lighthouse

Oh I appreciate the ideas. Even if I don’t use one directly it may spur a new unrelated plan. About 8 months ago we started a new policy. Whenever a customer comes in with books to sell and has crazy unrealistic demands (“how bout you give me $5 a piece for these 1989 Superman comics?”), we do our best to educate them as we’ve always done. But then we hand them a free pile of books that might have gone in the warehouse sale. Encourage them “hey, we can’t pay what you’re hoping for but list your books on Facebook Marketplace or Let It Go and maybe you’ll have better luck... go ahead and take these for free and you can add them to the pile you’re selling and maybe you’ll get a better offer.” Do you know how impossible it is for someone to leave you a terrible review for being a “con artist trying to rip us off” when you give them completely free comics as part of not buying their collection? In many cases I’m able to hand them the same characters from the same time period they just tried to sell to me, for free. The number of “angrily storming out the door after I didn’t buy their junk” customers has dropped to almost zero.* *Method doesn’t work on knuckleheads that want $900 for their Stan Lee SS 9.0 New Mutants 87

The only cost that ever matters is opportunity cost. We track essentially every box on every table for how many inventory turns they generate and what the profit margins are. Our average long box did $64 a month in revenue last year. There are a few sections where we tolerate sales in the $30 range to maintain a product mix. But a typical 8’ “table” with 11 long boxes (plus the aisle to stand in front of it) is 30sf of dedicated space, generating $700 a month in back issue sales. If I replace three of those slots with “$10 garbage long boxes” I have to be moving 20 of them a month from that three-box bay to justify putting them there. Anything slower than that and I’m reducing my sales by putting them out. We hold warehouse sales a couple times a year and I move all the normal inventory out for a weekend and put collection leftovers on the tables at around 50c a book. We typically move around 9,000 of them in a weekend which justifies the labor of the double move. But after selling 50,000+ books like that I have a pretty good idea of what will move at 50c and what won’t. If I was never gonna buy another collection would I glean more revenue from the worst stock? Probably. But I’ve got a store worth of inventory walking in the doors every 3-4 months. We haven’t had a month with less than 20 long boxes walking in the door in over a year. It’s either good enough to sell for $3+ in which case I’m willing to handle it five times (triage, bag and board, sort, box, ring up), it’s good enough to sell for 50c in which case I’m willing to handle it three times (triage, box, ring up), or it’s not and I handle it twice... triage and trash. It’s like gardening. I can waste a bunch of time trying to get every plant to survive. Or I can rip out the worst of them to let the best ones thrive.

They haven't been shipped yet. Diamond has them in hand but the first wave was intended to be in the April 1st shipments and those never went out.

We participate in Halloween ComicFest and give away around 5,000 comics for that event. We routinely give away some leftover FCBD books as part of the event but the HCF books are usually Halloweed-themed (even if they are almost all reprints) and there's some fun in that.

Not exactly the case. The publishers get no money. The distributors get no money. The shops get no money. The only people who get paid as part of FCBD are the printers who print the comics, which makes complete sense to me. My costs on the books range from 25-30 cents per book which is the cost of printing and nothing more. The publishers are still taking a big loss (paying the creators to produce the work without getting paid in return). Diamond takes a big loss (paying all its employees to handle the shipments without getting paid). And comic shops take a loss on paying the printing costs plus the subsized-by-Diamond freight costs to receive the books. But the event DOES promote the hobby. It DOES get folks in the door. It DOES expose new folks to comics for the first time every year. And for half the shops in the country it's still their busiest sales day of the entire year, so even though you get folks who show up once a year for free books and never come back, most do support the stores. Publishers, Diamond, and shops all chip in... and they all benefit in the long run.

Currently there’s no market for mixed-paper bales. So if we tried to “recycle” them they’d wind up in a landfill or incinerator anyway after tying up valuable labor at the recycling facility. Better to landfill them ourselves so the recycling centers can devote energy to aluminum and glass where they have a chance to cover their costs. Back when China was buying mixed paper, it was a different story. But now municipalities not only can’t sell the bales, they have to pay more to recycle them than dispose of them. We still do what we can. I rip up unsold copies of Previews to use as packing paper all the time. But slick paper comics aren’t suitable for that. In order to store these 6,000 books, I have to spend $80 on boxes for them, around $110 on labor to pack the boxes, load the boxes for transport, transport them to storage, and unload and stack them at storage. Then pay ongoing costs of 3.5 cents per book per year for random access storage in racks or 2.5 cents per book per year for sequential access storage in piles of boxes. That’s the sort of math you have to do with hundreds of thousands of comics that never comes up if you own 8 long boxes. (And that’s with storage unit costs of $8.25/ft/yr, some markets are much higher). Leftover full case titles would be cheaper since there’s no reboxing needed. But the titles we order full cases of are the ones easiest to give away. So even the leftovers of those will be partials. We’ll give away as many as we can. Store a few. The rest? Sigh.

Do they come with a LETTER OF AUTHENTICITY ?

California’s Governor, now the most popular in America, has already said that he doesn’t expect fans in stands at sporting events in his state before 2021. It’s one thing to reopen a store to 10-20 customers at a time. It’s quite another to pack a thousand people in the space of an apartment or two thousand in the space of a house. We will still find a way to slowly give away several thousand of these. But heck, we have over 8,000 leftovers from previous FCBD and HCF events in storage already. Around 30 long boxes worth. I can’t see keeping 6,000 from this one event. Storage and handling aren’t free. I expect there will be a million plus of these “leftover” books around the country. It’s just a shame Diamond couldn’t stop the printers in time.

We buy around 100,000 comics in collections each year. Roughly 20-30% of them have no value whatsoever, are questionable content, have potential mold issues, etc. We already donate over 10,000 comics a year (separate from those we give away for FCBD and HCF). We donate graphic novels to libraries and schools (and sell them at nearly cost when they buy from us). A run of 1988-1990 Action Comics in bags that have been left in a garage or shed for twenty years, covered in dust and smelling of chemicals and rodents, is not something that is easily donated. The labor just isn’t justified to prepare them for donation. Most donated clothing is ultimately destroyed by the charities it’s donated to. Only the best quality stuff moves that charity’s goal forward. Comics are no different. If we donate nice clean bagged and boarded copies of family friendly titles, the charity can sell them to help their mission. If we donate dust-covered early 90s bad girl soft-porn, all we’ve done is waste that charity’s labor in throwing them away themselves.

Looks like we (like every other shop) are going to get stuck with the FCBD books we ordered this year and no event to give them away. Until sporting events are hosting crowds of 25,000 people again, I’m not hosting a party the equivalent of putting 1500 folks through your house’s front door in a day. (It’s actually worse than that since our attendance was higher than our square footage last year). I’m not about to risk being on the news in a story about 3 people who died after they attended an ill-advised FCBD. But the books are still coming. I’m still gonna be on the hook for the $4,000 cost associated with them. And they’re not going to bring the $5/sf in sales they normally bring on event day. So what to do with them? We already give away comics year round. Several times a week we hand out dollar reprints to youngsters who are being more rambunctious than their parents feel like monitoring. Never fault the kids. Comics are exciting. But rather than tear up that Immortal Hulk that your parents wont be buying anyway (because they only care about the Funko Pops), here’s a free Spider-Man comic that’s all yours. No charge... And we already donate to local doctor and dentist waiting rooms. So we will bag sampler packs for subs. We will make up donation packs of the all-ages titles for waiting rooms. We will make up donation packs of middle graders that will go to local teachers we work with. We will keep a few back to give away to the occasional family. But there’s still gonna be at least 6,000 after all that. We already dumpster around 20,000 comics a year. Last year was close to 30,000. But most of those are comics that have been owned by half a dozen different people in their lives and it’s just their time. If 6,000 of these are headed to the landfill, so be it. But it’s a little sad.

Marvel has gone with a very different approach from DC. For the first few weeks, Marvel will be alternating weeks for comics and TPB/HC editions. So the May 27th shipment is comics only. The June 3rd shipment is collected editions only. June 10th is comics only again. June 17th is trades only again. June 24th sees a mix. July 1st is trades only. July 8th is a mix. The first shipment of "not yet FOC'd material" is July 15th. Those books will be FOC'd for the first time on June 15th. All earlier shipments are material that was previous subject to order adjustment. For reference, even the July 8th shipment is still items originally solicited in February for April release. Marvel is backtracking from its previous promise for extended discounts on the items originally shipping April 1st and 8th, but is allowing those items to be reduced, so the purpose of the discounts (sorry you got stuck with stuff you might not sell) is at least addressed. They've definitely spread out the release schedule (which was my single biggest request). Only 5 floppy titles May 27th, only 6 titles June 10th, only 8 titles June 24th, and 8 titles again July 8th.

I have a signed letter from Jim Valentino when he bought a BB 54 from me 20 years ago, and a personal check for $4.50 shipping which he forgot to add to his money order (which I never cashed). But alas, I have no LETTER OF AUTHENTICITY to go with it.

FWIW I own a book with rusty staples that has been slabbed for 17 years without reholdering (slabbed early enough that the label itself mentions the rust). The rust currently present is minimal. It’s only a 17-year experiment so far. But I’m probably only around for two more 17-year experiments, so there’s that...

No need to frown. That’s an awesome book. If you want to visit its birthplace, just book yourself into the 3-bedroom penthouse at the Marmara Park Avenue!

Rich Conley started Comics and Records Unlimited back in the early 80s in San Antonio. Changed the name to Comics Unlimited in the late 80s and to Heroes and Fantasies in the early 90s. His sons, Adam and Mike, grew up in the business, joked about making bags and boards in front of the tv in kindergarten as being “family time”. At one point they had 5 locations in San Antonio plus some pop up shops on military bases before they consolidated. Now the older son runs the 15,000sf flagship store and the younger son runs the smaller store. Adam has been at least a store manager for 25 years now. Doubt he’s gonna suddenly choose a new life path when he’s never done anything else.

I also think it depends on the level of celebrity. If it’s someone so famous that their autograph on a napkin has value, then the page torn out of the book with the signature on it might have more value than an unsigned book. (True for lots of things Elvis signed). There’s a local author none of you have heard of that’s published a half dozen novels and can almost but not quite support himself with his writing. He did a graphic novel and hosted the release party in my shop months before it was available through Diamond or Amazon. He and his artist were offering free signatures during the party. Roughly half the folks that showed up to buy books requested unsigned copies. If someday he’s super famous will those people regret their choice? Perhaps. But they had signed and unsigned as options right in front of them and chose unsigned. (I personally bought one of each. He offered to give them to me free but I paid anyway.)

But that’s only for the “right” signature. Would I pay a big premium for a signed first edition of Stephen King’s The Gunslinger? You betcha. Would I pay a premium for a first edition copy signed by the editor? Or the publisher? Or Idris Elba? Lol. No. And there are a huge number of yellow label books with the “wrong” signatures. Or too many of them. I’d view a first edition Gunslinger double-signed by King and Elba as a horrific act of vandalism. And I think most rare book collectors would agree.

I mean if Jerry’s signature is that big a deal to you, here’s a 1985 SDCC program triple signed by Jerry, Joanne, and Julie. All deceased.

I never disparage what other people like to collect. I collect plenty of things most folks would turn up their noses at. Even my most mainstream collecting choices are still VERY niche (1st printings of softcover trades, a complete set of all printings of Killing Joke, 1950's romance comics with catfight covers, etc). But if I had a choice between a 9.8 Amazing 301 with Tom DeFalco's signature or without? I'll take the one without. Todd and David's signatures sort of add value to that book, sort of. But Tom and Stan's signatures do nothing but reduce my interest. Everything is worth what its purchaser will pay for it. And if the purchaser is stoked, that's awesome. I'm beyond stoked whenever I find a copy of Romantic Hearts 9 and it's not like anyone else in this thread is actively chasing it. But if I had to invest $15,000 in copies of Amazing 301 today with no ability to resell them for 20 years? I doubt I buy a single Yellow Label.

Man. I’ve always wanted to know how to Chinese rocket.

She brought a knife to a tooth fight? Bold strategy.

It’s easy to get top census books. Just get yourself a time machine or a job as a Canadian tax auditor and you’re good to go. But what about Bottom Census?That takes real love and dedication. You have to love a book so much you don’t care that CGC has never seen a worse copy. Whether it’s an obscure variant, newsstand edition, small press oddity, or just something so odd no one could love it. I currently own two Bottom Census books. But this one is my best. A 9.2 with none graded lower! Don’t hide that forbidden favorite. Show it off. Whatchu got?

My shop has offered a money back guarantee on the first three volumes of Immortal Hulk since the first trade was released. I haven’t had a single customer bring one back. Other recent/current stuff we guarantee (though we obviously have a discussion with the customer about what sort of stories they like... I’m not going to forcefeed The Wire to someone who tells me their favorite things are Michael Bay movies): Saga, A Walk Through Hell, Ice Cream Man, first two volumes of Chip Zdarsky’s current Daredevil run, Saga, first three volumes of Cates’ Venom run, Cates’ Thanos Wins run, Batman Rebirth Vol 4: War of Jokes and Riddles (which as a flashback story needs no other continuity connections), Saga...

I think signatures today are where restoration was in the 1970s. For some it’s a way to turn a less desirable book into a nice payday. For others it’s a third rail they want no part of. There’s no denying that a low grade copy can be improved with a signature or restoration. I’ve got a low grade X-Men 2 that Stan Lee signed on the splash page in 1987 and there’s no doubt it’s more desirable than another random low grade copy of that book. But I cringe every time I am checking the census and see there are only 10 known copies of a book in 9.6 and 2 of them have yellow labels.

And to think, most of those were Greggy's third or fourth best copies... I had mentioned gorillas and Greggy's just like, "oh yeah, I have 4 really nice copies of this sweet sweet DC with a gorilla on the cover, here ya go".