Virtual Memories

In summer, our office hours are 8am-1pm on Fridays. It’s a nice treat, getting out before the weekend traffic, even if it’s just to get some shopping done or get home early.

Today, I stopped off at a comic shop on the way home, to pick up the new issue of Buffy: Season 8 for Amy. I hadn’t been to a comic store for a while — probably since the last issue — so, even though I’m in a cash crunch for the next month or so, I browsed the recent releases.

It was then that I realized the comics gods were taunting me.

It wasn’t enough that I found a new book by Eddie Campbell. No, it wasn’t even enough that I found

• two new hardcover collections of classic Jack Kirby work: the first volume of Fourth World and the second volume of his mindblowing run of Fantastic Four,
• I Shall Destroy All the Civilized Planets a retrospective book of strips by the Wolverton-esque Fletcher Hanks,
• Misery Loves Comedy, a compilation of Ivan Brunetti’s amazing and misanthropic comics, and
• The Fun Never Stops, a collection of 15 years of strips by the incomparable Drew Friedman.

No, dear reader. Above and beyond all that, I found Comics Gone Ape, a book about the history of primates in comics. Presumably, it will include the great Jimmy Olsen: Gorilla Reporter.

Clearly, the comics gods want me to go broke. But you’ll be glad to know that I calmly paid for Amy’s comic, walked out of the store, and quietly sobbed as I slumped over the steering wheel of my car.