Expensive Archives/Nerd Tantrums

As you may have noticed from a couple of the scans I posted last week, I've cracked on Dark Horse's Creepy Archives. I've been resisting this lavish reprint series for a long time, because following it is going to be an expensive business. Each archive reprints five issues of the classic Warren horror mag. There were a total of 145 issues and the cheapest price I can score each archive for is £24. Sooooo, 145 divided by 5 = 29 and 29 x £24 = £696. Add to this the fact that I'm also going to want to pick up the Eerie Archives (which ran for a total of 139 issues and are being reprinted in the same five issues per archive format) and you're looking at a grand total of £1,368!

Granted these things don't come out every week, but that's still a fuck load of wedge to drop on reprints. They are beautiful though, big glossy black and white works of comic brilliance featuring art from the likes of Frank Frazetta, Reed Crandall, Joe Orlando, Al Williamson and Gray Morrow. The stories by Archie Goodwin (in the main) are also entertaining. As a horror comics fan, it's pretty much the perfect package for me. I've already finished the first Creepy Archive and am now jonesing for the second. I just can't get enough of that old horror. S'the good stuff baby. THE GOOD STUFF!

Talking of big, beautiful expensive reprints, I found myself compelled to buy the DC omnibus of Kirby's Demon on Thursday. It wasn't on my list, but Gosh! are currently offering it at £19.99 which is cheaper than Amazon. They're also knocking out the Kirby Losers omninus at a similiarly large discount, but, you know, buying two omnibuses on the same day would have left me feeling so bad about myself and my horrible comic habit that I decided against it.

I did grab the third volume of Drifting Classroom and Warren Ellis' Frankenstein's Womb. Haven't had the chance to read the Ellis thing yet, but I can tell you that it smells fantastic. Mmmm, glue!

Picked up the rest of my comics from the new shop, which was a mildly depressing experience. I go there now more in hope than expectation and, true to form, they'd fucked up my pull list, (I do not read Buffy the pissing Vampire Slayer!) and failed to get me Jersey Gods, All Winner Comics or (horror of horrors) Wednesday Comics.

This caused me to throw a hissy fit in the middle of the shop, wailing that they couldn't possibly hope to survive if they couldn't get it together to order Wednesday fucking Comics. I apologised, but remain less than enamoured of the way they do business.

Honestly, I can't see the shop surviving for too much longer. It has erratic opening hours, cluttered and confusing racks and (I presume in an effort to save money) does not order all of the week's new comics for Thursday. I'm constantyly being told that my missing comics will arrive on Monday and I'm always replying that this is a recipe for disaster. I've also suggested that they automate their pull lists, stop doing their mail orders on the back issue bins (which are completely inaccesible as a result) and quit over ordering on comics which they have no hope of ever selling to get their hands on variants which they are not guaranteed to be able to shift.

Fair enough, it's none of my business how they run their shop. But I'd actually like them to succeed. They give me a big enough discount to make it worth my while to see them stay in business, so I'm going to keep ranting at them until they a) see sense b) tell me to fuck off or c) go bust.