rjrjr

How do some of the actors get away with charging someone for a picture of them? I remember Lou Ferrigno being one of those actors. I suspect they get the convention organizers to help police the situation.

There are collectors now, myself included, who shake their head in dismay. I won't ever understand why someone would want writing on a high grade comic book. Have the artist sign a sketch and quit molesting the comic books!

How is Starlin losing money from the SS crowd exactly? He wasn't charging before and now he is? Seems like he is making more money this way.

+1

These creators owe their fans nothing. They already did their part by creating the books.

Someone making minimum wage should not be spending the money on comic books IMHO unless they are still living at home with the parents.

It is just a matter of time before another writer comes along and puts those stories back into "continuity". Good information by the way. The head holding was because of the Bendis. Just curious, do readers consider the stories from the time Spider-man was married to Mary Jane Watson to Brand New Day as being out of continuity now? That's got to be a tough one for collectors to reconcile.

If you read Marvel Preview #7 and Incredible Hulk #271, #271 reads more like a prototype. That has to be one of the worst keys to reads ever. it is up there with Star Wars #107. If #271 was the Rocket's 1st appearance, there never would have been a 2nd appearance. I wouldn't rule out the importance of Marvel Spotlight #6 though. There are many, many collectors who do not regard non comic book pamphlets as the 1st appearance of any character. Numerous examples include: Marvel Previews #7, Marvel Illustrated Version of the Empire Strikes Back, Savage Tales #1, Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #22, Mystery Comics Digest #5, etc. Marvel Spotlight #6 will definitely get noticed eventually. It is just a book that is fairly plentiful which I think holds it back at the moment.

This is what made the Overstreet Price Guide so cool pre-Internet. They broke out 1st appearances (even for obscure characters) in the guide. Just an observation, but it seems like so much incorrect information is being passed off as truth in this Internet Age. Six pages in and we've already had 3 or 4 characters identified incorrectly. I really don't mean this to sound harsh to those who didn't know because I think it is hard for new collectors to get correct information these days. I wish I had a character to contribute (maybe Rima?) because there have been some good suggestions in this thread.

It's not even Conan's 1st appearance in comics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conan_(comics)#La_reina_de_la_Costa_Negra IMHO there are 3 big books of the Bronze Age, Incredible Hulk #181, Giant Sized X-Men #1, and House of Secrets #92. Conan is on the same level as Punisher. They are products of a particular era and their glory days are behind them, but still highly collectible. Swamp Thing has a bright future IMHO and is on a different level entirely.

The average human is 7 1/2 heads tall. Mary Jane above is 5 heads tall. also, her torso is longer than her legs. It is more than just the eyes that are off.

And the costumes are not cheap.

I'll 2nd this recommendation. I've been using Imgur for my blog for about 2 months now and it is so much better than Photobucket.

ComicXposure has put up for sale on their online website their Darth Vader #1 exclusive: http://shop.comicxposure.com/STAR-WARS-DARTH-VADER-1-FRANCESCO-MATTINA-EXCLUSIVE-DVFM1.htm It has a very cool cover by Francesco Mattina.

So, a store receives 6,000 comics and it cost them $12 - 15K which is $2 to $2.5 per book. At $75 a set, they break even by selling only 200 sets which is 600 books or 1/10th of the product they purchased. I'm not disputing some stores have a hard time selling out of these books depending on the artist. I just don't understand how a store that is selling these for $75 or more is having a hard time "breaking even" at the ripoff price of $75 a set or $25 a book. There are stores that make a profit at $10 a book for 3,000 copies. Stores are not charities and not all of them are in this to just advertise. For $12 - 15K there are much better ways to advertise. Maybe one of you can show me using math how selling sets of 3 at $75 is barely break even. Because I don't see it.

This doesn't sound correct. How are the stores that sell just 1 exclusive cover able to make a profit at $10 a book? I'm having a hard time believing Marvel gives a store that buys 3,000 copies a better deal than a store that buys 6,000 copies.

Congratulations! To see this through took some serious patience on your part.

While there are some locations out west, it is mostly an east coast establishment.

I'm looking forward to this movie this summer more than any other movie. The first two movies were the best movies during the summers they were released and this one is looking just as good.

? I can name a bunch of rare books nobody could care less about.

These days movement in a book is driven not by people who WANT a book, but by people who WANT the prestige that goes with owning the book. I've met many collectors in the past few years who only collect "keys" but couldn't tell you anything about the story. And it doesn't seem to matter why the book is a "key", if someone else wants it, they want it too. (I'm using quotes because some of these keys are really questionable.) Those speculation websites are bibles to these people. This is the main reason why "keys" are outrageously priced compared to other books. I don't think many comic readers are buying pamphlets. Industry practices (like ratio'd variants) have all but ensured those people who buy comics are not loyal readers, but collectors and speculators. Back on topic, if a book becomes hot, you'd be surprised at how many people will WANT to buy it, regardless of how they feel about it before it is hot.

I think the difference in the method is huge and a game changer. Most people won't go out of their way to learn how to download the digital files and unpack them. Apple products are successful in large part because they make it simple for people to do things digitally like listen to music, play videos, etc. But a website where you can just read the comics using your browser? I stumbled across these sites looking for some free online web comics to read. Depending on the keywords entered, these sites come up at the top of the Google search. And since they are not buried in the search results, that implies people are using these sites. Also one of these sites has a reader count at the bottom. At any given time, they show 2,000 to 2,500 individuals online. I know these numbers can be fake or exaggerated, but if these numbers are accurate, that is a lot of people using this site. And that site is just one of a handful that are offering brand new comics for free on the same day they are sold at retail. I will agree that many, maybe most, comic collectors will not visit these sites over buying the comics. Or they might visit but still buy the comic. (Let's face it, the people who visit this forum are collectors, otherwise they wouldn't be here since this forums offers little in the way for people who just like reading comic books.) But to dismiss this as a small problem I think is a mistake. We hear all the time that comics are too expensive, people are turning to trades (trade sales are down even more than comics), or readers are just getting their content digitally because it is cheaper, takes up less room, etc. If price is a factor in a person's decision on buying comics, these sites are an attractive alternative. Let's say just 5,000 people use these sites instead of buying the comic. When the top selling comics have a hard time moving 100,000 units, 5,000 people becomes significant. And for indies which move much, much lower units, the potential loss in revenue is huge. You are probably right. We don't hear the publishers talking about piracy as the problem with falling sales. But if you were a publisher, would you talk about the piracy problem? I wouldn't, because it would just make more people aware of the alternative, especially those that are bemoaning the prices of current comics. As you said, trying to shutdown these sites just results in more popping up, raising their awareness for people who don't have any qualms about using them versus paying for the content.

Exactly.

They printed both a purple and yellow version in Italy? If they only published the yellow version, it is an Italian edition, not an Italian variant. Comics are a subclass of books. Editions is a very, very common term in the book world for describing these foreign comics.

I agree with this.