General Omnibus/Hardcover Discussion

[DonEMC]

Not to be too punitive against the seller in this instance, but maybe you should share that seller's name so we don't have the same bad experience? How bad was this guy's rating anyway? Are you planning to share this experience on eBay so that eBay buyer's are aware of your experience?

Let me get my money back, first, then I'll share. I don't want this to turn into a nightmare for me anymore than it already is. I would have been willing to keep the book and take the loss if he'd only offered me a partial refund. Anything would have been an effort of goodwill on his part as I had tried to extend the same to him, but, no, he didn't want it that way. So, I went the eBay way.

[DonEMC]

Not to be too punitive against the seller in this instance, but maybe you should share that seller's name so we don't have the same bad experience? How bad was this guy's rating anyway? Are you planning to share this experience on eBay so that eBay buyer's are aware of your experience?

And his rating was 95.8, so I gave him the benefit of the doubt and went ahead and bought the omnibus.

(I know, some of the people posting on here are thinking: "Serves him right for buying so many omnibuses and bragging about it!")

[DrGregatron]

I bought the variant full cover price ($65 or so) from my LCS. The prices I had seen online hovered around $45 or so, so I happily paid the "buying local" tax.

Man, Amazon has conditioned deluxe edition buyers in the worst way. It's really hard to look at prices of books at a local business and know you can find them 25-50% cheaper online. Prime shipping makes it that much harder..

This is true, but I think list prices on hardcover comic collections are ridiculous to begin with. The list price on Dark Tower Omnibus is $150!?! You could feed a family of four for a week on that. And other companies seem to be able to print quality books for much cheaper than Marvel or DC does. Take Habibi which I've been considering buying from Amazon for only $17-19 ($35 cover price). It's an original graphic novel with over 600 pages. What I'm saying is, I don't feel guilty for buying online for a 40% to 50 % discount versus full price at the local comic bookstore.

[CrazyOldHermit]

I see no reason for him to deserve mercy. I say hit him with both barrels and when hes down hit him with two more!

[Gittles]

This is true, but I think list prices on hardcover comic collections are ridiculous to begin with. The list price on Dark Tower Omnibus is $150!?! You could feed a family of four for a week on that. And other companies seem to be able to print quality books for much cheaper than Marvel or DC does. Take Habibi which I've been considering buying from Amazon for only $17-19 ($35 cover price). It's an original graphic novel with over 600 pages. What I'm saying is, I don't feel guilty for buying online for a 40% to 50 % discount versus full price at the local comic bookstore.

But that punishes local retailers for Marvel's pricing. The local guy loses because the online etailer can undercut so much.

My LCS has infrequent 20% off sales, which are great, but there's something odd about being so resistant to paying cover price. Essentially, before Amazon and the like, the price was the price.

[josh straightedge]

I used to only buy locally. Now, being a parent with less money, I only buy online. Gotta look out for #1.

[CrazyOldHermit]

But that punishes local retailers for Marvel's pricing. The local guy loses because the online etailer can undercut so much.

My LCS has infrequent 20% off sales, which are great, but there's something odd about being so resistant to paying cover price. Essentially, before Amazon and the like, the price was the price.

If the local guy can't compete then so be it. I'm not going to spend extra money just so the local guy can continue to charge more. If he wants my business he can bring the price down. It would be the same if another shop opened across the street and charged Amazon's prices.

[ER Prest]

what i want to know is how much retailers get these books for. Lets say, for example, X Statix was 125 cover price when it came out but amazon and barnes and nobles and such had it listed at 70ish. How much did they pay for it? CGN has 45%(ish) of every title, or so, that they carry, so how are they able to do this and make a profit?

[DonEMC]

what i want to know is how much retailers get these books for. Lets say, for example, X Statix was 125 cover price when it came out but amazon and barnes and nobles and such had it listed at 70ish. How much did they pay for it? CGN has 45%(ish) of every title, or so, that they carry, so how are they able to do this and make a profit?

My LCS manager said his shop gets the omnibuses for 55 percent of cover price, whic is how he gives me 40 percent off each one I buy there. I buy a lot at his shop (this is not the same shop where I find all the OOP stuff) so he keeps the discount as low as possible to keep me buying. Plus, he knows he faces stiff competition from eBay and Amazon.

[Gittles]

what i want to know is how much retailers get these books for. Lets say, for example, X Statix was 125 cover price when it came out but amazon and barnes and nobles and such had it listed at 70ish. How much did they pay for it? CGN has 45%(ish) of every title, or so, that they carry, so how are they able to do this and make a profit?

From reading Brian Hibbs and assuming a certain amount of orders (the Diamond discount changes based on volume), about the best a local guy can do is 50-55% discount. So if he sells a $100 book for $50, they're breaking even. CGN's discount must be much better, or else I don't even see the point of their 50% sale (unless they got a bigger discount on overstock, which I think they actually did).

So generally, your LCS pays $25 for a $50 book, while you can go to Amazon and $35 for the same. They both have overhead, but Amazon also sells dishware, TVs, t-shirts and a million other things, so they can subsidize lower-margin profit on comics with higher-margin profits on other stuff. As a whole though, Amazon focuses their profits on volume, as they generally sell stuff pretty close to their cost; their margins are way lower than traditional retail, for sure.

Anyway, I pay full price for monthly comics at my LCS even though I can find them for cheaper from DCBS or something. I do this because 1., I like my LCS being there, 2. I like the service they provide and include that as an additional benefit of my $4 comic purchase and 3. I attach an additional value to having something right then versus ordering and waiting.

The more educated a consumer I am the harder it is to make purchasing decisions. It helps that I'm single and have no kids, so my disposable income is more than it otherwise would be.

(shrug)

[jdviant]

Anyway, on a slightly off-topic note, has anyone bought or read any EC Archives? I've been thinking about picking up a volume or two.

Beautiful books, have four volumes myself. The colouring will offend you if you're a purist though, thats the one major complaint thats a constant.

[LordJulius]

Anyway, on a slightly off-topic note, has anyone bought or read any EC Archives? I've been thinking about picking up a volume or two.

Only got one copy at the moment (Two-Fisted Tales 2), but planning on many more.

Apart from the art being great (e.g. Wally Wood), it is unbelieveable how modern some of these stories feel story- and dialoguewise. Even though they were published ten years before the first Marvel Comics, compared to them the EC stories feel like they were devised in the 1980s or later. None of that expository stuff, e.g. nobody introduces themselves by explaining what he can do.

Plus the production value is top notch. TFT 2 includes essays on stories/artists after every issue.

Again, I've only read one volume so far, though.

[CrazyOldHermit]

Two-Fisted Tales is actually one of the volumes I really have my eye on (the first one, anyway). Glad to hear they're pretty sweet. I've read a couple EC stories online (Judgement Day and the one about the former Nazi) and they were really cool.

[CSPDX]

Anyway, on a slightly off-topic note, has anyone bought or read any EC Archives? I've been thinking about picking up a volume or two.

I have vol 1 of Tales From the Crypt and Shock Suspenstories, both of which are excellent. Format wise, they're almost exactly the same size, shape and width as Dark Horse's Warren and Dell reprint hardcovers, and have some nice extras like intros by famous fans, the original letter pages and articles about the history of EC and the comics (ie; about Feldstein's method for formatting stories, or the evolution of the title's graphic design, etc). The paper is pretty heavy stock and rather glossy. The book's binding is sewn and has held up pretty good, all told.

I'd really like to finish the entire collection myself, but there always seems to be something else I'd rather get before hand. If you were interested in some images, I could probably post a couple for you in a bit.

[CSPDX]

Only got one copy at the moment (Two-Fisted Tales 2), but planning on many more.

Apart from the art being great (e.g. Wally Wood), it is unbelieveable how modern some of these stories feel story- and dialoguewise. Even though they were published ten years before the first Marvel Comics, compared to them the EC stories feel like they were devised in the 1980s or later. None of that expository stuff, e.g. nobody introduces themselves by explaining what he can do.

Plus the production value is top notch. TFT 2 includes essays on stories/artists after every issue.

Again, I've only read one volume so far, though.

The stories are pretty great, and hold up pretty good, I agree. One thing to keep in mind is that because of the format, many 8 page stories per issue, there's a lot of expository captioning that can feel a bit dated and crowd out artwork sometimes. I certainly don't hesitate to recommend the books, though, as long as you know what you're getting.