David Lapham Fans NEED to read this!!!!!!!

[siren3-4]

I will hold off sending you my books . . . just post here again when you are a little more caught up . . .

And thanks again for doing this . . .

[silver-shot]

DL I really love your work. I'm bidding on one of the Harbinger pages on Ebay. Question though. Are you releasing more pages from issues you did?

Thanks

I like ABBA and Manilow but won't admit it in public

[Squirrel]

I just got back from my LCS who are real open to lots of books and they said they sold out of 1 and 2 of Young Liers, but they did have #3. they said they reordered and havent heard anything back about them

[DL]

I just got back from my LCS who are real open to lots of books and they said they sold out of 1 and 2 of Young Liers, but they did have #3. they said they reordered and havent heard anything back about them

I hate this little guy ! He just looks so *SQUEE* sad I feel enormous GUILT every time I see his pathetic little shrug!!! He's KILLING me. Tell your LCS to keep asking, it would be great if Vertigo went back to press, but really I haven't figured out DC's system. I don't quite know what makes them tick yet.

[DL]

DL I really love your work. I'm bidding on one of the Harbinger pages on Ebay. Question though. Are you releasing more pages from issues you did?

Thanks

I like ABBA and Manilow but won't admit it in public

Yeah...keep that to yourself....

As far as the other Valiant issues I've done. I'm afraid I've already sold it all the past 4 years or so. Harb #1 is the last of it.

[DL]

I will hold off sending you my books . . . just post here again when you are a little more caught up . . .

And thanks again for doing this . . .

It's not that bad. I didn't want it to sound that bad. Send your books!

[Squirrel]

I just got back from my LCS who are real open to lots of books and they said they sold out of 1 and 2 of Young Liers, but they did have #3. they said they reordered and havent heard anything back about them

I hate this little guy ! He just looks so *SQUEE* sad I feel enormous GUILT every time I see his pathetic little shrug!!! He's KILLING me. Tell your LCS to keep asking, it would be great if Vertigo went back to press, but really I haven't figured out DC's system. I don't quite know what makes them tick yet.

Just thought I'd pass along some FYI

[ncameron]

I just got back from my LCS who are real open to lots of books and they said they sold out of 1 and 2 of Young Liers, but they did have #3. they said they reordered and havent heard anything back about them

I know comicrox in Southgate still had 1 copy of 1 and 2 last week.

What shop were you at?
-neil

[Squirrel]

I just got back from my LCS who are real open to lots of books and they said they sold out of 1 and 2 of Young Liers, but they did have #3. they said they reordered and havent heard anything back about them

I know comicrox in Southgate still had 1 copy of 1 and 2 last week.

What shop were you at?
-neil

Bob's Comics on Grosebeck in Roseville.....I'm on the north/eastside of Detroit

[DL]

Stick a fork in me.

[Draco]

I spotted quite a few copies at the show Drift and myself traded at Sunday in London.

Also David, i read 1&2 togther and loved it dude.

I picked up 3 at the show and it really is a winner.

[*SQUEE*]

Looks like I am going to have to see if my LCS has some of these left. Sounds like a winner.

[Draco]

Looks like I am going to have to see if my LCS has some of these left. Sounds like a winner.

Made of Win dude. Made of Win.

[DL]

I have a question for you guys (and I'm sure it was discussed somewhere on your board so sorry for the repeat). The gold and silver Valiant books really helped fuel the Valiant explosion. We're you guys into it at the time. I kind of liked the fan aspect of it "send us a picture of what a big fanatic you are and get this special thing". However I was always against premium/alt. cover books. I wished they did something else, like T-shirts or crack cocaine. I was against the whole card 0 issue thing at Defiant, too. I like the collector aspect of comics (I think most of us have that gene somewhere) but I hate falsely created stuff that feeds into it. Harb #1 being worth a lot makes sense. The print run was small, the company got big...But--

Anyway, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe you guys got so much fun out of it, that it was a good thing. Should I be looking at this differently?

[siren3-4]

I liked the aspect that it was free for fans if you promoted the company / comic . . .

Incentives now are all for stores and fans have to pay a premium . . .

Alt covers is kind of annoying . . . I guess I never minded the gold variant type of thing . . .

[Fanboy375]

I have a question for you guys (and I'm sure it was discussed somewhere on your board so sorry for the repeat). The gold and silver Valiant books really helped fuel the Valiant explosion. We're you guys into it at the time. I kind of liked the fan aspect of it "send us a picture of what a big fanatic you are and get this special thing". However I was always against premium/alt. cover books. I wished they did something else, like T-shirts or crack cocaine. I was against the whole card 0 issue thing at Defiant, too. I like the collector aspect of comics (I think most of us have that gene somewhere) but I hate falsely created stuff that feeds into it. Harb #1 being worth a lot makes sense. The print run was small, the company got big...But--

Anyway, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe you guys got so much fun out of it, that it was a good thing. Should I be looking at this differently?

I think alot of people are against variant/alternate covers but for the completist here it is a sad reality. I know I would prefer to have 5 copies of a quality book with good art and good story (like Young Liars) over a gold book anyday (Hence my hoarding of Solar 3 & 7).

Thanks,

Jonathan

[Byrneout]

I have a question for you guys (and I'm sure it was discussed somewhere on your board so sorry for the repeat). The gold and silver Valiant books really helped fuel the Valiant explosion. We're you guys into it at the time. I kind of liked the fan aspect of it "send us a picture of what a big fanatic you are and get this special thing". However I was always against premium/alt. cover books. I wished they did something else, like T-shirts or crack cocaine. I was against the whole card 0 issue thing at Defiant, too. I like the collector aspect of comics (I think most of us have that gene somewhere) but I hate falsely created stuff that feeds into it. Harb #1 being worth a lot makes sense. The print run was small, the company got big...But--

Anyway, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe you guys got so much fun out of it, that it was a good thing. Should I be looking at this differently?

I *hate* alternate covers. Even more, I hate when (as in JSA) the "regular" cover is by Alex Ross, and the "incentive" cover is by Dale Eaglesham - so to get the cover of the artist I like better, every LCS would expect me to pay 3 to 4 times the price of the book. I can't stand that mentality, because I *know* the artist isn't getting any of that extra $7 - $10.

Gold books were different, I feel. They were a recognition program, and not a "variant" program, and I thoroughly enjoyed doing everything I could to try and get them. Here was a way to get something cool without having to spend extra dough to do so, yet I didn't feel I "needed" every gold issue to complete my collection (of course, if anyone happens to have any spares lying around, I wouldn't say no to them... ).

Just my two pence, your mileage may vary.

[greg]

Love and hate are the two main responses to the "rare variant" programs.

The compromise on variant books seems to be when they are all done in equal quantities...
people who want to "collect them all" still collect them all,
the book obviously sells more copies total, but no one is forced to
buy the "limited one" at exhorbitant prices. They're all "equally limited",
and you get the best of both worlds - multiple covers, same prices.

Of course, it also means that dealers can't make all their profits off the 'rare' one.

Which is fine with me.

[Draco]

I have a question for you guys (and I'm sure it was discussed somewhere on your board so sorry for the repeat). The gold and silver Valiant books really helped fuel the Valiant explosion. We're you guys into it at the time. I kind of liked the fan aspect of it "send us a picture of what a big fanatic you are and get this special thing". However I was always against premium/alt. cover books. I wished they did something else, like T-shirts or crack cocaine. I was against the whole card 0 issue thing at Defiant, too. I like the collector aspect of comics (I think most of us have that gene somewhere) but I hate falsely created stuff that feeds into it. Harb #1 being worth a lot makes sense. The print run was small, the company got big...But--

Anyway, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe you guys got so much fun out of it, that it was a good thing. Should I be looking at this differently?

Dude, im constantly ranting on here about variant and incentive/alternate covers.

There is a way to do it right and by giving them away for special reasons Valiant almost got it right. Almost.

Valiant in general still stands out as a group of comics to collect unlike any other and the limited amount of high grade HTF premium books is also unlike any other back issue universe on the marketplace.

If you compare the prices being paid for a comic that came out in the last year versus say Eternal Warrior # 1 gold flat or Geomancer # 1 VVSS then the prices being asked for the much harder to find Valiants are not too unreasonable at all.

In fact its the new incentive variant books that are very unreasonable prices indeed.

The problem with alternate/variant/incentive covers today is no different than fifteen years ago, Publisher/retailer greed.

This marketplace is too small to continuously attempt to bleed the same customers over and over, but the big boys dont seem to get it.

Of course if there is still a large customer following that never learn, then they will continue with such poor strategies.

The problem is mainly with the incentives rather than variants.

A variant can be anything from a 2nd print cover to a Dynamic Forces exclusive cover and you may pay cover for the 2nd print (sometimes nice sketch covers with much smaller print runs) or 8x cover price for the DF exclusive.

However, Incentives do much more long term harm than any good.
In fact i would like to see someone put forward an argument for the continuation of incentive covers the way they currently published and controlled and why they can be good for the industry in any way.

I think putting the retailer in a position where they need to order 3 times their normal quota for a book in order to get a comic that is 1 new cover for every 75 they order is ludicrous.

You either order that many and reap the rewards by selling yourself a nice free $50+ book or you pay through the nose in way of extra copies in order to get a comic you may sell or may not.
Plus you have to move the extra copies you ordered for cost or less more often than not.
That also creates customers to feel uneasy when they see you selling whats been touted as the next best thing for 50c when they paid $2.99.
I see that a lot and its not pretty.
I was picking up house of M #1 for 10p and giving them away to anyone who came to my way.

Chances are if you dont already have the customer base to get a 1 in 75 or whatever they put out without over ordering, then you may not have a customer willing to pay the price for the book to justify upping the order in the first place.
Only the larger retailers really benefit here so what good is created by this nice retailer incentive i do not know.
The average retailer cannot benefit here.

Lets also look at the immediate decline in value of the 1 in 75 retailer incentive variant.
I cant think of any book outside the Ultimate Spiderman # 1 white cover (which is an anomaly anyway as the standard # 1 caught the whole industry out) that came out on this scale that has held its price and is a good investment, yet the growth in the amount of incentives themselves and new companies jumping on the bandwagon is immense to say the least.

I advise all of my customers and anyone else who will lend me an ear to either wait for at least six months before risking their hard earned cash on a comic they already own, just for a different cover and if it does not come down in value for a while wait longer, it will come down as nothing of this type matches the BS hype. Not one book.

Just think of all of the creators out there just like yourself who pour their heart and soul into a book only to have it get to one story arc and get the boot before you get started.

If all the folks who spent $10/20/50/75 on a book that they already own just to get a different cover spent that money on one or five books by a creator who craves and deserves new readers, then the industry would be a different place.

Print runs would be bigger and books would last longer and maybe some would be revered as great runs instead of that really great underrated TPB that never continued.

The type of retailer who greatly supports Incentive and variants is in my experience not the most honest with their customers, preferring to expel energy making their customers aware of how great the latest 1 in 100 sketch incentive is instead of creating awareness of incredible books like Noble Causes or your own little recent gem to name but two of possible one hundred or more.

The whole incentive market is a false economy and i consider it to be price fixing too.
If a book is 1 in 10 they charge you $10+ but pay the same wholesale price as they do for any $2.99 book.
The same goes for any 1 in ?whatever? the retailer still pays less than $2.00.

A genuine hot book is charged at a higher price because of genuine supply and demand and more than likely due to five customers wanting to buy a comic that there is only one copy of.
With 1 in ?? incentives every show you attend, nearly every retailer who sells new product has a copy on his/her wall.
Why is there a method here where the prices are set a the crazy high and then when all the dealer/retailer boards/walls are still loaded with said book the prices decline until the book that was $75 is more like $20.

Why the reverse of percentage growth is still here i know not.


Why the high price if there are so many available?

How many people still buy this stuff although the proof that none of these books maintain the high prices the greedy retailer ask and yet they come back for more or are replaced by new suckers each month.

I could go on more and more about the evil practices of both publishers and retailers but i think i got my point across.

over.

[Draco]

Love and hate are the two main responses to the "rare variant" programs.

The compromise on variant books seems to be when they are all done in equal quantities...
people who want to "collect them all" still collect them all,
the book obviously sells more copies total, but no one is forced to
buy the "limited one" at exhorbitant prices. They're all "equally limited",
and you get the best of both worlds - multiple covers, same prices.

Of course, it also means that dealers can't make all their profits off the 'rare' one.

Which is fine with me.

Oh yeah im all up for any company printing two covers in equal amounts.

You get to pick the one you like the most and if you want both it doesnt kill you like $75 for the other cover does.

[Daniel Jackson]

Remember, you can't talk about variants getting out of hand without mentioning....Zoom Suit.

[Draco]

Remember, you can't talk about variants getting out of hand without mentioning....Zoom Suit.

stop that right there right now.

[jedimarley]

Remember, you can't talk about variants getting out of hand without mentioning....Zoom Suit.

Ak!

[Daniel Jackson]

Remember, you can't talk about variants getting out of hand without mentioning....Zoom Suit.

Ak!

Hahaha....hey, we tallied them up once, do you remember the number?

[Draco]

Remember, you can't talk about variants getting out of hand without mentioning....Zoom Suit.

Ak!

Hahaha....hey, we tallied them up once, do you remember the number?

I have over five just from 25p bins these last few months