I asked the clerk at my LCS if I could reserve my copy of CAPTAIN AMERICA #600 in advance, expecting a mad-house and them to be sold out about an hour after opening, since Marvel has all but ensured this print of the issue will sell out without giving shops any time to increase orders. The conversation went like this:
"You're selling Captain America #600 on Monday, right?"
"Yeah."
"Can I reserve a copy now?"
"No, can't do that. Some newspaper thing is coming out on Monday and it is going to be a big thing."
"So, basically, anyone who wants a copy has to camp out in front of the store when you open, right?"
"Pretty much." Clerk smiles.
This, my friends, is why comics lose customers to the Internet every year.
Because a lot of us (myself included) spend an amount of time defending the poor LCBS against various Marvel. etc. policies, I think it's worth noting that the LCBS seem to be happily taking part in this. They all have pull lists, and they could put it in those first, and give vouchers to anyone else coming in. If they're doing stuff like what you mentioned, it's no different than what they did with the Death of Superman issue. And that worked out REAAALL well for the comic industry.
I guess I'll have to go to my LCBS today and see if they're doing the same thing. I doubt I would go so far as to drop it from my pull list, but I would remind them of how much I spend a month, and that there are other stores I can go to. They should be very wary of playing with customers when there are other outlets available (subscriptions, Marvel Digital, etc.)
All that being said (and I know this might sound a bit contradictory), I have no problem with limited print runs. And here's why:
*In this case, anyone who has bought comics the last few years know full well that there will be reprints. They only do this to drum up interest. So, unless you have collector mentality and MUST own the first printing and immediately seal it away for posterity (and your kids' college education), it's really a non-issue. When the Obama issue came out, even my girlfriend asked me if I was getting it (I had a sub at the time). I told her if I want another, I'll wait until the 5th or 6th printing. She actually asked me how I knew that they'd reprint it (she's so cute...) Making inroads into the public conciousness is never a bad thing. But for us "insiders", it's really just silliness. And it was fun watching the Obama-ites lined up leaving their name and number.
*Other companies limit the number of items even though they know how much demand there is. Apple comes to mind. They play this game every time one of their products come out. And they charge more for it. And inevitably, they come out with the story about how they have their factories working overtime to meet the demand. It's no different.
*The industry is run much differentlly than it was in the past, where they regularly "destroyed" comics, and sold them on the secondary market (flea markets). The cost of producing comics is much higher, and LCBS's can't return. It all leads to an incentive to never, ever print comics that won't be sold. Now, you can never really do that, because the shops need something on hand for the walk-ins to look at. But, in their hearts, I betcha they'd love a system in which all customers were more like subscribers, and they ordered, maybe, 2 or 3 comics above that.
Kano's art was good as well.
), I can call any of the three and they'll put anything I ask aside for me...
