National Comic Book Day

Coming up next Friday on Sept. 25th, 2009 is National Comic Book Day.

Not to be confused with Free Comic Book Day, NCBD is a chance to share your love for comics with friends who might not be into them. You could also pick up a couple of titles you've never read before and give 'em try.
Maybe you have some trade paperbacks that you've read and don't want to hang onto any longer. You could donate them to the library or pass them along to friends.
You might like to make a comic book-themed cake to celebrate the day.

Or, perhaps you could just dress up in a superhero costume and worry your family and scare the neighbors.

Whatever you decide to do or however you want to celebrate is up to you.

Get In On The "Action"

"Action Comics" that is!

And the very first issue to be specific.

A rare copy of Action Comics # 1 is going up for bid at an auction starting tomorrow.

The owner, who was not identified, bought the comic back in 1958 for only 10 cents and has held onto it for 58 years.

Now is your chance to try and buy it... bidding will start at only $ 1 and the auction will continue for 2 weeks.

Mike Oeming & Kirby Krackle!

We have a double-header all lined up for you this time! Mike Avon Oeming has re-scheduled his appearance at the Comic Stop Lynnwood, followed by the debut of the world's first real Comic Rock Band, Kirby Krackle!

The store signing with Mike Avon Oeming (Powers, Bulletproof Monk, Hammer of The Gods, etc) will take place from 1pm to 4pm at the Lynnwood location, on Saturday, January 31st. besides showing off his awesome new book, Mice Templar, Mike is also celebrating his birthday with us, so make sure to say "Happy Birthday!"

Mike Oeming is best known for his artwork on Powers with co-creator Brian Michael Bendis, but he is also an accomplished writer whose work includes Omega Flight, Stormbreaker: The Sage of Beta Ray Bill, Ares, Thor: Blood Oath, and many more.

Immediately after the signing, Kirby Krackle shall hit the stage, debuting their self-titled debut CD.

Kirby Krackle is the brainchild of Comic Guru Jim Demonakos and Uber Musician Kyle Stevens, who have put together a unique sound of music with lyrics based off of the best that pop culture has to offer. Their style of music can be called Geek Rock, Nerd Core, Comic Rock, whatever you want to call it. To miss this show is to turn in your license to be a Geek.

Kirby Krackle will play from 4pm to 5pm. Afterwards, there will be an after-party with food and drinks. This will be good times, people. Be there.

UPDATE: The co-creator of Mice Templar, Bryan Glass, will be making an appearance at the Mike Oeming store signing, which gives everyone the perfect chance to get their new Mice Templar HC signed by both creators!

Comic Release Party

Firstly, I want to say that I am a loyal Comic Stop customer.

I would in no way encourage you to "jump ship" to another store.

However, I wanted to let you know about a little happening that I'm sort of involved in.

On November 23rd at the Comics Dungeon in Seattle, Keith Curtis will be releasing volumes 1 & 2 of his self-published comic, "Crater on the Moon".

"Why should I care?", I hear you asking.

Well, it just so happens that yours truly is one of the characters in his book.

I play XT Space Marine, Mike Valera.

Here are a couple of my scenes from issue #7:

I'll be there to help Keith with the celebration, along with some of the other Space Marines from the story.

For more information, please hop over to my blog and check it out.

Please come out and help support a local publisher and watch me make a fool of myself in front of strangers (like usual).

I hope to see some of you there.

Fifty Things That George Must Be Blamed For

...And the winner of our "Blame George While He's Out Of Town" contest is Wicked Juan!

~~~

Something going wrong in your life? Slow day at work? Just need to pass some blame to someone most deserving? Here's Fifty Things That George Must Be Blamed For

1) Late books
2) Redneck Canadians
3) The lack of a stellar Presidential candidate for decades
4) A disheartening lack of free comics
5) Spider-Man: The Clone Saga
6) The Southwest
7) Ring around the collar
8) Assassination of the spoken English language
9) The disappearance of Evil George... we liked the one with the goatee
10) Global warming
11) The Ben Affleck/Jimmy Kimmel affair
12) "Magic Night" has a completely different meaning than the name would imply
13) Didn't memorize every single comic on every single person's lists before they all got blown away, thus showing a startling lack of commitment to his craft
14) The death of Jean Grey
15) And subsequent resurrection(s)
16) High gas prices
17) Sticking the Sonic the Hedgehog comic in box 69
18) Rigged presidential elections
19) Keeping the shop so darn clean
20) For being a Jedi and not telling anyone... we had to find out on our own via the use of subterfuge and candy
21) Itching… painful itching
22) The economic recession
23) For making Superboy cry
24) Interpretive dance of Patrick Swayze's "She's Like the Wind" on my last visit to the Comic Stop
25) Justice League of America: The Tornado's Path
26) Replacing my freeze-dried coffee with tasty Folger's crystals
27) Spider-Man: One More Day
28) Lack of "Bwah-ha-ha" in modern DC Comics
29) Hawkeye: WTF is this "Ronin" crap?
30) Bendis' inability to write characters that sound separate and distinct from one another in group books
31) Lack of speech bubbles on comic book covers
32) Odin's Beard!
33) This being the last season of Battlestar Galactica
34) Al Qaeda
35) Canada's continued dominance in international hockey
36) Not allowing Brian to put the fixtures on the ceiling, as John originally suggested
37) False accusations of loitering
38) No special factory dealer incentives at Comic Stop… where are my $1000 cash back shopping bonuses?
39) Jersey Girl
40) Lack of productivity at work (I'm writing this at work)
41) Static electricity
42) Power Girl's ginormous… abilities
43) Killed off Blue Beetle, Hawkeye and Captain America… just to spite me
44) Added me to his Xbox Live friends list and then never showed up to play
45) Making Jenny cry during Fantastic Four 2
46) Whenever the interwebs doesn't work, it's because George broke it (again)
47) Neo-conservatives
48) I'm not allowed to sit on the couch
49) The sudden and inexplicable disappearance of the Legion of Super Pets. I long for the adventures of Beppo the Super Monkey!
50) My sudden, yet inevitable ban from The Comic Stop

Robert Crumb Exhibit

Anybody interested in seeing some original art on display by one of the 'fathers' of the underground comics movement, might want to head to Seattle and visit the Frye Art Museum in the next few weeks.

They are having an exhibition of original works of art by Robert Crumb that spans almost his entire career.

On display are sketchbooks from his early childhood, published & un-published pages of comic art from the 60's & 70's, anthology pieces, on up through some of his current works for magazines like the New Yorker.

Robert Crumb is best known for some of his anti-establishment characters during the hippie movement in the late sixties through the early seventies. Most notably among them were Fritz the Cat and Mr. Natural (below).

Also on display is a sculpture of Devil Girl, another of Crumb's famous creations.

The exhibit is FREE.

That's right, it'll cost you nothing to see it, and there's even parking across from the museum that you don't have to pay for. What a deal!

(But please do leave a donation in the box as you leave to help keep the museum going)

Be advised, however, that his art is mostly of a very mature nature and is not suitable for younger audiences.

In fact, sensitive viewers might find a lot of his works objectionable.

The exhibit runs until April 27th, so hurry before it's gone.