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Post by cfs on Aug 10, 2007 23:20:41 GMT -5
I know my friend Lee was buying from Greg Buls and the name Lane sounds VERY familiar. Maybe Edge Man was a Steve or he had a brother named Steve. I remember there being two brothers. Maybe I'm thinking of the New Jersey Company... Hmmm!
Would you guess that most of these guys are out of the hobby entirely?
cfs
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Post by comickings on Aug 11, 2007 10:44:26 GMT -5
Greg Buls,Lane,Kevin (from Comic Connection),Edge Man,Jef Hinds,Spider's Web....are all still around. How much biz they do in comics I don't know.I do see Jef,Greg Buls (Bulldog Collectibles),and Kevin on Ebay still handling comics. Edge Man (Brian) is pretty much back into the sports/gaming cards/Webkinz business.Spider's Web has gone to mostly mail order with action figures I think.I talked to Lane a few years ago.Back then he was still wheeling & dealing,but into other things than comics.I was trying to hit him up and seeing if he still had any Valiants left over from back in the day but they were long gone. Jef Hinds was selling 10 packs of Pre-Unity Valiants on Ebay a couple years ago.I don't know how much he had left but one of the lots I got off him was 10 Harbinger #1's. I don't know who the "Steve" is though.
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Post by cfs on Aug 11, 2007 12:45:59 GMT -5
Greg Buls,Lane,Kevin (from Comic Connection),Edge Man,Jef Hinds,Spider's Web....are all still around. How much biz they do in comics I don't know.I do see Jef,Greg Buls (Bulldog Collectibles),and Kevin on Ebay still handling comics. Edge Man (Brian) is pretty much back into the sports/gaming cards/Webkinz business.Spider's Web has gone to mostly mail order with action figures I think.I talked to Lane a few years ago.Back then he was still wheeling & dealing,but into other things than comics.I was trying to hit him up and seeing if he still had any Valiants left over from back in the day but they were long gone. Jef Hinds was selling 10 packs of Pre-Unity Valiants on Ebay a couple years ago.I don't know how much he had left but one of the lots I got off him was 10 Harbinger #1's. I don't know who the "Steve" is though. As I recall, one of the bulk comics dealers had a brother who owned a store in a different state. My friend was in communication with both of them. His name might not have been Steve. cfs
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whetteon
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Post by whetteon on Dec 29, 2007 13:44:26 GMT -5
What you guys are talking about is speculation. And yeah, the 90's was pretty hot with speculation. Pretty much ever fan out there made money at the cost of the speculators who got burned and moved on to the next great investing scheme (beanie babies?).
The problem is that this type of market crash isolated thousands of true fans and nearly ruined the industry (if not did as one could argue we're still just limping along). Volatility in a market place like we saw in the 1990's is good business for those who take advantage of the masses instead of growing the fan.
How many more fans would the industry have today if we made sure everyone who wanted a book could buy a book? Or that Turok 1 only reached $2 instead of $15? You have to grow customers with loyalty and honesty. And unfortunately alot of card dealers and short term snake oil salesmen took advantage of the industry and nearly busted it.
I'm not saying you shouldn't make a profit. Because making a profit is what I'm all about about. But at the same time you have to grow the brand SLOWLY. Store owners should be more interested in moving stock for cover price then milking the last $5 out of some 8 year old. Help the kid understand how the market works. Show him some other similar comics. Talk to him about comics.
What I saw when I was 14 years old in 1992 were store owners who'd step on their own mother just to make an extra buck. New releases were already starting out at $5 instead of cover price ($2). Everything was polybagged and extremely 'hot'. If you didn't spend $50 in there store weekly you wouldn't worth their time and so forth...
Yes, the industry has changed but I'd like to think for the better. You can still earn a good wage but you don't have as much room for error. We only have our greed during the 1990's to blame for that.
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Post by cfs on Dec 29, 2007 19:56:02 GMT -5
It's not just speculation. These guys were salesmen. They were creating dealers that sold Barbie comics to the neighbor's kids. They supplied convention dealers with the books it took to make money and reach new customers. Part of their problem today is that the bottom dwellers who were making a buck have died off. There is no interface with the general public anymore. Comics are invisible to the general public unless you can coax them into a store. That's very unlikely. If there were people like my friend Lee buying from Greg Buls and giving them to his nephew, you'd see some stunning increases in sales again.
cfs
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whetteon
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Post by whetteon on Jan 4, 2008 18:00:26 GMT -5
Good read!
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Post by G on Jan 6, 2008 12:01:50 GMT -5
I think ebay has changed the scope of things and rightfully so. 15 years ago, there was conventions like crazy, Playstation 1 hadnt come out yet, the internet hadnt boomed. Kids still liked comics back then.
Something cfs said made me remember selling out of my house. There was some guy who made a cheap crappy fanzine type paper publication and was having LCS's have a few stacks of them in their store as a free handout. I remember placing an ad in it. It cost me $5. Now, I wasnt getting a lot of calls, but I remember getting a few and people coming to my house and looking and buying comics like I was a store. It was cool, because not only was I picking up $40 - $80 here and there, they usually wanted to chat comics and things like that.
We used to look through the Trading Post and go to peoples homes trying to find and buy small collections cheap. The last time I did that was like 2002.
ebay has made it to where we never have to go and look for comics again. They are all right there and with so many people selling, its a very cut throat atmosphere. Unless you have the top of the line books or rares, you're cutting your own throat many times.
I cant remember the last local con. I have to travel 100 miles to find one when we used to have a local one at the latest, once every 2 months.
My kids both have at least 1 box of comics from me dragging them to the comic stores. The most they ever do is buy a few from the quarter bins and then box them when they get home. I never walk by their room and see them reading or even looking at them. Instead I see a handheld or a controller in their hand. When I see this, I feel like we are the last generation of comic fans. The future just doesnt seem bright.
I may be over negative here. But there seems to be fewer of us than their used to be. I will say when I went to Charlotte Con last summer I was very surprised how packed it was. The place was so full of people and body odor, you had to leave for air sometimes. It made me feel that there is still plenty of fans out there who thirst for the mega moments....me included. But the avenues to meet and congregate like we used to, have seemed to die off in droves. I shouldnt have to drive 300 miles for 1 good show or 100 for just a regular run of the mill con. If there could be mall shows like their used to be within 25 miles of where you live happening frequently. I would be there. Even Wizard is getting less and less about comics and more about things I dont care about at all.
What doesnt seem to be happening and its not just conventions, is any new thing out there drawing kids into it. Thats one reason I made up my fantasy laced "why isnt there a comic book tv channel" thread. I think it will take something of that caliber to get kids interested in comics again. Something daily and reliable. Something cool. Something not yet tried. Something different. While there is still enough of a fan base left.
Otherwise, people will try their hand at ebay and most will come up short and pack it in. The kids will never care. And our generation will have less to sell to and congregate with 1 by 1. Someone of influence needs to pick up the ball. Another innovator. Another Stan Lee or Jim Shooter type. Another ground breaker getting kids excited to have comics again.
I hate to say it, but it just seems bleak. Someone tell me quick how things are improving??? Please....
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whetteon
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Post by whetteon on Jan 10, 2008 19:52:20 GMT -5
Today's kids congratulate in virtual video game worlds. Have you heard that some 20something oriental gal made the first 1 million dollars in real money by selling items in a game?
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Post by cfs on Jan 10, 2008 22:31:43 GMT -5
Today's kids congratulate in virtual video game worlds. Have you heard that some 20something oriental gal made the first 1 million dollars in real money by selling items in a game? I'm not into gaming, but some of the Everquest tracks (meetings/discussions) at Dragon Con used to be adjacent to the ones I attended. I'd sometimes get to a room early and hear about people selling for real money. It's weird stuff. They also discussed social bonds which people create with strangers. You have counseling sessions & friendships all develop as a subset of the real world. It's not all just playing a game. cfs
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Post by starbrand on Mar 9, 2008 1:29:58 GMT -5
I know I made at least a couple grand real quick on Cap 25. I put most of it into slabbed Valiants. I sold at least 200 copies of each Dark Tower 1-7 of the first series. Civil War was another huge winner for me. I moved 150 copies of issue 1, and 400 copies of issue 2.
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