Wednesday Open Forum

Wednesday

Wednesday, the best day of the week, new comic book day. It is like your birthday in the middle of each week (well, one where you buy your own presents.)

We open things up to hear from you. A free for all.

The 277th edition of the open forum!



Did you get a copy of Batman #89 or was you las wiped out?

Did you know we have the forum up and running, you can check it out at the official CHU Forum site, go over and sign up.

As always we also want to hear about your weekly pickups.
So, What were your pick ups?

108 thoughts on “Wednesday Open Forum”

      1. Was able to get both HA3 covers for $12 on MCS. Of course they staggered them so I had to pay separate shipping on each…

        1. I was lucky enough to get a A and a B as well but took a while and had to pay separate shipping as well. Got in at $10/$12.

        2. Ah, MCS and their shipping; I think the shipping alone could keep them in business, and they fully know it.

    1. $20…as the price goes up they hang around a little longer…!

      Only cover As though….and they’re gone again….

        1. Ha. I was the same way. Kept watching it go up just to see how high it would go. Last I saw was $25 on A. I don’t think B went above $12.

  4. ..” is like your birthday in the middle of the week….” Wednesday IS my birthday 🙂 How many presents should I get for myself? ?

        1. My daughter’s birthday is today (8). So I “had to” leave a little early today….maybe I hit a few shops while running a few errands for her party…?

          Happy Birthday Jeff & Mel V!

  5. Picked up a NM copy of HA3 for $10 and a FN copy for $6 from Mycomicshop. Also got the variant cover (NM) for $12. Hopefully I can dump the FN copy somewhere for $20+.

  7. I ordered HA3 on 2 separate orders from MCS for cover the other day, and I got an email tonight that it’s limited to 1 per customer and they cancelled one of my orders. Contacted customer support via chat and they said they simply ran out of copies. Yet ppl are saying they were back in midtown for more than cover…shady a$$ business practices. Oh well, hopefully I get my one copy from them, and have 3 copies reserved at shops tomorrow but you know how that goes… we’ll see. If I see jennika ratio variant for cheap I’ll grab one.

    Don’t know if ppl noticed but Batman 90 is starting to heat up too :O 1st full designer? Is he Catwomans baby daddy? Hmmm….

    1. Did MCS cancel your order from the other day or Midtown? I assume you meant Midtown as MCS wasnt up until today I believe.

      I didn’t see them pop back up at Midtown today.

          2. I pre-ordered a copy. This was the original spec play with The Designer. Then along came DC’s email about Punchline.. I think if The Designer had any chance, it’s now overshadowed by Punchline.

            Don’t forget though, Tynion also mentioned another new first appearance for another character debuts in Batman #92 as well.. 😉

            1. I think the Designer got Catwoman pregnant which is why she’s freaking out 😛 Maybe 92 is the 1st appearance of their kid lol. I want to pre-order 92 artgerm so bad but I feel like everyone’s already doing that.

  8. Batman 92 Artgerm Cover is up for grab at midtown at cover price discount.

    Moved the 94 cover to 92, making first cover appearance

  9. HA #3 x 2, Ant Man 2, Avengers Wasteland 2, Ravencroft 2, Tomorrow 1, Hidden Society 1, Falcon Winter 1, X-Force 8, X-men 7

  11. Interesting item in case anyone hasn’t heard?

    Last night I had a ton of interest in my two copies of Rise of Kylo Ren #3 (1:25 Landini variant) out of the blue. For a book that after release quickly sank below ratio, it caused me to do some digging.

    First appearance of Avar Kriss confirmed by Charles Soule and a new character that looks to be important to some new Star Wars material concerning the High Republic.

    If you have #3 and variants might be a great time to list or pick up on the cheap before everyone starts buying them up.

    Article was posted on Screenrant yesterday.

    Just thought I would pass it along.

    Good hunting!

    1. Got 2 copies or cover A, no luck in the 1:25. Beautiful cover! Also got a couple of star wars 2 just in case.

  12. Holy cow. Batman 89 insanity is spilling over to #90…glad I have pulls at two shops. Might make it three through issue 92 at least!

      1. DC is playing the speculators and collectors. We can’t sell a book based on it’s writing so let’s just create a bunch of new characters, hope one takes off and then we feed into the FOMO… it’s really quite clever marketing, they’re winning currently our of everyone. 😉

        1. definitely can’t seem to sell much based on the writing. It’s wild how Tynion IV is nowhere near a stellar writer but this Punchline nonsense has him top selling for the wrong reasons

            2. “This is another sad day for comics especially retailers who are barely getting by.”

              That’s such a lame excuse. If a shop is barely making it, then they’re likely running their business wrong in the first place. Set all speculation and flipper stuff aside. If you open a business that buys books at wholesale for $2 average and sell for $4 retail average and you’re barely scraping by, then you need to rethink your business or perhaps should not go into such business that deals with such a vast array of different consumers which consist of readers, collectors and even the speculators and flippers.

              Yes, flippers buy at your retail price and then hope to flip it at profit but they’re taking a risk as well (you ever watch the secondary market get flooded on hot books, most probably never end up flipping the books at the peak prices). At the end of the day, if they bought from you, they’re still a consumer just like the reader who walked into your shop and bought the same book. Or the collector. As a retailer, you’re goal is to move inventory you know you can move and sell. If you’re buying books that sit for weeks or months, that’s your due diligence in changing your own orders to match your own demand from your current customer base.

              Claiming speculators and or flippers are the reason you’re barely scraping by is a truly pathetic and far stretch of the actual reasons you’re likely running your business poorly. There are risks involved with any business. It really comes down to how you manage such business to make it successful or not. That’s all on you as the business owner. Sears use to be the biggest company and retailer in the world. Along came Amazon with new ideas.. Sears had piss poor people not adapting to change, so now look at them. They can only blame themselves for their own failures.

              2. Speculators is the problem in this case, but it’s because it’s impossible to accurate order comics when DC is playing with the speculator market in this way. In my case, we order heavy on #1 and #2 of Hell Arisen because it’s returnable, the risk is minimal and maybe we can sell more than expected. No dice, so we cut our orders on #3 since it’s not returnable. Then DC makes the announcement, and now we could sell twice as many as we ordered because of this. You explain to the customers that you can’t give them what they want, but how many potential returning customers did we lose because we couldn’t give them what they wanted when the checked with us.

                We’ve picked up a fair number of customers just based on other shops gouging on hot books when we haven’t.

                1. If you just couldn’t get copies of a book that is out of your power, that’s just losing a sale, not a customer. Raising the price up on release day is going to lose you more customers than likely gain you in the long run.

                  I would rather walk into a shop and be told, you know, we ordered enough for the pulls, then had a few on the shelf (it’s not your typical book everyone is chasing each month) and are now sold out, sorry… than say I walk in and the shop is like, sure, we got that, but it’s $40.

                  I respect the shops that are up front. The ones that are price gouging new books, meh, I’ll happily take my business elsewhere, which I do.

                2. Speculation also drives more business to shops.. we can shut down the website if that’s what retailers want?

                  Do retailers want us to tell everyone how much CHU referred to 3rd parties (shops, retailers and eBay) in 2019, and that’s only the sales we can track? I can say CHU on it’s own in 2019 has referred well over $600k in gross sales.. So, ya’ll want us to stop? We can.. shops crying they’re barely scraping by now, imagine if there was no one speculating and sending business their way? Either change your business methods by adapting or go out of business. If a retailer is only gonna blame speculation for their own business woes, they probably shouldn’t be in business anyways.

              3. What gets me are the laughable gatekeeper retailers who despise speculators, and want to keep the hobby for “readers.” Please! That’s just BS for saying you’d rather people bought full runs of worthless crap issues to line your pockets and never flipped them as you do; pick your hypocrisy retailers!

            3. While blaming speculators is a bit broad, I have to agree the quick flippers are the scourge of the comic industry.

              Without greedy people buying books that they have no intention of collecting or reading, retailers would not feel the need to gouge prices.

              Quick flippers take advantage of many more people than do retailers. As mentioned on the site by numerous leaders, the goal is to buy low then sell high, gouging those inflicted with fomo. I never see any remorse for the people that get screwed daily on eBay.

              This initial craze is not reflective of the true worth of a comic book. Do I plan to sell in the future, probably so. However, this will be when I decide, and not by taking advantage of people.

              Unfortunately, until people either get ahead of the game or disregard their urge to cave to fomo, flippers will forever plaque this industry. Eventually this will have dire consequences.

              In fact my sole purpose for staying well informed through numerous avenues of information is to forever prevent one quick flippers from ever taking advantage of me.

              This will probably offend some on here and I’m sorry for that. But when money becomes the driving reason for pursuing a hobby, then you become corrupted. What once was a true passion, becomes an irrelevant weekly routine to screw as many as possible to make that money.

              1. Actually well thought out and written. Sure it may offend some but we are not all heartless monsters.

                The truth is we do not set prices or dictate what others want to buy. Do flippers capitalize on the flip, absolutely. But that is on everything in every industry. Not just the comic book world.

                I own damn near 40,000 comics. I paid for a large majority of them by selling other comics. Selling comics to buy comics. I ended up with a total of 7 Batman 89. Sold six and kept one. Why, because I collect too. Hell Arisen I ended up with 4. Selling three and keeping one. The sales from last week paid for this week’s books. This week’s pay for future purchases. So it is totally a double edged sword. I swore to my wife over 11 years ago comics would never be paid for out of our family budget. And it hasn’t been. And I have bought. Huge key issues. Without the flips I am out of comics.

                1. I’m not saying flippers are bad people. I can see your point as needing that flip income so as to not piss your wife off. I never really considered that aspect. Sadly I believe that if flippers stay the problem with retailers will as well. On the other hand, if flippers leave it may be just as bad. I guess we are all screwed together.?

                2. Trust me. The speculators and flippers I know spend thousands in shops and online a year. Losing these guys would hurt a store more than selling a hot book at cover price would make. Not to mention many of his customers may buy and read, many others who are regulars may sell as well.

                3. I use to be a heavy hitter. I was averaging $200 to $400 a month easily at one point until I scaled back. I’m also a mix of a reader, collector and flipper. Lately I give away more stink’n books than I’m selling it seems..

                4. Also to clarify, I don’t believe I’m better than anyone on here. There really isn’t much difference in most of us until we receive the actual book we are seeking.

                  Also I don’t condone the gouging by retailers either. I’m just as pissed about that. Anthony is spot on regarding this issue being a double edged sword.

                  Publishers are not innocent either. No one here believes that they didn’t know what would happen by announcing a first appearance post FOC.

                  So I guess maybe there is no solution. However, I think we all could benefit from the occasional remembrance of why we all started in the first place.

              2. You saying that people are getting ripped off daily on eBay is highly subjective. Your opinion, Rick, of what others value, or the price they put on that in which they value, is moot. I don’t hear anyone on these sites complaining about being ripped off daily. And if anyone reeks like they have been ripped off, that is purely on them, and they better learn before they go ahead and spend more money on stuff they don’t think is worth the sale price.

            1. What was this geniuses solution for Batman #89? Did he expect everyone who bought #89 to buy issues #1-#88 too? I’ll take the single floppy now, and buy the TPB later, but not from your store, Hibbs.

              1. And what about Batman #90? Will Hibbs have a copy of #89 for you to buy when he makes you buy every book in the run before you can purchase #90? Not very well thought through, imo.

          2. What a loser. “Oh look at me, I’m a hero”. Desperate attempt to sound relevant and important.

              1. Yeah I think that’s a good stategy. Instead of hiking prices to “punish” flippers, use hot books as incentive to move more product. The rest of his rant was just ridiculous though. He also insulted part of his customer base. He should realize that not everyone buys to flip and when they do flip books, they’re often back in his shop looking at bigger books.

              2. You know what’s funny and sad at the same time.. Hibbs complains that no one was buying #1 and #2 yet both of those books were both returnable by retailers.

                But you know, if someone came in wanting #3 and I asked them if they read #1 and #2, I’d have no problem saying, if you want #3, you gotta buy #1 and #2 as well.

          3. I couldn’t even finish reading that drivel. Woe is me, @Brian Hibbs. ??. It’s not speculators driving this, it’s the market. No market. No demand. No rise in price. Simple economics.

            1. I somewhat understand where he’s coming from or why he’s upset…but Come on.

              16 shops didn’t close because of speculators. They overstated SF with stores and they starved each other…probably had a poor business plan as well. The 8 that survive are likely in good locations and manage their business well and customers well.

              And the whole profanity bit, very tacky and not a way to garner respect from others. You come off immature.

              But the buy 1&2 to get 3….Brilliant!

                1. Actually, I plan on picking up,issues 1&2, then 4 when it comes out. I just had too many other things I wanted today and will pick them up next visit. I was also thinking TFAW or Midtown might do a blow out sale….

                  I dropped Batman from my pull with the plan to pick up back issues for Reading through clearance sales….but his whole punchline craziness changed those plans and had to add it back…was it Constanta that said “every time I think I’m out, they pull me back in!”

          4. I was just going to post this! Hibbs is being a clown, and his argument is worthless. He is literally profiting by selling untold amounts of unreadable junk books to his customers, but he has the hypocrisy to gatekeep and try to dictate WHICH fans he makes money from.

            According to Brian, if anyone but him makes money on issues and doesn’t waste money on books no one wants to support the “industry,” you’re a thief. All in the name of pretending to validate the “hobby,” of which he is a completely impartial observer who never made a buck from. Please!

            I am a reader and a collector and OF COURSE I want these issues as a Batman fan and a person with a working brain. I guess I’ll just eschew them and buy full runs of All New Marvel from him, month after month, to prove my worth and line his pockets at the same time.

            1. Comic books that don’t gain value on a secondary market are not worthless junk, Bandrew. It is literature, created by many people for the purpose of entertainment. I enjoy all my comics, especially the ones I buy only to read. Most comics that come out every week may be junk to you, but as a fan of the overall products/material, I find that statement of yours rather self righteous. No offense intended. Just m2c.

              1. I don’t know if you’re a retailer, but the distinction I was making was between true fans (like you) and retailers like Hibbs who make money off of other people buying some objectively bad writing and art either way, but turns his noses at speculators beating him to the punch. He’s essentially saying you can only buy Batman 89 and HA 3 from him if he judges you to be a true fan not in it for a buck, when he is.

                I love the writing and art of many comics and that’s why I’m a fan, but there is a difference between something like say Sandman, and this latest Batman, which is not high art in the least. I’m a Batman fan though, and buying something rare worth value or to complete a run is also “fun,” like buying sports memorabilia to support your team. With Hibbs, he can’t recognize his BS that the only people he wants to sell to are the ones who are “in it for the art” and don’t profit, when he’s basically only in this to make money off you either way and is just butthurt. I found him the completely self righteous one, at least how I see it. He won’t separate his livelihood from this stance even he knows is a copout.

                Btw I don’t mean all books are junk in the least, but I think Hibbs is pretending “All New Ms Marvel Team Up” was created for any other reason than to let retailers like him gouge a collectors’ market, and he knows that very well. It’s a way to profit for him and us, but no one here is saying that we care what kind of fan we sell to. Lining retailers’ pockets, and supporting the art of comics, are two VERY different things.

                1. All very valid points, Bandrew. I am not a retailer. Never have been either. I’m a collector, reader, speculator. In that order. I understand you were using the term ‘junk’ to show your point. I just take exception to the word ‘junk’ being used to describe comic books. They may not all be worth their weight in gold, but they aren’t junk either. One man’s trash…cheers, Bandrew.

                2. Meh, I’ve read a few comics where I’d say they were complete junk and I understand why my local shop can’t even sell them out of the 50 cent bins.. there comes a time when even one has to pay someone else to haul the junk away!

                5. My last employer that downsized, it got the point with leftover scrap from servers, racks and office furniture that the work involved was not worth it for most 3rd parties, we had to pay to get someone to come haul it away. I’m sure they still took it back to wherever to scrap and salvage but yeah.

          1. That was supposed to be a response to the “DC writers suck, so they need to create new characters”…but it dropped it way down here….

    2. But do remember, #90 is gonna be The Designers first full body appearance.. oh scrap that, he says his name, they got lots of panes, lots of dialogue, even a fight scene.. so yeah, a “true first appearance”… 😉

  13. fomo is a hell of a drug more powerfull then cocaine or any other drug know to man .didn’t get anything this week.had a death in my family as my grndma passed away dads mother .so been helping out my dad with things love you guys thanks for being a blessing in my life.will have a new hidden gems up soon take care blind adam out

    2. you haven’t tried cocaine obviously. (good for you) Comics saved me from cocaine. so there’s a happy ending

      1. Sorry for your loss Adam.. but I have to side with Steve here on this one. Pretty sure even the current opioids addiction is far worse than FOMO.. not a very good comparison.

      3. Comics didn’t save me from cocaine, but, I did replace my cocaine hobby with a comic hobby more or less, Steve.
        A friend if mine was selling some books to a guy, and they met in a parking lot to do the exchange. Comics for cash. My friend told me he was approached and harrased by a cop, who thought he was selling drugs. My friend responded to the cop by saying ‘your five years to late, officer. No drugs. Just comic books these days’. I’ve met a few buyers at the local donut shop and it truly does feel like a drug deal is going down.

        1. I feel like a drug dealer transporting the girl’s girl scout cookies in the trunk of my car… We even made a sale out of the trunk when a guy selling something else outside a store asked if we were interested, I said, sorry, been selling girl scout cookies all morning so we’re trying to get home. He quickly replied with, “you got Thin Mints?” So the sale went down right there..

      4. I know someone that snorted away an Action Comics #1 Detective #27 among every other book from the 30s to 70s you would want to own.

  15. I was trying to explain selling comics to a co-worker, this morning.
    I asked him if he was familiar with Notorious B.I.G.’s “10 Crack Commandments”? Ya know, “Don’t get high on your own supply.”
    Comics are a great buzz; several, imo: getting them, reading them, looking at the pretty covers, and, perhaps, selling them.
    It’s a really cool hobby.
    Also, Misplaced, Touching Evil, and John Carpenter’s…Redhead are possibly being slept on by the masses.
    Peace.

      1. The art in …Redhead is really nice. The story, so far, at least, has been really cool, imho.
        This thread, today, has been awesome.
        Thanks, fellas!

  16. The only reason these books are so expensive is because the speculators grab them before the collectors can…they are directly affecting the market…it’s sad as a true fan and collector that I have to pay attention to spec sites just to stay ahead of them so I don’t get raped while trying to enjoy a hobby I have enjoyed my whole life…get a side hustle if you want to make extra money…

    1. I have a side hustle it’s selling comics. Seriously I have 40,000 comics. Am I not a true collector? I have friends who read Batman and sold the issue because it will pay for months of their one or two books a month collecting. Same with hell arisen. He sold his copy after reading it and pre-ordered a second print!

      What makes one a true collector? I would say that purchasing comics for 35 years and still having some from when I first started would firmly put me in the true collector catagory.

      1. According to Brian Hibbs, no, you’re no a true collector unless you spend untold $$$ on worthless crap issues that HE makes the profit from that you can’t resell. So even though most modern comics are unreadable, if you pretend you like them and never flip then that’s the only true comics fan!

    2. I consider myself a speculator. I didn’t even pre-order this book nor did I goto the shops today. Not all speculators are out buying and flipping books.

    3. What books are expensive, Ramon? Im a reader and a collector and I am just as passionate about this hobby as you are
      I haven’t paid over $5 for a modern book in a looking time, and I have all the ‘expensive’ moderns. You know you can pre-order these books that you have enjoyed your whole life, right? You can actually pre order them at the same store that you buy them at. Crazy stuff. What truly is sad is that you need/expect everything to be handed to you in order for you to enjoy the hobby. Put some effort into your passion for the books you like, and you should be able to get them at cover price. And if you can’t do that, then just live with the fact that you don’t have one. When you decide to spend your money, that decision is 100% your own. Nobody else’s.

  18. Just an observation….as soon as the sticky is removed, the conversation comes to a screeching halt.

    Funny how people just don’t want to take the time to scroll past all the spoilers…

    Speaking of a s rolling, Is there any way to have it automatically jump to the most recent comments when you pull this up? That’s also a deterrent when the conversation is 50+ comments long…

    1. We usually remove the sticky around mid-day to early Thursday evenings. A lot of weeks the comments are starting to get far and few by then.

    3. “Speaking of a s rolling, Is there any way to have it automatically jump to the most recent comments when you pull this up? That’s also a deterrent when the conversation is 50+ comments long…”

      Something like this would only likely work if we gave everyone a login to the website where it keeps track of what one has read and not read like the forums.

Comments are closed.