500Club

Anyone else going to give a borring story from their past that has no relevance to this thread?

Sure.

I remember the time RMA posted a book heating up, and some guy whose name rhymes with limp weenie bought several copies off eBay before RMA revealed he was making it up.

Like that?

I swear if a lot of these people were alive in the 80's they would be sitting on a pallet of Fish Police #1. Same old song and dance.

Drive carefully out there, guys...

Ya, I am too lazy and disinterested to read what the hell everyone is talking about soooo....

 

What's heating up guys?

Venom 1:50 variants.

Read this thread so you're informed as to whether you're comfortable paying price X, based on supply issues.

Or don't. YMMV.

The variants we get are distributed through Diamond N.A. and there is nothing that I have ever seen that even suggests that they are offered overseas.

 

 

-J.

Really? Not even this, posted by songsaboutclouds, only 10-15 posts before?

No idea but on the last Diamond UK open day we were invited to look through their stock & note down any we wanted to order, we weren't allowed to pull copies as their staff would do this later for us to keep their stock levels correct.

We were after a copy of Wolverine Origins #2 for a customer but found they had none left.

However, they did have 2 full longboxes (600 copies) of Wolverine Origins #2 - 1:100 Canadian Flag Variant! We weren't allowed one.

They were blown out at 25 pence each about 5 months later & we managed to get 50 copies.

This is not a limited incident either, still happens quite a lot

Arent there NUMEROUS threads on this very section of the board that discuss this already?

Why does this keep on coming to hunt us here again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again

It'll end when everyone has had a chance to address Jaydog. Think of the scene in Airplane where everyone lines up to take a run at the hysterical woman...

Hope IDW handles this property well, but I wouldnt be too hopeful.. They relaunched so many classic titles with more mileage than Rom and consistently screwed them up..

Even their TMNT & GI Joe's have dog selling stats

A shame Bill Mantlo couldn`t write these because IDW has brought back Larry Hama and Simon Furman to do long runs.

I don't know if anyone responded to this, CC, or if you knew, but Mantlo was a victim of a hit and run while biking in the 90s. He suffered a brain injury and now resides in a care facility.

Why would they want them to hold them a week ?

Not everyone got them. Creates an uneven playing field for sellers.

Sheriff of Babylon #1 - getting scarce and selling consistently at $20.00 , wish I would have bought more then 1 copy of it.

Nice to see that occasionally books run up from actual organic demand - people wanting to read them.

I therefore filled in the blanks as I saw fit.

 

-J.

Dulce et decorum est.

Thanks Revat, as usual you offer a concise and we'll rounded take on matters.

 

As to those who continue to ask where the information that (at least Marvel) as a rule of thumb prints its variants to the nearest case, as close to the ordered RI, well that came from Chuck (and it has been echoed by other diamond account holders):

 

http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=9141896&fpart=7

-J.

I was hoping this link would help. It doesn't. It simply links to another thread where you state you've spoken to several Diamond account holders who say Marvel prints variants up to case amount.

 

...and Chuck said it as well. Here you go:

 

DC prints their variants EXCLUSIVELY outside of Diamond's knowledge, and Diamond places an order for how many they need of a variant through them, for and when they need them. Through this program, DC still has non-incentive variants available through Diamond for books that are over a year old. As shown previously, they obviously have some incentive variants, though not-available for re-order, still around as well. The publisher's are the one's who make them available at the Retailer Summitt's and events.

 

Marvel is much more secretive, but have somewhat tightened up their print runs for most variants, especially after the massive overstock that had to be sold off in 2013.

Or so it seemed...

 

They recently have come under criticism for Star Wars Variants and Action Figure Variants that have suddenly appeared directly from them, much after the fact. This mysterious additional glut of product has led to them to take a hard line PR stance that variants are printed to order and rounded up to the case pack size.

 

And in my research, if you've ever wondered who actually reads these forums, let me just say: I love Marvel Comics! I love DC Comics! I love Image Comics! I love Valiant Comics! I love Diamond Distribution!

 

I don't care HOW you guys do your variants, I just want to sell as much at the retail level as I possibly can!

 

 

 

-J.

It sounds like Chuck is being a bit more cynical about the whole process, but, ok, that works for me. I can go with 'Marvel and DC have taken a hard line PR stance that books are printed (rounded) up to case amounts'.

 

It still leaves some head scratching to be done about the examples I noted above, in response to Revat.

I'm sure everyone agrees that they round up to the nearest 'something', whether its pallet, case, nearest hundred, nearest thousand, whatever, its something. The real issue here is how to determine WHAT THEY ARE ROUNDING FROM.

 

And that's where we don't seem to have enough information.

 

No one is saying EVERY variant is grossly over order-printed compared to their distribution ratios. I don't think that's the case, and I don't think anyone thinks that's the case. BUT at the same time, clearly there are instances where SOME variants are grossly overprinted relative to their incentive ratios, and we don't know how or why that occurs or to what extent, and to be honest, the reasons probably vary from comic to comic and issue to issue.

It's all guesswork. It makes sense that an overage is printed for all the books to account for damages, etc. But, how much? And why are there instances where it's so much that significant numbers show up, like the ASM 4 and the books re offered as Diamond special offers?

Tough to get a grasp.

Thanks Revat, as usual you offer a concise and we'll rounded take on matters.

 

As to those who continue to ask where the information that (at least Marvel) as a rule of thumb prints its variants to the nearest case, as close to the ordered RI, well that came from Chuck (and it has been echoed by other diamond account holders):

 

http://boards.collectors-society.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=9141896&fpart=7

-J.

I was hoping this link would help. It doesn't. It simply links to another thread where you state you've spoken to several Diamond account holders who say Marvel prints variants up to case amount.

Print runs I agree with your posts. As for retailer incentive variants they are ALMOST always the original books case pack size. How they round them or their exact numbers I could not tell you.

 

 

Do you know what a Marvel 'pallet sale' is?

 

Every so often Marvel offers retailers, through Diamond, the opportunity to buy Bulk Pallet's of their trade paperbacks, 2000 books for a special price - AND at an even better price if you buy 5 or MORE PALLETS.

 

These are overstock. On books that retail at $19.99 and up.

 

In PALLET quantities.

 

If they can do that with $20+ books, they can do it with comic books.

 

No one has shown ANY proof, that Marvel rounds up to the nearest case on variants.

 

There's NO proof.

 

It's an unfounded theory.

 

And yet here, is another example, of Marvel over ordering on product.

 

Where did the theory that Marvel rounds to case amounts on variants come from?

I can't believe these guys think they know more then retailers do.

 

I mean these are guys ordering books weekly not some mail order they order directly from Diamond which BTW DCBS has recently mentioned that their orders are filter much more then a brick/mortar store is.

 

Yeah, it's a head scratcher. Especially since retailers would have more incentive to keep quiet about any sell offs of extra RI variants, to maintain the appearance of scarcity.

Either post the whole list like you did last time and actually prove what you are trying to claim or stop talking.

 

-J.

 

So, he's already posted the entire list...?

I don't need to see it. I'm comfortable with the position here that states that incentive variants are printed beyond stated ratios.

Really, I could care less if it's considered a first appearance or not... it's NOT in my eyes.... but the intent to create a character called Venom was the basis for those scenes in WOS.

This is how I see it.

I agree that the essence of what became Venom began in Web 18.

I also agree with those who feel that the event is minimally important.

Been quiet in this thread for a while. Is there still a big interest?

 

I keep waiting for more bounty hunters or another exclusive

Fire up IG88

Gotta agree with GeeksAreMyPeeps here. An income stream is not at all a requirement of something being considered an investment. Am I speculating if I buy shares of Twitter or Netflix or Facebook or any other multitude of growth stocks that don't pay a dividend?

+1

It's an arbitrarily narrow definition.

What really varies is the risk/reward profile. At some point, as the risk rises, you wander into the realm of pure speculation. That's where modern comics lie, IMHO.

damn...has to be the polybagging process, like they're rolled over or under a cylinder while being fed into bagging machine before getting sealed.

Yup, the books are being curled lengthwise during the bagging process.

Gwen + Groot would be 'Gwoot.' That's printing money right there...

Done already as one of the Gwen-stardized covers, the same month as Gwenpool.

Strictly as a comic reader I'm happy to get the next arch.

+1

In the 90's the content was generally weak.

The customer base was very narrow. Males 18-40

Sandman, Preacher, Hellblazer and a slew of other Vertigo titles that attracted adult readers of every age and gender were weak? Yeah sure

Larry's stating 'generally' makes his comment accurate.

 

True, but that statement can apply to any era. Today, the content is also generally weak from the big 2. I don't remember a time when generally the content wasn't weak but there has also always been exceptions.

Sure, that is true, but the '90s, especially '92-'96, were one of the weakest in the medium's history. It's reflected in the huge contraction the hobby saw.

In the 90's the content was generally weak.

The customer base was very narrow. Males 18-40

Sandman, Preacher, Hellblazer and a slew of other Vertigo titles that attracted adult readers of every age and gender were weak? Yeah sure

Larry's stating 'generally' makes his comment accurate.

Now there's a rumor that Marvel is getting the FF rights back from Fox.

 

RUMOR: Fox releasing rights to FF back to Marvel

 

This would open up a lot more possible future keys. Secret Invasion. Young Avengers. Marvel Zombies. Power Pack. I hope everyone's bank accounts are fully loaded.

How you see it is irrelevant.

That's become clear.

 

John Donne said 'no man is an island'. Clearly, he was wrong.

He was replying to Mr. Ween.

Yes, and I was essentially agreeing with him (Beastfeast). Ween sparks one of these debates every six months or so.