While others celebrate Columbus, we will celebrate Torsten Adair, who’s become our regular weekend poster, keeper of the Coming Attractions, and master of the roundup.
Torsten has been commenting at the Beat as long as there’s been a Beat, and somewhere back in the mists of the Mesozoic Era we said “Hey, if you’re going to write all that you might as well post it.”
An Omaha native, Torsten studied Library Science at the University of Nebraska, before moving to the big city and eventually landing a spot at Barnes & Noble in 1999, first as a bookseller at the famed Lincoln Center branch, and more recently as a Data Analyst. Which is why he offers those insightful posts on bookselling. He’s a regular at just about every comics gathering on this coast, and always stands ready to supply some insights.
Torsten has been stumping for graphic novels long before they were cool, and he’s definitely done his part to bring them to the masses. Please give him a big thank you, because he’s a lifer, just like The Beat.
Congrats, Torsten! I’ve probably known you as long as I’ve known Heidi, going back to the Friends of Lulu meetings at the Clubhouse, when you used to drive in for meetings from DC… boy, that was a long time ago, huh? :)
*sniff* Pardon me… my allergies are acting up…
Thanks, Heidi, for allowing me a nice welcoming hearth to sit and talk about comics. It always floors me when people recognize me from here.
Yes, Ed, I would take the bus up from Washington once a month for the Friends of Lulu meetings, circa 1996. I quickly learned when to catch the bus to avoid the thirty minute wait at the Lincoln Tunnel.
Somewhere, I still have Heidi’s Disney Adventures business card. I first met her (badly) in 1995, at the second SPX, and then gathered up the courage to journey up to a Lulu meeting the next February, which was held at the DC offices. (Heidi had posted about the meeting on her AOL chat board/clubhouse.)
To all the Beat Readers, I’ll be wandering around Javits this weekend, so come up and say hi. I won’t be cosplaying as Steve Jobs (as seen in the picture above), instead I’ll be pretending to be Glenn Hauman.
smooches, sweetie
Kudos, Torsten. Though he’s no stranger, I had never seen his picture — thanks for the official intro, Ace!
Glenn Hauman must be one of the characters in the “new” Star Wars movies which I have never seen.
Big Ups, Torsten!
cool man!
Your commitment is admirable!
Way to go, Torsten. I also have Heidi’s Disney Adventures card floating around. She makes the rounds.
It’s good to see you honored because I like your insights. The Beat is the first place I jump to on my bookmarks — though I don’t always comment.
You Rock Torsten. Congrats
Thanks for your work, Torsten (DC charts & Coming Attractions above all) !
Always enjoy reading your perspective, Torsten. Thanks for your work!
I don’t do the DC Charts.
There be dragons and brambles.
That’s done by Marc-Oliver “chilly fresh” Frisch, who heads the Beat’s European bureau.
My mother is from the German comics capital of Hannover, so I grew up with Max und Moritz and Asterix, along with Pogo, Peanuts, Wizard of Id, and numerous other American mass market comic strip collections. (Hans Huckebein is my favorite Busch story, about a boy, a raven, an aunt, a dog, a cat, wine, compote, and lots of property damage.
http://www.rivertext.com/hans.shtml )
Always insightful posts -and great taste in comics, too!
Congrats, Torsten! YOu are very knowledgeable, a fun conversationalist, and a very nice guy (he bought my book at ALA!). I use a lot of your insights when I do comics workshops for librarians, so thanks very much for all your hard work!
From one Omaha native to another, Congrats!
“There are good guys and there are bad guys. It’s the job of the bad guys to kill the good guys.”–Wally Wood
Torsten is def one of the good guys. Heartiest congrats to him and to Heidi for snagging him!