Unbelievable. The free edition of “Fallen Angel” designed to get fans to sample it and, ideally, pick up the trade?
A retailer has put one up on Ebay. And it’s already got two bids bringing it up to $3.75. This for a book that says “FREE” on the cover. Check it out.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=35764&item=2269079664&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW
PAD
• 
Hard-To-Find Retailer Variant? What ARE they smoking?
So sad.
On the other hand, since I have already heard some people say “My retailers didn’t have any” (presumably the free copies were snatched up fast) or “I buy my comics online, how can I get one” the hard-to-find bit may not be all that nuts…
Wow… That’s just.. Wow… It’s both funny and sad at the same time…
Although I have the feeling that’s one issue that’s not finding it’s way into the hands of a new reader. 🙁
But what should we expect?
After the gorgeous young woman was hanging all over the middle-aged millionaire all night, he said to her “Would you go to bed with me for $20?” She replied “Mr. Millions, what kind of person do you think I am?” Smiling, he said “I already know what you are. I was just negotiating the price.”
Some dealers will do anything to make a few extra bucks for today. They have no consideration for the potential business that they could create for the future. They would sell the give away comic and make $5 today instead of giving it to a potential customer and maybe making $20 tomorrow.
Even if the person who got the free comic did not buy another issue of Fallen Angel, they would remember and appreciate the gesture by the dealer. The dealer would then have a more loyal customer in the future.
Maybe it is time for a national chain of comic book stores.
Currently $6.49 + $3.95 shipping. 4 days to go on auction.
I don’t even want to think about ebay right now. I just lost an auction for Fallen Angels #1-13.
Hey, is it possible or even worth the time of reporting a falsely described ad to ebay? I’m just wondering about the poor schmuck who ends up paying for this thinking that he/she got a rare exclusive.
That’s very funny.
On a related note… I picked up Fallen Angel #15 (I think that was the number… whatever the latest issue was) this week… and I liked it. I had said some things before in these comments (for other posts) about how I wasn’t crazy about the comic… but this issue was pretty cool. Not a whole lot happened, but it was well written and intriguing enough that I’ll pick up next month’s issue as well… and if I like that, I’ll even get the trade.
So… good work. There’s one more reader for you.
I once saw a man put his soul up on ebay. It went for about $200. the winner received a notarized letter stating they owned the person’s soul.
On a happy note I bought near mint copies of Amazing Spider Man (vol. 1)298-300 (1st Venom) for $50 & just bought AMS #252 (1st alien costume)for $3. Once SM3 comes out in theatres, I bet I can sell all for for over $100, especially if Venom is the movie’s featured villian.
God Bless eBay!!!!!!!!!!
And if it is nailed down, the nails are included in the auction.
*smacks humanity in general*
For something free, they don’t care what they pay
Via PeterDavid.net:
To promote Fallen Angel, DC re-released the first issue as a free promo edition and sent it out to comic stores this week.
It seems someone’s already selling it on eBay as a “Hard-To-Find Retailer Variant.” In fact, based …
PAD,
Methinks you should file a complaint with ebay about it. Since there is a policy in place about how the issue was to be distributed, the retailer is going against DC’s rules. It’s just a suggestion.
See ya in Brockton on the 17th!
Slightly off-topic, but did anyone see the premiere of The Apprentice? When Carolyn Kepcher criticized the toy name “Crustacean Nation” because it was too sophisticated, and that kids only know crabs and lobsters, was I the only one who thought “Wow, ya think she’s gonna suggest something like Pirahna Guy?”
Hmm…maybe you ought to ‘ask this seller a question’…and make it something along the lines of “I (or we) gave this book out for free, in order to get it into the hands of customers (for free). Not for retailers (who received the book for free) to turn around and sell on e-bay.”
Just a (free) suggestion 🙂
My local store got one copy (they only ordered two copies of Hellblazer #200). I did use it to show someone elements of the book that weren’t in #15 (like Dolf), but she’s a poor college student who’s trying to avoid getting into series that she has to pay for (she goes with webcomics and closed-story TPBs). Ah well.
When I asked my LCS about this issue.. they said they would “hook me up” with a copy for a modest cost since I’m such a good customer. Wow! I wonder what they are going to charge me a copy of a freebee comic. They didn’t even know they were getting them until I mention it.
” So how many copies of Hellblazer 200 did you order?”
” blah.. why? “
” DC is sending out a special copy of Fallen Angel equal to half your Hellblazer 200 order. “
” Reeeeally? “
” Yep. Do you think I could get one if there are leftovers after you give them to customers that might like FA? “
” Give? ” ” We might be able to hook you up with one at a good price. “
And I thought to myself ” Fûçk you. I have them all anyway and two copies of the trade.. besides they are SUPPOSE to be free. “
Nothing but a bunch of shady bášŧárdš.
Ben…you wouldn’t care to tell me the name of the retailer, would you?
PAD
Ben,
That reminds me of the retailer I was using when Crisis # 7 (death of Supergirl) came out. I happened to be there while he was unloading it, and that’s why I was able to get it at cover price. He was immediately bagging the issues and charging something like 5 or 10 bucks for them. I thought he was a bášŧárd for doing that at the time, but fortunately I was only in that area for a summer so I didn’t have to deal with him again.
I’m glad to say my current retailer was very pleased to give me a free copy of FA so I can try it out; I’m hoping to enjoy it given all the positive reviews. Thanks Michael!
Well, if nothing else this proves the adage that there is “an ášš for every seat”. In this case there are 2: the retailer who is doing this (and don’t think he or she won’t do a “second chance offer” to ANY of the others stupid enough to bid on this), and the high bidder who is either your greatest fan (doubt it since I am), or is in serious need of some type of therapy in regards to collecting for the right reasons.
Here’s a comment from a retailer that stumpled upon this.
I only have two customers that pick up Fallen Angels, so I only order the two copies. Without knowing why, I received 2 copies of the Free issue. I just assumed it was for them. I put it in their subscription drawers and let them have it for FREE!
Of course, had I realized it was something they already had, I would have given it to other customers.
Just a voice from the other side of the counter.
Sincerely,
Roger
I emailed the seller & the high bidder to inform them of the situation.
Seems to be much ado about nothing.
Okay, though I don’t see a need for anger over selling this, I do see the reason not to trust this guy. He says:
“Dominion Comics is a CGC Authorized Member Dealer! “
CGC is such a scam!
Ah, now some interesting commentary!
So Ken, WHY is CGC such a scam in your opinion? Just curious, and this oughta make some interesting reading!
This is why I get so upset when people exclusively blame Marvel or DC. They have no control over the retailers. I actually know some retailers who were selling the FREE COMIC BOOK DAY version of “Ultimate Spider-Man #1” at ridiculous prices.
Until this changes, we are all in for a hurt. All the marketing in the world doesn’t matter if you don’t know how to take advantage of it.
Joe, what isn’t a scam about it?
The seller is paying CGC to give them a rating, not to make a fair rating.
CGC’s ratings have been shown to vary per customer and be flawed.
The seller then charges a ridiculously high price.
Then if the buyer wants to read the comic, he has to open it up and by doing this he negates the CGC rating.
It is a poor system. It is a scam.
Jason Henningson wrote:
“Methinks you should file a complaint with ebay about it. Since there is a policy in place about how the issue was to be distributed, the retailer is going against DC’s rules. It’s just a suggestion.”
I think it’s pretty crappy for a retailer to sell this “free” FA issue on eBay, but come on and lets be a little realistic here… if he chooses to do that then so be it. It’s his and he can do with it as he wants. There are no “DC rules” preventing him from selling it. And sending eBay a complaint is pretty silly (and a total waste of time anyway).
I think it’s pretty crappy for a retailer to sell this “free” FA issue on eBay, but come on and lets be a little realistic here… if he chooses to do that then so be it. It’s his and he can do with it as he wants. There are no “DC rules” preventing him from selling it. And sending eBay a complaint is pretty silly (and a total waste of time anyway).
Complete and utter agreement. This is much ado about nothing. It’s the retailer’s free copy. He’s also not lieing. It is a rare variant. If some schmuck wants to pay money for it, I’ve got no sympathy for them.
I’m not condoning what he’s doing. I wouldn’t do it if I were him, but at the end of the day he’s just screwing himself.
Ðámņ. I wish I had thought of this first.
I wish people who defend the idiots hawking absolutely anything in eBay would give it some thought. Just because you can do something doesn’t imply that you should: people selling a free comic like that are the worst kind of parasite, people no better than those that sell bootlegged music and movies on eBay. They didn’t pay to print this comic, didn’t pay for its creation; for the love of God it was printed to actually help the comics industry which less face it is in terminal decline and eBay cretins who sell a bottled fart if they could aren’t doing it any favours.
I would be very surprised if the free issue didn’t have “Not for Resale” printed on it somewhere; when DC is printing Fallen Angel almost certainly at a loss how the hëll are you going to encourage them to keep it going when every jáçkášš with a eBay account is trying to profiteer from a free item which can contribute to nothing other than Fallen Angel’s cancellation?
I mean do we really want a comics industry dominated by recycling the same superhero stories that became creatively extinct 20 years ago or so we want to encourage books that actually offer something new, relevant and meaningful?
Taking it further do I really have to point out the kind of world we’re going to live in where everything is for sale?
I think when a comic dealer is selling comics on eBay that were sent to him in order to promote a series for free, I also think that is wrong. But I don`t have any problem with it when a customer who got such a free comic sells it later on eBay. The free comic served its purpose then, meaning that the customer had a chance to make up his mind if he likes it for free but it is up to him then what to do with the comic if he doesn`t want to keep it. Ideally, he should give it for free to another person who might want to try the series but selling such comics makes the available to fans who don`t have the opportunity to get this limited edition. I must admit, I am tempted to look at eBay at some point, but I would only buy the comic from a fan, not from a comic shop.
Just to be clear on this, I’m not out to shut the auction down or anything. I mean, I don’t have a copy of the promo edition personally, so I don’t know if it says “Not for resale” on it. But if it doesn’t–and I suspect that’s the case–the retailer isn’t doing anything WRONG per se. He’s just acting in a way that I consider short-sighted.
So he gets a few bucks for this one copy. Big deal. Compare that to other retailers who are using the free copy as a loner to various potential customers, and the customers are coming back, returning the book, and buying the trade because they want to see what happens next. Or even picking up the available issues on the stands.
I don’t have a problem with retailers finding ways to make money. I have a problem when they’re ignoring ways to make MORE money.
PAD
The EBay ad says there is a PAD editorial on the inside front cover.
If that is true, any chance someone can post it here for everyone to read?
Okay, that’s interesting. The price is down to $2.99 and the previous high bid is gone.
PAD
Sure. This is what I wrote. I’ve no idea how much of it is actually in the comic:
First came the fans who liked what they saw and stayed. The first wanderers into the backroads of Bete Noire, who met and fell in love with the mysterious Fallen Angel and her intriguing supporting cast. These readers, over time, received many pieces to the puzzle and came to realize they were reading the most twisted love story in comics history.
Then came the reviewers. Dozens of rave notices.
>>Okay, that’s interesting. The price is down to $2.99 and the previous high bid is gone.
More interesting is that it had been bid up to $17.99, before dropping down to the opening bid price again. Both bidders retracking stating their reason for doing so was “Bidder changed item description”. I don’t see anything different about the ad. Perhaps the dealer, or someone watching, contacted them with the more accurate info.
“More interesting is that it had been bid up to $17.99, before dropping down to the opening bid price again. Both bidders retracking stating their reason for doing so was “Bidder changed item description”. I don’t see anything different about the ad. Perhaps the dealer, or someone watching, contacted them with the more accurate info.”
Great. See, this is how people wind up hating my guts.
PAD
PAD:
>>”More interesting is that it had been bid up to $17.99, before dropping down to the opening bid price again. Both bidders retracking stating their reason for doing so was “Bidder changed item description”. I don’t see anything different about the ad. Perhaps the dealer, or someone watching, contacted them with the more accurate info.”
>Great. See, this is how people wind up hating my guts.
How so? Although that was simply unsubstantiated speculation at what may have happened (For clarity’s sake, I was referring to watching the auction, not this thread.), it’d take a great leap for a dealer to draw conclusions between the millions of people wandering eBay and you somehow being responsible for this. Possibly a great leap, skip, hop, and a few escalator rides.
It is not a rare comic.
It is distributed at half the Hellblazer numbers.
Hellblazer must be selling between 12-15,000 copies.
That makes this comic 6-7500 copies.
Posted by: Joe Krolik:
“…WHY is CGC such a scam in your opinion?”
Well, in my opinion, CGC isn’t so much a scam, but a HUGE waste of time and money. You send in a book, pay them money, they put an grade on the condition of the book, then seal the book up. Seal the book up??? It’s a friggin’ book! A book you can’t read is worthless, no matter what “grade” is on the packaging.
Reading all the various knocks against retailers makes me appreciate my LCS more. I live right outside of NYC, so I am not lacking in choices of where to buy my comics. The store I go to is right in Times Square, and I know that do a tremendous amount of business, but that doesn’t prvent them from treating me like their most important customer everytime I am there. Always courteous and helpful, at least from what I have seen. If your LCS doesn’t give you the customer the proper respect, or you believe that their business dealing are shady, then buy comics somewhere else. Only way they will change how they do business is if they feel it in their wallets. If ther’re no other comic shops in your area then there are many places online you can order comics, weekly or monthly or whatever suits you.
It is not a rare comic.
It is distributed at half the Hellblazer numbers.
Hellblazer must be selling between 12-15,000 copies.
That makes this comic 6-7500 copies.
Compared to the million copies of X-Men 1, this is rare.
Compared to the millions of comic collectors out there, this is rare because so few will actually see it.
Now, if I were this guy I would complain about to eBay about the retracted bids. He did not change anything and he did not make any false statements. He was just a guy out to make an extra buck without looking at the possible big picture. Happens all of the time.
Not sure what happened but all of Alan Coils quote should have been bolded.
“It is not a rare comic.
It is distributed at half the Hellblazer numbers.
Hellblazer must be selling between 12-15,000 copies.
That makes this comic 6-7500 copies.”
Not sure what happened but all of Alan Coils quote should have been bolded.
You have to individually tag each separate paragraph. They don’t carry over for whatever reason.
I wish people who defend the idiots hawking absolutely anything in eBay would give it some thought. Just because you can do something doesn’t imply that you should: people selling a free comic like that are the worst kind of parasite, people no better than those that sell bootlegged music and movies on eBay. They didn’t pay to print this comic, didn’t pay for its creation; for the love of God it was printed to actually help the comics industry which less face it is in terminal decline and eBay cretins who sell a bottled fart if they could aren’t doing it any favours.
People have the right to be cretins, idiots,parasites, and short-sighted. This is different from a bootleg video or cd because they acquired this free copy legally. If part of the agreement with DC was that it was not for resale, that would change things. If DC just shipped it to them out of the blue, the retailer can decide on his own what to do with the book – be that to lend/give it to prospective readers, file it in the circular file, or sell it.
Or in short, no one is saying he should sell it, just that he has the right to. (if DC didn’t mark it as not for resale)
It is not a rare comic. It is distributed at half the Hellblazer numbers. Hellblazer must be selling between 12-15,000 copies. That makes this comic 6-7500 copies.
You don’t consider 6-7K copies worldwide rare? That’s less than some of the other alternate and chase covers Marvel and DC are releasing nowadays.
Darn.
The owner of my LCS gave me the free copy. I’ve only had it on hold since issue #8, I’m not sure he realized I had managed to find almost all of the back issues and already had the real #1. (As well as the TPB)
I would have handed it back to him, but I knew a friend who was a regular subscriber to Supergirl, and is a big fan of the New Fronteir books, but who hasn’t been reading Fallen Angel…so I gave it to her…hoping to get her hooked.
And now I find out I gave her a rarity! One that could theoretically go up to $18 on Ebay! That would pay for the next six months! I feel foolish. 🙂 (Not Really)
This reminds me of #43 of Stuart Immonen’s “50 Reasons To Stop Doing Con Sketches”:
http://maj.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?i=2053
JSM
You have to individually tag each separate paragraph. They don’t carry over for whatever reason.
Thanks.
I know the retailer selling the free copy… I used to live in Lynchburg, and would frequent his store (I still stop by if I’m passing through and I missed something at my regular store.) Not a bad guy, really… a pretty decent store owner over all. But he does do a lot of eBay business to supplement his store income… he’s had to diversify the store and carry lots of “card games” and such, because the comics by themselves just don’t pay the bills. I did email him, and point out his mistake. I’ll let you know if he responds, and what his response is.
FWIW, My Comic Shop in Jersey did get the Free Copies and put them out alongside the Issue 15. I picked up one to try and since they didn’t have the TPB, picked up the Back Issues of 2-3 along with it.
I did enjoy it so I am going to order the TPB of 1-6 this week. So for those out there who want a copy of the Free Issue 1 and 2-3 to hand out, I’ll be happy to send them anywhere in the U.S. post paid (cheap post mind you). Sorry since this is on my dime, no International as I’m just trying to do something to help out a book I just discovered, not lose more than the $6.50 I spent on 2 & 3 and the shipping.
1st E-mail to me at erikmerk at comcast.net will get it.
Good luck,
Erik Merk
At my comic shop, one was actually put in my bag since I am a FA subscriber. I told the owner to put it on the counter or give it to someone else. I already read and love FA, and it was better for someone else to get the book.
Of course, my retailer is good people, so it was free.