Garner Loudermilk, an employee at a toy company, saw John Riley's comments about the limited availability of Captain America #25 (see 'Sharpening the Sword--Captain America Died') and thinks retailers shouldn't blame Marvel for their problems:
I'm sorry, I do not agree with John Riley. I'm glad that Marvel hasn't over printed this book. Has everyone forgotten the Death of Superman fiasco? A reported 4 million books printed. A great many times more than normal was printed, and now the book is barely worth a little over cover. If Marvel has learned from DC's mistake then I for one am glad of this. If they over-printed the book then there is no chance of the book rising in value.
And if comic store owners didn't see this coming, then they have lost touch with their product and their customer base. Don't blame Marvel or Quesada, because you misjudged the market, the buck stops with you, PERIOD! Quesada obviously did an excellent job, on his part, making a story that everyone wanted. Where it went wrong is store owners failing to capitalize on it. Don't blame the industry, blame yourself. You knew it was selling, you read three months ago in Previews when it said someone was going to die. If you failed to order up on it and are losing out on sales, it's your fault.
Yes, by all means, pass the buck--blame Marvel and Quesada--it was their little conspiracy to upset your customers and make fan boys cry. I hope they do reprint the book though, so that fans can get it (hopefully with a different cover and a second print tag on the inside cover). But if the customers didn't have it on their subscription list at their local comic shop then again that is their fault, not Marvel's. So stop blaming the industry for your short-sightedness and take a long look around you and get back in touch with your store and actually read Previews (that's what it's there for) instead of blindly checking off boxes of what you order every month. I'll get off my soap box now...
The opinions expressed in this Talk Back article are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.
