Mike Sterling's Progressive RuinAlone, unmourned, and unloved since 1969

The last ever “Al Gore Invented the Internet” joke.

§ May 16th, 2016 § Filed under question time § 10 Comments

Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten your questions!

Hooper Triplett has me jumping through the following:

“What do you do with a creator like Paul Grist? Love his work, want to support it, but how can I not knowing if/when it will ever come out?”

Why, you hug him and you pet him and you sq…er, (cough) that is…. Yeah, What Do You Do? Well, I don’t know what Mr. Grist’s particular situation is, but in general, if you have a creator that you like and it seems as if that person’s output is not on a predictable schedule, I’d suggest looking for that person’s online presence, or for an official site, or a regularly updated fan site where someone else has done the work for you. In Grist’s case, he has a Twitter account, and there is what seems to be a thoroughly-done fan page. That’s the sort of thing that should keep you updated on your favorite comic person’s goings-on.

If the person doesn’t have an online presence, or at least not a reliable one, you can try asking your local comics emporium to use Diamond’s retailer site’s search function to see if any new material is pending. I should note that using the new search function just implemented there, where you can supposedly search on creators’ names, I found only one entry for Paul Grist in the entire past, present and future items database, and I know that’s not the case. But if you know specific titles, that should be easily hunted down there.

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jason has the cure for what ails me with

“Do you ever feel like the internet…for lack of a better word…’fetishizes’ key books? Does all the slabbing/ unboxing videos/ haul videos create an insatiable appetite for them?

“More succinctly, does social media drive people to hunt key issues?

“Do you get more knowledgeable fans looking for keys, or more everyday people with limited knowledge? Follow up question, would you ever pit one against the other in combat?”

To be fair, this was a thing even before The World’s Greatest Porn Delivery Service™ was invented by Al Gore, thanks to price guides and fanzines and the like. I know even in the early days of my retail experience, prior to the influence of online hoohar, I’d get people who’d walk into the shop and just ask “what Key Issues do you have?” and I’d be sorely tempted to pull out comics with this guy in them. Certainly social media, and eBay, helps, by even more quickly creating awareness of hot items and short supplies, but it’s just the latest tool with which collectors hunt down their specific treasures. I remember word getting around quickly enough in Ye Olden Times about how Thor #337 was a Hot Item, even without your Compuserves and your eWorlds.

As to knowledgeable fans vs. general folks looking for keys…I think it’s still a pretty even mix. I’ll get a different walk-in every couple of days who rattles off a list of the same books everyone’s looking for…Amazing Spider-Man #300, New Mutants #98, etc. Some even look a little surprised that I don’t have a huge stack of each book just sitting behind the counter waiting specifically for them to walk in. And there are the people looking for Iron Man #55, the first appearance of Thanos, who are shocked that anyone other than them are looking for it, much less that it’s been an in-demand book since the last time Thanos was hot back in the early ’90s.

I think if I could nail down a difference, it’s that the more investment-inclined collectors are looking for specific key issues, while the more general interest collectors just ask “let’s see your box of old Spider-Man” (or “let’s see your box of Silver Age”). As for making them fight, well, I won’t admit to making anyone carve their own chromium-cover shiv….