One of my favorite ways to spend time at comic book conventions is to rifle through the discount bins, which is exactly what I did at the Baltimore Comic-Con. Some of the bins are 10 percent off, some 20, and others as much as 40 or 50 percent off.
For those of you who aren’t into comics, let me give you a quick glimpse into the physical books themselves. For either an ongoing series, or a limited mini-series–the individual issues–ranging between 24 and 32 pages–come out on a monthly baOne of my favorite ways to spend time at comic book conventions is to rifle through the discount bins, which is exactly what I did at the Baltimore Comic-Con. Some of the bins are 10 percent off, some 20, and others as much as 40 or 50 percent off.
For those of you who aren’t into comics, let me give you a quick glimpse into the physical books themselves. For either an ongoing series, or a limited mini-series–the individual issues–ranging between 24 and 32 pages–come out on a monthly basis. These individual issues are the cornerstone of comic books. As you might imagine, these physical books can really pile up over the years, so it’s pretty common to find comic book collectors with long white boxes in which to store the comics.
Most collectors take each individual comic book and do what’s called "bag and board," which simply meaning taking the individual comic book, laying flat against a specially measured piece of white cardboard, and then placing that board and comic book inside a clear plastic bag. This protects the comic book from getting beat up. The long white boxes are for the individual comics, which then stack nicely.
Then there are trade paperbacks, in which multiple comic book issues–usually encompassing an extended storyline–are bound into a paperback. This is what I tend to do. Buy the paperbacks. I just don’t have the time or space to collect the individual issues anymore. It’s like buy an entire season of a TV show on DVD in a box set.
I wound up buying a new reading copy of Watchmen, which you’ll be hearing a whole lot about into next March, when the movie comes out. I don’t know if the movie will hold up, but the comic book–just 12 issues as a limited series–is just an absolute masterpiece. I can get this bound version at any comic shop, but I found one in a 40 percent off bin, so I was pretty darn happy about that. I’ve had the same paperback for more than 10 years, and it’s pretty beaten up at this point, so it was time for an upgrade.
That was the only book I bought from the discount bin, but just the looking is fun. Thumbing through all those boxes. It’s like going to garage sales or antiquing. You know most of what you’ll find you don’t want, but every once in a while you find a great buy, which makes it all the sweeter.
Post edited by: rcolchamiro, at: 2008/10/04 17:57
