Friday Rant Time

Since Nathaniel's post yesterday was both grounded and sincere, I figure it only makes sense to follow up today with something much...less...grounded. But still quite sincere. Quite dorkily (and somewhat pathetically) sincere. So, here goes.

There are things in life that annoy me. Things like flat tires, stolen credit card numbers, and people who talk during movies. There are things in life that anger me, like rising interest rates, unfathomable cost of living increases, and Ewoks.

And then there are things in life that downright make me want to rant like a madman. And, this past Wednesday (new comics day) something happened that triggered this need to scream bloody murder. But, before I can do so, a little back story is necessary.

Now, it's well known around these parts that I am a fan of Neil Gaiman's writing, and that I am a fan of the fictional comic character, Batman. So, what this boils down to is that, if you have Neil Gaiman write a Batman comic, then you pretty much have Alex's money.

Quite simple, really.

And, wouldn't ya know it, this week saw part one of Neil Gaiman's two-part Batman story entitled Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? hit comic shops. There's the awesome Andy Kubert cover to the book, right down there:


Please take another moment to reflect upon the awesomeness of the cover. Done? OK, we'll proceed then. As you might expect, come Wednesday morning, Alex was excited to purchase the above comic book. And, since I'm annoying myself by using the third person, I'll stop. And apologize. So, sorry about that.

Anywho, I was pretty psyched to read this book, and it was going to be the first book I picked up off the shelf at my LCS. And, though I typically don't have time to read through my stack of comics until the weekend, the plan was to read the issue that very night so it wouldn't be spoiled online.

Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans of mice and men.

In this case, said plans were ruined by a speculator (the lowest form of anything, anywhere, by the way) coming into the store and purchasing 20 copies of the book.

20! COPIES!

The store ran out of its stock by the time I arrived, so the owner made sure to order more immediately, and they should arrive in time for this weekend. Which is completely fine with me, since like I said, I usually don't read the books until then, anyway. And, yes, I have successfully managed to NOT have the story spoiled...well, not yet, anyway.

And, though I was a bit perturbed by not being able to get my greasy little hands on a copy of the book, I certainly wasn't angry at the store. What were they going to do--NOT sell product? Especially in these times, every sale matters.

Instead, my rage is squarely (and appropriately) concentrated on the speculator. Because he is a jerk. Speculators (and greedy companies) did their very best to kill comics in the 90s, so whenever I hear stories like this, it makes my skin crawl.

What the heck is the guy gonna do with 20 copies of a book that's not in limited quantities, and is readily available? Sell them on Ebay for...cover price? Get all of them graded, then sell them for...about the cost of grading? Build a little fort to stave off an Ewok attack?

Stuff like that baffles my mind, man. And it leads me to this week's Exfanding Your Horizons Public Service Announcement:

Don't be a speculator. Just read your comics.


OK. Rant over. Happy Friday, everyone!