Today at TCJ, our comics retail column Retail Therapy returns, this time with a visit to Philadelphia's Amagalm Comics & Coffeehouse.
What's changed the most for your business in the last five years?
Amalgam has had a really interesting start. Two weeks after opening our doors we went viral in the truest sense of the word. With that came a whirlwind of interviews, special appearances and speaking engagements for me. As a brand new business I felt it was important to get as much media attention as possible, so for the first 6 months or so of our existence much of my attention and energy went into promoting the business and building our brand. The biggest change thus far has been me taking step back from the promotional piece and really spending time with the store, my staff, and my customers.
Today's review comes to you from Helen Chazan, and this time around, he's taking a look at Junji Ito's Frankenstein, a recent hardcover release from Viz. He's into it.
Junji Ito’s Frankenstein is a comic chasing a feeling, a vibe, one great impression gleaned from Mary Shelley’s novel and essentially nothing else. When Ito is not chasing this feeling, the comic falls slack, stiffening into the straightforward retelling of a Classics Illustrated, where pages upon pages unfold of men and women in stodgy Victorian dress and upright posture, discussing plans for weddings that I couldn’t care less about. Maybe I have a short attention span, but it often seems that Ito does as well. These pages are light, literally so - daylight leaves little room for Ito’s oppressive hatching, and it leeches away the distinctive character of his art. Without that gloomy labor, Ito could be any mangaka, and this is just a comic book of Frankenstein. But not for long.
Back At The Bronze Age put together another one of their perfectly satisfying posts of comic book ephemera, this one focusing on floating heads. Look at all those ding dang floating heads!
Abhay Khosla put together a random look at some old Frank Teran covers of the Punisher and The Terminator, which is the Punisher's spirit animal. I'm good with that.
A comic I really enjoyed this year was Young Frances, and I'm just catching this interview with the creator now. Good stuff.
