new comics and the people who mangle them

[Chi Bamm]

I don't know about you guys but my LCS Marvel comics coming in have been a bit mangled, some long crease near bindings and a lotta bent corners?

 

Also my guy at the LCS everytime I go there to get my "pull" he hands them to me really nice. So I grab them, go to the new stuff, see if anything else I like and go back to the register. I hand him all my books and he starts going through ringing them up, a little too non-chalant (did i spell that right) but that's fine with me. But here's the kicker, he'll pick all the books up then drop them on the counter to even them up into a stack? I mean he drops them it makes a thud... Should I be pissed? Should I say something?? Do your guys do that???

[Hobgoblin]

I don't know about you guys but my LCS Marvel comics coming in have been a bit mangled, some long crease near bindings and a lotta bent corners?

 

Also my guy at the LCS everytime I go there to get my "pull" he hands them to me really nice. So I grab them, go to the new stuff, see if anything else I like and go back to the register. I hand him all my books and he starts going through ringing them up, a little too non-chalant (did i spell that right) but that's fine with me. But here's the kicker, he'll pick all the books up then drop them on the counter to even them up into a stack? I mean he drops them it makes a thud... Should I be pissed? Should I say something?? Do your guys do that???

 

Certain Marvel books have had that problem pretty much all year.

[Kermit the frog]

a little bit OT here, but today i watched the devastation as an old lady went through the new comic racks looking for a batman comic for her grandson. taking each one out, gasping at the price, and shoving it back on the rack, making sure to fully mangle each and every one.

 

ultimately the owner showed her the "younger readers" batman comic comics (which are always mangled anyway, of course) and that seemed good enough

 

I was very tempted to point her to the 50 cent bin where I'm sure there are some early 90s batmans, but a 70 year old lady crawling around looking through the bin would have been unseemly

 

with new comics being $2.50 - $4.00+, and many shops being happy to give you a bag and board with each purchase of a new comic at full retail, why not just have them bagged and boarded on the rack, maybe leave one out there to get mangled and looked at?

 

at full retail, i want a 9.4 - 9.8 copy even if i have no intention of ever slabbing or even selling in the next 20 years

 

situations and others like this are some of the big advantages of not buying lodern/monthly comics, specially the no stress of:

- running around to get a copie that sold out (or the dealer "forgot" to put aside)

- spending so much money for stuff that will be in the box bins soon

- no more trying to pick up a nice copie (that wasn't tortured by the employes/clients)

- the frustrated situation of getting a nice copie and the dealer/person at the counter picks it up like it was a newspaper puting several creases on it...even when we told him/her several times in the past!!!

 

and it seems nowadays that the comics (specially the marvel ones, sigh...) arrive already with some hugly/visible flaws...so if buying "expensive" stuff isn't enough, sometimes you're forced to buy damaged expensive stuff...

 

anyway, i won't say i won't miss a couple of titles, but right now there's a lot of less stress/anxiety too...and i'll go to the LCS just has a "calm tourist".

 

regards

[jediknight]

I don't know about you guys but my LCS Marvel comics coming in have been a bit mangled, some long crease near bindings and a lotta bent corners?

 

Also my guy at the LCS everytime I go there to get my "pull" he hands them to me really nice. So I grab them, go to the new stuff, see if anything else I like and go back to the register. I hand him all my books and he starts going through ringing them up, a little too non-chalant (did i spell that right) but that's fine with me. But here's the kicker, he'll pick all the books up then drop them on the counter to even them up into a stack? I mean he drops them it makes a thud... Should I be pissed? Should I say something?? Do your guys do that???

 

When I see mule headed scotum nosed mischievous comic handlin' cowboys like that I definitely pinch a loaf. So I tell ya to pinch a good one next time the joker does it.

[Aman619]

I just read off the prices to the counter guy so he CANT touch them. Its hard enough finding that undamaged copy with 4 good corners and no spine dings only to hand it off to the slob at the register who handles tham all day and gets careless. I dont blame that guy, though, I mean, lets get real, we arent talking about valuable stuff needing kid gloves. But like so many of you, that doesnt mean I want to buy mangled books for full price! So I find the best copies I can, and from there, any damage sufferred will be MY responsibility. right? I hardly ever go back and buy a second better copy of a book I get home and find unseen damage on... or one I mess up. So I think thats healthy, right doctor? Oh, is my time up so soon?

[awe4one]

Not directed at you Aman...

 

Mangle is such a harsh word...let's be real and say even a slight crease or blunted corner will drive some of you wild. If so, I suggest you're taking this hobby way too seriously and are apt to make yourself miserable.

 

I sure as hell don't see the Maxim, FHM, or name the magazine readers taking their purchases and the condition of the mags to the same level as some anal comics readers. Suggests to me that the actual comics themselves are secondary to the resell value for these "fans"...

 

Jim

[rjpb]

While I will skip past copies with obvious damage - I can't see spending more time examining books than i do reading them - and I've at times let my 5 year old daughter carry around my comics at the store when she's wanted to see the cover.

[Aman619]

I hear ya, mangle is an exaggeration. But I hope its clear from how I wrote it that while I make the effort to select and protect the new comics I buy, I shrug off the failures to preserve them. As for comparing comics to soft core porn mags, well, there IS already a strong collecting base for comics and much less so for Maxim etc. So, they arent a good comparison.

[awe4one]

I'm talking about any magazine off the racks. If the existence of a minor defect on a new comic brings on an anxiety attack or causes the blood pressure to rise, then you should re-examine why you collect comics. Somewhere along the way, the comics themselves became secondary to other influences...

 

Jim

[gaute]

I'm talking about any magazine off the racks. If the existence of a minor defect on a new comic brings on an anxiety attack or causes the blood pressure to rise, then you should re-examine why you collect comics. Somewhere along the way, the comics themselves became secondary to other influences...

 

Jim

 

I agree to an extent. You're touching upon that classic dichotomy of reading vs collecting - most of us, to varying degrees, collect comics as you would coins or stamps, and so condition becomes a key factor (as in any collectables hobby).. Yet most of us are comics readers as well - the comics hobby is quite unique that way - You don't see many coin collectors spending their coins, or stamp collectors using their stamps.. (A somewhat flawed analogy, but still )

Anyway, I suppose when a coin collector buys the latest year-set or such, he expects nothing short of mint-ness. If you're a comics collector, and condition is a factor (and nothing wrong with that), you should be entitled to the same.

But hey, there's always Colossus Comics' 9.8 service..

[Aman619]

I would subscribe to a Colossus Plan B service. That is, Ill buy the loser reject 9.6s that they dont get slabbed for a slight premium over cover price. I have no intention of buying a slabbed new 9.8 book any time soon... but it would ne nice to know I was getting a true NM since they are so rara off the LCS shelves these days.

[Aman619]

I'm talking about any magazine off the racks. If the existence of a minor defect on a new comic brings on an anxiety attack or causes the blood pressure to rise, then you should re-examine why you collect comics. Somewhere along the way, the comics themselves became secondary to other influences...

 

Jim

 

thats true.. I buy them and read most of em, but then I collect them and in doing so, I want them to be as nice as I can manage w/o going to extremes. I used to juts take a book from the middle of the stack. But with productions problem damaging so many copies, Ive found I have to look at all the spines and corners, then pick one and check the open sided corners etc. Only takes a few more minutes total. I think the extra time is worth it since just grabbing a middle stack copy too often is a "damaged" copy.

 

Come to think of it, when I buy a magazine, I also tend to pull a middle copy. But I dont try to protect it the same as a comic.

 

Is it for future value? Or the esthetics of my collection? Probably the value, as silly as that sounds today. But I dont mind. Like I said, Im not spending a lot of time on a holy quest for perfection.