We recently published an Open Letter to Retailers from Marvel COO Bill Jemas (see'Marvel's Bill Jemas 'Tells the Truth about Over-Production'') related to Marvel's no overprint policy generally, and its decision to print an upcoming Marvel Must Have on spec specifically (see 'Marvel Prints on Spec!'). Dave Brzeski of The House on the Borderland in Peterborough, United Kingdom sent us this comment:
This has to be the single most offensive thing I've ever heard from a comics publisher! We buy in goods at a discount and sell them to the public at a set price. If the item becomes sought after and they want to sell it later on for a profit... fine. If we later buy in copies from a customer to resell at a higher than cover price... fine. To suggest however that if we find we have 100 copies of a book and 120 customers want it, that we should sell to the first 97 and force 3 of the remaining 23 to pay through the nose to cover the money we might have otherwise made if we could simply reorder the book is outrageous, if not downright immoral! Marvel is (or should be) in the business of producing quality, saleable work, and should not be concerning itself with creating 'hot collectors items' by resticting the supply. Disgusted just doesn't cover how I feel about Jemas' comments.