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Basic Instructions: How To Disagree
I want to subtitle this “Why I Don’t Watch The News”.
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Illustrator Jake Wyatt is doing a “Mighty Month of Marvel” that is fantastic. I love the Storm and the Rogue is stunning.
03. The Goddess With The Genoshan Tattoo.
Storm’s Mohawk is my favorite X-Man.
Because Storm doesn’t get enough love.
From the Hank Pym Photo Archives - Ororo Munroe, 1978
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The proudest single tear ever just rolled down my cheek.
I know I’m late to the party, but I finally have my own complete set of Scott Pilgrim books. I found them really cheap on eBay - can’t wait to ‘read’ them. (u proud of me Doug? I bought books.)
“Thank you for your order, which should arrive within 6-8 weeks.”
In my 4-disc combo Avengers set, there was a code for a free poster from Marvel. I redeemed it (plus $3.49 S&H), and got a confirmation email that started with the line I quoted above.
Now, let me be clear: I am not complaining that I have to wait two months to get something free. I am going to comment on the brand/marketing impressions this makes.
Remember: The goal of any free giveaway is to get a) your contact information and/or b) future business. They don’t give you things just because they’re nice.
Let’s start with the shipment time. Is there anything mass produced you order these days that takes almost two months? I mean, it can’t take that long for some factory working to grab one of thousands of posters, shove it in a tube or envelope, slap a pre-generated mailing label on it, and drop it in a truck full of these. Can it?
How excited would you be if it said, “You should have this in two weeks or less!” You might still be watching the movie when it showed up.
Secondly, they started the email with that line. That was their friendly opening. How about one of these:
- Woohoo! You’re getting a free poster!
- Are you excited about your Avengers poster? We sure are thrilled to send it to you.
- Congrats on getting a cool, new poster. We’ll ship it out as fast as we can.
Things like email confirmations are the hidden places companies can be reinforcing their brands and connecting with their customers. Instead, they often go for bland, boilerplate copy.
Marvel email is essentially saying, “Hello, customer. It’s going to take an unreasonably long time for you to get this thing we got you all excited about. Also, I’m a pre-generated email.”
Which company would you want to do business with?
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Did not expect that sentence to end with those two words. Surprised. And kinda excited.
A Prequel to The Sandman Comic Series is Announced by Neil Gaiman
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I sold my collection to a local comic book store/chain called Coliseum of Comics. They have six stores in town, so they’re big enough to buy collections. But there isn’t much money to be made in what I had (mid-90’s thru mid-2000’s).
Their buyer basically said to me, “You have 40 books I can use. I’ll give you $150 for those. The other 2,000 are nickels, so I’ll give you $250 for everything.”
I consider it a great kindness that he was willing to pay me anything for them (do you know how many CrossGen books I had?!?!), so I took it in a heartbeat.
I’d suggest calling around to your local shops and asking if they buy collections. Maybe even go to a comic book convention and talk to the guys selling there and see if they buy. Here’s a list of conventions, by state. Good luck!
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Finally selling off all the old comics. 22 short boxes worth and a few 3-ring binders. Never gonna read them again, and I buy most everything new as a trade paperback now. Might as well have some cash in my pocket and extra space in the office closet.
