Mikester

from Fantastic Four #511 (May 2004) by Mark Waid, Mike Wieringo & Karl Kesel

Yeah, I know, that’s a tribute page to Jack Kirby, but it fits for Mr. Wieringo as well.

Pay a visit to his site for more of the man’s work.

So long, Mike.

So Caleb asked yesterday why some stores can’t seem to move any issues of Countdown, while we seem to be selling them just fine.

A few stats that I looked up at the shop on Sunday: not only is Countdown consistently matching or outselling DC’s previous weekly series 52 in sales, I noticed it was outselling Ultimate Spider-Man nearly 2 to 1. In fact, it’s outselling nearly all the high-selling titles from Marvel and DC…it outsells Justice League of America, any given X-title…the only thing I can think of from the Big Two that outsells Countdown right now is the World War Hulk mini-series.

My answer to Caleb that any difference in performance on a particular title from store to store can primarily be chalked up to regional differences. Perhaps we just have more DC fans than some other stores, or perhaps Countdown is more to our customers’ tastes than to another shop’s customer base. (All Star Batman is also selling extremely well for us, so clearly our customers have excellent taste.) But over the years, reading market reports from other stores about what sells for them and what doesn’t and how we differ from them, and seeing what comics get canceled for poor sales even though we’re doing okay with them…well, I just find it a curious phenomenon, even if I don’t have a more specific reason why.

There may be other, more negative, reasons, which I hesitate to bring up because Caleb mentioned a specific retailer and I don’t want this to come across as a criticism of that retailer. Because, really, I’m not trying to. At all. Don’t even think it.

However, this post came from some stores I’ve been to (not the Caleb-mentioned retailer, to re-emphasize), where certain prevailing attitudes and habits may hurt sales on certain books. You know…they don’t order copies for the shelf because it doesn’t sell, and it doesn’t sell because copies aren’t ordered for the shelf, or just openly badmouthing titles and/or companies…those are self-fulfilling prophecy-type behaviors from certain funnybook sellers (not the mentioned retailer, nor, hopefully, me) that are guaranteed to lead to failure.

(However, I have been thinking about what impact having sites like this one have on that percentage of my customer base that’s aware of my weblog. If I criticize a particular book/company/creator on my site, will that discourage a customer from trying something out at the shop? I haven’t noticed any significant impact of that sort…but who knows? But that’s a post for another time.)

Then again, it’s not as if I went out of my way to promote Countdown, either. I put up the big ol’ promo poster, I racked plenty of copies on the shelf…it just sorta sells itself. And people aren’t just buying it out of habit, simply because there’s a new issue every Wednesday (though I’m sure that’s part of it)…I’ve had a number of customers mention to me that they really, really like it…even more so than 52.

So, Caleb…I don’t know exactly why Countdown sells for us and not so much for some other stores. It’s probably no more complicated than “our customer bases want different things,” which isn’t an in-depth answer, but likely an accurate one.

---

Building on my remarks yesterday about Essential Dazzler‘s surprising sales, and considering how well Marvel’s recently-released Devil Dinosaur hardcover has been doing for us, I’ve been wondering. I don’t have any exact numbers at my fingertips, here, but my general feeling is that the Showcase and Essential volumes that sell marginally better are the more oddball ones. Showcase Presents Jonah Hex and Metamorpho moved more copies than any of the Batman volumes, and we’ve sold more Essential Howard the Duck than, say, Essential Defenders.

There could be a variety of reasons for this…maybe people have had enough Batman reprints for the time being, or that some books just plain look better in the black and white format (like Tomb of Dracula) while your standard issue superhero stuff tends to suffer without color.

But it got me thinking. How well would a trade paperback of Marvel Comics’ U.S. 1 series sell?

Yeah, really, U.S. 1. The comic about the superhero/sci fi truckers. Hey, people laughed at Dazzler and Devil Dinosaur, too, and yet I can’t keep those reprint books on the shelves. And while U.S. 1 perhaps isn’t good in a traditional sense, it’s still kinda goofy, innocent fun. It’s certainly more entertaining than…well, pick your own way-too-serious superhero book. Anyway, I’m betting a trade of U.S. 1 would probably do fairly well, given how well the much-maligned Dazzler has done as a reprint, finally finding an audience decades after its initial release.

Another good Essential candidate: Rom Spacenight. Yeah, I know, it’s based on a toy license, but if Marvel paid a one time fee to the owners of Godzilla for the Essential reprint of their ’70s Godzilla series…surely paying a pittance for the license of a toy that wasn’t all that popular to begin with isn’t that much of a hurdle. ‘Course, ownership of the Rom license may be obscured slightly, or perhaps whoever owns the character thinks it’s worth much more than it really is, and is asking too much.

Whatever the reasons preventing it, a Rom collection would be nice, and would probably sell like gangbusters.

Any other weirdo reprints from the Big Two you think might go over well?

1. I’m laying off the break-in talk for now, unless there are new developments. Here’s hoping that new development will be “They caught the dumb bastard — he was breaking into another comic book store to steal their early Ultraverse issues.”

2. Though, on a related note…everyone laughed at the fact that the guy stole Spawn and Witchblade comics. But the comics used to sell enormously well…someone was buying them. I know I bought Spawn for a while…it wasn’t too bad, at first. Todd McFarlane’s art was cartoony and appealing, and his writing…well, it was improved slightly over the Spider-Man “his webline – advantageous!” days, at least.

And I know some of you bought ’em, too. Don’t deny it, I know you have ’em. And not just the issues of Spawn guest-written by the good writers, either.

3. The people have spoken, and they want Essential Dazzler. Dazzler, a comic people have made fun of for decades, is now available in one of those fat black ‘n’ white paperbacks…and our copies sold out immediately on Wednesday.

Interestingly, a copy of the generally-maligned graphic novel Dazzler the Movie sold along with a bunch of its original art on the eBay for four hundred bucks.

4. Selling well at the shop:

Countdown (still outselling 52 for us)

World War Hulk (though a few folks are worried about a Civil War-esque flood of tie-ins and a non-ending)

Star Wars trade paperbacks (always sell consistently, though we just had a kid drop a lot of birthday money and wipe out our section)

Not selling well at the shop:

Thor zombie variant (lots of comments along the lines of “Ewww, Thor looks ugly…are there any other covers to this I can buy?”)

5. Related to the Star Wars graphic novel thing…had another customer tell me about trying to get a copy of the Tales of the Jedi: Redemption trade paperback on the eBay, except that it’s selling for a lot of money. For example, this winning $89.00 bid.

6. From Yahoo’s main page last night:

I’ll just add that to the list of “Things I Didn’t Expect Yahoo to Feature as News on Their Home Page.”

Some bad news regarding the theft at our store. Since the glass case containing our EC Comics collection had been disturbed, I made some time on Thursday to pull all the books out and perform an inventory. At first glance, the books in the case simply looked like they’d been pushed around a bit, but after checking our notes, it appears that six issues of Weird Science are missing. It seems the thief (or thieves) just reached in and grabbed a pile at random. We did find a Weird Science on the floor beneath the case Wednesday morning, so it was probably knocked out in the crook’s rush to grab the books out of the case.

I’ve been trying to piece together what exactly happened that morning, and so far it’s something like this:

1. Perp drops in through ceiling, sets off motion detector alarm.

2. Perp rushes to the first class counter, grabs Witchblade, Spawn, some other recent books.

3. Perp rushes to one end of the second, much larger, glass counter. Reaches in and grabs a few variant cover comics from that end.

4. Perp then goes to other end of counter, reaches in and grabs a pile of ECs at random, dropping one Weird Science on the floor, as well as one of the Witchblades.

5. Charges into the backroom, apparently tripping or kicking the bottom-most new comics shelf closest to the backroom entrance, breaking it.

6. Tries to head to the back door, takes path by office, kicking over a box and some books in the process.

7. That path is blocked at the end by a number of boxes currently in the process of being rearranged (a nigh-endless process, as anyone who’s survived a trip to our backroom can verify), so the perp doubles back and takes the next aisle over to the back exit.

8. There are three doors in the general area of the exit. He tries the bathroom door (no go), the closet door (Fibber McGee, look out!), before finally finding the actual exit and getting out, setting off the back door’s alarm signal.

Elapsed time: about a minute.

I’m using the singular term of “perp” because one, I’m pretty sure it was just one guy (it seems like the same guy was poking around in both cases, and nothing else in the store appeared to be ransacked), and two, it makes me feel like Judge Dredd. “DON’T MOVE, CREEP!”

So while I’m still somewhat bemused by the amount of effort this criminal put into breaking into our store, and his focus on a bunch of Image books that peaked in popularity a decade ago, the EC thing is quite irritating. Especially since it was obviously an afterthought…”I got the rare and valuable Spawn books…hmm, maybe I’ll grab a pile of these old books, too, just in case.” GAH. I’m almost insulted by the poor taste of our thief.

Seriously, though, we were lucky. Things could have been much worse. A lot more stuff could have been stolen, a lot more could have been broken. I just have to look at it that way, even though my semi-amusement at what was stolen has been muted by the loss of actual hard-to-find valuable material. On the plus side, those Weird Science books will stick out a lot more than a bunch of common recent comics, so I made yet another round of calls to notify nearby stores about them.

But losing those Weird Sciences bummed me out for most of Thursday. Even playing this LARD album at the end of the work day didn’t break me out of my funk. Even actual funk couldn’t break me out of my funk:

Well, okay, I lied…that helped a little.

---

Customer: “So, did you guys make the paper with the robbery?”

Me: “Yeah, we got in there…on the radio, too.”

Customer: “Hey, free advertising! So long as they spell your name right….”

Me: “Um, well, about that….”

We had a few people ask us “Hey, what’s with the ‘Seth’s Comic Corner’ thing?” so I’ve had to explain a few times that the two store names got conflated, somehow. So much for the free advertising silver lining…but I did see a few new faces, so maybe just the knowledge that there was a comic shop in Ventura, regardless of its name, caused folks to seek us out.

Hey, let me have my improbable dreams. But really, after nearly 30 years of business, I’m half-surprised that there are still people around here who haven’t heard of us.

---

Not robbery related: a brief conversation between Employees Jeff and Aaron outside the shop, related to me by Jeff…they’re talking about a friend of theirs, who’s about their age (mid-20s):

Jeff: “…And he met and married this woman, with two kids, and she’s 39!”

Aaron: “Wow! 39? That’s even older than Mike!”

Ah, yes, that’s very amusing. I’m sure Aaron will enjoy telling that story at wherever his new job will be.

---

Pal JP has been posting some great goofy Batman images lately…the most recent post has a couple “adult” LP covers (NSFW – naked butt alert!) with Batman images that will haunt your dreams, and another recent post has an eyesight-damaging off-register Japanese Batman. God bless pal JP and his unerring sense for wonderful Batcrap.

So we’ve actually been robbed like this once before, about…geez, nearly 18 years ago now? When we were still in the small shop across the street from where we are now (from about two moves ago), someone busted into our small side window, climbed down the wall (demolishing a bunch of metal role-playing game figurines in the process), walked past the glass case with thousands of dollars’ worth of comics, and stole the register drawer. Total loss: about twenty bucks or so in coins, plus whatever it cost to replace the drawer and the broken window.

We were lucky with this latest robbery, for the most part…according to the alarm company records, about one minute elapsed between the motion detector picking up something moving in the store and registering the opening of the back door. So the burglar (or burglars – who knows?) spent one panicked minute running around our shop in the dark, burglar alarm blaring, searching through the glass cases for something to take until they decided on Witchblade, Spawn, some variant covers, and a few other recent books.

Now, I received some incredulous responses to the fact that Witchblade and Spawn comics were stolen. Here’s how my several explanations at the shop went on Wednesday:

Customer (upon seeing the mess): “Wow, what happened?”

Me: “Someone broke into the store this morning.”

Customer: “Did they steal anything?”

Me: “Yeah…they got some Witchblade and Spawn comics.”

Customer: (laughs) “No, really, what’d they steal?”

I figure whoever did this was just a kid, or someone only superficially familiar with the collectible aspect of comics, recognized Witchblade and Spawn and some recent “hot” books, and decided that’s what they had to have. (Thanks, Wizard!) They may have some pricey book values, but, as commenter Michael notes, this isn’t 1995 any more. The days of Spawn and Witchblade = quick turnover for big cash are pretty much over.

At any rate, it seemed like a lot of effort for such little result. But, then again, grabbing a royal buttload of EC Comics and trying to unload them would stick out more than trying to sell the relatively common recent books that actually were stolen. I did put out a call to some nearby stores to keep an eye out…not sure if the comics will turn up at any of them, but you never know.

• Aside #1: I had in the process of dealing with an e-mail inquiry about the two copies of Witchblade #2 that we had in stock. I had removed them from the case to describe their conditions to the potential buyer via e-mail, but then I put them back in the case so I wouldn’t lose track of them. Oops. Now, I have to e-mail this poor customer and explain what happened. “Yeah, those comics you wanted? Someone broke in and stole them. …No, really, they were stolen. Honest.”
• Aside #2: I did find one copy of Witchblade #3 from the case dumped on the floor near the end of the other glass case, where presumably our after-hours customer kneeled down to rummage through our piles of those stupid and worthless old ECs. When we explained to one of our regulars, who had been eying the Witchblades for purchase for a few weeks, what had happened and that we only had the one pricey Witchblade left…he bought it right away. Just in case the robbers decided to come back for it.
• Aside #3: A long time ago, someone broke into the storage unit of one of our then-current employees and stole his comics. A couple weeks later, someone came into the shop with comics to sell…and yes, you guessed it, it was the employee’s collection. (The several 1960s Archie bowling covers were what clinched it.) We grabbed the box from the guy, who took off when he realized the jig was indeed up. I don’t think we’ll be lucky enough for the comics from yesterday’s robbery to just walk back in the door like that…but since we’re probably not dealing with criminal masterminds here, who knows?
• Aside #4: Some register change was accidentally left out in plain view of whoever broke in. The burglar(s) walked by actual cash money to steal Spawn and Witchblade.
• Aside #5: In another “long time ago” story, someone at the shop had left the front door to the store unlocked…and when the alarm went off, at 2 in the morning, I was the only person the alarm company could contact. And, naturally, I was also the person who lived farthest away from the store. So I got up, drove to the store, checked things out, determined nothing was stolen…best guess was that, since it was a windy night, the wind might have blown the door open a bit and set off the alarm. Ever since then, though many years have passed, to this very day I compulsively check the front door after closing to make sure it’s locked. I can watch an employee walk to the front door, stick the key in the lock, turn the key, rattle the door to ensure it’s locked…and I’ll still have to go over there and check the door. Even if I’m the one who locked the door, I’ll still double check it.

  Now I’m going to spend my time after closing checking the ceiling. I’m going to have to get out the ladder so I can rattle the roof and make sure it’s shut.

• Aside #6: Former employee Nathan: “Hey, what happened?”

  Me: “Someone broke into the store. What a drag.”

  Nathan: “Oh, yeah? Someone was shot to death at my new job’s front entrance!”

  Me: “…”

At about 2:40 Tuesday morning, our store (Ralph’s Comic Corner, in Ventura, CA) was broken into and robbed. The burglar(s?) came in through the ceiling, knocking out electricity in half of the store in the process. One of the shelves on our new comics rack was busted, our ECs and undergrounds in the large glass case were stirred around a bit (but otherwise unburgled), and the only things we appear to have lost were early Witchblades and Spawns, a handful of Spider-Man, and a couple recent variant covers.

Mostly, we’re pissed about the mess left behind than we are about the missing books. What a nuisance. There’s still a big pile of ceiling tiles and wiring around our graphic novel section and our toy shelves that needs to be cleaned up. Plus, we just had a lot of rewiring work done on that side of the store, which has all essentially been undone.

Yes, we’re still open for business, and new books are out for sale. The show must go on, as they say.

EDIT: Our intrepid local newspaper has the story on its site, so here are my corrections: there are two stores – Ralph’s Comic Corner (the store I manage), and Seth’s Games & Anime (the games and, you guessed it, anime store we lease out space to). The street address we use is 2379, the Ralph’s storefront, though I suppose I can’t blame them for getting that wrong…the space Seth occupies is technically 2343, but no one uses that address for anything.

from Meet the Amazing Spider-Man (Golden Books, 1996) by Michael Teitelbaum & Kirk Jarvinen

Pal M.A. Masterson left a comment to yesterday’s post where, aside from correcting my spelling of “potrzebie,” recommended a review of the Mad Magazine board game. His instincts are good; I did indeed own the Mad board game, and, as M.A. says, the object of the game was to get rid of all your money. Alas, the board game is packed away somewhere in the depths of the parents’ garage, along with my other old board games, and I have not yet been able to recover it. However, you can read more about it at Boardgamegeek, which has lots and lots of photos of the board and of box covers from many lands.

I also want to find that box o’games, because I desperately want to recover my copy of the Greatest Board Game of All Time, The Sinking of the Titanic. But I digress.

Anyway, what I do have is the Mad Magazine Card Game, published by Parker Brothers in 1979:

Similar to the board game, the object is lose all of the cards in your hand, while forcing your opponents to acquire more cards.

The card faces all feature artwork by Jack Davis:

The numbered cards feature sequential gags (I left a couple out in this particular sequence to fit ’em on the scanner):

Don’t really have much more to say about it than that…Boardgamegeek has more pics, plus more foreign editions.

---

Hey, remember when I used to talk about comics on this site, once in a while?

• I’ve been meaning to praise the World War Hulk mini-series event Marvel’s been running. I’m not following all the crossovers, but the concurrent Front Line mini has been reasonably entertaining as well. Tim O’Neil has a few words about how surprised he is that he’s actually enjoying a Marvel series, and I can’t disagree with anything he says.

  The big problem, of course, is how the series will wrap up in the Mighty Marvel “Status Quo – Successfully Maintained” Manner, since the Hulk 1) won’t be kicked off Earth for good, and 2) won’t be killed…oh, and 3) won’t conquer the Earth and become the ruler of the entire planet, as much fun as that might be. Or it might go the Civil War route, with a anticlimactic ending that simply leads into yet more crossover event fun. The book’s been pretty solid so far, though, so I’m not entirely without hope that we may, possibly, get some kind of reasonable resolution to the story. (Which will seemingly involve the Sentry, a character I didn’t have time for before, but has been used to interesting effect thus far in this series.)

  Other people have noted that you can’t really go wrong with Hulk Smashing, particularly right now, as it’s been a while since we’ve had a good old fashioned readable Marvel-style melee. Plus, there’s a bit of catharsis to it as well, as Hulk is laying a beat down on the heroes that Marvel has invested a lot of time and effort over the last year or so in getting the readers to actively dislike. An odd publishing strategy, I suppose, making readers hate your headliners (and a couple second stringers), but it worked out for the World War Hulk series.

  And there’s John Romita Jr. art. I love Romita Jr. art, but he so rarely draws anything I’d want to read. I think the last thing he drew that I read and enjoyed was Frank Miller’s Daredevil: The Man without Fear mini in ’93, so it’s been a bit of a dry spell for me.

  I’ll also note that the comic is selling enormously well at the shop…the central mini-series is, at any rate, with only a slight bump on the crossovers, while the tie-in minis are solid mid-range sellers.

• Former comics writer Elliot S! Maggin is running for Congress in California. And, by the way, I live in his district, so I can vote for him. Not sure if it’ll do any good…the incumbent has been there since, it seems, California first became a state. But, if I have to choose between that guy and the guy who wrote this comic…well, I know where my loyalties lie.
• The first issue of Swamp Thing spin-off The Un-Men comes out this week. If you don’t buy it, you’ll make a Mikester cry. And surely you don’t want that.