Interview with a Real-Life Comic Store Hero!

Courtesy of Midtown Comics & National Geographic

That's no typo kids, I got a chance to chat with Thor Parker, one of the stars of Comic Store Heroes!  That's right, I got a chance to chat with the Events Director of Midtown Comics, one of the biggest comic stores in the world.


Unlike other shows, Comic Store Heroes tries not to focus on the in-store sales and trades. Gerry is one of the owners, while Thor runs events and Alex handles major buys. So they spend more time focusing on their customer stories and how comics can change lives. Thor really expressed his caring side (that's a new side) about how Midtown Comics can bring people together, and I have to admit he is right. I have met so many geeks that are now good friends in their stores.


If you have been to the Midtown stores then you will know that the show takes place in all three, despite only showing the front of the Times Sq store. Fun Easter egg! Filming stretched out over a year, so there is even a chance you might see someone you know!


Thor said he hopes no one judges this show based on Comic Book Men, and that it is a different store in a similar setting. I asked for some feelings about the lack of women on CBM, which Thor said is not an issue with CSH. Midtown staffer Zoe Gulliksen appears along with customer and blogger Jill Pantozzi. I'm sure some of the other store employees also make some quick cameos. Thor said that the CSH producers tried to take the complaints about CBM into account when planning the show. Thor's wish is that this show promotes a positive view of fans and who we are to the world.

Courtesy of Midtown Comics & National Geographic

Knowing Thor, I was quick to ask for embarrassing stories from the show. While he didn't divulge anything, he did promise that he is very comfortable making a fool of himself on camera and that I will be pleased. Thor did say he would love it if they did a blooper reel so he could see all the stuff that was cut. I also made a point to see how big Thor's ego had grown. Thor said with a laugh "My ego is already huge, so [the show] hasn't affected it at all."


While this is a one episode deal, there is potential for more if enough viewers tune into National Geographic at 8pm est to watch! Yes, a lot of geeks are at SDCC tonight but as Thor put it, everyone is focused on comics now. Get your non-geek friends to watch too!


Just remember, tune into National Geographic Channel at 8pm est to watch!


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Alex Robinson from Too Cool to be Forgotten at the Midtown Comics Book Club

Midtown Comics Book Club was last week, and Thor & Zoe brought us a really good one: Too Cool To Be Forgotten by Alex Robinson.

In case you haven't read this awesome book from Top Shelf, here are the basics.  The story follows Andy Wicks on his quest to quit smoking. As a last ditch effort, his wife takes him to a hypnotist to help him stop. From there, Andy falls back in time to the '80's when he was in high school. He quickly realizes that here he can finally get to redo everything he regretted, including smoking.  Through his journey, he gets to the true root of his problem and it's not what he thinks.  

In this book, I love that he keeps remarking how he forgot how difficult it was to be a teen.  I think that every parent should read this just so they get the slap in the face about the horrors of high school.

WARNING:

This post contains face-melting spoilers.

Read at your face’s risk.

If symptoms continue for more than 4 hours, contact [insertgeekhere].

At the Q&A, Alex Robinson talked about how this book came to be. Surprisingly, this came about because his 20th High School reunion was happening. Even though he didn't attend, this book helped him deal with feelings that came up.

Thor asked about how the 1980's genre fit into the story.  Robinson said that he tried to avoid the classic characters that you see in every 80's movie that are too cool. He decided to go look at his own high school yearbook for inspiration and write more realistic teenagers.   The base style of the characters are based on his former classmates.  He even used some of his lunchroom conversations from school, just for realism.  One of the ways Robinson tried to convey realism is in the scene where Andy reaches out to one of the loners.  The loner kid ends up being mad at Andy for talking to him.  Robinson wanted to show that sometimes loners are anti-social for a reason.

Despite how Andy resembled Alex Robinson, there were differences.  Robinson had to make Andy more social, but he didn't go to parties as a kid.  He tended to stay home and draw a lot!  Robinson also never smoked; this was just used a device to send Andy back in time without too much tech.  Also, Robinson never lost his dad.  His father is still alive and well but because of this book, many fans go up to Robinson and tell him their own heart-wrenching tale.  However, Robinson didn't have the best relationship with his dad.  His parents did divorce and he had a rocky relationship for a while.

This is a fantastic book with so many great feelings wrapped up in it.  At first glance, I really had no idea the wild ride it would take me on.  I am not the only one that felt this way; Thor also remarked that in rereading this, he felt overwhelmed with all of the emotions that it brought on.  Robinson let it spill that it has been optioned for a live-action movie, so I can only hope that they do it true justice.

The June book is Northlanders Vol. 1 with writer Brian Wood.   I highly recommend that you read this.  When I picked this up, I couldn't put it down!   Make sure that you join us!

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Midtown Comics' First Book Club with American Vampire's Scott Snyder

Last Friday, the IGH team went to check out Midtown Comics' first Book Club featuring Scott Snyder, the creator and writer of American Vampire.

If you haven’t read American Vampire, then you have been missing out. Debuting in March of 2010, the first arc follows the lives (unlives) of Skinner Sweet and Pearl Jones.  

Skinner Sweet was an outlaw in the Wild West (1880’s), who was accidentally turned into a vampire by a European vampire named Percy. This is an important fact because when Percy’s European blood mixed with Skinner’s American blood a new type of vampire was born. While all the new attributes of the American vampire are not known, we do know they are impervious to sunlight, which makes moving around more convenient.

Later on, in the 1920’s, Skinner saves the life (sort of) of Pearl Jones, who had been attacked by a group of the European vamps. Skinner turns Pearl and helps steer her towards the beings that hurt her. While Pearl does wreck some bloody, bloody havoc, she proves herself to be different from Skinner Sweet in that she is not all about causing chaos and murderous killing sprees.

Which leads us into the talk with Scott Snyder. One thing Scott mentioned was he felt that Skinner and Pearl, while not two sides of the same coin, were definitely different but bonded together. Skinner is more representative of the fierce, wild, rebellious individuality that is a very American ideal and Pearl is more personable and admirable and accepting of what is and making the most of it.

Other highlights include:

The light bulb moment when Scott got his idea for American Vampire came about when he was in the Lower East Side and came across a die cast of a confederate soldier coming out of his grave, zombie- style. It got him thinking and soon, American Vampire was born.

Scott is a huge vampire fan, but not of the more romanticized and less frightening vamps like Twilight, though he did say he respected Stephanie Meyers for doing something different with vampires (making them heartthrobs). True Blood is a little more his taste, but he feels the scariest type of vampire is the one who you know but don’t realize is different. Your neighbor, your best friend, your co-worker, or your spouse – any one of them could one day turn around and try to drain you and that’s far scarier than the exoticism of the True Blood vamps or the sparkly Twilight vamps.

He also wanted to get back to the old school days of vampires being less tech savvy and more vicious, hands on killers. He talked about how in the 90’s a lot of the vampire movies were more Matrix-y or like Blade and he wanted something more like The Lost Boys. Basically, he wanted scary.

Scott talked a lot about his admiration for Stephen King, who wrote five issues detailing the origins of Skinner Sweet. “Steve” King originally was going to write a blurb about American Vampire, but he liked everything so much he wanted to write an issue but he wasn’t sure they would let him because he’d never written a comic. Scott quickly assured him they would want him. What was supposed to be one issue quickly turned into five, which also ended up giving American Vampire its concurrent storylines.

Scott said nothing but nice things about Stephen. He told a funny story about how the editors suggested certain changes and Stephen replied with an email titled “Why All Editors Should Die.” [Side note: Scott said really great things about the editors. He takes their notes seriously, and he spoke of how important they are.] Scott also said he would love to get Stephen’s scripts online so everyone could see how deep and complex they were.

When asked about distinguishing American Vampire among a vamp-heavy market, Scott spoke about how originally he and artist Raphael Albuquerque – who will be listed as co-creator starting with issue thirteen, wanted to market it as anti-Twilight and True Blood, so Raphael created two posters, one with Skinner Sweet standing over a bunch of dead bodies with the tagline, “This isn’t your little sister’s vampire.” and another one featuring Pearl with the tagline, “I don’t fucking sparkle.” A different marketing approach was chosen but I really hope they release these posters because I would buy them in a heartbeat.

The reason the Old West was chosen to kick things off is because it is a very American timeline, but Scott wants to explore other times. A World War II story is coming up, the 50’s will be explored, and he also talked about looking further back such as to Roanoke or exploring the origins of the Carpathian vampires.


Scott wants to look at how these new American vampires affect the vampiric world as a whole because he views the American vamp as another branch of the vampire family tree. What are their new powers as well as weaknesses? He also talked about examining the various vampire group around the world. 

He knows how the book will end but not what will happen on the way there.

The characters and emotional arc are what’s most important. He likes when the emotional content hits you a few moments after the events have unfolded. It’s truer to real life and a good reflective moment resonates better.

And finally, Skinner Sweet is NOT based on Kid Rock. His DNA consists of Elvis with some Kurt Cobain. And as an audience member pointed out, Lost’s Josh Holloway would make an excellent Skinner Sweet.

Overall, it was a great night. Scott was very open and gave a lot of insight and fun facts. The audience asked intelligent and thoughtful questions, including our own Getsuyobi, and our hosts, Thor Parker and Zoe Gulliksen made sure everything ran smoothly. The only slightly negative comment I have about the evening is Thor and Zoe never introduced themselves. I was familiar with their names but I was not aware of who they were, and I know I wasn’t the only one. They did such a good job, I wanted to thank them but I felt a little uncomfortable approaching them without knowing their names. To find out, we resorted to asking TheCBGuy who they were.

American Vampire Vol. 1 is now out in stores and if you are “trade waiting” like me, Vol. 2 (the Vegas cycle) will be out around May 2^nd and Vol. 3 will arrive later in the fall. [Trade waiting was Scott’s term. I’d never heard it put that way before and I love it. He’d prefer you go out and buy the single issues, but if you can’t, get Vol. 2. You won’t regret it.]

Next month’s Book Club will feature Guerillas by Brahm Revel. We’ll be there. Hope to see you there too.

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