Remember

Today marks the 7-year anniversary of the worst attack upon the United States on US soil. Today 7 years ago the two World Trade Center buildings had jet plains full of innocents and a few terrorists fly into them, eventually bringing them and some peripheral buildings to the ground. A wing of the Pentagon met a similar fate. On another jet a few brave souls gave their lives by crashing the jet the hijackers controlled to save the lives of others.

It was a beautiful day outside, mild tempratures, light breze, sun shining without a cloud in the sky. Craig and I had just moved into our home the day before. I remember hearing the stunned reports as the news media suddenly attempted to figure out what happened. I remember the quiet of the day, and the night, as most people went home to spend time with their loved ones and the skies were silenced. I remember TV and Radio focusing on the events for several days and all Americans listening with unease wondering if there was another attack coming and hoping against hope that those who had disappeared in the attacks would turn up as survivors.

I had been to World Trade Center 2 less than 2 years earlier. For three weeks I was there every day, on the 62nd floor, finishing my training with Morgan Stanley to become a stock broker. I knew people who still worked in that building, that building that was gone. I remember the rooms we studied in, awards on the walls, desks and computers, the cafeteria, the incredible views out of the tall but narrow windows. The concrete courtyard at the base, near the shops, with the large metal globe in the center. The hustle and bustle as employees waited in lines to take the express elevators to their designated floors, as they poured in and out of the subway cars, got coffee and newspaper from the small shop near the subway exit, and dashed off to their destinations. All of it gone in one day.

It is easy to criticize the war, the President, but today is the one day we need to all remember what caused the war, what could happen should we loose our diligence. I heard a reporter say last night that we have to be right every time to prevent another attack, while the terrorists only need to be right once. Be thankful today for all the days since 9/11/01 to today that you and your family innocently went about daily activities without having your lives snuffed out suddenly by religious zealots full of hate. Leave politics and bickering for tomorrow, today let's celebrate those that survived and mourn those lives that were taken from us far too soon.

Excluding the 19 hijackers, 2,974 people died in the attacks. Another 24 are missing and presumed dead. The overwhelming majority of casualties were civilians, including nationals of over 90 different countries.

There is a graphic novel adaptation of the event: The 9/11 Report by Sid Jacobson & Ernie Colon.

One of the most renoun comic creators, Art Spiegelman, expressed his feelings after the attacks in his graphic novel, In the Shadow of No Towers.

The comic book industry dealt with the events by incorporating them into stories and/or creating special issues memorializing what happened. Click here for a list.

Happy New Year! It's my 1,000 th Post!

Due to luck more than anything, it worked out that my New Year's post would also be my 1,000th post on this blog. I noticed around early November that if I averaged about 1 post per day that it would line up pretty well, and sure enough, here we are: January 1, 2008 and post #1000.

I started the blog back in early February of 2005, so it's been nearly 3 years. Back when I began posting Astonishing X-Men #8 was coming out. That makes it seem like a LONG time ago, doesn't it?

My first retailing rant was in mid-late March and discussed stores selling Star Wars products too early and people deciding to buy via subscription instead of supporting a quality local retailer. This was also the post where I received my first comment.

In early April of 2005 I had Jim Krueger, writer of comics like the recent Justice for DC and the upcoming Super Powers for Dynamite Comics, came into the store unannounced, just to check out the place while he was in town. That was definitely something to blog about!

In late October of 2005 I posted about the recent renovations in the store like new comic book racks. There are some great pictures there of the old and new versions of the store. We have changed more since then too! Then in the summer of 2006 we expanded the store by knocking down the wall for the back room. I have some photos of that and blogged a few times about the construction. Those posts start with this one. The remodel wasn't without problems, like our contractor arriving late and one of our new, $450 shelving units cracking in half.

One of my favorite posts was the one where I shared our encyclopedia of irritation in which I revealed some of the code names retailers give to different types of store visitors.

I remember this one. Some crazy guy on Newsarama was insisting that new comics cost retailers pennies because he was getting his comics for 75% off from some mail-order guy. Of course it wasn't every comic book and there were bits of his story that he'd simply created to fit his incorrect point. By the way, a $2.99 comic book costs me about $1.40 before shipping.

And how about the kid who insisted that another store offered him $75 for an embossed Cable #1 comic book. That was one of those days when I had to take a deep breath!

In January of 2007 we had a new store web site and no heat in the store.

Way back when I first started this blog I think I had 5 readers and they were mainly customers. Then one day another store in the area discovered it. More and more people found it and I began to find more and more blogs that I enjoyed as well. What was just a way to promote store events and good comics became something more, something fun for me, and a way for me to participate more in the comic book community. I've gotten to write for Sequart because of my blog, I've met some great people via blogging, and I have been able to get people to try some new things and think about things from a different perspective because of this little part of my world. And I too have gotten a different perspective, learned some things, and received great advice from people who have visited here and either commented or emailed me.

Thanks to everyone who has commented here, and to those that just visit. I would enjoy it even if only five people a week read it, because it's fun for me to do! But knowing that people actually come here every few days to find out my thoughts, well that's just amazing to me, and it makes me work that much harder while blogging. Here's to the next 1,000 posts!