By Britt Schramm
July 26, 2004
Last year, my shop decided to stop carrying individual back issues and removed the Back Issue bins in order to add more retail space. So, being curious by nature, I decided to ask Greg, the store owner, about the decision to abandon the Back Issue bins. He said that due to the availability and popularity of online secondary markets like eBay, Mile High Comics and others, having the physical Back Issue bins available for customers to purchase the holes in their collection was not cost effective enough for the retail space it took up.
Initially, the loss of the bins didn’t matter that much to me since I stopped visiting them for some time due to my love of the collected comic book form. As I was vacantly staring at the big empty space in the middle of the store’s floor, I got all nostalgic and started to reminisce about the time when I finally got back into reading comics. (Hint: For those who cried during the Big Brother 5’s revelation that Michael and Nakomis / Jennifer were actually step-brother and sister, better get the hankies out.)
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The year was 1996. At the time, I was still in mourning over the whole 1992 comic crapfest and a mere thought of comics sent me into a shell-shocked induced state due to all of hideous memories of those insane variant issues and unbelievable quantity of Number 1s that were coming out every week. There was no way that I would even think about rekindling a relationship with comics again without a life changing event or at the very least, a decent superhero movie.
Well, lo and behold; here comes a savior in the form of serendipity, dear readers… During that same summer, “Batman Forever” was released in the theaters. And while it wasn’t a critical success (which usually happened to superhero movies prior to X-Men and Spider-Man), it got me to like it well enough that I finally allowed the dead part of my heart where my love of comics was left for dead to come back to life. So, after that weekend, I decided to give comics another chance by going to a local store right near work.
That one time opportunity was all that the books and my unrequited love for them needed. I was hooked on those wonderfully colored tombs like the proverbial rat on crack or like Scott Weiland on smack but without the “12 Bar Blues” delusions of grandeur. I was going all over the place in Northern Virginia and Maryland to find back issues to bring my breadth of current comic knowledge up to speed. Ya see, kiddos, back in those times, trades were not as plentiful as they are now. Plus, I actually started back into the role of a collector/speculator instead of being a reader; so of course I wanted the individual issues.
Hell, I remember when I would go on travel for my full-time job; I would actually pull out the local phone book and search for any comic book store in the area that I could drive to on my down time so I could search for the elusive books that needed to be checked off of my list. During my various expeditions, I visited tons of comic book stores in Baltimore, San Francisco, San Diego, and Boston. I had the comic book jones so bad that I almost got into an accident and killed my wife when we were making a trek to this small comic book store in an out-of-the-way shopping center in Wailuku.
In Maui, Hawaii.
During our honeymoon.
Isn’t that a sign of a person addled with an addiction or what? (As a side note, I can’t tell you how many times that I’m constantly reminded of this near death experience by the wife. But if it was close to a million, I wouldn’t be surprised. Yeah, good times!)
Every time I would go out, it felt like I was on a quest to complete my run of whatever series that I was collecting at the time. And when I found one that was on the list (whether it was a six-month-old Batman issue or at the time a 14-year-old Comico Primer #2 comic with the first appearance of Grendel), I actually got a euphoric high. It was like being Indy and making out of the cave with the golden artifact without Belloq to steal it from you. Sometimes, I would actually get my bounty for cheap or at least compared to Wizard’s Price Sheet (which seems to have it own agenda when pricing books but that's a column for another time).
Okay, welcome back to the present day. If anyone was planning to locate a back issue today, where would you think they go first? You know where: the current Mecca for everything and anything that needs to be sold otherwise known as the eBay. Shoot, you know that they got to be doing something right if they can afford to buy songs from Burt Bacharach and the Estate of Frank Sinatra in order to personalize them to fit their TV ads. Those songs aren’t inexpensive; OK, maybe Burt’s could be had on the cheap but I’m sure that Frankie Baby’s tunes are top dollar ‘cause you know that the Mob is getting a kickback from that cash cow.
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And even if it’s not already slabbed and overpriced by 1000% on eBay, you can go to a multitude of various online comic book warehouses. Some of them even allow you to search their inventory, which is very helpful and can save you a worthless trip to an out-of-the-way store.
But, where’s the sense of adventure in text searching through your web browser? Where’s the rolling up of the sleeves and getting your hands dirty from pulling out tons of polybagged books out of dust-filled, sneeze-inducing bins throughout the country? How about the seemingly endless searches at unique, different and (let’s face it) sometimes scary comic book stores trying to locate that one issue that will complete a run? The Internet has taken away the thrill of the chase and replaced it with a growing sense of irrational paranoia as people hover over their respective keyboards just so they won’t get outbid at the last second on a Power Pack complete run.
Damn technology and its ability to make things easier. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m all about technology. To paraphrase Chico Esquella, technology as a whole and the Internet specifically “has been berry berry good to me.” But, it just seems like every once and awhile, technology comes up and bites you in the ass when you least expect it. Like when you decide to tape an episode of “MXC” that you can’t stay awake for since you have to wake up early for work in the morning. You get back home after a long day of various people yelling at you; press the play button and wait in anticipation for guffaws aplenty. Then, suddenly Hal Sparks is staring back at you; yelling about some dated pop culture reference like Slap Bracelets that you could less about.
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(I know, I know. This is the Pot calling the Kettle on the cell. But, hey, this is my column and I’ll say what I want, you Papa Smurf Lover. Speaking of that former Talk Soup guy, doesn’t he have a real acting job on “Queer As Folk” as well as a hip LA rock band? Now, I can understand Ian Michael Black and Joel Stein doing these nostalgic shows; neither of them seems to have a visible entertainment gig in the works. So, Mr. Sparks if you’re reading this, please stop participating in these shows that are basically the TV equivalent of Welfare and let the rest of the world have a chance. I mean, you’re taking TV time away from people who really deserve some face time like ME! Actually, who am I kidding? If they ever put me on one of those shows, I’d probably develop a debilitating stutter and produce the biggest and wettest flop sweats since Albert Brooks on “Broadcast News”.)
Or like when you finally scrape up enough coin to buy those four four-episode “Batman: The Animated Series” DVDs that you’ve been wanting to purchase since the day they came out. Next thing you know, you read online that the execs at Warner Brothers just decided to release a B:TAS Season One Set that has almost all of the episodes that you just purchased plus better bonus stuff. It makes you want to go up to one of those WB suits and maim them repeatedly with those damn ThunderStix® that the kids seem to wail on repeatedly to the back of your head at any major sporting stadium.
(I realize that that last example wasn’t really about technology. I just wanted to vent about the WB screwing around with all of the “B:TAS” or “Superfriends” fans by initially releasing those single DVD discs; then within a year deciding to go to the collected Seasonal format. You bastards!)
And it looks like comic book stores aren’t the only ones affected by the decrease in Back Issue searches. One of the good guys in comics, Jeff Parker, put up the table layout for last week’s San Diego Comic-Con, the granddaddy of all comic book conventions, on his blog. And if you thought that last year’s design was bad, this one is ten times worse. See below:
Huh? Did I miss something? I haven’t seen a chasm that wide since Kathy Bates dropped trou in “About Schmidt”. How can the SDCC organizers look themselves in the mirror and feel good about this? The only way that this situation could be any worse is to physically move the comic retailers over the bridge into Coronado. If this division from comics continues in San Diego, they should just change the name to San Diego “E3 Wannabe” Con (Hey, I’m a poet and didn’t know it).
Once the retailers are systematically taken out of one of the year’s biggest money maker, how long do you think it will take for the other cons to follow suit? 1 year? 2 years? 5 years? Whenever the change occurs, it’ll be sooner than later, my friends.
Basically, the problem boils down to this, people. If you can’t find the back issues that you’re looking for online, you won’t be able find them anywhere else. While this change may be more time convenient for everyone involved, that doesn’t mean that it’ll make the chase for the elusive back issue isn’t any easier.
And when my boy gets older, he and I will probably go through my longboxes looking for stuff for him to read, I’ll reminisce about all of the time I spent collecting and reading comics over the years. Even though I’ll still love those books, there’ll be a slight sadness in the room as we flip through each one of those polybagged comics. Because it will be then that I’ll realize that the unparalleled thrill of the “chase” has been extinguished long before its prime.
Now, here’s this week’s Uncensored Reactions to some upcoming First Look books:
Avengers #500 – Here where it all begins… Okay, the book’s cover doesn’t say that but this is the issue where the whole Disassembled crossover business starts in earnest. And actually, it’s not a bad issue and can stand on it own without the whole Disassembled prequels. If you didn’t know, I like Bendis’ work and his trademarked patter is fully on for this book. He gives the characters that you recognize a type of dialogue that doesn’t seem like it's been around for as long as the Avengers books have been out. It’s very refreshing. Finch’s art still has some lingering Top Cow house style to it. But after reading the Ultimate X-Men arc that he and Bendis did a couple of months ago, his style has grown on me. Even though I’ll wait for the trade for this story, I’ll still probably read it at the store.
Planetary #20 – This series is almost like a study on today’s modern comic but not in a totally flattering portrayal. A critically acclaimed book with great writing and art then severely hampered by long publishing delays and is currently limping home to complete the story. It’s really unfortunate that this book is still being brought down by those delays. I had to look back to see when #19 was out (April first, for those are scoring at home). That’s almost four months between books or three issues a year. How can you generate any type of readership with that type of lag time? Anyway, this last arc will probably make more sense once it’s in a collected form. In other words, wait for the trade, dear readers.
Venom Vs. Carnage #1 – Peter Milligan, fresh off of a Punisher/Wolverine mini, comes back with another mini with Clayton Henry doing the art. Not to give up too many spoilers, but not only does this issue have the aforementioned Venom and Carnage, it also has Spidey and Black Cat. What? Was Doc Ock or Electro stuck at home having their costumes altered? For those who care, the story is that Venom and Carnage are fighting over the next symbiote while it’s still in the womb of the human surrogate. Okay, that's enough; I’ll pass.
(Please note: Any review after this notification has taken place after Britt purchased NFL 2K5 for the X-box. Management apologizes in advance for any noticeable decrease in column productivity.)
The Losers #14 – Hey, they’re in Middle East. Now that’s topical. Diggle and Jock are good on this book. You should be reading this.
Excalibur #3 – Not to be confused with previous incarnations of the book. Magneto is good. Nothing new there. Callisto looks like Henry the Octopus? Alright, next book.
Batman #630 – It’s the last Winick/Nguyen story before another 12-cent adventure (uggh). At least, it’s a good read with some more solid art by Nguyen. If you’re not reading it now, wait for the trade. It should be out by the end of the year, probably.
That’s it. I hear the xBox calling out to me. See ya in two. Unless I can’t get out of ESPN’s sweet, sweet embrace.
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