The Battalion
LIFESTYLES
4
Monday, April 9,1990
Lifestyles Editor Mary-Lynne Rice 845-33
HOLY ILLUSTRATI ON!
COMIC BOOKS mu
WEB/ DEVOTEES
BY Patrick Hass
of The Battalion staff.
C omic book collectors and mer
chants say the comics industry is
out of this world and shows no signs of
returning to Earth.
They say last summer’s Batman
movie was partly responsible for the
renewed interest in comic books —
even though comics sales were at their
lowest when the original Batman series
was on TV.
But now comic books are hot items,
and collectors and merchants are rev
eling in the success of a booming in
dustry.
Kevin Raley, a senior environmental
design major from Richardson, has
been a comic book collector for many
THERE'S ALL
KINDS OF BO0ICS
. - • FOR ALL KINDS
OF PEOPLE. YOU
SHOULD BE: A6LE
TO FIND SOMETHING
OUT THERE YOU
CAN ENJOY.
GEORGE COMPS
SCS BOOKS AND VI DEC)
MANAGER
years. He became a collector at a
young age, when his father bought
comic books for him.
He never lost interest in them, and
he now buys 40 to 50 comic books ev
ery month. Overall, his collection con
tains more than 10,000 books.
Raley has seen the evolution of
comic books, and he says vast im
provements have been made. The qual
ity of writing has been upgraded, he
said, and several books address social
issues in their storylines.
“It’s a big moral thing now,” Raley
said. “It’s taken a real social outlook.”
He speculated that financial consid
erations may have been one cause for
the maturation of storylines.
“I think they (writers) think if they
can capture adult interest, they can
capture the adult pocketbook,” he said.
David Buchta, a senior journalism
major from Richmond, has been col
lecting comics since he was 12. He
agreed with Raley about the change in
substance of the storylines.
The newer comic books deal with is
sues such as the environment, animal
rights and morality.
Comic book art also has improved
greatly, he said.
“The art is diversifying and there’s a
lot of different styles being used now,”
Buchta said.
Raley agreed: “The quality of art is
unbelievable.”
Buchta said the advent of specialty
shops has been an asset to the comic
*
industry because they give smaller
publishing companies a sales outlet.
George Comits, manager and buyer
for BCS Books and Video in Bryan,
pointed out an advantage for collectors
that specialty shops have over other
bookstores or drugstores.
Specialty shops place orders directly
to the publishing companies, which
means they get higher-quality books
that don’t suffer from careless storage
on drugstore shelves.
Comits said BCS Books and Video
serves a wide variety of collectors,
ranging in age from 15 to late 20s.
Many of the collectors get enthusiastic
about their comics.
What is business like when a new
shipment of comics comes in on Fri
days? “Besides maddening?” Comits
asks.
The shop also receives the newslet
ter Comic Shop News on Fridays. All
200 copies are gone by mid-Saturday,
he said.
Some kind of comic book exists to
suit nearly anyone’s interests, he said.
“There’s all kinds of books ... for all
kinds of people,” Comits said. “You
should be able to find something out
there you can enjoy.”
Photo by Steven M. Mkeyko
Caldwell resident reno amaya picks out some new comics at bcs
BOOKS AND VIDEO. HE HAS COLLECTED COMICS SINCE AGE 8.
WE OFFU
IN CELLI
ology.
IF YOU At
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OLOGY j
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youg, E
SEARCH I
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gradua
for fur
ZANT ; G
WEITLAt
WRITE T(
TEXAS T
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Li
Present
Educati
Broug
By PATRICK HAYS
Of The Battalion Staff
J
ust when you thought it
was safe to go back out
on the dance floor ...
It’s hip, it’s hot... it’s ‘trash’
What is being called the re
turn of “trash disco” is sweep
ing through nightclubs, caus
ing dancers to make moves
that would make John Travolta
jealous.
The ’70s music/dance fad
has gained popularity during
the past couple of years, and
now has become a standard
part of some clubs’ reper
toires.
Club A in Dallas devotes the
dance floor to trash disco ev
ery Sunday night. The club
brought back disco last May,
and assistant manager Tammy
Starling said response to the
old dance hits has been very
positive.
“Everybody’s in a good
mood,” Starling said.
She said Club A usually
draws about 2,000 people on
Sunday nights, and the crowd
ranges in age from 18 to 40.
She added that a 62-year-old
couple are also disco night
regulars.
“It’s just a huge variety of
people,” she said.
Club A’s musical selections
include many of the biggest
hits from the disco era, includ
ing songs by The Village Peo
ple, KC and the Sunshine
Band and Donna Summer.
The club plays only original
’70s disco — it will not play
disco remakes, she said.
Starling was quick to add
that she believes the return of
the disco fad is less than se
rious.
“I think it’s just a nostalgia
thing,” she said.
Baja Yacht Club co-man
ager Jack McGregor says the
club started playing disco
songs last September.
Response has been great, he
said — people don’t hesitate to
get up on tables and perform
disco moves.
“YMCA” by the Village
People is definitely the biggest
THE ORIGINAL MOVIE SOUNO TRACK
Saturday Night Fever is burning again,
sellers during the disco era.
This album was one of the top
crowd pleaser, he said. Also
popular are songs by the Bee
Gees, Brick House, Michael
Jackson and Donna Summer.
McGregor echoed Starling’s
feelings about the temporary
trendiness of trash disco.
“We basically just do it for
the goof,” he said.
Co-manager John Whitting
ton agreed.
“I think it’s a tongue-in-
cheek part of the night,” he
said. “We threw out the glass
ball.”
He said that the club is not
looking for John Travolta re
cords.
Chuck Lovejoy, a junior
journalism major from Texas
City, took part in the disco
craze, but said its time has
come and gone.
He said popular spots for
trash disco included Rich’s in
Houston and Club A and De-
cadance in Dallas. But now,
he said, the fad is dying.
People are getting tired of
disco again, he said, and the
amount of music to play is
limited.
“It’s just not as big anymo
re,” Lovejoy said.
He believes the popularity
the new disco fad experienced
was fueled by the enthusiasm
of young people fulfilling a
dream.
The people who got into the
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return of disco were too yoofl
to go to clubs when discos
really big. Its resurgence pr>'
vided an opportunity to reli'=
the craze.
Some club owners woui 1
disagree, however, and
dusted off the old stacks of
disco tracks.
CHAI
s ale sale