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Post by Randle-El on Sept 7, 2014 23:35:52 GMT -5
Ok so on the totally ridiculous hot comic front...I was sorting through a short box of completed minis and short run books from the 90s and early 2000s that was left over from when I was selling books on the con circuit a few years back. Mostly I had sets like Storm, Gambit, Beast Adventures of Cyclops & Phoenix bagged up and selling for a buck or two for the set. One of the sets I had in there-The Rise of Apocalypse 1-4-I had the mini priced at $1 for the set and it didn't sell at the last con I did in 2011. When I was scanning the Lonestar auction the other night, I noticed they had posted these issues for the Sept auction...and I was like wtf? They don't list individual issues unless they expect to sell them for at least $10 a pop. So I looked at what these are going for on the mycomicshop page...holy hell was I shocked. I knew the first Apocalypse appearance in X-Factor had escalated after the Days of Future Past post credit scene, but these were selling for outrageous prices too. If someone had speculated on these for a $1 for the set out of my box 3 years ago, they would have made a tidy sum, as it is I can trade the 4 issues for $30-35 in credit at Lonestar (I only wanted a buck 3 years ago) or try to sell them outright for cash somewhere. Consignment copies of NM 9.2 range from $50-60 for #1 and a VF+ 8.5 is listed at $21.50. 2-4 are going in the $12-15 range each for VF-NM copies. The book was crap on a stick...written by Terry Kavanaugh with pencils by Adam Pollina, and I couldn't give the thing away 3 years ago...and now people are paying those prices...sheesh sometimes I want to give up on the whole thing. -M I wasn't a big X-Factor reader, but I did have several issues, including #24-26, the Fall of the Mutants tie-in issues, which included the first appearance of Archangel. Your post made me curious to see if #24 was worth anything these days. Mycomicshop had it for around $30 in VF condition. And to think I picked that up for less than a buck... it boggles the mind.
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Post by Randle-El on Sept 7, 2014 23:32:12 GMT -5
Also, while I'm generally a purist about owning the vintage original, I have a lot of love for this dirt-cheap reprint version: Reprinted #180 and #181 into one nice package with a gorgeous gatefold cover and contained some really intriguing behind-the-scenes insight about the creation and development of Wolverine from Chris Claremont. Shax, thanks for reminding me about this issue... this is one of those comics that I used to have as a kid, and dearly loved, but for the life of me, I can't remember what happened to it. I'm pretty sure it didn't fall victim to the parents-throwing-out-old-comics fate common to most folks. I need to track this down now.
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Post by Randle-El on Sept 6, 2014 23:44:59 GMT -5
I attended the show today as well. I didn't have enough time to rifle through the single issue boxes unfortunately, but I got some great deals on trades, including all three volumes of the Neal Adams illustrated Batman collections for 50% off. I also got to meet a bunch of creators and get books signed -- Mark Waid, Greg Capullo, Charles Soule, Alex Saviuk, Lee Weeks, Maguerite Bennett, and James Tynion IV.
Mark Waid was a really nice guy. He seemed genuinely pleased that I brought a copy of Superman: Birthright for him sign, and said that it's one of his favorites that he's written. I also got a chuckle out of Greg Capullo, since I'm pretty sure that out of all the Batman and Spawn he was signing that day, I'm the only person who brought him a copy of Daredevil vol. 2 #33 to sign (he drew a random promotional piece in the back of the issue starring Spider-Man and Jay Leno beating up a bunch of attacking ninjas).
I also got a cool Spidey sketch from Alex Saviuk. When I asked if he could do a simple head sketch, he produced a pencilled and inked head, shoulder, and torso sketch of Spidey shooting webs. He said it was a commissioned piece that someone never picked up, so he offered it to me for the price of a head sketch.
I didn't have time to attend any panels or do much else than chase down creators and peruse the vendors, but overall I thought it was a great con. I didn't have to wait very long for any of the creators. The longest lines were for Mark Waid and Greg Capullo, and I'm pretty sure I only waited about 15 minutes. Even though there were plenty of people there, I didn't feel crowded in an unpleasant way. I'll definitely try to come back next year.
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Post by Randle-El on Sept 6, 2014 23:25:32 GMT -5
Lots of great points in this thread... both those on and off-topic. Regarding comics price point -- I'm pretty sure that the price of comics has not scaled with inflation. I remember I once tried plugging in some numbers into one of those inflation calculator websites that lets you translate the price of an item in current dollars to a specific year. Even adjusted for inflation, modern single issues are more expensive than they were back when I was a kid (mid to late 80s). Unfortunately, I think the economics of the industry has changed too much for it to ever go back. Comics used to be seen a cheap, disposable entertainment for kids, and I think the prices and production values reflected that, whereas now, comics are a niche collectibles for adults, and are priced accordingly. I still enjoy the single issue format, but I can't see myself sticking with that format if the price goes up beyond 3.99. That seems to be the personal tipping point for me. What that will probably mean is that I will stop buying Big Two comics in single issue format. I'm still amazed that with the sales of Walking Dead being what it is that they are still pricing it at $2.99. In fact, with his "star power" Kirkman could easily justify pricing his books higher, but they ALL sell at $2.99.
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Post by Randle-El on Sept 4, 2014 14:36:07 GMT -5
Let me answer this question in a round about way I miss the days of record stores. Where you can walk in and browse thru rows and rows of records, both new and old. Listen in to the conversation of others. Hear music you might like over the loudspeaker. Get recommendations or questions answered by staff. These stores are mostly gone now. On line and digigital sales have killed them. The music industry has also been shrinking every year since about 2003. year after year declines of 5,6,7% for over a decade. I miss the days of book stores. Used to be quite a few mom and pop shops but they too have been severely diminished as big box stores took over. Then the big box stores strarted having their share of woes as well .Goodbye Borders. Barnes and Nobles cutting back. Sure you can go on Amazon and click away but theres nothing like walking thru aisles of books, never knowing what might grab your attention I got the same joy from the old Video shops. Then the DVD stores. They're dropping like flies. Most of the big box types are gone like Tower,Virgin,HMV etc. Make your choice I agree that we should support LCSs, and I am not unsympathetic to the plight of small business owners. My parents were small business owners themselves, and I do try to support mom-and-pop type places that are doing it right. Supporting the LCS is a fine principle for many of the reasons you bring up. But comic shops are a business, not a charity, and local businesses should earn my patronage through providing something more than an online place, even if that "something" is intangible. I don't expect LCSs to compete on price or have vast inventories on par with online shops. But they should step up their games for the areas that they are uniquely equipped to handle... namely, customer service and providing an enjoyable comic shop experience. If my local shop is repeatedly not getting me the books on my pull list, wouldn't you say that's not providing an enjoyable experience? Surely you're not suggesting we blindly support the local shop, irrespective of quality, just because they might go out of business and then we won't have local shops anymore? Why are other types of businesses held to a higher standard, while we give comic shops a pass to be crappy on the grounds that we need to "support" them? As I've often opined elsewhere, if comic shops are going to insist that we patronize them on those grounds, then maybe they deserve to out of business. Going back to my original post -- if shop #3 doesn't shape up, I am contemplating going back to #2. Although shop #2 was a bit far, it was overall a very good store in spite of my complaints regarding the somewhat "big box" feel. If trying to be too "professional" means that they aren't going miss books on my pull list, I can live with that. Anyone have any opinions on the online pull services?
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Post by Randle-El on Sept 4, 2014 10:47:54 GMT -5
Been pondering whether to ditch my LCS completely and go 100% online/digital for my comics purchases. The main reason I still shop at an LCS is for current comics, as I get most back issues and trades online. I have had a pull list at three local shops over the years, all of which had various pros and cons:
Shop #1 had a friendly proprietor who knew my name and would cut me deals on items on top of pull list discounts I was already getting. It also happened to be a couple of blocks from my office so it was easy for me to pop in and out. Drawbacks were location -- after I changed jobs, it was no longer convenient to get to and parking (only street parking) was a major hassle. On top of this, the owner had a habit of closing up the shop randomly during the middle of the day to get coffee or run an errand. It was also tiny and cramped, and fit your stereotype of "hole in the wall comic shop".
Shop #2 was a great store in many ways -- big, bright, clean, great selection, and really knew their comics. Computerized POS system, and I never had a book missing. The downsides were distance and not-so-great discounts for pull list customers, and often-inconsistently applied discounts. Also, they had friendly-enough, yet impersonal staff. Even though I was in there on a weekly basis and saw the same staff all the time, they always treated me as if they had never seen me before. I don't expect them to be my best friend, but if I'm in the store every week for a few months now I'd at least expect them to recognize me and know that I'm here to pick up my pull, rather than always asking "What can I help you with today?" in an sterile, big-box sort of way.
Shop #3, my current shop, is a hybrid comics and sports card shop. Shop #3 offers the best discounts for pull customers -- I get 15% to 20% off. It's also three miles from my house, and is in a large strip mall with ample parking. I left Shop #2 for Shop #3 because of the discounts and convenience factor. However, I'm finding that Shop #3 seems to give short shrift to the comics side. While the sports card side gets lots of promotion, signings, and other special events, the comic side gets almost nothing. Their Free Comic Book Day was pretty sad -- a pile of freebies near the register (only 1 per customer), and a sheet of paper on the front door indicating it was FBCD. Not a mention of it on their website or Facebook page.
But more importantly, the main reason I shop at #3, pull list service, leaves a lot to be desired. I'm regularly missing books, and they routinely put books in my box that I'm not interested in or not subscribed for. Sometimes I can still get a book off the rack that they forgot to pull for me, but a lot of times they're out and have to order more. I've often gotten books 3-4 weeks late and I have to keep asking about the missing books. Very frustrating.
So I'm wondering if it's time to ditch the LCS and go with a service like DCBS or Midtown for my current comics. In theory I like the idea of supporting a LCS, but not if it means being inconvenienced or getting service that I'm not happy with. Coupled with the deep discounts that the online places are offering, the fact that I don't even have to step outside to pick up my books, and little add-ons like free bags and boards, and I'm finding it harder and harder to justify keeping a pull list at a local store.
So what do you think? Is it time to throw in the towel and go fully online, or do I give the LCS another shot at keeping me as a customer?
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Post by Randle-El on Sept 2, 2014 16:00:00 GMT -5
Not that new, but from within the last couple of years, so I am putting it here: Love Waid. If I recall correctly, that Dan Didio quote was part of DC's explanation regarding why Batwoman could not get married to Maggie Sawyer, in response to accusations that they were afraid to have two gay characters get married. I get that they were trying to defend the move as not being anti-gay marriage (just anti-marriage in general), but it also seemed to confirm that DC is essentially committed to making comics with depressing and dreary storytelling. And while I love Mark Waid, I actually didn't like that particular bit of dialogue -- not for the sentiment expressed, but because it just felt like an odd bit of sermonizing in the middle of the story. And ironic too, considering that Daredevil himself was born out of personal loss.
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Post by Randle-El on Aug 27, 2014 12:05:24 GMT -5
I've heard it said with music that someone's personal "golden age" of music tends to be what they listened to between the ages of 10-20. I find that to be somewhat true for me, and also somewhat applicable to comics. My favorite era for comics would have to around 1974 to 1987 (beginning around the whole Mantis/Celestial Madonna thing and ending around DNAgents). Does the correlation hold true for anyone else? Do you find your favorite era tends to be around your teen years (assuming you were into comics in your teens)? www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2014/08/musical_nostalgia_the_psychology_and_neuroscience_for_song_preference_and.htmlReading the article, there doesn't appear to be any reason why the mechanisms that cause one to particularly favor music from one's adolescence couldn't also do the same for other types of entertainment. It would seem that the key factors as strong association of the entertainment with specific memories or events in one's past, as well consuming similar entertainments as one's social network. I know the latter is definitely true for myself. I remember going to summer camps around middle school years and sitting around with the guys having comic book debates. There was one kid who was our de facto comic trivia guru because he had the largest collection (I think about 5000 books), so he settled all arguments. That was during the thick of my comic reading years as a kid.
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Post by Randle-El on Aug 27, 2014 11:12:04 GMT -5
Hello. My name is Leo. I'm 29 years old and live just north of Boston, MA. I used to lurk on the old CBR classic comics forum, and just found out about this place. I'm glad to see the community is still going. With the exception of a hiatus in the late 90s/early 00s, I've been reading comics since 1992. I'm mostly a fan of Bronze Age Marvel, but I also enjoy some DC, Vertigo, and Dark Horse comics. I know this is blasphemous for a classic comics fan to say, but I've never read most of the Silver Age classics like Lee/Kirby Spider-Man and Fantastic Four. I hope to remedy this soon. My favorite creators are George Perez, John Byrne, Chris Claremont, Bill Sienkiewicz, Roger Stern, Walt Simonson, and Peter David. My guilty pleasure is 90s X-Men comics (if I had an embarrassed emoticon I would use it here). I hope I can contribute something to this forum. Welcome to the forum. Like you, I haven't read much Silver Age. The little I've read is mostly Silver Age Superman stories, though I do have a couple Marvel silver age omnibi that are on my reading list (Avengers and Spidey). I'm more of a Bronze Age fan myself. And 90s X-Men weren't so bad. I quite enjoyed Generation X, at least for Bachalo and Lobdell's original run on the book. There's a few done-in-one stories around issue #300 of UXM written by Lobdell that are among my favorite X-Men stories.
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Post by Randle-El on Aug 25, 2014 9:50:40 GMT -5
Going purely by nostalgia-value, the years from roughly 1986 to about 1991 would have be my favorite by default since that was when I started reading comics. Having said that, I include the 10 years or so before that, even though I would have been too young to enjoy comics for the majority of those years. To me, the Bronze Age represents that sweet spot where mainstream comics were still considered children's entertainment but had already begun transitioning into more mature storytelling that could be appreciated by adults.
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Post by Randle-El on Aug 25, 2014 0:25:14 GMT -5
I recently bought several bronze age, pre-COIE issues of Superman off of eBay. I got the package yesterday, and when I opened the box to inspect the issues, I noticed that several of them appeared to be the Canadian editions -- the price box in the upper right hand corner says all new, 75 cents, Canadian. The seller didn't mention this in the listing at all, but I'm curious if there are any differences in the Canadian vs. U.S. editions. The comics back then all had the U.S. and Canadian prices anyway, so why a separate edition that just had the Canadian price?
In case anyone is wondering, I don't care about the investment value since even the standard U.S. issues aren't particularly valuable. Just more of a curiosity factor.
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Post by Randle-El on Aug 22, 2014 23:22:37 GMT -5
I actually prefer Javier Rodriguez's artwork to Chris Samnee, though Samnee is no slouch himself. I also miss Paolo Rivera's work from the early issues of Waid's run.
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Post by Randle-El on Aug 21, 2014 9:03:04 GMT -5
Yeah, my statement was more of an attempt at humor. I am aware of Manara's past work, and I'm sure Marvel was aware of it too when they asked him for the cover. I'm just astounded that they would go ahead and publish that specific cover given, as MRP said, their recent attempts to portray women in a more diverse, non-sexualized manner. And those three illustrations of Scarlet Witch, Shanna, and Valkyrie are nowhere near as bad as Spider-Woman.
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Post by Randle-El on Aug 20, 2014 22:52:12 GMT -5
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Post by Randle-El on Aug 20, 2014 13:41:00 GMT -5
Be fair. "The Dark Knight," despite how great it is at times, does have some seriously dumb (beep) in it. As crazy as he's gotten, I can totally see where he's coming from on this issue. Christopher Nolan is incredibly over-rated. And Miller, despite the lowering quality of his work, wrote The Dark Knight Returns and Year One. Yes, but the merits of Nolan's films wasn't the point. As I said, I can understand him not caring for the movies. My issue with his comments had more to do with the way in which he seemed to imply a kind of ownership over Batman that I don't think is warranted. Yes, he wrote a few Batman stories that are considered classics, but I'd hardly call him the arbiter of what's considered "definitive" Batman.
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