Hello everyone!
For those of you that may not know me, my name is Lori and I am the manager of the award winning Amazing Fantasy Books and Comics in Frankfort IL. Our street address, in case you would like to come by the shop is 20523 S. La Grange Rd. Frankfort IL 60423. Our phone number, in case you ever have a comic book emergency is 815-469-5092.
Here is a little history of yours truly, as far as it relates to the comics industry. I've been the manager of this shop for all 18 years that it has been around, so let's just say I know my comics. Our chain is 30 years old, so all of us that work at Amazing Fantasy are true fans of the medium.
I've been reading comics since I was all of 5 years old! My first comics were Archie, of course, Little Monsters published by Gold Key, and Uncle Scrooge. Over time, I branched out to just about everything. How did such a young girl have access to just about every comic, you might wonder? Well, Joe, the owner of the Amazing Fantasy chain is my brother, so I grew up with comics. I was pretty lucky, here's an example: if I suddenly got the urge to read say X-men comics, I would go ask my bro if he had any, and of course his answer to all of my requests was "yes", let's just say he was and is one of the biggest fans of the medium I know. Then we would go downstairs to the basement and he would hand me a stack of X-men, it was literally that easy for me! He took me along to comic conventions and comic shops, from the age of 5 and up! We'd make weekly treks to various comic outlets: White Hen, The Grayhound Station, 7-11, and of course the usual comic shops that existed in the area at the time. In summation, it's all Joe's fault that I read way TOO many comics for my own good, and have tons of useless comic-related trivia in my head!
I'm starting this blog so I have somewhere to talk about comics and the industry easily. We will be linking to this blog from the shop's MySpace Page, Facebook page (the partially finished page that it is), our website and anywhere else I feel like posting a link. Our myspace is: www.myspace.com/afbookscomics and our handy-dandy website is www.afbooks.com.
So let me start this first blog by hyping one of my new favorites: "Unwritten" #1. It's a new Vertigo ongoing from the fan-favorite "Lucifer" team of Mike Carey and Peter Gross. #1 is 40 pages and costs exactly ONE DOLLAR! That's a lot of bang for one measly buck! Vertigo will be doing this with a number of new number ones slated for this year and I salute them for it! It's a great way to encourage folks to try a new number one. And this one does not disappoint! This is the first new ongoing Vertigo book I've read in a long while that has the potential to go on for a good long while, and I'm so excited about that prospect! For those of you that may not know, I'm what I call a Vertigo-slut, I will read just about anything Vertigo publishes, and now I feel like Vertigo has finally left the dreary place it was in and is moving forward into the light! Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed quite a few Vertigo titles over the last few years, most notably "Y: the Last Man" , "Fables/Jack of Fables", "Northlanders", "Madam Xanadu" and more but it's been a good long while since I've been downright EXCITED about a NEW Vertigo book. I like "Madam Xanadu" and"Northlanders", and "House of Secrets", and those books are doing pretty well, but with a book like "Unwritten" I can see this being the next "Fables" or "Y" meaning it has wide appeal for men and women alike! So come on in to any of our four locations (Frankfort, Tinley Park, Lockport or Calumet City) and pick up a copy of "Unwritten" before they are gone!
4/5 stars!
There is another book that I can't praise enough. It's not a comic, but it is a book we carry. The Frankfort store has a good supply of them on hand, in fact it has been one of our biggest sellers of the year. I'm talking about "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" by my gal Jane Austen with help from newcomer Seth Grahame-Smith. It's only $12.95 and well worth the price! You've never read Austen like this! I love, I mean REALLY love Jane Austen's writing, and this book takes it to a whole new level. This book is or at least was on the New York Times Bestseller list, that is how popular this has been across the board. Even if you have never read the original or any Austen novel, you will enjoy this! So listen up, fans of "Walking Dead" most notably, get this book, head to the beach and have fun! Seth masterfully weaves Austen's original text and dialogue with his own Zombie and Ninja infused medley, creating an all new amalgam of genius! I absolutely LOVE it! Seth did such a good job with the new scenes and dialogue he added, it's almost seamless. It's easy to forget that Austen didn't originally conceive of the Bennett girls as warriors that can slay a zombie easily and quickly with little fuss!
4/5 stars!
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