Balham's Finest

I'd like to know the answer to this too...

Gosh is excellent for unusual stuff. They also have lots of limited edition bookplate editions and prints of recent mainstream things. Agreed they are not the place to go for back issues.

It's pretty funny that you think entering into a normal transaction and paying in full, per the terms, constitutes "making it up to" Rich.

Have you notified him via separate PM that you are nominating him for the PL? I am assuming the 30 day rule is waived here given the seller's insistence that they are not responsible. I might be missing something, but isn't the the 30 days more for instances of books not being sent or payment not being made? Doesn't seem to me to really apply in this case, unless you are saying that Comicshrine is supposed to wait until 30 days has passed without him receiving the refund he has requested.

Seems unlikely to me that Rick would hang an axe on his right hip given that he has no right hand...

The worst thing about this whole story is his use of the word "sheathed". Disgusting.

Off the list for me as well please!

Heist (Ocean's Eleven), detective (Batman) and conspiracy (Transmetropolitan). I think of 100 Bullets too. That or Scalped. I can't imagine anyone who had actually read Scalped describing it as being like Ocean's Eleven or Batman, let alone both! Scalped is detective work, action and conspiracy centered around the president of the Tribal council using funds & resources on things that are on the surface bad (meth houses, drug trade, casinos). With the Batman comparison, I'm not saying Dash is a super hero. He was a detective. With the Ocean's Eleven comparison, I'm not saying Dash robbed Crazy Horse Casino. But he certainly run amuck with meth houses. Well, it's also about native Americans and is funny in places, but I wouldn't compare it to Blazing Saddles...! Nah, I take your point. It's a bit of an odd comparison for me, though.

Heist (Ocean's Eleven), detective (Batman) and conspiracy (Transmetropolitan). I think of 100 Bullets too. That or Scalped. I can't imagine anyone who had actually read Scalped describing it as being like Ocean's Eleven or Batman, let alone both!

Hang on a second. If Chip had proposed a partial refund, and the other party had accepted it, and then the next day the other party said "hang on, I got my maths wrong, I'm not happy any more" would you still think that they should just go back to sending each others' books back? The transaction was a balls-up, that's clear. But it sounds like a resolution was agreed on, and Chip actioned his end. In this particular situation I don't agree that the other party should get out of the new deal just because they're unhappy and it's somehow "neater" to revert to the start position.

Assuming this is accurate, then it looks to me as though the deal is completed. Unless it's a really obviously egregious error (like $100 instead of $10 for a book) then "messing up your maths" doesn't get you out of a deal in my opinion.

Awesome.

I don't get it either. Why the rush? Just get the books in hand and then list them for sale. I would think in a number of cases the rush is that people want to get to potential buyers first. Either because they think there is not an enormous amount of demand out there, or they are worried that if they don't act fast supply will grow and prices will drop.

Who says it doesn't need more hype? You? For all you know, BKV has ambitions to ultimately make it the #1 selling comic in the market. Maybe he wants to earn twice as much money out of it. Maybe he wants to increase popularity as much as he can in advance of ultimately putting out a TV series or film? I'd be very interested to know what you think the magic number of readers is beyond which a creator should stop trying to increase the popularity of their book. Do you read Saga and the letters section? If so, I would be very interested to know if you do. BKV himself said in the letters section that he agrees with the his readers that Saga does not need anymore variants and we can expect no variants in the foreseeable future. BTW Kirkman suggested that 25 variant covers for issue #25. Also, traditionally BKV is not known for cash grabs when it comes to variants. At least with his own created properties. Y the Last Man, Ex Machina, Saga. Very little variant covers if any. I don't doubt he wants Saga to be the best selling comic book property. What writer or artist doesn't want that? I think BKV is approaching things the right way . He can go the Nowhere Men route and just whore variant covers. I'm sure that ended pretty well for Stephenson. In the letters section he has also gone record saying he is totally fine with Saga not being made into a movie or TV show . I don't read the letters section as I read the book in trade, so thanks for posting that. Two things: first, I wasn't talking exclusively about variants, rather about your contention that the book doesn't need more hype. There are a number of reasons why a creator might feel that it does, as I mentioned before. You're also assuming that the only reason a creator would want to do variants is for hype/sale reasons - not necessarily the case. It looks from BKV's response that at least part of the reason was that he likes seeing other versions of the characters. The second point is that one of the reasons BKV is not known for cash grabs is that he has the luxury of several very popular books behind him that are still making money long after publication. This is not a situation that the majority of creators find themselves in these days. If he's happy, doesn't want any more variants and is looking to grow the book's reader base organically, then that's great. My original issue was the idea that all other creators should follow this model - the majority simply can't if they want to keep their heads above water.

Predictions on how long it'll be before #6 appears?

Who says it doesn't need more hype? You? For all you know, BKV has ambitions to ultimately make it the #1 selling comic in the market. Maybe he wants to earn twice as much money out of it. Maybe he wants to increase popularity as much as he can in advance of ultimately putting out a TV series or film? I'd be very interested to know what you think the magic number of readers is beyond which a creator should stop trying to increase the popularity of their book.

That's easy to say, but variants (generally) translate into more sales, and more sales translates into more money for the creators. Wonderful if you're an established writer like BKV who can afford to leave money on the table because (a) the book is very successful and selling well even without variants; and (b) you're not worried about where your next paycheck/royalty check whatever is coming from. But it's very understandable that people not in that position would feel differently. I think the vast majority of people who get upset about variants are speculators or hardcore completionists - and I wonder what portion of the comic reading public falls into one or both of those categories? Nobody else cares how many covers of a book there are because in all likelihood they're just buying one anyway.

People reading this thread probably have all the issues anyway, but just wanted to let you know that the latest Humble Bundle of Image comics contains (a digital copy of) the first Hardcover - issues 1-18. That's on top of loads and loads of other stuff. Fantastic value (and for a good cause): LINK HERE

I can't help in terms of the deluxe editions as I don't own any of them (I have the floppies and normal TPBs). To the best of my knowledge, they do contain the whole series - issues 1-100. There aren't any mini series etc. to worry about, apart from the (very) short story in Vertigo Winter's Edge #3, which I can see from Wikipedia is included in the first deluxe. If I were you I would check that the covers are included though, as they're one of the best things about the series. I loved Brother Lono. Really loved it. Got a lot more out of it when I read the whole thing in one go after it had finished, as opposed to reading them as they came out - which I also did. Other than the fact that it features Lono, there's no tie to the main series. As for OA, the only piece I own from the series is the very first page of issue 100. Was on Risso's commission list for a while, but he's v expensive...

Yep, Toast is awesome. On a general note, I find the asymmetry that permeates these sorts of situations interesting...buyers want refunds if grade is slightly lower than seller's estimate, but never pay the seller more if grade comes back higher than seller's estimate. If a seller says hey its a 9.8 and doesn't come back a 9.8 then they should be refunded. If the buyer gets a gift from cgc well that's great. Dre does 9.8 subbing all the time. If a book comes back 9.9 you pay for it. Is that what happened here not sure. HOWEVER if you want to put a number on it and can't stand behind it then you should refund. I like the way Dre does things with the policy on higher grades. But I would have no problem with a seller who said if it comes back 9.9 you have first refusal on it as long as you pay X% more. As long as they were up front, people could make their decision whether or not to buy. I'm sure many wouldn't, but I don't think having that as a policy would be shady at all.

Yes, imo. If you take someone's money and agree to deliver them something, then it's on you to make sure it's delivered.

Yes, but now the only way for you to get a 9.8 is to buy it from someone else. You can either do that with $150 that you get from your refund plus however much else it costs you, or with the sale price of your 9.6 (probably more than $150) plus however much else it costs you.

I'd agree with that IF he looked at the receipt and read the note carefully, which in fairness he may well not have.

I feel the same way. Refund was offered so what's problem? The problem is selling CGC books without a grade. If an artist drools on the book while signing, and it comes back a 5,0 should I have to pay the 9.8 price? According to his FS thread, I would. It's shady and against forum rules. No, but to be fair it's difficult to imagine the seller actually submitting the book if it was ruined like that. Certainly not expecting the buyer to take it if they did submit it, anyway.

That makes you look somewhat less than impartial, you know.