Let the hoopla begin! Saturday morning at the Boston Comic Con Dan DiDio visited my booth, as he was talking to everyone personally, and showed me some samples of the 3D motion covers that will begin shipping on September 4th. During that conversation I found out that all of the 3D covers have sold out and been allocated. My panic was immediate. I pointed to my booth sign, referencing specifically the “dot net” and told him that I’m primarily a preorder business and that allocations can really hurt me. He assured me that it would be “Mostly” alright, and that there was a formula based on average orders versus bumped orders and such and I really lost track after that. On this past Friday retailers received their allocation lists from Diamond Comics and Dan was right. Of the 321 3D comics I ordered, while it’s true I lost nearly everything I had hoped to have for the store my customers were only affected by 11 books. Now that number may indeed suck for business purposes when looking at someone like Midtown or Lone Star who are going to have racks full, but considering advance orders and allocations I don’t see a whole lot of them out there. I can’t imagine the few little stores in this area even getting any to the shelves. I see a $10 to $15 ebay price nearly immediately. Right now there’re a few complete sets on ebay ranging from $399.99 to $449.99 and a set of the week one books for $129.99. I’ve even had an employee from a comic store in Columbus, OH contact me about getting some of what I have. If you haven’t seen one yet, they’re very impressive. I brought the Superman Unchained version to the Boston Comic Con and most people glanced right over it on my rack. You should have seen them light up when I took it off the rack and put it in their hands. It’s impressive!
2D covers are available for those of you who want the story and second print 3D covers are coming in December. Those will only be printed to order though and you can only get them as a complete set, so it’s a money thing for some of us. For the novelty of it, second prints won’t matter. Of course, first prints will demand more money and the demand for these will have to make every other competing company take notice. They’re not at all like what we saw 20 years ago. It’s the complete cover and it’s much, much smoother in the grooves so that you can hardly feel them as you run your hands over it. The image is so clear as to be really astonishing. Again, however, I believe that’s going to sneak up on people as so few have actually seen what’s coming and some who know what’s coming don’t fully understand, and some people are just going to be taken wholly by surprise when they walk into their favorite shop and have their socks knocked off.
Let’s take a look at what might be sneaking up on us this week starting with DC Comics Batman #23, $3.99, by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo. Here we get to witness the moment the New 52 Bruce Wayne becomes Batman. Snyder and Capullo have been igniting excitement among the fans and Zero Year, in spite of its scheduled length, isn’t slacking off at all…
Phil Hester and Andrea DeVito are responsible for reimagining the Thunder Agents #1, $3.99, for IDW. They return with a vengeance as new recruit Dynamo must master the lethal power of the thunderbelt in time to rescue his new teammates from Iron Maiden…
Mark Schultz Xenozoic Tales Artist Edition, check for availability and price, is the newest Artist’s Edition and I found out in Boston, that even if I’m a Marvel snob for these books, everyone else is looking for these ‘other’ collections. This one also happens to be sold out so if you want it go get it while you can…
Marvel Comics kicks off Infinity #1 (of 6), $4.99, by Jonathan Hickman and Jim Cheung…
Almost a year later, the time traveling epic that Jason Aaron and Esad Ribic are bringing to its grand finale in Thor: God of Thunder #11, $3.99, and as much as I talk down Marvel currently, I can’t wait for the collected hardcover of this story…
Now here’s the answer to a question that was asked a lot in Boston; do you have any books suitable for little kids? Boom Entertainment’s got Mike Kunkel’s Herobear and the Kid: Inheritence #1 (of 5), $3.99. It’s a reprint of the original story with new material and it’s something I was very happy to share with my kids, and I’m very proud to have the original hardcover on my shelf. I’m very happy that Boom picked this up because Kunkel deserves more recognition for his work…
Valiant Comics continues its impressive presence with Archer and Armstrong #12, $3.99, and this buddy book is not one you should be missing…
Harbinger #15, $3.99, by Joshua Dysart and Barry Kitson, I wish I had taken the time to talk to Kitson when I walked past his table in Boston, and I’m having a really hard time deciding which of the new Valiant books is my favorite. It’s kind of sad to admit that right now I’m recognizing that it’s completely dependent on ‘what’s coming out this week’…
And there are plenty more that are not listed. For a more complete list, feel free to visit your local comic store or favorite site. If you’re interested in more of what I think, follow me on Twitter at Mycomicstore001 or like my Facebook page.
Michael R. Murray is a full time Letter Carrier for the United States Postal Service who is still way too tired to be working on this right now but it’s been a good week and in four days he starts a three week stay-cation while his wife and kids go back to school.