Birthday Swag, 2013

Am I still allowed to use the term "swag"?  I realize that it's taken on a life of its own in the past year or so, but still feel an affinity to it because of Bender's use of it in the Futurama episode "Godfellas".  So here it stays, I suppose.  Last month I celebrated my birthday driving to Washington DC to present at a conference, so I didn't have a party as much as I just sat around thinking about how great it was that I've managed to stave off the icy grip of death for a 32nd consecutive year.  That's pretty impressive!  I wonder if it's a record or something.

Anyway, this post isn't about the finite and fragile nature of humanity - it's about what cool stuff I got for my birthday.  So let's start with the above picture, an AWESOME gift of Luxury Lane soap in the shape of some Marvel characters...specifically...THE THING!

I hadn't heard of Luxury Lane before, but now I'm preparing everyone's Christmas presents with purchases from this site.  The person who makes the soap has molds for just about every pop culture property out there.  They're very high quality, as you can see here from this close up of a Kirby-designed Thing.  You can check out more of this great soap at http://www.luxurylanesoap.com!

Next up is this fancy looking USB Blue Yeti Podcast microphone.  Yes, that's a long title, and yes, it does actually have the name "Yeti" in it.  I'm going to use this on Franks and Beans for voiceovers and the like - I'll post more pictures of this over on the F&B homepage sometime soon.

Hodor is one of my favorite characters in the Game of Thrones universe, so I was pretty happy that I got this shirt from the HBO store!  Hodor Hodor Hodor!  It's not even the guy's name.  If you can break away from my stunning gaze, you'll also see my dog and cat hiding in this picture.

In anticipation of brand new episodes on Netflix, I got the complete set of Arrested Development DVDs!  I was trying to hold out for a complete collection set, but with a fourth season premiering in May (after, what, eight years off the air?) it was time to break down and I'm lucky to get them as a gift. I fully expect there to be a complete collection solicited within the next 45 days.

Look, it's the newest edition of Bartlett's Familiar Quotations!  Just as my copy of the 17th edition was getting old and stale!

And lastly, I picked up this copy of Superman vs. Muhammad Ali, which is every bit as awesome as it sounds.  It's another treasury-sized book with oversized pages and some of Neil Adams's finest work, if I can say so.  This book is one of the most recognizable of the past 40 years and, along with Superman vs. Spider-Man, probably the most recognizable of any of the treasury books.  I got a great haul of things this year.  Thanks for looking!

Teddy and the Yeti changes distributors; world does not explode

I'm sure there are plenty of quotes out there from others infinitely more famous than I am dealing with the subject of adversity and perseverance and persistence, so I'd like you, the reader, to take the time and find one, read it, reflect on it, and then come back to this posting.  It doesn't have to be from some stodgy reference manual like Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (though that is a good source, and I've got the 17th edition sitting on my bookshelf right now) - Google works just fine.  Anyway, let's take a few minutes, find a good, uplifting/conciliatory quote, and meet back here in a few minutes, okay?  Okay.

...

Are you finishe-oop, sorry, I'll wait a bit longer.

...

Ready?  Okay, good.

As the title suggests, Teddy and the Yeti has switched distributors from Diamond to Haven.  This is because Diamond has decided not to carry the title; the preorders were not to their liking and thus they went ahead and cancelled all orders placed, modest as they were.

Obviously, this creates a few issues, few of them good.  Diamond does not explain why titles are cancelled from their distribution list; retail shops simply get a letter or e-mail with a notice that the book will not ship.  When dealing with a brand new book from a brand new publishing company, such as Teddy and the Yeti, the invariable assumption is that the book was not completed or was egregiously different from the solicitation information.  Neither is true regarding Teddy and the Yeti #1, but in that regard, the damage has been done.

Additionally, those individual customers who did place orders will most likely just assume that the book was never completed, which discourages them from trying out not just Teddy and the Yeti but small press books in general, and that's a shame.  You've certainly got to be picky with books from small publishers, because the quality varies tremendously, but there are some great books out there to be read if you look for them.

Make no mistake, these are discouraging signals from Diamond, but it in no way means that you can't still get a copy of Teddy and the Yeti #1 (and subsequent issues, for that matter) if you want it - you may just have to search a little harder for it, and I hope that you, the comic book reader, will do that.

First, a few hours after being dropped by Diamond, I was contacted by the fine folks at Haven Distributors.  Haven, frankly, does not have the market share that Diamond does, but they are a solid #2 and a lot of successful companies have their books shipped by Haven, such as Top Shelf, Bongo (they publish the Simpsons and Futurama comics) and Viper (publisher of Teddy and the Yeti's first appearance in Josh Howard Presents: Sasquatch).  If your comic shop orders from Haven - and there's no reason it can't - you can get Teddy and the Yeti shipped to your pull folder just as you had before.  The order code is TEDYWAG001, and it should be listed on their online catalogue as I type this.

Second, I've done my best to create an actual online store where you can order the book directly from me...the guy who currently has nearly all of the books stored in his spare bedroom (let me tell you - that comic book ink smell, I'm convinced, will kill you if you stay in that room too long.  It's overwhelming).

I just ran a rudimentary test and everything is working fine, so you can order directly and save yourself some hassle.  I've lowered the price to $2.99, though shipping comes into play.  I tried to be as fair as possible when it comes to shipping, and I decided on $1.50 for up to five books, which is a total that probably won't be reached until there's at least the second issue up and ready to purchase.  It's still cheaper for you to buy the book from your local comic shop, but if there's no other way for you to get the comic, you can find it on the official website.

Third, I'll be contacting comic book stores directly, and I will be leaving copies of the book personally at whatever stores I can.  This increases the chance that I'll be doing more signings like the one I'm doing at the Century III New Dimension Comics in West Mifflin, PA, which in turn increases YOUR chance at meeting and, perhaps, assaulting me at your hometown comic shop.  Stores with big online shipping sections like Mile High Comics and Lone Star Comics are also on my hit list, so to speak, which should make things easier for everyone involved.

Fourth and lastly, I will be stepping up my convention schedule.  Originally I had planned on reserving a booth at 2010's New York Comic-Con to show off the book.  Now I'm trying to add Pittsburgh and the big show in San Diego to that list.  None of these shows are confirmed yet, but I'm going to give it the ol' McClelland try and see what happens.

I'd like to apologize to anyone who preordered Teddy and the Yeti #1 from Diamond.  I can sympathize with your frustration, to be sure.  I hope that you can see that I'm doing everything I can to make sure that the book is available to as wide an audience as possible, and if it comes down to it, dammit, send me and e-mail and I'll do what I can do mail you the book myself.  The book is complete, printed, and sitting in my house right now.  I will do my best to make sure it gets in stores so you can plunk down some cash for 32 pages of comic book goodness.

We'll see how that works out.