Quarter bin depression

[EMCE Hammer]

I stopped-by my LCS last week to get my boys their Mego Milk for the month, and the owner had fired-up about ten long boxes of quarter books. I cruised through it as fast as I could and grabbed several readers for the kids as well as a couple of monster books that I had never noticed for me. As I was flipping through I was sad to see large chunks of Sable, Grimjack, and Badger. I asked how long the boxes had been out, and the clerk said a couple of weeks. I have complete runs, and they would be way over my kids' heads for years, so I left them. It was just sad to see them unwanted even for a quarter.

[wayne foundation 07]

Our local comic store closed up over 2 years ago, they always had boxes of cheap comics too.Guess they could keep going selling stuff so low. They always gave you a free comic on your birthday.Will always remember them for that if nothing else. Selling stuff for a 25 cents is silly cheap !

[ctc]

>It was just sad to see them unwanted even for a quarter.

That's how I used to feel back in the 80's when these books were new and the comic shop got taken over by the big two; that here was some awesome comics that nobody cared about. It's one of the reasons I hated superheroes for so long. Luckily we live in an up-time for comics, and all them characters are reverting back to the creators who can carry on with them. (The new Grimjacks have been especially good.)

Don C.

[Earth 2 Chris]

^I thought you still hated super heroes.

The LCS I used to frequent had so many collectibles, and zero space, they just piled 10 metric tons of statues, busts, action figures, and other Diamond catalog fodder on top of all the long boxes. There was no getting to those boxes. Amazing Fantasy could be under there for $25.50, and you'd never know it.

The LCS I worked for in college would have a Halloween party and sale, where all the back issues were 20% off or something like that. Quarter bin became a dime bin. We moved stuff like crazy.

Chris

[toys2cool]

That sucks man..my comic shop has a 10 for a dollar bin

[thunderbolt]

my comics shops are all closed.

[ctc]

>I thought you still hated super heroes.

Nah. I came to terms with 'em in my late 20's. I like 'em fine, but I don't think they're the end-all, be-all of comics. (I went through my nerd rage when I was young.)

>The LCS I used to frequent had so many collectibles, and zero space, they just piled 10 metric tons of statues, busts, action figures, and other Diamond catalog fodder on top of all the long boxes.

That's pretty common, and a holdover from the speculator days I suspect. When the "investors" left comics they moved to action figures (thank you, Todd) and a lot of comic shops tried to convert. It was tough, 'cos the overhead on "collectibles" is MUCH higher, so the profit is smaller and you NEED to sell more. We've still got one dedicated comic shop here in town and a bunch of stores dedicated to all aspects of the nerdly arts; movies, RPGs (which have been having something of a renaisance lately) books, etc.

>Amazing Fantasy could be under there for $25.50, and you'd never know it.

HAW! I bet they knew EXACTLY what was in there.... four hundred complete sets of "Reign of the Supermen."

>Quarter bin became a dime bin. We moved stuff like crazy.

That's interesting. The shops around here had a hard time with that 'cos the specualtors didn't want thumbed through, no-name character comics. The place I worked at did a lot to encourage reading.... so we moved a bunch of stuff. The current comics-mostly place has a lot of older stuff for cheap; but they've always been frequented by a surprisingly high number of oldster readers.

We had another shop that was run mostly as a hobby by the owner that moved a ton of stuff on sale too. They'd been around since WAY before the specualtor boom and had tons of unusual stock. I snagged most of the Legion issues of Action and Adventure there in sets: $10 - $15 for 10 silver age comics.

Don C.

[Earth 2 Chris]

That's interesting. The shops around here had a hard time with that 'cos the specualtors didn't want thumbed through, no-name character comics. The place I worked at did a lot to encourage reading.... so we moved a bunch of stuff. The current comics-mostly place has a lot of older stuff for cheap; but they've always been frequented by a surprisingly high number of oldster readers.

My boss really pushed the books he liked to read. He would do little write-up and hang them under the book on the shelves. He turned a lot of people onto stuff like Strangers in Paradise and Bone in their heyday. He survived in the aftermath of the speculator bust by doing this. The folks in town and at the college all respected him and took a chance on books if he liked them. He was a helluva guy.

Chris

[HardyGirl]

I don't think Dr. Comics and Mr. Games has a 50 cent bin anymore. (I'm not sure about that, I haven't checked in awhile). And the reason I haven't checked in awhile is b/c those bins usually had things that weren't suited for kids. When I used to take my older kids on field trips to the comic shop, the staff was pretty good about keeping my kids toward the front of the shop, where the kid-friendly comics are. Those 50 cent bins were toward the middle. But teachers get a 10% discount.

[bigphill]

I remember when badger was a big deal (sort of) and I loved sable (jon sable freelance) I would definatly buy a complete run for a quarter a piece. Did anyone ever see the tv show based on the comic.

[Figuremod73]

I havent seen a good quarter bin in years. I got some of my best reads ever in those bins; everything from Kirbys OMAC to filler issues of Fantastic Four and Thor. They were one heck of a deal, especially if you had lots of time to search. $10 dollars worth of books and I would be good for the month.

My comic shops never had good cheapie bins, but the flea market had all kinds of goodies from the mid-seventies to early nineties. Sadly that area of the flea is gone now, people who sell them at the tables now usually want a dollar even for the most common books.

It was good times. I agree many good independents dont get enough love.

[Earth 2 Chris]

I remember watching it, but I don't recall much more than that. It apparently had Rene Russo in an early role for her.

Chris

[GaryPlaysWithDolls]

I used to get bummed out like that, too. I mean, these were somebody's good ideas, somebody's heart and soul poured out on the page. Comic store I used to show at would see how many Image first issues it took to stop a bullet.