Hamlet Posted June 13, 2017 Share Posted June 13, 2017 1 hour ago, 1Cool said: I like your statement about the quality of 4x$1 books. They are quarter bin books! Use to be you had ok books in the $1 bins and the quarter in books were tattered junk which were destined for the junk heap if not sold soon. Now the $1 bin books are the old full price books that have not sold in a year and the quarter bins are filled with the old $1 books. Strange market for sure. Ultimately, there are a lot of books with essentially zero value. If they have no collectible value, and no one wants to actually read them, they have the same value as old newspapers, IMO. We'd all worry about someone who filled their house with old newspapers, but since these are in comic form, we think it is normal to hoard them. I'm talking the real drekky drek. Stuff that is super common, and absolutely unreadable. It is stuff that everyone would be better off just recycling, except that every once in a great while the drekky drek becomes sellable for some reason (see Rocket Raccoon miniseries ) So everyone carts around dozens of long boxes of this stuff hoping to unload it on other people who will just cart it around. ComicConnoisseur 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoMan Posted June 13, 2017 Share Posted June 13, 2017 1 hour ago, Readcomix said: But when you reboot so frequently that characters don't have a long, cohesive narrative history, every title is basically "What If?" That's a very astute observation. thehumantorch 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1Cool Posted June 13, 2017 Share Posted June 13, 2017 23 minutes ago, Hamlet said: Ultimately, there are a lot of books with essentially zero value. If they have no collectible value, and no one wants to actually read them, they have the same value as old newspapers, IMO. We'd all worry about someone who filled their house with old newspapers, but since these are in comic form, we think it is normal to hoard them. I'm talking the real drekky drek. Stuff that is super common, and absolutely unreadable. It is stuff that everyone would be better off just recycling, except that every once in a great while the drekky drek becomes sellable for some reason (see Rocket Raccoon miniseries ) So everyone carts around dozens of long boxes of this stuff hoping to unload it on other people who will just cart it around. There has to be a way to market this stuff to people who just like kitschy stuff. Maybe start up a business of selling 20 punisher comic book with each punisher shirt that sells. Sell comic books along with paper mache product and have people cover lap shades with them. Make spinners out of them that can be set fire! They just sit in long boxes all over the country collecting dust but now has never been a better time to get those books into the general populous. Better minds have to have come up with some good ideas by now but I'm still looking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsilverjanet Posted June 13, 2017 Share Posted June 13, 2017 (edited) It would appear to me that the reason many of these books are readily available is that the quality isn't very good. If the quality was decent, more people would be buying these books. This is a problem that cannot be fixed. Edited June 13, 2017 by jsilverjanet greggy and Jeffro. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamlet Posted June 13, 2017 Share Posted June 13, 2017 2 minutes ago, 1Cool said: There has to be a way to market this stuff to people who just like kitschy stuff. Maybe start up a business of selling 20 punisher comic book with each punisher shirt that sells. Sell comic books along with paper mache product and have people cover lap shades with them. Make spinners out of them that can be set fire! They just sit in long boxes all over the country collecting dust but now has never been a better time to get those books into the general populous. Better minds have to have come up with some good ideas by now but I'm still looking. I don't think most Punisher books fall into the zero value books I described. There are people who like the Punisher and purchase those books to read. They don't have much value, but people will buy them out of quarter boxes to read (I assume). How about the New Universe titles? Is there anyone buying those at any price? ComicConnoisseur 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamlet Posted June 13, 2017 Share Posted June 13, 2017 7 minutes ago, jsilverjanet said: It would appear to me that the reason many of these books are readily available is that the quality isn't very good. If the quality was decent, more people would be buying these books. This is a problem that cannot be fixed. Well, we are really discussing two categories of books. There are a lot of good comics in that are in cheap boxes because there are just a lot of them. I assume those books sell to readers regularly, they just don't command any collecting premium because dealers have easy access to as many as will sell out of the cheap boxes.. Think about most of the Byrne FF and the Simonson Thor issues. I find those in 50 cent boxes all the time. I actually buy the Simonson Thors because I don't have all of them yet. They are good books, but there are plenty to go around, so they sell for modest amounts. The other category is books that don't sell at any price. At a certain point, I would think recycling might be the best option for those. jsilverjanet 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimik Posted June 13, 2017 Share Posted June 13, 2017 20 hours ago, Artboy99 said: It was a very disappointing show. Our 50% off section did ok, our 0.25 c books did very poorly we only sold 1.5 longs of the 8 we brought. We likely would have done just as well pricing them at $1 each selling less of them but yielding more profit. The quality of the 0.25 books was not great I will say and that is a factor. The thing is, around these parts where it is winter 7 months of the year, the June shows are always the worst. It was the worst show I have had in 4 or 5 years. I sold one box of primarily Savage Sword of Conans at $1 apiece (including mid grade earlier issues between #6 - #30), and then maybe 1/4 of a box of $1 low to mid grade late 60s and 70s Marvels and DCs. The Dell/Charlton/Gold Key/Archie $1 books did not move at all. I thought I would sell more of the $1 books, but it just goes to show how little demand there is for even quality common $1 books. This was also the first show in I can't remember how long that none of us sold a slabbed book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artboy99 Posted June 13, 2017 Share Posted June 13, 2017 2 minutes ago, kimik said: It was the worst show I have had in 4 or 5 years. I sold one box of primarily Savage Sword of Conans at $1 apiece (including mid grade earlier issues between #6 - #30), and then maybe 1/4 of a box of $1 low to mid grade late 60s and 70s Marvels and DCs. The Dell/Charlton/Gold Key/Archie $1 books did not move at all. I thought I would sell more of the $1 books, but it just goes to show how little demand there is for even quality common $1 books. This was also the first show in I can't remember how long that none of us sold a slabbed book. I contemplate if doing the June show is worth it. Paying for the 3 tables to net very little. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimik Posted June 13, 2017 Share Posted June 13, 2017 (edited) 1 hour ago, Hamlet said: Ultimately, there are a lot of books with essentially zero value. If they have no collectible value, and no one wants to actually read them, they have the same value as old newspapers, IMO. We'd all worry about someone who filled their house with old newspapers, but since these are in comic form, we think it is normal to hoard them. I'm talking the real drekky drek. Stuff that is super common, and absolutely unreadable. It is stuff that everyone would be better off just recycling, except that every once in a great while the drekky drek becomes sellable for some reason (see Rocket Raccoon miniseries ) So everyone carts around dozens of long boxes of this stuff hoping to unload it on other people who will just cart it around. There are plenty of late 60s and 70s books that fit this bill as well. In low to mid grades it is so common that there is no demand at anything more than $1 per book. Even then, a lot of it sits. This is why I have pulled back on my chasing of collections the past year - I had accumulated way too many longs of stuff. While Dave's wife allows him to store 200+ boxes in his basement, mine is not as forgiving. That being said, even HG mid to late 60s common books are tough to sell at full guide now that there are fewer run collectors chasing them. If it is not 9.4+ quality, there is little demand for most titles even though they are great looking VF to VF/NM books. Edited June 13, 2017 by kimik ComicConnoisseur 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimik Posted June 13, 2017 Share Posted June 13, 2017 Just now, Artboy99 said: I contemplate if doing the June show is worth it. Paying for the 3 tables to net very little. Yeah, but don't do June show means losing our spot for future shows. I consider it a loss leader for the early spring and fall shows where you do a couple or more thousand in sales (which is nice for a 6 hour show). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artboy99 Posted June 13, 2017 Share Posted June 13, 2017 Just now, kimik said: Yeah, but don't do June show means losing our spot for future shows. I consider it a loss leader for the early spring and fall shows where you do a couple or more thousand in sales (which is nice for a 6 hour show). I am not sure. Shane was talking about the guy that usually sets up where Mike of Whyte was and that he had pre-paid for the next show to secure his spot but he couldn't come for the June show. Most likely you are correct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimik Posted June 13, 2017 Share Posted June 13, 2017 (edited) 1 minute ago, Artboy99 said: I am not sure. Shane was talking about the guy that usually sets up where Mike of Whyte was and that he had pre-paid for the next show to secure his spot but he couldn't come for the June show. Most likely you are correct. I may not be able to get all 6 tables if we skip June. If it is only 3, then Dave is the odd man out. Just kidding, Dave. Edited June 13, 2017 by kimik Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Readcomix Posted June 13, 2017 Share Posted June 13, 2017 1 hour ago, NoMan said: That's a very astute observation. Thank you, sir! My belief is the undermining of continuity has decreased the birth rate of the run collector. Artboy99 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoMan Posted June 13, 2017 Share Posted June 13, 2017 3 minutes ago, Readcomix said: Thank you, sir! My belief is the undermining of continuity has decreased the birth rate of the run collector. I'm reading spiderman 1-100 and I'm digging it. ComicConnoisseur 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artboy99 Posted June 13, 2017 Share Posted June 13, 2017 13 minutes ago, Readcomix said: Thank you, sir! My belief is the undermining of continuity has decreased the birth rate of the run collector. agree completely. As a former run collector I no longer bother and it is directly due to renumber/ restarting/ continuity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsilverjanet Posted June 13, 2017 Share Posted June 13, 2017 48 minutes ago, Hamlet said: Well, we are really discussing two categories of books. There are a lot of good comics in that are in cheap boxes because there are just a lot of them. I assume those books sell to readers regularly, they just don't command any collecting premium because dealers have easy access to as many as will sell out of the cheap boxes.. Think about most of the Byrne FF and the Simonson Thor issues. I find those in 50 cent boxes all the time. I actually buy the Simonson Thors because I don't have all of them yet. They are good books, but there are plenty to go around, so they sell for modest amounts. The other category is books that don't sell at any price. At a certain point, I would think recycling might be the best option for those. I was talking about the latter category (80s-2000) - and these aren't independent books, i can't tell you how many times I see people not bother with FF (outside the Byrne run) or Green Lantern for example Jeffro. and greggy 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsilverjanet Posted June 13, 2017 Share Posted June 13, 2017 It also depends on the area. At our local shows it's difficult for me to sell common stock at $1 because there is one dealer who comes in with 30-40 long boxes of 50 cent books and their books are probably books I'd sell for $1-$3 so as a result I need to sell mine at 3 for $1 since the quality isn't as good as the rest of the room. Jeffro. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philflound Posted June 13, 2017 Share Posted June 13, 2017 What I did when I had more store and even afterwards was give them away for Halloween before the companies made Halloween comics to giveaway. Tattered stuff and kid friendly low grade or even unsellable high grade is always great. Hopefully you create a collector if they aren't one already. Also, I had the reasoning that if I gave away say a Ghost Rider comic, if the kid liked it, he would come back and buy other back issues I had and I'd have created a fan for a character. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thehumantorch Posted June 13, 2017 Share Posted June 13, 2017 50 minutes ago, kimik said: I may not be able to get all 6 tables if we skip June. If it is only 3, then Dave is the odd man out. Just kidding, Dave. I am wondering if 6 tables is too many for Shane's show. Tables are cheap but sales were pretty bad last weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Aldred Posted June 13, 2017 Share Posted June 13, 2017 On 12/06/2017 at 1:53 AM, robocard said: Three years ago, a parent told us that her autistic son would not read until he started with comics that we gave him. She let him pull a short box of dollar books; he was thrilled, she was thrilled and we felt great. Always nice to hear about comics having a constructive, therapeutic use, and providing a means for autistic individuals to connect better with the world. It makes me wonder if, as a kid, I was helped similarly by my own obsession with this material? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
