Anyone remember my rants for supporting comic shops & never using sites like DCBS?

[Sessa17]

Well, guess who had their first gigantic box via DCBS waiting outside their door today

Yeah, I feel a bit bad, but I moved away from the store I worked at once, & the store nearest me sucks ass so really I had no choice. I will never stop getting comics, it's not something I can grow out of, but I've cut what I get more than in half & every month I cut more & more monthlies out.

I have to admit, this is pretty sweet though, since the orders are placed 2 months ago, I have no clue what I ordered, so it's like coming home to an extremely geeky X-mas present waiting for me.

Here are some pics of my very first order, more pics on my twitter.



One month's worth of comics. . .


I still can't resist the occasional statue, the WW sculpt on this is awesome. . .


The best part of this month, 2 beautiful new Omnibie from my favorite writer!

[fujishig]

Wow you collect a lot of monthly comics! I'm curious to see your longbox setup.

My orders from mail order comics are usually 90% tpbs...

[stingermck]

Yeah me and a friend have doing it for years now with no regrets. My LCS was only 15% off and run my assholes.

We combine our orders and recently upgraded to weekly shipping which is even better. And like you said, you order so far in advance every shipment is a surprise!

[burnside986]

Nice call on Sleeper. Picked that up last week myself.

[slop101]

Originally Posted by Sessa17

The best part of this month, 2 beautiful new Omnibie from my favorite writer!

I just finished reading the Iron Fist Omni (it's pretty great), and Bru's DD is next on tap.

The only bummer with these newer Marvel Omnis is that the pages are a bit thinner than ones from a few years ago - I guess anything to save money, right?

[Sessa17]

Originally Posted by fujishig

Wow you collect a lot of monthly comics! I'm curious to see your longbox setup.

If you are a pure comic book fan, you just have to support the monthlies. There are messages & articles by Brubaker who is my favorite writer, Garth Ennis, Marc Waid & others who all plead for people to buy monthlies & they explain why the medium will indeed die if everyone turns to trade waiters. Plus, Brubaker did a great piece on how the creators don't see a dime from trade sales, & there are so few great writers & artists today, that the good ones deserve to be supported when they put out a great monthly. I know it's getting harder & harder with increasing prices though.

That said, that pile above has been about chopped in half in my newest order, I am trying to only buy the books I really love in their monthly format.

[MBoyd]

Originally Posted by Sessa17

Well, guess who had their first gigantic box via DCBS waiting outside their door today

Yeah i just got mine as well with the two Brubaker Omnis. I'm down to about 8-10 floppies though.

[Patman]

If you're a fan of Brubaker's crime stuff (Criminal) and non-Marvel super-hero stuff (Incognito), to get all the goodies, you have to buy the monthlies because the TPBs leave out some of the goodies at the back of the monthlies.

I just don't like TPBs because I have this weird thing about breaking the spines of TPBs if I want to see the artwork from edge-to-edge, and 2-page spreads really makes me want to break the spines to see all of the artwork.

[fujishig]

Originally Posted by Sessa17

If you are a pure comic book fan, you just have to support the monthlies. There are messages & articles by Brubaker who is my favorite writer, Garth Ennis, Marc Waid & others who all plead for people to buy monthlies & they explain why the medium will indeed die if everyone turns to trade waiters. Plus, Brubaker did a great piece on how the creators don't see a dime from trade sales, & there are so few great writers & artists today, that the good ones deserve to be supported when they put out a great monthly. I know it's getting harder & harder with increasing prices though.

That said, that pile above has been about chopped in half in my newest order, I am trying to only buy the books I really love in their monthly format.

I understand the need to buy the monthlies... but I've been burned too many times where I haven't even finished reading the series and the HC is solicited, often with extra material. Marvel does this for every book they release. DC doesn't collect EVERYTHING yet, but they do collect most things, though I like some of their monthlies enough to continue on with them.

I am surprised that the creators don't get money from the trades. I could see this happening back in the day, but isn't it in their contracts now that nearly everything is collected?

I do appreciate what Brubaker is doing with Criminal, though. Having extra content is the best way to get people to pick up the monthlies.

[Meatwad's Ghost]

If it wasn't for the online stores I wouldn't be collecting comics. Nearest shop is like 45 mins away and no real discounts. I think 10% if I have a monthly pull list. Wouldn't mind supporting them, it's just cost me more in gas and time to get there. I do hit one twice a year because they have a 40% off general merchandise, and you never know what you might find buried on the shelves. I can get to a Borders with a 30% off coupon in about 30 mins.

The creators need to redo their contracts, I could see some books some day just going straight into a more trade like books, i.e. Manga. Like Patman, I don't care for the broken spine look, so I'm only really collecting Hardbacks right now certain titles like Star Wars I get the TPB since they'll probable never get a HC edition. And when I get the book case I can have the books on shelves then having long boxes stacked in a closet or corner, like I'm embarrassed by them, I'm not just no place to put them. The long box almost seems like a tomb, very seldom do I ever go back and reread a monthly. Of course I still have about 4,000 singles I'm looking to trade/sale off.

Sessa, would love to see pics of your whole shelf. Like checking out others shelves for inspiration.

[fujishig]

Just to note, most manga does not just go straight out into tpb form. Sure, they do in America, but these are translated works that were released in multiple formats in Japan (first in weekly/monthly/quarterly anthologies, then as collections). I don't know for sure, but the cost of licensing and translating a work that has already made the majority of it's money somewhere else should be cheaper than actually commissioning that work in the first place. So while it's easy to get spoiled by the relative cheapness of manga, and the sometimes lightning quick release schedule, we have to remember that it's not the same.

The big problem with trade-only releases seems to be that either the creators or the publishers will have to go a long time without really getting paid, or really knowing the demand of the item in question (this is in addition to the extra revenue monthlies get with ads). And then there's a general stigma on stuff that goes straight to tpb, for whatever reason.

Similar argument for TV and TV on DVD when it comes to effect on ratings or sales determining whether a series gets renewed. Though at least TV is free. I swear if there were someplace where you could just rent and read through monthlies, I might drop the habit altogether.

[Patman]

Originally Posted by fujishig

I swear if there were someplace where you could just rent and read through monthlies, I might drop the habit altogether.

Have you heard about the Longbox Digital Comics Project?

http://www.comicbookresources.com/?p...ticle&id=21693

[Sessa17]

Originally Posted by fujishig

I swear if there were someplace where you could just rent and read through monthlies, I might drop the habit altogether.

Hmmmm. . . I may have to start up a business. I have enough stuff.

[Sessa17]

Originally Posted by Meatwad's Ghost

Sessa, would love to see pics of your whole shelf. Like checking out others shelves for inspiration.

Unfortunately I don't have my stuff displayed. I moved into an apartment with 3 roomates & most of my stuff is in boxes until I can afford to get my own place. I have a really crappy shelf up just to put up stuff I recently read, but most of my stuff is still in boxes or massive unread piles. I posted these pics a while ago, & these piles have only gotten bigger since then. . .

The boxes of unread monthlies. . .


These have been read since taking this pic. . .


Older pic, but here is a shelf for you to look at. . .

[Meatwad's Ghost]

Sessa, great collection. Right now I think about 90% of my books are in the unread pile, usually I read a lot during the winter, but got too many projects over the winter, unfortunately not much pay with them (not much pay in volunteer work). The Milk & Cheese box is that a collected book? I have one of their TPBs and enjoy it.

[dx23]

I'm in the current situation where I'm only buying trade collections, preferably in hardcover if it is available. Amazon.com and Borders with the 30% off coupons have been the main stores I've used. Any other suggestions of where to buy online and B&M? I'm currently in North Carolina, so shipping is not a problem anymore.

[slop101]

Since this thread was instigated by a purchase from DCBS, I'd like to point that that while they have great prices, their search is for shit, and I couldn't find a goddamn thing on their site.

[Meatwad's Ghost]

Originally Posted by dx23

I'm in the current situation where I'm only buying trade collections, preferably in hardcover if it is available. Amazon.com and Borders with the 30% off coupons have been the main stores I've used. Any other suggestions of where to buy online and B&M? I'm currently in North Carolina, so shipping is not a problem anymore.

I use DCBS for preorders when I know I'm going to really want it, checking the specials is where you can get the omnibuses and Absolutes for 50% off and other books mostly Marvel/DC but some other publishers get in there too. If the book is already out I go to http://www.instocktrades.com they carry only TBPs and HBs for 30%-35% off. All orders over $50 is free shipping, and their shipping is better than Amazons.

Once to twice a year http://www.tfaw.com has a huge sale that will get up to 85% off. They have nick and dent books for 50% off and sometimes more, I've only had minor problems with the nick and dents, in most cases they were still better quality than a book store. Get on their email list to get the deals.

For B&M Borders with the 40% off coupon is really good. At times they will mark a book down and you can use the 40% off the marked down price (sometimes up to cashier) I got the Lost Girls box set for $40 earlier this year using that method. The cashier was not happy with me and tried to talk me out of buying it, because of the minor damage on it.

[Sessa17]

Originally Posted by Meatwad's Ghost

Sessa, great collection

Thanks but that's not even 1/100th of my collection. That's just a couple of random pictures of a shelf, & some unread piles.

The Milk & Cheese box is that a collected book? I have one of their TPBs and enjoy it.

No, that's just the box for Milk & Cheese action figures.

[cranberries fan]

I don't know what DCBS is all about but for me I am all CBR for my collection of comic-books from now on.

It's that much better far less space (no long-boxes and no fingerprints on fav's anymore).

I have over 40Gigs of comics and that enough for me!

[dx23]

Originally Posted by Meatwad's Ghost

I use DCBS for preorders when I know I'm going to really want it, checking the specials is where you can get the omnibuses and Absolutes for 50% off and other books mostly Marvel/DC but some other publishers get in there too. If the book is already out I go to http://www.instocktrades.com they carry only TBPs and HBs for 30%-35% off. All orders over $50 is free shipping, and their shipping is better than Amazons.

Once to twice a year http://www.tfaw.com has a huge sale that will get up to 85% off. They have nick and dent books for 50% off and sometimes more, I've only had minor problems with the nick and dents, in most cases they were still better quality than a book store. Get on their email list to get the deals.

For B&M Borders with the 40% off coupon is really good. At times they will mark a book down and you can use the 40% off the marked down price (sometimes up to cashier) I got the Lost Girls box set for $40 earlier this year using that method. The cashier was not happy with me and tried to talk me out of buying it, because of the minor damage on it.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm building my trade collections and all those places seem perfect.

[fujishig]

Originally Posted by cranberries fan

I don't know what DCBS is all about but for me I am all CBR for my collection of comic-books from now on.

It's that much better far less space (no long-boxes and no fingerprints on fav's anymore).

I have over 40Gigs of comics and that enough for me!

Cheaper too! Oh, wait...

[Sessa17]

Just placed my July order. The book I'm most excited about for this order is the limited edition Strangers In Paradise Omnibus. The complete series collected in 2 Hardcovers in a slipcase, that is just awesome & DCBS has it for under $80. Aside from that it's a rather weak month.

[fujishig]

Originally Posted by Sessa17

Just placed my July order. The book I'm most excited about for this order is the limited edition Strangers In Paradise Omnibus. The complete series collected in 2 Hardcovers in a slipcase, that is just awesome & DCBS has it for under $80. Aside from that it's a rather weak month.

It's actually three HCs, isn't it, with the third collecting the covers to the series. Half off ain't bad...

Invincible vol 5 Ultimate Collection is also in the July Previews. The Criminal Omnibus is finally in the Previews section, but is not available to order from the July Previews...

[Sessa17]

Originally Posted by fujishig

The Criminal Omnibus is finally in the Previews section, but is not available to order from the July Previews...

The Criminal Omnibus was in last month's DCBS order. I just checked my June order, I ordered it. $24.95.