ComicMix Radio: Baltimore ComicConWrap Up
Direct from The Baltimore ComicCon, it’s our Extra ComicMix Radio extended broadcast, starting with a look at the economy of the comics selling business. Graham Cracker Comics owner Jamie Graham talking about what’s hot and what is likely to get hotter with collectible comics. Want to know where the next big investment might be? Jamie shares that and more, plus we introduce you to another of those hidden gems we love to find on the floor of the con – a new publisher with a fresh approach and some interesting new titles.Curious aren’t you? Then Press the Button!
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Transcript
September 28th 2008. Broadcast 265. ComicMix.com. Direct from the floor of the Baltimore Comic-Con. ComicMix Radio. It is day two direct from the floor of the Baltimore Comic-Con. Hi, it's Mike Raub from ComicMix Radio. And again, after last night's Harvey Awards and today's slow start for a few people,
a lot of people on the floor here, a lot of stuff going on. There's another couple of hours left at the show. By the time you hear this up on the site, the show will more than likely have ended for 2008. I think just about everybody who's here will agree it's been a good time. A lot of folks have done some good things, made some contacts, made some friends, seen some old people in their lives, reconnected, and generally just had a good time. We will hopefully be able to share some of that with you during the week.
We've got a whole bunch of different things we're going to bring along in the ComicMix Radio broadcast during the week, so hang on for that. In the meantime, let's us bring on somebody who's been a friend of ComicMix Radio since the beginning. And in fact, a few months ago, if you were lucky enough to do the trivia thing with us, well, this all came about because of his kindness. And so we thought we'd bring him on to thank him for that. And I'll talk a little bit about the business of comics because that's what a Comic-Con is about. And Baltimore, like we said yesterday, is truly in comparison to others a comic book convention.
Jamie Graham, owner, founder, CEO. Are you a CEO? Good title? It's okay. From Graham Crappers? Graham Crappers. Thanks a lot. I think you're the old one here. There you go, Graham Crappers Comics. Nine stores in Chicago. We're going to give plenty of plugs for that in a minute.
But in the meantime… And a website. Let's talk, well, we'll talk about the website too. Let's talk about the fact you do a ton of conventions over the year as a dealer. How many do you usually do? I'm going to say an average two a month. So that's about 100 a year. No, I'm sorry. That would be…
See, that's why you're in retail and I'm not… That's like 60 a year or whatever. No, two a month. Two a month. Two a month. How many months?
There you go. See, I was testing you. You do them all over the country. You've gone… I know you've gone to London before you've done… Did you have any Spain or…? Visited, no. Shows are mostly in the US. Bristol, London. You name it. I've done Seattle, San Diego, LA, San Jose, New York, got you. Columbus, Pickfrown, Atlanta. Primarily for the people that don't know, what do you sell mostly in a show? I sell mostly old books. Golden Age, Silver Age, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s stuff.
So you're the mainstay. At a comic book convention, you're the guys that are the good… pretty much the anchor of a convention. You have old books. And a number of guys like yourself. I know Harley Ye and all these other guys that haven't been around for a long time and do this. What changes have you seen over the past, let's say, 10 years in the type of people that are coming up and asking you for things? I mean, what have you seen that's different?
10 years is too long. You've got to talk a shorter time frame because it's changed so much. Okay, let's do five years. Well, if you want to make it timely, make it two years. Okay. Two years. And all the Marvel keys have been going crazy.
Fantasy 15 for Spider-Man has been doubling and tripling in the last two years. First Iron Man has doubled in the last year. Is that because as every year goes on, there's that much farther away a period of time from when the book originally came out? Therefore, by attrition, there are less of those that exist? That could be part of it. There's two factors. Number one, actually three then.
Okay, scarcity, which is what you're talking about. Scarcity and demand. Movies have been playing a big part now in these books. And age. Everybody that can remember it as a kid is now of age. They're 20, they're 40, they're 30.
And now they can afford to pay $5,000 for a book or $2,000 or whatever it takes. Lately, the mania in some areas seems to be if there's a movie announcement for Iron Man, they buy Iron Man. Right now, you saw the Iron Man movie. They talked about the Avengers. Try finding Avengers number one in any store, any website, any convention. They're all gone. They're all been snapped up.
That's part of the thing that's fueling things. As soon as they announce the next Spider-Man villains, find those issues, you won't find them. They'll be dry. Everyone will have to have them. So to some degree, I have to say, having these books to sell is like minting money, which sounds really cold and callous, but it's a fact. And another side effect that happens is when the Silver Age like this tends to sell and go up,
the demand for Golden Age generally goes down because they jump from whatever they're investing in, whether it was Golden Age or even outside comics, they jump into Silver, because that's what all their friends are talking about, which has been happening now for five years. Then in years past, the Silver would rise. It would be too expensive or hit a plateau. And then people turn and look at the Golden Age and go, boy, that looks really cheap.
And then they would jump back into Golden Age, which is happening again. It had not worked done that way for a while. Does Condition still play a bigger part as it used to, or when the price like that goes up, are more people willing to go back and maybe spend a little less? Do you think a little less Condition book? Yeah, it really happens that way. When you're talking an average grade book, like the first Spider-Man is going to be $1,200 for a well-read, well-thumbed book. And a nice book is $6,000. And an unread copy of that book could be $100,000.
They're looking very closely at budgets. There's not a whole lot of fudging these days. Are there really that many unread copies of an Amazing Fantasy XV or Spider-Man I out there that the dealers haven't already had, that aren't already in the system, I guess is what I'm saying? Well, graded ones, I believe, they're super high grade. They're six or eight. Does Spider-Man I or…? Either one.
Either one? Yeah. There's discussion as to how many more copies still could be in homes and estates that haven't come out. But every year the chances decrease, therefore you see the price increase as people realize it. Contrary to that is bronze, which is mostly 70s, the longer you wait, more come out and the prices on many of those actually drop.
Really? Take Hulk 181, for example, when CGC started in 9-4, that was $10,000. The first couple went for $10,000. Now a 9-4 goes for $2,400 because they've graded, which the independent grading company's graded, I'm going to have to say 2,000 of them at different grades or is it 3,000? So the price goes down. When you look at the market the way it is right now, what's the hottest single book that's out there at this moment in time?
Are we talking today or last week? Let's do both because that's what I want to… that's the point I'm looking for. Okay, well, Amazing Fantasy 15 for Spider-Man is clearly the winner in that category. Spider-Man number one had taken it over for a few short weeks. Then once the Mania for Iron Man movie hit, Tails Spence 39, first Iron Man, and he eclipsed that.
But I think the Fantasy 15, which is the first Spider-Man, 1961 November or something, is clearly the… 62 actually. I know yours, you know Matt. Yeah. What would you call it? Holy Grail? It's the action one? It's the one that people are looking at. It's the quest. Yeah, it's the quest. There you go, which has a lot to do with it.
There's been a lot of talk on all fronts over the past week to 10 days about the economy and the fact that a lot of banks are having problems and a lot of people have invested in a lot of different things that have had problems. And it seemed to me in my experience, and tell me if I'm wrong, but the one thing that has never really decreased, certainly not precipitously in value, are good, strong, collectible comics like early Marvels, like early Superman's in DC. Correct.
So I'm wondering, is it too far of a stretch to think that maybe in a long run the collectible market might be the one thing in the country that's going to have a positive turn because of the problems that the rest of the economy has had? I mean, is that too far of a stretch to say that or is that possible? No, I think that's possible because even with all that's going on with the housing and stuff, we haven't seen a decrease in back issues, meaning the Marvel keys, the nicer shaped Marvel books. I mean, when I say a Marvel book, I'm talking say Fantastic Four One through, say, sixteen are still greatly in demand or a Spider-Man One through sixteen or…
Pick another title. I'm always talking Marvel. Batman. Sure. I mean, the reason I'm picking the Marvel stuff is because those seem to be easier to find and more in vogue. I mean, there's a lot of great Batman books, but now you're talking Golden Age for a Bat One, so you've got to talk about certain things. I think this is certainly the high spot. I know from the baseball card industry that's kind of in a depression.
I'm sure coins are doing well, but I haven't heard as well. I know that everybody is pretty much fed up with collecting their quarters for the year. That's been dropping. I just read a report from the Mint. They dropped. The Mints have dropped five or ten million per quarter. So these comics are not stopping. Right. And that's something that everyone should consider if they've got a couple extra bucks. You know, I would like to leave this open to bring you on again. And I'm serious about this.
And we kid about you because you and I have been friends for decades, but I would love to have you come back. This is a really cool topic. And this is something I think that really is something that I think could be explored a lot more. But I got to do the payback. Let's talk about the website. The website would be Graham crackers dot com. And you can do all this stuff there, including bio comics. Correct. Yeah, we make it real easy. You guys also do a lot of really cool stuff in the stores as far as like variant issues or comics that are specific to you.
You take a comic like a Transformers or whatever the first issue and you get to work with the publisher to get a cover that is specific. Just just to grant crackers. What's in what's the next one that's coming down the line? There's a G.I. Joe coming. Number one. We just had a flash Gordon and in San Diego we had the preview edition flash Gordon around issue two. Right. Actually, the issue one just came out. That was a problem with the printing or whatever. Oh, is that what it was? Yeah. Ours are fine. I know about the G.I. Joe and there's one other that escapes me.
But you can go to the website and get information if you like to sign up for our newsletter. We have a weekly newsletter. Just go to the website and correct them to it. And as we said, when you guys did the the contest with us that you were not that far away, even though the nine store in Chicago, you could really be the comics store for anybody on the planet by going to Graham crackers comics dot com. There you go. Thank you, buddy. I appreciate it. You're free. See, you are. You are worried about what this was going to be. You were concerned about it, weren't you? Yes. Yes. Now, you know, you are a media guy. You don't have to worry about it. It is day number two of the Baltimore comic con. And there's a lot again to share with you during the next few weeks. Things that we people we met here and things that we've had a chance to do.
And one of the cool things that I like doing is just as you go up and down the aisles, talk to the people who are just getting into business or just beginning publishing and whatever and just getting who are so enthused and had the spark in their eyes about a project that is so really cool. I met this gentleman yesterday. And the thing about it is, is I did an interview with him that I want to run on the show later in the week or maybe in the weeks to come. But I also said, since we're doing the thing today, before we get out of here with our broadcast for the last day of the show, I want to bring him on the talk a little bit. His name is Jorge Vega. How are you, buddy? Good. Good. I'm glad to have I was fascinated by the fact of what you guys do. Let's talk about your company. Exploit. Go from the get go and tell us about what you do.
Well, basically, I mean, I don't think anybody really knows who I am, but I came out about a year ago. They will now. I came out about a year ago with a book called Gunplay. It was a result of something that Platinum Studios does called the Comic Book Challenge. And we got a lot of attention for that, a lot of great feedback on that. And it actually put me in a situation where I could financially afford to try and self publish. And I've actually started two small company labels, one's called Kid Kong Entertainment. The other one is called Two Fisted Press. And essentially it lets me do two very different types of storytelling. Two Fisted Press is for our mature reader.
Lots of action, fairly violent, really gritty stories set in the real world. And Kid Kong is a family friendly book or a family friendly publishing company that puts out books like Cairo Boy, which is our flagship title. Cairo Boy is about a little dyslexic 10 year old who discovers the hidden language of superheroes. And from that, he's actually able to turn into a superhero. And we follow him as he struggles with elementary school and learning how to hop 10,000 feet. So it's a fun title in that regard. On the other hand, we've got Two Fisted Press and we've got a brand new title called Nine Months. And Nine Months, very different story. It's about a woman who gets pregnant and she's with the wrong guy. And when she kills that man in the act of self defense, it starts a vicious cycle of violence where she's followed for the next nine months and battles for her own life and the life of her unborn child.
One of the things that was interesting and you've pretty much explained is the fact you had the two different companies which generally go to two different audiences. But how do people find your books because you're not traditional in that sense? And I kind of want to bring that, you know, you guys aren't going through the usual channels. We're not really too interested in doing the previews, doing the diamond thing. We're doing this completely, you know, it's a basement project. I started up a website at kairuboy.com and we're working on our TwoFistedPress.com website right now. And we're making the books available directly. You can buy them directly from us online. It's a secure pay site. And I ship them to you within two or three days.
So you've got the book quickly in your hands. And what we found in a very short time is I made more sales in a 72 hour period than I ever could by being in actual comic shops. Because unfortunately, you know, the way the market works, it's too risky to take on a book like Kairu Boy or nine months from a guy that no one's ever heard of writing a story that no one's ever seen about people that nobody knows. But a fan is always willing to take that chance because we're always looking for something new. And that's just it. And how can I get it into a new fan's hands in a personal way, in a way where not only I think people, what people are liking about the books, the subject matter, the characters, the storytelling, the artwork, but also they feel like there's a personal relationship between us, the creators and them. And I like that. And I want TwoFistedPress and Kit Kong to continue to have that kind of relationship with its readers.
How many books have each are out so far? Right now, we've got the number one of both of these out right now. This is really our big launch. Baltimore is our opportunity to sort of get out there to people. And Baltimore has been treating us really good. Winnie, are you planning on a second issue before you're in for each? Oh, yes. A second issue for both books should be out this December. And we'll be promoting it hard in the following convention season. I think you'll see us at New York. Actually, I'll be at the Boston Comic Con November 2nd, showing both these books off there. And yeah, I mean, we're also doing a lot of webcomics as well.
Kit Kong is extending its sort of readership, hopefully online, by offering online exclusive webcomics. Again, family friendly stuff. Got a book on there called Big Toe. It's about two little boys, a Bigfoot, and three months of summer vacation. Are you guys doing the usual marketing things like MySpace, Facebook, those type of things? Absolutely. Actually, you know, MySpace, as a lot of people know, it seems like a lot of people screaming. We do it because sort of one of those necessary evils. But Facebook, oddly enough, is actually, if I were talking to other prospective self publishers, Facebook, I find, is actually a better way to do it.
Because you're dealing with people that know you somehow. It's the nature of the way it works. And as a result, you're, you know, you say, well, you're just selling to friends and family. But as a result, their friends and family see what they're doing via Facebook. And it starts up a very nice, you know, sort of six degrees of separation of domino effect. Which works out. I wish you guys the best of luck. We're going to be doing a we're going to get you on again a little later on down the road within the next couple of weeks about the books and make. But let's get the website. It once again, make sure everybody has it. Absolutely. You can find kairuboy at kairuboy.com. That's spelled K.E. I'm sorry. That's spelled K.A.E.R.U. Boy dot com. Kairu is Japanese for frog. And you can find nine months at two fisted press dot com.
My name is Jorge Vega. Thank you. All right. You are the best. Thanks for coming along. I appreciate it. Just one. That is one of the things that make comic conventions. And again, that's certainly where the Baltimore Comic Con is. It is a comic convention. So cool when you walk around the corner and you see something really interesting like this. And you meet some unique people. And that's what it's all about. Hopefully we'll have a chance to do that again. Just around the corner. We're going to run down some of the very best of the new comics this week. We'll be back to do that for you on Monday. I'm sorry. No, on Tuesdays when we do that. We do that on Tuesday. We're back from the site. Can you tell that just people standing in front of me. A little frightened. Well, we'll go talk to them. You stay close. Just around the corner. Like I said, we'll be back in a couple of days and we will talk to you then.
