Chris Ryall

3 weeks ago | chrisryall.substack.com | Byron Brewer |Chris Ryall

Con-fluenceSpring is usually my favorite time of year. My part of world is waking up again, the Dodgers are back on the mound, and WonderCon kicks off convention season in a big way. Only this year, well. The Dodgers did start their season as scheduled, but then I got sick a few days before WonderCon and missed the whole thing. I’m used to getting sick after a convention, but doing so before is pretty bad timing. So it goes.

2 months ago | chrisryall.substack.com | Chris Ryall

Helpings of Self HelpSelf Help #1 was released this week, but thanks to a distributor snafu, it will also make its debut next week. So if your local shop didn’t get it this week, they’ll have it next Wednesday for sure. In the meantime, the series’ writers/co-creators and I talked it up in various places.

2 months ago | chrisryall.substack.com | Stephen Byrne |Chris Ryall

Among the other things I’ve been wrangling since Comic-Con — including a weeklong bout with covid directly following the show — I sold something like 80% of my comic collection. Now, most of what I sold off were the books acquired throughout my childhood, bought with the meager funds that a paper route and then a fast-food job provided back in the day. And for the most part, I sold off comics filled with stories that have been collected in books that line my bookshelves.

2 months ago | chrisryall.substack.com | Chris Ryall

The Origin of Origins of Marvel ComicsWhenever I finish a book I love now, I have the same conversation in my head — is this something I’ll re-read, and therefore want to keep on a bookshelf — or am I unlikely to revisit it for anything longer than a cursory glance, in which case I should donate it? What I’ve found is, like I’ve always done, I keep the books I love, even if I’m unlikely to give them a full re-read.

2 months ago | chrisryall.substack.com | Chris Ryall

How’s This For a Slice of Fried Gold? A couple of months ago, I was contacted by one of the big movie-ticket sellers. One of the places that does occasional in-theater programming that runs ahead of the movie itself. After the simple movie trivia, the surface-level pop-culture updates from Maria Menounous, 20 minutes of trailers, the Coke commercial shot by developing filmmakers, and an extended ad for the theater in which you’re already seated, I mean.