League of Melbotis

Report out of Austin

Well, we looked at houses with the woman formerly known as Duda. It's been actually a pretty good bit of fun, and I suggest that if you want to find a way to spend your weekends, find a realtor and go through other people's houses.

I can honestly say, every comment we got back regarding other people's houses sort of makes sense now. I didn't mind other people's stuff being in the house. What was odd was that some people didn't appear to have actually cleaned their house, and one house just had a sort of "crime-scene" vibe. It didn't take a lot of imagination to think some bad hoo-doo had gone down.

We found three houses I could move into tomorrow. That's good news, to me. The down side is that we haven't sold our hourse in Chandler, so all this looking is a crap shoot. A lot of things have to fall into place for us to get one of the three favored homes.

We finihes after 2:00 today, so I hit Austin Books. Jim asked for a report-out, but, honestly... it was mostly me digging through long boxes and trying not to wear Jamie's patience too thin. Jamie has sort of found her own niche of comics, so that was okay. She's fine to look on her own and doesn't get too bored.

But here's the deal with Austin Books... I could walk around all day in that store. And with a few hundred bucks to keep me going, I could probably be a happy man.

Here's a big confession I made to Jamie: I now have every issue of all three volumes of Mister Miracle. Hooray, Austin Books! Together, we finally finished my collection. Now to move on to New Gods, Forever People and all the Simonson stuff I don't have yet.

Also, I found some Superman back-issues to pick up, some issues my comic shop apparently just never ordered in, and the Public Enemy comic. Yes, PE put out a comic. It is morbid curiosity which drives me forward.

As much as I enjoy my weekly jaunt to my LCS (local comic shop for you non-comic types), Austin Books is just ten times more awesome. They treat comics as an artform, not as tawdry collectibles, and the organization of the store is testament to their intent. All the indie stuff is near the entrance, prominently displayed. Creators get their own organization, with guys like Kirby, Jack Cole and Gil Kane getting their own sections right beside guys like Mark Millar.

Back issues are easy to get to, easy to rifle through and the store often has multiple copies in many different forms of condition (I found one copy of an issue of Superman where the villain had been clipped right out of the cover). All the usual other stuff is well displayed, from toys to statues to T-shirts.

Dizzam. One nice shop.

I need to go back and buy that New Gods #1.