Today felt strange.

I’m in a strange period where the old thing is done and dusted and the new thing has yet to start in ernest, so today was… strange. I’ve discovered that a large chunk of my identity has become attached to being a guy who talks about and sells comics, and now that a chunk of that is missing, things feel a bit off. It made for a very weird Monday where a lot of stuff got done, but it didn’t feel like Monday used to feel. I’m looking at tomorrow, and expecting more of the same. I’m looking at Wednesday, and nervously wringing my hands. It will be weird to walk into the shop and peruse the shelves without having had a hand in getting them there.

I want to be at the next thing. I want to be there now instead of working on these secret fiddly bits. Unfortunately, without the secret fiddly bits, the next thing doesn’t begin. So there’s that. Which is fun. Ah well, this period was always going to be a bit weird. I’m focusing on the future, and working towards it. That’s good. It’ll be good. Until then, I still need to get some of my shop talk out somehow so, here’s a few notes from the past week:

• I think DC would have done a whole lot better if they had held off on announcing the end of a good quarter of their ongoing comic line-up in March. I mean, at this point, it’s a bit of an open secret that the company is going to do a bit of a soft reboot in June, so why not do what Marvel does, and hold off on the final issue announcement until March rolls around? By that point in time, they’ll be announcing the new titles they’ll be putting out in June, and they could have squashed a lot of the negative connotations of sweeping cancellations with exciting new books! It would certainly give their PR team an easier go, that’s for sure.
• On the other side of the aisle, Marvel announced a new look for Spider-Woman in March with her fifth issue. It’s a pretty cool move, but I almost wonder if the move would have been better suited for the first issue of the series. As it stands, the first four issue of her new ongoing tie directly into a big crossover event, which certainly gives the series a cheap and easy pop in sales, but I think it hobbles the series’ sales potential in the long run. It’s hard to sell new readers on a series when the first story arc requires a bit of extracurricular knowledge. I think the company could have gotten away with a Spider-Woman mini-series to tie into the Spider-Verse event, leading into a nice, easy #1 in March or April after the dust settles. Give her the new costume and motivation, and start from the ground with something new, and build the foundation of the ongoing from solid numbers instead of inflated crossover interest that will erode at a much quicker pace.

Aaaaand, that’s about it for today. I’m off to read some of the comic industry history books that I’ve been accumulating over the years. I finally have time for them now. It’s a pretty great feeling.