First Post!

Hello new readers of Event Fatigue! I hope you have been enjoying the website so far, and hopefully with my addition to the crew of writers you’ll like it even more. Let me start off by introducing myself. My name is Peter Durkin, I’m 25 and I’ve been reading and collecting comics for a very, very long time. My taste in comic books is a fairly popular one. I follow the big two, Marvel and DC, grab a couple of indie books from time to time, but mostly keep up via trade. I also keep up on the big events, but as the name of the web site says, I am a little fatigued by the constant events. I like my action big and my dialogue quick and am a stickler for consistent characterization. I appreciate most all artists work, because, well because I couldn’t draw if my life depended on it. But I am a fan in truest sense of the word. I will pick apart my favorite books and writers for the minutest detail, but I will defend to the death the medium in all arenas. So welcome new readers, I hope I give you something to read.

I’ve decided to write my first article not on my favorite character or list of greatest deaths that have been negated by a recent rebirth, but rather one of the happiest places in the world; my comic book store on new comic book Wednesday. I have been collecting comic books since about May of 1993 and over the years I have frequented many comic book vendors. When I was young, the local Walden Books or Magazine isle in Osco was where I found my comic book fix. Ah, the simpler times of my youth, where I could go to Osco with five dollars and walk away with at least four books with X in the title. I was strictly buying a book on the strength of its cover or whether or not Wolverine could be found in the ensuing pages. Sometimes, I would pick up a two or three pack at the local Toys R Us, and can remember very clearly when that same toy store was fazing out it’s selling of comics, so they were selling hundreds of books for pennies. I bought a plastic bag of 50 books for 10 dollars.

As I became more serious about being a collector, I found my first comic book store, Atlas Comics. Atlas, which is still around today, was a small store, but it packed a big punch. I would be taken for a trip to Atlas Comics( the marquee was missing the i in comics for a very long time) every four or five months and would load up when I got there. Whatever I could find in 20 minutes that fit within my $30 budget, that’s what I walked out with. I was a huge fan of Marvel’s What If? title and any book in the X universe. Shiny covers usually helped make hard decisions and quarter bins were my specialty. Atlas also boasted a great wall of vintage comic books, most notably, my holy grail at the time, Wolverine #1. ( The Claremont mini)

For some reason in my life, I stopped collecting. Stopped reading all together. I got back into books around age 15 when I picked up Ultimate X-Men #6, and I haven’t looked back since. By that time, I was able to commit myself to the weekly grind of collecting. After a trial period of finding the right store for me, I tried out Windy City Comics on North Ave in Melrose Park. The store had a great selection of back issues, never ran out of the new issues and had trades galore. But the reason I travel the extra distance for this particular store are the people that work there. I’m always greeted by a ‘Hello Peter!’ when I walk in and a ‘take it easy when I walk out’. The staff is always up for a spirited debate of current events and always more than happy to tell me that I read too much Marvel and not enough DC ( Hey I read all of Countdown, gimmie a break). But above all else, they appreciate your business. When I started all those years ago in Osco books were $1.25. Most of my books are pushing the $3.99 mark with no signs of slowing down in price increase. Windy City Comics recognizes that their core group of comic book denizens are fans through and through and they do the little things that keep us coming back. Bags and boards are on them. And if you start a subscription list (the idea that you’re going to become a loyal customer) you get 10% off new books. Those are little things they don’t have to do, but it’s the little things that make all the difference. But most important: they learn your name. I went into a chain store in Chicago and bought 60 dollars worth of books. The guy behind the register didn’t even bat an eye. Not so at Windy City.

I’m sure I’m not the only person out there who loves their comic book store. Everyone has a ‘guy’ or a sweet deal they’ve worked out. But for those of you who don’t love your store or you don’t get a ‘Hi Bob’, do yourself a favor and keep looking. The right store is out there and it makes all the difference in the world.


I hope you enjoyed my personal reflection on the comic book stores throughout my life. I’ll be breaking down everything from favorite single issues and trades to trends in current books I can’t stand right now. I should be coming out with weekly reviews as well. So keep tuning in, more is on the way.

Peter

Welcome to Event Fatigue!

Hey all, and welcome to my humble attempt at entering the world of blogging. I've always thoroughly enjoyed several blogs found on the Internet devoted to not only comics and other nerd things that I love, but also sports and even just about the world in general.

This site is going to be mostly dedicated to opinions and editorials, mostly about my thoughts and my "unique" take on things, but I also will probably include reviews on comic books and movies and also sharing things that I find awesome or hilarious. Also, at the beginning of next year I am going to be doing an experiment and writing about my progress as I go through it here on this site. It's still too early to talk about, as I haven't done anything but think it up in my head, but this will be the first place that I talk about it once I have everything set up for it. It's going to be awesome.

What's in the Site?

This site is going to be designed as a forum for talking about various different topics, with most of the articles will be written by me, especially at first but hopefully adding in some more authors who will write about whatever they want to write about.

• In the world of comic books, I'm going to be writing a series of editorials about the world of comics, in addition to doing reviews for the books I follow.
• In film, I'm going to be compiling my personal Top 100 movies of all time, based solely on personal preference, and listing them up to the Top 20 where I will be posting movie by movie everyday with explanations why I love that movie.
• I'll also be covering sports through a series of posts, the first of which will be in a week or so entitled "Why We Have to Fire Lovie Smith", which will be a light-hearted romp through recent Chicago Bears history.
• In addition to those main points, I'm also going to be covering other different areas too, including a post soon about Cover songs that are better than the Original. Aside, from that, I'll be covering anything and everything in between.
• Also, given my active social life and rampant alcoholism, there will inevitable be several posts that I make while completely intoxicated, which rather than safe-guarding against I figured I would just embrace it, so be on the lookout for those. I guarantee they will not be hard to find.

So with all of these dissimilar things that I am going to be talking about, how will you know if it's something that interests you? Let's say you're an avid comic book fan, but could care less about the Chicago Bears, professional wrestling, or anything sports related for that matter. No problem, because I am going to have markers on everything I post. That way, all you have to do is look at the handy picture next to the post to see what category it falls into.

For everything comic book related, this picture will appear next to the first paragraph:



For an article about movies or film related, this picture will appear:

For any article about sports, this picture will appear next to it:

And any other topic will get this logo:

And when I do make a post completely hammered, this logo

(most likely the day after it is posted) will appear next to that post:

Easy enough right? I hope so. Well, I hope you enjoy my site, and I'm going to now start getting to work on getting tons of cool stuff for you all to enjoy. Thanks for reading!