My penultimate Vast Accumulation of Stuff garage sales of the year were big fun and very profitable. Fans came from literally all over the country with one of my Facebook friends coming from Texas on his way to visit his family in Michigan. There were familiar faces and new ones. Including one fan who had last seen me thirty years ago at a Mid-Ohio-Con where Bob Ingersoll and I had signed his copy of Captain America: Liberty’s Torch. He said we had treated him with great kindness and made him feel like a part of the family. Ripples, my friends, ripples. You never know when a simple act of kindness will remain with someone all their lives and, hopefully, inspire them to treat others in kind.
Sales-wise, I reached 113% of my goal for the weekend. That money will go towards a much-needed renovation of my bathroom and save Saintly Wife Barb from the horror of my using hers. This is how you stay married for forty years.
My final VAOS garage sales of 2024 will be Friday and Saturday, September 27 and 28, 9 am to noon at 840 Damon Drive, Medina, Ohio. I’ve already started restocking for that event.
Moving on, here are things that brought me joy in August.
August 1: Monster Bash #53. I came for the amazing cover feature on one of my favorite movies of all time, but I’m staying because the entire magazine is fun. I also enjoyed the recollections from the readers and the “My Favorite Things” parody.
August 2: Batman: Caped Crusader. Batman is back on Amazon Prime! I love the animation style. I love the new take on the Penguin. I love the sense of retro dread in every shot. The writing and acting are excellent. Highly recommended.
August 3: The Complete Web of Horror. This book reprints the short-lived but pivotal magazine of the 1960s and adds stories originally created for subsequent issues. Wrightson. Kaluta. Reese. Brunner. It’s a solid contender for an Eisner Award.
August 4: Vivien Chien’s Peking Duck and Cover is her new “Noodle Shop Mystery.” Once again, Lana Lee finds herself in the middle of a murder at Cleveland’s Asia Village. Why hasn’t Hollywood turned these great books into a TV series?
August 5: A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (Netflix). Pip is looking into the murder of a girl five years earlier. The girl’s boyfriend confessed and committed suicide. Pip doesn’t think that’s the real story. One episode in and I’m hooked.
August 6: Tracker. It was fun seeing Jensen Ackles playing Justin Hartley’s brother. I’m glad he’ll be back next season to continue the Shaw family drama. It’s one of the few ongoing TV subplots that has been able to hold my interest.
August 7: Sarge Steel. I’ve been thinking of this 1960s character of late, triggered by the absolute vile way DC Comics portrays him in its brutal fare. He deserves much better. For now, I’ll have to be content with a collection of his original tales.
August 8: Wonder Woman Vol. 1: Outlaw by Tom King, Daniel Sampere and Tomeu Morey. Despite its vile characterization of Sarge Steel, this is an intense and well-written book with breathtaking art by Sampere and Morey.
August 9: Mega Crocodile 2. I was looking for some goofy fun and, yowza, did this cheesy Chinese monster movie do the job! Possibly the most manic crocodiles I’ve seen, victims flung all over, a good human story. You can see it on YouTube.
August 10: Mad Scientist #31. When you’re as disorganized as I am, you sometimes find hidden unread gems like this 2016 issue. A fine issue, especially editor/publisher Martin Arlt’s amazing article on The Thing from Another World.
August 11: Action Comics #1067 features Jefferson Pierce before he became Black Lightning. Written by Gail Simone and drawn by Eddy Barrows, it’s authentic Black Lightning. Something we need to see more of in DC comic books.
August 12: Bad Monkey. Vince Vaughn is a suspended police detective who gets drawn into a case involving a severed arm and many levels of corruption. This terrific new Apple+ TV is based on the novel by Carl Hiaasen. I’m enjoying the heck out of it.
August 13: Washington’s Gay General: The Legends and Loves of Baron von Steuben by Josh Trujillo and Levi Hastings. The Baron shaped U.S. military training. Members of the LGBTQ+ community have been contributing to our nation from the start.
August 14: Done-in-one stories. I recently read two terrific ones: Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #12 and Doctor Strange #18, both by Mark Waid. These are welcome relief from the overblown story arcs and crossover events we see too many of.
August 15: Jackpot! starring Awkwafina and John Cena, and streaming on Amazon Prime, this is a goofy movie set in a near-future L.A. where if you kill a big lottery winner, you get their money. It’s big dumb fun and just what I needed.
August 16: Once again, manga exhibits its amazing range. My Brain is Different: Stories of ADHD and Other Developmental Disorders by Monzusu presents nine true tales that offer some basic information for readers. I recommend it to librarians.
August 17: Gender Studies: The Confessions of an Accidental Outlaw by Ajuan Mance is a neat little graphic album of autobiographical stories. Race, gender and geekiness mix in a work that is funny and insightful. I liked it a lot.
August 18: Batman/Superman: World’s Finest by Mark Waid and Dan Mora. After reading the first three trades, I realized this is my favorite current DC Comics title. So I added it to my pull list at my friendly not-in-my-neighborhood comics shop.
August 19: Anyone Comics. Located at 831 Nostrand Avenue in my once-home of Brooklyn, New York, Anyone has been my friendly not in my neighborhood comics shop for several months. They’re great and I hope to visit them in person some day. 8-19-24.
August 20: Valentine Bluffs Massacre by S.A. Check, James Kukoric and Andrea Arcari, this entertaining sequel to My Bloody Valentine movies is published by American Mythology Productions. Not the stuff of awards, but fun nonetheless.
August 21: My friend Mark Dooley has recently published a slew of comic books, including the moving The Actual, Semi-True Adventures of Mark and Dee Holiday Special. Different and worthwhile, his comics are worth checking out.
August 22: Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books. A book banner sets up a mini-library of “decent” books in her yard. A prankster puts the book covers on banned books. The ripples from this go far. Entertaining and suspenseful.
August 23: RizTech. Located at 215 S. Court Street on Medina’s City Square, this fine establishment recovered my data from when my old computer and set me up with a new computer. I recommend them highly.
August 24: Census by Marc Bernadin, Adam Freeman and Sebastian Priz. Liam Malone gets a job with the Census Bureau registering all manner of supernatural beings. It’s clever, dire and funny. I’m looking forward to the second volume.
August 25: “Legendary.” In its April 28 episode, The Equalizer took on anti-LGBTQ bigotry and conversion camps. Sadly, over two dozen states still allow these evil institutions.
August 26: Huda F Are You? By Huda Fahmy is the first of three semi-autobiographical graphic novels in which the author both celebrates and explores her American-Muslim identity. Hilarious, yet also serious in portraying anti-Muslim bigotry.
August 27: The Killer. Streaming on Peacock, this is director’s John Woo’s remake of his 1989 film. Nathalie Emmanuel plays hit woman Zee. I make no excuses for loving solid action movies with lethal ladies. I just do.
August 28: John Wick 4. Oh, my dear Keanu, your unkempt mass slaughtering never fails to entertain me, though I’m at a loss to figure out why. And Bill Skarsgard was wonderfully nasty as the villain. Will there really be a John Wick 5?
August 29: The Continental. This three-part series takes us back to the hotel-for-assassins (seen in John Wick) in the 1970s and the battle between a young Winston Scott and the thoroughly vile Mel Gibson. More high body count fun.
August 30: Only Murders in the Building is back with its fourth season murder mystery stretching from New York to Hollywood. Steve, Martin, Selena, I love you all madly. You’re must-watch TV for Saintly Wife Barb and me.
August 31: Animals #1 by Keith Foster and Ed Condon. I picked up this creepy “what the frack is happening with nature” comic book at G-Fest. It was suspenseful enough that I have ordered the next issue.
Here are my “Best of the Month” picks.
BEST COMIC BOOK OR GRAPHIC NOVEL: Batman/Superman: World’s Finest by Mark Waid and Dan Mora
BEST BOOK: Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books
BEST MOVIE OR TV SHOW: Only Murders in the Building
BEST PERSON(S): The staff at Anyone Comics.
BEST OTHER THING: Mega Crocodile 2
Keep watching this space for much more bloggy fun, including a list of my upcoming appearances. Love you all madly.
© 2024 Tony Isabella
RECOMMENDATION: Feral (Image), written by Tony Fleecs, art by Trish Forstner and Tone Rodriguez, color by Brad Simpson.
ReplyDeleteHousecats accidentally released into the wild during a rabies epidemic struggle for survival. From the creators of Stray Dogs.