Back in my high school and college days I can remember waiting in line for the midnight showing of Tim Burton’s Batman and the midnight release of the new Guns’N'Roses albums (Use Your Illusion I & II). While it isn’t anything I’ve done recently — after all, those Harry Potter books that are sold at midnight have the exact same content as the books sold the next day or, more likely in my case, through Amazon — I do remember the sense of fun, excitement and anticipation around such events. It isn’t so much the product itself as it is the sense of community of just being there.
Marvel.com has a list of 150 shops that are participating in the midnight release of the Dark Tower comic next month. While I’m probably not a big enough Stephen King fan to miss out on my beauty sleep, I probably would have done so for other event comics, like the last issue of Infinite Crisis or Civil War #1 (or, if DC is listening, the new Jeff Smith Shazam! book … )
