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“I saw a bank that said ’24-Hour Banking,’ but I don’t have that much time.” — Steven Wright

§ August 17th, 2022 § Filed under sterling silver comics § 2 Comments

Okay, I do have another Multiverse post about ready to go, but I just didn’t have the energy to finish it last night. And besides, I should give you a brief update on my bank thing.

First, I’ve got a new account opened, and while not everything is transferred over there yet (since eBay’s verification system for adding a new bank account is taking its sweet time) I’m well on my way. And one of the unauthorized withdrawals has already been returned.

Second, my call to Diamond went well, and they are totally understanding. My bank was informed to honor that check whenever it goes through, and hopefully they’ll do so. Regardless, the money guy at Diamond knows the situation so either way I’m covered.

Some of you mentioned having similar problems with debit/credit cards, as have I, and those are relatively simple to handle…just get a new card. And also stop using cards at outside gas pump terminals, which I did after having a card number stolen twice in four months and haven’t had it taken since. At least, that I know of.

In this case they were somehow getting money right out of the bank account, which is a slightly different, and far more complicated matter. Thus, here’s hoping I don’t have to do that again for a while. And you bet I’m keeping a very close eye on my bank stuff right now.

Okay, that should be enough about that for a while. Next time, back to the important stuff: parallel Earths at DC Comics!

No post today. Except for this post.

§ August 15th, 2022 § Filed under sterling silver comics § 11 Comments

So anyway, if you follow my Twitter account, and you probably shouldn’t, it’s terrible, you’ve likely seen my latest set of travails. In this case, someone gained unauthorized access to my store’s bank account and withdrew some cash via an online payment somewhere or ‘nother.

As such, that has occupied my days since I discovered the perfidy on Friday evening, especially since at every turn I seem to get the runaround for a bit before finally acquiring the assistance I need.

For example: I go to the local branch of my bank. They tell me they can’t help, I have to call the customer service line. I go back to the store, call said line. They tell me no, I have to call the fraud department’s number on the back of my store credit card. I call that number, get told “why are you calling me? You need to report this at your branch.” So I go back to the branch, and then they figure out what paperwork I need to fill out, etc. etc. So, you know, in case anyone was wondering why I opened the shop an hour late on Friday.

The solution to this issue is “close the old account, open a new one,” which is seemingly fine…the old account is frozen to withdrawals, but I can receive deposits, which is good in this heavily credit-card focused economy. And I thought I was good, with no pending payments out in the wild that would try to draw on that account, except I totally forgot about the payment I mailed to Diamond Friday morning for the weekly comic shipment, which they will attempt to deposit by Wednesday or Thursday. Therefore, I have an early call to Diamond to make Monday, warning them about this little problem. I can theoretically tell the bank “look out for that check, make sure it gets paid from wherever my money is,” but being told it “should” work, and “maybe” there’s not a problem doesn’t instill me with confidence.

In short, it’s been a huge aggravation, getting in the way of anything I wanted to do at the shop for the last couple of days. Part of it is my fault, in that one piece of paper I really needed to file with the bank, the one I was sure I put in a safe place, wasn’t where it was supposed to be, so I tore up the store looking for the stupid thing for quite a while.

But at this point, aside from some paperwork I need to finish up tonight, I’m pretty much ready to head back to the bank and finally get that new account opened. And then spend my Monday updating that info at the various locations that need it. And hoping that Diamond check gets clearly properly. All in all, I hope that few hundred dollars this person got away with made them happy enough so that it was worth all the aggravation I had to go through.

With any luck, things will be back to relative normalcy shortly, and I can go back to posting about DC’s multiverse and whatnot. Thanks for your patience, pals, and I’ll be back at it soon.

Presumably this counts as “Man vs. Nature.”

§ November 5th, 2021 § Filed under golden age, sterling silver comics, superman § 7 Comments


Found this panel while reading some Golden Age Superman books on the DC Universe Infinite app, and the casualness of the caption box made me laugh. Written by Jerry Siegel, art credited to Joe Shuster but actually drawn by Paul Cassidy, the story featured Superman taking on a hypnotist who, at one point, puts the whammy on the Man of Steel. Hence, his awkward charging through a tree…not on purpose, I promise you. (From Action Comics #25, June 1940.)

• • •

Just an additional note letting you know that today is the 7th anniversary of the opening of my comic book store Sterling Silver Comics. Since I’ve been in the comics retail business for 33 years, that means I’ve done around 21% of it on my own. Here’s to seeing that percentage grow. And thanks to all of you for your years of support. It’s much appreciated.

Here’s the post where I first announced my plans. And here’s the post where I reported on my opening day! (Boy, my store is a lot more full now than it was then.)

I just accidentally typed “Future Steve” — now there’s an event I want to read.

§ January 8th, 2021 § Filed under retailing, star wars, sterling silver comics § 5 Comments

So…some week, huh? Hope everyone out there is finding ways to keep sane and their anxiety levels down (when they were already up with this whole COVID thing). Hang in there, pals.

I plan on beginning my coverage of your predictions for the 2020 comics industry next week (did any of you guess “DC will split off with its own distributor after Diamond shuts down for two months?” I guess we’ll find out!) so let me take this time to remind you to get your 2021 predictions in before too much more of 2021 gets past us.

I’m just going to cover a couple of other things here before calling it a day. First, response to DC’s Future State event has been…mixed, so far. Granted, it’s only been on the shelves for a couple of days, but customers really are either “gotta get them all!” or “ugh, are you kidding me, no way.” As I noted on Wednesday, I suspect hearts and minds may change if, when the regular titles resume, references are made back to the Future State stories maybe the naysayers will become yaysayers, but who’s to say. Maybe that can be someone’s 2021 comics prediction.

But sales have been…okay on them, so far. Next Batman, even at the $7.99 price point, is selling the best, and Wonder Woman and Swamp Thing are close behind. Superman of Metropolis and the Flash are taking up the rear here. Not doing badly, but not setting the world on fire either. Hey, I’ll take “selling reasonably well” any day, c’mon.

The big hit of the week is Star Wars: High Republic, which I wanted to be about Teen Yoda selling bags of fresh Dagobah Green out of the back of his Ford Pinto in his school’s parking lot, but apparently is about Jedi shenanigans in the past of the Star Wars universe or something. Anyway, probably half the people who bought it will never know what it’s about because their copies are going straight to eBay, but I had some folks genuinely excited to read it. It’s certainly the best-selling Star Wars comic in a while, but I imagine sales are going to plummet once the series moves into the less-eBayable Not Issue #1s. Or until some loon with a YouTube show declares a later random issue hot for no damned reason, who can tell with those people, he said grumpy old man-ily.

Oh, and remember the whole Bad Idea Comics thing? The one where only select stores across the country are going to get them initially, and somehow I got in on the deal? Well, they’re about to take orders for their first regular release, Eniac #1, which I announced on my store site yesterday. After an extensive delay, due to waiting for the industry to kind of pull itself together again after the COVID shutdown, it’s finally starting up, so we’ll see how it goes! I’m not sure how I’m going to order yet, but I already have (and am getting more) preorders from customers, and I’m curious how many mail orders for these I’m going to receive, given the limited availability. Should be an interesting experiment, at the very least.

One final thing, to help you start your weekend right: my old pal Brook told me about a movie that, somehow, I’d never heard about before, despite looking entirely like My Thing that I would have adored as a child upon its late ’70s release. Brooke directed me to the trailer upon the YouTubes, , which I watched with him in the shop yesterday afternoon, and lo, did I have the widest smile on my face.

Are you quire ready for…STUNT ROCK:

If it’s one thing the people of this great nation can come together to agree upon, it’s that more rock band stage performances need fire-wielding wizards.

Happy Anniversary, Happy Anniversary, Happy Anniversary, HAAAAAPY Anniversary!

§ November 5th, 2020 § Filed under sterling silver comics § 7 Comments

I’ll be back to regular posting tomorrow, but did want to pop in now to let folks know that today is the sixth anniversary of my opening up Sterling Silver Comics for business. Thanks to all of you who’ve expressed your support over the years, starting with my initial announcement here all the way ’til today. It means a lot to me that I’ve had so many of you wishing for my success. It has its ups and downs (especially this year!) but running my own business has been rewarding and fun, and I’m sorry it took so long to finally make the jump.

Again, thanks to all of you, and I’ll be back tomorrow with your regular dose of industry talk mixed with silliness.

I keep rememering another employee every couple of minutes to add to that list.

§ May 25th, 2020 § Filed under how the sausage is made, sterling silver comics § 3 Comments

So first, a correction/addendum to a previous post.

I was talking to my former boss Ralph, who owned the comic shop I used to work at, the other day, and he had a bone to pick with me. “I was reading your blog, and you co-opted my story!” he admonished me, and I was genuinely didn’t know what he meant. And he told me it was that story about the Superboy Annual #1 some folks were trying to sell. “That happened to me, not you!” he chided me.

Now first, Ralph was just giving me a bad time…he wasn’t really mad. Ralph’s a friend, and we’ve known each other pretty close to 40 years now, and if anyone has the right to give me a ration of shit, it’s Ralph.

Second…I honestly wasn’t trying to steal Ralph’s sauce in my story, or really in any story I tell about my days in servitude at the previous place of employment. In the case of the Superboy comic story, I believe I was in fact the person who took that initial call, as stated. But the rest of the related events did in fact directly involve Ralph. I was merely a Concerned Onlooker, watching and thinking “this will make a good story on my blog once those are a thing a decade from now.”

When I write about happenings at the old job, I tend to use an editorial “we,” as in “all us guys and the occasional gal who were at the shop.” I think my thinking in how I tell these stories is that what is happening and who is doing it is the point of the tale, over to whom these events are happening. In my head I know this stuff happened to Ralph, or to Rob, or Dorian, or Corey, or Aaron, or Dave, or Rachel, or Sean, or Timmy, or Damian, or Nathan, or the other Nathan, or Shirley, or one of the Joshes, or Greg, or someone else I’m probably forgetting, or even me.

I mean, there are specific events that happen to specific people at the shop. The lady who gave a withering “I’m very disappointed” when we didn’t have an issue of Stray Toasters…that happened to me. When the shop was visited by lady wrestlers in full regalia…I’d say that’s a thing that happened to “us.” Sometimes I don’t remember who was there at the time when things happened…like I don’t remember which fellow employee was with me when the lady selling a cleaning product door-to-door demonstrated how safe and non-toxic it was by removing the nozzle and licking the tube that dropped down into the bottle.

But in the case of the Superboy story, that was definitely Ralph who had to deal with those folks. When I said “we” in that story, that meant “Ralph, who was dealing with them directly, and me, who was listening to Ralph dealing with them while I was restocking, I don’t know, West Coast Avengers or something.” I’ll try to be a little clearer about these things in the future, and give credit where credit is due.

In current store news…so far, things are going swimmingly. Customers are happy to shop in the store again (while practiciing proper health safety, of course) and I finally had some reasonable days of business after two months of scrambling to make sales. Well, okay, Sunday was a bit slowish, and I expect Monday, a holiday, may be a little slow as well. Or it may be hugely busy because it’s a holiday…who knows. People are still being cautious about venturing into the diseased outdoors, so it may be a while before my business..or anyone’s business, is back to normal. I’m just glad I was able ride out the shutdown, but there are still plenty of challenges to come.

I know I promised something funny this time.

§ May 22nd, 2020 § Filed under retailing, sterling silver comics § 10 Comments

So Wednesday afternoon, a lady from the city came by to make sure my store had all the proper COVID-19 awareness signage and procedures in place, telling me that she hopes to get the go-ahead to let stores open to the public again by the weekend.

Thursday morning I received an email from the city, telling me “so long as you did [all the things the lady on Wednesday told me to do], open on up.” And that’s how Sterling Silver Comics is once again open to walk-in business, so long as you’re wearing a mask and trying to stay at least six feet away from anyone else.

I mean, that was a complete surprise to me. It was only a week or so ago that we got the okay to do curbside pickup. I was sure I’d have to keep my doors locked during the day for about another month or two. Huh, go figure. At least now I have a fightin’ chance at paying those invoices I was worrying about last time.

It’s welcome news, I mean, at least financially for me. But it’s really going to depend on how well people continue to protect themselves, and not get lax about it just because things look like they’re returning to some semblance of “normal.” First guy in the door on Thursday, a longtime customer of mine, didn’t have a mask…I told him next time he’s gotta wear one, and since he’s not one of these “BUT MY FREEDOMZ” disease-vectoring yahoos I’ve been seeing on the news, he agreed. Rest of my customers that day were sufficiently covered however.

All this said, I’m still offering curbside pickup and mail order as options, if folks would rather not venture in public spaces, which I totally understand. Plus I’m still doing these 30 for $20, or 75 for $45, packs of random comics, because I’m trying to clear out my backroom. And I’m taking your want lists, and I’m still putting stuff up on this Google sheet in lieu of an actual database, so let me know if you want anything off there.

Look, I wasn’t trying to trick you into reading an ad for my store. But these are hard times for comic shops, and even though I was lucky to hang in there so far during this epidemic, I still need to shore up the ol’ cash flow.

Sigh. You know, when I first started this blog I wasn’t planning on ever bringing up that I worked in a comic shop. Now look at me.

I’ll try to post something funny next time.

§ May 20th, 2020 § Filed under retailing, sterling silver comics § 1 Comment

This is the week that the major comics distributor, Diamond Comics, is starting up said distribution again, getting new comics into shops. After having relatively small shipments of just new DC Comics over the last few weeks from an alternative distributor, I suppose it was time to start gearing up the shop for these larger shipments coming in…though as it turned out, even Diamond is moving slow at first, easing back into the business.

Now Diamond wasn’t shut down entirely over the last couple of months, as they were still distributing reorders so long as you asked for them to be directly shipped from the warehouse…as opposed to having them sent with your regular weekly shipments, of which there had been none of late. My mistake, of course, was that the day before Diamond announced it was putting their weekly shipment on hold, I put in a largish reorder that I asked to have sent with the weekly deliveries. And of course there were lots of special requests in that reorder, so I had a lot of apologizing to do to those customers (all of whom were understanding and patient, thankfully).

The big issue is being able to take in enough income to cover the invoice costs each week. Not a problem right now, with small shipments (in fact, pretty much covered the week’s new comics costs with just my Tuesday sales), but based on coming weeks, it looks like New Comic Days will be approaching pre-shutdown levels. The trick here is that my store, like many retail stores in California (and elsewhere in the country) I’m closed to public access by government decree. I can do curbside pickup, so I’m very much encouraging folks to take that option and get their comics right quick so I can keep paying those gimmicks they keep sending in the mail called bills.

Again, not much of an issue now, but if I’m gonna be getting new larger Diamond invoices and I’m still keeping the customers out..well, that’s gonna be rough. The good news is that I did finally receive some financial assistance from the Binc Foundation…not, like, enough to keep my store afloat for months or anything, but hey, it ain’t nuthin’ and it’ll come in handy. Now if I could get that Paycheck Protection Program money or that Small Business Administration disaster relief grant, I’d be in a lot better position. Pretty sure cruise lines got all the PPP money, but maybe they’ll find some spare change behind the cushions in the chairs in their lobby to cover my payroll…which is, like, me. I’d like to, you know, maybe pay myself again someday.

Okay, it’s not quite as dire as all that…early indications are that my good and kind customer base are all ready to throw their comic dollars at me to keep me around, which is nice. And I’m keeping a close eye on orders, making sure things are cut down enough to not overwhelm me with costs, but not so much that I don’t have anything to sell. It’s a tricky line to straddle, but it’s gotta be done.

I mean, with any luck, like Diamond’s promotion for their return says, my comeback will be bigger than my setback, but it’ll take a while to get there. Like I said when all this started, I think for me, personally, Diamond ceasing distribution for a brief period was the wise choice, as it didn’t stick me with weeks and weeks of full orders I wouldn’t be able to move and fulls invoices I wouldn’t be able to pay. But I know that likely stuck stores that were still able to remain open with vastly reduced incomes while having to make rent and payroll and pay utilities, etc. Not sure Diamond had a whole lot of options, and I’m sure none of the options they did have would have made everyone happy.

As far as I can tell at this point, my business will be able to make it through this, which is very lucky for me. A lot of other comic shops, and just businesses in general, won’t, and it’s just a damn shame things had to get this bad.

A few years ago we could’ve called it the “Curbside New 52 Pickup.”

§ May 8th, 2020 § Filed under retailing, sterling silver comics § 2 Comments

So the big news is that California is entering “Phase 2” of their gradual reopening of the state, allowing certain low-risk businesses to partially reopen, so long as they follow certain restrictions and guidelines to prevent the spread of the virus.

What this means is that I can now offer curbside service to customers, allowing them to drive up and pick up comics and whatnot that I can carry out to them. It’s going to be a slightly convoluted process as I juggle taking payments and handing out product, but I don’t expect it’s going to necessarily be a lot of pickup service until the new comics start coming out in force later this month. It’s good that I have an additional option outside of mail order to make money, as those new comic shipments come with new comic invoices that I’ll have to pay. But, I’ve been watching my order numbers, trying to keep things down to a dull roar, and hopefully I can ride things out ’til people are actually allowed in the shop again (which I’m sure will come with its own parade of regulations to which I’ll have to comply).

Speaking of mail order, I’m of course still doing it, shipping out to environs far and wide, and close to home to if you don’t want to venture out of the bunker to get yer funnybooks. And I recently expanded my 30 for $20 random recent-ish comic deal, announcing on Twitter my 75 for $45 offer. Yes, that’s a (slightly) better per-unit price! And again, this is for recent stuff, not, you know, 75 copies of Silver Age X-Men or whatever. I recently added a whole bunch more stock to the piles from which I’m pulling for these packages, so if you’ve ordered before, feel free to order again! Help me clear some boxes out of the back room! PayPal all your money to mike (at) sterlingsilvercomics (dot) com! (Prices include domestic shipping…offer available outside the U.S., but contact me first re: shipping.)

And I’m still slowly added comics to this Google doc, so you can least get an idea of what back issues I have. Again, this is just going through the new arrival boxes so far, and I have lots more than what’s just listed here. Feel free to send me your own want lists and I’ll check through ’em fast as I can!

Okay, sorry, this post turned into an ad, pretty much. But I am concerned about generating some income, especially with new invoices heading my way on a regular basis. Even with curbside sales, that’s still just one more barrier between me and the customer, and even the slightest obstruction between “I want to buy comics” and “I want to sell you comics” can slow sales down significantly.

Thankfully, however, my customers have been helpful and generous and staying in contact with me, and that certainly means a lot. Not just for keeping my business afloat, but for making me feel like my weird little business is still important.

Anyway, if you’re in my store’s neighborhood, drive by! Let me throw some comics through your car window!

Some days I wish I could just go back to posting funny panels in my synopsis of some out-there 1960s Jimmy Olsen comic.

§ April 20th, 2020 § Filed under pal plugging, retailing, sir-links-a-lot, sterling silver comics § 4 Comments

Hot off last week’s presses, some news came down regarding funnybook distribution in our near future. First, Diamond Comics announced that it was looking at a mid-to-late May date to start shipping product out to whatever stores still remain. Nothing nailed down just yet, and I still think it’s really going to depend on the large comic markets like California and New York will be doing in regards to allowing regular retail to resume.

And if that’s not enough, DC Comics has decided not to wait on Diamond, and is instead going to send out at least three weeks of their new comics through a couple of alternative distribution points. It’s not a heavy load of books coming over these three weeks, which is good and bad, I guess. Good in that I’m not being asked to put out a lot of money when not a lot of money is currently coming in, and bad in that there’s not really enough here to goose immediately mail order shipping from customers wanting their new books. But then, you never know..maybe after all three weeks have come and gone there will be enough to get some folks to call in, I think.

Anyway, the books being shipped had their orders cancelled through Diamond, so I had to place new orders for everything. I had to think hard about those orders, given that I’m not going to have the off-the-rack sales as my store will still be closed to the public at least through all three of those weeks. BUT will they sell off the rack once I’m able to open again and people try to catch up? I don’t know…best to order conservatively for now and reorder if I need to.

It’s…a weird time to be a comics retailer. Or any kind of niche retail business, for that matter. The one advantage I have is that comics are escapism, and boy do people want escapism right now.

I’ve been doing…okay, as far as business goes. I’ve had several phone and email orders, and I’m at the post office pretty much every day gettting stuff sent out. I’m not making the money I was, but with Diamond’s invoices paid off, and my rent paid for the next month, I don’t have the same expenses either. (And my planned purchases of that new DC product won’t be very dear either.)

In an odd sort of way, aside from the weird existential dread of awareness that a plague roams the land, working along in my closed shop has been, well, relaxing. Processing mail order, typing old comics into this online spreadsheet for folks to pick from and buy, listening to podcasts as I work…it’s all a bit therapeutic. Which isn’t to say I’m not looking forward to being able to swing my doors wide open again.

So it looks like an interesting month up ahead for my shop, and every shop. Going to try to not let it stress me out too much. And if it does…I’ll just play around with piles of old comics, and all will be well again.

In the meantime:

Don’t forget, I’m still taking orders and want lists and whathaveyou, as well as still doing these packs of 30 random comics for $20 postpaid domestic! Help me clean out my backroom!

Also, over the weekend, one of my regular customers brought me a comics-themed facemask made by her mother! The downside is that you can’t see my quarantine beard that I’ve been growing for the last few weeks. But that’s the price I pay for high fashion!

And so long as I’m being Sir Links-A-Lot again, let me point you at my shop’s website, its Facebook, its Twitter, and its Instagram. News regarding my store’s status during our current situation can be found there…and here on this site, for that matter.

Thanks for reading pals, and stay safe out there. KEEP WEARING THOSE MASKS, even if they’re not as cool as mine!

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