The State of Things (Part 1)...

I've been lazy. Lord fuck have I been lazy. Burnt out, tired, worn down, a shell of my former self - all also pertinent terms for what I've been, but mostly I've just been fucking lazy. No reviews in two weeks, no blog in three, and I've barely made it to the gym a handful of times in 18 days now. So little done from the guy who typically works forty-five hours a week, spends ten in the gym, cranks out three pages or so of "written word" (if you can call it that) and crams in a novel or two, dozens of comics, and even some electronic delights instead of sleep. I'm not going to get into where's and why-fores for all this (you could blame some of it on my shiny new Samsung TV I imagine, but then I'd have to cut you. It's like a child to me) it's just time to change all of this back to how it should be, which means it's time to sit down and talk comics.

So apparently Robert Kirkman wants change in the comic book industry. Good for him because I do too. And yes, I know this news is old hat by now, and everyone has weighed in everything and then some on the subject matter and yelled and hollered back and for at each other. And everyone has come up with their own solutions to "Save the comic book industry!" and on and on and on. And I'm here to say: You ain't saving shit. You're not saving anything, I'm not saving anything, the heads of every last publisher and distributor can sit down and brainstorm their fucking tits off - nothing is coming of it.

How the industry is going about itself as it tries to decide what it wants to be is almost never really going to be able to properly deal with what ever perceived problems it has in itself because, quite frankly, I don't even think we know yet. Is it too small a reader base? Is it practices and decisions made by the bigger companies of the industry? Is it that there's not enough quality coming from, or attention being paid to, the smaller publishers and Indie guys? Is it just the fact that people as a whole in our society just really don't read as much anymore?

I haven't a fucking clue. I have an opinion, and I have some observations I tend to make, and to be perfectly honest I actually tend to have a mad on at my fellow comic book readers, and on occasion lay a lot of blame as far as some issues I personally have with the comic book industry on them and their buying habits. I really do, unfair as it may be, but it's not unlike how some of your more "knowledgeable" or "discerning" movie goers will cite problems with Hollywood and the vast movie going public. Elitest? Yes. Snobby? Sure. A little close to home? Probably. I just happen to think people are too willing to settle on their comics, or too afraid to branch out, or that we as fans (yes we, I'm not going to sit back and point fingers at everyone else, I'm as much a problem as anyone in this matter. I'm not that big of an asshole, I just play one on TV) are a bit on the fickle side, or have a tendency to turn on our comics like a White House aide come scandal time.

So I'm going to talk about comics. Really what I want to do is more or less highlight parts of the industry. I want to break down the publishers and talk about what they're doing, what they're printing, and really what, if any, of it is worth a damn or dollar. The "Big Two", the "Biggish Two" and whatever Indies I delve in (which, sadly, isn't as much as it should be though I honestly do try). I wanna talk pull lists, cover price, ads, Previews, distro, and the people that read them... pretty much the full nine yards. Given that I couldn't be bothered to type anything up for almost a month I figure I'm either due for a long string of these things, or I'll never do a damn one of these again now that I've puffed up my chest and acted all full of resolve. Fuck you though, I've got a pretty new Flat Panel TV. And item of that type is like fucking crack to me. I won't rest until I've fidgeted with every setting, replayed every last video game I own, and redone every last piece of wiring I have. Before you know it, I'll be huddled up with a pint of HagenDaas watching repeats of Gilmore Girls in HD. Oh god HD...

Also, it's starting to enter election time, and if anyone knows me they know it's best to put me on Suicide Watch as this fucking mindless Dog and Pony show and travesty to the term "Society" progresses forward. I might have to hook up a Bourbon IV just to numb myself to it all. Or take the HST approach to dealing with the banality to come.

I'll try to be back in a couple days with something hopefully worth reading. For now though, time to go into "Ohhhh... pretty!" mode as I start cramming random Blu-Rays into the PS3 to see what all this tech I bankrupted my unborn child's future for can do. Please, someone call me off work tomorrow will you? I'm out of "New $2400 TV" vacation days...

Cheers...