Asgard and Earth… but this is a Thor who can face down even the most impossible threats.”
Full details here.
And more book launches… Kevin Huizenga & the reissued, deluxe version of Curses at Howling Pages, Chicago…
As the image tells you, Kevin Huizenga launches the reissued and deluxe edition of his classic Curses, from Drawn & Quarterly, Curses, on Saturday March 2nd at Howling Pages, Chicago.
Here’s the D&Q PR for the book…
“In the two decades since Curses first hit the shelves, River at Night cartoonist Kevin Huizenga has taken his rightful place on a short A-list of comics experimentalists. Deep research and loopy cartooning serve up philosophical musings while maintaining a classic comic-strip devotion to “the gag.” Huizenga remains one of the funniest and smartest cartoonists working today, and now, the very book that heralded his arrival as a talent to watch is available once more in deluxe paperback as the early work of a now true genius.
The short stories collected herewith confront the textures of mortality in unique and peculiar ways. Central character Glenn Ganges is a seemingly middle-class, suburbanite whose blank-eyed wonderment at the everyday brings together diverse aspects of our world—like golf, theology, late-night diners, parenthood, politics, Sudanese refugees, and hallucinatory vision—into a complete experience as multifaceted as each of our own lives.”
Support your local comic shop… before it’s too late…
One thing that I’ve always been passionate about is the importance of comic shops. The ones that get it right, and there are more and more that do that, deserve protecting, supporting, and promoting whenever we can. But times are very tough for comic shops all over the place right now and they really do deserve your support…
Case in point, OK Comics in Leeds and Destination Venus in Harrogate, both two shops in the UK, posted news this week highlighting the trouble that the comic shop industry faces these days.
“OK Comics… In the last few days I’ve seen that three independent comic/book shops have announced their imminent closure. Well run, well known, established shops owned, operated and curated by people who have put their heart and soul into the businesses.
There will be more.
The financial crisis is biting hard through these winter months, but we must continue to support the shops, restaurants, bars, cafe’s, salons and boutiques that we love.
You often never know how close your favourite store is to closure until it’s too late. If there is a business that you love, please show that love in a tangible way. You can do that by sending well wishes, thinking good thoughts, chatting about them online, leaving a positive review, mentioning them to friends…
…but nothing beats buying stuff from them.
If you have something on order with a shop, go buy it today. If there’s a treat you’re looking forward to, go buy it today. If you have a family member who has a birthday coming up, buy the gift today.
If you can’t get into the place in person, you’ll probably find that most modern businesses are set up to deliver to you, many will have an online shop you can use.
Our cities and towns are changing. If we don’t continue to use them, they’ll be unrecognisable.
I’m often asked where the Pen Shop is (closed 11 years ago), or the chocolate shops (closed eight years), beer shop (five years), candle shop, bead shop, clothing boutique… all independent business neighbours here that have closed down. If you don’t use the shops you love now, they’ll be gone too.
My shop is OK Comics, it’s a tiny independent bookshop that specialises in comics and graphic novels.
We’ve been going for 21 years and things have never been tougher.
We’re open every day in Leeds city centre, flanked by a bus station and train station, surrounded by car parks.
We do loads of things you won’t find elsewhere, like our social events, free lending library, exclusive signed editions, free graphic novels, occasional special offers and a permanent sale section etc.
And if you’re not able to visit, we deliver anywhere.
You can email us (shop@okcomics.co.uk) or use our online shop.
In the last week we’ve had three indie comic/book stores break the news that they have to close their doors for good. These were good stores, run by good people. Established local businesses with real roots in the community, run by people with a genuine passion.
Now they’re gone.
They will not be the last.
Times are tough, and nobody owes us a living. But when such businesses close, more is lost than the dreams of the people who built them. Jobs vanish. Careers are changed. A previously vibrant storefront goes dark and a high street loses another bit of its soul.
So if you fancy a coffee, go and check out that little place you’ve always been meaning to try but keep walking past. If you want a book, maybe don’t just click on that website they named after a rainforest. If you want comics, come and see us, or your local LCS, whoever that is.
We have no plans to go anywhere. Neither did our friends who just announced their closure. Use us or lose us. We think you’d miss us if we were gone, and we KNOW that we’d miss you. We like hanging out under the stairs – why not come and say hi?
