It's really irritating for Marvel to do a big marketing push on a book and then make it impossible for the "regular folks" who learn about it to walk into a comic shop and:
1) Buy the comic at a "normal" price
2) Buy the comic at all because of Marvel's arcane reqt's on allowing retailers to get the book
All it seems like this will do is make a lot of ill will.... with retailers who don't get the books to sell, with fans who cannot get the book because whoever has it (or most of them) are selling it for $30+, with regular folks who are going away empty handed also.
Spider-Man vs. Barack Obama
Moderator: JohnMayo
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HipHopHead
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Marvel has been trying to support the "collector" market and not the "reader" market for years. First it was the print to order. It makes me wonder if they learned anything from the speculator bust of the early 1990s or that they had to file for bankruptcy. Collectors and speculators do not read, they are not there for the "down" time from one event to another.
Without the "READERS" there is no "collector" market.
Without the "READERS" there is no "collector" market.
I agree; with all the hype you are going to have people coming in to get that cover, and when they can't get it, they are just going to be turned off of comics for being so nichey and collector based. I don't know if they came out right, but I think they might just end up thinking that comics are just for this little group of collectors, and not for regular folk. Or maybe they'll just be pissed. I know Marvel is puttin gout the Obama second print to appease the need... maybe they didn't see it coming?BobBretall wrote:It's really irritating for Marvel to do a big marketing push on a book and then make it impossible for the "regular folks" who learn about it to walk into a comic shop and:
1) Buy the comic at a "normal" price
2) Buy the comic at all because of Marvel's arcane reqt's on allowing retailers to get the book
All it seems like this will do is make a lot of ill will.... with retailers who don't get the books to sell, with fans who cannot get the book because whoever has it (or most of them) are selling it for $30+, with regular folks who are going away empty handed also.
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BobBretall
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I don't see how they could not see it coming...... Tremendous incompetence on the part of their marketing?dbm wrote:I know Marvel is putting out the Obama second print to appease the need... maybe they didn't see it coming?
And the 2nd print will be out too late. The people who saw the news story and want the book are not going to come back for this book in several weeks time.
I agree I cannot see how Marvel would not know about the demand.BobBretall wrote:I don't see how they could not see it coming...... Tremendous incompetence on the part of their marketing?dbm wrote:I know Marvel is putting out the Obama second print to appease the need... maybe they didn't see it coming?
And the 2nd print will be out too late. The people who saw the news story and want the book are not going to come back for this book in several weeks time.
I also feel bad for people who are gonna walk into a comic store on Wed thinking they can pick up the Obama comic. The ones you really gotta feel sorry for are the people in the shops having to explain this over and over again and then having to face the wraith of those people when they can't get what they want.
Thank goodness for subscriptions...
So I go to the NCS (Nearest...lol) and luckily I was 3rd in line
When the doors open at 11am it was close to 30 people in line.
NO OBAMA COVERS, just the REGULAR covers.
ONE per customer BUT the Obama story is contained in the book.
They won't get the Obama cover in until sometime next week and because I live in DC with the inauguration and all, we may get delayed til Friday.
My shop does have one copy of that particular cover in my box.
So I go to the NCS (Nearest...lol) and luckily I was 3rd in line
When the doors open at 11am it was close to 30 people in line.
NO OBAMA COVERS, just the REGULAR covers.
ONE per customer BUT the Obama story is contained in the book.
They won't get the Obama cover in until sometime next week and because I live in DC with the inauguration and all, we may get delayed til Friday.
My shop does have one copy of that particular cover in my box.
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Frank Castle
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Frank Castle
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and it gets better, Obama cover for youngbloods!!
http://comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=19545
http://comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=19545
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Master of the Mystic Arts
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I went to my LCS around noon and it was a very weird scene. They had been open a couple of hours and had received all of this week's comics already ... except for the new Spider-Man which was being shipped from Marvel, I think. (Nothing about this issue from the solicits to the shipping seemed standard operating procedure.)
The store was full of "civilians" who had been hearing all about this on the news for a week, instead of the regular comic book readers. And they were all camped out waiting for the UPS truck to show up. When the box arrived, all Spidey subscribers got a copy pulled for them.
The owner (who is very cool) then sold the remaining copies (a little over a dozen) at cover price for the line that had formed, even though he knew he could charge way more if he wanted. One per customer. From what I could see of the stacks, it looked like their were 3-4 times as many Obama cover copies as regular editions. Maybe fifty copies total of both? It was hard to tell.
Oh, and during all this a TV reporter came in. I also saw that the previously published (and since reprinted 3x) Obama bio-comic was also flying off the shelves.
I (carefully) read the issue and was underwhelmed. I've picked up some of the Brand New Day arcs, especially if Dan Slott was writing or Marcos Martin was drawing, but this one gets a "Meh."
[edited to make the following text tiny and light colored as the it has been flagged a SPOILER bya fellow forum member.]
SPOILER ALERT?
Not much happens. The main story has Peter speed dating, girls getting hammered and Peter calling Aunt May a "cougar" and the backup story art is pretty weak: Obama has little resemblance to the real Obama, only on the splash page, which is the same as the variant cover.
The store was full of "civilians" who had been hearing all about this on the news for a week, instead of the regular comic book readers. And they were all camped out waiting for the UPS truck to show up. When the box arrived, all Spidey subscribers got a copy pulled for them.
The owner (who is very cool) then sold the remaining copies (a little over a dozen) at cover price for the line that had formed, even though he knew he could charge way more if he wanted. One per customer. From what I could see of the stacks, it looked like their were 3-4 times as many Obama cover copies as regular editions. Maybe fifty copies total of both? It was hard to tell.
Oh, and during all this a TV reporter came in. I also saw that the previously published (and since reprinted 3x) Obama bio-comic was also flying off the shelves.
I (carefully) read the issue and was underwhelmed. I've picked up some of the Brand New Day arcs, especially if Dan Slott was writing or Marcos Martin was drawing, but this one gets a "Meh."
[edited to make the following text tiny and light colored as the it has been flagged a SPOILER bya fellow forum member.]
SPOILER ALERT?
Not much happens. The main story has Peter speed dating, girls getting hammered and Peter calling Aunt May a "cougar" and the backup story art is pretty weak: Obama has little resemblance to the real Obama, only on the splash page, which is the same as the variant cover.
Last edited by Master of the Mystic Arts on Wed Jan 14, 2009 5:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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BobBretall
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That's a great LCS owner (not taking advantage of the situation to jack up the price, and also taking care of his pull-list customers).Master of the Mystic Arts wrote: The owner (who is very cool) then sold the remaining copies (a little over a dozen) at cover price for the line that had formed, even though he knew he could charge way more if he wanted. One per customer. From what I could see of the stacks, it looked like their were 3-4 times as many Obama cover copies as regular editions. Maybe fifty copies total of both? It was hard to tell.
If only more shops got the issue (e.g., had jumped through the Marvel hoops to get ANY of the covers)......
It quite interesting to hear peoples LCS experience today. Here's mine to add to the list.
My LCS opens around 9am. I ended up waiting until lunchtime to head over. I get my weekly comics and while I did get Amazing Spider-man, I didn't get the Obama cover. Didn't matter much to me. We've see this situation before where there is a big demand and a couple years down the line find it in the $5 to $10 range.
Anyway I got talking with the owner and he related a couple things:
1) Frustrating with Diamond: He noted that because they order the two months in advance, they were not aware of the Obama "variant" at the time. And when this variant was available for order, their rep never gave a call to give them a heads up. So...when the news on the cover hit airwaves he tried to get copies but was told the issues was on back order (later to find out 2nd print). So, he did get the second print ordered...but who knows what the popularity of that will be once the hype is gone.
He further talked about a lot of things that Diamond does that just doesn't see right for a company to do. I won't go into detail, but it falls under the category of, "you pay us. we mess up your order or don't send you items. you report it with rarely receiving the missing item or undamaged item or getting a credit".
2) Speculator Vultures: Yes! it's been so long since I've seen them or heard the calls. When there they received 5 phone calls (within 20 minutes). One of the calls was from a lady who what 30 some issues of the Obama cover. And then there was the guy who you've never seen in the shop mosey down to the Marvel shelf, not find the Amazing copy, and then inquire about it. He then proceeds to call the owner a liar when told there no copies were received and the other cover sold out.
Ultimately I feel back for the shop owners who will feel the brunt of this from potential customers. Marvel doesn't look bad...the store looks bad at being sold out at noon. Plus the whole situation of ordering the variant and the requirements to have the opportunity to order...just doesn't make sense from an shop owner perspective.
What I like about my shop is that when they do get variants, most are bagged and boarded for $5. Sometimes I grab one because I like the cover art better...other times not. If it's a harder to get variant, the price would be higher, but usually 1/2 of the going price on ebay or other online site. Then, if the regular issue runs out on the shelf, they've unbagged variant covers and put them out at cover price. That's alright by me.
An interesting note...there appears to be demand for the non variant cover on ebay ($20-$30 range). I'm wondering if once the 2nd print Obama cover is out .. with the regular cover become the more desirable 1st print cover?
My LCS opens around 9am. I ended up waiting until lunchtime to head over. I get my weekly comics and while I did get Amazing Spider-man, I didn't get the Obama cover. Didn't matter much to me. We've see this situation before where there is a big demand and a couple years down the line find it in the $5 to $10 range.
Anyway I got talking with the owner and he related a couple things:
1) Frustrating with Diamond: He noted that because they order the two months in advance, they were not aware of the Obama "variant" at the time. And when this variant was available for order, their rep never gave a call to give them a heads up. So...when the news on the cover hit airwaves he tried to get copies but was told the issues was on back order (later to find out 2nd print). So, he did get the second print ordered...but who knows what the popularity of that will be once the hype is gone.
He further talked about a lot of things that Diamond does that just doesn't see right for a company to do. I won't go into detail, but it falls under the category of, "you pay us. we mess up your order or don't send you items. you report it with rarely receiving the missing item or undamaged item or getting a credit".
2) Speculator Vultures: Yes! it's been so long since I've seen them or heard the calls. When there they received 5 phone calls (within 20 minutes). One of the calls was from a lady who what 30 some issues of the Obama cover. And then there was the guy who you've never seen in the shop mosey down to the Marvel shelf, not find the Amazing copy, and then inquire about it. He then proceeds to call the owner a liar when told there no copies were received and the other cover sold out.
Ultimately I feel back for the shop owners who will feel the brunt of this from potential customers. Marvel doesn't look bad...the store looks bad at being sold out at noon. Plus the whole situation of ordering the variant and the requirements to have the opportunity to order...just doesn't make sense from an shop owner perspective.
What I like about my shop is that when they do get variants, most are bagged and boarded for $5. Sometimes I grab one because I like the cover art better...other times not. If it's a harder to get variant, the price would be higher, but usually 1/2 of the going price on ebay or other online site. Then, if the regular issue runs out on the shelf, they've unbagged variant covers and put them out at cover price. That's alright by me.
An interesting note...there appears to be demand for the non variant cover on ebay ($20-$30 range). I'm wondering if once the 2nd print Obama cover is out .. with the regular cover become the more desirable 1st print cover?
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HipHopHead
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- Location: Los Angeles, CA
Thankfully I did get mine this afternoon as well as the Obama biopic book
and a Big Thanks to whomever spoiled the story in the book...yes i too agree, don't spoil it for someone that still wants to READ the book.
Actually plan on talking about the book tonight on my podcast and share our experiences....I managed to get mine at regular cover and my best friend who lives up the road had to pay 3x as much.....
and a Big Thanks to whomever spoiled the story in the book...yes i too agree, don't spoil it for someone that still wants to READ the book.
Actually plan on talking about the book tonight on my podcast and share our experiences....I managed to get mine at regular cover and my best friend who lives up the road had to pay 3x as much.....
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Master of the Mystic Arts
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I edited my earlier post in which I briefly talked about the main story. I don't think I mentioned any significant details about it. I quoted one word of dialogue which I considered out-of-character.
Just curious, since you've read the book, what would you say about it that doesn't fall into the realm of what you consider spoilers?
Marvel's own solicit copy says way more than I did:
OBAMA VARIANT
The Story: YOU ASKED FOR IT, YOU GOT IT! PETER PARKER ON A DATE!
After the revelations of “Mind on Fire”, love is in the air for more than one member of the cast and Pete finally gets some time out with the ladies. (and who better to bring it to you than two men who both had dates as recently as 1987!)
Amidst the romance though, forces are gathering that will spell trouble for Peter in the months to come. Plus, a backup story featuring Spider-Man meeting the President-elect Barack Obama.
Just curious, since you've read the book, what would you say about it that doesn't fall into the realm of what you consider spoilers?
Marvel's own solicit copy says way more than I did:
OBAMA VARIANT
The Story: YOU ASKED FOR IT, YOU GOT IT! PETER PARKER ON A DATE!
After the revelations of “Mind on Fire”, love is in the air for more than one member of the cast and Pete finally gets some time out with the ladies. (and who better to bring it to you than two men who both had dates as recently as 1987!)
Amidst the romance though, forces are gathering that will spell trouble for Peter in the months to come. Plus, a backup story featuring Spider-Man meeting the President-elect Barack Obama.