Crisis in Finite Comic Shops

Had an opportunity to read Infinite Crisis #4 today.

Suddenly it's like I'm nine again and the first part of the first-ever JLA-JSA crossover has just come out and I've finished it and I don't know how I can possibly wait a whole month for the next part of the story.

I was a bit surprised by some of the brutality in the story--there are some very ugly scenes that force readers to totally rethink one of the core characters--and am still concerned that some beloved characters might not come out of this unscathed... or alive, for that matter. But that's part of the excitement of this series. The fact that Geoff Johns could make a forty-seven-years-of-comic-book-reading veteran like me care this much about what's happening in this story is a tribute to his skill as a storyteller.

I hear from folks every now and then who are certain that, as a comic shop owner and the Comic Shop News guy, I must know exactly what's going to happen as a result of this story. I try to assure them that I have no more inside info than they do--and I don't think I'd have it any other way. The thrill associated with a well-told cliffhanger-laden story is something I'm happily rediscovering...

But did they really?.... Nah, I 'm not going to finish that thought. Read it for yourself and you'll be asking a lot of the same questions.