As I’ve stated before, I’m loving the Monsters comics - however, I feel the same as above.
I pre-ordered the Jaws metal because I think it’s going to be awesome in metal (as a collector and the comic will be with me for a long time if the cover is as cool as I think it will be). I am irritated that it became an ‘exclusive’ virgin to other comic stores WAY after the metal was made available for pre-sell (prospector/resale value down the line).
I’m actually hoping that a TON of people are going to start feeling the same way and stop or considerably lower their orders for issue 5+. I’m in for the long haul and think the full run will be very popular when it’s done (I’m doing 3 runs of cover A & B).
No fault to Mark himself for doing what he’s doing as he’s taking advantage of the opportunity that’s been put in front of him, but we are veering very closely to Monsters overload at this point.
Actually wish people would just stop supporting the pyramid scheme that is store variants. The only ones who really make money on the over priced books are them.
I rarely buy a store exclusive… and I never buy them from the retailers who base the bulk of their business model on them. A small shop that wants to put out an exclusive cover for a property they really like… they’re fans and likely have customers who will purchase it. I have no issue with those.
The ones who have become pros at preying on the uninformed, unwise, and uneducated buyer are the worst. Constantly developing new techniques of deception to push the trash.
I have bought some recently when they are on mega clearance or can get a good lot of them really cheap. I bought a bunch of Black Cape Comics exclusives for less than a dollar each and have more than made my money back on that purchase. Unknown does $5 books and buy two get two from time to time. Have sold a bunch at a local flea market and made my money back on them ($2.50 each for an exclusive is good but tend to only get books that have sexy covers, like Nakayama cover featuring Rogue or MJ spiderman covers)
Top two tried and true methods of exclusive shops:
Do an exclusive to ratio chase. Presell as many of the ratios as you can at a decent price. Then, announce the exclusive with some “special sale” for preordering. Sell whatever you can by release to get in the black. Months later dump it for a fraction of what the completely made up price point was.
Manufacture scarcity by having a “limited” print run. FYI - the exclusive shops are in partnership with each other to make this feasible for Marvel books. With Marvel, I think you need a 3k print run and then you can do any additional variant with a 1k print run. So, a shop like Unknown will do the 3k and sell/offer the Marvel 1k print run exclusive variant access to their partners. This significantly reduces the risk/cost and gives off the perception of rarity.
Another shady thing they do is do the initial exclusive sale, and have a 1k print run convention exclusive variant pocketed that will get sold at a later convention.
Let’s look at another shit tactic - creator comps and damage reserves getting leaked later. They’re never transparent with actual print runs because they do not include these categories. An example was the SDCC Mandalorian by Trinity. They kept having copies pop up for sale following the convention. The first excuse was “we didn’t have time to bag and board these 10 copies before we headed out for the con” (LOL). Then, oh this is E.M. Gist’s personal copies that we are selling.
Oh, I’ll continue I suppose. If they have a hot book on their hands, just send it back to print with a new color variant! Ta-da!
I’ve done the same. Picked up bunches of exclusives for $1-2. While I briefly feel bad that someone paid $30 and sold it for $1, that feeling dissipates quickly.
I thought you made a “hell of a lot of money selling Spears covers” yourself. I’d say it was a success, especially with the increased attention the influencers are giving it.
I will say that I want to support Mark Spears. Based on the interviews, he was taken advantage of and only given $150 for some of his work. That’s crazy. Apparently it was Keenspot who massproduced and the publishers making different colors covers are the scumbags killing the investment legitimacy.
He is on the map now so he can control some things moving forward. I’d guess the Lobo cover will be iconic book for now on.
I just got back form Universal Studios. There was a ton of new Monsters stuff everywhere with an entire new Monster section coming in May 2025. It really looks like there is big investment in the brand happening. Bride of Frankenstein was everywhere but it was clearly the Karloff versions of everything.
The game is afoot so to we will certainly see 5 different colors, and some foil, maybe even a leather variant. Feels like a denial of service attack but this is the circle-jerk that was encouraged. At the end of the day, this is the American way.
I believe they are ‘sold out’ by design. Not wild to think there is a budget to reacquire these assets, as a tax free operating expense. If they were smart, they would have a few people sell them on ebay at a higher cost and buy one copy at a large premium to set the tone.
I did. Would you like to see the sales? Not sure what you are trying to say there…
Yes increased attention is good on the upside but when retailers start buying more than it’s going to kill the secondary market value as the market gets flooded.
I really liked this cover…because it features the main character. $20 retail…it took forever to sell out…now I’ll have to wait it out…might never come back down…
Anyone hear anything about Mark Spears potentially working and doing art with/for Todd mcfarlane on the Spawn 77 series? If this is true, that is huge! His early work is going to have legs folks.
