Just in time for tax season, there’s going to be a lot of talk about money in this newsletter, but for those of you grossed out by the very concept of money (and at this point, that includes us), we’ll remind you that Saturday, May 7 is FREE COMIC BOOK DAY.
If you’ve been out of the comic game for awhile, this is a perfect way to get back into it. Don’t worry if you miss it, though, because every other day is still SUSTAINABLY PRICED COMIC BOOK DAY.
SPEAKING OF GIVEAWAYS
Congratulations to Shelley for relieving us of custody of a dead and silenced Lying Cat. We’re not kidding when we say Saga is our #1 seller.
SPEAKING OF IN-DEMAND BOOKS
We, along with every comic store in America, were severely shorted on our allocation of this George Perez JLA/Avengers book.
As a result, this book is going for nosebleed prices, so we will be raffling it off.
Bring $5 CASH in store for a chance to win it. No checks, no credit card. Five smackers.
100% of the proceeds will be going to the Heroes Initiative charity. Can you buy more than one chance? Yes, you can! But most likely not after 4/20. That’s when we plan to close the raffle.
SPEAKING OF DONATIONS
Thanks again to our Patreon members for helping rid us of the yoke of tyranny (our distributor who cannot be named). We’re on-track to be fully debt-free within 5 years. Getting to zero: truly the American Dream!
But while we’ve eliminated the most egregiously gouging of our debts, we’re still paying a pretty penny to other creditors. Last year we paid out over $10,000 in combined interest and fees. Disgusting!
So that got us thinking… We’d rather reward our customers than reward the banks.
Stash your spare cash with us. We’ll use it to aggressively pay down our balance, effectively depriving the banks from that interest. At the end of one year, your contribution converts into store credit, and we’ll reward you with a 10% credit bonus instead of rewarding the banks.
For example:
Stash $50 with us by April 20, 2022.
On April 20, 2023, that becomes $55 in store credit.
Or another, even better example:
Stash $1000 with us by April 20, 2022
On Aprii 20, 2023 that becomes $1100 in store credit.
Investing in comic books is sometimes profitable, sometimes not. But investing in this comic book store will make us all WINNERS! (Except for the evil banks… BOO!)
Or if you’d just rather straight up gift us money without all this complicated math, and for maximum evil creditor damage, join https://www.patreon.com/fantasticcomics
SPEAKING OF SUPER-VILLAINS
Our Evil Landlord™ is back at it, having his eye on some of our comic gems in lieu of rent. Last time, he walked away with Batman #267 (first appearance of Bat-Mite), but thanks to one awesome customer, he was outbid on Zap #1.
This time he’s made lowball offers on:
Lone Wolf and Cub #45 — Bid to beat: $5
Lone Wolf and Cub is well known for being the inspiration for Frank Miller’s Ronin (and probably Wolverine’s excursion to Japan), but more recently has become a touchstone for The Mandalorian.
This issue is something of an oddity for being apparently the final issue printed in the US in serialized oversized comic form, and hence in a low print run. This issue tells a complete story (a sad story of duty and violence), but there’s obviously plenty more in the Lone Wolf and Cub saga.
Evil Landlord has bid a measly $5. Email events@fantasticcomics.net to top that. This is the way.
Johnny Ryan’s *Corn Basket — Bid to beat: $33
*Not the actual name of this filthy filthy book… This is a family newsletter!
Our filthy, filthy Evil Landlord has bid $33 on this compendium of crassness from the perennially banned-from-instagram jester and University of Amherst English Literature Major, Johnny Ryan. But isn’t that only a few bucks above cover price? What makes this such a lowball offer? It just so happens much like Lone Wolf & Cub and the JLA/Avengers special, this book had a low print run and sold out quickly. Now, filthy speculators have jacked up prices some multiples above cover, seemingly unaware a second print is on its way.
Let Uel know if you’d like to get in on that sweet second run, but if you are interested in depriving our Evil Landlord of his filthy first printing, email events@fantasticcomics.net with your bid.
Bidding will close out end of May, or whenever Evil Landlord comes by to collect the rent.
AND THAT’S IT FOR NOW…
…but stay tuned for Part II of the Filthy Financialization series as Fantastic Comics introduces an eco-friendly alternative to the garbage fire that is cryptocurrency/NFTs by solving the conundrum of how to replace the digital database functionality of the blockchain.
SPOILERS: It’s pen on paper.
Our newsletter comes out once in a blue moon, but for your weekly dose of happenings, subscribe to Uel’s Fantastic Comics YouTube show.
https://www.youtube.com/c/FantasticComics
Here’s an excellent interview with Kaare Andrews a few months back: