Today's comic shop horror story.

[thecomicsheet]

Today, in my continuing quest to find the perfect 10, I spent about 3 hours searching the back comics boxes at a local used book store. The store used to advertise 1,000,000 back comic issues and sold comics at the front of the store. Over the last twenty years I have watched as the back comic stock dwindled both in quantity and quality. Now they are in hidden room deep in the back of the store. Now they have used CDs, and used Romance Novel paperbacks at the front. Oh well, times change.

 

Anyway after hours of searching through tens of thousands of books I finally found 3 Amazing Spider-Man issues from the late 70s that were in pristine condition. Not real valuable as these things go, but still, to have survived a quarter of a century in a comic box and still look brand new, it was remarkable. I gingerly carried the books up to the counter and carefully slid them across to the teenager behind the counter.

 

He promptly grabbed all 3 books by the top edge, waving them around by the edge, while ham-handedly bending them back looking for the price stickers. I was in shock and only got out a squeaky GAHHHH! before he had completely destroyed the books. My three, 25 year old treasures were utterly destroyed in 5 seconds by the insufficiently_thoughtful_person behind the cash register! Hours of careful searching shot to hell! I finally managed a longer GGGAAAAAHHHHH! and a spirited explanation of why I was not going to pay for now worthless trash then I walked out.

[supapimp]

how old was the insufficiently_thoughtful_person? and why didn't you say something to the owner/manager?

[fantastic_four]

why didn't you say something to the owner/manager?

 

The odds are good it wouldn't have mattered if he did. The majority of small comics shops owners group anything at VF or better together as one big lump; for Darryl to have complained about the handling by the clerk quite likely would've put him into a category of anal retentive customers that they rarely see and half-enjoy belittling amongst themselves.

 

I rarely, rarely see shops who care about keeping books in this kind of ultra-high grade. At the opposite end of that spectrum is Dave's Comics (the one who has advertised in Marvel comics for decades), who is legendary in my area for the most extreme anal retentiveness in handling his comics than any other shop owner on the entire planet. He won't let his customers touch the books, much less take them out of the bags...and I've heard of him refusing to sell books on more than one occasion to kids because he knew that they were going to mishandle them. I'm not kidding--refused to sell them because he said they'd probably mishandle them! I saw him do that to a friend of mine when I was in high school and we laughed about it for years and years.

[Darthdiesel]

I rarely, rarely see shops who care about keeping books in this kind of ultra-high grade. At the opposite end of that spectrum is Dave's Comics (the one who has advertised in Marvel comics for decades), who is legendary in my area for the most extreme anal retentiveness in handling his comics than any other shop owner on the entire planet. He won't let his customers touch the books, much less take them out of the bags...and I've heard of him refusing to sell books on more than one occasion to kids because he knew that they were going to mishandle them. I'm not kidding--refused to sell them because he said they'd probably mishandle them! I saw him do that to a friend of mine when I was in high school and we laughed about it for years and years.

 

Too bad "Dave" wasn't as careful with the lot of 5 Nabisco Wolverine 145's he sold me offline. I don't think I'll ever deal with them again after that experience.

[thecomicsheet]

I have chatted a few times with the owner of the shop. He wasn't there at the time.

I'll have a little talk with him later.

He sells a lot of collectables in the store in addition to tons of old paperbacks. So treating the merchandise gently should be one of the first things they teach new hires. This looked to be a new kid behind the counter, so maybe it hasn't sunk in yet.

 

[Aman619]

wow...is nobody perfect? I was all set to check out Dave based on that first post...only to have it balanced out by the second. Oh well.

[Mushroom]

I was in my comic store the other day and I purchased two gemstone duck books (great job Arnoldt). The guy behind the counter proceeds to bend back the front cover looking for the australian price, once he figured it out I then went back to the rack and got another one. He stared at me like I was some kind of lunatic and when I explained why he stared at me even worse.

 

 

[Aman619]

Thats for sure. Some stores I don' t even hand the comics to the guy at the register anymore. Noones gonnas screw up my brand new books but me, dammit! But it sure feels ridiculous...

[Darthdiesel]

wow...is nobody perfect? I was all set to check out Dave based on that first post...only to have it balanced out by the second. Oh well.

 

Not telling you not to check him out necessarily, but I am not recommending them either. I hear good things about Dave, much like FF's comments. Just my personal experience with him was not good. If you're in Richmond VA, Dave's seems to be a nice place to go. Or check him out on eBay as seller "flannery" and see for yourself.

[blowout]

He promptly grabbed all 3 books by the top edge, waving them around by the edge, while ham-handedly bending them back looking for the price stickers.

 

Unfortunately, I have found this to be all too common in comic shops. Most of the staff seem not to care, or have no idea about the type of customers/product they are dealing with.

How hard can it be for a new employee to be taught that comic books are potential collectables and should be treated with care?

[fantastic_four]

wow...is nobody perfect? I was all set to check out Dave based on that first post...only to have it balanced out by the second. Oh well.

 

I wouldn't take my words as an endorsement...I've never met a local collector who didn't have some weird or bad story to tell about that store, mostly related to the personality of Dave himself. I don't know how he grades because the few times I've been in his store I get tackled by him or one of his employees before I can start thumbing through the comics. He has now stacked the boxes in such a way that you can't even get to them without asking him first...that ticks me off enough to not even want to go there.

[garthgantu]

I too have had numerous experiences with ten-thumbed comic shop cronies who seem almost determined to drop SA and even GA books by 1/2 grade before they let them out of the store. (Am I being paranoid? Probably. But this happens pretty consistently in some shops.)

 

At one particular store, even the "elite" subset of employees allowed to venture into the "pricey" back-issue area to assist customers seem oblivious to the importance that condition has attained. They're taking $200 or $300 worth of books (at say, $30-50 each) and more or less tossing/dropping them anywhere.

 

I've never purchased a slabbed book at a shop, but if I ever did, I wouldn't be surprised to see the clerk/drone at the register whip out a small chisel, break the slab, apply a few corner creases, fold the book lengthwise, and place it back in the slab - all with a customer-friendly smile on his mug, of course.

[dolphinsrwj]

there are not any comic shops anymore where i live so i have to get my new comics at the bookstore in the mall where almost every single book has at least 3-4 creases.the guy behind the counter said he wouldnt be surprised if there were rips tears or pages missing.

[garthgantu]

there are not any comic shops anymore where i live so i have to get my new comics at the bookstore in the mall where almost every single book has at least 3-4 creases.the guy behind the counter said he wouldnt be surprised if there were rips tears or pages missing.

 

Nice... that clerk will make a fine used car salesman someday...

 

Have you tried to determine the day(s) on which new comics arrive? Have you shmoozed the manager of the bookstore with a frappucino or whatnot? Payola still works, and in your case $5 spent on trinkets for the natives might result in $$$ saved in pristine copies before the comics even hit the shelves...

 

Just a thought

[brian1227]

There's only one comic book shop by where I work but I refuse to buy comics there as all the new books every week have creases in them from employees just grabbing them out of the box and putting them up carelessly on the shelves. I guess most of the people who buy there don't really care about the conditions of the books that they buy...and these are the same people who read the book once, and then put it up on Ebay claiming it's in Mint Condition.

 

[nochips]

Was his tongue pierced? I think I saw that same guy selling flowers on the side of the highway.

[garthgantu]

Actually, in some ways, these "crazy clerks" shouldn't be faulted for their attitude... remember, there was a time when people actually *read* the comics they bought!

 

If a kid in 1938 or even '48 or '58 had stood at the local newsstand, admonishing the proprietor not to 'bend the comics', he'd have been institutionalized. If an adult did it, they'd have been sedated and then institutionalized.

 

I realize we live in a different time, but let's face it, to most people, even some who work in comic shops, the condition of the book is very secondary to the book itself (its artwork, its story, etc.)...

 

Not defending the ham-handers, but trying to rationalize their behavior...

[Warlord]

Actually, in some ways, these "crazy clerks" shouldn't be faulted for their attitude... remember, there was a time when people actually *read* the comics they bought!

 

We owe all these comics folding/spindling/mutilating clerks an enormous debt of gratitude for reducing the available supply of NM to Mint old comics, thus ensuring increases in the values of the high grade comics that we already own.

 

 

Just a little

[Aman619]

thats how today's "garbage" becomes tomorrow's collectible. Since comics were considered throwaway entertainment, most were trashed. The ones that miraculously survived are now worth a fortune. And, as much as we try to ensure our current perchases stay minty fresh, its clear (if we face facts) that those same rules of garbage/collectible are ignored at our own folly. That is, since so many of us are overly concerened with the condition today, we ae only ensuring their lack of value in the future.

 

So everybody, QUIT IT! so mine will be the only ones left why dontcha??

[seank]

I stopped by a small out-of-town shop yesterday. On the bottom shelf of a case, the owner had some nice golden age books. Two were nice-looking late-run Timelys. I asked about prices on the books and he said he wanted to trade for them or do a cash/trade deal. I said ok and continued browsing. He then said he might consider cash but the books were going to be expensive, "Over a hundred dollars." (Keep in mind I was dressed nice, having just come from a court appearance.) I checked the guide then commented that the Timelys looked small. He said something like, "That's because of the way they were trimmed." I said, "The books are trimmed?" He then went on about how they were timmed at the factory and war-time paper shortages, etc. Whether or not the books were trimmed, the T-word was out and I wasn't going to touch those books. I also figured from his earlier comments that he'd overgrade and overprice any of the others I was interested in so I walked out without buying anything.