Torpedo Comics

[Steelhead]

Steven, this is in your backyard:

System of a Down drummer has started an online comics retail business:

http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=83909

So it looks like their whole spiel is "collectibles and memoribilia", going on and on about their "vault" of old comics, and that CGC-graded ridiculousness.
My immediate thought was, who still cares about collecting Golden/Silver Age comics? Back issues were a big thing back in the early 90s, but today?
It just seems an odd time in the comics Zeitgeist to start a venture like this. I would say none of the comics shops in the Twin Cities do any back issue business worth talking about.

[NatGertler]

Torpedo is an internet-based store... and gold and silver age thrive there. That's likely one of the reasons you don't see much back issues in the local stores, because an individual store is likely to only carry so much, and someone who is looking for something specific is unlikely to find it there. But online, with megashops like mycomicshop.com and milehighcomics.com, each of which has millions of comics, as well as the vast spread resource of eBay, there is much gold-and-silver going on.

And third-party grading is not ridiculous, particularly for an internet-based shop that has not yet developed a reputation. Buying online means buying sight-unseen... and as a person who just went throguh buying the same comic twice, from two different ungraded sources, only to find that both copies were missing the center spread (which is incompatible with the grades that these books were advertised at), that can be of real consideration.
This isn't to say that some silliness hasn't sprung up around CGC, but the base service is of value.

[Steelhead]

Ah, I see what you mean about internet vs. brick-and-mortar. I've used Mile High a few times, though I find their selection often lacking and overpriced. (I'm not talking Silver Age, just very specific stuff I look for)
I remember there was CGC brouhaha a few years ago, with outrageous prices being asked for what is, in reality, NM to M. But CGC grading can somehow command stratospheric prices.
Is this market strong enough for another contender?

[MartinRedmond]

My, my. BatMan vs Spawn for a dollar? I would've thought'd a masterpiece like that'd be worth gazillions!

[NatGertler]

Mile High is handy because there's an awful lot that they do have with immediate availability. Their pricing structure does let them run frequent sales -- if you absolutely need Book X right now, they will charge you for the convenience, but if you can wait through their usual cycle of sales, it will be cheaper within a couple months.
However, one thing that I have found is that if you find something in their catalog, try going to eBay and searching for it. The other day, I was about to order 2 comics from them, but did an eBay check, and found that through their eBay store I could get the exact same comics for about half of the MileHighComics.com price... and that's with those items currently on sale.

Remember, CGC does not set the prices. They just grade the books. The pricing is market response to the effect of the grade (and the cataloguing -- it's one thing to say that a book is NM, another to say that it's the best condition copy yet graded through CGC, thus suggesting that you're not likely to find one as good on a popular book.)

Is the Internet comics market strong enough for another contender? Sure Plenty of folks do plenty of business selling comics through eBay, which is a great leveler. Both Mile High and MyComicShop.com (Lone Star Comics) have been doing some aggressive buying lately, suggesting that they don't consider these times to be lean. (Of course, this is a secondary way that they are benefiting from the back issue market moving online -- B&M stores getting out of the back issue thing and selling off their stock are likely a good source of affordable stock for these online shops.)

[bartl]

Mile High is handy because there's an awful lot that they do have with immediate availability.
My one experience with Mile High was when I saw that there was a comic in which Grant had placed my wife which we didn't have. We got two near-mint quality issues within a couple of days for a very reasonable price.

[Steelhead]

Is the Internet comics market strong enough for another contender? Sure Plenty of folks do plenty of business selling comics through eBay, which is a great leveler. Both Mile High and MyComicShop.com (Lone Star Comics) have been doing some aggressive buying lately, suggesting that they don't consider these times to be lean. (Of course, this is a secondary way that they are benefiting from the back issue market moving online -- B&M stores getting out of the back issue thing and selling off their stock are likely a good source of affordable stock for these online shops.)
Ah, I see--so shops are still selling off back issues. I thought that by now a sizable chunk of shops had gotten out of back issues. I wonder if Dallas-based Titan still does sizable back issue business--back in 2000 I could tell the bubble had burst, but I was still impressed by their stock. Way overpriced, though (at the time).

Oh and I don't want to give the impression I don't like Mile High--I've ordered stuff from them (it's been a few years) and nothing but great experience, condition as stated, etc. Also with MyComicShop. In fact, when I lived in Denton, I went to an area Lone Star Comics a few times and found great deals. And they were the first shop (this was again ca. 2000) I noticed that had every back issue tagged with a barcode sticker. They seem to run a tight, efficient ship.
I also had good experiences with Things From Another World--I think I got the entire run of Damned from them (maybe Badlands, too, I can't remember anymore).

[NatGertler]

Even if shops get out of the back issue business, they still end up with back issues -- nonreturnable comics they ordered and could not sell. (And, in counter, many shops that stay in the back issue business end up with many more books than they can store and display, and reduce their stock by selling to these other stores.)