Check Out Author Nina Ayers!

Last weekend I had the chance to meet author Nina Ayers while she was at Half Price Books for an author event promoting her latest work, "Joy of Murder: Life of a Serial Killer/s." Her work is based on actual events involving a real-life serial killer and the efforts that were taken to bring him to justice. Nina's book involves multiple twists and turns--it sounded like the perfect read for those who enjoy both fictional and true-crime stories.

I greatly enjoyed speaking with Nina while she was tabling to her promote her book and it was clear she put a great deal of work into creating this stellar publication. She isn't just stopping with this book, however. She has other titles in the works with this series as well as a series for kids titled, "Fairies of the 4 Realms." You can find, "Joy of Murder: Life of a Serial Killer/s," at your local bookstore (or have them order it for you). You can also always buy it from Amazon or via Barnes & Noble as well.

Funko Friday: Someone's Getting Fired For This Mix-Up!

This Pop Should Not Glow

See that Nearly Headless Nick Funko Pop right there? He isn't supposed to glow. You see, there is going to be a version on sale at San Diego Comic-Con that will have a full-body glow, and a shared exclusive is rumored to also go on sale at Barnes and Noble. The, "Common," version though? He ain't supposed to glow. I had heard rumors that some common versions had a glowing head or body, but wasn't sure of the truth. Then, a chum of mine from Pop groups named Antonius bought a Nearly Headless Nick at Hot Topic, took it home, and sure enough, his noggin glows as the above picture illustrates. Yeah, someone is getting fired at Funko for this mix-up!

Look, I get it, quality assurance is hard. That said, when the factory starts mixing-up the parts of an exclusive Funko that glow with the parts of the common version that don't, it just looks pretty embarrassing. I mean, this is a publicly-traded company worth millions and its fan-base knows to seek-out exclusives. Now we've got this Nearly Headless Nick who sometimes has one part of his body or another glow and now I'm wondering if the exclusive will end-up accidentally with zero glow, have only some parts glow like the common, or sport a full-body glow as Funko has promised, who knows?

The same Pop as above, no hint of its glowing-feature.

This isn't a huge deal, but it must make Funko feel pretty dumb. It's not going to be the ruin of the company, but who likes looking stupid/foolish? Hopefully a solution will be cooked-up to make everyone happy and this won't happen again. It is pretty funny to imagine collectors going to stores with a UV flashlight and asking to take the Nearly Headless Nick to the bathroom and turn the lights-off to, "Check something," however!

So, Comics at the Local Newsstand is Basically Dead, Yeah?

Back when you had to walk two miles to the newsstand for your comics, both ways uphill!

Hey, all you older folk, remember the days back when you would go to the local newsstand and comic books would be there? Hell, I'm not super-old and even I, as someone who lived in some small towns, have fond memories of going to a store in town which was full of newspapers, magazines, and comics. Over time that seemed to change though and now comics are mainly found at stores dedicated to just them as opposed to also at the newsstand, which seems to be not necessarily dying out, but having to evolve. 

Places I remember going to full of newsprint now have moved more in other various directions.  One in Upstate New York I liked getting comics from now is a bit more focused on being a tobacco specialty shop that also has an assortment of sodas and alcohols. Back when I lived in that region the guy in charge of ordering magazines and comics had really good taste and that is how I got into some of the weirder Marvel titles you wouldn't necessarily expect at a newsstand where one would normally expect just, "X-Men," as opposed to my beloved, "Moon Knight." That guy went on to become a full-time DJ however and the store now--as I said--is more of a place to get a newspaper, a soda, and a specialty cigar.

The only B&N within Saint Louis located in a mall, the others are just by it.

There was one last beacon of newsstands selling comics that was a big deal--some years ago Barnes and Noble and DC inked a pact to sell comics on the B&N newsstands. It was cool idea, and one that now apparently is dead. Whenever I would go to Barnes and Noble I'd see some DC books and other random comics (an, "Archie," maybe), but I guess that day is gone. I suppose that may very well be the final nail in the coffin for comics on the newsstand, eh?

Am I wrong? Does anyone who reads the blog have a newsstand-type store that inexplicably has a massive comic selection that brings them immense joy and reading pleasure? If so please tell me because that sounds really cool. I mean, besides that place in my little city, a town over there was another big newsstand place that didn't change much and the last time I visited it had shut down and become some random organic food store. That was depressing.