Headlocked: Work of Art

Since its release on October 31, Headlocked: Work of Art has garnered near unanimous praise from both the wrestling and the comic book world. The book was hailed as "one of the year's best comics" in a 5 star review from Silver Bullet Comics and as "a non-condescending and realistic view of the world of rasslin’" from the Encyclopedia of Wrestling Comics.
Kingston's myspace page features pictures and quotes from a variety of wrestlers endorsing the book including Samoa Joe, Greg Valentine, Shawn Daivari, Chris Hero, Justin Credible, Dawn Marie, Blue Meanie, and Sara Del Rey. Based on the initial response, a new mini-series has been greenlit by publisher AAM/Markosia and is currently in production.
So while the book has been very well received it has become very difficult to find on the shelves. If you are a comics collector, and missed out on the initial offering of Headlocked: Work of Art for whatever reason, it is still possible to obtain a first printing of the book.
With a bright future and a low initial print run, Headlocked:Work of Art seems primed to become a collector's item. Kingston already has some big surprises lined up for the next series so he advises people to get their re-orders in for Headlocked: Work of Art before they're all gone.
If you have this book, add it into your iTaggit collection and let us know what you think about it! For more of Michael Kingston's article, click here.

Graphic Novels Gaining On Traditional Comic Books

Most of the business at comic book stores isn't in comic books anymore. According to pop culture trend tracker ICv2, graphic novels have begun to outsell comic books. Graphic novels are essentially comic books on steroids, with longer, more complex, darker stories. The term can also include putting together a long story arc initially published in half a dozen regular comic book issues, but purists tend to refer to those as trade paperbacks.

Statistics aren't available yet for 2007, but 330 million graphic novels were sold in North America in 2006--a 12 percent increase. That wasn't bad news for comic book publishers like DC and Marvel. There was an even bigger jump in sales of traditional monthly periodical comic books like "Batman" and "Spider-Man." They were up 15 percent to 310 million in 2006. And comic book publishers like DC are doing quite well with graphic novels. Where they once appealed almost exclusively to teenage boys, they now sell to people of all ages, male and female.

In Spotsylvania County, Mike Porter, comics collector and owner of the new Little Fish Comics & Collectibles store at Cosner's Corner, isn't just trying to ring up sales when he insists that graphic novels like "Watchmen," "Kingdom Come" and "V for Vendetta" qualify as legitimate literature.

Porter is a true believer. In 1995, he was a teacher's aide lecturing on Alan Moore's "V for Vendetta" as part of a science-fiction literature course at Guelph University in Ontario, Canada. He says students and their parents would come to him and ask if there was additional literature they could read to help with the course. You know, Mr. Porter, "real" literature. "Real" books. Not comic books. No, Porter would say, the best examples of the graphic novel form are real literature. "It's definitely literature," he says standing in his store surrounded by Batman, Spider-Man and Superman comics and action figures. "It stands up to any distopian literature."

George Orwell's "1984" is an example of distopian literature. Distopian protagonists, such as Winston Smith in "1984" and the character V in "V for Vendetta," challenge negative aspects of their societies, putting themselves at risk in the process.
An argument can be made that anything that gets people--especially young people--to read in today's TV and video game culture is good. For the rest of Michael Zitz' Free-Lance Star article, click here.

A New Year's Link Between Organization And Good Health

After the holidays, many shoppers load up their carts with storage bins, shelving systems and color-coded containers, all in a resolute quest to get their collections organized for the new year. The country's collective desire to clean up and manage collectibles is evident in the proliferation of organization-oriented businesses like the Container Store and California Closets. Reality shows like "Mission Organization" on HGTV and "How Clean is Your House?" on Lifetime feed a national obsession to de-clutter.
Getting organized is unquestionably good for both mind and body -- reducing risks for falls, helping eliminate germs and making it easier to find things like medicine and exercise gear.
"If you can't find your sneakers, you aren't taking a walk," said Dr. Pamela Peeke, assistant clinical professor of medicine at the University of Maryland and the author of 'Fit To Live,' which devotes a section to the link between health and organization. "How are you going to shoot a couple of hoops with your son if you can't even find the basketball? "Dr. Peeke says she often instructs patients trying to lose weight to at least create one clean and uncluttered place in their home. She also suggests keeping sporting goods and a gym bag with workout clothes and sneakers in an uncluttered area to make it easier to exercise.
She recalls one patient whose garage was "a solid cube of clutter." The woman cleaned up her home and also lost about 50 pounds. "It wasn't, at the end of the day, about her weight," Dr. Peeke said. "It was about un-cluttering at multiple levels of her life."

For the extended New York Times article, click here.

A Big Surprise In A Little Shell

Here's one way of happening on a collectible of value, so to speak. Florida couple George and Leslie Brock, decided to stop into Dave's Last Resort & Raw Bar during a day at the beach. Mr. Brock was about halfway through a dozen clams when he chomped down on something hard - a rare iridescent purple pearl. At least one expert said the find could be worth thousands. “Few are round and few are a lovely color, so this is rare,” said Vermont gemologist Antoinette Matlins. “I think they have found something precious and lovely and valuable.” The gems occur most frequently in large New England quahogs, clams known for violet coloring on the inside of their shells. Brock's $10 plate of clams came from Apalachicola in the Florida Panhandle, said restaurant manager Tom Gerry. The Brocks, of Royal Palm Beach, plan to have the pearl appraised and said they'll sell it if it's worth a lot of money, so be on the look-out for this if you collect rare jewelry pieces. For the original article, click here, and if you are looking to get organized for the new year, create your inventory list and manage your collections on iTaggit!