DC Comic Book Releases for Tuesday, September 8th
BASKET FULL OF HEADS HC
The rain lashes the grassy dunes of Brody Island, and seagulls scream above the bay. A slender figure in a raincoat carries a large wicker basket, which looks like it might be full of melons… covered by a bloodstained scrap of the American flag.
This is the story of June Branch, a young woman trapped with four cunning criminals who have snatched her boyfriend for deranged reasons of their own. Now she must fight for her life with the help of an impossible 8th-century Viking axe that can pass through a man’s neck in a single swipe-and leave the severed head still conscious and capable of supernatural speech.
Each disembodied head has a malevolent story of its own to tell, and it isn’t long before June finds herself in a desperate struggle to hack through their lies and manipulations… racing to save the man she loves before time runs out.
BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS #16
It’s the last chance for the team to save the world-and to save Orphan and Signal from giving their allegiance to Lady Shiva! Plus, will Katana’s soultaker sword finally break for good? Will Black Lightning give off his last spark? And will Batman be able to destroy Ra’s al Ghul’s weapon?
BATMAN DETECTIVE COMICS VOL 2 ARKHAM KNIGHT TP
As a new era dawns, the Batman is facing the most dangerous threat of his career! The Arkham Knight has arrived in Gotham City with an entire round table of deadly allies, and their first encounter will leave Batman shaken to his core.
DARK KNIGHTS DEATH METAL TRINITY CRISIS #1 (ONE SHOT)
With Superman freed from his New Apokolips prison, the classic Trinity lineup is reunited and ready to rock! Wonder Woman, Batman and Superman amp up their power to launch an assault on Castle Bat, and that’s just the warm-up act! Three walking nightmares are hidden deep inside the fortress—but these Dark Multiverse versions of the Anti-Monitor, Superboy Prime and Darkseid hold the key to humanity’s survival. The Justice League have to face down their old nemeses, but will round two be the end for our heroes?
FLASH #761
FINISH LINE, PART THREE
It’s the Flash Family versus the Legion of Zoom! Witness the biggest battle in Flash history as the two sides go head-to-head for the fate of the future! Can the Flash stop the unstoppable Reverse-Flash from dragging him down into a personal hell Barry Allen can never escape?!
JOKER HARLEY CRIMINAL SANITY #5 (of 9)
Dr. Harley Quinn has confronted horrific crime scenes created by a serial murderer who treats his work as high art. But when she is confronted by the killer himself, her life takes a drastic turn. Will she be able to return to the status quo, and simply help the GCPD to catch this killer? Or will the encounter change her forever?
NIGHTWING #74
The Joker has poisoned Ric Grayson’s mind with false memories and pitted him against Batgirl, the Robins, and Batman. As Batgirl realizes the key to ending this nightmare is through the crystal around The Joker’s neck, it’s up to Grayson to use it on himself and fight for who he really is: Nightwing! And if he doesn’t get stuck in his own memories, will he be able to rescue the Bat-Family from The Joker’s plans and end this cruel joke once and for all?
SUPERMAN #25
New Villain Alert: Introducing Synmar! A colossal new threat to Superman, the planet Earth, and the DC Universe arrives on the scene in this special issue! The unique warrior called Synmar was created to represent an entire alien race. He’s trained his entire life-but for what purpose? As the antithesis of everything Superman stands for, Synmar launches his aggression toward Earth-to destroy the Man of Steel and every being on the planet! This is what Superman was born to protect us from!
WONDER WOMAN #762
NEW VILLAIN ALERT: LIAR LIAR DEBUTS! Random acts of violence are breaking out all over the Earth, and Wonder Woman is closing in on the source. The problem? It looks like a new ally is to blame for the widespread pandemonium. Check out the debut of the deadly new villain Liar Liar in this issue, plus the shocking connection between this new threat and a face from the past…
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Pop 45! Moment #9: WINNING THE EISNER AWARD![]()
The Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailing Award.![]()
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In 1996, the most prestigious award that was available in the comic book business was "The Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailing Award", named for the comic book writer, artist, and genius, Will Eisner. I wanted this award!![]()
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Ken Carson tackled this big project for That's Entertainment. He got right to work and within a short time he got us nominated for "The Eisner." That was the easy part! Now we had to convince the panel of judges that we deserved to win this. We were required to submit documentation about our physical location and the quality of our store image, our inventory, our support of small and innovative publishers, our community activity, our customer service policies, and much more!![]()
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Ken needed to include some "visual aids" with the package for the judges to consider so he began to collect some of the old photographs and articles from local newspapers. He also came up with the idea to enlist the help of two of our loyal customers to produce a short videotape movie about the store. Memo Salazar and Aaron Banyai were both talented filmmakers and they had a clever sense of humor. I had been involved in minor parts of two previous film projects of Memo's; one was a very funny look at a local county fair and the other was a low-budget, full-length movie in which I portrayed the owner of a comic bookstore (what a stretch!). My "big" scene was filmed in our Fitchburg store one night after we closed and although the finished scene was only about four minutes long, it took almost an hour to film. Although I was snubbed by the Academy of Motion Pictures (and didn't even get an Oscar nomination!), it was still fun to be part of the movie-making process.![]()
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Memo offered his creative gifts to make a short video about our store. He filmed the store building, the displays of new comics, back issues, and collectibles. He interviewed customers who were willing to give testimonials about our service and vast inventory. He filmed some of our employees as they described their function in the That's Entertainment hierarchy. I was filmed describing our decades of experience in the comic book hobby and business and our commitment to expanding the community awareness of both the comic book industry and our stores. Memo used a clever technique to try to convey the huge size of our store to the viewers. He placed himself on a wheeled cart and filmed while Aaron moved the cart up the aisles so the whole length of our retail space was apparent. When Memo finished editing the film, Ken packaged up the videotape, all the pictures, testimonial letters, and documentation needed for the panel of judges. We didn't win.![]()
After our narrow "defeat" in 1996, we were honored by being nominated again in 1997, and with a little additional information, we won The Will Eisner Spirit Of Comics Retailing Award at Comic-Con International: San Diego '97. A few weeks later I received the beautiful statue and the award certificate in the mail. Our business was now recognized internationally for its passion and dedication to our customers and comic books!![]()
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#thatsentertainment #pop45 #pop45countdown
Have you checked out the comics in our comics display case lately? We filled it with lots of gems, including Marvel Comics Mystery No.49, graded 4.5, $4,999.99. We also have a San Diego ComicCon exclusive comic from 1993, featuring the first appearance of Hellboy, graded 9.6, $364.99. Stop in to scope out these books and many others!
Pop 45 Countdown: Moment #10![]()
America’s Longest Running Amateur Comic Book ![]()
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Way back in 1965, when I was a young ten-year-old kid, I created a comic book superhero called Insect Man. Rex Mason (secretly Insect Man!) fought crime in crudely-drawn comic book adventures that I shared with my classmates. These small comic books were popular with the other kids and a few of us even played “superheroes” and “villains” during our recess time! I wrote and drew the Insect Man comic books for quite a few years but as life got busier I stopped producing new adventures of Insect Man. Then I opened our comic book and collectible store. ![]()
One of my customers, Peter Fries, asked if I’d be interested in resuming publication of the comic book series. He had created a new super-hero team called “The Defensors” and he wanted to feature them in the new Insect Man comic books. Peter wrote and drew a three-issue storyline and we began publishing Insect Man again. We had these issues offset printed in black and white and we sold quite a lot of them in our store. Some of my other customers began to write and draw stories too. Dan Courtney and Chris Coleman created a few issues about a new super-hero named “Silverlion.” I enjoyed publishing these stories but these issues didn’t feature my character of Insect Man. Another customer, Larry Young, wrote and drew a story that would feature the exciting return of Insect Man! He designed a new costume and this issue was an instant hit! We sold out of every copy we printed! Larry didn’t have time to do any more issues but David M. Lynch stepped up and began writing the new Insect Man comics.![]()
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Over the next few years, we had many other people draw the Insect Man comics including Ken Carson, William Byrd, Gary Henderson, Holly Hunt, and more! The local newspapers wrote articles about “Worcester’s Own Super-Hero!” and sales increased on our Insect Man comics. Eventually, since Insect Man had become our official store mascot, we decided to commemorate his 25th anniversary by publishing a real, full-size comic book that was distributed all over the country! We had a full-color front cover by popular artist, Rick Vietch, and a great back cover by Kevin Eastman, the co-creator of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! ![]()
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Twenty-five years later we published the Insect Man 50th Anniversary Edition. It has a full-color front cover by the legendary artist, Gene Colan (artist of Marvel Comics Daredevil, Doctor Strange, Iron Man, Sub-Mariner, and more!) and a back cover by Andy Fish (artist of Dark Horse Comics Blackwood, Archie’s Sabrina, and many more!) We’ve produced over 115 different issues of Insect Man comics over the past fifty years!![]()
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To find out more about my life in comics, visit my blog at:![]()
mylifewithcomicbooks.blogspot.com/.../my-life-with...![]()
#thatsentertainmentpop45countdown #comics #comicshopnews #thatsentertainment #insectman #worcesterma
Join us for our upcoming Magic the Gathering Pre-release, Tarkir: Dragonstorm!![]()
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#TarkirDragonstorm #mtgcommunity #magicthegathering #tarkir #mtgprerelease #worcestermahobby #GameStores #thatsentertainment
Pop 45 Countdown ![]()
Moment #11: Chandler Lives!![]()
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Around 2007, Ken and our marketer Evan felt we needed a bold and distinctive LOGO as part of branding our burgeoning “Pop-Culture Emporium.” Now I always considered the name “That’s Entertainment” displayed in the Broadway typeface to be our logo; I also felt that my own superhero, Insect Man, could continue to be used as a mascot/logo—it was a cool image our COMIC fans had come to associate with "The Friendly COMIC Shop" (for many years, Insect Man as drawn by Willie Blyberg was featured on our store bags). But the guys wanted something that would more fully represent the entire DIVERSIFIED, one-stop pop-culture and entertainment store we had become.![]()
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They sat down and brainstormed with a designer we know named Ken Racicot, who really helped them develop and refine their ideas. Before too long they had a rough concept and design figured out, and they turned to another old friend of the store, artist Derek Ring, to “bring it all home.” I’ve mentioned Derek before as the creator of a comic called “Monster.” By this time, Derek’s art and design career had really taken off, his distinctive work was everywhere, and he was in HIGH demand! We knew we were incredibly fortunate to connect with an artist of his caliber!![]()
Derek presented us with many interesting variations of the basic idea of a retro-looking Robot surrounded by an explosion of pop-culture! Emailing back and forth with him, Evan and Ken made a bunch of choices and suggested some revisions and additions to the preliminary designs. A few of these different “directions” are shown in the image below! You’ll see that some of the decisions to be made about the overall “look” of the logo were dramatic, and others were more subtle-- including even what his "smile" would look like! ![]()
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The FINAL version of the That’s Entertainment Robot logo as we know it today arrived by email one morning. Ken recalls clicking on the image file attachment and spontaneously saying “WOW!” out loud as it filled the screen in full color! Derek had done an amazing job, beyond all expectations! We had our logo, and we still use it all the time!![]()
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A few years later, we decided we needed a proper NAME for the Robot. We even ran a Robot coloring contest and asked for suggestions. None of the ideas seemed on target (Roboty McRobotface??). Finally, we turned back to our ROOTS for the name he has today, the name of the street That's Entertainment started on in 1980: CHANDLER! And now you know... the REST of the story!![]()
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To find out more about my life in comics, visit my blog at:![]()
mylifewithcomicbooks.blogspot.com/.../my-life-with...![]()
#thatsentertainmentpop45countdown #comics #comicshopnews #thatsentertainment #robots #chandler
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Call now to sign up to play one or more board games at our Free Board Game Demo this Saturday, Nov. 5th! Each table will have a teacher who will show you how to play! 508-755-4207. Lots of spots still open! #boardgames #tabletopfun pic.twitter.com/FA4s…
