Still in the Wild, Wild, West

I'm still completely unable to do my TPB research on eBay with their new search format from my home terminal. That makes Hulk mad.

But I was pleasantly surprised to find the old search format still up and running when I sat down in front of mom's computer this afternoon. This is a serious WTF situation. Why is my mom the lucky one? How did my computer magically attract this new nonsense without my permission? Must be some bad karma I picked up in a previous life. I knew I shouldn't have peeled one off into that nun's tea. But it seemed like a good idea at the time.

At any rate, the good news - hell, the GREAT news is that I was able to do my research this afternoon just like the good ol' days. I still have warm fuzzies in my cockles just thinking about it. You know you're beyond redemption when the desire to search through 30 screens of sales data far exceeds your desire for sex. I'm a sick human.

I'll tell you about some of the new gems I uncovered on the podcast, and mention another little nugget here on the blog: we are still very much in the Wild, Wild, West when it comes to the trade paperbacks.

Case in point - I just watched the first three collections of Rick Remender's Sea of Red go for nearly $50??!! Here's the scene of the crime if you want to look at it yourself:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Sea-of-Red-Vol-1-2-3-Graphic-Novels-tpb-lot-K-Dwyer_W0QQitemZ280189894695QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item280189894695

Naturally that result got me curious, so I headed straight to Amazon and found that these books are not scarce and very available for less than $10 a throw. It's still the Wild, Wild, West people. There is no price guide, there are no rules. Well there's still one rule. If you have to date one of the Legion of Superheroes, stay away from Infectious Girl. Beyond that, it's anybody's guess.

So what's going on here? Is this the beginning of a new trend? Can you post this yourself and repeat the results? I wouldn't be on it. I'm guessing it's just an aberration - somebody REALLY wanted those books and doesn't know about Amazon. (sucker) It could be some schill bidding gone crazy and not even a real result. Life is too crazy in this market to be sure about anything.

And that's a good thing, quite frankly. Sure, sometimes the bottom will drop out from under you if you're not paying attention. Marvel goes back to press on that Uncanny X-Men Omnibus and all of a sudden that dictionary you thought you were getting $150 for now brings $50. Did you pay $100 for it? Oops. But sometimes you can throw up a couple of crappy Rick Remender books and score $50, too.

Until the world wakes up and starts tracking results with an easily accessible price guide, out of print TPBs are the best market in comics, hands down. It's fun, it's exciting, it's cutting edge, it's dangerous. And it's the best game I know.

Incidentally, If you like yourself please do avoid reading Sea of Red or any other Rick Remender book for that matter. Well, you can read Fear Agent if you want. If you touch Sorrow I wash my hand of you, though. Yikes.

Stay tuned and I'll keep you as up to date as I can on the Wild Wild West. It helps to listen to the show, of course. You must brandish Market Spotlight like a trusty six shooter, or you'll wind up at Boot Hill. I dont' even know what that means, but I'm sure it isn't any good.

Ryan