This is a Concept?

I visited the much-heralded Borders Concept Store on Monday, and I wasn't terribly impressed. Overall the feeling was of something cheap; more like a Media Play than a regular book store. A lot of half-height shelves but no clear organization or clear walking paths.

The highly-touted graphic novel island was just a set of half-height shelves near the science fiction & fantasy section. There's a funky display hanging overhead that isn't labeled antyhing (unlike the Cooking island) but does have giant cubes with manga characters (and Spider-Man). It was clearly dominated by manga, with the amime dvds shelved adjacent. It wasn't any larger than the manga & graphic novels section at Borders #1 in downtown Ann Arbor, which is much more impressive as a gigantimus tower of manga & GNs that lies at the entrance to the youth & genre fiction (sci-fi, fantasy, horror, mysteries) sections.

No doubt I'll return to the new Borders store, as it is much more conveniently located than the other two Ann Arbor locations. But I wouldn't exactly call it a huge success from a promotional or marketing perspective. Still, it's good that Borders has a store with which they plan on experimenting; maybe they'll hit the right formula one of these days...

New Library Comics: Week of February 17, 2008

Here's a list of the comics we added to our library collection last week:


Irwin, Jane. Vögelein vol. 2 : old ghosts / Ann Arbor, Mich : Fiery Studios, 2003-

McNeil, Carla Speed. Finder book 1 : sin-eater / Annapolis Junction, MD : Lightspeed Press, c2007-

Obrist, Hans-Ulrich. Robert Crumb / Köln : König, 2006.

Reumann, Helge. Elvis Road. Oakland, Calif. : Buenaventura Press, c2007.


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This Just Might Be the Greatest Marvel Comic Ever

Newsarama has the story that Paul Tobin will be writing a new comic in the Marvel Adventures line, Marvel Adventures Super-Heroes. One of the issues will feature art by his wife and Banana Sunday collaborator Colleen Coover (her again!), and it will feature Spider-Man, and Hellcat, and Mary Jane, and She-Hulk, and Clea, and the Enchantress, and Marvel Girl, and the Scarlet Witch. Also: Millie the Model.

BTW, Tobin is also starting a four-issue run on Marvel Adventures Fantastic Four with YACB fave and ex-Spider-Man Loves Mary Jane artist David Hahn on three of those issues. It starts this week with MAFF #34, so be sure to look for it tomorrow at your friendly local comic shop!

Phoebe Gloeckner Vid

Randomly caught this on the Michigan Channel while channel surfing late at night. I went to all the trouble of transferring from the TiVo and converting to a usable format, then discovered it was already on YouTube:

Colleen Coover's Power Focus

Another Colleen Coover Alert!

According to her LiveJournal, Colleen will be illustrating a series of 2-page back-ups for the upcoming Power Pack: Day One mini under the umbrella title "Power Focus." In these pieces written by Fred Van Lente (of Action Philosophers fame) the Power Pack kids take turns explaining the laws of physics. Fun!

The Most Popular Graphic Novel in All the Land

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Yes, I know there's some dispute over whether or not Diary of a Wimpy Kid is a graphic novel; but here's a prominent window display of Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Roderick Rules at Borders store #1 here in Ann Arbor.

BTW, I plan on visiting the new Borders Concept Store sometime next week, and hopefully will have pictures of their Graphic Novel Island.

My Original Art

I don't own a lot of original comic art, but I do own four pieces of original art from Superman by Curt Swan. They've been matted and framed and now hang on the wall in my back hallway. This makes scanning them troublesome, but I did recently pull out the digital camera:


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Here the four pieces hang side-by-side on the wall.



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Superman vs. Chemo from Superman #382, inked by Dave Hunt.


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Lana Lang confronts Jimmy Olsen and new cub reporter Justin Moore in Superman #383, inked by Dave Hunt.



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Jimmy Olsen discovers a villain at a radio telescope in Superman #378, inked by Dave Hunt.



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Lois Lane infiltrates the villains' lair. Can she uncover their plot to use a deadly Hydrogen Bomb?! From Superman #238, inked by Murphy Anderson.