Doeman

This whole system of ordering books 3 months in advance really bugs me. I refuse to order new books that far in advance, I have no idea what the book is going to be like so I am NOT going to order 3 issues of something I have not seen yet. If I like (and these days I really must like it alot) a new #1 issue I will then add the title to my list, but there is no way I am committing to a book for 3 months in advance. Money is too valuable to waste on comics these days so I am being very careful what I buy. Also with all books at $2.99 now the comic companies will commit suicide if they even think about raising prices again. The next price increase in comics will be my last..

Graftenberg

I bet kids said the same thing when comics went up to $0.12

Doeman

I have a story for you about the Avatar line of horror books. This week's new releases had FIVE Avatar horror books released. I had all 5 pulled for me for my sub's. I had about 20 minutes to spare later in the afternoon so I read through all 5 books in under 20 minutes. I read 2 Friday The 13th's, 2 Chainsaw's and one Nightmare On Elm St in under 20 minutes. After I was done I felt like a complete idiot. I spent almost $20 for this mindless garbage and all I got out of the books was 20 minutes of reading. What exactly did I read? Nothing but complete crap, nothing for story just stupid mindless crap. I have since called my comic shop and cancelled everything with Avatar on my sub list. A complete total WASTE OF MONEY...

MovieExchange

Sounds like your average Rob Liefeld comic... is he working for Avatar now?

Patman

For those of you who collect original art:

Do you know of an online source for those big black books that have 48 inside plastic covered "pages" that hold artwork? I heard that some place sells them for around $11.50, but I can't remember the place now. TIA.

Sessa17

Well, let me give you the answer from a retailer's perspective. I've co-owned a comic book store & have run one for about 7 years. I don't really know what kind of store you go to where the staff "hounds you" to add a first issue to your pull list, that is just bad business. But we do ask our subscribers simply once (if you think that is hounding then that is just the customers fault), if they would like us to pull future issues for them. And it is VERY important from our end to do so, here is why:

Orders are done 2-3 months in advance. And unless you are on my end, you have NO IDEA how hard it is to do a monthly order for an entire store. Pretty much every comic book fan & customer I've ever talked to thinks it is so easy. Typcially, 2nd & 3rd issues are significantly less ordered than first issues, b/c we have to account for the 1st issue boom & as silly as it sounds, TRUST ME, there are a lot of people that still by multiple issues of #1s. So if the subscriber doesn't tell us he wants a new book added to their pull list, there is a good chance they don't get issue #2, b/c it sold out or have to pay a marked up price b/c we can't reorder any more & then the customer bitches, why didn't we pull the second issue for them, they bought #1, yet they didn't tell use to add it to their pull list.

As for your complaints, it sounds like you go to a pretty shitty store. No store should hound the customer, & if you are concerned about adding a $2.99 title to you pull list, then they must not give subscriber discounts, which is just idiotic IMO, you should try a new store if possible. As for sampling the first issue, we have no problem letting a customer read the comic in the store, you can usually tell by a good browse through, (it's just a comic, not a novel) if you at least want the next few issues, in which case you can then let your retailer know right there as you by the first issue.

I'll tell you, this is once anti-comic book store crowd that posts here. All the on-line shopping breaks my heart, & those that do still support he stores seem to have lots of complaints.

JasonF

Interestingly enough, I was just reading something that Brian Hibbs (owner of Comix Experience in San Francisco) posted on John Byrne's forum. Apparently, there is something he calls the 80/20 rule -- 80 percent of all sales come from 20 percent of comic book shops. He said sometimes, it's actually a 90/10 rule. When you think about it, one of the things this means is that most of the 80 percent of shops that account for 20 percent of the sales probably suck. Consequently, the people who shop at those stores probably have a lot of complaints.

I'm one of the lucky ones -- I've always shopped at good stores, stores that stock a wide variety of comics and that appear to be run by people with actual business sense (currently, I'm shopping at Chicago Comics).

MovieExchange

I love my local comic store (Comic Relief in Flint, Michigan). John, the original owner, sold the store after close to 20 years in business. The new owner, Dean, was a long-time customer and regular in the store, so it still feels the same when I walk in the door.

I could probably save some money by going with a mail-order place, but I love that Wednesday morning visit to the store to see what's new, and as a small business owner I believe in supporting other small businesses whenever I can.

bishop2knight

I've had the online vs. hometown shop debate many times. While I do still buy stuff at the LCS, I go online for one reason: cost. When you save 40% online, it's hard to bring myself to drive to get the same book for cover price plus tax. Sure, I get up to 20% if I preorder, but 20% on a $100 absolute book, for example, is a huge difference.

Sessa17

Fuckin shit!!!! Yet another reason why I hate Marvel. I just found out that Marvel Team-Up, one of Marvel's very few good comics. Is being cancelled at issue #25. This is a comic that contains almost everything fans bitch out comics not having. Underused characters, new characters, an actual heavy use of continuity (something Marvel rarely does), yet nobody buys the damn book.

Doeman

Seems the mighty Marvel only cares if the books sells, that's it. I really hate marvel sometimes. I am just waiting for them to have another price increase, I will dump 60% of my subs in a heartbeat and this time I will NEVER look back. Comics are becoming very expensive and they are not worth it anymore..

madcougar

My store is very good about not doing this. They may recommend something if they think it's my cup of tea, but they won't "push" anything.

With that said... I too feel that the next price increase will be the end of my comic book buying days. I certainly don't remember when comic books were 12 cents like a poster suggested, but I do remember when they were 75 cents. I understand that everything sees price increases. But I think that I've reached the end of the line. Don't get me wrong, I still love the funny books. But over the years, I've come to realize that you don't have to read EVERY single issue of a title to enjoy a good story. I'll still pick up the occasional tradepaperback and fill in the gaps by visiting Wikipedia.

For me as gasoline has gotten more expensive, I've had to cut back on nonsense like comic books. The last issue of Dork Storm came out a few weeks back, and I noticed that it had a price tag of $3.49 instead of $2.99. I dropped it the next time I was in the store.

Seriously, I have 40 long boxes of comics and several hundred trades. If worse came to worse, I'd just start rereading them all.

Superboy

I just read through uncanny. Why do I even bother...

lukewarmwater

Yeah, I'm the same way. My store generally only buys marvel and dc books so if I want to try something non-superhero I either have to blind buy or hope they order one too many. Another reason to wait for trades.

FantasticVSDoom

Yeah the ordering 3 months in advance is why I have gone back to the LCS after 2 online orders...Yes its cheaper, but Im stuck with too many books that are sent to me now that I just dont want to read. Plus it just takes too long for me to get my books now. Its one of the downfalls of living in an apt. in NYC. So I just cut back and live with the essentials, and read other stuff as it comes into the library in trades and what not.

Patman

Heh, though I'm a regular at my LCS (still get the 20% discount), I don't have a pull list, and every now and then it screw me (like when Usagi Yojimbo sells out, and I pick that up for a friend who doesn't have a nearby LCS like I do), but I don't have a pull list because I never wanted to be obligated to pick up 2 months of comics after I decided I was done with them, and it also allows me to drop out of comics when I choose (which I have done 2-3 times in the past 15 years when I got tired of the same-old, same-old). I'm very honorable in my commitments (must be the exposure to super-hero ethics from my youth that form such bad habits in my personality), so I would honor my obligation to buy 2 months of comics, but I would hate wasting that money, thus no pull list.

Patman

BTW, read 4 titles this past week:

Supergirl - rated a big "WTF!" but I'll probably hang around for the conclusion, but the book has been a disappointment so far.

Y The Last Man - not too shabby glimpse into the Asian doc's college years (and earlier) and the experiences that formed her persona as it is now.

52 - Not sure if I'm really enjoying this book as much as I should, but I'll give it another month of issues.

Detective - now this I enjoyed, both in story and art.

JasonF

That really sucks. Kirkman and Slott are the two guys who are really doing Marvel comics the way I like them, and both of them keep getting books cancelled out from under them. Meanwhile, people continue to buy shit from Bendis, Brubaker, and JMS. Don't get me wrong -- more power to you if you like New Avengers or Amazing Spider-Man, but I'd rather set my money on fire than pay to read that crap. It's not the Marvel I grew up on; Kirkman and Slott are writing the Marvel I grew up on.

Doeman

The bottom line for me right now is that comics seems to be not worth it, especially these $3.99 books like Avatar puts out. Another book that has gone way down is Spawn. I have been with the book since issue one, I just cancelled the book for good. After Number 150 came they raised the price to 2.95, they changed the creative team (I don't think McFarlane is even involved anymore), and now the book sucks. It is painfully obvious McFarlane could care less with comic books, the toys seem to be his bread and butter. So farewell Spawn, I won't miss you..
As for Marvel Team Up, I am another one who stayed with this series right from issue 1, but the sad fact of life is I am happy I am saving another $2.99 per month. I wish Marvel would cancel alot of their crap books, I have alot of them on my sub list, I would do a mass cancel but I don't want to screw my LCS and have them stuck with 2 months of books..The comic business is quite sad these days. Civil Wars and Crisis's can't save them..

Chew

Well, that sucks. The art hasn't been so great the last few months, but I still really enjoyed that title.

bishop2knight

How many people here read original graphic novels? With all the super hero bashing, I'm curious to hear how many venture out and read other genres on a regular basis.

exharrison

Last week:
Zombie Highway - Somewhat interesting, could prove to be fun or very annoyingly pointless. I'll probably get the second issue. Although, that 3.99 is ridiculous.

Supergirl - Ok, maybe I shouldn't have made this issue the first one I've tried, but it wasn't very interesting and will probably be the only one I try.

Atom - A little slow. I liked his Brave New World issue better, but it was interesting as a set up issue. I'll get the next, especially since it is Simone.

I finally ditched 52. Doesn't feel worth it for $10/month. I'll probably collect it in trades when it inevitably comes out.
Anybody know when we'll get the next Walking Dead?

Chew

Midtown Comics lists #29 for this week.

boredsilly

I haven't been reading this, but I may pick up an issue or two to check out as I love the Timm style on DCU characters and the cartoon books have always been pretty good. However, Batman Adventures volume 2 by Ty Templeton and Dan Slott is more than pretty good. If you liked the BTAS show (I'm pretty sure you did) and haven't read these books I would highly highly suggest you track down the issues or buy the two digests that are out there.

It only ran for 17 issues and can probably be bought for cheap. The great thing about this run was that the book was awesome in the way that Pixar movies are awesome. Anyone can enjoy them, but you get more out of it depending on your age. The book had some really great plot threads running and it's just a shame that it got cancelled before they all could be wrapped up, even though the book ends on a satisfying note. I honestly wouldn't hesitate to say it is one of the best runs on a Batman book ever.

It sucks that Marvel Team-Up is getting cancelled. My thing is I don't understand how this book didn't have more readers. The last 7 issues or so have focued on some more obscure characters, but those first issues? Everyone was in the book...and it was really really good. So what the hell? Even if it's excellent, I can understand how She-Hulk might be a hard sell, but MTU should have been a slam dunk.

Re the price of comics: I have no problem paying what I pay for the books I enjoy (be it in trades or issues). The stories are worth it to me. I don't buy a million books each week so I'm not the best judge of this, but when I see people upset about books costing an extra quarter I can't help but think....it's just a quarter. It's like that game you play when you're little:
"Would you do stupid thing X for $100"
"Yeah."
"Would you do stupid thing X for $99"
"Yeah."
...
"Would you do stupid thing X for $67"
"Absolutely not"
"But you would for $68?"

I understand everything has it's breaking point, but why is it always all or nothing? Why not just scale back to your essential books or switch to online to find cheaper books or go trades?

Lets say comics were raised to $4 an issue overnight. Are your current favorite 3 titles not worth that to you? They may not be, I can understand that, I'm just curious. I thought cd pricing was getting out of hand a few years ago (with stuff going for $19 or more) but at the same time a good/great CD is worth so much more than that to me.

I just don't get this. Why not buy the books that are already there (so as to not screw your LCS) and then cancel the books so you don't get them in the future? You complain about the cost of comics and yet buy titles you seem not to enjoy? That is something I will never understand. I can see staying on a book after a bad arc or two, but if the book is bad - drop it. Find something else that is worth your money and attention or pocket that money.

I do. I just got a book called Jar of Fools by Jason Lutes that was pretty good. I have most all of Will Eisner's stuff sans The Spirit, and will be rereading that stuff over and over again. I'm also a sucker for the angst of Tomine. Oh, and the Flight books are great too if you like anthologies. To be honest I buy OGN's like I buy proper books, so I don't really check for them in Previews or anything. I usually hear about one, or see one at the book store, read a good review, hear buzz, or stumbe upon an online preview - pretty much how I buy novels to read. Actually, if you have some books to suggest I'm all ears.

Giantrobo

Brave New World....Martian Manhunter...Whoa....


Also, one can't help but see the parallels between what's happening in real life here in America and what's happening with Uncle Sam and The Freedom Fighters. This could end up being one of the most relevant Hero Groups in the DCU.