Talk here about just about anything associated with British comics or story papers and the industry that does not fit in any other forum.
There are separate fora open to registered members for discussing specific comics, artists, websites etc.
abacus wrote:I maybe lacking in business sense but it seems to me that if a local newspaper sells at 50 to 80p why can't a comic be produced at a similar price .I know local newspapers have adds but comics could too.Obviously I'm not talking the glossy comics which are priced differently but ordinary bread and butter type newspaper print.I'm sure a local newspaper wouldn't sell as many copies as a national comic.Since this isn't being done at the moment it I should imagine it's not possible.Well ! Just a thought.
You'd be wrong. Even a local newspaper would vastly outsell the average comic because unlike a comic, a newspaper is not a niche item. As for why they couldn't be produced for 50p: because the puublishers would lose money on every unit sold. Remember, for one thing, when you buy a comic you aren't buying it from the publisher, you're buying it from a retailer who has already bought it from the publisher at considerably less than cover price.
That does make me wonder- I'm a big fan of cheap newsprint as opposed to glossy- though my favourite grade of paper is the mid-range kind used by the like of early 80s Eagle and late 80s 2000AD. Does anyone know of any comics still being produced in either of these grades today?
In Victorian times people created scrap books of their favourite artwork or kept newspaper articles.Today with the internet combined with the printing machine I'm able to do a similar thing.Comic characters of the remembered past , paintings I like, and articles of interest can now be gathered into plastic leafed folders to peruse at leisure.I think I have printed strips from a majority of the old comics that I would not have been able to obtain otherwise,and with the internet education is a continual thing.
As I don't use Ebay, carboot sales are the main souce for my collection.On one occasion I spotted a mint condition of Hawks Books DELUX DAN DARE 10th aniv.COLLECTORS EDITION, as you probably know this is a large book containing full size facsimilies of Eagle Dan Dare covers.I picked it up and asked the stallholder how much?to which he replied a £1.Keeping my best poker face I pretended I was doing him a favour by taking it off his hands, when in reality it felt like i'd won the lottery.In contrast on another occasion I came across a stall with several of those old large Eagle comics (which was rare ).The stallholder seeing I was interested said the comics were 50p each, however on closer examination I found that the colour centre pages were missing on all of the comics, so I left them there and disappointedly moved on.Carboots!Love em!
Comics on cheap newsprint are my favourites. Doesn't matter if it has a gloss cover or not. Looking round at my shelves, I realise that most of the comics I collect are on newsprint - Frew Phantoms; pocket libraries, weeklies; American comics which were, up to a certain date, newsprint interiors with gloss covers. Comics printed on glossy paper don't appeal as much. But that could partly be because I don't really enjoy many modern comics. Even with digital versions, there is a difference in the look of a newsprint title and a modern, glossy one.
I tend to agree with Tony re. the sales of a basic 50p comic. Weekly papers obviously have widely varying circulations but many are owned by bigger companies and sell for more than 50p. Or they are free, making their money on advertising. Cover price of papers has seldom been enough to cover costs. Circulation is what attracts advertisers and that's where the money is. I did notice Tony mentioned that you aren't buying a comic from the publisher but from a retailer. Same is true also of newspapers - WH Smith, your local shop, the street vendor. But a comic at 50p just wont fly. I believe the problems are insurmountable. And that's a shame.
I do use Ebay now and then, both bid and buy it now, but as a fan of digital comics, Comixology is a great source and Amazon digital has more and more offerings with some very interesting suggestions. e.g. Diabolik. There is a big range of the monthly reprint available at around 80p each and they are the perfect size to read on a tablet.
geoff42 wrote:As regards collectors who wish to fill their collections, I guess that's why there are so many sellers who put up "buy it now" bids for single issues whose price is quite exorbitant because they know that somewhere, someone will be seeking that particular issue and, inevitably, prepared to pay over the odds to complete said collection. These sellers aren't daft, damn them.
The days of getting comics for a few pence in the charity shop are long gone the old dears that serve behind the counter at my local age uk shop have a list behind the counter with an up to date price list of valuable comics and annuals as I was about to purchase a 1964 Dandy book in fine condition without a price on it the octogenarian behind the till whipped out the list looked up its value with a magnifying glass (I kid you not!) and said that'll be £75 please needless to say I left empty handed...
I think something these shops do is look at the hugely over-optimistic prices some sellers are trying to sell these things online for, the ones whose wares rarely or never shift, and automatically assume that's the value.
In reality, you'd probably be able to pick up a 1964 Dandy Book for around £10 or less. You often see these things on eBay starting at around £3.99.
dandy mad wrote:The days of getting comics for a few pence in the charity shop are long gone the old dears that serve behind the counter at my local age uk shop have a list behind the counter with an up to date price list of valuable comics and annuals as I was about to purchase a 1964 Dandy book in fine condition without a price on it the octogenarian behind the till whipped out the list looked up its value with a magnifying glass (I kid you not!) and said that'll be £75 please needless to say I left empty handed...
Not very charitable of them ,was it? l wonder if they did weekly payments.
dandy mad wrote:The days of getting comics for a few pence in the charity shop are long gone the old dears that serve behind the counter at my local age uk shop have a list behind the counter with an up to date price list of valuable comics and annuals as I was about to purchase a 1964 Dandy book in fine condition without a price on it the octogenarian behind the till whipped out the list looked up its value with a magnifying glass (I kid you not!) and said that'll be £75 please needless to say I left empty handed...
Not very charitable of them ,was it? l wonder if they did weekly payments.
On the one hand, the more money for the charity, the better, and why shouldn't they sell at the going market rate? On the other, I know from experience that the list they are working from tends to be the going market for mint condition, and what they are selling is never anything like that quality.
The Tammy Project: Documenting the classic British girls' comic, one serial at a time.
I'd always considered that charity shops were charities in two ways. Yes, they provided a means of getting money to the charity but on the other hand, they also provided goods at lower prices for the local community. Certainly, Oxfam seems to have moved away from that. Which is a shame in my opinion.
And also, a load of Look and Learn's in my local at £4 or 5 each and US comics (Dr Fate, Alpha Flight and other B-Listers of limited interest) at minimum £1. They may want maximum price for them but no-one's buying. Put the price down for the casual browser and maybe they'll get money, rather than an interesting but increasingly dog-eared display no-one purchaes from.
A few weeks ago I went to Barter Books in Alnwick, which had quite a good collection of annuals, but the cheapest one was £8! And it wasn't like the annuals were in mint condition or anything; a lot of them were quite tatty. Needless to say I didn't buy anything. A lot of books they were selling were hundreds of pounds and I can't imagine many people buying their stuff. I agree with Starscape, these sort of shops should lower their prices so that more people are prepared to pay for them, rather than simply keep a display of books that nobody is going to buy. I'm quite tempted to make an online annual pricing guide and post a link on every British comic related forum to get it noticed. But I imagine that those sort of book shops wouldn't look at a pricing guide anyway.
Occasionally my eldest son aware that I'm a collector,will buy me an annual from a carboot or off Ebay.Unfortunately though a kind gesture it's a bit like receiving a knitted jumper at christmas from your granny (not exactly what I wanted. )
I have a son that often buys and sells golf clubs at a profit, some fetching high prices.To me a golf club is a golf club and I wouldnt have a clue whether one was more valuable than the other all I can recognise is probably the condition.Similarly I expect somewhere in the future someone will be left to sell my collection of comic/annuals knowing nothing at all about the subject.To this end where I have an annual/comic which is not in the best condition I.e with odd bits of writing or colouring in,or even a page missing I place a large piece of paper inside detailing the faults, in this way they shouldn't be left mistakenly trying to sell something as perfect when it's not.
l wonder if they did weekly payments.
