I stopped at the Newbury Comics near the place where I get my wild bird supplies because 1) somehow the place is still open, and 2) I figured I'd pick up a physical comic or two to read while I ate lunch instead of just scrolling on my phone.
Morbid curiosity played no small part in my motivation, either, as my recent visit to a brick-and-mortar Gamestop had put me in the mood that perhaps every physical place of business I used to enjoy visiting was teetering at the end of their "dead mall" phase. (I was looking for a used/refurbished 3DS XL. They didn't have one. Or much of anything else, nor much of a desire to show me anything, either. I couldn't blame 'em.)
One thing that both Gamestop and Newbury had in common on these visits was Funko Pops. Both stores had more of those things stacked up inside them than they had of the items that they were supposedly in the business of selling. Yes, I know that Newbury Comics is in the business of selling music, not comic books. In that regard, Newbury seems to have switched to a "Vinyl-Forward" strategy, but even that part of the store seemed smaller than the area reserved for Funko Pops.
Yep. Funko Pops. You know, those virtually identical little chubby-headed figures pumped out in massive numbers by a company that is now officially bankrupt. Two stores, both drowning in boxes filled with product from another company that has already sank. Good times.
Hell, there was likely more vinyl in the form of Funko Pops inside that Newbury Comics than there was in the form of LPs.
Pressing on to the back of the store where the "comics" are relegated, I was found myself unwilling to drop cash on any new single issue of a comic book displayed on the racks before me. It seems that Newbury's comic book strategy is largely focused on selling "variant covers" and other artificially "rare" issues, "blind bags" and such nonsense to their customers. More on that in a future paragraph!
Just when I was resigned to simply scrolling through my lunch after all, an oft-relied-upon artifact of Newbury's "comics are an afterthought" business model manifested itself before my tired eyes:
Grab Bags. Unsold comics, usually 5 at a time, sold for "Wicked Cheap" (heh) in a single plastic, taped-shut bag. "Indie" Grab Bags were priced at $5.99, "Marvel" at $6.99, and "DC" at $7.99.
With the Indie bags, that's 5 comics, normally $5 each, for like $1.20 each instead. Not bad, even if you can only see 2 of the comics contained within.
Knowing that I was likely just adding to this week's garbage collection volume, I ended up buying three Indie bags and one Marvel bag.
When I opened one pack to peruse during my lunch break, I discovered why the grab bags felt heavier than I would have expected.
There were TEN comics in them.
So, the price of these generally $5 indie comics just went down to 60 cents. Is there even a key on the keyboard for "cents?"
Nice industry you have there, comics.
Armchair pontificating aside, here's what I'll actually be DOING with these four posts:
- Listing the comics found in each bag
- Listing the ones I bothered to read
- Out of those I read, listing the ones I would even consider keeping
- (or at least continue to read digitally)
Up next: The First Indie Comics Grab Bag! Get excited? ....We'll see.
