The internet has made buying anything, a process far easier than I think we truly grasp. The technological leaps ahead that we have done in a few scant decades, taken for granted, underplayed and underacknowledged by a population seeking to numb itself from its horrors, by conversely meeting with jaded cynicism its wonders.
Reading is likewise much changed in the age of the atom.
This post particularly, concerns itself with reading slims (my name for the product hard-headedly referred to as a comic-book. Hardheadedly because it is neither typically humorous or a book).
The term ‘Slim’ poises it correctly as something periodic and sleek and a bit sexy and just as well suited for grownups as Dvds or books or paintings.
Today’s recommended Slims are:
Slims suffer from a bit of a distribution issue. For the most part you are not going to find them in the spinner racks of convenience stores any longer, nor in the big box superstores of say a Target or Walmart. So while Graphic Novels have never been more popular or influential in our society, the serialzed, periodic form of the Graphic Novel, the Slim, suffers from a visibity issue. They are hidden away for the most part in niche stores, called “direct market comic stores” that our misnomers that will not attract anyone but those already in the know, or nostalgia seekers.
It is an insular inbred model that does not shine its light beyond its own living room, and as such is not new reader friendly. Which is a shame, because as someone who has grown up with this oddest of hobbies and artforms, here in 2014 the width and breadth of story and art of the medium has never been better.
From scifi to mystery to historical drama to horror to humor to instructional to spy thriller, you name a genre and there is a writer, artist producing great work in this medium of Slims, of graphic literature.
That said there is, as in any medium, a lot of garbage out there, particularly in the most visible genre of Slims… the Superhero comic. A genre hampered by monopolistic collusion to the point the very term Super-hero has been jointly trademarked by the colluding companies of Marvel and DC. An idiotic trademark, attempting to own a term as much a part of the cultural venacular as God or myth or justice. But it is the choices of fawning to uncreative monopolistic interests that results in flooding the medium with a lot of noise, a lot of bad books.
The rising popularity of digital gives new options to find books, which is a great thing, however it also increases the odds that the books you come across will be bad, will be the noise rather than the signal.
And with Slims being $2.99 at best and $3.99 on the worse end, you can’t afford to experiment at this price point. This is no longer the day of 25cent comics, so each purchase of $2.99 or $3.99 has to justify itself. The $2.99 or $3.99 has to earn its value against a world rife with options from gaming to streaming to dvds to itunes to traditional books.
Which is why preordering is a pretty fantastic idea. Diamond is the monopoly that distributes Slims. Retailers order from them two months in advance. Customers like you and I preorder from Retailers. The benefit of preordering from your retailer… discounts of typically 35% to 40% off!!! WooHoo! Sign me up! :).
Now that said, that discount only means something if you’re ordering a great book. For a crappy book even getting 99% off is not reason enough to get the book.
So the following are books you can order by the end of May, at a discount, for July shipping. I’ve done the homework for you! 🙂
MAY140044
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1 @ $0.60 = $0.60*1 FOR $1 MIND MGMT #1 (O/A)*
MAY140047
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1 @ $0.60 = $0.60*1 FOR $1 STAR WARS (O/A) (C: 1-0-0)*
MAY140048
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1 @ $0.60 = $0.60*1 FOR $1 THE MASSIVE #1 (O/A)*
MAY140050
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1 @ $0.60 = $0.60*GOON OCCASION OF REVENGE #1 (OF 8) *Special Discount*
MAY140010
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1 @ $1.75 = $1.75*GHOST #6*
MAY140062
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1 @ $1.79 = $1.79*GREAT PACIFIC #18 (MR)*
MAY140707
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1 @ $1.79 = $1.79*MANIFEST DESTINY #8*
MAY140712
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1 @ $1.79 = $1.79*MERCENARY SEA #6*
MAY140713
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1 @ $1.79 = $1.79*OUTCAST BY KIRKMAN & AZACETA #2 (MR)*
MAY140719
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1 @ $1.79 = $1.79*REVIVAL #22 (MR)*
MAY140723
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1 @ $1.79 = $1.79*SAGA #21 (MR)*
MAY140726
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1 @ $1.79 = $1.79*STAR WARS #19 2013 ONGOING (C: 1-0-0)*
MAY140085
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1 @ $1.79 = $1.79*WALKING DEAD #129 (MR)*
MAY140744
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1 @ $1.79 = $1.79*SIMPSONS COMICS #213*
MAY141127
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1 @ $1.94 = $1.94*LOW #1 (MR) *Special Discount*
MAY140566
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1 @ $1.99 = $1.99*RAGNAROK #1 *Special Discount*
MAY140444
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1 @ $1.99 = $1.99*USAGI YOJIMBO COLOR SPECIAL ARTIST ONE-SHOT *Special
Discount*
MAY140055
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1 @ $1.99 = $1.99*TAROT WITCH OF THE BLACK ROSE #87 (MR)*
MAY141233
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1 @ $2.07 = $2.07*BLACK SCIENCE #7 (MR)*
MAY140696
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1 @ $2.10 = $2.10*LAZARUS #10 (MR)*
MAY140709
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1 @ $2.10 = $2.10*MANHATTAN PROJECTS #22*
MAY140711
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1 @ $2.10 = $2.10*MASSIVE #25*
MAY140071
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1 @ $2.10 = $2.10*SKULLKICKERS #29*
MAY140730
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1 @ $2.10 = $2.10*SOUTHERN BASTARDS #4 (MR)*
MAY140731
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1 @ $2.10 = $2.10*STRAY BULLETS THE KILLERS #5 (MR)*
MAY140734
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1 @ $2.10 = $2.10*HALLOWEEN EVE ONE SHOT CVR A (O/A)*
MAY140640
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1 @ $2.39 = $2.39*MIGHTY AVENGERS #12*
MAY140795
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1 @ $2.39 = $2.39*MIND MGMT #24*
MAY140070
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1 @ $2.39 = $2.39*BEAUTIFUL WAR #2*
MAY140447
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1 @ $2.59 = $2.59*CALIBAN #4 WRAP CVR (MR)*
MAY141073
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1 @ $2.59 = $2.59*SIMPSONS ILLUSTRATED #12*
MAY141129
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1 @ $2.59 = $2.59*WEIRD LOVE #2*
MAY140541
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1 @ $2.59 = $2.59*ENORMOUS #2 CVR A CHEGGOUR*
MAY141626
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1 @ $2.79 = $2.79*TUKI SAVE THE HUMANS #1*
MAY141240
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1 @ $2.79 = $2.79*BLACK KISS 2 XXXMAS IN JULY SPECIAL ONE SHOT (MR) (C:
1-0-0)*
MAY140601
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Go here to order : http://www.dcbservice.com/
Tell em HT sent ya!
Heroic Times 