I am posting this because, like most not so young (getting ready to hit 40) working class Americans, I am taking note of the recession and the impact it is having on my priorities. I decided I would downsize my "hobby" of collecting comics and comic toys/statuary, etc. and my real passion Universal and Classic Movie Monsters collectibles. Drastically. I dropped a bunch of titles. I stopped buying dvds. Stautes were halted except for the sparse releasings of Sideshow's UM diorama line. Then Marvel raises their prices by $1.00 per title (now issues are $3.99) so I dropped more. Sideshow just recently showed a lot of swag at the comicon, and I was stunned at how outright high this stuff is getting. An Alien premium format figure is SRP of $800. This is what I paid for my first car in 1990.
I am beginning to feel that collecting anything new is going to be for rich people only. No double digit income working stiffs allowed. ??? :'( Is it just me, or are prices becoming absurd? i mean, I thought paying $300 for the Wolfman pf was ridiculous. Now an Alien is retailing for $800?
I'm noticing it, too. One more reason why I bailed on the new stuff a few years ago. I'd rather spend my money on vintage toys. You could buy some great vintage stuff for $800. Do you have a Kenner '79 Alien? For $800, you could probably buy a minty boxed one and a nice loose one to display alongside. There are obviously enough people willing to spend the money on this new stuff, otherwise they wouldn't keep producing it. It's probably easier for them to find one customer willing to pay $800 for a premium figure than 20 customers willing to pay $40 for a "standard" figure.
Completely agree. Like you, im a big comics fan, but my buying is pretty much down to two or three books a month...i just cant AFFORD to raise a family and be a comics fan, AND a horror fan, so the comic /statue/figure collecting has pretty much come to an end.
The economy, and the fact that my wife and daughter arent really into comics, but they both like horror (albeit the more modern stuff), finds me more interested in purchasing horror dvds...we can all watch them together as opposed to me reading a $3.99 dollar comic in about ten minutes off alone in my den.
And you're absolutely right; even just being a horror fan is becoming increasingly tough. The prices on some of those statues are just plain crazy.
Do you happen to have a link to the new Sideshow stuff? i still like to browse, even if i cant afford to buy. ;D
Prices on collectibles have been outrageous for some time and is only getting worse. There is little to nothing of the new stuff that I bother with. For me it's 99.9% vintage stuff. When it comes to comic books, I consider everything that's come out since about 1986 to be utter crap. I wouldn't pay 2¢ for most comics today, much less $3.99! ::)
I went to a comic sale recently and ended up with something like 40 issues averaging $3 a piece for great condition (most in Fine or better) stuff like Kirby's early Journey Into Mystery and Thor work for Marvel, etc. Now that is worth $3 an issue! ;D
It is true. Prices for these things are going through the roof. I have not collected new comics for decades. I not only hate the price, I am not a fan of this new style of artwork or story telling. I do, however, still enjoy to collect and read some of the pre 1980 mags. My real passion is toys, monsters first, super-heros second. I am pretty picky about what I buy, because of the cost as well as my display space. I build action figures and have for years. I spare no detail when it comes to design and I charge alot of cash for the difficult peices. I beleive in my heart of hearts they are worth every cent. What have made these new collectables so expensive is a level of detail that has never been seen before. I mean, I cant afford to pay these prices, but as a designer of custome figures, I cant say they are not worth the price IN SOME CASES. I am not sticking up fot these folks, but you have to admit, the detail on some of the toys, busts and statues is off the hook. I think one of the things that is happening is the increased detail is add cost at the register. Back in the day, sculpts rarly needed approval and were basic and toy like. Now this crap looks real!
Jeez, now I really am depressed. I could weather this issue to an extent but as a now-locked thread noted, the hobby is about to be descended upon by the corporate police as well. If there is no fandom aspect to the hobby, what will the mags and websites have to talk about, let alone sell?
Time to find a new hobby perhaps. I'm down to caring about little else besides the UMs as it is; yet they used to one of many. As I age it's getting easier and easier to say to myself, "This is all crap". Time feels too short. I've stopped catching new films and I can barely be motivated to rent them on DVD a few months down the track. I miss entire seasons of genre TV without one whit of concern. I can't fathom comic books, and I work in the retail part of the trade.
Maybe it's sort of a cultural entropy // Dark-Age thing.
If so - I hope it's cyclical....
Quote from: Barlow on July 26, 2009, 02:56:46 AM
I went to a comic sale recently and ended up with something like 40 issues averaging $3 a piece for great condition (most in Fine or better) stuff like Kirby's early Journey Into Mystery and Thor work for Marvel, etc. Now that is worth $3 an issue! ;D
Absolutely! Lee & Kirby's work on Thor and Fantastic Four are easily two of the best creator runs on any comic EVER, imo.
Lee and Kirby are one of the best. I too quite buying comics. They got to be too expensive.
I also no longer try to keep up with everything, I used to buy complete sets of all the monsters, then it was just classic monsters, then just monster stuff I really liked. Now my focus is mainly Creature related, but I still pass on thing such as Sideshows bust as I think it's too much $'s. I'll still ocassionally buy some of the other monsters, but it's rare.
It's the same with autographs. I used to buy everyone, but I even cut that back.
As for DVD's. I am enjoying these Big Lot sales and Wal-Mart $5 bins. The thrill of the hunt is still there.
BK
Well, I'm another one who bailed on comics, probably when most new books were still $2. I was buying a lot of original art in the 80s-90s, but those prices went nuts. In the early 90s, I cold go to a 2-day con w/ about $250, and that aid for room, meals, 2-3 pages of art, 2-3 sketches and a stack of back issues and other stuff.
I was never big on new collectible toys--too often it felt like companies were fueling a habit. I think the last thing I went after were the original sideshow little big heads, cause the rice was right and they looked neat. They felt like TOYS, not "collectibles".
Quote from: michblk on July 26, 2009, 08:58:01 AM
As for DVD's. I am enjoying these Big Lot sales and Wal-Mart $5 bins. The thrill of the hunt is still there.
BK
Agreed. I've found some cool modern horror at Walmart for a very low price.
Prices are up there, and will be as long as they are getting it. If they stop selling at those prices, the prices will come down or they'll go out of business. That goes for $800 Sideshow Aliens and $3 comics.
Is it realistic to delay your comic buying and pick them up for a quarter a few months later? I do that with books. Don't buy the hardcover for $17, don't buy the new paperback for $8... buy it later for $1. It's the same book it was before.
Sideshow prices probably aren't going to come down, but a lot of the newer "collectibles" are much cheaper than they were when they were fresh on the rack.
I'm not a collectore of new things, I like vintage much more. I'm sorry to hear this. Also when you buy from ebay the postage prices are exorbitant. They're killing us with that to get more money.
I think Sideshow was always a bit pricey, however everything I ever bought from them is top notch quality. Really great stuff. Lately though I've backed off just because A: I pretty much have every monster I wanted and B: The older I get the harder it becomes to part with 100+ dollars for something like that. Then again, it may just depend on my mood.
eBay on the other hand, I dont know if its the economy, or the people who are willing to pay for such things, either way it is mind boggling. A Imperial King Kong went for 40 bux..I waited a few months and got the one I wanted for about 20, that was including shipping. People are starting bids at 25.00 for a Forgotten Prisoner kit and then they sell for over 100 bux...that is INSANE!!!!
The more time I spend on eBay the more I see that people are completely out of their minds.
Quote from: ChattyLMS on July 26, 2009, 10:54:36 AM
I'm not a collectore of new things, I like vintage much more. I'm sorry to hear this. Also when you buy from ebay the postage prices are exorbitant. They're killing us with that to get more money.
You just have to figure postage as part of the item cost. It's price plus postage. If the item is $5 and the postage is $25, it's the same as item being $30 with free shipping. Actually I don't see most sellers gouging on shipping anymore, I see the postal rates being very high. I know different types of items have different standards and practices...
QuoteIf the item is $5 and the postage is $25, it's the same as item being $30 with free shipping.
Yes, of course, but shipping for a vintage 3 ounce troll for $10 on top of the $25 for the troll is just outrageous! $35 for a troll that is really only worth $25? Well, I skip over those. The greedy ones miss a perfectly good sale. I keep my shipping prices reasonable when I sell.
Sideshow has raised their prices quite a bit.Busts are almost double the price compared to a couple years ago.
As far as comics go I buy everything in tpb form nowadays.You can get em from Amazon sellers dirt cheap.I bought a couple of those huge Marvel Essentials books for a buck a piece recently.
I buy very little newer stuff, as it's the vintage items that catch my eye. I'd rather pay a high price for something from my time period, than the same price for something new. I think prices are up in all categories. I've had to cut back and be more selective.
I have definitely thinned out my comic list. I haven't been to the shop in 3 weeks, so this $3.99 a issue is news to me, which means less buying.
I do love going to the Baltimore Comic Con and picking up $1.00 issues and $5.00 GN's.
I only buy something these days if I really, really want it. I maintain my Scary Monsters subscription, & basically keep my eyes open for something that I truly can't live w/out. And like many of you, I prefer a vintage or a retro item in most cases.
Right now I'm saving my $$ for a few movies that have yet to see a DVD release, & Deb Painter's FJA biography.
I see a couple different issues here:
Modern/current monster collectible prices are indeed quite high (and a weak Dollar compounds the issue) but sales outside the US are still pretty brisk.
Comics are an entirely different matter. In relation to new titles, the print industry is basically dead and publishers profit margins are razor thin even with bloated cover prices. Vintage comics ceased to be just "collectibles" several years back when (non-comic fan) investor/speculator-type started treating them like a commodity . . . essentially f*cking the market for everyone. The days of picking up a copy of something like X-Men #94 off the rack for 25 cents and having it mature into a major nest egg are over IMO.
I'm not a big monster collector but I fear that the ongoing world economic problems could result in a market flooded with previously "rare" items. Values can go down.
Wow. A full dollar increase? Across the board? I hadn't heard anything about it since I haven't been buying comics since, oh, about January or so, I think. But with a new job potentially soon, I was thinking of getting back into it. But not now. I'll keep buying Walking Dead and maybe a couple others, but it'll be severely limited compared to before... and before I was only dropping about $50 a month.
As for the toys, etc... I'm in the same boat as most of you guys. I typically won't spend more than $100 on any new item anymore, unless it's a set like the Amok Gort/Klaatu since you get 2 for the price of, well, 2. But in general I'm fed up with paying the "otaku tax".
Here is an analysis of comic prices vs. minimum wage I did some time ago. I gotta update it. It compares the price of comics and the number of comics a kid could get in any given year in exchange for one hour of work, based on minimum wage at that time. Notice how it changes drastically in the early 80's, just when all the great runs were, well..running out! :( Years with two prices shown are followed with the month/year of the price change in parentheses. Thus 1961: .10/.12 (12/61) means that prices for comics were .10 until December of 1961, when they went up to .12 each.
Comic Book Prices By Year:
1960: .10
1961: .10/.12 (12/61)
1962: .12
1963: .12
1964: .12
1965: .12
1966: .12
1967: .12
1968: .12
1969: .12/.15 (7/69)
1970: .15
1971: .15/.20/.25* (11/71,12/71*)
1972: .20
1973: .20
1974: .20
1975: .20/.25 (7/75)
1976: .25/.30 (9/76)
1977: .30/.35 (11/77)
1978: .35
1979: .35/.40 (5/79)
1980: .40/.50 (9/80)
1981: .50
1982: .60 (1/82)
1983: .60
1984: .60
1985: .60/.65 (4/85)
1986: .65/.75 (2/86)
1987: .75
1988: .75
1989: .75/1.00 (9/89)
1990: 1.00
1991: 1.00
1992: 1.00
1993: 1.00
1994: 1.25 (1/94)
1995: 1.25
1996: 1.25/1.50 (7/96)
1997: 1.50
1998: 1.50
* November 1971 saw both Marvel and DC increase prices from 15¢ to 25¢ with the number of pages in the title increasing from 36 to 52. One month later, in December, Marvel returned to 36 pages and lowered its price to 20¢. DC would keep the 52 page/25¢ format for another
year.
Comic Price vs. Minimum Wage By Year:
1960 - Comics 10¢, wage $1.00, get 10/hr.
1961 - Comics 10¢, wage $1.15, get 11/hr.
1965 - Comics 12¢, wage $1.25, get 10 /hr.
1970 - Comics 15¢, wage $1.60, get 10 /hr.
1974 - Comics 20¢, wage $2.00, get 10 /hr.
1976 - Comics 25¢, wage $2.10, get 8 /hr.
1977 - Comics 30¢, wage $2.30, get 7 /hr.
1978 - Comics 35¢, wage $2.65, get 7 /hr.
1980 - Comics 40¢, wage $3.10, get 7 /hr.
____________________
1981 - Comics 50¢, wage $3.35, get 6 /hr.
1982 - Comics 60¢, wage $3.35, get 5 /hr.
1985 - Comics 65¢, wage $3.35, get 5 /hr.
1986 - Comics 75¢, wage $3.35, get 4 /hr.
____________________
1990 - Comics $1.00, wage $3.80, get 3 /hr.
1994 - Comics $1.25, wage $4.25, get 3 /hr.
1996 - Comics $1.50, wage $4.75, get 3 /hr.
1997 - Comics $1.50, wage $5.15, get 3 /hr.
____________________
1960-1975 = 10 comics/hr
1976 = 8/hr
1977-1980 = 7/hr
1981 = 6/hr
1982-1985 = 5/hr
1986-1989 = 4/hr
1990-1997 = 3/hr
If anyone can supply me with a list of comic book prices by year from 1998 on, I'd be most grateful! ;)
Comic books seemed to get pricier as the median age of the consumer got older IMO. It felt like comics were 10¢-12¢ for an awfully long time before leapfrogging all over the place.
DC and Marvel seem to be keeping comics going just to have their brand out there. They are making so much money from the movie industry ( even the bad movies) and merchandising that the comics are very low on the totem pole. They seem to have forgotten the fans who have made them what they are. After all wasn't Marvel in near bankruptcy a decade ago? The Blade movie saved their bacon. I know its all about dollar the cents, but they should keep their products affordable for the fans who support them.
More proof the DC and Marvel have lost interest in the comic book biz is the fact that they both recently pulled out of the Wizard World Chicago show at the last minute. this is a MAJOR blow to that show and might even cause it to be the last one. That would be bad because it has become a major comic show and the biggest one in the Midwest. If it goes by by we will have to try to get out to NY of san Diego for a major show.
Quote from: Gillman-Fan on July 27, 2009, 08:03:37 AM
Comic books seemed to get pricier as the median age of the consumer got older IMO. It felt like comics were 10¢-12¢ for an awfully long time before leapfrogging all over the place.
Well, they stayed at a dime for decades, but the page count went down during that time, so there as a hidden price-per-page increase. But in the 90s, you ended up paying 2-3 dollars for what turned out to be a sliver (of a seemingly endless story) that you could read in 10 minutes.
My major collectible is classical cds, and many of these are coming down because you can buy used ones since most folks are dumping their old due to download capability. So I am cheering on the downloaders and picking up their scraps. Classical vinyl is usually cheap as well. Now, as for my hot-rod vinyl covers, that is a another story.
As for monster stuff, I have all but stopped buying anything new. In fact, when it comes to old, I have made a new rule that I am only allowed to buy what I actually find. This keeps my buying in check and makes the hunt (which is my favorite part of collecting old toys) stay alive and well.
Quote from: ChattyLMS on July 26, 2009, 11:14:16 AM
Yes, of course, but shipping for a vintage 3 ounce troll for $10 on top of the $25 for the troll is just outrageous! $35 for a troll that is really only worth $25? Well, I skip over those. The greedy ones miss a perfectly good sale. I keep my shipping prices reasonable when I sell.
For years, I sold stuff on eBay with fixed price shipping. I have been in mail order for longer than eBay has been around and can usually look at something and guess pretty well about what it's going to cost to ship. eBay changed things up and now to take advantage of their search features, you need to offer weight based shipping. I never thought of it in those terms before, so now I'm having to re-learn my guesstimating skills based on weight. The thing is, I ship worldwide, so the weight of something in a priority mail box is different than the weight in a box packed for shipment to say... Australia. The cardboard is going to be denser, and depending on the item, I may need to give it more packing to keep it safe. But I can't have 2 shipping weights... one for the US and one for International. And even if I could, I don't know what box I'm going to find or how much it's going to weigh to send overseas. Being a couple ounces off can mean dollars, not cents. I sold a record to someone in Greece the other day for $9.99 and the calculator charged $15 shipping based on weight. In the US, it would travel Media Mail for $2.77 and the cost goes up a few cents if the weight changes to the next pound. The record cost me $19.46 to send because the weight was a few ounces more than I had put in the calculator. Ouch! After eBay and PayPal fees, I ended up with about $2 for the record.
Meanwhile, I was looking for a digital camera for my wife. I found what I thought was a good one, but the shipping quote was $18.75 I asked the seller about the shipping rate, and he said he put in a weight and that must be what it said it would cost, but if it cost less he would refund the difference. Well, it cost $7.10 to ship, so I got $11.65 back.
That troll is "worth" $25 to you, so you shouldn't pay more than that. To someone else, it might be "worth" more or "worth" less. The seller charging $35 for it may have paid $50 back in the 80's when troll prices skyrocketed for a while, you never know.
I have items in my eBay store that are for sale at prices most folks aren't willing to pay, yet they sell. They just sell slowly. I may not care if they sell at all. It costs 6¢ a month to have it in my store, so 72¢ a year. If someone comes along and pays my price, I'll sell it. Otherwise it still looks great on the shelf. Frequently it's not "greed" that causes me to price it like that, it's that I paid too much when I bought it! Anyway, there are all sorts of reasons why people price things as they do, both the item and the shipping.
Tying the post back to the discussion at hand... if the total cost is something that's acceptable to you, buy it. If not, move on. There's never a shortage of stuff to spend money on. Right now I'm essentially not spending any money on my collection (except the odd thing on occassion), but I can find ways to acquire things that give me pleasure, by trading, by making things, etc. I don't miss not buying monster toys because I'm busy with other things, and when I get back to monster toys I'll be happy with that too.
I will throw in my quick two-cents about Ebay. In short, I have made over 300+ purchases. Out of the 300+, every single one was a perfect transaction, save one, where we accidentally bought the item twice. The seller fixed it up for us and all was right. I shop a lot there for gifts for others, rare classical cds that I must have before I kick off, and that sometimes hard to find Christmas toy for the kiddos. Glad she is around and that sellers like you keep using it , Bobby.
Quote from: MDG on July 27, 2009, 08:42:03 AM
But in the 90s, you ended up paying 2-3 dollars for what turned out to be a sliver (of a seemingly endless story) that you could read in 10 minutes.
In the sixties and seventies you got a decent story with a few ads thrown in, now your paying for 50% ads if not slightly more. Since the companies are making money on this extra ad space, I can't see the price increase for less product.
Quoteif the total cost is something that's acceptable to you, buy it. If not, move on. There's never a shortage of stuff to spend money on. Right now I'm essentially not spending any money on my collection (except the odd thing on occassion), but I can find ways to acquire things that give me pleasure, by trading, by making things, etc. I don't miss not buying monster toys because I'm busy with other things, and when I get back to monster toys I'll be happy with that too.
Well, I guess you are right. Really it's how much you want it and how much you're willing to pay. I did hear at one time that somebody was selling something for an extremely high shipping cost. Then they put a really low starting price. Their ebay fees were very low then. I wonder if ebay or other sellers caught on to that.
New comics? What are those beside a rip off? I gave up on new stuff in the mid 90s.
Only reprints and cheap reader back issues of OLDER issues and not very often.
The only monster toys I am even looking at are MPC PopTops or Marx and only at a good price.
I am mainly a mask/prop guy , not to mention DVDs. I have haggled with people on the last certain piece in their place and done good or been a X repeat customer and got a good price.
Would I love a fully poseable Regan Exorcist prop. F'YEA! can I come anywhere near to afford it. NOPE! :'( I'm still debating for a month if I can afford $70 for really cool evil pumpkin hands for a mask I have.
Real life sux. :P
Quote from: CreepysFan on July 27, 2009, 02:08:09 PM
In the sixties and seventies you got a decent story with a few ads thrown in, now your paying for 50% ads if not slightly more. Since the companies are making money on this extra ad space, I can't see the price increase for less product.
When I first read this, my intuition told me that it was inaccurate. So just for fun, I just grabbed two random comic books and compared.
Tomb Of Dracula #27 (dated Dec. 1974) contained the following:17 pages of story
12 pages of ads (15, if you include the back cover and inside front and back covers).
2 letters pages
1 news/editorial page.
Simon Dark #16 (dated March 2009) contained the following: 22 pages of story
9 pages of ads (12, if you include the back cover and inside front and back covers).
1 news/editorial page
I agree that comics currently cost way too much, but, and I'm not singling you out here CreepysFan, but I think some of you sound like grumpy old men. "It was better in my day!". Well, it really wasn't. While this is purely a matter of opinion, the idea that comics were better pre-1980 seems laughable to me. Cheaper, yes, but better, no.
Incidentally I've had the new Creepy #1 sitting on my nightstand for about a week now. Really need to read that... lol.
Good stats, dave. Point taken. On the other hand - and it may just be my grump brain of course, but ... I could follow those 70s stories. Now.....
[**this post may contain spoilers, though I'm so ill-read these days, really, I think anyone who cares will know at least as much already ... which is part of my point ...**]
Case : Grant Morrison, a talented scribe, wrote the recent BATMAN RIP as well as the FINAL CRISIS. I couldn't tell what the hell was happening in either of them. I can't even figure it out reading the wikipedia summaries. Near as I can tell, Batman dies in each, and leaves a charred corpse, but he also ends up lost in the prehistoric past doing cave paintings.
I've enjoyed much of this writer's work in the past, but I have no idea what was supposed to be going on in FINAL CRISIS. It seemed to me an overworked, overpacked mess, and trying to keep track of its manifold nuances (?) at a few pages a month was simply too much effort (and money). For me, it simply provided an excuse to say "enough" to myself and drop DC almost entirely (I'm still getting FLASH for my kids). It was a FINAL CRISIS alright; the final crisis in my wavering support for the company. Batman's dead? Superman's off-planet for a year? Great. Good a point as any to stop. Nightwing is Robin? Awesome. Never been a NIGHTWING reader for its own sake. Have fun with that.
Now Marvel is deactivating the Hulk, and as it's already my last title with them, I know I'm going to stop buying that too.
I don't think the corporations get it. I want stories about Batman, Bruce Wayne being Batman, policing the underbelly of Gotham. I don't really want him in a wheelchair for a year. I don't want to read about Metropolis patrolled by Mon-El while Supes is being a Kryptonian cop or something. I don't want Son-Of-Hulk running with Bruce Banner for a year while the latter is (apparently) unable to transform.
Instead of giving us fun, action-packed stories with the characters as we love them, these publishers have learned they can take the generics off-line again and again. Kudos for having the cajones to do this, and it would be OK for a month or three, but instead it's a year or more at a time, with a slow creep back for the inevitable return. Worse, the 'year' is inevitably about a lot of lurking and rumor-mongering as the staus quo waits to reassert itself, while mumbling characters reveal flashes of the story's underpants a few lines at a time.
I'm just tired, and I've walked. Sorry DC and Marvel. It's too expensive to be this exasperating. Hence the point most of us fanboy fogeys are making here.
Hey Dave, maybe it's just me, but didn't there used to be more panels per page? Again, I could be another one of those old grumps that it was better in my day.. lol
K
(*at*)depressedlarrytalbot : I totally agree with you about those 2 Grant Morrison titles. Terrible, just terrible. I almost got the impression he was just seeing how much he could get away with. (Like that Onion video about Dominoes seeing how bad they could make their food before people stopped eating it. ) But at the same time, I loved Jonah Hex. And while I wasn't reading it personally, everyone I know who did said the the Green Lantern was great at that time. So it's not like everything is bad.
The same inconsistencies occur in individual titles and there's no better example than Hulk. Planet Hulk and WW Hulk were both phenomenal. But then they did a 180 and went for a more silly, comedic slant. Why, I have no idea. But it ruined it for me.
In any given year, in any given decade, you'll have ups and down. I think the problem now, versus then, is just the price. Most people like us who have other hobbies to spend our money on simply can't be dropping $4 a book all over the place trying to find out where the good stories are or to buy everything hoping that a down time in a favorite title passes.
(*at*) michblk : I didn't count up the panels, but in general, you are probably right. There certainly do seem to be more splash pages than in the past. I think the art is more of a selling point than it used to be. I know we have some comic artists in our midst so I'd be curious to hear their opinions and experiences. For instance, do the artists get paid by the panel or by the page? Or how exactly does it work? Because knowing that might help us to understand where the money goes. But either way, if the random comics I grabbed are representative of the standard for their times (and I'm not saying for sure that they are), then you still get 5 more pages of art/story now than you used to. So even with fewer panels, I suspect it evens out. And frankly, I think in general the art is better now than it used to be, in terms of depth and detail, if not style (and no, that's not me just sucking up to the aforementioned artists in our midst! LOL) .
Straying a little off topic, but vent! People Vent!!! On Grant Morrison---he successfully did something no on else had ever made me do. Quit all Batman titles! The current direction may or may not equate to more sales...but not from me. Bruce Wayne is Batman, and someone decent needs to write him. Morrison has taken waaaaay to much peyote to be a coherent writer anymore. he just scribbles stuff down and people marvel at how deep it all is. While he laughs because he doesn't even remember what he wrote. ;D ;D ;)
I agree Anton,
Killing Bruce Wayne is DC's answer to Marvel killing Steve Rogers. "Let's freshen up the story" Why? Bruce Wayne is Batman IMO, and Batman RIP wasn't all the hype I thought and neither was that band of international heroes storyline Batman was a part of. Grotesk was the last good Batman story with great unique artwork.
I'll still pick up Batman out of loyalty but I'm hoping for a change Same with Greg Pak coming back to The Hulk
Despite the delays and the critics/fans bashing, I enjoyed Miller's and Lee's All Star Batman, it was a crazy off the wall Dark Knight story but it was still entertaining.
Just venting...back on topic.
DOH! Stupid twitchy finger. :-[
Quote from: BaronLatos35 on July 28, 2009, 09:57:54 PM
I agree Anton,
Killing Bruce Wayne is DC's answer to Marvel killing Steve Rogers. "Let's freshen up the story" Why? Bruce Wayne is Batman IMO, and Batman RIP wasn't all the hype I thought and neither was that band of international heroes storyline Batman was a part of. Grotesk was the last good Batman story with great unique artwork.
I'll still pick up Batman out of loyalty but I'm hoping for a change Same with Greg Pak coming back to The Hulk
Despite the delays and the critics/fans bashing, I enjoyed Miller's and Lee's All Star Batman, it was a crazy off the wall Dark Knight story but it was still entertaining.
Just venting...back on topic.
D.C Showcase. Sure it's B/W but at about $12-15 for 500 pages of reprints...
Screw all this new stuff. "Oh look at me and see how deep I write"
2-4 panels per page with 15 seconds of script and the "hero" looks like he injects D-Bol at every meal.
Go HOME already! I'm not buyin it LITERALLY.
Eh...comics is for kids...except for EC's, Warren, and Eerie Publications!
Quote from: NekroDave on July 28, 2009, 06:24:57 PM
... There certainly do seem to be more splash pages than in the past. I think the art is more of a selling point than it used to be. I know we have some comic artists in our midst so I'd be curious to hear their opinions and experiences. For instance, do the artists get paid by the panel or by the page?
They get paid by the page, but splash (or even "splashy") pages are more fun to draw and bring a much greater return on the original art market. When I was writing a comic years ago, the artist (who was calling the shots) wanted a splash on page one , a double-page splash on pages 2-3, and two more full-page splashes in the story.
I dont read any of the newer superhero stories because of the crossovers.Worst thing to happen to comics IMO.
DC Vertigo on the other hand has put out some great comics over the years.Preacher,100 Bullets,Y the Last Man & Scalped have some damn fine storytelling between the pages.
Theres also alot of really good manga available.Berserk,Dragon Head & Monster just to name a few.
Theres more to comics than just the big two superhero stuff.
Quote from: Wicked Lester on July 28, 2009, 10:53:37 PM
D.C Showcase. Sure it's B/W but at about $12-15 for 500 pages of reprints...
Screw all this new stuff. "Oh look at me and see how deep I write"
2-4 panels per page with 15 seconds of script and the "hero" looks like he injects D-Bol at every meal.
Go HOME already! I'm not buyin it LITERALLY.
I hear you Lester, but I just don't feel a 500 page tome of black and white comics, especially if they used to be in color. Old Vampirella mags looks great in B&W, House of Mystery looks better in color.
I wish DC would put out a good color TPB of the I...Vampire series.
Quote from: ChattyLMS on July 27, 2009, 05:01:27 PM
Well, I guess you are right. Really it's how much you want it and how much you're willing to pay. I did hear at one time that somebody was selling something for an extremely high shipping cost. Then they put a really low starting price. Their ebay fees were very low then. I wonder if ebay or other sellers caught on to that.
I figured that's why eBay was trying to get people to list items with free shipping. Some of the DVD sellers were routinely listing their movies at low prices with outrageous shipping costs and no opportunity to combine shipping. The excuse given was that the movies might be stored in multiple warehouses around the country. Then the 2 or three movies you bought would all arrive in the same box.
Like Bobby says, you just have to make sure the TOTAL cost is no more than you are willing to pay for the item being sold.
QuoteLike Bobby says, you just have to make sure the TOTAL cost is no more than you are willing to pay for the item being sold.
Tell me about it. Try selling to a non-Australian eBay customer, from Australia .....