Show Your Support

Milwaukee's WISN is again having the community vote for their favorite businesses on the A-List - including comic book stores. The vote is just about done, so if you have not already headed over there and cast a vote for Neptune Comics, please do. You don't have to be from the area or visited any other comic store here--all you need to know is how great we are here at Neptune.

It costs you nothing to show your support and only takes about a minute to register and cast your vote. Please go there now and show your support for the BEST comic book store in the area, Neptune Comics.

Here's the link: http://wisn.cityvoter.com/contests/a-list-on-wisn-com/4736/shopping/comics

First Appearance

It's been almost three weeks since my last post. This is because we have a new member of the Neptune family - baby Hudson was born Friday, 9/4. He wasn't due for a whole month, but my water broke in the wee hours that Friday and the doctor wants the baby out within 24 hours of that happening, so out he came. Labor didn't go well, and after a couple of scares that sent us down to the operating room for an emergency c-section Hudson was born.

He had to spend nearly a week in the NICU due to a pneumothorax from being a bit too early. That was very stressful for us, but we had Shane run the store while we spent as much time as we could with Hudson. Now he's home and running the joint, keeping mommie up until all hours.

He hasn't made his first appearance at the comic book store yet, but he will make it there before the end of October - while I'm still on maternity leave. We'll be sure to let everyone know in case you want to check out the little man.

The Big News of the Day - Disney is buying Marvel

I just saw this and thought it was pretty big news. I see other bloggers have posted about it already, but this former stock broker can't resist the urge to post it as well.

BURBANK, Calif. & NEW YORK-- (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Building on its strategy of delivering quality branded content to people around the world, The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) has agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:MVL) in a stock and cash transaction, the companies announced today.

Under the terms of the agreement and based on the closing price of Disney on August 28, 2009, Marvel shareholders would receive a total of $30 per share in cash plus approximately 0.745 Disney shares for each Marvel share they own. At closing, the amount of cash and stock will be adjusted if necessary so that the total value of the Disney stock issued as merger consideration based on its trading value at that time is not less than 40% of the total merger consideration.

Based on the closing price of Disney stock on Friday, August 28, the transaction value is $50 per Marvel share or approximately $4 billion.

“This transaction combines Marvel’s strong global brand and world-renowned library of characters including Iron Man, Spider-Man, X-Men, Captain America, Fantastic Four and Thor with Disney’s creative skills, unparalleled global portfolio of entertainment properties, and a business structure that maximizes the value of creative properties across multiple platforms and territories,” said Robert A. Iger, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company. “Ike Perlmutter and his team have done an impressive job of nurturing these properties and have created significant value. We are pleased to bring this talent and these great assets to Disney.”

“We believe that adding Marvel to Disney’s unique portfolio of brands provides significant opportunities for long-term growth and value creation,” Iger said.

“Disney is the perfect home for Marvel’s fantastic library of characters given its proven ability to expand content creation and licensing businesses,” said Ike Perlmutter, Marvel’s Chief Executive Officer. “This is an unparalleled opportunity for Marvel to build upon its vibrant brand and character properties by accessing Disney’s tremendous global organization and infrastructure around the world.”

Under the deal, Disney will acquire ownership of Marvel including its more than 5,000 Marvel characters. Mr. Perlmutter will oversee the Marvel properties, and will work directly with Disney’s global lines of business to build and further integrate Marvel’s properties.

The Boards of Directors of Disney and Marvel have each approved the transaction, which is subject to clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act, certain non-United States merger control regulations, effectiveness of a registration statement with respect to Disney shares issued in the transaction and other customary closing conditions. The agreement will require the approval of Marvel shareholders. Marvel was advised on the transaction by BofA Merrill Lynch"

Interesting... very interesting. I had no idea Marvel was for sale. When it comes to Marvel's interest in merchandising and movie making it seems like a good partnership. But Disney hasn't been known for their comic book production, they don't even publish their own licenses - they've sold that off to Boom Studios.

So, how will this change the face of Marvel in the comic book industry? And what about those in charge over there now? These are just a couple of questions I have. And as the information unfolds you can believe I'll be discussing it here!

Wiener Mobile Crashes Into Racine Home

Proof that you CAN have beer with your wieners, but not while DRIVING a wiener.

Death of Icons

Unbelievable week!

Ed McMachon died on Tuesday. This morning Farrah Fawcett joined God's Angles. Now I'm getting confirmation that singing super star Michael Jackson has died.

McMahon was older, 84 years old, and had been having some health problems of late. Fawcett, age 62, had a battle with cancer. And Jackson, only 50, was experiencing some health problems and early news reports say he had a heart attack today that killed him.

Each of them is well known - iconic really - for what they've done. It's sad to see them all go in just one week.

I remember Michael Jackson being a superstar when I was in grade school and middle school. My sister even had a red jacket covered with zippers similar to the one Jackson wore in Thriller that we referred to as her Michael Jackson jacket. Kids were trying to figure out his moon walk and making sequin covered gloves. There were books about him, posters, MTV played his videos constantly. He had that Pepsi add incident when his hair started on fire - I remember constant news updates about that. Like so many who rise to stardom as children, he had his mental problems, and those definately became more of Jackson's persona in the last decade or so. But I always remember him as that pop icon cranking out hit after hit.

What a sad week!

Neptune in the News

Craig and I really worked to promote Marvel's early release of Captain America #600. That seems to have caught the eye of Marvel and the press. Craig was quoted a few times!

Matt Price's Nerdage

Newsarama.com

The Beat

Craig was also interviewed by Vaneta Rogers of newsarama.com back on 6/4 about variant covers. It's an interesting column, so check it out! I've been harping on variants since before I even started this blog - so I always like to see if I'm alone in my general dislike of them.

Major Marvel Announcement

As of today we're not sure what the big announcement is, but we've been promised that it IS big! It has to do with Captain America and takes place in issue #600 of Captain America.

It is SO big in fact that in an unprecedented move Marvel comics and Diamond Distribution are partnering to get that issue into comic book stores the day the news hits the wire - Monday, June 15th. This advanced sale opportunity is extremely unusual, in fact aside from the midnight release of The Stand #1 I don't recall another time in the years Neptune has been open in which retail stores were sent a comic book before it's Wednesday release date and allowed it to be sold before that date. Marvel seems to be banking on the fact that this will definitely be news that not just comic book readers, but the general public, will be interested in and want to own.

Not every comic book retailer is taking advantage of the advanced release, but we are at Neptune Comics! Our UPS typically arrives between 11 am and 2 pm, and we will have the comic book ready to be sold as soon as we can tear the box open.

There will be an additional wave of the comic arriving on the regular Wednesday release day, so if you miss out on Monday you should be sure to put your name on a list for Wednesday. But personally I recommend heading to Neptune or another store that will have the books for sale on Monday and browsing while you wait for the issue to arrive. By then the word should be out on what the big news!


UPDATE: Comic Book Resources Cup O Joe, Joe Q says about Cap #600: From the retailer standpoint, what they simply have to observe is the sort of investment we're making in this. We're putting a lot of effort into promoting #600. If we didn't think #600 was going to be something that's going to blow off the stands, we wouldn't be doing this. I can't think of an occasion where we sat here and bait and switched people. "You have to buy this monumental issue. You have to order hundreds of these" – and then not have something significant happen in the story. You may notice in the preview pages an emphasis on African American characters, reinforcing Craig's Theory I blogged about a couple of weeks back.

Is The Shine Coming off the Gemstone?

There is a small publisher called Gemstone that has, for years, published Disney comics and the Overstreet price guide. This publishing company is owned by Steve Geppi, the owner of Diamond Comics Distribution and Geppi Entertainment Museum. Rumors have been out there for a couple of years now that the museum was hemorrhaging money and that Geppi had sold a home and a number of pieces of his collection to stop that bleeding.

The viability of Gemstone has recently become even more questionable lately. Found on the Gemstone website:

Announcement

"In the past few days, there have been a number of rumors circulating about Gemstone Publishing. As has been the case with many businesses across a wide array of industries, there has been a reduction in staff at Gemstone, and this included the departure of many valued employees. This, however, is not the end of Gemstone Publishing," said Steve Geppi, President of Gemstone.

"Our flagship title, The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, remains a vital tool for comic book collectors throughout North America and around the world and it continues to be a highly profitable item for the retailers who carry it. I look forward to making announcements regarding new developments for the Guide's 40th anniversary next year," Geppi said.

"At this time, no final decision has been made regarding The EC Archives or our comic books featuring Disney's standard characters, but it seems certain that both lines will continue in some form," he said. "We all anticipate resolving the issues facing us and moving forward, and I will be happy to announce the specifics once things have been finalized."

A couple of years ago Gemstone temporarily halted publishing the Disney comics. And just couple of weeks ago it was announced on CBR's Lying in the Gutters that Gemstone would no longer be publishing Disney comics. If you look in the newest issue of Previews you will see that there are no Disney comics solicited by that publisher. In the future the Disney titles will be published by the newer publisher who has proven to be a real up-and-commer, BOOM! Studios.

If you attended Free Comic Book Day at your local comic book shop last month you might have noticed that Gemstone's comic, a Disney title, was not there. It was cancelled shortly after orders were submitted earlier this year.

The publisher also had, as many companies have, to lay off staff a few months back, as reported by The Beat:

An email to Publisher Russ Cochran got the following response:

We have unfortunately been forced by circumstances to close the West Plains, Missouri office of Gemstone Publishing. This included laying off five staffers here. I personally have worked with these people for over thirty years, so this was a very difficult decision, one that was painful for all involved. Going forward, I am still a part of Gemstone and we will be moving The EC Archives project to our York, Pennsylvania office. We fully expect to be able to get EC books and the Disney titles back on track, I look forward to continuing my association with the great EC material for years to come.

Disney Worldwide Comcs reported in February that Gemstone was being sued for unpaid bills by it's broker:
Creditors Trade Association is suing Gemstone, Diamond and owner Steve Geppi for $373,000 on behalf of Global Interprint, which is the print broker for many of Gemstone’s deluxe editions such as the EC Archives. Gemstone owes the large sum for printing bills that were run up between December 2007 and September 2008.

Going back to the end of last year, The Maryland Daily Record reported that the Geppi Entertainment Museum was 19 months behind on their rent, owing in excess of $700,000 to the Maryland Stadium Authority (leave it to a government agency to let tenants go that long without paying rent - I know we couldn't do that at the comic book store). While the museum is a separate company, the financial difficulties here do highlight the overall issues with cash flow for Geppi's holdings.

Many companies have been hurting financially these days, Gemstone is not alone. Of course these developments leave retailers wondering if next year's Overstreet Price Guide will be available. Execs at Gemstone insist it will, but if things go from bad to worse I would bet that could all change. Will copies of the recent guide be available? They are for now, but will that continue?

As long as someone takes over Gemstone's licenses, like BOOM! Studios has with Disney, it really isn't a big impact on the comic book industry. Retailers will still be able to provide the material for our customers. But of course it's sad to see a long-time publisher become weak in the knees. Maybe Geppi needs to contact the government - why wouldn't taxpayers want to own a comic book publisher? We already own an automobile manufacturing company and several banks, after all.

Newsworthy

Most of the time comic books are our private little thing - the thing that the 5-6% of cool Americans enjoy. But every once in a while the media jumps onto a comic book event and suddenly people who haven't bought comics in years, or ever, want to see what's going on and buy a piece of that history. Of course many are doing so in the hope that if they save it for a few years it will be worth big money.

You may have seen that recently even Archie comics has been getting in on the media action. Diamond notified retailers in our daily mailer that, "Coverage on Yahoo.com, in the New York Post, ABC News’ Good Morning America and CNN are sure to drive curious readers to the newsstands and comic book shops, some of whom may not have picked up a comic book in years"

And keep your eyes peeled because Marvel is insisting that the media will jump on Captain America #600 with such force that retailers can get an advanced release of this issue (more on that as events unfold!)

As always, if you want to be sure to get a copy you can reserve one from Neptune in advance. Once the buzz hits there's no guarantee you'll be able to get one if you want it unless you have asked ahead.

Spidey Cents

I work in a bank when I'm not at Neptune, so I know that check fraud is, unfortunately, common. Desperate times call for desperate measures and writing bad checks to get necessary items is not at all rare. Check fraud is also a criminal act, and those that participate in it can face serious penalties.

Recently a fellow comic book retailer in nearby Illinois, Jamie Graham of Graham Cracker Comics, had someone commit check fraud in his store in order to obtain a copy of Amazing Spider-Man #2. The fraudster also did something similar at Graham's other store to purchase X-Men #1. The employees at the store did verify ID and do what they thought was right. As a fellow retailer I know that when you have a customer in the store who is willing to shell out good money for a pricey item like these two comics, you do what you can to accommodate the shopper, including accepting a check. But when/if that check goes bad it can be VERY damaging. Now Graham is out both the money and two very valuable comic books. He has since decided to no longer accept checks at his stores - something I do not blame him for at all. Especially since banks are becoming less and less likely to verify the validity of a customer check, or even the account it is written from. Banks do sell equipment retail stores can use to electronically post and electronically verify checks - so it's no wonder they are deciding not to give that information out for free. I feel for this retailer, who is just trying to make a profit in his business and now has taken a serious hit due to someone's unethical and desperate behavior. It is also unfortunate because now customers who are honest people cannot use checks to make purchases at Graham's stores - one bad apple spoils the bunch, as they say. Hopefully Graham doesn't have to turn too many customers away because of this new policy.

What happened to the fraudser? Acording to ICv2's article, "A judge sentenced Scott Meherg, 28, to seven years in prison after he pleaded guilty to using a forged check to buy a high grade copy of Amazing Spider-Man #2 from Graham Cracker Comics in Naperville, Illinois. Meherg was also ordered to pay $980.99 in restitution for the comic, which was not recovered." If Meherg was this desperate, there's a good chance Graham will never see the money or comic book returned. Sure, Meherg gets jail time, that's what happens when one commits fraud, but it still doesn't help this store owner.


'

Sales Slip

The economy has hit everyone. There's plenty of evidence of it - #2 electronics retailer Circuit City had to close down, Linens and Things is history, local Milwaukee book seller Harry W Schwartz has closed up. Plenty of people are without jobs or with cuts in pay. But, there are some signs of improvement. New housing starts are up a bit, unemployment claims have leveled off in some areas, and banks that were thought to be on the edge of collapse announced positive earnings.

The comic book industry has also been hit by the slump in the economy, as you would expect. If people aren't spending money they're not buying comics. Numbers aren't down as much as I feared, so that's good. People ARE still buying comics, they just don't seem to be buying quite as many. And part of that might be that right now the publishers seem to be in a lull before they get to their big summer stories. In past economic down turns comic books often did well as people turned to inexpensive forms of entertainment to distract them from their real life predicaments. Today, with many comics having a $3.99 price tag, they don't feel like quite as good of a deal as they once were. Sure, that's still inexpensive when compared to going to a movie or buying a video game. But plenty of people have a hard time handing over close to $5 for a 32 page pamphlet. Here at Neptune we've seen a slight decrease in comic book sales, but we have seen an increase in sales of graphic novels and games. We have had people stop buying altogether and others cut back, but at least a couple new faces come into the store each week to see what today's comics are all about or revisit the heroes of their childhood.

Read the article here, and see what you think.

Simpsons Go Postal

Fun & Exciting! The Simpsons stamps will be available starting May 7. You know you'll be picking some up. Doh!

Full Moon Coming

So either it's the end of the world or the impending full moon that are signaled by the crazy local headlines on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel news feed today.

• 2 get jail for taking money from school fund

Two women seal over $5000 from their children's elementary school PTA. Way to go, mommie!

• Man who fired shots into Slinger homes to be released

Back in 1997 he sent about 4o bullets into his neighbor's homes. They found him crazy in 1998 because he'd constantly tell neighbors to watch out because they were being monitored by the FBI. Now he's been set free. I'm sure he's better, right. Either way I don't want to live next door to this guy. When police searched his home after the shooting they found 10 weapons and over 10,000 rounds of ammo.

• State sends investigator to view feet-nibbling fish

New business in local Mayfair Mall gives patrons fish pedicures. For $35, a hundred tiny garra rufa fish, known as doctor fish, will eat the dead flesh from a customer's feet for 15 minutes. Now the state department of Regulation and Licensing isn't sure that this is an acceptable spa treatment and may close the business down. Guess I'll have to cross that off my to-do list, which is a shame 'cause my calloused feet could sure use it.

• Inmate charged with assisted suicide

An inmate in Dodge County Correctional convinced, and assisted, his cellmate in committing suicide. I guess he really wanted some privacy.

• Man claims Satan ordered him to kill girlfriend, police say

Because he missed the lesson on NOT doing what the devil tells you to do. Oh, and Satan told him to blow up her apartment building too.

• Man, 64, charged with casting dead wife's vote

A 64-year-old widower was charged Wednesday with casting an absentee ballot for his dead wife, which he said was fulfilling her dying wish to vote in the presidential election. His wife was very politically active, a poll worker even, so really the poll workers should have noticed something fishy, maybe stopped or discouraged the guy, but didn't. And while he says it was her dying wish, he also admits in the column that she would not have wanted him to do what he did.

Has Gemstone Lost it's Luster?

Diamond Distribution and Gemstone Publishing owner, Steve Geppi, has been having some financial troubles, as many of us have. It's been out on the web for a while now, no secret. But a lot of it has been speculation, not fact. Recently Diamond shared a statement from Geppi about the situation:

"In the past few days, there have been a number of rumors circulating about Gemstone Publishing. As has been the case with many businesses across a wide array of industries, there has been a reduction in staff at Gemstone, and this included the departure of many valued employees. This, however, is not the end of Gemstone Publishing.

"Our flagship title, The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide, remains a vital tool for comic book collectors throughout North America and around the world and it continues to be a highly profitable item for the retailers who carry it. I look forward to making announcements regarding new developments for the Guide’s 40th anniversary next year. "At this time, no final decision has been made regarding The EC Archives or our comic books featuring Disney’s standard characters, but it seems certain that both lines will continue in some form. We all anticipate resolving the issues facing us and moving forward, and I will be happy to announce the specifics once things have been finalized.”

I hope they continue Disney - those are nice books. I could live without EC Archives. And to be honest people don't seem remotely interested in buying Overstreet this year. When people call or stop in and want help pricing books and we show them the guide they look at the price and are no longer interested. This could be partly due to the economy, partly due to people thinking Wizard is the ultimate price guide (I'll argue that not only is it not now, it NEVER was), and partly due to people being able to just use the internet as a resource. But Overstreet is a good guide, probably really only needs to be updated every other year, but that's just my opinion.

(Side story - we got a call today from someone who works for an estate sale company wanting my help pricing comics to sell at an estate auction. When I told her that we charge $75 per hour to do appraisals she seemed shocked. Then I recommended she buy a guide - she had a price guide (Not Overstreet) that she picked up at the library but couldn't quite figure it out and didn't know how to figure out the quality grading. I noted again that if she wasn't sure we'd be glad to appraise them for $75 per hour. Well, she'd have nothing of it, thanked me and hung up. Now I'm pretty sure they make money selling the stuff, but I'm supposed to do her job for free? Doesn't make sense, does it?)

One thing Geppi doesn't mention is what will happen with the Geppi Entertainment Museum in Baltimore MD. I know they don't get very good attendance there, but the museum consists of Geppi's collection and I've heard he gets a really good rate on the rent. Still, I wonder how much that museum eats up off of his bottom line.

Inkworks Employees out of Work

Trading card maker Inkworks has announced that it's going out of business. Another business to fall during our faltering economy. To be honest, I'm surprised they lasted this long, as the trading card market has been going down hill since the day Inkworks opened. Founder Allan Caplan's ability to snag a few good licenses and his marketing savy and loyal direct market friends must be what's helped to keep them around this long. And I know from taking to our game distributors that Topps and Upper Deck, two other large trading card makers, have been "making changes in their product lines" during this economy.

From ICv2:

Licensed entertainment card manufacturer Inkworks Cards, founded by Allan Caplan in 1995, has ceased operations. The company’s next scheduled release was Ghost Whisperer. Declines in trading card sales since the global economic crisis accelerated last September have created a difficult environment for manufacturers in the category.

Inkworks’ recent releases, which include the Spirit and Twilight films, illustrate the difficulty in consistently picking winners in the licensed trading card business. Twilight was a surprise hit, which Inkworks CEO Caplan said was a strong performer for the company, while Spirit was a weak movie and trading card release.

This leaves Topps and Rittenhouse as the last major producers of entertainment trading cards (with the occasional sets from Upper Deck and Donruss).

Comic Book Murder Update

You may remember this post a while back where I posted about the Dateline special on the trial of comic book retailer Michael George.

There's new news on that. According to ICv2, who also quotes the local newspaper, there will be a new trial for Michael George because the prosecution withheld some key evidence giving another individual the ability to also have committed the murder.

This could get him off. I still don't know if he actually murdered Barbara or not. The only living person who knows that is Michael. But the case against him did seem pretty flimsy, so this new evidence could be all that's needed for a new jury to set him free.

Weekend Links

The weekend has, as usual, gone too quickly. But we did get a lot done. But who knew the color blue came in so many variations? We're trying to design the interior of the new location and it's not easy. So rather than a full-fledged post I'm just going to post some links.

More peaks at the really good-looking Billy Tucci Sgt. Rock comic book. I do think this is something that will sell out, so if you want a copy reserve it now.

Joe Field from Flying Colors Comics in California discusses comic book retailing in a down economy with Newsarama. He's been around a long time so as a newer retailer it is always interesting to find out what they are experiencing.

Watchmen court case goes to trial in January 2009.

Spore is now available and folks are raging about it's awesomeness. Have you tried it yet?

Fall network TV can't start soon enough. I'm dying for an episode of The Office. In desperation I've signed up for The Office Twitter Feed. The good cable shows like Eureka and Psych are going into their mid-season shut down, so the next few weeks may be sands good TV. Thankfully HBO's started already and with Star Wars Force Unleased coming out on Tuesday I'll be lucky if Craig lets me anywhere near the TV for the next couple of weeks.

At least if I'm bored I can check out some of these neat Doctor Who games. Thanks BBC!

Have you checked out Meltzer's latest novel, Book of Lies yet? I saw it racked at Borders last week. Sadly I'm waiting for the soft cover, althoug the 40% discount for Borders club members was tempting. Customers seem to like it or hate it based on Amazon.com reviews.

Neptune's Moving Out

We have finally signed on all of the dotted lines and can make the official announcement that we're moving the comic book store to a new location.


Starting October 15 Neptune's new home will be 2120 E. Moreland Blvd. (see the schematic for the exact spot we'll be found in marked in lavender) It's almost twice the size of the location we have now on Sunset. This strip mall is also much larger with large anchors and other good smaller stores. Some tennants include: Blockbuster Video, Kohl's Department Store, Radio Shack, Bartz' Party Supplies and the Chocolate Factory. It is also not far from the freeway, making the store much more accessable to our many customers who commute to the store from outlying cities like Milwaukee, and we're closer to Brookfield.


This mall is actually one of the places we were considering when we were going to open the store. But they did not have availablility that fit with our time frame. The Sunset location where we are now was acutally our last choice, but the only one willing to take a gamble on a new store and having availability and price and size that all worked for us as new retailers. Our lease at Sunset was coming to an end and we felt that if we could, now would be the time to move to a location closer to the freeway and other major shopping stops. Really it has worked out wonderfly. The price and location and timing all worked out and now we can finally move to the location that we wanted when we first opened.


So far our customers have been very supportive of the move, which makes this tough decision easier. We know that it is hard to move a store and get shoppers to go to a new place to visit, but we really feel that in the long run this move will greatly benefit the store, making it bigger and better for both new and long-time customers.

McCloud Googles

Wondering what comic creator Scott McCloud has been up to since his world tour last year (during which he visited Neptune)?

Wondering what the next big thing is for Google?

Well, the two got together. Google is going to release a browser of their very own, called Google Chrome. What is Google Chrome? How does it work? That's where Scott McCloud comes in. He created a comic book explaining it all. You can read it right here.

Who says you can't get paid good money to make comics? I am sure Google paid out for this. While it might not pay as well a writing, say Batman: Dark Knight, I bet it paid OK.

McCloud writes a brief bit about it on his site as well.

Don't forget to pick up your copy of the Complete Zot! Collection. Available at Neptune and other quality comic book retailers.

Obama VS McCain - you decide, with comics

IDW is publishing two comics coming up October 8th. Each one will feature the candidate's own personal one-shot story that covers their lives and careers. They aren't supposed to be overtly political, but rather personal stories about each of the presidential candidates.

The talent working on the book Comic Book Resources reports, will be, "...writer Andy Helfer (the longstanding comics editor who recently wrote comic biographies for Malcolm X and Ronald Regan for Hill & Wang) and artist Stephen Thompson ("Star Trek: New Frontier") on the McCain one-shot and writer Jeff Mariotte ("Angel: Old Friends") and artist Tom Morgan on Obama."

If you have a favorite candidate you can vote for them in November, of course. But you can also show your support by purchasing their comic. At Neptune we're taking orders now, and each sale on release day (October 8) will be counted. Show your support and learn more about your candidate to boot, just by picking up their comic book. Each issue is 28 pages and the SRP is $3.99.

If you know you want one, and you DO want one, please let us know. We're putting in our order on Sunday. These comics have been written up in several local & national news papers, as well as all the comic book sites. They are sure to be in high demand. So make sure we've got the one you want for you when it comes out. Make your voice heard- show support for your candidate. Even geeks can get into politics!