Morale Low
They took my front counter pick away.
Before my shift was over at the store, they took my front counter pick away and replaced it with something else. The manager said it was because I was going to be off work soon, but this was the first time any of my suggestions had been taken away from their cozy nook at the registers for that last minute buy and/or sell while I was still in the room and in front of me. I wanted to fold a little flag and march it to its final resting place after being so brave and bold.
I think a point was being made pretty clearly to me by my co-workers, one that’s been made for the past week or so by a heft of fans at large.
You see, my pick was Amazing Spider-Man #546. I liked Brand New Day.
I didn’t find it ‘boring’, I had no major reaction to Peter kissing some girl on the first page, I’m not boycotting it because of One More Day, I even looked forward to its release and can’t wait to see the next issue. The back up stories were a great way to get us interested in each writer’s style and the tone of what’s to come. Even Greg Land only used two other reference photos that he uses for everything else! Dan Slott was witty, Harry Osborn’s return intrieguing and the supporting characters did just that: supported the main story and gave me a feel for where Peter was at nowadays. Colors seemed brighter, birds sang a little sweeter and, hand to God, this looked like fun. Peter’s a bit of a lovable loser and- get this -the thought balloon WORKED, helping out the narrative by putting me in Peter’s head without being annoying or overused. SOMEONE GET BENDIS ON THE PHONE! It’s been so long to see Peter plagued by something simple, like humility or missing shoes, rather than the madness of mystical mishaps and over-angsting emo-attitude that has had him at the edge of death threats. It was good, not the pinnacle of comics everywhere nor good enough to change my opinion that One More Day was a bad storyline, and I judged it based on its own merit. When I opened the store, it sat next to me at the counter and I came in ready to sell.
The manager didn’t agree. He was polite about it, but the book was stank of what had come before, trapped in a world it didn’t create. Customers have come into the store with pitchforks and torches in their eyes and the staff have commiserated on what a ‘slap in the face’ this all is, effectively continuing the hype of ‘the Worst. Storyline. EVER.’ I don’t think it’s a stretch of the imagination to think that the man in charge today simply didn’t like the book. But when I take Messiah CompleX to task for not exactly being clear on the stakes of the story, I get in trouble because I’m talking down a sale. I find my front counter pick politely escorted off the counter. Oh, the politics of fandom.
Spider-Man, ladies and gents. I’m a Brand New Day pariah. I WEAR THE SCARLET SPIDER! Though that would be worse, since the Clone Saga was lame and the actual Scarlet Spider really silly looking.
But I don’t mind being silly looking.
