Category: comic book stores

Comic Book Creator Event: Erik Larsen (Savage Dragon, Amazing Spider-Man artist) at Phat Collectibles, Anaheim

Comic artist, writer and creator Erik Larsen (Savage Dragon, Amazing Spider-Man, TMNT) appeared at Phat Collectibles comic book store in Anaheim, CA.

The Image Comics Co-Founder, Larsen,  was happily signing books and taking photos with fans as well as sketching commission artwork ($200-$300) for his fans and a few lucky attendees who won raffles for a quick sketch as well.

Comic Book Store Review: Midtown Comics NYC

SUMMARY

I’ve earlier purchased about $25 worth of comics the month prior, but during last December Midtown Comics had a good 30%-40% off back issue sale that I couldn’t pass up to help fill my collection.
I purchased some mostly moderns with a stack of Bronze issue Vertigos. Conditions were from VG-FN and upon initial inspection look as so. Only disappointment I have along with the previous order was one comic book I needed to complete my run was out of stock. This particular DC comic I ordered last month and appeared available, but when my order was fulfilled it was marked us unavailable. So when I was purchasing the following month and the issue was shown as available I ended up picking it again instead of buying it from MyComicShop.com since the price was a bit lower. Unfortunately for the second time when my order was fulfilled the comic was marked unavailable once again.
While Midtown Comics does have a nice selection of comics, their backlog of older pre-90s back issues are lacking compared to MyComicShop.com, but they do shine in their packaging which come boxed tightly and using some big bubble wraps. The comics also came packed bagged and boarded which trumps MyComicShop.com’s bagged-only shipment.
Shipment was odd since while I did receive an update within three business days, the package was initially ground shipped via UPS to a central facility in my state and then shipped a second time via USPS  which I thought if it was shipped directly via Postal would have arrived a few days earlier. My first shipment initally seems to hang around the UPS sorting facility for a couple days before it was finally tracked again on USPS.
Ordered over $75 get free standard shipping.
OVERALL
Midtown Comics would rate close to a 4 out of 4 for me only if the availability of a particular comic didn’t end up out of stock in two particular instances where it was ordered as well as if they had a wider range of back issue selections.
Pricing, fulfillment and shipment were adequate and refunds on missing comics were prompt and overall experience a positive. It would be nice if their Want List button was available during invetory search without having to drill down into the particular comic’s description page (MyComicShop.com has a more streamlined Want List set-up) 
Sign-up for their newsletter and receive member-only coupon codes for discuounts.
Rating: 3.5 out of 4 Monster Stars

Comic Book Store Review: MyComicShop.com

SUMMARY
Purchased around $50.00 worth of bronze, copper and modern age comics from the only store mycomicshop.com aka Lone Star Comics in Texas where they have B&M stores. Out of the 40+ set of issues, only one comic was out of stock which was promptly refunded to my payment account.

Shipping was pretty fast, with just under 7 business days from payment to receipt of comics via USPS Media Mail. All comics were bounds pretty tightly in cardboard and taped and boxed. Condition of the comics were near as stated.
The only issue I have is that apart from two comics being bagged and boarded, the remaining batch of comics were not. I don’t know if this is to cut cost on shipping weight or space, but I find it pretty hokey for a comic shop to ship comics unbagged and boarded. 
Regarding shipping, while I did receive a notice that my order was shipped I did not receive delivery tracking information via an email or elsewhere on my online account.
OVERALL
While the lack of shipment tracking and lack of bags/boards, the fast delivery and only one missing comic makes this a worthwhile try. Sign-up for their newsletter and receive member-only coupon codes.
Rating: 3.5 out of 4 Monster Stars

Free Comic Book Day Recap: May 1, 2010 Review (Orange County, CA Edition)

Review: First time I have attended a Free Comic Book Day event after starting to slowly get back into reading comics. For those not in the know, FCBD, is a day held once a year where people can go to their local comic book shop (usually) to choose and pick comics selected for them to take home for free. 
You get a selected group of comics from different publishers that offered reduced prices to the comic shops to try an entice readers to get into comics, so it’s a win-win situation for both the publication and stores to try and woo new/returning readers into checking out comics books…for free.

Check the website for a list of the available comics you can choose. Some are full comic stories, others samplers or preview versions of stores giving you a snippet of a story with the continuation available if you buy the full comic. The free comics usually have “Preview” or “Free Comic Book Day” on top of the cover, so these aren’t the same as the regular comics off the shelves. Some of the free comics are reprints of recent stories, or short stories to get readers into a story arc.

Pay attention when you go to your comic shop as some limit how many of the free comics you can choose. Some allow only one comic, while others more depending on how many they ordered. So if you want to try a few extra comics, you may need to visit a couple shops to get more reads. 

I found the promotion of FCBD a great way to re-introduce myself and other back into comics and also get to visiting their local comic shops (these are available online) to peruse the aisles and possibly purchase event more comic-related items when stopping to pick up the free issues.

Local Orange County, CA Reviews on Free Comic Book Day 2010:

ALAKAZAM COMICS – Irvine: My first stop of the day, right before noon. Store is located near UC Irvine and in the adjacent outside shopping center. The comic store is not particularly big, just almost the size of a living room. There was a good selection of toys and new issues on the wall, they also have a shelf of graphic novels available for rent…good idea. Not too much to say of their back issue bins, a few long boxes but I did pick up a few of their 3 for $1 to check out some recent and 80s reads. 

For FCBD they allowed one comic per person and had a good amount of comics to select, mainly the super heroes.
COMICS TOONS ‘N’ TOYS– Tustin: Located off the 55/5 freeways, this shop is tucked away in a corner of a small strip mall. From the  outside it looked small, but when you walk through the doors it is a pretty big location with a long wall of the most recent comics and plentiful back-issue bins in two rooms as well as a large variety of toys and collectibles. Picked up a couple back-issues from their 50-cent bin, and may come back again just to look around more thoroughly.

They were very generous here for FCBD and allowed visitors to choose a total of five comic books with almost what seemed like the entire FCBD publication assortment that I didn’t see at any of the other stores I visited, I was even able to get the Marvel “War Machine” HeroClix that I never spotted elsewhere. During the noon time, there was a medium-sized line, but was kept happy by having the very nice artist Deanne Trippe draw free sketches for the customers in line. Check out Dean’s portoflio and see his cool work, reminds me very much of Darwyn Cooke’s style. I first became aware of this artist through his simple yet endearing image of Supergirl from this io9 article 
Good store, excellent FCBD selection list, free sketch, lotsa comics and toys. Score one for Comics Toons N Toys.
COMIC QUEST – Lake Forest: My usual local shop located right off the 5 fwy. Excellent selection of new comics, medim-sized back issue bins (though mostly recent titles only), and half the store is for gaming, so your D&D and Magic people check this out too. Nice quarter bins for perusing titles on the cheap, they do mark the UPC with a Sharpie though.

For FCBD they allowed up to three comics per person and pointed out certain titles people might be interested in, which is great for people not in the know and looking for “funny”, “super hero”, or “kid friendly” titles.


COMICS UNLIMITED – Westminster – Got to this store just past 4 p.m., so late int he day. They advertised the event so was very disappointed that by the time I got there all the FCBD comics were gone with only the BOGO Simpsons and a couple others available. Disappointing to say the least.

I went specifically to check their special 20 for $5 comics and it ended up just being four boxes of really, really, crappy 1980s books. The only discount they had was 25% back issues and some graphic novel discounts. Nothing spectacular at all for such a large store with a good location in a prime shopping center. it would have been nice if they at least reduced their back-issue bin prices to tempt customers into buying back-issues. They did have an artist signing there too.

Walked out empty handed here.

Conclusion: See you next Free Comic Book Day 2011!