Yesterday, I got into the car with Kristin and her brother to head north, towards Kittery, Maine, our favorite shopping destination. On the way there, a few stops were made, the first to Kristin's favorite store on the planet, Absolutely Everything to look at paper and paper-related goods. Then, Tim and I insisted on a visit to the Strip Mall Of Iniquity in Seabrook, NH. This strip mall has, check this:
Chris's Comics is very frustrating; it's overly crowded, badly lit, really unfriendly to anyone who's not familiar with cards1 or comics, and I know Kristin hates trying to move around in the place, as it induces claustrophobia. They do, however, have many inexpensive Silver Age comics, such as issues of Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen and Superman's Girlfriend, Lois Lane that I need, dammit. However, to get to these, you have to ask specifically for them and then the employee on duty points you to boxes stacked on the floor with "SILVER AGE" written on the side. Usually, there's some cluttered junk on top of these boxes and you have to be willing to breathe in some serious dust. There's also an appalling lack of organization outside of the back-issue bins. It just seems that stuff is stuck on the wall almost-randomly and it's near impossible to find one book amongst the thousands they've opted to clutter the shelves with. Enough grousing,though. They sell stuff cheap and I'm not there that often. Still, it does make me realize how nice the shop and Comicopia are with their floorspace and fairly-well-organized inventories.
I did score some fine paperbacks of classic novels while visiting one of the thousands of Book Warehouse locations that exist in shopping-oriented areas like Kittery. I finally got a copy of King Solomon's Mines to call my own, along with Alice In Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass and Don Quixote, which I've never read. Once I'm done with my re-reading of Kavalier And Clay, I'll either dig into these or the Banks novels I picked up. So many goddamn books, so little time. Oh, in case that's not enough, there was also a pair of Get Fuzzy collections that had to come home. Fucking literacy.
1CARDS? How fucking useless can a collectible get? Really? "I'm going to look at this picture of some person who played sports!" At least toys can be played with, theoretically, and comics provide replay value. What do cards provide? Something to look at while chewing your bad gum, not that they include gum anymore.
- An adult "book" store.
- A tattoo parlor.
- A "head shop" with items to be used for tobacco only.
- Chris's Comics.
Chris's Comics is very frustrating; it's overly crowded, badly lit, really unfriendly to anyone who's not familiar with cards1 or comics, and I know Kristin hates trying to move around in the place, as it induces claustrophobia. They do, however, have many inexpensive Silver Age comics, such as issues of Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen and Superman's Girlfriend, Lois Lane that I need, dammit. However, to get to these, you have to ask specifically for them and then the employee on duty points you to boxes stacked on the floor with "SILVER AGE" written on the side. Usually, there's some cluttered junk on top of these boxes and you have to be willing to breathe in some serious dust. There's also an appalling lack of organization outside of the back-issue bins. It just seems that stuff is stuck on the wall almost-randomly and it's near impossible to find one book amongst the thousands they've opted to clutter the shelves with. Enough grousing,though. They sell stuff cheap and I'm not there that often. Still, it does make me realize how nice the shop and Comicopia are with their floorspace and fairly-well-organized inventories.
I did score some fine paperbacks of classic novels while visiting one of the thousands of Book Warehouse locations that exist in shopping-oriented areas like Kittery. I finally got a copy of King Solomon's Mines to call my own, along with Alice In Wonderland and Through The Looking Glass and Don Quixote, which I've never read. Once I'm done with my re-reading of Kavalier And Clay, I'll either dig into these or the Banks novels I picked up. So many goddamn books, so little time. Oh, in case that's not enough, there was also a pair of Get Fuzzy collections that had to come home. Fucking literacy.
1CARDS? How fucking useless can a collectible get? Really? "I'm going to look at this picture of some person who played sports!" At least toys can be played with, theoretically, and comics provide replay value. What do cards provide? Something to look at while chewing your bad gum, not that they include gum anymore.
