Yesterday was a rare Saturday that both my wife Tracy and I had the day off (ah, the joys of the retail sector!) It was also a lovely day weather wise. Our daughter was at her school all morning and part of the afternoon helping out at a flea market; it was a fundraiser for a trip to Scotland next year and she'll be part of that. We had made plans to visit a giant community flea market one town over (about 45 minutes away) after helping set up at our daughter's event and perusing the items.
The flea markets, yard sales and the like in our community rarely have comics. I think it was once in the nearly six years we've lived here. But at the event in the next town, you can usually count on a few tables having something. Last year for instance, I got almost all of Mark Waid / Ron Garney issues of Captain America (#444-454) there. This year, I had to do a little digging, and came away with Batman 414, Infinity Inc 6, Spectre 7 (Moench / Colan), and Marvel Age #1, all for 50 cents each. I love going to these things because you'll never know what you'll find.
My wife was looking for hockey cards and Red Rose tea mini-figurines but came away from the flea market empty handed. We decided to go to the next town (30 minutes away from where we were) as we had heard that a new hobby shop, specializing in hockey cards and also carrying comics, had recently opened. My wife managed to score a few cards she had been wanting for a while; unfortunately for me, the comic selection was very small, with only a small number of overpriced back issues. I was only interested in a Flash from 1972, which he priced at $10, and the 4 issue Saga of Ra's Al Ghul, and he wanted $25 for the set. He wouldn't budge on price, so I left empty handed.
We were at that point only 5 minutes away from an actual comic shop, so away we went! This is a strange little store, about 2/3 devoted to video games and 1/3 to comics. That alone doesn't make it strange - the video games no doubt the bread and butter of this place - but the way they run their comics side baffles me to the point where I don't know why they bother.
Their new comics are mostly Marvel and DC, with a few Archies and maybe one or two from other companies. I think the only Image they had was Haunt. The titles are arranged alphabetically, which is good. I'm 5'6" and can't reach their top shelf ... guess where all of the Archie titles are?
They appear to carry about 2/3 of Marvel's titles and I don't think they had more than a dozen DC titles. They can order anything for you, as long as you open an account, and you have to put down a $20 non-refundable deposit. Their back issues are all $3 unless otherwise marked (nothing cheaper); there's a small chunk of 70's stuff that's priced anywhere between $5-$10. Almost all of the Spider-Man and Batman issues that are pre-1990 are priced at $10 each. You might guess that a fair number of these comics might be candidates for a dollar box, and you would be correct. Needless to say, there isn't much turnover in this section. They also have a smattering of trades, but 75% of them are under lock and key in a glass display case. In the case there are a bunch of Marvel Essentials, no DC Showcases, about a dozen DC Archives, and no Marvel Masterworks. They also have several different cd-rom collections - "40 years of Avengers" for instance - that have been in there for years.
They had Avengers vs X-Men #1 and 2, but the clerk couldn't tell me if that was the main series or the similarly titled AvX tie-in series - I didn't know which was which. Sadly, neither did he, although he remarked he did the ordering for the store (!) but hadn't heard of this series (!) that a lot of people ask about (!!!).
I picked up ASM 665 and an Avengers vs. X-Men free preview issue (which was not the zero issue), as well as a free Avengers preview (a reprint of the Bendis / Romita jr Avengers #1 from two years ago). I also asked what they would be doing for FCBD, and the clerk was unsure.
Yup, still strange all around.
Replies