The official J Scott Campbell Appreciation/Discussion Thread 12 12

[Awax]

On 7/20/2018 at 8:18 PM, I like pie said:

He has some unsigned. There were also some unsigned available at the JSC website but those went too fast for me to snag.

All books at SDCC we’re precsigned. There were no unsigned for sale at SDCC from his booth. 

[I like pie]

1 minute ago, Awax said:

All books at SDCC we’re precsigned. There were no unsigned for sale at SDCC from his booth. 

I didn't mean at his booth. They are out there though.

[Oat Willy1]

I tried to buy his virgin spider-man 800's at the show and all the ones they pulled out for me had torn corners, so I passed. The girls that work at his booth are really annoying btw. I asked to see more to find acceptable copies, but they said they will only let you check 2 copies, meaning if they hand you a damaged book they will only pull out one more for you to inspect, and they won't examine more themselves to find an undamaged one, they will just pull out that 2nd copy randomly. And they act annoyed if you find a defect, and want to see another one. However, I've had good luck with the guys working his booth. They're more accommodating and helpful when it comes to helping you get a nice copy. 

[kHAoS]

10 hours ago, Oat Willy1 said:

I tried to buy his virgin spider-man 800's at the show and all the ones they pulled out for me had torn corners, so I passed. The girls that work at his booth are really annoying btw. I asked to see more to find acceptable copies, but they said they will only let you check 2 copies, meaning if they hand you a damaged book they will only pull out one more for you to inspect, and they won't examine more themselves to find an undamaged one, they will just pull out that 2nd copy randomly. And they act annoyed if you find a defect, and want to see another one. However, I've had good luck with the guys working his booth. They're more accommodating and helpful when it comes to helping you get a nice copy. 

in their defense, i’ve also seen some pretty rude behavior from customers at the JSC booth and any other booth selling a limited or highly sought after item SDCC.

it does take a certain type of personality to work in a retail/convention environment. i commend them for being able to answer the same question every 3 mins over the course of 10 hours. i know for certain i wouldn’t be able to it.

[devald]

mail call from Florida.

[BeachBum]

20 hours ago, Oat Willy1 said:

I tried to buy his virgin spider-man 800's at the show and all the ones they pulled out for me had torn corners, so I passed. The girls that work at his booth are really annoying btw. I asked to see more to find acceptable copies, but they said they will only let you check 2 copies, meaning if they hand you a damaged book they will only pull out one more for you to inspect, and they won't examine more themselves to find an undamaged one, they will just pull out that 2nd copy randomly. And they act annoyed if you find a defect, and want to see another one. However, I've had good luck with the guys working his booth. They're more accommodating and helpful when it comes to helping you get a nice copy. 

All the ASM 800 books, regardless of retailer, have torn corners (bindery tears).

 

[Drill423]

I will forever regret cancelling my order of ASM 800 due to quality control fears and also burnout on ASM 800 variants.  I bought the Virgin Set at sdcc and took them all to get graded.  Quite a swing in price.  

[ExNihilo]

1 hour ago, Drill423 said:

I will forever regret cancelling my order of ASM 800 due to quality control fears and also burnout on ASM 800 variants.  I bought the Virgin Set at sdcc and took them all to get graded.  Quite a swing in price.  

I'm not happy about the price, but at least the books are graded.  I'm a little finicky, but I prefer signed books to have a yellow label (as opposed to be unslabbed) and unless I bought the books here on the boards, there was no way that would have been possible via the online store.

[Drill423]

34 minutes ago, ExNihilo said:

I'm not happy about the price, but at least the books are graded.  I'm a little finicky, but I prefer signed books to have a yellow label (as opposed to be unslabbed) and unless I bought the books here on the boards, there was no way that would have been possible via the online store.

My thought process exactly.  It was slab or bust when I realized they were all signed.  I sent them to be pressed as well in the hopes that would help a couple of the books.  The CGC rep was like you’ll get them by Christmas.  

[ADAMANTIUM]

You can't see the green signature very well, but I'm still happy

I forgot how dirty the back was, but I won't press cause of the front, it wouldn't grade higher...and presents well enough for me!

[ExNihilo]

36 minutes ago, Drill423 said:

The CGC rep was like you’ll get them by Christmas.  

Oh geez.  I had mine sent to be pressed as well.  But hey, at least we'll get some nice Christmas presents from ourselves. 

[Oat Willy1]

4 hours ago, Drill423 said:

I will forever regret cancelling my order of ASM 800 due to quality control fears and also burnout on ASM 800 variants.  I bought the Virgin Set at sdcc and took them all to get graded.  Quite a swing in price.  

I cancelled mine also, and passed on the damaged copies at SDCC. Couldn't fork over $50 each for damaged books

[Drill423]

1 hour ago, Oat Willy1 said:

I cancelled mine also, and passed on the damaged copies at SDCC. Couldn't fork over $50 each for damaged books

Most of mine should be ok with a press. There were the standard bindery tears which are common in a book that size.  I think there was maybe one in the set that likely will be a toss up.  

[gregwynn]

19 hours ago, devald said:

mail call from Florida.

Love that Blue Monday!

[RockMyAmadeus]

On 7/23/2018 at 10:41 AM, Oat Willy1 said:

I tried to buy his virgin spider-man 800's at the show and all the ones they pulled out for me had torn corners, so I passed. The girls that work at his booth are really annoying btw. I asked to see more to find acceptable copies, but they said they will only let you check 2 copies, meaning if they hand you a damaged book they will only pull out one more for you to inspect, and they won't examine more themselves to find an undamaged one, they will just pull out that 2nd copy randomly. And they act annoyed if you find a defect, and want to see another one. However, I've had good luck with the guys working his booth. They're more accommodating and helpful when it comes to helping you get a nice copy. 

That, and the fact that there's total cognitive dissonance when it comes to the idea that "raw books are $20 to sign, but CGC books are $30 to sign!", with no awareness of why that's a problem, is immensely off-putting. 

1. It's none of your business what I intend to do with my books, and it's beyond rude, if not outright discriminatory, to even ask, and

2. What am I getting from you for my extra $10 that the other guy isn't? The answer, of course, is nothing.

I'm getting nothing more than the guy next to me is getting, but I have to pay $10 more for the exact same thing...? Having watched Campbell sign hundreds, if not thousands, of books, it takes him the exact same time...about 2.5 seconds...and the exact same effort, with the exact same amount of ink, to sign one comic vs. another. But, I have to pay more, because of what you think I might do with the book...? And that's any of your business because....?

Gotta take a stand, folks. Time to end this madness.

[RockMyAmadeus]

On 7/23/2018 at 9:25 PM, kHAoS said:

On 7/23/2018 at 10:41 AM, Oat Willy1 said:

I tried to buy his virgin spider-man 800's at the show and all the ones they pulled out for me had torn corners, so I passed. The girls that work at his booth are really annoying btw. I asked to see more to find acceptable copies, but they said they will only let you check 2 copies, meaning if they hand you a damaged book they will only pull out one more for you to inspect, and they won't examine more themselves to find an undamaged one, they will just pull out that 2nd copy randomly. And they act annoyed if you find a defect, and want to see another one. However, I've had good luck with the guys working his booth. They're more accommodating and helpful when it comes to helping you get a nice copy. 

in their defense, i’ve also seen some pretty rude behavior from customers at the JSC booth and any other booth selling a limited or highly sought after item SDCC.

The presence of rude customers is never justification for rude customer service people. Ever. For any reason. Ever. 

Someone working with customers never has the right to take his or her frustration out on other customers, just because some customer was rude. 

Not denying that there are rude customers. Of course there are. But the customer/retailer relationship is not equal, and never has been (nor should it be.) The retailer is trying to persuade customers to choose to spend their money with him/her. The retailer is the wooer, the customer is the one being wooed. The customer holds the upper hand, always has, and always should.

Retailers who do not understand this do not succeed, unless they're dealing with addicts who are afraid to be cut off. But provide better service and the same product at the same price, and you'll destroy the competition. And the comics industry is filled with such opportunities.

That's why all these mini-monopolies are bad for the industry.

[Avi]

6 hours ago, RockMyAmadeus said:

That, and the fact that there's total cognitive dissonance when it comes to the idea that "raw books are $20 to sign, but CGC books are $30 to sign!", with no awareness of why that's a problem, is immensely off-putting. 

1. It's none of your business what I intend to do with my books, and it's beyond rude, if not outright discriminatory, to even ask, and

2. What am I getting from you for my extra $10 that the other guy isn't? The answer, of course, is nothing.

I'm getting nothing more than the guy next to me is getting, but I have to pay $10 more for the exact same thing...? Having watched Campbell sign hundreds, if not thousands, of books, it takes him the exact same time...about 2.5 seconds...and the exact same effort, with the exact same amount of ink, to sign one comic vs. another. But, I have to pay more, because of what you think I might do with the book...? And that's any of your business because....?

Gotta take a stand, folks. Time to end this madness.

All the books at SDCC were already signed, what really pissed me off was that it was ADDITIONAL $30 to get them CGCed! AN ADDITIONAL $30 PER BOOK! Not an additional $10 like I though it would be. At this point Im done with JSC.

[RockMyAmadeus]

54 minutes ago, Avi said:

All the books at SDCC were already signed, what really pissed me off was that it was ADDITIONAL $30 to get them CGCed! AN ADDITIONAL $30 PER BOOK! Not an additional $10 like I though it would be. At this point Im done with JSC.

You're kidding. That's insanity.

[ExNihilo]

58 minutes ago, RockMyAmadeus said:

You're kidding. That's insanity.

Can 2nd this.  I paid an extra $30 per book and then spent the entire weekend trying to get justification from CGC and from JSC.  It makes no sense to me that someone could buy an unsigned book for $20 and then another $30 for a signature, while someone else is paying $40 for a pre-signed copy of the exact book and then has to pay $30 on top of that.  It's really soured me on the JSC books I've bought and is really making me second guess any future purchases from the site (or from his booth).

[Dmac538]

7 minutes ago, ExNihilo said:

Can 2nd this.  I paid an extra $30 per book and then spent the entire weekend trying to get justification from CGC and from JSC.  It makes no sense to me that someone could buy an unsigned book for $20 and then another $30 for a signature, while someone else is paying $40 for a pre-signed copy of the exact book and then has to pay $30 on top of that.  It's really soured me on the JSC books I've bought and is really making me second guess any future purchases from the site (or from his booth).

I witnessed signings for JSC at San Diego, some people balked at the $30 price, but most didn't. The people who made out were the ones who bought the mystery boxes, as there were some unsigned books in there, they had JSC sign those for free, and then paid $30 for the book to be CGC'd. Thus eliminating the double dip by JSC.