News for week ending 2012-06-23

OK. Enough. This variant cover BS has to stop. This is one reason I stopped collecting comics long ago. If you’re a Parker collector/enthusiast, as I certainly am, it means you have to buy another edition of a book you already have because of an alternate cover. I mean, you don’t HAVE to, but somehow you feel incomplete if you don’t have it on your shelf. If IDW REALLY wanted to do something special, why not include a new Parker short story or maybe a Grofield short.

Same as CDs. Every few years you buy the same CD you already own because it’s remastered and has a couple bonus tracks. Or at least I do, if the musician is someone who’s music I love. Sometimes it’s worth it, like when Rykodisc re-released Bowie’s catalogue in the 90’s–there was a ton of great bonus material on those CDs but often it’s a murky demo of a well-known song or a lame live version.

Then there are the DVDs that get reissued when an anniversary draws near and you have to buy the same movie because it’s now in Blue-Ray and has audio commentary from the janitor who cleaned the sets and a few scenes of actors flubbing lines and laughing like idiots.

You don’t want to know how many times I’ve bought the same James Bond DVDs. At least I’m generous and give the old ones (provided they don’t have something unique the newer ones lack) to family members or friends.

Sometimes I just pine for the days when they made something and that was it. And if they ever reissued it it was the exact replica of the original thing. It freed up shelf and wallet space for new stuff you’ve never seen or heard before.