500Club

On 11/21/2023 at 3:48 PM, VintageComics said:

On 9/13/2023 at 11:15 AM, 500Club said:

As usual, the truth lies in the middle, and the solution is to use a tool responsibly.

It's hard to use a "tool" responsibly when the experts and authorities dispensing the "tool" were corrupt and feeding these overly addictive pills to people who didn't need them and hiding how addictive they were. 

This IS a valid point.  Purdue and the Sacklers presented a narrative different from the evidence they had, and justifiably were held to account.

When ‘for profit’ models and systems interact with health care, significant oversight is needed.

On 9/1/2023 at 10:07 PM, VintageComics said:

Another factor NOBODY talks about is the hardship that those deaths create. Yeah, someone is dead and it's tragic but the people left behind are left with all sorts of issues to cope with. Increased mental illness, financial hardship from the loss of a parent or partner, etc. 

Yes.  When looking at an issue, death is by far the most impactful outcome, both for the individual and those left behind.

From the medical side, prescribed opioids have lessened in impact compared to the impact street level fentanyl is having, due to its inconsistency and potency.

On 8/19/2023 at 6:40 PM, Dr. Love said:

If you hurt your back you won't receive pain meds from a hospital or your primary or the pain management practice your primary sent you to. If the words pain meds come out of your mouth not only will you be denied but your chart is likely to be updated to include the notation "drug seeking behavior" and you being invited to seek treatment elsewhere.

As a retired doc, I can testify to this from the other side of the desk.

Early on, after entering practice, the messaging was that these new meds were great, you didn’t have to leave people suffering, we have pain receptors in the brain that we can effectively block, and it was simply good practice to utilize these tools.

Fast forward 20 years, and these drugs were bad, people reporting pain needed to be looked at as possibly drug seeking, and our regulatory bodies were actively analyzing and overseeing opioid prescriptions.

As usual, the truth lies in the middle, and the solution is to use a tool responsibly.

On 5/27/2023 at 12:56 PM, Corona smith said:

Honestly couldn’t give a spoon about any of the feces Kirkman squeezes out. He got lucky with the walking dead and it wasn’t even that good. I won’t buy anything of his. 

That’s not the case, Todd.  Invincible is fantastic, and the first 48 issues of WD stand up to almost anything.

And, of course, there’s Irredeemable Ant-Man, a closet favorite of mine.

On 5/26/2023 at 10:24 AM, ygogolak said:

On 5/23/2023 at 4:18 PM, 500Club said:

This could be underordered.  People have lost faith in Kirkman.

I've seen a lot of stores promoting it and one or two store variants.

I’d like a mulligan on that comment.  The Stool says 101K were ordered.  

On 5/23/2023 at 3:29 PM, kimik said:

Did anyone hear what the big Void Rivals #1 secret reveal is? It is past FOC and I am curious to see if any LCS owners on the call have mentioned what it yet.

This could be underordered.  People have lost faith in Kirkman.

On 3/21/2023 at 2:54 PM, the blob said:

I miss having an LCS where I can go and BS with the regulars and staff.

That makes me sad.  Absent a market where current releases are bought and discussed, your market implies a shrinking of the comic ecosystem… 

We… are getting old.  They… are getting older… 

On 3/6/2023 at 5:31 PM, Lazyboy said:

Depending on the retailer and/or distributor, the distributor may have dealt with the unsold copies. Depending on the distributor, some of those copies may have never even made it to any retailer.

Right, forgot about that part. 

There was a great series of articles in Comic Book Artist about 20 years ago that detailed the shenanigans that occurred back then.

On 3/6/2023 at 2:43 PM, Microchip said:

The financial incentive to return books, vs holding onto them, not for sale just doesn't make sense for a business.   Holding onto books that didn't sell, just doesn't stack up unless it was an oversight, or deliberate apathy by an employee.      For any business devoting storage space to 'dead' stock, for years and decades, just doesn't stack up.

Theoretically, the corner store reported unsold copies, got credit back, and disposed of the unsold copies.

On 3/6/2023 at 2:58 PM, Lazyboy said:

Yes, they were subject to credit/refund because that's how the newsstand system works, but they were not physically returned, at least in the majority of cases.

Over time, actual returns were replaced by credit for stripped covers, which was replaced by the reporting of ‘returns’, IIRC.

Andor is fantastic.

It has the character development and plot focus that seems to have been lost with recent SW and MCU product.

On 2/24/2023 at 6:57 PM, Hey Kids, Comics! said:

Apparently the info Mike posted makes me wonder. When I sent mine on back in January, it was 270+ working days. Looks like they’ve cut it in half. 

Sort of why I asked.  It appears to be dropping faster than what is reflected on the TAT page.  That’s certainly the real world experience with moderns.

On 2/24/2023 at 11:53 AM, Bookery said:

Yep.  After 38 years we got out of new comics altogether last spring.

What factors led to your decision?

On 2/24/2023 at 10:43 AM, thehumantorch said:

And there's the divide.  Comics were created to be read and consumed and the materials used and the distribution methods used aren't consistently delivering collectible mint product.

Yup.  And leaving businesses ‘middled’ - stuck between a product designed a certain way, and a customer base that differs in its expectation of the product.

On 2/24/2023 at 9:57 AM, mycomicshop said:

publishers and distributors have a very different standard for what they consider an allowable damage return vs collectors who don't want anything less than a pristine NM book.

This is a complaint of our LCS as well.

His argument that ‘these are collectibles, and this book is not in collectible condition’ often falls on deaf ears. 

On 2/23/2023 at 4:27 PM, VintageComics said:

There was an air of "I can't believe they didn't catch this" vibe coming from a few posters. 

The ‘that’s so obvious, I’d have never been fooled’ sentiment.

I can say, I’ve definitely recalibrated the index of suspicion I’ll be applying to CGC slabs and the books inside them.  I’m telling myself, for sure, I’d have caught that funny font, and the 1mm bubbling of the posts, but…

On 2/23/2023 at 12:24 PM, Mr. Zipper said:

I mean seriously... who thinks this looks ok?

No one… when they look at it side on, and close up.

On 2/23/2023 at 12:20 PM, VintageComics said:

To be clear, I am not saying they SHOULDN'T have an eye for these sorts of things. We all should.

But we all don't, and I wouldn't be too hard on the people who don't. That's all I'm saying. 

Agree.

A given person may have caught this scam, but have been fooled by another.  Compassion is called for.

Take home message from this thread:  be wary, educate yourself.