RIP John Hughes

You've probably already seen this, but I'm virally spreading it here anyway because I liked it. Here, via Ain't-It-Cool News and YouTube is a montage of clips from movies directed by the late John Hughes set to The Who's Bubba O'Reilly, aptly titled "Teenage Wasteland". Enjoy:



RIP John Hughes

Why Everything Sucks

Genius. watch

HAD TO SHARE...

I've watched this YouTube clip on the Sick and Wrong podcast for two days now (no, not straight- but probably 10 times or so), and it's still funny:



If you hadn't seen it by now it's done by Liam Lynch and it's from his podcast. I'll make it a point to surf the address down and post it as soon as I find it. Accroding to Wikipedia he's tied to Tenacious D and their last film. Personally the guy needs a sketch comedy show on a premium cable channel- if he doesn't already have one. More as I find it-

I still can't get that "9.99 All You Can Eat Lobster" line out of my head.

Wake Up!

Tooting the Flint Comix horn.

According to the CBGXtra site of direct market comics sales figures,(http://www.comichron.com/monthlycomicssales/2009.html)and taking into account the returns we received on Flint Comix issue #1, our sell through number would land us as the number 153 of the top selling comics for March of 2009, and around 184 of the top sales for April.

Of course, you can't REALLY compare these number accurately, as the direct sales market is totally throughout North America and we only cover Michigan's Genesee County (seriously, not even that as we just put distribution points in some sections of the country with issue 2), and the direct market aims at mainstream comic readers, and not just ALL readers who happen to chance upon our free publication, BUT looking at the direct market, and considering how difficult it is for an independent publication to even be listed in Diamond Distributor's Preview catalog, I'd say we seem to be proving SOMETHING with every issue we produce.

Issue 3 is deadlined for the 15th of June. We're considering upping the print run on #4, as well as adding at least 4 pages to the product- in addition to starting a monthly printing schedule.

Toot, toot.

Sorry, just HAD to let somebody know...

WAKE UP!

RIGHT WING TERRORISM

Sunday there was the assassination of an abortion doctor while he was attending church, and now today we have a deliberately set fire (arson) of a topless coffee house in Maine. Here is a link to the actual article:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31086037/?GT1=43001

So, are the two above mentioned occurances coincidence, or is this the start of a bit of homeland terorism by right wing terorists breaking the law for the so-called betterment of their country? With the sickening pllarizing bile spilling forth from so many of the right wing pundits lately you have to admit it's quite a coicidence.

Personally I think what is surprising is the idea that stuff like this hasn't happened before now, or perhaps it has and it just hadn't come out, or is it a trend that is now escalating because of the more liberal climate our country seems to be taking?

Only time will tell.

In case you missed keith Olbermann's remarks about Dr. Tiller's assassination, it is definately worth your consideration:



Might be a trend working here. I'll keep my eyes open. You...

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FLINT COMIX STATUS: JUNE 1, 2009

Here it is the first of June 2009, and again all I have to report is positive when it comes to Flint Comix. I apologize up front for this being so long of a post, I’ll try to make reports more often and they should be shorter in the future. Here goes:

The last few weeks has seen the release of our second issue, which like #1 had a print run of 10,000 but unlike issue #1 we were losing what I thought were some of our main outlets of distribution. Still, as I type this we are literally looking at a 99.9% distribution with Ted and I in possession of one still bound bundle of 50 each. Add to that the fact that we’ll be doing a couple of display appearances before the next issue premieres, and I’m pretty sure we’ll be looking at a 100% distribution.

Admittedly I was worried about our distribution of #2 because we had a shift in out distribution outlets. We ran an article for the Flint Institute of Arts comic art display and they distributed over 300 copies of the paper on site. Add to that we had lost the major outlets of Kroger and Kmart, as the folks that apparently “owned” the racks wanted 15 bucks a display space to put the papers there and we refused. I was a little worried that printing 10,000 of issue 2 might have been a mistake. Luckily I added another 50 distribution outlets and, with the addition of a few new advertisers we more than blew through our stock down to what we have now.

In distributing #2 we also picked up all the left over #1’s. That gave is a back stock of around 500-600 copies, so that meant we had an initial “sell-through” of around 95% of the #1’s. We are still debating how to distribute those, though I was able to give away well over 100 copies of #1 at The Motor City Comic Con (as well as over 100 copies of #2). I am all for taking bundles of 100 to each of our three big hospitals around here to hand out to patients (in my mind a perfect, almost captive, audience), and keep the remaining copies “in house” to sell as back issues. I have already ran the idea past a few folks about selling back issues for 5 bucks each postage paid -as I am not THAT much of a greedy bastard. It’s my aim to slowly take a page of each issue and turn it into our “huckster page” filled with back issues, subscriptions, and whatever else we can sell of Flint Comix to turn profit.

Speaking of subscriptions, we offer a subscription as of #3, mainly because it looks like we’re going to be around for awhile and we had a few folks say they’d rather pay to have it mailed to them then have to hunt down copies. In fact the subscription ad I worked up said as much:



To date, we haven’t received any subscriptions, but I’m sure we will eventually. We’ll just keep offering, then when we start charging for back issues it should inspire some folks to take advantage of it. I did have quite a few folks from out of town say they were going to subscribe at the Motor City Con, but again, nothing so far.

Last week we put another advertising salesman in the field. We ARE getting new ads, but they are all from businesses calling us. Usually folks who saw the publication and “had” to be a part of it, now hopefully we’ll have someone out there making cold calls to gather more. I’ll let you know how that goes. The primary worry I had (and still have) with this publication is that the advertisers are our cash flow. We’ve been cutting deals for multiple appearances, (around 25% for our regular, regulars) and that has kept us in the plus column, once we start getting out there a bit more I’m sure it’ll open it up more to advertisers. At present we still have only one restaurant advertising and they are proving to be some of our best distribution outlets.

We are keeping track of our distribution, adding and subtracting issues and drop off points as we go along. I actually had three places refuse to distribute #2 that weren’t Kroger’s and Kmart’s, 2 convenience stores and a used bookstore. The bookstore would not give me a reason, just refused to take more, and the stores said that if it wasn’t making THEM money they didn’t want to carry it. In all cases I gave them a big smile, told them we would take them off our list, and made sure I started 2 new distribution points as close to their business as I could find. One store had what I thought was a bar across the street, but it turned out to be a sweet looking restaurant with a bar attached to it. They’ll move twice as many as the store would.

Like I said above, out best distribution points seem to be family restaurants. Most all of our “returns” of #1 were from convenience stores, with the vast majority of places running totally out and the places where there were leftovers were places that mostly buried the paper underneath the other freebie publications that had come out after us.

I want to take a bit to mention the happy parts I’ve found with doing this paper. MOST of the folks where we distributed #1 were extremely happy to see us deliver #2. I had two restaurants take the papers right out of my hand and tell me they keep them behind to counter and hand them out to folks they think would really appreciate them, and MOST folks are giving the paper surprisingly prime display spots. The warm reception I’ve received from the last two issues has been unbelievable. Frankly, it makes the days (and we distributed about 85 % of the paper in the area in three days btw) of running in and out of businesses VERY rewarding. To me, personally, this is a total change from self-publishing in the comic market where most of the retailers who do not know you personally (as well as the primary distributor) look at you with sheer disdain (like you shoved a turd under their nose), IF they carry you at all. I’m becoming “known” more locally, especially with the business heads, than I ever was working in regular comics.

I kept notes of the places I thought we were moving the fastest in and checked back with them whenever I could. Most of those places I had to restock. Plus we distributed to every laundry matt we could find this time, which also helped to take up the slack of the places we lost. I added another 30 outlets as well, taking our total distribution points to 300 I’m pretty sure. Anyway 300’s my goal for a 10,000 print run.

With #3 we are going monthly, at least through the summer, just to see if we can do it, if the market will bear it, and if we can keep a good profit margin going. With #4 we are looking at adding at least four more pages (making our page count at least 28 if not 32) and upping the print run to probably 12,500. I won’t go past a page count of 32, since if we do we should probably think about going bi-weekly, which I have had 3 or 4 folks ask if we were going there and at present I think it would drive us all insane to do. There is an entertainment paper in Saginaw that is bi-weekly, has a print run of 30,000, boasts a 95% sell-through, and has been printing for 30 years- I look at that as a GOAL and am amazed at just how much they offer in services to generate revenue.

At Motor City I had bites for at least 4 satellite papers to start, of which only one has contacted me further and seems serious about doing it as of this writing. Ted and I are writing up a business model for the paper to see if we can’t franchise it out. It would be easy to do, especially with us having stories prepped, pasted up and ready to go. We are now starting to get our thoughts on paper, which again seems like a good reason for me to keep you updated here.

Issue 3 is due to press by the fifteenth, our deadline for stuff was today, but nobody seems to pay much attention to the asked for deadline, which makes pasting up the paper especially hectic and deadline heavy (not good for my health). At present I have a quarter of issue 3 pasted up and know how the cover will look. #4 is August where here in Flint we have 3 major events happening, a Festival of Races, a Major Pro Golf tournament, and a huge car cruise that last year brought 25,000 people (I think that was the figure) to the downtown area- which was why we’re looking at upping the print run and page count.

We have more local talent in this issue than last, and even more scheduled for #4. At present we have one new comic feature (The Pope Of Carriage Town by Mike Mahoney)and one new column (by locally based national comedian Bryan McCree), as well as two local articles planned. Our October issue (#6 is all goes according to plan) will be Halloween oriented, and we’re already planning our first anniversary issue (okay, I’m keeping it in the back of my mind at least- that should be issue #11) where we’re thinking of dropping the national columns and strips for an issue and going all local- we’ll see.

We are becoming members of the Flint Visitors and Convention people for issue #3. that will place us inside our local international airport (the #2 fastest growing airport in the country), as well as place us in their "Welcome to Flint" packets for newcomers and potential investors in the Flint community. One of the intentions of doing the paper is to "dig in" into the local community, stay as local as possible and focus on as much local talent as we can.


One thing I can note here is the idea that the paper's contents need to stay a little liquid. I was too late (too busy, too lazy perhaps) to get a Miss Chevious story completed in time for issue 2, so that story's planned for #3, let's see if it makes it- I'm about halfway through it now. I have another story or three that I can use as a back-up IF I have to. my goal is to be at least an issue ahead on content asap- again, let's see if I make it.

I still have a worry that someone will rip-off this idea before I have a chance to make a solid go at it, thus the franchise outlook. It has kept me from going “national” with the idea just yet, as I’ve already turned down a podcast interview and am trying to remain as local as possible with just what we are doing. The first 2 issues have been invaluable, unbelievably rewarding in nearly every sense of the word, and so far still hold up to being exactly what I want to be doing for many decades to come. There are MANY small things we’ve learned already and many trapdoors I can see other folks easily going through that could potentially muck this up for everyone. Again, we’ll see, and I’ll keep you posted.

Wake Up!

And Now...

A man playing a piano with his balls!



Couldn't resist. Had to share.

Wake Up!

SUMMER MOVIE REVIEWS 2009

If you have yet to see Wolverine or Star Trek at the theater this summer you might want to skip this post. There are spoilers- heck, there might be spoilers even if you've seen the films and haven't thought about them much- you've been warned:

WOLVERINE: A prime example of modern comics writing. Pointless action, little if any set up, romance for no real reason, she's in love, she's faking it...no, wait in love, no seriously she was faking it (but actually in love) THEN SHE DIES AND THE HERO GETS SHOT IN THE HEAD TWICE AND TOTALLY FORGETS ABOUT HER. Three quarters of this film was totally pointless, and the guy (kid really) who played Gambit has a really REALLY good agent or negatives of the director with a goat because he sure didn't land that part with his acting ability.

In the end, hero walks off with badly acted buddy to who knows where, just not around the dead chick, the leaking radiation, his brother, or the monster that was sure to reconstitute itself if only he had taken the head with him.

Frankly, I'd bow my head if I was in this movie too.

Plus the villain KNEW that the best he could do was shoot Wolvey in the head with adamantium bullets and make him loose his memory- wait- WHAT??? He would have been better to sneak up behind him and jab a shard of glass into the base of his skull (No, wait, that's the way to immobilize someone with wolvie's powers on Heroes...). Still not sure where the bullets ended up, or exactly how accurate the bad guy's aim had to be to fuck his memories, but hey, that's modern funny books for ya!

Absurd, Pointless, Tasteless, Brainfart. Like I said "Classic Modern Comic Book Writing" These writers will be working for Marvel before you know it.

STAR TREK: I was worried going in, but coming out I was thinking that perhaps I shouldn't dismiss J.J. Abrams as a bad writer after all. Seriously, what else were you going to do with an outdated, bloated over PC'd franchise like this- especially considering how badly off the mark the last two series and four movies were. Hurray for what they did! Nice braincheck movie. DON'T try to over think the plot and be ready to dismiss WAY too many coincidences (Spock's being stranded, Scotty's appearance, a maniacal villain who doesn't need to see the loss on his adversaries face as he blows up his enemy's home planet... you know, logical thinking stuff). Just go and enjoy.




Oh and the worst, most distracting element for me in the entire movie was the Cloverfield monster suddenly chasing Kirk. Talk about an impractical alien life form to fit its' environment- C'MON!!!

So far:

Wolverine: 2 and a half

Trek: 3

Next to see: Terminator and Transformers.

Last two days I have seen two movies from last year, Hancock and Next, and despite the obvious flaws in those films I kind of enjoyed both of them a little more than Wolvie and Trek- but that could just be me...

WAKE UP!

WTF?? Sunday Catch Up

Been three weeks, but it's been a good two weeks. Lots to do, Motor City to attend, papers to distribute, news to decipher. Let's see if I can cover it all quick enough so you don't get to bored.

Actually going to save the Flint Comix report for another day since there's so much little things to cover here- sorry, but that report WILL take awhile, and I'm shocked to say it is practically all good things. I will say that issue 2 is out and OUT OF PRINT and go on from there.

I wanted to discuss the recent movies as well, and I have some opinions on Trek and Wolverine to share, but I'll leave them to another separate post as soon as I see Terminator:Salvation. The word I have been reading online of the reviews for that film warrant me seeing it, just to see who I agree with.

Local news overrunning most everything current seems to be the fact that our local paper, as well as most of the papers in the state for that matter, are all knocking down to three days a week- that's a cutback of 4/7th of their output, though they insist that it's a GREAT thing- I would show you the local spin from one of the editors, but for whatever reason it won't load up on blogger. Instead, here is the addy, and you can check it for yourself:

Executive Editor John Hiner addresses coming changes.

http://www.mlive.com/flintforward/

Or not. The video clip is about halfway down the page.

Sounds way too good to be true doesn't it? Plus I have yet to read how they'll be treating their comics section- just their assurance that there WILL be one in every edition- whether they'll catch up from their off days seems to still be in question.

I worry for all the daily strips out there. If most of the papers abandon the daily strips it might mean the end of them. Yet another format for comics that will be kicked in the balls when they're already down. Typical.

The newspaper business was a hot topic of discussion at The Motor City Con last weekend. It was the consensus that it would mean the decline of all local investigative journalism or not- time will only tell I guess- but seriously, hard investigative reports are hardly the forte' of blogs- at least for the most part. This from a "blog" yet.

The convention was great BTW, and I apologize for not taking my camera with me and taking a few shots. Here's a quick video report, via YouTube, from think Twice News:



Saw the upfronts for the Network TV fall line-up, and here are some random thought about that:

If Leno is successful @ 10pm, then I expect all the networks to follow their lead, solely on the thought that they are all cheap executive bastards.

Don't expect too much from Flash Forward (Lost Lite) and Vampire Diaries (Twilight Lite-er), while both V and Human Target look okay, both of those shows are set of Summer.

Dollhouse got more than it deserved by being renewed. So did Chuck and Heroes.

Smallville, now in it's final season for the fourth season running, has been shown to be the "red headed step child" that it's original producers always said it was in the CW evec's eyes. They had stuck it in a Friday night deathslot to rot away until it dies. Too bad it's still doing better than 7/8 of the CW's other shows and yet CW refuses to do a spin off or concentrate any more time on it. Typical executive stoopidity. Last season has it's severe ups and downs, with it ending on a horrible "down" that I'm sure will be an "Imaginary Tale" Expect a whiplash effect for the timeline to correct itself by the end of the season, if not by the end of the next episode.


Sci-Fi Channel will soon be "Sy-Fy" so they can copyright the name, as well as to get the channel's name better in line with their ever limpy-ing line of programming. It's gone from "The Science Fiction Channel" the "The Sci-Fi Channel" to now being "Sy-Fy". I wonder if those execs are doing it consciously as their programming goes in the same progression- from serious to limp wispy- to WTF.

Flint Comix update coming asap. Movie thoughts as soon as I see this Terminator. See you then and remember to:

WAKE UP!

WTF??

You KNOW that it's exactly this kind of spectacular video that YouTube was made for!

Via Fark and YouTube I bring you what you've always wanted to see; A big burly man fighting a stuffed Giraffe on his snowy porch while smoking a cig and listening to Afternoon Delight! It's the payoff at the end that sets it off for me- I still can't watch this without giggling, then bursting out in dead laughter. Enjoy!



Wake Up!

100 Days of "Fair and Balanced"

I thought this clip collection was interesting. From Fark.com through YouTube.com, from mediamatters.org, here's a look at some of Fox News' coverage of Obama's first 100 days in office.



The spin here is obvious, but honestly there isn't a news media outlet in the mainstream media that doesn't seem to have their own agenda- it's just sometimes it gets WAY too obvious.

WAKE UP!

Just So You Know...

From the Sick and Wrong Podcast- via You Tube- via MadTV, you KNOW someone's working on perfecting this invention even as I type this and when they do they are going to be RICH! Enjoy:



Wake Up!

Is It Just Me Or

Does anyone else get the same thoughts every time they see one of these billboards:



Maybe it's the additional banner along the bottom saying that they are sponsored by a local church called "Mount Hope", but for me, every time I ever saw these billboards the same two words always sping to mind:

"Anal Rape"

Probably just me... Also probably a good thing we're not treated to the entire picture of the guy. He sure looks like he's in pain. Remember "NOTHING'S too hard for God!"

The most inappropriate logo of all-time

In the 70s, this picture stood for God's children. Now it just stands for boys giving priests a good ol beej. Yes, this is an actual logo designed in 1973 for the Catholic Church’s Archdiocesan Youth Commission. It even won an award from the Art Directors Club of Los Angeles.



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Random Thought

Just had to make a note of this:

I was visiting the Motor City Comventions HQ today, setting up a few things (like "guest appearance" "publisher's booth" and such), and we got to talking about the fact that it was the twentieth year anniversary of the MOTOR CITY COMIC CON, and the fact that the t-shirt design this year should be special- just to celebrate (I've done their t-shirt work for 19 of those last 20 years- and you don't have to guess which shirt out of their 20 was the worst seller- =) ).

Anyway, it was pointed out to me the fact that the only character Marvel apparently created exactly 20 years ago was USAgent, and the first thing that popped into my head was "Marvel has sucked for that long?!? Wow."

Honestly- that's the first thing that I thought.

WAKE UP!

JUST BECAUSE...

You can never have enough insignificance:


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STATUS: FLINT COMIX WEEK 3

It has now been three weeks since our initial distribution of the first issue of Flint Comix started. We have less than 1000 issues undistributed of the initial 10,000 print run and over 225 drop off points to date.

We are having a rough time keeping places stocked. I tell folks "Hey, who doesn't like FREE comics?", but seriously we underestimated the amount we have been dropping off to folks drastically. I have tried to drop off no less than 25 to any drop off point, and there are a number of points that I am now on my 3rd and 4th time stocking. Some places are well into their second hundred, while others still have 11-13 copies left of their original 25. It all depends on how visible we are displayed and the the obvious traffic flow in and out of the location. To date our best places are family restaraunts, especially those where we are the most visible (like placed on top of gumball machines). There are 2 such drop off points within walking distance of my house and both are past the 75 copy mark in distribution. I'll be dropping off 50 copies initially to each point for issue 2.

We also discovered that a lot of party stores and family restaraunts have open wire rack space designed for free publications. We're using these drop off points as often as possible. We are keeping track so hopefully with issue two we'll be able to distribute the issue within a matter of a few days as opposed to weeks. Now that we have points established, all we'll have to do is keep feeding them to keep them, while we continually search for more. What takes the longest is the initial contact and permission asking. I have only been turned down distribution from about a dozen places that we have asked, and most all of those places telling us no are from femaile managers/owners with little, if any sense of humor. I can tell if they'll say yes by how quickly their faces light up when they see the paper. Those that look like I just shoved a piece of poop under their nose are not very likely to allow us to leave it there (again, I'm typing the obvious...sorry).

The Flint Journal discovered us this last week and ran a pretty good article on us in their Thursday edition as well as their online site. Here is a link to the online article HERE: http://www.mlive.com/entertainment/flint/index.ssf/2009/04/flint_comix_and_entertainment.html.
Any publicity is good publicity, and despite the "It's a bird, It's a plane..." opening, and the little graphic explosions with "Bam!" and "POW!" in them (That were cliche' from the era of Adam West's Batman), it was a nice article and a small bump in our email traffic.

We've found a few more local talents out here and plan on printing them in future issues. One cartoonist especially does a good 4 panel strip that we plan on incorporating into out standard strip pages. He's professional enough and skilled enough that we'll have to run a header strip telling folks that he's actually a local talent- that's how good he is.

Our main website foundation was installed and put online last week. Still not enough information on it for my taste. but much more is on the way for it. If you have the chance to check it out it's at http://www.flintcomix.com. there is an original modern day Spark story there as a reward for anyone surfing the site.

Response has been nothing but positive so far, and quite frankly that makes me really happy, if not a bit nervous.

I'm working on the second issue now, I have 2 comic pages, and a Flash Gordon page mostly done, while I'm scanning in The Fool #1 and am thinking of serializing it over 3 issues, just so no feature gets more than 3 pages at a time.

That's about it for now. PLEASE remember that these updates are only for you, the Spank blog reader, and I'll update you again as soon as I get more news and a chance to put it here.

Wake UP!

Hey WTF??!! FLINT COMIX!!

Sorry I haven't been blogging folks, I've just been SUPERbusy working on the FLINT COMIX paper and I've been neglecting Spank altogether. I promise he'll be back soon in one form or another, In fact I've already been offered a regular spot in a newspaper, so it might only be a month or 2 before there's new SPANKage.

ABOUT FLINT COMIX

I'm laying low in the comic market for at least the next few months while I MAKE SURE this baby turns out as hot as it looks like it's going. I'm not even offering or sending any copies outside the county lines for another couple of weeks (except for those few places outside the county lines where we place copies in stores and outlets. IF you are still reading this blog (and THANKS for even looking here after almost an entire MONTH of not posting), I can tell you these small points:

* I started a local newspaper that's almost all comics and local entertainment based. Advertiser supported, FREE to readers, with comic stories, comic strips, single gag cartoons, editorial cartoons, FLASH GORDON, and a few other text pieces ("Tales of The Weird" and "Strange But True"), as well as an article on the comic book art exhibits at our local Institute Of Arts.

* We printed a mock-up of four pages to show advertisers and was met with mostly blank looks from business owners who could not wrap their heads around what I wanted to do.

* I had a rough time (at least a rougher time than I ever thought I would have) talking to national syndicators about what I wanted to do.

* I got enough material (actually MORE than enough material) to make an edition, BARELY enough advertisers (I had a big number of folks say they were advertising until it came time to pony up the money- then about 80% of them backed out for one reason or another).

* In the process I had to "promise" a business owner or five that Spank would NOT be in it- so Spank is NOT in it and our content had to be softened down to a high PG rating.


* All this inside the county that FLINT MICHIGAN is in. Michigan has the highest unemployment rate, and our county has the super highest unemployment rate in the state, so that literally makes us the hell-hole of unemployment and devastation in the country.

BUT...

* We lined up a couple of big corporate sponsors to multi-issue contracts (THANKS Little Caesar's!) and it gave us more than enough to print.

* The paper is 24 tabloid newspaper sized pages, 8 of them are in color with the rest being in black and white (actually I "desaturated" some of the color strips offered to me to break up any kind of "coloring book" effect printing in black and white might have), mostly on 35 pound newsprint.

* We printed 10,000 (that's EASILY 3 TIMES more than any Arrow Comic has been printed in the last 15 years!) and distributed then LOCALLY, most within the county. We're still distributing them to the farthest reaches of the county.

* Get this- there's places that we left copies at that ran out of copies WITHIN HOURS of us dropping them off. Now I'm dropping off no less than 25 copies no matter where we go. We have three drop off points that have moved through nearly 200 copies EACH.

* We've almost passed 200 drop off points and we'll be gaining more for the next week or so, all while trying to keep some of our busier places properly stocked. I'm hoping for 300+ drop off points before the first of the month.

* "Where are we dropping these papers off at?" you ask. Nearly everywhere; obviously the comic shops and coffee shops, but also all the restaurants (Mexican restaurants seem to move through our product with alarming speed- the closest one to my house has probably moved 50 copies by now -I'm checking them tomorrow.), convenience stores, doctors offices, auto repair shops, even grocery stores (our local Krogers around here are all closing on moving 100 copies each for us). I've only been turned down by 3 businesses where I offered to leave copies- 2 because they said their corporate offices have policies against putting out free publications, and one because the owner was probably too old to read comics, let alone enjoy them.

* No one has voiced one negative opinion of the paper once they hold it in their hands. I did have one comics professional tell me "Print is dead" when I told him what I was doing, but honestly the way this seems to be going I think he'll be out of a job long before I am.

* Since we started distributing I've been bombarded by folks offering me material to print, local cartoonists and writers just looking for exposure and to be in on any part of this fun that they can.

AND FINALLY..,

* I'm having a BLAST doing this. Pasting up pages, handling it in print, even talking to people and the (GASP) media who want to know if we are insane or not by starting a newspaper in the area where our local daily newspaper just announced that they are cutting from 7 days printing to 3 (don't get me started on how stupid I think THAT move is- just read my posts on Circuit City to understand why).



* I'm printing Flash Gordon for the first time EVER in the mid Michigan area that I know of.

* Now here's the REAL point to all this; I'm doing a product of COMICS, that is being WIDELY accepted by a MASS audience of mostly non-comic readers, MOST of whom have never walked inside a comic shop before and know comics mostly from newspapers and movies, AND THEY ARE LOVING IT!!! I am widening the acceptance of comics in my area, and if all goes well for the next issue or two I should be making a nice bit of profit doing it.

All this at a time when Diamond Comics Distributors have announced employee cuts, new restrictions and limitations on books they distribute to a limited and ever shrinking comic market they couldn't expand if they distributed material from seven of the top ten movie blockbusters of the last decade (which they do).

This COULD turn out to be something. This COULD be big. Was all the lost hours pasting up and distributing worth it? I'm not sure yet, but it sure has been satisfying knowing folks are picking up stuff I've done (I included a Fool story, an original Miss Chevious story, and a recolored and pasted up page of the Golden Age version of Spark- a Flint based electrical hero- in this issue), supported by advertisers who are SUPER satisfied (at least so far) about what we've done, and it looks like next issue will contain twice as many advertisers (we're looking at perhaps going to 32 pages, or PERHAPS even twice a month) especially if this level of reception keeps up and advertisers pony up more money this time.


We have the next issue scheduled for release at the end of April, just to give us a few extra days to finalize our distribution lists, get more advertisers on board, and wade through some of the submissions we've received.

I'll keep YOU posted, But ONLY YOU for now. I'm not going to start screaming about this to the comic media until I KNOW for sure it's something big and not just a "flash in the pan".

So far so good.

Thanks for being here.

WAKE UP!

MICKEY!!!

In case you missed it, here's Mickey Rourke accepting his 2009 Spirit award for The Wrestler. I have not seen this film yet, but I will now. His remarks about Marisa Tomie and Eric Roberts are totally priceless and whips ass over anything from this year's academy awards. Enjoy!

MY HERO: TOM LEYKIS

Yesterday radio station 97.1 (free talk) FM in Los Angeles California changed it's "hot talk" format to a sad, top 40 music with little or no commercials. Format changes in radio stations happen all the time, but unfortunately this change also threw one of my personal heroes, Tom Leykis, off the air.

I had heard Tom many, many years ago when he was syndicated here in the Flint area, and liked what I heard then. When I was fortunate enough to make something of a living working in my basement in front of my computer (for the most part), one of the first podcasts I added to my "favorites" was the archive page from 97.1 and the Tom Leykis Show.


Tom is (or at the moment at least, "was") a very unique performer in that he spoke his own mind and tried his damndest to share those thoughts and guide others with his wisdom, which made for VERY unique and entertaining radio. Mostly non-political, mostly relationship related, though he was airing some financial topics lately and other newsworthy subjects as they came up in the media, Tom was always worth listening to, even if you didn't agree with his point of view. Me, I agreed with him 99.5% of the time, but I totally understood where he was forming his opinions ALL of the time, and that makes him an extremely rare form of entertainer.

Below I have included a documentary about Tom and his program that was posted on Google Video last year. It does a much better job of explaining Tom, his audience, his objectives, and his impact upon society than I could ever hope to cover. It is a bit of a watch (45 minutes long), but well worth your time to do so:



The most recent version of the 97.1 Tom archive is still up and available for anyone who can find it to listen to. Like I mentioned above there is VERY little of it that most anyone of the same mindset as me would NOT find interesting. I recommend a quick bookmark and some listening for at least as long as the 97.1 folks leave the page up- believe me you will thank me for turning you on to Tom if you don't know of him by now, even if you HATE everything he stands for. His genius IQ against most any of his callers is amazing to say the least:

http://www.971freefm.com/pages/4096.php

Like I mentioned, I'm not sure how long that page shall remain up, so if you like what you hear, I suggest some quick downloading.

I'm sure that this is not the last we've heard from my hero, Tom Leykis. He'll be back in whatever form he chooses to spread his point of view; a book is said to be in the offering, and it would not surprise me if he lands another syndication gig VERY quickly, especially given the durability of other radio hosts like Don Imus. In the meantime Tom is being paid to finish out his contract with CBS for I believe the next three or four years, by doing nothing but enjoying his 20 acres in California wine country.


So in closing, here's a toast to Tom, Thanks pal for the literally thousands of hours of entertainment that you gave this artist-monkey listening to your west coast rantings and philosophy. If you never return to the air again rest assured that you touched many lives, influenced many a young mind, and actually helped some of us grow up a little, no matter what age we were. Salute!



Wake Up!

Atlantis Found (?)

According to The Sun via Google Ocean, apparently someone noticed the markings of an ancient city buried on the ocean floor a ways off the coast of Africa, right about where Plato mentioned Atlantis was supposed to be. Yu can see photos and read about it here:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2255989.ece

Of course, considering The Sun's track record with hyperbole, it could very well be a hoax.

You make the call.

Wake Up.

TODAY'S WORD IS: "TWINCEST"

After reading the headline perhaps I should give you a moment to let your mind wander, but yes, "twincest" means exactly what you think, and according to today's New York Post you can get into deep shit for inciting it. Here's the the addy, or just click on the headline for a direct link to the NYP:

http://www.nypost.com/seven/02122009/news/regionalnews/twincest_slap_154757.htm

This is an example of stripping actually becoming demeaning to women, brought about by a lousy dog of a human being who frankly deserves every bit of legal hell I am sure that society will be trying hard to thrust upon him. Of course the women were perFectly within their rights to say "no" but what repercussions saying "no" that would follow, given the seemingly doggish behavior of the offender, would probably have been what you would expect. Self esteem is a bitch if you don't have it. No body should be "forced" to perform any kind of sexual act upon another, simple as that. Remember it's not really an offense if both parties were willing and were not physically hurt beyond their safe word.

WAKE UP!

JUST SO YOU KNOW...

In my constant quest to keep you informed of those little corporate shell game shuffles, I must now inform you that the BK "Joe" coffee now comes in three nearly confusing sizes. Get this:

The LARGE is what USED to be their EXTRA LARGE.

The MEDIUM is now called the SMALL.

And what was once their SMALL is now their VALUE size.

Three gulps, perhaps five total shots- yeah baby, that's "VALUE" for you.

Just So You Know

Wake Up!

Voices from the CC Trenches

Here's an addy to a very interesting article from Gizmodo.com of some first hand accounts of what it's like being a Circuit City grunt right now. It is very good reading and a true statement to not only our economic times, but also of the human condition. Enjoy:

http://i.gizmodo.com/5146694/their-final-words-as-the-grunts-of-circuit-city

Remember with the way things are right now your last day at work my be sooner than you think. Hang In There.

WAKE UP!

THE NAVEL AS A SEX ORGAN?

How cute does your mate's navel have to be to make them attractive? Apparently according to scientists it DOES matter and has mattered throughout many cultures. You can read all about that here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28934310/

I especially liked that last paragraph: "However, Sinkkonen assured, "If you have an umbilicus that you think is ugly, it does not necessarily mean that your genetics is bad.""

Remind me to tell you about my exwife sometime.

WAKE UP!

TELEMARKETERS: Just Say NO!!!

From Florida News 4 (via Fark.com)comes this startling revelation that telemarketers not only harass you, but if they're calling you on behalf of a charity or some other noble cause the telemarketing company usually keeps up to 90% of the money they generate.

http://www.news4jax.com/news/18615210/detail.html

Folks, if you have to give to a charity, and I DO recommend you be charitable whenever possible, do your research and try to make sure you're not helping to pay some charity exec's $130,000 salary or year end bonus. Plus, if it's a telemarketer, just say no out of principal remembering that the BEST charity is helping your FELLOW man (as locally as possible)and not some jerk from a phone bank from who the hell knows where.

Finally, it should go without saying that if anyone telemarketer, corporate phone bank, or especially collection service calls and harasses you about giving them your account number over the phone don't just say "no", but say "Fuck No!"- then either handle it by a check in the mail, or pay the bill as locally as possible. Lately "collectors" have been known to not only take the amount due them from your account, but to do so a number of times.

WAKE UP!

BILL HICKS ON LETTERMAN 01/30/09

It's rare for most media folks to admit they've made a mistake, especially an old one, unless they are literally shamed into doing it. Back in 1993, just 5 months before his death a hero of mine, Bill Hicks, did a routine (his 11th and by far his most dangerous)on Late Night with David Letterman that was so edgy that Dave and his producers notoriously yanked the spot from being aired at the last minute. Last night Letterman admitted his mistake, apologized a number of times, even though the decision was 15 years old, and even had Hick's mom on and ran the spot, which though Dave warned it would be dated, is just as edgy as when first performed back in 1993.

Here via YouTube and CBS' Late Night With David Letterman is the set up for that appearance:



After a commercial break Dave brought out Bill Hicks' mom and well...see for yourself:



The "heartache" Dave mentions early on is the fact that yanking that spot from airing changed (again) Bill Hicks' career making him even more edgier and bitter, most times incorporating the performed routine as part of his act and pointing out the hypocracy inherent in the broadcast media. In 1993 Hicks was breaking wide and performing to packed houses in most every place he performed OUTSIDE of the US, doing a kind of ranting performance against corporate society and thinking. A large number of his nightclub performances from this point on were recorded or filmed and Bill became one of the most notorious comics of his time with a huge reputation in the underground circuits. Here, again from last night's Late Night via YouTube, is Bill's routine that he did in 1993 on Letterman:



This routine was refined and ran past the censors before Bill even walked on stage, still watching it, and knowing the fickle state of the media it's not too hard to imagine why Dave pulled the spot.

Bill Hicks is one of my heroes and an example of a true genius pioneer. Looking at his routine now it might be hard to see why. Just know that the number of political satirists like Dennis Miller and Bill Mahr (the intelligent and secure ones anyway) will all attribute their career on Bill Hick's trailblazing, while other "comedians" like Dennis Leary might not admit it so quickly but made careers by ripping off entire segments of Bill Hick's act and claimed it as their own (Bill was talking about how great it was to smoke years before Leary's "No Cure For Cancer" performance that made him famous- in fact much (if not all) of Leary's static, manic, hyper performance is straight from Hick's nightclub act). Here, on Letterman he is obviously stiff and almost sedated compared to his uncensored expletive ridden riffs, especially the ones after this debacle.

It is a great statement to Letterman's character to have has last night's program and to humbly admit his fault and mistake on the matter. I hope it gives him the kudos he deserves for doing it, as well as some sort of closure to a decision that has obviously haunted him sine he did it. Surprisingly there was no mention of Bill's recordings and the memorials and biopix that are in the planning stages to commemorate his life, and it's also a testament to Dave and his producers for allowing this footage out, playing it in it's crisp and original form, and to have the balls to have his mother out to apologize to her on air for the emotional stress and anxiety that pulling Bill's appearance caused him in his last days of his life. In his routine, where Bill admits that he started smoking again, he was already diagnosed as past the point of treatment on his cancer, and in true Bill Hicks style he decided that he was going to enjoy as much of his life in his last days that he could, and that included his nicotine addiction.

I was introduced to Bill Hicks a few years ago by a friend of mine who said that Spank reminded him of Bill, I can certainly see why. For more information on Bill and his career I recommend the biography AMERICAN SCREAM by Cynthia True. It is available on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/American-Scream-Bill-Hicks-Story/dp/0330438069/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1233411566&sr=1-1 and is well worth the price. Though Amazon is only offering the book as used at present I'm sure that a new printing will be done shortly.

For more video on Bill Hicks, including a number of rants about being pulled from Late Night check out YouTube under Bill Hicks and see some of his genius for yourself.

WAKE UP.

Limbaugh Incites HATE

Talk show fear monger and neo-con elitist Rush Limbaugh explains how HIS radio works. This old film clip, probably just as Limbaugh was just honing his act, was installed on YouTube a few months ago and is just now making the rounds virally because of Limbaugh's recent accusations againt the Obama White House for starting the current economic slide (thus throwing a bad thing- the current economic state- against a "good thing"- the Obama White House- in order to incite anger and fuel a knee jerk reaction from callers, who in true radio talk show host guile, he them berates and makes to look stupid because his opinion (however flawed in logic) has been totally thought through when the caller is merely calling off the cuff and unable to combat a more fully informed (again, however hopelessly flawed the logic) opinion. Here's the interview, pre diets, pre oxy-cotton addiction, pre fame, but with full ego attached:



The kind of fear mongering radio that Rush has been in the midst of is not new, but has seemed more and more mean spirited and polarizing the older I get. I stopped listening to Rush a good year or so ago (at least remotely seriously) when he was talking up Sarah Palin and anyone with any curiosity at all who did ANY research on Palin and the enture McCain campaign saw it for the wack-job that it was- it also swore me off the Republican Party and made me rethink most of their sad dogma (that and the blatant religious angle- but that's a whole other argument).

I'm NOT saying that Keith Olbermann's performance is better (Keith being listed as a "hero" in an earlier post), or more entertaining (when you understand the spin), it's just that, as with Rush during the Clinton administration) his opinions seem to be backed by more logic and facts, as least as i am able to find them.

So, beware and take ALL these pundits on TV and Radio with a BIG grain of salt. They're just spinning for ratings just like that guy who spun plates on the Ed Sullivan Show- think of every plate, bowl, and egg as a fact and a trail of logic...



WAKE UP!

ANOTHER NAIL IN COMICS' COFFIN!!

Today's posting might be a long one, and it'll be filled with a little bit of "inside baseball" stuff when it comes to the comic market. I will work hard to keep it simple and to voice my anger and frustration as directly as possible.

I HOPE.

First off I LOVE COMICS. Loved them all my life. When growing up I "knew" I HAD to be involved in this glorious combined form of art and communication. I've written them (My writing notation in Overstreets for my War Of The Worlds work has remained there for well over a decade now), I've drawn them (As my notation for Spank The Monkey in Fogel's Underground Guide will attest), I've published them (as a small press publisher of Arrow, Massive, and yes, even WeeBee Comics banners) off and on over two decades worth of time, and I've taught them. I grew up breathing comics, the art form, it's publishing and distribution ins and outs, for most of my life. I started the first comic book specialty shop in my area, I have studied and written about their history to the point that my miniseries about comics(Spank The Monkey On The Comic Market)was very well received and has been mandatory curriculum material for more than one Sequential Art college course. I continue to unofficially teach Middle School and Elementary kids about cartooning after school via The United Way because I KNOW there are kids out there with the same sparks as I had as a child who. like myself, may even use this art form as a way of staying sane (or a reasonable facsimile there of).

Simply put I am passionate about Comics and they are a VERY important part of my life. I have ranted about comics numerous times here on this blog, making suggestions, recommendations, and showing you but a small sampling of Heroes I Miss. Though lately my attentions have been focused elsewhere most of the time I still pay attention to some of what is happening with Comics' "Direct Market", the chain of small outlets that offer comics' mainstream material (though the use of the word "mainstream" in that last sentence has just hit me as an oxymoron. perhaps "mainstream" comics have shifted from the comic shops to the movie screen, but that's off topic).

So yesterday, in my spare time surfing news on the web I came across this item in Rich Johnston's Lying In The Gutters column on the Comic Book resource board. I have high respect for Rich's column and do read it every week, when I have time, and recommend it to any of you readers who may also be interested in the "Inside Baseball" of Comics and the Direct Market. You can read the quote in full context at the address below and you should bookmark this column, and perhaps read over as much of the Comic Book Resource site that interests you, if you're not doing so already. Here's that addy:

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=19605

The spot is in regards to Comics' primary distributor (the paragraph above this quote called them "monopoly", which I agree with but unfortunately the Federal Courts do not) Diamond Distributors and how they were dictating which books they would distribute by establishing "minimums" unto the market. This on top of any new comic company having to p[rove their measure by passing three completed issues of their product in front of a "retailer review board" to see if you are worthy of being listed in their (Diamond's) sales catalog in the first place.

These "thresholds" were placed so that it would be worth Diamond's while financially to distribute a creator's work. It seems that Diamond was interested in their sales/cost returns as was afraid of being over run by smaller pressed books taking up too much time and space to fill orders going from publisher to retailer. Like a strainer they were keeping the "lower forms" farther away from a viewing audience of potential buyers and fans.

In order to totally understand the step here you have to know what a Previews Catalog (Diamond's primary selling tool, that they charge retailers and fans to posses in the first place- despite the onslaught of advertising these catalogs hold) actually looks like. There are multi levels of preference here with Diamonds top sellers, that they call "exclusives" which are the top dogs in the market, are listed in front and given preferential treatment. Following each "exclusives" current listing is each companies bound book library of what they have in stock to offer, as well as all of their merchandising: limited edition hard bounds, statues, posters, trading cards, apparel, bottle caps, and whatever current hot button merchandising they can dream up to drain the retailer (the strainer/primary buyer for the consumer)of their money in hopes of cashing in on their icons- THEN comes the rest of the publishers in what everyone calls the "green section" (green being subliminal to "not yet ripe enough for you to bother picking"). It's that "green section" that were originally hit by their imposed "minimums", again these 'green section" books already had to pass retailer panel inspection- the "exclusives" do not and were not included in the "minimum" rule.

It is at this point that I quote Rich Johnston's column:

At the time there were concerns that small press books would falter, not reach the expected figures, and smaller companies would disappear. And those that depended on listing the same item again and again, as "Order Again" would lose a big chunk of their income, as repeated listings of the same item would never have the same amount of orders as the initial listing. To some extent, this did indeed happen. Some companies disappeared, especially the one-man-bands. And the amount of O/As dropped. Some companies chose to cut exclusive deals with Diamond, so that they could list O/A titles without worrying about benchmarks.

In September 2005, the benchmark was set at $1500 wholesale and the threshold at $600 wholesale. That worked out at about a retail benchmark of $3750 and a retail threshold of $1500.

One other factor is that three years ago, most independent books cost around $2 to $3. These days, it's $3 to $4. Which means, the benchmarks and thresholds are being reached with smaller sales.

So boys and girls, it's time for it all to happen again. I understand the new expected minimum order, the benchmark, is $2500 wholesale or $6250 retail. Miss that figure too often and your book is dropped.

End of quote.

I have yet to hear of anyone getting OFFICIAL notice of the new minimums, but I suspect that IF Diamond does do this it will be screamed about (or at least SHOULD BE screamed about) by all small publishers who have again had the figurative noose tightened about their necks as Diamond further attempts to lynch the "green section" from their catalog entirely.

So much for "Fair Trade", or even remotely like the "Fair Play" our president just got done addressing in his inauguration speech.

Under these new "minimums" the old Arrow regime would have only been able to produce (and have Diamond distribute) two of our over fifty issues, that being Spank The Monkey #1 (which was boosted by a listing in Wizard Magazine as being "One The Edge" when the contents of the book were yet to even be written) and Butterfly Gunn #1 (which has a rich marketing history all it's own and I refer you over to the history section of the Arrow Comics site for that). That's it. No Oz, No War Of The Worlds, No Wonderland, let alone the other great books we published. I was already our companies "cut off man", not printing titles that were going to kill us financially (two of which I actually printed out of guilt and it did cost us severely- one of which I did not print and it cost me a good chunk of my self respect and drive to print and be in the market at all).

Again, so much for "Fair Trade" as you HAVE to wonder how many current icons of the direct Market (like Turtles, Bone, Love and Rockets) would have had their face slammed in the door and never seen a retailer's pull bag. let alone a retailer's shelf, if these minimums were in place back in the 80's and 90's.

Plus, now you know why the price per issue of comics likes to jump like it does. IF you want to survive you almost have to out price yourself out of the market (and in these economic times eventually WILL), just to hit Diamond's minimums for them to bother to take you out of box "A" from you and put you in box "B" for the retailer that ordered you three months in advance.

This has not been "Fair Trade" or "fair Play" now for many, many years and now it looks like it's all going to get a little harder.

Finally now you also see that the "exclusives" will now be under Diamond's "minimums" noose. and you wonder why you get those "Special Events" every year that fucks your continuity and wallet into buying titles you don't normally buy. It's gonna get worse now. You wonder why the hell Marvel and DC jacked their cover price way up on their comics, when the cost of printing has gone down, especially if they print overseas. Now, it's only going to get worse.

Woe be onto the retailer, who has to make an educated guess three months in advance of the market as to how they'll be selling any comics into their shop- with hard times here and more coming (what, you think gas is gonna stay at 2 bucks a gallon all summer- I'd be SHOCKED if that ever happens), they will be PRAYING that folks WANT to see Batman dead (again), Spidey fall in love with MJ (again!), and Wolverines TRUE origin explained (again!). Best of luck to all you guys.

Me, I ain't playin' and when I can tell you exactly what I'm doing and if it'll work or not I'll let you know. I gave up submitting to the "mainstream" guys a lloonngg time ago (though I STILL have a killer Red Wolf story I'd give my left nut to tell, you ain't gonna read it as Red Wolf most likely). Hope you comic readers like your repetition, stale continuity, big "crisis" events that go nowhere big, and all the sparkle and glitz sleight-of-hand these color companies will be force feeding you in the future as yet another nail in comics' creativity coffin seems to be about to be pounded in by your friendly Diamond Distributors' need for greed.

SPECIAL INSIDE NOTE HERE: There have been many attempts to change Diamond's hold on the market, mostly to no avail because retailers and publishers alike quake in fear of reprisal from said company in one form or another. This "fear" is justified with every new restriction Diamond beings to the market as sharing a bit of the profit margin Diamond has cut for itself could go towards enacting the minimum "noose" and cancel titles for publishers. On the same end not meeting levels of discounts for retailers could in turn inflict severe pain on any already struggling retailer. Frankly Diamond OWNS the market be strangling creativity and any opportunity to make the market better without Diamond's finger in the pie. Despite perhaps higher sales the readership for comics continually keeps shrinking due to lack of creativity on every level of production, and Diamond is a (if not THE) major cause of that. In fact, one of the primary reason I had to stop publishing (outside of flat out loosing the will to do so) was because I realized that Diamond was making more money off of my labor that me- again all for moving product from box "A" to "B".

I rest assured in the knowledge (as I stated in my Comic Market mini-series I mentioned above) that every advance to the art of comics comes after the screwing (or nailing, or lynching) of the previous market, I will be working hard to do my best to be a part of THAT, and not the dismal treadmill running the money machine that is Diamond Comics Dictatorship.

WAKE UP!!

Ow, Ow, Ow, OW!!!!

Will all you stupid "Jackass" people PLEASE try this at home!



WAKE UP!!

Circuit City Blows A Slow Burning Fuse

From the AP wire, via WTOP.com via Fark.com comes the news that Circuit City's are all closing. You can read the WTOP article by clicking the above headline, or you can go here:

http://www.wtop.com/?nid=111&sid=1514456

Seriously, does this news comes as a surprise to anyone who has followed the news over the last few years, and can you REALLY blame "The Economy" for this happening? I'm sure you'll see over the course of the current news cycle about how Circuit City going under thrusts an estimated 30,000 new unemployed folks out into the streets, but honestly whose fault is it really? This article mentions the fact that their execs didn't take the "threat of Best Buy seriously", but their problems started way before this year when they decided it was a great cost saving move to layoff 3400 of the mid-range waged employees, employees who had worked for the chain for a number of years and who, being rewarded for their hard work and service to their stores, had earned themselves systematic raises, or promotional raises (again based upon their loyal service to the company). When they had announced that boneheaded move at the end of March 2007 I knew they were slitting their own throats and encouraging their customer base to be as loyal to them as they were to their employees. Employees who, by the way, were deep within their primary marketing demographic.

This is much more an example of horrible corporate strategy than bad economic times. Once all those initial layoffs started word of mouth began to spread. Disgruntled employees started disclosing the many flaws in their stores marketing and retailing money grubbing scams. Negativity ran through their sales demographic as those who did their research began to realize the many flaws and schemes that are prevalent in the retailing system. A second round of layoffs a few months after the first was really the icing on the cake, leaving CC with little if any mid range employees (those employees that would be experienced and in the trenches sort of speak) to watch out over their business, let alone give a rip about it.

My point is made by this story earlier in the week where two guys walked right into a CC in Salisbury North Carolina and walked straight out with a 67 inch flat screen (retail value around $3200), only to have an employee chase them out of the store to ask them if they needed something to help tie the set to the roof of their small car. The thieves told the sales rep that they did need some rope and the boneheaded under-payed (I assume he was probably not caught in the rounds of layoffs at least if her was still working there)clerk went back into the store to get them some. By the time he returned he thought it was odd they didn't wait for him as he watched them leave the parking lot securing the set to the roof of their car just by hanging onto it. That article is here (and I recommend reading it because it IS rather funny!):

http://www.salisburypost.com/Area/011309-Circuit-City-television-theft

The CC execs idea of cost cutting was indeed short sighted when in the long term salesmanship comes mainly from loyalty and word of mouth.

Certainly the economic downturn did factor into their bankruptcy, but in truth once this Corporate decided to cut out its middle, its HEART, they were destined to eventually bleed to death anyway. Another example of sad corporate greed eroding the middle class. Now you wonder why I don't care for Wal-Mart?

WAKE UP!!