Date: Mon, 23 Jan 1995 12:00:01 -0500 From: [g--l--n] at [falcon.bgsu.edu] (Metroplex) Subject: FTP 515 ==== FIT TO PRINT by cathrine yronwode for the week of January 2, 1995 THIS IS FIT TO PRINT NUMBER 515: Corrections and updates My thanks to Howard Haefele of San Francisco, who pointed out that the Spider-Man story i cited in FtP #511 ran in issues #31-33, not #22-33. Sorry 'bout that. I guess i'm getting old. Thanks also to John Cody for informing me (and hence you) that the book A Separate Cinema: Fifty Years of Black Cast Posters, by John Kisch and Edward Mapp, which i reviewed in FtP #510 is available as a remainder (cheap!) from Edward R. Hamilton, Bookseller, Falls Village, CT 06031-5000. The catalogue number is 35094X and the price is an unbelievably under cost $5.95 plus $3.00 postage. Get it! I missed out on some references in my passing mention of Kitty Wells' country song 'It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels' in FtP #511, so my thanks to Mark Seganish of Tallahassee, FLorida, who says that, "As far as I know, the tune, which you mentioned as 'The Great Speckled Bird' by Roy Acuff, was first put on record by The Carter Family as 'I'm Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes'. Also, 'The Wild Side of Life' was written and performed by Hank Thompson on Capitol, not by Jim Reeves. Johnny Horton added his two cents with 'The Child's Side of Life on Mercury', shortly after Kitty Wells' hit." To which i would like to add that Roy Acuff recorded two versions of 'The Great Speckled Bird', with entirely different lyrics, making a total of six songs recorded to this tune since the 1920s. Way back in FtP #497, i asked readers to name any comic book super hero with the form, name, or powers of an isopod (sowbug or pillbug). A big Close But big No Cigar Award goes out to Tom Boughan of Cowan, Tennessee who knows no isopods in comics but recalls "an episode of Ralph Bakshi's animated Mighty Mouse in which the Cow challenged the superhero group that was a parody of the Justice League, one of whose number was a pillbug." And with those messages safely out of the way, we now return you to our regularly scheduled column. COMICS FOR KIDS: As you'll recall, a while ago i ran an interview with a flea market dealer who lamented the lack of comics for kids. Buddy Saunders of the Lone Star Comics chain in Texas sent me a long to this, which deserves printing here: "FtP # 501 would make great reading for any publisher wishing to widen the comics audience. More kids' comics do seem to be on the way. To accommodate them, I'm installing 60-pocket spinners in each of our stores. They will be near the front door, and offer only appropriate childrens' comics. "A fact forgotten by this jaded fanboy dominated industry is that parents are the main buyer of children's comics. They either help their children select comics, or they buy them to take home to their children. With that in mind, we decided that the best way; to promote kid's comics was to place them where they are readily accessible. Most parents are daunted by the typical shop's wall of comics. Parents prefer fewer choices, many of which are recognizable. So we have Archie, Disney, and Harvey, with new creations like Bone salted in. "Our own Good Guys Club for young kids is growing. We have nearly 1,200 members with more kids joining every day. Our comics sales are up; all our sales are up. Our ever expanding kid base will translate into a great holiday sales season. Those little kids most retailers kiss off as having too little money have plenty when they arrive in your stores by the droves, and at Christmas they have doting parents ready and eager to reward a retailer who has treated their children generously. "If the comics industry knew how to market to children, we could literally double the industry's size in a year. It won't happen that fast, simply because too many in this industry don't want children as customers. But enough of us do want kids to have a chance to enjoy decent comics, to eventually drag the bulk of the industry kicking and screaming into wild and wonderful growth." Thanks, Buddy, for those words of wisdom; and you retailers-take a hint! ==== Fit to Print appears in print each week in Comics Buyers Guide and is available via e-mail. Tell your friends! To subscribe to Fit to Print via e-mail send a request with the words "Subscribe FtP" in the subject header and your address in the body of the message to [g--l--n] at [bgnet.bgsu.edu.] You will be added to the list and receive the next available issue. Backissues are available. FTP to nspace.cts.com and look in the Comics/About Comics/Comics News/Fit to Print directory. Responses are welcome and should be directed to [g--l--n] at [bgnet.bgsu.edu.] Fit to Print is Copyright 1994 Cathrine Yronwode. All rights reserved.