Like any good geek, I’ve got more interests than I have time or money for. One lifelong passion I’ve had is writing instruments. Over the years, my taste has evolved from ballpoint pens to fountain pens and most recently to brush pens. So when JetPens asked if I’d be interested in reviewing some products for them, it was like a dream come true.

I’ve been ordering from JetPens for about four years or so. I can’t remember what obsession first led me to their website, but they quickly because one of my favorite pen stores. They constantly add new products, so I visit frequently to find new toys to play with. I have to exercise a lot of self-control when ordering, so I don’t max out my credit cards. Thankfully, they have a wish list feature to help me keep track of what I’d like to try or reorder in the future.

Let’s start with my biggest surprise. Brad from JetPens sent me a Pocket Clutch Lead Holder by E+M. I didn’t think I would like it because it was so small. I was wrong. It’s just the right length to fit into my hand. Also, the short body makes it easy to change your grip for different uses. For example, I like having my pointing finger resting on the top of the holder when shading. This was the perfect size to let me cup the holder in my palm. It’s got a nice thick body to keep you from getting cramps if you’re drawing for a long time. The only disadvantage is the short body means the standard size 5.5mm leads are too long to fit the holder, so you will have to either buy E+M leads or break other brand leads to fit. A minor inconvenience at worst.

Pilot’s Hi-Tec-C pens already have a devoted following. This was my first time trying one. I was sent a .4 mm point with brown ink. Usually, when you get tips this small, the pen feels scratchy against the paper. I was really impressed with how smoothly the pen wrote and its nice rich color. I can see why artists like this pen; it has a great ink flow and a thin line perfect for those detailed drawings or for crosshatching. This will be going on my wish list.

The Pilot Double-Sided Brush Pen was fun to play with. One side has black ink, the other side has grey. It’s listed as a brush pen, but it’s a felt tip that simulates a brush line. The tip on this is very stiff, making it a good beginner’s pen. The black is nice and dark. The grey is the same shade as your standard No. 2 pencil, so you can do your outlines with one side and your shading with the other. I could see artists using this as a sketch pen at conventions. I know Johanna liked it, too.

Brad sent one of my favorite disposable brush pens, a Pilot Pocket Brush Pen with hard tip. This is the perfect starter pen for people who want to explore drawing/writing with a brush pen. It has a felt tip with some play to allow for line variation. Because it’s a disposable pen, you can really experiment without worry of ruining a pen you had hoped to be a permanent part of your collection. This has been my convention note-taking pen for a couple of years now. I love the feel as it writes and how smoothly the ink flows. A great pen no matter what you use it for.

If you try the Pilot Pocket Brush pen and want to get more serious about using brush pens, then the next step is the Kuretake No. 13 Brush Pen. This is a pen with a real brush tip. The bristles are nylon. It’s a soft pen, but not as soft as natural hair. This is a pen I’m still trying to master. Andy Runton, creator of Owly, is one of the few people I’ve seen in person who has mastered using a brush pen. He gave me some great advice about maintaining steady pressure. The pen has amazing line variation from hair thin to a nice thick medium. The ink flow is marvelous. It’s like working with a constantly wet brush. This pen is a real pride of my collection.

For people who are looking for a good calligraphy pen, let me suggest the Pilot Parallel Pens. These pens put the old standard Sheaffer calligraphy pens to shame. They are much easier to use and have a smoother feel. The nibs are more forgiving of how you place them on the paper for good ink flow and nice line variation. I use the 1.5 mm nib because it’s the ideal size for addressing envelopes and writing notes. Given the compliments I’ve received for my Christmas envelopes, this pen was money well spent.

If you use wood pencils, then you must get the Stad One-Push Pencil Holder. Finally, someone designed a pencil holder/extender with actual writers and artists in mind. It’s easy to use, comfortable to hold, and actually looks great too. A co-worker saw me with one of these and begged me to get one for her and one for her daughter. All three of us still use and love these. I really can’t praise them high enough.

Finally, this is also for pencil users. The Stad T’Gaal Pencil Sharpener is simply an amazing pencil sharpener. It allows you to choose one of five tip styles for sharpening your pencil. You can go from a long thin point used for writing to a short point commonly used on coloring pencils. Most sharpeners that adjust point length do it by having a fixed blade with a stop. This means for any setting other than the longest, the pencil doesn’t have a real point. T’Gaal actually adjust the blade angle, so no matter the setting, your pencil has a nice sharp point. It’s amazing to get that level of engineering at such a low price. For wooden pencil users, this is a must have.

JetPens really is a wonderland for those of us that love writing instruments and novelty office products. I’ve had nothing but great service from them. They answer all your questions and are willing to do special orders for Japanese products that you’ve seen but that they don’t carry. I highly recommend you check out their website. You won’t be disappointed.

KC sent the above card out to several friends who’d get the joke, with the caption

“And lo, on that day, the Avengers were born.”

I thought I’d share it here as well, to wish all my readers a Merry Christmas or Happy Holiday of their choice.

September was busiest, with 94, while the low points were February and April at 61 and 60, respectively. (December is still in progress wound up with 74, almost the same as November.) The total so far is 877 posts, or an average of 2.4 posts a day overall is 895, or an average of 2.45 posts a day. (I was aiming for 3, in order to crack 1000 this year, but I can always try again in 2012.)

As for topics, the most posted are Movies/TV (122 posts this year), Digital & Webcomics (107 — and that was the subject of the year, wasn’t it?), Comic News (96), and Manga News (94). There were 81 Manga Reviews (I expected more) and 63 Graphic Novel Reviews. Superheroes and Archie each got 30 posts, with 29 for Books About Comics and 28 for Indy Comic Reviews. (So many works that I would have talked about in years past as indy comics, I now cover as graphic novels.) Way behind are Minicomics, with only 4 posts — which is woefully negligent, but better than 2009, which only had 1 — and Recipes, with 3 — one each cookbook review, restaurant review, and actual recipe.

Most popular this year, based on comments, were the following:

• New UltraViolet Digital Copies Annoying Some Customers — 86 comments, which makes it 13th overall in this blog’s history; that number is likely due to ranking high on Google when people search for help or a place to complain
• PR: What Not to Do: Be a Kickstarter Jerk — 81 comments
• It’s All Changed Forever — Again: Thoughts on the New DCU 52 — In which I let go on everything I was thinking about the most significant marketing move in the last decade or so, 51 comments
• DC Relaunch Titles I’m Looking Forward To (And Why I Don’t Care for the Others) — 40 comments, where various people shared their opinions on which books they’d be reading
• Which Manga Titles Do You Want to See Rescued? — Spurred on by the demise of Tokyopop, 40 comments

People don’t comment here the way they used to, but I think that’s happening all over the internet, as we treat it more like an entertainment medium — look at this silly picture/video — than a communication forum.

Of course, the biggest change this year is contributor status. Ed Sizemore retired from the site after reviewing here for four years. This past year, he wrote 44 reviews — most manga, but also including the occasional book, convention, minicomic, and movie. His contributions will be greatly missed. Also for the site, KC wrote 27 review pieces, including coverage of animation, books about comics, and all 52 DC comic relaunches. I’m hoping for more next year, but regardless, I appreciate his support. I couldn’t do this without him. Nor without you, dear readers. Thank you for stopping by, and happy holidays!

I’ve never been to the show, but that certainly gave them a black mark in my eyes. I’ve previously run into shows that didn’t understand how to handle press passes, as when some wanted press to pay for access. I understand that it can be difficult to separate “real” press from some guy with a blog with four posts on it, but over-broad blanket rules end up annoying the people you want to talk favorably about your event.

Let’s step back and look at what each gets from the situation. A convention wants more attendees, so they want people with lots of readers/viewers to say, “This was a great show, everyone should go!” That message also comes across implicitly in talking about news that broke at the show (giving the impression that it’s a major show) or exclusive products or rare experiences. This is a fine line — I’ve seen coverage that on the surface sounded like “this was cool!”, but when it turns into “because of my press badge, I got in line early for an artist who was only doing a few sketches that day” or “I bought one of the limited collectibles you missed out on”, that becomes jerkish. In fact, I know of shows that stopped allowing early press entry because of a few bad apples who were misusing the access to act like collectors, not journalists.

If you want to thank the show for letting you in for free — and this is the part many amateurs miss — the best thing to do is to talk it up ahead of time. This can be as simple as running a piece (or more) on what will be available there or scheduled programming that you’re looking forward to. After-the-fact coverage helps encourage people to go next year, if they remember that long. Prior coverage puts the thought in people’s heads to go this time (although these days, that really only applies for mid-size regional shows, since the big ones require a year’s planning in advance to get tickets and hotel rooms).

On the other side, the press gets into the show for free (and sometimes, if they’re big names, they get comped rooms or travel, although in my experience that’s rare). If the show is big enough, they get a room to work in and access to stars and special guests. I think, as the press category becomes wider (covering print and online), what’s happening is the same thing that happens with creator guests — everyone supposedly falls into one category, but some are more special than others. Big-name artist may get his room for free, while local artist gets free table space and nothing else. Big-name journalist may get offered an interview and reserved panel seating, while blogger gets a free badge.

The real solution would be to do some screening, to require some minimum level of output or audience ranking, before handing out a press pass, but that requires a) hard decisions b) someone to decide on the rules and c) someone to take the flak from those turned down. After all, no one wants to hurt the feelings of the guy with an outlet and an attitude.

Back to Toronto. I wasn’t very lucky in looking for more information about what happened at the show. I did find one writeup that said:

Press Passes that need to be replaced every day? Seriously? This one was a MAJOR bone of contention amongst the media folks I knew — some of them going so far as to simply not cover more than the first day. Come on Fan Expo — these folks are getting you tons of coverage for your event, to help you bring in more people and more dollars — don’t make them go the the hassle of going through crowds everyday to get a new pass.

In the comments, Jamie Coville elaborated:

It’s not like that every year. I’ve been covering it since 2002, with the exception of 1 year, and the press pass was always a weekend pass. I did not bother to attend this year as they did not give me (and other press) a pass for Saturday. Then they sent me 4 e-mails advising me about tickets being on sale/almost sold out, etc.

And they waited until 2 weeks prior to the convention to let you know. I suspect they got some press to go anyway because they couldn’t get refunds on their hotels (possibly air fare) and already booked the time off their day jobs. It’ll be interesting to see how much press they get next year. I suspect they broke a lot of trust and they’ll have to treat the press like gold for a few years before some of them come back.

Perhaps. Then again, some fan journalists put the emphasis on “fan”, and go no matter what. Jamie has had press problems with the Toronto show before, as he commented in 2009. The convention then was giving out press passes out of the press room, which didn’t open until the show did, which meant press couldn’t get badges early.

I don’t really have a summation here. The thought comes to mind that, if you believe there’s no such thing as bad publicity, treating press badly doesn’t have a downside, because then they’ll talk about you in that context. A show that feels it’s successful on its terms — such as getting plenty of ticket-paying attendees — may not care if any press come, especially if they get the coverage they care about by issuing press releases about media guests.

Update: As commenters and others (such as Tom Spurgeon) have pointed out, yes, it is always an option for a reporter to pay their own way if a show is important enough to cover. I should have mentioned that. For major outlets, a $30-60 ticket fee will more than be reimbursed by the hits and eyeballs they get. Alternately, it’s entirely possible these days to create coverage of major shows just by reviewing the posts and Twitter mentions other attendees make — and sometimes you’ll get a better, more balanced view that way.

(Answer: yes. We picked up Fletch, mainly because it’s got a new retrospective on “making and remembering” the movie; Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, because while we hate Matthew McConaughey, it’s got a dynamite supporting performance by Emma Stone; and Office Space, also because of the retrospective and because I knew someone who got fired in part for showing this as a “morale builder” at work. She didn’t remember, having seen it mostly bowdlerized on Comedy Central, just how much profanity there was in it.)

While there, I noticed a few things I wanted to share through cellphone snaps.

See, I told you it was a hot trend! I couldn’t even fit the *third* rack with the same label in the picture. Wish I’d invested in black and purple dyes a few years back, since they’re all the same color.

(Left) Isn’t this guy adorable? I just wanted to hug this toddler-life-size Lego minifig man. Until I realized that his stand was one of many for toys and gee-gaws replacing bookshelves in the center of the main floor.

(Right) Here’s a good sign your cover stock is too cheap. In severely moist weather, as we’ve been having this week, you get lots of curls.

I apologize for the picture quality of this last one, but if I’d backed up far enough to get it in focus, I would have been sitting in the middle of a table where a couple was having coffee. This was the magazine section; I can only assume that the “Literary” label was a leftover from a previous stocking layout, since I wouldn’t exactly give that title to Wolverine and Deadpool. Maybe if they cleared out some of the puzzle magazines on the middle rack, the organization would make more sense.

For that matter, why are the comic books on the top shelf of three, where the kids can’t reach them?

Now, the thing you need to know about this, boys and girls, is that banks used to send you back your actual paper canceled checks. So my friend, Mike Chary, decided to surprise me by visiting several of the notable guests of the show and asking them for itsy-bitsy sketches on the check itself. So when I got my bank statement, this is what was in it.

Top middle is by Steve Rude; the person on the right is by Tim Levins (Copybook Tales, Batman Adventures). Counter-clockwise from top left, you have Sergio Aragones, Amanda Conner (I think), Steve Lieber, Mark Crilley, unknown Wonder Woman (although I think it was a Golden Age creator), Stan Sakai, Tara Jenkins, and Matt Feazell. I know, I know, I should have written it all down at the time. But I didn’t know I was going to stumble across a silly piece of paper 15 years later and be surprised all over again by how cool comic people can be.

One thing that surprised me, when I was thinking of women who make impressive comics that I enjoy, was how many did work for younger readers. Raina Telgemeier, Hope Larson, and Jill Thompson were all top of my list, and they’re all best known for works aimed at teens and younger readers. Even Linda Medley’s Castle Waiting, as a twist on a fairy tale, might be considered for girls. I also included Julia Wertz, Chynna Clugston, and Faith Erin Hicks for specifically a college-age audience.

I wasn’t only looking at this age group, though, as I also recommended Alison Bechdel and Carla Speed McNeil. But it did seem like something to comment on. Is it easier for women to get work creating for younger readers?

I bought a set for my bathroom. I have an indulgent soaking tub, so I figured it was time to decorate a room I like to relax in. The colors also seemed to go well with my walls. Here are the spring and summer ones, around the door:

And the fall one, over the tub. The winter one (not shown) faces it, on the other side of the windows.

That’s not the only room she’s helped me decorate. I earlier bought the originals of her three-part chicken recipe and framed them to go in the kitchen. (Where else?)

She still has print sets (and watercolor commissions) for sale; email divalea @ gmail.com for more information.

I didn’t see my favorite, though, so I sent off a note of inquiry, we came to an understanding, and within a week, I had these beauties.

They’re comfy, warm, and distinctive, made just for me. I love them!

If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”

Today, I was reading an advance galley of a graphic novel and noted the following had taken its place.

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

Lot of text, hunh? Not sure anyone who might be affected will bother reading all that. I only did because I was curious why the copyright page had so many more words on it than I was used to.

In our case, it’s the cost and the timing. We’re not ready to start thinking about conventions already, and the show is next month. (2010 was April, a more favorable time.) Last year was awfully expensive, given hotels in the downtown location, and while we combined it with a visit to family, the timing this year is inconvenient. Plus, mid-March is a rotten time to go to that area, and the weather has been cold and nasty this year.

I started hearing, at some other shows late last year, that others might be rethinking a repeat visit as well. Some exhibitors from last year weren’t sure about displaying again, because they thought the cost to set up was much too expensive for the returns they got. Also, the show is putting more emphasis on the entertainment side of the show, which may mean a different kind of audience, one not necessarily there to buy comics.

The local folks I’ve spoken to are planning to go for a day instead of the whole weekend. I wish that was a an option for me, because I did get to see and do a lot last year that I enjoyed. And I hate to see something so promising not have the turnout they need to continue to grow. My suspicion last year was that expectations were just too high. A first-year show is not going to be a New York or San Diego right out of the gate, but that seemed to be what some were expecting (and maybe selling to exhibitors?). I’m also unclear on whether they’re looking for a trade show setup/expense-account audience (who won’t mind the expense) or a more general group of attendees, in which case they may be limited to local/regional.

I haven’t heard much about panels or programming or must-see guests for the show, and it’s getting close. Then again, I wasn’t looking for information, given my inability to attend. Are you planning on going? Why or why not? And what do you hope to see or do there?

To mark the recent release of Sinfest: Viva la Resistance from Dark Horse, I was given the rare opportunity to interview author Tatsuya Ishida for Publishers Weekly.

This was a huge honor for me, as well as being quite intimidating. To write questions for the creator of my favorite webcomic, knowing that he rarely gave interviews, was a challenge. My thanks for Ed in helping me generate ideas.

Regular readers of the site know that I am boycotting Bluewater comics because of their near-criminal exploitation of creators. I recently got an email from a relatively new comic writer asking me to take a look at two of his comics. I said ok, but when I opened the PDFs he sent, I saw that they were Bluewater titles.

(I also saw that they were bad. The art was nearly unreadable in spots, and of a quality level that I wouldn’t have published it. The stories took too long to get to their premises, and the dialogue was flat and pedestrian.)

I wrote back a short note saying “I’m sorry, you didn’t say these were Bluewater titles, which I don’t cover, so I won’t be reviewing them.” In return, I got an angry email telling me that refusing to cover books from any given company was “unethical” and unfair and made me “close-minded” for not giving the comics a chance regardless of their publisher.

Personally, I thought a boycott was the definition of an ethical act, making a decision based on the policies of the company. (Also, if these books were any good, I would likely have chosen to mention them anyway. That they weren’t simply made the boycott easier.) I’ve chosen to not support a company that steals from talent, so I refuse to give them any promotional support or coverage in my venue.

According to this writer, though, he has nothing to do with the company’s “questionable practices”. He’s just written titles for them. I don’t agree that that absolves him of any association. I think “I just work for them” (or, with a freelancer, “I just get paid by them” — although that’s questionable in this case, which is the whole point) is this generation’s “I was just following orders.” When your name appears under their brand, there’s a connection.

The note ended, “No worries, you will not be receiving my books for review from Bluewater or any other companies I work for. Have fun reviewing comics you deem worthy.” Isn’t that the definition of reviewing? Writing about works deserving of more attention? That’s the purpose of this website, anyway, and why I chose the name I did.

Reviewers are not whores. We do not have to write about anyone who pays us with a review copy. We are supposed to make decisions and judgments based on what’s worth talking about. In the current market, there are many more titles out there than any site can cover. While it can be temporarily amusing to tear down a bad comic, I don’t think it benefits anyone in the long run, since it’s rare that a creator, nursing hurt feelings, takes the criticism in a helpful fashion, and I’m not writing for that purpose anyway. I’d rather spend the time telling people why a little-known book is good.

My decision was confirmed by this NY Times article asking whether negative publicity helps a product. A recent marketing study had these conclusions:

A crucial factor … is how familiar a brand or product or other entity was before the negative publicity. … [T]hey found that negative reviews of a new book by an “established” author hurt sales. “For books by relatively unknown (new) authors, however, negative publicity has the opposite effect,” increasing sales by 45 percent over their expected sales trajectory, they write. Evidently this boils down to increased awareness: the mere act of introducing something to a broader public — even by saying that it stinks — increases the chances that more members of that public will want it anyway.

Maybe that’s why this writer was working so hard to guilt me into mentioning his book on my website. Regardless of what I said about it, it would be a bonus to him for getting the equivalent of free ad space. Which is why I’m not going to play along.

Update: Author found! It’s by Polly Guo.

1. Don’t rely too much on listening to those who agree with or support you. Find some hard data instead of just going on hope. People who already have an idea set in their head — such as wanting to open a comic store — may just want someone to agree with them when they ask for advice. Sometimes people are truly seeking honest reactions, but it may just be about wanting validation. When I was asked, “Why didn’t you open a comic store?” (as I’d mentioned on this site I’d thought about previously), I think he expected an answer like “It’s a great idea but not right for me”, not “It’s a horrible business and I don’t think anyone should do it.” I said the latter, and that meant that everything else I said to this person wasn’t what he wanted to hear.

(Why I think that: The market is in too much flux, with traditional direct market comic shops being squeezed from all sides. You can’t easily compete with digital on one side and Barnes & Noble/Amazon on the other. The retailer has too little control over his own future, between dependence on an aging fanbase, a monopoly distributor for core product, and publishers who have yet to adopt some modern business practices. Hard work doesn’t allow for success unless you’re very lucky, and I didn’t want to invest money based on that gamble. I wanted a business where I had a better chance of controlling my own destiny through my own efforts.)

2. Speaking of data, the kind of information you need to write the kind of business plan that will convince other people (like banks) to give you money is not easily available for a reason. That’s really what this guy was hoping I could give him, since he hadn’t been able to find it on his own. You may want to talk to a consultant, which will cost you money. If you’re serious, spend it, because:

3. Free consulting is worth what you pay for it. I pointed this guy to ComicsPRO’s mentoring program, but he wasn’t willing to pay $80 to talk to people who were already running shops. He thought he was getting what he needed for free (although he was also complaining that everyone was telling him not to do it). Similarly, he wasn’t willing or able to work in a store for minimum wage in order to see first-hand what the business was really like. That’s the best thing you can do with any business, trying it out in an apprenticeship or by doing grunt work. That’s how you’ll see the day-to-day struggles and be sure you can cope with them.

4. Don’t depend on appearances. This guy saw 19 shops in his metropolitan area that seemed to be successful, with particular emphasis on a nearby guy who was doing fine with a shop opened three years ago. But he didn’t know any of their owners/managers well enough to find out if that was truly the case or ask them difficult questions. Maybe they were pulling payroll out of capital. Maybe they were using the traditional comic shop dodge of paying workers in trade instead of treating them as real, legal employees on a formal payroll (with the associated tax and other responsibilities). Maybe they are doing fine, but startup costs were more than expected. It’s hard to know.

5. Speaking of which, that many shops in one area suggest to me that the area is over-served, unless he had some genius idea to bring in new customers. His idea to supplement new comic sales (because every store nowadays needs to be comics plus something, often collections or games) was to sell back issues, because no stores in his immediate area did that. My response: “Maybe there’s a reason for that.” Back issues take up a lot of space and rarely sell well these days, what with ebay making it cheaper and easier to acquire them without having to dig through boxes. Having lots of successful competitors isn’t a good thing.

6. Which leads to: people rely too much on their own experience. This guy had been selling on ebay and at local flea markets, so that’s the part of the industry he was familiar with. If his
business there was going well, then sure, work on expanding and growing that, perhaps into a permanent location. I know someone who successfully did that over the past year. Maybe his area is an excellent choice for that kind of effort, I don’t know. And his optimism and determination and belief that he was going to do this would be what he needs to pull through the tough times.

It was a useful conversation, and I wish him the best. I’m not optimistic, but I don’t have to be. He does, and he is. Good luck, guy.

Update: I heard back from my correspondent, who would like you to know that he thinks this post was unbalanced, which yes, reflects our different perspectives. And I admit, I was exaggerating a bit to make the point strongly that the comic industry is a very tough business. However, I need to correct the following facts:

1. The ComicsPRO mentor program is, according to the information they gave him, simply access to their retailer message boards. If that’s so, I was misled into thinking it involved more hands-on interaction.

2. Not everyone he’s talked to told him not to do it — he’s gotten plenty of positive support elsewhere.

3. The 19 shops in his area are spread out over a 100-mile area. I was mistaken in thinking that was more consolidated. And some of them do carry back issues.

4. He doesn’t sell at flea markets, but at small local shows. I apologize for this — I was going on memory of one of our emails and misstated.

I’m not sure this changes our fundamental disagreement on whether or not comic retailing is a field to enter at this point, but I did want to set the record straight.

If the Justice League were made up of their favorite choices, the team would consist of Wonder Woman, Elongated Man, the Flash Wally West, Red Arrow, and Connor Hawke. A bit too heavy on the archers, but I’d read that. And having two members with the same powers provides some interesting competition and/or mentorship opportunities.

My thanks again to MyTeeSpot.com for providing the prizes for this giveaway. Be sure to visit them for all your Superhero T-Shirt needs.

The huge tree in our front yard had fallen due to wind, straight across the road in front of our house. Unfortunately, this was the sole way to get to about 30 houses in our neighborhood. It was also partially blocking the side road, which was a much smaller cul-de-sac.

Thankfully, no one was hurt (a near miracle since three girls were hanging out in the cul-de-sac in the storm for some reason 10 minutes earlier), and nothing was damaged, except for a neighbor’s car that had been parked across the street for three years. (In case you were curious, their car insurance is supposed to cover things like that, not my homeowner’s insurance, since this was an act of God.) The tree caved in the back window, cracked the front, and ripped up the convertible roof.

We called the non-emergency county police line, but the number was busy for at least half an hour. Not surprising, with wires and other trees down all over the area. A very helpful neighbor (shown here in white in the tree branches on the right) brought over a chainsaw, and others pitched in to drag branches out of the way. (That’s KC on the left, facing camera, talking to his new twin.)

The bright side of all this was getting to meet some other folks who lived in the neighborhood I didn’t previously know. We managed to get enough cleared that cars could get through in one lane, which made everyone returning home after work in the rain happier. The unfortunate part was all the cleanup. I finally did get through to the police, and county workers ended up coming by about 10:30 at night. (I wish they hadn’t had to, but we don’t have streetlights, and there was a possibility of someone hitting the debris in the dark. We have some younger drivers in the area, and I’m never sure how careful they will be.) They finished up at midnight, getting rid of a lot more than I expected they would, and a very helpful tree service guy came by this morning to take out the stump (taller than me!) and complete the cleanup. (Thank you, Neal Smith, of Smith’s Tree Service.) I also lost the pair of sandals I was wearing last night, ruined in the running around taking pictures so we could start the cleanup, and maybe the dress, but that’s a small enough price. It could have been a lot worse. We feel very lucky and blessed.

Oni Press is clearly my favorite, based on number of entries, followed by Top Shelf. And while reviewing the site to build this page, I realized that we haven’t heard anything from Alternative Comics or AIT/Planet Lar in a long while. That’s a shame.

I hope you find the page helpful if you’re looking for recommendations of what more to read. Also, if you’re curious as to what reviews I have coming up, check out the Reading List section in the right sidebar of the front page. That’s now been updated to cover everything I have on the stack.