Gig 30: Buzzin’ @ De Bees Music Bar, Winsford – 29th January 2012

January 30, 2012 6 Comments

I’ve had a string of really successful gigs recently, so I knew that I was well overdue to die on my arse. And, boy, did I ever die on my arse last night. Obviously, this isn’t the greatest thing to happen, but it should, at least, make for a slightly more interesting blog post.

Preparation for the gig was fairly relaxed as I was largely performing tried and tested material, which I know like the back of my hand (or so I thought). There were a few tweaks to a couple of bits, but overall I was pretty confident with the set list, which was:

1. “I’m sat at a desk..” Previously only performed at Gig 25.
2. My “this really shifty looking bloke came up to me and pointed at my wrist…” bit (previously know as “the joke that unjusticely got me gonged off at Beat The Frog” (Gig 12))
3. The “Can’t Fight The Moonlight” bit.
4. The “Arnie\Controversial-Incomplete Joke” bits that have been in pretty much all my straight stand up sets.  There was a bit of a change to the ending of the “incomplete” part, inspired by last week’s tweaked version for Beat The Frog (Gig 29).
5. New joke “So she lost her job…” Although this was new I’d tried it out on a couple of people and felt confident that it would get some kind of laugh.
6.. My “Personal” bit, plus a bit of “Personal Bit 2″ from Gig 27.  On doing a timed run through, I needed a couple of extra minutes and decided that the first part of “Personal Bit 2″ would fit nicely.  There are a few points in it where there are quite natural breaks, so I could always drop bits depending on how time was running.
7. Short play “One Day in Liverpool.”  This has worked really well in Gig 26 and Gig 28, so I thought I’d give it a whirl in a straight set.  It seemed a nice way to finish.

I got a bit nervous on the afternoon of the gig – I think because it was a gig I’d never done before and there was the element of the unknown. I’d calmed down by the time it came to perform, though, and was really looking forward to it.  There wasn’t a huge audience, but the first three bits went down OK – not great – but I felt it was fine given the audience size.  I then got to the Arnie stuff, which isn’t my cleverest but of material, but generally gets a decent laugh, and it got no reaction whatsoever.  It was certainly disconcerting.  Although it’s amazing your stuff goes down a storm, it’s still perfectly fine when you get muted laughter, but nothing at all is a nightmare.  It makes you realise how much the material relies on some response from the crowd and that without it your rhythm and timing become completely shot.

I ploughed on with the tweaked “incomplete joke”, but I really didn’t get any reaction from this point onwards.  The nadir of the set came early on into the “personal bit”.  As I was starting off, someone on the front row’s phone fell out of his pocket and onto the floor.  I instictively felt like I should reference it, which I did, but it threw my timing and, combined with the blank faces, I think I made a bit of a hash of the subsequent bit.  Directly following on from this is a part where I start explaining my feelings on something and this builds up into something of a rant, but, by this stage, I was sufficiently put off that it didn’t really flow as it should.  The punchline to that rant, is actually the start of the next bit and that also got no reaction.  It was at this point that I forgot what to say next.

Now, I’ve done this section on stage a number of times and probably at least a hundred times in practice.  I could probably do it in my sleep, but on this occasion it completely disappeared.  The fact that I conscious of how well I knew the bit, somehow made things worse, and less likely that I would remember. I was genuinely panicking but then I kept repeating the line to stall and because it was the thing to do that made me laugh most.  It perhaps wasn’t the best way to react but I kind of liked the honesty and lack of slickness of it.  My mind was also reeling at this point; I couldn’t decide whether to ditch the thread and try and just do something else or whether to try and stick with it.  The decision was made more difficult because the personal bit all flows, so it’s not like I could skip to a later section of it and it still make sense. In hindsight, I should have perhaps just said that I knew it wasn’t working and then dived into my joke book (which I had in my pocket as a security blanket).  But, I didn’t.  Eventually the line came back to me, but the performance was all very half-hearted from then on.  ”Luckily”, I had used so much time up in forgetting that I didn’t have time to try any of “personal bit 2″.  I ended with the play (to little reaction) and was pleased to get off.

When I died in my first handful of gigs, it was soul-destroying. Now that I have slightly more experience and have done a number of successful gigs, it’s still horrible but I’m able to deal with it relatively easily. I think it does dent the confidence a bit, but it’s also a really good leaning experience. It also highlights how much I still have to learn, particularly in how to deal better with cocking up and having different material to fall back on.  The question that always strikes me in this situation is how can material that has worked so well on other occasions fail so badly? (truly baffling)

It struck me last night that the audience members will have left the gig thinking that I’m awful, and they probably would not be able to believe that the same material has worked really well in front of other audiences.  It’s all a very strange business.

Filed under Comics, Gig Diary Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Gig 18: Open for Laughs @ Bar 1:22\Bar Maroc, Huddersfield – 20th October 2011

October 21, 2011 3 Comments

Last night was a significant gig because I think it’s the first time that I’ve ever done the same set as in a previous gig.  My repetition was mainly motivated by a lack of time to prepare, since I also had a gig on Tuesday (Gig 17), so I decided not to stress myself by learning anything new.  It was also good timing, since it went really well on Tuesday, and I was intrigued to see how the same material would go down in front of a different audience.

The gig was over in Huddersfield and because I didn’t go on my own, I didn’t get to do my usual practice on the drive over.  This was probably a good thing as I knew my stuff and you can be over prepared.  It also took my mind off any nerves that might have otherwise been brewing.

Open for Laughs usually takes place in Bar 1:22, but last night was transferred to Bar Maroc.  The bar is upstairs in a 1960s concrete monstrosity, but the unpromising exterior gave way to a relaxed, friendly interior.  And there were loads of poofs to sit on.  And I got a free cup of tea.  It was great.

The performance area was cordoned off and so gave a nice intimate feel for the 20-30 people in the audience.  I was on fourth in the first half, but luckily my nerves were under control and I was looking forward to performing.

It was a slightly strange gig for me in that it was hard not to compare with Tuesday.  The audience was much smaller and perhaps not as warmed up as in Salford.  It would have been almost impossible for it to go as well.   That’s not to say that it went badly – it didn’t – and I got plenty of laughs in the right places.  There were a few moments where I couldn’t help thinking “that got a big reaction on Tuesday and now it’s not” and it may have thrown me slightly, but I don’t think I let it affect me too much.

I perhaps should have done better with my “Joke Book” section.  The idea is to use some of my bad pun jokes, but dress it up a bit.  I don’t think I talked enough or do enough asides around the jokes, so it might not have been entirely clear to the audience that my fumbling through the book was part of the act.  One of the earlier acts had been working mainly from paper and stumbled  through some bits, so my section might have been a bit too reminiscent of that.  I think I probably got a bit complacent with the section and focused too much on the jokes and not enough on the stuff around them.

The only other bit to note was that the “short story” section didn’t get as much of a reaction as I would have hoped (even when not directly comparing to Tuesday).  I perhaps powered through it to get to the end, when the better option would have to just relaxed and taken my time – just having faith in the material.

Overall, it was an enjoyable gig and one I hope to play again soon.

Filed under Comics, Gig Diary Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Gig 10a: Gary Barlow on BBC Radio Leeds – 1st September 2011

September 2, 2011 3 Comments

Gary-Barlow-Stronger-138913

Image via Wikipedia

After appearing as Gary Barlow in my last gig, I got the chance to appear in character on BBC Radio Leeds last night.  I don’t know if it’s funny or not, but it was all made up on the spot so it was a lot of fun.

You can listen to the interview with GB here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/p00js0bl

It starts 1:27:00 into the show.

Filed under Comics, Gig Diary Tagged with , , , , , , ,

The Unwritten #1 – 18

August 8, 2011 Leave a Comment

Cover of "Unwritten Vol. 1: Tommy Taylor ...

Cover via Amazon

Imagine if your mum was JK Rowling, only she was your dad and she called you Harold Potter (although I don’t know why she wouldn’t call you Harold Rowling), and then she disappeared and everyone in the world kept mistaking you for Harry Potter to the point where you couldn’t stand it anymore because you obviously aren’t a fictional character, unless, you know, weird stuff starts happening and maybe you are.

Well, if you can imagine that and you like the sound of it, then why not read The Unwritten?  I bought the first 18 issues from Comixology as part of the Vertigo sale a few weeks ago, based largely on good reviews and an interesting premise.  Fortunately, it’s much better than the poor, yet basically accurate, description I’ve just given of it

Tom Taylor makes a living appearing at book signings and conventions as the “real life” Tommy Taylor – the hero of a more successful version of Harry Potter written by his father.  Tom hates being associated with Tommy but doesn’t have the wherewithal to make a living any other way – his father having disappeared a decade earlier – so he just about grins and bears it.  That is until claims about his parentage and a kidnapping by a deranged fan see him become embroiled in a series of increasingly bizarre encounters.

The focus of the story is not actually whether Tom is really Tommy (even when it looks possible that he might be) but about the nature of how stories affect the nature of reality, and the shadowy organisation that seeks to use stories to bend history’s course to its will.

The Unwritten is written by Mike Carey and illustrated by Peter Gross (who covered similarish territory on Books of Magic).  I’ve not really read much of Carey’s other work, but I’ve rapidly become a fan.  Reading these comics (also collected in 3 paperbacks) reminded me just how much I love the form.  You couldn’t quite imagine this story working as well in any other medium.  Issue 17, for example, was a fully-functioning “choose your own adventure” story which helped to perfectly illustrate one of the main character’s fractured personality.  It was an ambitious move that could only be pulled off by a writer at the top of their game.

I don’t want to say too much about the plot for fear of spoiling it, but The Unwritten is highly recommended.

Filed under Comics, Reading Habits Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I, Zombie #1 – 5

July 23, 2011 Leave a Comment

Comixology had a Vertigo sale on a few weeks ago and I bought the first five issues of I, Zombie.  There were a few titles to choose from and I went for this purely on the basis of Mike Allred’s art. I hadn’t heard of writer Chris Roberson, but I always liked Allred’s writing so assumed he wouldn’t get involved in anything rubbish.

I, Zombie is the everyday tale of cool, indie-chick Gwen (who happens to be a zombie), her cool, 1960s chick pal Ellie (who happens to be a ghost) and their geeky male chum Spot (who happens to be a were-terrier).  Oh, and there are some hot vampire chicks hanging around town.  It’s safe to say that it’s very zeitgeisty.

The twist – and the reason why she is a cool, indie-chick and not a shambling corpse – is that Gwen needs to eat brains once a month to stop her from deteriorating. Luckily, she works in a graveyard and has ready access to lots of fresh cadavers – she ain’t no murderer.  Anyway, scoffing the grey matter results in her absorbing the memories of the person who has died, and she has to investigate the reasons for the death to stop the memories overwhelming her.  Over the issues we see her look into the suspicious death of her latest meal.

The first five issues are also collected in book form, so I suppose this constitutes the first story arc, although it’s a bit loose and not enough happens.  It’s a fun and “quirky” romp, and Allred definitely draws cool chicks, but I don’t know if there was enough of a hook to bring me back.  The mystery around the death is resolved too easily, and is more a case of setting up future plot threads than being a self-contained story.  I’m sure that back in the days of me buying 40ish comics per month then I would have stuck with it, but due to ever escalating costs and an almost overwhelming choice, these days I need to be a bit more discerning with my purchases.  If the next batch of issues were to be on sale then I might give them a go, but I don’t feel compelled to find out what happens next.

On a side note, Apple’s recent price hike in the UK has hit the comics app.  This has added 10-50p per issue. It doesn’t sound that much, but it adds up when you buy a batch and makes the price differential to a physical comic much less impressive.  Unsurprisingly these price rises haven’t affected the US.  It seems a move which will only decrease the growth of this service. Is it any wonder people end up pirating material?

Filed under Comics, Reading Habits Tagged with , , , , , , , , , ,

DC: The New Frontier

July 4, 2011 6 Comments

Cover of

Cover of DC: The New Frontier, Vol. 1

I’ve mentioned a few times that I love comics but have completely lost touch with them.  One of the intriguing apps on my iPad is Comics by Comixology – which is pretty much what you’d guess, an electronic comics reader with a built in comic shop.  I installed the app as soon as I got my iPad, but other than a couple of free issues, haven’t bought anything.

I think part of what put me off is that feeling of not actually owning the comics – having nothing tangible for your money.  Plus, the free issues that they have on there to convince you to part with your money haven’t been anything that I would have chosen to buy, so I wasn’t sucked in that way either.

I do have an account, though, and as a result get regular emails of special offers – with nothing having tickled my fancy.  That was until last weekend, when I received an email on a Wonder Woman sale.  I’ve never really read Wonder Woman but as an old school DC fan, I thought I’d check it out.  A couple of things caught my eye, firstly a JLA\Planetary special  and all 6 issues of Darwyn Cooke’s DC: The New Frontier – a book I’d alway wanted to read.  The sale comics were 59p each and all seven were oversized issues, so it started to seem like a no brainer.  Buying TNF for just £3.60 is a massive saving over buying it in print (approx £18 for two collected volumes), so it more than made up for a lack of holding it in my hands.

First up I read Plantary/JLA: Terra Occulta by Warren Ellis and Jerry Ordway.  Planetary was one of my favourite series when I was a regular comics reader – it’s one of the series that I want to complete from my post Comics, Comics Everywhere… – so it seemed obvious to buy it.  It’s an Elseworlds tale – ie set in an alternate universe with no ties to the usual shared universes that these characters usually appear in.  I should probably point out for any non-comics readers that have made it this far that JLA stands for Justice League of America – a team of superheroes that includes Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman.  As for Planetary, well they come from a different comics company than the JLA and so usually live in a different universe.  Terra Occulta sees Planetary cast as the bad guys (they’re usually good) in a world in which they have virtually destroyed the superhuman population and versions of the aforementioned big 3 DC heroes must secure the planet’s freedom from this concealed tyranny.

The problem, as with many Elseworlds tales, is that in a relatively short story  – 48 pages – too much time is spent setting up the premise and showing us the differences in this new world, so that the story inevitably suffers and feels a little rushed.  It’s also a problem that it’s been so long since I read any Planetary comics that I probably was missing many of the references and subtleties.  That said, you can feel safe that Warren Ellis is going to throw in lots of interesting ideas, and gives us interesting takes on well established characters.

This was a nice warm up for the main event of The New Frontier, a six issue series, with each issue consisting of 64 pages.  The book is essentially writer\artist Darwyn Cooke’s love letter to DC’s “Silver Age” and second generation of superheroes.  It’s set principally in the 1950s and characters appear chronologically as they appeared for the first time in the original comics.

The story starts a little slowly – a large portion of the first issue follows a bunch of obscure characters stuck on a dinosaur-filled island at the end of WW2.  It seemed an odd way to start and I really wondered where it was all going – but in hindsight it was a fitting prologue to the story that followed.

The pace soon picked up and we got glimpses of familiar characters – the Golden Age triumvirate of Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman.  The stars of the show, however, are those characters that debuted in the fifties: J’onn J’onzz, the Martian Manhunter, Hal Jordan\Green Lantern and Barry Allen\Flash.

The art in the book is cartoony and heavily influenced by artists such as Jack Kirby, but, the attention to period detail and facial expression really brings it to life.  If I was being glib, I’d say it was Justice League meets Mad Men. But I’m not, so I won’t.  The book is as much about America of the period as it is about men in tights, and the backdrop of McCarthyism and its effect of the superhero population is particularly resonant.

The triumph of the book for me – as a big fan of the DC universe – is the way that the characters are humanised.  Not a great deal of time is spent ‘in costume’ – despite being maybe the main character throughout, it’s only late in the day that Jordan assumes the mantle of Green Lantern – and so we truly come to understand ad believe why they do what they do.  The final threat which the series builds to could seem laughable, but you get the feeling that they really are putting everything on the line.  DC’s characters are sometime criticised for being too godlike compared to the fallible Marvel cast, but that’s not a problem you’ll encounter here. The frailties on display helps you see the gaudily costumed folks as true heroes.  It’s some achievement.

It’s safe to say that the book gets a thumbs up from me, as does reading it electronically.  It’s a shame that the page size isn’t in the same aspect as the iPad screen, meaning it is a little smaller than I would have liked (there is a guided view which zooms in on individual panels but this seemed a step too far) but it’s a minor gripe.  The backlit screen bring the art to life and you don’t have to put up with annoying adverts.  You also own the licence to the comics, so if you change device then you don’t lose them all.

I’ve already bought some more comics in this weekend’s Vertigo sale, so I’m definitely a convert.  It’s also a pretty cost effective way of completing some of those runs that I mentioned earlier.

This could cost me a lot of money. Oh well.

Filed under Comics, Reading Habits Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Daredevil: Yellow

April 5, 2011 1 Comment

Last week I told you about sorting through my comics in Comics, Comics, Everywhere…, and my dilemma whether or not to buy some of the issues I was missing to finally get to read my collection from a decade ago.  Well, I did buy some and this morning finished reading the first batch, the 2001 mini-series, Daredevil: Yellow.  It’s not exactly topical, but I thought I may as well write about it.

The 6-issue series is by renowned writer\artist team of Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale.  For the non-comic book readers amongst you, Loeb worked on TV series such as Lost and Heroes; Sale provided Isaac’s artwork in season one of Heroes.  For the comic-book readers amongst you, I’m sure you’re aware of the highly-acclaimed Batman series they created; The Long Halloween and Dark Victory.  I was a fan of both those books and so I had high hopes of this.

Sadly, it was a disappointment.  The story centres on the early career of Matt Murdock\Daredevil (when he wore a predominately yellow costume, and hence the title), from the murder of his father to the kidnapping of his future girlfriend, Karen Page.  My problem with the series is that not only does not enough happen, we also don’t learn anything new about the character or his motivations.  The plot is a “Year: One” tale, rather than an origin story; a device used in comics to tell the early exploits of a character rather than the circumstances of their creation.  That’s fine, but the origin aspects are completely ignored here, making this totally baffling for any new readers.  Murdock is blind, but his other senses are at a superhuman level as a result of a radioactive spillage (isn’t it always?); he was also trained in martial arts by his mentor, Stick.  None of this is referenced, so anyone new to the character will be left scratching their heads as to why this blind lawyer is jumping out of windows.   It all feels a bit rushed.

The artwork does lend an air of classiness to proceedings – although it’s not up to the standard of his Batman work – especially through the retro styling.  It feels like your watching a cool, 1960s gangster movie, with a superhero in the middle of it.  Hmmm, the “vintage” look is slightly problematic, though, as it’s not entirely clear when it was set.  Is the story supposed to be part of the “official” Daredevil history or not?  These things are important to your average comics geek, but I think if I had enjoyed the tale more, then I could have ignored it.

Anyway, let’s get onto the most important matter: what was it like to read an actual comic again?

Over the last few years, I’ve not entirely given up on comics, but have read exclusively graphic novels and paperback collections.  Because of this, the thing I really noticed most was just how intrusive the advertisements were within the regular monthly comic book. It almost drove me to distraction.  I think it did actually take away from my enjoyment of the story and it completely took away any immersion in the world.  What made it worse was the completely incongruous products that were advertised.  The book follows the plot of a grief-stricken man looking back on the tragic early events in his life – wow, I really need to go out and buy some Juicy Fruit chewing gum and a Gameboy Advance.

Other than that, it was a nostalgic ride, and one I’m happy to repeat. I wonder what I’ll be reading next…

Filed under Comics, Reading Habits Tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

Comics, Comics, Everywhere…

March 29, 2011 2 Comments

As I’m off work this week, I thought I’d try and make myself (relatively) useful.  I decided to spend a bit of time performing one of the most thankless tasks known to man: sorting out my comics.

I stopped reading monthly comics about 10 years ago for two main reasons.  The first was that I was buying a house and could do without the extra expense (comics are bloody expensive).  The other was that I used to buy my comics through mail-order and the deliveries had got so messed up that I was missing individual issue in lots of series that I was reading.  As comics tend to run continuous storylines, this meant that I didn’t read any subsequent issues of titles where I was missing one.  This led to me amassing (probably) hundreds of pounds worth of unread comics.  I could have sorted it out at the time, but it just seemed too much hassle.  Buying a house gave me a perfect excuse to draw a line under it and move on (you can read more on the sorry tale in this post).

All those comics remain unread.

I’ve been meaning to have a sort out for ages and today I finally got around to starting.  The task of sorting through boxes of comics and determining which ones you’re missing is a tedious one.  I won’t bore you with the details; I’ll just try and share the things that I learnt.  The main point is that I was an idiot not to sort this out at the time.  I wasted A LOT of money out of sheer laziness.

The comics I came across fell into these categories:

  • There are quite a few runs\mini-series where I only need one or two issues to complete them.
  • There are quite a few runs where I need loads of issues, but somehow feel compelled to try and complete then.  Even though they’ve all been sat there for a decade, unread.
  • I’ve found lots of random titles where I have only one or two issues and so it’s not practical to try and complete the run.

To my surprise, I found myself willing to sell some of these “spare” issues on eBay, in an attempt to fund the purchases that I do want.  With that plan in mind, I checked out eBay and, weirdly, no comics seem to sell on there.  Virtually all the comics whose auctions were about to end had no bids on them.  I checked 2 or 3 pages and this remained the case, even for issues that you would expect to easily sell.

To counter this, I looked online for some of the issues I need and they were inevitably pretty expensive.  It’s almost more cost effective to just buy the collected editions instead of the few issues I need.  In theory, I could even sell the ones I don’t want to fund the difference.  The only problem is that comics don’t seem to be selling.

At least I made my first step by sorting through some of my back catalogue, but I have sadly unearthed an even more tedious problem. If anybody has a realistic solution then I’d be more than grateful for your assistance.  Those comics need to be read.

Filed under Comics Tagged with , , , , , ,

Ink! Alter Egos Exposed

September 8, 2009 Leave a Comment

Last night, I watched the first episode of the ten part series, Ink! Alter Egos Exposed, looking at the history of comic books, on Sky Arts. As a life long comic fan, it’s a rare treat to see them being given serious treatment on television.

The first episode, entitled ‘Heroes’, was watchable enough, despite the portentous music playing throughout, as it took an opening look at super-heroes. The programme’s approach was somewhat scattershot; as well as the obvious inclusion of Superman and Batman, there was also coverage of Giffen and DeMatteis’ Justice League and the obscure Dial ‘H’ for Hero. I was a big fan of Justice League International in my teens, but it does seem a bit of a bizarre choice. The episode ended with a spotlight on Scottish writer, Grant Morrison, which can only be seen as a bonus.

I’m not entirely sure who the show is aimed at; there doesn’t seem to be anything revelatory for comics’ fans, and I’m not sure it was in depth enough for those with no knowledge of the medium. It’s worth sticking with though, and if you’re new to comic books, then you should give it a try.

Filed under Comics, Television Tagged with , , , , ,

Me Reading Comics RIP

December 3, 2008 2 Comments

I went in to the kitchen, at work last Friday, to make a drink, when I glanced over at a copy of the Metro someone had left lying around. I was instantly drawn to the picture of Batman on the front cover, not the movie Batman, but the real one from the comics. The story was reporting on the purported death of the caped crusader in the recently released Batman #681. I was hit with two emotions.

First came a sense of disappointment in Grant Morrison, for (allegedly) killing off Bruce Wayne. It’s not easy to accept that one of your favourite writers has just murdered your favourite ever character. By rights, I should have been furious, but this was tempered by the fact that I haven’t actually read any of the storyline in question. The second emotion that I felt was a sense of sadness at being so hopelessly out of touch with the comic book world. And it’s the reasons I lost touch with them that I’d like to tell you about.

I fell in love with comics at the age of 2, when my dad bought me my first Batman Annual. I don’t know why he thought it was a good idea to buy it for a toddler, or what it was that appealed to me at such a young age, but I was definitely hooked. I won’t bore you with the entire history of my life in comics, suffice to say that as I got older and had access to more money, my comic consumption grew with it. By the time I started work, I was buying 40-50 comics a month and was in danger of becoming hopelessly addicted. However, within a few years it would all be over.

I offically gave up buying monthly comics in January 2002, and I know this because it coincided with buying my first house. Ostensibly, the reason was that I couldn’t afford the £80+ a month when I had a mortgage to pay. And whilst that was true, it wouldn’t have happened had I not been so fed up with buying comics. Please note that it was buying not reading them that I was sick of!

As a reader, I had always been a follower of writers rather than artists (which by my reckoning made me a DC-man rather than a Marvel-ite), and in those early years of the millenium there seemed to be more writers worth following than ever. With the dedication of an addict, my monthly reading list seemed to continuously grow, adding titles because I was scared of missing the next big thing. With the market how it was, the early issues of a new series would have low print runs, meaning that when it becomes popular, it’s a real chore to try and catch up with the scarce issues. Even though it was annoying trying to keep track of so many different books, the thing that really killed my enthusiasm was the way that the comics were distributed.

Every month, each serious cusomer received a copy of Previews, a several hundred page catalogue of all comic book releases a couple of months in the future. It would be my job to scour the pages and detail all the titles I wanted, and then e-mailing this list my supplier; who would then post them to me when they were in stock. Now, if you give someone a list of 50 things you want from them in two months time, which they will then send to you in weekly batches, you should probably have a system to keep track of them. And I will hold my hand up and take my fair share of the blame for not keeping better tabs on my orders, but I will also point out that it was supposed to be entertainment, not a job in accountancy. Before too long, I had lost track of my orders, partly through being disorganised, and partly through a fundamental flaw in the industry.

It would be relatively simple to confirm if I had received what I ordered, if the comics were published when they were supposed to. However, it wasn’t uncommon for individual issues to be delayed by several months, if not, in the odd exception, several years. The big companies, on the whole, were much better, but even they had their moments. You are then faced with the problem of trying to chase up comics that hadn’t been delivered with no way of knowing if and when they will actually be published. If this was any normal industry, that had to cope without fanatical customers, then they would have gone bust years ago.

My perception for the cause of the delays was that one of the creators, more often than not a superstar penciller, is only able to complete a fraction of the pages needed for a monthly title. Now, I accept that you can’t rush art, but if you can only produce five pages of finished pencils every month, then it might not be the best idea to accept a job on a monthly book. It also makes you wonder why the publishers don’t move away from monthly formats for such artists. How long would you watch a soap opera for if you had to wait a varying number of weeks between episodes, and you weren’t told in advance when it would be shown in the schedules? Well, even if you actually like the soaps, then I’d guess it wouldn’t be for very long.

By the time I stopped buying them, I had no idea how many comics were owed to me that I never saw, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it was in the hundreds. Yes, it was stupid of me to not challenge this more vigourously, but the situation definitely didn’t help. When I received my last delivery, I was more relieved to draw a line under it all, than sad that there would be no more.

Maybe six years later, the publishers have their houses in order, I certainly hope they do. If not, they may well lose a lot more dedicated readers like they lost me; I still love my comics, but I’m not tempted to go back.

Filed under Comics Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 206 other followers