Brother, it's a hot one out there. But it's the only weekend where my grass hasn't been too wet to cut it. 97° w/ over 50% humidity is nuts. But it reminded me of the wrestling room back in high school. The sweat is good for your soul. Lost a few pounds, got the heart going. Hell yeah, brother.

Yeah... I don't think Diamond is making it out of 2025 in any sort of form that is functional or even recognizable as a comic distributor. And in me, there is an amount of bitterness that I'd like to share. But on the flipside, I'm not so secretly looking forward to the end of Free Comic Book Day.

Do you have any idea how frustrating it is to have to read comic news and comic rumor sites to find out about literally anything happening within your industry? I'm out here watching podcasts to learn anything helpful. This sucks. Great reporting from Comicsbeat and Heidi MacDonald, though.

In spite of the rain, Free Comic Book Day was successful for my store in all the metrics it needed to be. Not our best day, but probably a top 3 since I've been at this shop (9 FCBDs), and 2nd best since I've been an owner. That said, this was my 17th overall FCBD as a retailer. I am tired.

Diamond Comics. What a shitshow. So, 2 lawsuits, a chapter 7 scare, and the loss of WotC. They are finally purchased. So what does that mean for me, a retailer? Well, I still get continued horrible service. A general lack of communication. Late and damaged shipments, and a terrible POS system.

THE greatest Doctor Who monster made a return this season. This creature is what convinced me to give the modern revival a real shot. We're back.

I think my favorite thing about current MGSV memes that feature Duran Duran's "Invisible" is that it has convinced a large swath of people that MGSV has a song in its soundtrack that was produced 6 years after the game's release. Talk about tactical espionage action.

I miss playing Bionic Commando: Rearmed. It'd be a little ludicrous to ask for a re-release when it's still sorta playable depending on your platform of choice, yeah? Maybe Capcom could drop a Bionic Commando Collection? It would almost certainly lose money lol. But I'd buy it.

I'm happy that Diamond was purchased today. I am unhappy that I don't have any tracking info OR an invoice for the comics I'm meant to put on the shelves tomorrow. Perhaps some of that $160 million can go towards reopening the warehouse they closed so shops can start getting product on time again.

Read our SUBMISSIONS page to find out more: solrad.co/submissions

I am so tired of talking about the same angry nerd shit at work. Every day, someone is crying about Star Wars or Marvel/DC or anime. FOR YEARS. I'm sick of it. And when I do get a normal conversation, someone else will make sure drag me back down to hell immediately after.

The last episode of Dragon Ball Daima aired today. It gives me a bittersweet feeling having just finished watching it. A lovely story. Strong ending. Wild retcons that definitely affect Super. But it's also like saying goodbye to a friend. I wish Toriyama was still here to see the appreciation.

I just saw Diamond's financial figures that were released this week. Some of these publishers who jumped ship from Diamond did so for less than $15k of debt owed to them. One of the notable ones left because of sub $1.3k owed. Diamond has less than $500k in the bank. And they owe over $46 million.

Today, the store got a 2-star review because this person didn't want to dig through our back issue long boxes for longer than a minute. I understand that it's a daunting task, but for $.50 comics, you gotta do some of the work yourself. It's a cold world out here.

I just finished (and platinum'd) Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess. What a great game. I wish I got around to it before 2024 ended as this would probably have been in my Top 5, if not Top 3. A Tower Defense/Hack and Slash with a Boss Rush and True Ending that requires 2 playthroughs. I'm all in.

Bluesky crashed on me after typing out a monster thread about my experience in comics retail, how it's been affecting my mental and physical health, and my thoughts about Diamond's impending collapse and how disastrous it is for the American Comics industry and so on...

Every week. The comic retail life feels less and less like something I should even bother with. I figured this shit out and I have adapted to every shitty thing that's happened since owning this shop. And yet. Here I am, once again, angry on a Wednesday morning because the industry is the industry.

Boom sure did wait until the absolute last second to announce their new plans for jumping to PHR for primary distribution from July to April. If one were hoping that DCD could pull through this bankruptcy, I don't imagine their biggest publisher leaving months earlier is helping that faith.

Yesterday, a customer brought in a copy of Detective Comics #983 for me to sign. This world is wild. I used to work with the writer, Bryan Edward Hill, back in the late 2000s. I would complain about Batman a lot. Fast-forward some years, and now a villain has my name. Life is hilarious.

Lordy. I missed my DC Comics dicount threshold by $132 this year. This is actual madness since I couldn't actually see what I was missing until after the deadline. What a year in comics retail for me.

Missing comics aside, there were two horror releases that caught my eye this week. Snaps by Jon Clark & Dread the Halls by Jordan Hart and Chris Ryall with art from Lee Ferguson, Jimmy Kucaj Walter Pax, and Fábio Vera's.

Starting to feel a bit of the effects of Diamond fumbling their warehouse closure from the past few weeks. I'm currently sitting without tracking info for next week's supposed releases. I'm currently debated the pros and cons of buying more publishers from the other distros, but we'll see.

I swear I've heard this Snap Judgment Dan Rossi Hot Dog Cart story at least 5 times already this year on public radio. It's not terrible or anything, and it's a good glizzy-based story. But we gotta change it up.

Come to my store. Have a good time. These signings are always fun.

NEXT Saturday 12/7 from 3:00 to 6:00 at The Wizards Wagon, join us for the Butcher Queen Vol. 2: Planet of the Dead Nutcracker Bash! We’re celebrating the release of the new trade with free prints, buttons, & [email protected] @fleetsuperior.bsky.social @sketchsawyer.bsky.social

‘Beastieball’ is ‘Pokémon’ Meets ‘Haikyu’ and a Prime Example of Why I Love Indie Games by @chimericnotion.bsky.social

In spite of receiving zero new books from Diamond Comics this week, somehow, it took longer than normal to deal with Lunar and Penguin's books today. I think I might actually be relieved about not having a full release day for Wednesday.

Diamond. Funko. Please. What is the point of listing Pops that are set to release in September of next year, if you can't even provide a series name for them?

This morning, Diamond sent out an email to all retailers explaining why every retailer's invoice for new comics next week was practically empty on Wednesday morning when they were generated. My confidence in the survival of the American comics industry weakens further. Something has to change.

Thinking about doing a top 10 end-of-year list for comics again. Pretty sure I haven't done once since the Star Clipper Blog. Which, I think has been toast for like, 12 years now? Something like that. Regardless, I'm not sure if I should feature new comics exclusively or include whatever.

It's been a long time... like 5 years since I've felt disappointed by an entire x-book release week. And this isn't to say that every issue was bad. But I had problems with each one. I enjoyed Storm #2 the most, but it was so disconnected from #1 though. Sentinels #2 was fine but...

As of today, I believe I've banned 5 people from my store. This last guy came in the store today and made this huge scene to apologize for being kicked out on Tuesday (primarily for an unhinged racist rant). He was on hands and knees, begging for forgiveness to my white business partner.

No point in letting this account rot. Here's some Dead by Daylight. The lesson here is always the same. Just leave.

Memories.

Shudder having like... just movies playing like a proper network is probably the coolest feature it has. It's great for background noise AND it's a great way to just find something to watch without having to actually choose something. Can't be mad at my pick if i didn't actually choose it lol.

Dip ur grilled cheese in sriracha for a good time

When I say this is my lock, I do not mean that I own it. I do mean that I have taken its picture several times over the years and it is perhaps the most emblematic image of #liminalspacesofthemidwest as I have cultivated. When I see it, I know I'm home.

Onions add absolutely nothing positive to a salad. This is what I learned today, when I accepted a free ceasar salad from Sauce on the Side. But free is free, I suppose.

In an impossibly cool move, Joe Murray, creator of Rocko's Modern Life, has noticed his book about creating animation is out of print and massively over-priced on the second hand market. So he's put it on his site for free. joemurraystudio.com/books-by-joe...

We in here! I'm James. You can call me Bell Boi, or LLJB3 as a lot of circles know me. You better say the whole thing though, the 3 is important. I draw, I commentate fighting games (Street Fighter in particular) and I do other stuff like make GIFs sometimes! Say hey, I say hey back!

Put on a hoodie today since it was raining. I haven't worn this one since December. I get to work and reach into my pocket and find a reminder of my past.

I rewatched the 2010 Crazies remake today. I think it holds up pretty well. It was interesting looking at the approach to a potential pandemic from the 2010 horror lens in 2023. And speaking of lenses, I think the only real downer is that it has that ugly green movie filter from the 00s in use. Bleh

Decided to do a lil doodle on my phone today while at work. I'd love to see Akira re-imagined through a Jojo filter. Although, it's probably not fair to put Tetsuo in this Dio pose, but I think it's cool so... it is what it is.

I've been thinking about learning 3D modeling. Specifically low-poly ps1-era. I think I may have finally settled on the medium for this story I've been working on for at least a decade. I got a TV script, a few comic scripts, a videogame pitch, and a few chapters. Low poly animation is the way.

I saw Talk to Me yesterday. I'd gone into it with only ever seeing about 10 seconds of a random trailer. This is the sort of "small" horror story that I enjoy. Folks unequipped to deal with the supernatural item they shouldn't have access to in the first place and the consequences that come of it.