L.E. Becker of WARP 9 Comics & Collectibles stores in Michigan saw the various comments on Tuesday deliveries and All Star Batman and Robin #10 (see “Kendall Swafford of Up Up & Away! on One Day Earlier” and “Kirby Tardy of Tardy's Collectors Corner on 'All Star Batman & Robin' #10”) and says he agrees that Tuesday deliveries are good for business and so is selling ASBR on eBay:
It is 7am as I am typing this, and I have read the statements published by my distinguished competition about the sales of All Star Batman on eBay, and, well, I have to disagree with them on the sale of this book and with the practice of Tuesday delivery of comics.
Now I can’t speak for the others who have Tuesday deliveries, but for me, who has two stores (and hopefully a third in the next five years, barring a bad economy), and does order the $40,000 in retail EVERY month in order to make Tuesday shipping possible (in accordance with Diamond's rules), it makes my life (and those of my employees) much easier. Instead of rushing to UPS to pick up our delivery early Wednesday morning (they open at 8am), placing the books on the racks, pulling for our pull members, and not to mention stocking with new toy and statue deliveries before we open at 11am (which gives us a mere1-1/2 hours to do so), we are able to take better care of our pulls at BOTH stores because we are not so rushed. I work a little extra longer on Tuesdays, but it's worth it just for the mere fact that I do not have to get up so early on Wednesdays (7am now instead of 6am) and am not falling asleep immediately when I get home (9pm).
And before anyone complains, WARP 9 does NOT let anyone purchase Wednesday books on Tuesday. We do honor the release date of the books and do NOT let anyone get their books until said release date (except for me, as I do take one of each home to read before the next day). I just want to nip that little fallacy in the bud right now. Not everyone breaks the rules.
As for the All Star Batman #10? Well, yes, I am one of the ones selling them on eBay. Why? Simply put, because of the extra money. Plain and simple. If you were handed a potential windfall would you actually give it away? Seriously? If you say yes, I am sorry, but that is just silly. In today's economy, giving up a potential couple hundred, if not a couple thousand dollars in extra revenue is just career suicide.
ALL of my customers who get All Star Batman in their pulls, got theirs at normal cover price MINUS their discount. Even my few who request the variants...they got 'em. I gave them the option to NOT receive it due to the language, but, lets face it, when the news hit, everyone wanted their copies. All of WARP 9's customers were very happy. Even Frank Miller, the writer of the frickin book, requested a few copies for his collection.
Other comic stores and dealers contacted us wanting copies. One asked us for 50 copies. Think about that for a moment. Do you really think if the shoe was on the other foot--that the dealers who didn’t receive their copies DID--that they would destroy them? That is just naive.
And let's get something straight--DC requested those who received the books to destroy them. We were not asked to return covers, otherwise we would be penalized. We were requested to destroy them because of a printing error, which DC has still not said, as of this writing, what the error was.
The comics market is primarily a reader's market but it is also a collectibles market (which is what it will always be attached to). And before anyone else lights up the board, let me just say that EVERY comic store is a collectibles store. That is the "stigma" attached to every shop that has the word "comic" before or after it. Let's face it; if you sell comic bags and boards, you are a collectibles store. If you do not sell bags and boards, you are a Barnes and Nobles, period.
My comments may be unpopular, but it IS the reality of the situation.
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.
