I’ve ordered a lot of comics from a lot of different shops. My 2 favorites are comicmint and poorboy comics. They both know how to package really well and they don’t seem to cherry pick the good ones.
The only problem with comicmint is they take a while to ship. Usually weeks. While poorboy comics usually sends things within 24-48 hours.
I have been using TFAW. So far I have not had any issues. Most of my orders are between 5 to 15 copies. I also use Unknown and MyComicShop. I usually pre-order orders of over 50 comics. They use a foam corners and bag like 20 to 25 together. No damages in shipping. I usually have not had any issues with the condition. At least 9.6. Only fault I had with them is they cancelled a few orders on me. Unknown has been ok too for the most part. They had had a few issues lately.
The paper on my Daredevil #22? Like, wth!!! It is the worst stock of paper on any comic I’ve bought this year. I had to go to two shops to find a decent one and even it is not great.
Funny you mentioned that… absolutely agree and specifically that Daredevil book. Everything about it seemed cheap…worse quality than newspaper ads. The cover was razor thin…almost felt like it would tear just turning a page.
In my opinion, DC makes a far superior product production wise. Better paper, ink, cardstock, printing. The colors of a DC book are much better.
lol, one of the employees at my LCS was eyeing me as I was basically going through each copy of the Daredevil book trying to find a good one. Don’t think he approved of my behavior.
They should’ve sent that trash back to Diamond. One of the copies had a torn corner and they still had it up on the shelves.
I don’t feel too bad missing out on this book tho - the black panther banner - didn’t mind it at all on other books but it kinda messed up this cover for me. 
Another Wednesday another struggle.
This week’s award goes to Strange Academy 3 Cover A. Not a single copy in the wild (came across 30+ between multiple stores) that didn’t have significant defects along the spine.
Another Wednesday of scanning through new books on the rack while LCS employees give me negative vibes throughout the process - if this keeps up then I’ll likely take my business back online exclusively.
I miss the days where I could walk into a shop on NCBD, pick out and purchase 2 minty copies of every book that I want to buy, hassle-free, and then walk out a happy customer.
All the stores were crabby at you for simply walking in and looking around? How odd. I’ve been to some unfriendly shops, but plenty of nice ones too. I’m sorry your local ones seem mean.
That’s how I feel at Austin Books. There’s a manager there that seems to look at you as if you’re a criminal or something… while he sits behind the sub/pull counter. It’s like he’s actually annoyed there’s “customers” showing up or something… another reason to stop shopping at Austin Books (sadly, all the other employees are/were pretty awesome and super nice).
I get 90% of pre-orders from TFAW, but a couple from my LCS to throw some business locally. 2 hours after open, and all Strange Academy 3s are gone from the shelves. I ask for my pulls, and there’s just an A cover (even though I had A and B requested), and it’s pretty beat up. But, none left to swap it with.
Then my TFAW order shows up same day (books from 2 weeks ago), and only 5 of 11 are what I’d consider 9.6+. Spine ticks all over the place unrelated to shipping, and a shipping doink on a corner that smashed a couple.
Rough week for chasing 9.8s.
As I’m leaving the store, there’s a stack of FCBD books on a table. Grabbed two flawless Spider-Man from this year and a perfect Civil War II from what… 2016? Those books have been sitting out, unbagged, and they were the best quality books I got this week.
It’s true.
There is only 1 store out of the 4 that I frequent every Wednesday where I feel 100% comfortable. It’s a “mom and pop” / “hole in the wall” type shop that is 40+ minutes away from my home - the owner is super cool and I’ve had these very conversations with him - in regards to Diamond’s lousy shipping methods and the struggle of finding minty books in the wild.
Also, yesterday, I noticed at this same shop that I’m not the only one that takes their time scanning book condition prior to purchasing - I ended up striking up a conversation with the other two customers at the shop when I was there because I could tell that they were doing exactly what I was doing. Both dudes shared my frustrations around the current state of new raw books in the wild.
Unfortunately, I walked out of this shop with only two books - 9.2s maybe if I’m lucky. I would not have normally purchased such books, but I couldn’t walk out of that shop without giving that awesome store owner some business/money. In a perfect world, I would’ve been able to walk out with 2 (9.6 - 9.8) copies of each book that I wanted to buy and call it a day.
The other 3 shops are 3 locations that belong to a single company.
1 is just outright the worst and I’m super uncomfortable every time I’m in there when the manager is there, however this one is the closest to home (20 minutes).
The manager and I got off on the wrong foot because the first time I met him was after I had called in to ask if they had a book available - they did and he offered to hold it for me so I said sure (just in case they sell out before I got there), however once I arrived I walked over to the rack and saw several copies of the book in question just sitting, so I did my usual and picked out what I thought was the best one.
Now, I could’ve just purchased this book and walked out of the store and that would’ve been the end of it - this guy didn’t know who I was, but instead I thought it would be best to identify myself as the dude that called earlier and tell him that he no longer had to hold the book behind the counter for me since I already picked one out on my own.
And dude… this guy, though he kept his cool, was visibly SO UPSET that I picked out a copy on my own instead of taking the one that he held behind the counter for me… over something so trivial! I felt so bad that I apologized to him multiple times - looking back, I shouldn’t have apologized at all, but whatever.
I also walk into these stores with my own bag and boards - he looks at me all suspiciously when I do this and has even asked me to confirm that they’re just bag and boards after walking in. Like dude are you serious?
Anyways, I’ve tried to start small talk with him here and there to have him loosen up and it kind of helps but his vibes are still a little off and every time I ask him a question in regards to whether a book was sold out or just not ordered the tone in his response is always a little off.
As for the other 2 stores that belong to this same umbrella/company - they’re better but not great. Better in that the managers are awesome, however each has at least 1 employee that gives off the same vibes as the manager in store #1.
To be frank, if this is what I have to deal with going forward and if the next few online orders that I have on deck don’t end up being more minty than not, I’ll likely call it quits after only being back in the game for a month or so. I’m sure I could find something else to spend ~ $100 a week on, and I’ll eventually get around to reading what I want to read via some digital avenue online.
This is why I don’t have a pull box - I have no faith in being able to secure high grade (9.6+) books using this approach.
Like you, I want to just walk into a shop, pick out 2 minty copies of every book I’m looking for, and walk out - spending no more than 20 minutes in the store (if that).
I left my home at 1030am yesterday and did not return until 530pm. This entire time was spent on comic book hunting (driving to shops included) except for maybe 45 minutes lunch. Obviously not sustainable.
I don’t get the attitude directed at those that want nice copies. I mean, that’s kinda the name of the game for a certain group of collectors. My main shops seem pretty fine with this.
I could understand some angst around bringing bags/boards into the shop. I usually have them in the car with me and bag 'em up after purchase. Theft is a major issue at these shops, and maybe that owner has been seriously burned by this.
I tend to think of the hunt for 9.8s as part of the game. As illustrated by the Spawn thread, books can be damaged at so many points along the journey.
Fair take on bag and boards. I started doing this after one of clerks at one of the shops, after I asked for a bag and board, went and grabbed a brand new pack of BCW boards and literally dropped it right on top of the single comic that I was purchasing that day (which was laid out flat on the counter at the time), prior to opening the pack to get a single board out for me.
That stunt scarred me for life, lol.
I’ll give it a try without them next time to see if that changes things.
Funny - Same experience with FCBD books this year. Just sitting out stacked vertically on the counter- for weeks, and almost every book is in pristine condition - I myself have two of the Spider-man ones from this year as well as two of the X-men ones. Literally just pull a copy that is a few books down from the one on top of the stack and you’re good to go - super quick process.
Your TFAW results this week has me shook - definitely holding super low expectations now for my pre-orders that are likely arriving next week.
This was by far the worst condition from TFAW yet. Again, some issues look like they existed pre-shipping (book might have arrived at TFAW that way) and some were shipping issues. I’m going to ask about a couple of them, as a few would be lucky to grade above an 8. Sounds like TFAW might help with those ones.
Edit: So far, TFAW has been REALLY good. I was shocked at this shipment.
Pre pandemic I use to go to midtown comics every Wednesday. Before the store opens there is usually a line of 20 or more people depending on if there is a hot book that week. once the store opens, its a free for all. 30-50 people grabbing books from all directions. there are a few people grabbing stacks of 30 books looking for the best one. The 1st 30 minutes is frenzy and by then any chance of getting a 9.8 book is close to zero.
i always bring bags and board to the store but my biggest complaint is the worker who doesn’t know how to handle the comics and stuffs them in the bag. so even if you pull the perfect comic there is a chance the worker will mess it up.
i am strictly online now.
Thanks for making me feel normal - I have the same concerns around how the worker will handle the comic during the small window of time that I hand it over to them at the cash register - how’s strictly online working out for you?
Also, that in person Midtown experience sounds like a nightmare. I guess that comes with the territory in New York, although when I lived in Chicago, shopping downtown at Graham Crackers Comics during my lunch break was a pleasant experience (new 52 era).
I visited Midtown once in-person ages ago. I was in New York for a couple of music shows and yeah - was cool to actually see it in person after placing online orders for years - wasn’t on NCBD so the experience was pretty chill (Times Square location).
My best experiences were in small town Bloomington, Indiana. This was before the Hollywood hype + social media revolution - around 2005. NCBD was a peaceful breeze. Ratio incentives could be found in the middle of a bunch of standard covers sitting on the shelves - no mark up, no fuss. I’d pick out 2 copies of each book I wanted + bag and board them myself at the counter prior to handing them over for checkout.
Not much point in a pullbox if they’re giving you the $#!# copies, IMO.
I use a combination of tfaw, dcbs, ebay and small online stores, like poor boy, comic mint, others
All have its positives and negatives. dcbs probably has the highest quality books.
TFAW finally got back to me after 3 days on my shipment of 100 comics and 30 books were damaged. TFAW basically stated if the book are VF then the books can not be returned. seems like a very low bar for a seller of new comics. Even ebay preorder sellers guarantee 9.4 or above. Have others have similar experiences with TFAW.
see pics of a few of the books received by TFAW.
