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Projections — 12/2/2013

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Hello. Welcome back to the latest Projections Newsletter.
I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving and survived Black Friday.
I went to Kansas City for Thanksgiving and even shopped on Black Friday. I went after most of the sales were over with so it wasn’t bad. Visited some comic stores and even bought a $75 Daredevil vs Thor comic from back in the 60s. My once a year buy a back issue purchase. One store had the first appearance of Spiderman for a few thousand. I sadly passed on that one.
Speaking of back issues I really wish there was a publication that replaced the old Wizard price guide. Even online there doesn’t seem to be a popular news outlet about back issues. Bleedingcool.com did report that an issue of the first Preacher comic went for over $300. A quick internet check shows Preacher number ones clearing $100. All over rumors that the Preacher is coming to T.V.
There are rumors that Solomon Grundy will be showing up on Arrow while the pilot script for Gotham has Gordon trying to track down the Joker. Again only rumors. I am a big Grundy fan but his mystical origins seem an odd fit for Arrow. And the Joker seems to big of a name for a T.V. pilot.
But after all the flak Marvel is taking over the lack of Marvel ties in Agents of SHIELD who knows.
Infinity is now over. How did you like it? It was a mixed bag here at the store.
Forever Evil is still going. What will Nightwing’s fate be? Who is the hooded captive of the Crime Syndicate? How bloody will it get with villains fighting villains?
Daredevil is being re launched again. Along with Fantastic Four, Wolverine, and who knows who else next year. Daredevil was a hot seller but lost steam. The Bullseye arch left many leaving the book. Bullseye going from the arch villain of Daredevil who could go toe to toe with him to iron lung bound evil mastermind who somehow figured out how to recreate the accident that gave Daredevil powers was to much for some. I did feel having multiple people having Daredevil like powers diluted the uniqueness of Daredevil. Bullseye even gave dogs Daredevil’s powers. It was odd to say the least. Giving dogs the same powers as superheroes really works. Remember the dogs in the first Hulk movie?
Wolverine and the X Men is ending and so far there is no re launch announced. That surprises me.
Comics due out this week with the buzz going for them:
Action Comics 26
Amazing X Men 2
Batman Superman 6
DC vs the Masters of the Universe 3
Deadpool 20
Green Arrow 26
Green Lantern 26
Guardians of the Galaxy 9
Star Wars 4 the Lucas Draft
Swamp Thing 26
This weeks schedule of events:
December 3rd- D&D rpg at 6 on Tuesday
December 4th- New Comics on Wednesday.
December 6th- Friday Night Magic at 8
December 7th- Batman Arkham Origin Heroclix draft at 4.
December 7th- Saturday Night Standard Magic at 8
December 8th- Sundsay Magic draft at 1.
We will be closed December 25th and January 1st.
AvX started this Sunday for Heroclixs and the X Men dominated. Even with the one booster added in the X Men could not be beat. I even played to make it even teams of Avengers vs X Men. Magneto from the X Men starter I had read about online and remembered thinking he was a beast. And he was. I played for the Avengers and Magneto was on every X Men team but one. I managed to have the X Men teams I played against down to one heroclix left but that was it.
On the poster the X Men’s win was recorded. Three more rounds left. If the X Men win again it will be mathematically impossible for the Avengers side to win. To make matters worse due to the holiday the majority of the players that could not make it wanted to play X Men. So come Feb 1st there may be a loopsided fight of Avengers vs X Men. I told the Avengers players they better go on a recruitment drive so come the next round they have a chance to win. Even players that do not get a win still score points for playing on a team. We will see how many friends the Avengers have.
If you want to play in the AvX here at Rodman Comics just be sure to buy one or both AvX Heroclix starters here at Rodman Comics. Everyone that played received the Phoenix piece and two fragments. There should be enough come Feb for players who were not able to play in the first one to get one. If you want one it will be first come first served.
Avengers Assemble!
Also remember for the hard to buy a gift person on your Christmas list that is into comic related material we have statues, busts, action figures, comics, Pokemon cards, Magic cards, Heroclixs, posters, and more on hand. Feel free to check out our online shopping area for a sample of what we have.
New Magic card for Friday Night Magic this Friday.
To everyone who asked about their pullists. Thank you. None of the previous newsletters were aimed at you. I just need a kick to the pants to people that do not stop in once a month. A whole twelve times a year.  Unless of course your name is Mark since we are square. As I tried to point out.  The comics that are put in pull boxes are paid for by me. So when over a month goes by that ties up money that should be used for other things. It is business sense. Months ago I read online about a store that closed that had $35,000 in material that had been ordered by customers but had never been picked up. Reading that I could easily understand why the store closed.
Now why the store didn’t liquidate the $35,000 I don’t understand. Just people requesting something or having items in their pull box doesn’t make it theirs. Until they are paid for by the customer they are the store’s since the store is the one who purchased them.
The countdown to Christmas is here! And the end of the year is also almost here. Celebrate by buying at Rodman Comics!

Projections — 11/25/2013

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Quick recap with the holidays coming up. This Thanksgiving weekend there will be no Magic Saturday and Sunday. Time to be thankful with your family. Though there will be Friday Night Magic!
And as stated before. Great gifts are on hand for loved ones and friends and even those that you don’t really want to get a gift but have to.
Comics, statues, action figures, cards, heroclixs, games, and more all available here at Rodman Comics.
For a sample of what we have on hand click on our shop tab here on the website and check out the various sections for what we have to offer.
Upcoming events.
November 26th- Tuesday at 6 the new Star Wars rpg starts.
November 29th- Friday Night Magic draft.
November 30th- Saturday at 4 New Hobbit Heroclixs. The Desolation of Smaug are in! 200 point counter top booster draft from 4 counter top boosters.
December 1st- Sunday at 1.The Fear is over! AvsX is here! Which side will you be on? The Avengers or the X Men? You will pick either the Avenger pack or X Men pack. Supplies are limited. Who will win round one? Yes, this will be on Sunday at 1.
The new Iron Man Heroclix set is in. And instead of the chases in the set being Hulkbuster Iron Man, Stealth Armor Iron Man, Space Armor Iron Man, and so forth they are based on past variant covers. And the chases are Viking Iron Man, Iron Engine Iron Man, Iron Pharaoh, and so forth. Not exactly what the average heroclix player or collector was hoping for. If you are an Alpha Flight fan this set is for you.
The next set for Heroclixs should be in February, Superman and the Legion of Superheroes.
Fear itself is now over. An even amount of people showed to play so I did not get to take on Josh sadly. I used to play quite often during Magic and Heroclixs but due to the increase in business I have cut back to get things taken care of. I had an employee working Sunday while I was here just so I could throw down with Josh.
AvX this Sunday should be interesting. The next one is not till Feb. The rules are simple. To play you need to have an AvX starter pack that you bought from here. AvX round two will include the AvX starter pack and one regular booster of your choice. That will apply to every AvX game after December. The AvX event is to last four times. Rumors of a “War of Light” next.
There are people who ask other customers if they can buy boosters from other stores and play here. Yeah, that is very tacky to say the least. It happens during Magic also.
And of course the new set of Magic is due out in February.
Are the rights to Superman finally settled? The heirs of Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster have had a long legal battle over the Superman rights. The latest court ruling went in Time Warner/DC Comics favor. Which I felt it should. A deal had already been reached. In 1992 a deal agreed by both sides was the Shuster estate relinquished their claims of Superman for more than $600,000 and other benefits. Shuster’s debts were paid for in the deal also following his death in 1992. His sister and brother received a $25,000 annual pension. To agree to something and then years later decide the deal is off is just wrong.
If Superman had been canceled and never used again no one would have cared. But he keeps making money. It is amazing how properties such as Battling Pope are never fought over but then the same creative team will fight over the Walking Dead over money when it makes lots of money.
Shuster’s brother and sister received money for something they had no hand in creating.
A deal was reached. People received money. And then greed come into play. Poor Spectre and Slam Bradley. Siegel had a hand in creating the two characters. They are not money makers so no big legal battle over them.
Is the legal system slow? Very, it shouldn’t take years to get legal matters resolved.
Has big companies shafted their creators? Yes, Stan Lee had to go to court over since Marvel had an agreement years ago that he would get money if any of the Marvel characters he helped create were in movies. This was before Marvel had hit after hit with their characters on the big screen. Marvel didn’t want to pay out what they agreed to Stan Lee so off to court they had to go.
Marvel’s latest crossover Infinity 6 comes out this Wednesday. The fight with the builders is over and now the Avengers have returned to earth to deal with Thanos!
To those who wonder if comics can be an investment then pick up Unity 1 by Valiant. They claim it will never be reprinted. If you are a current fan of Valiant books then this book is for you. If you have not read any current Valiant titles then according to people who picked it up you will be a little lost to what is going on since it is written for people currently already picking up the book. Which is too bad. It is also returnable meaning unsold copies can be sent back but will be destroyed. Back in its hay day Valiant was a heck of an investment.
As I have stated before we try to be different at Rodman Comics. Pull boxes are unique. But after holding on to material that was ordered for a person with a pull box and then having that person go missing, or decide a month later they don’t want it, or even they bought it elsewhere even though it is on their pull list. It has become to much of an issue.
A typical comic customer walks in every week and picks up what they want for comics. Which works great. Then some customers become a pull box customer and their weekly trips to the store become bi weekly to monthly to never. And never do any call to cancel their pull boxes. And only a few return calls about their untouched pull boxes.

It has come to the point where I am not going to have any new pull boxes for new customers.
Layaway might work for big chains but I do not see them as a good thing for small businesses. When I was a customer at Dragonfire Comics I picked up everything that was on my pull list. But I too went from weekly walk in visits to well I can get them next week. Though even when I lost my job I picked up everything in my pull box and then canceled it because to me it was the responsible thing to do.
Now some people treat the pull boxes as an entitlement. They think “I spend money here so it should be alright if I stick you with product.” One person told me oh just put it all back on the shelf that way you can sell it. It is like he didn’t think I already ordered what I can sell and the month and a half old comics would just all magically sell.
As an accountant crunching numbers it makes sense to quit taking a risk with pull boxes. As I stated before Jeff the former owner of Dragonfire wishes he had never started having pull boxes. He was at Dragonfire for over a decade before deciding to move. I do listen to him. Had he not moved and Dragonfire not closed I most likely never would have opened my store.
I felt Dragonfire closing left a void. A place were good people get good customer service. Pretty simple right?
I ran into a former pull customer of Dragonfire after they closed. I remember the last owner of Dragonfire saying he was trying to get a hold of the person since they were a customer for years and suddenly they weren’t coming in and stuck them with months worth of material. They closed and never heard back from the person. When I ran into the long time former customer I asked the person what happened. He laughed and said he just didn’t feel like getting comics anymore and joked he most likely helped put them out of business. I didn’t find it funny then and this was before I opened up Rodman Comics. For years Dragon Fire went out of their way to help him find back issues and give him great customer service. All those years counted as nothing to the guy. And to cost someone money because they can’t be bothered to return a phone call is rude to say the least.
That same person did actually shop at my store when I first opened. But it didn’t last long. And I never opened a pull box for him. I know hard to believe. I don’t know if he forgot running into me and me talking to him but I remembered. He didn’t get very good customer service from me. I was quite alright with not seeing him again.
As stated in previous Projections I have learned the more standards that are applied at the store the more it actually makes. My anything goes altitude when I first opened was a mistake.
Be good to me and I will be good to you.
Rodman Comics is for comic fans and people who want to have a fun time.
To everyone that does have a pull box and makes a real effort to come in and take care of them I thank you and the pull boxes are still open to you. Hopefully the “extra” that went to you and the work we do here continues to make it worth your time shopping here.
And I am thankful for your business.
As stated as before Christmas is coming. Find that great gift for the great family member or great friend here at Rodman Comics.
Feel free to check us out on Facebook and check out the Batman image from DC Comics that has clues on the upcoming storylines for Batman. It is the same artwork being featured in this months DC comics. A girl in purple? The return of Spoiler? Gordon in handcuffs? The return of the first Batwing?
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Projections — 11/19/2013

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Great gifts on hand for loved ones and friends and even those that you don’t really want to get gift but have to.

Comics, statues, action figures, cards, heroclixs, games, and more all available here at Rodman Comics.
For a sample of what we have on hand click on our shop tab here on the website and check out the various sections for what we have to offer.
Decent weather and the upcoming holidays are bringing the people in. Lots of kids getting comics. The Magic Gift boxes are a hit. Magic is still strong though with the next set not being out till February I see January being a light sales month for Magic. The next set Born of the Gods looks to be a smaller Magic set. 165 cards I believe.
Lots of Star Wars news. I will finally receive a restock of the latest wave of Star Wars X Wing Miniatures. The B Wing, Tie Fighter, Imperial Shuttle, and more will be arrive again in the next few weeks. Been requesting more of the latest wave for awhile now.
With new Star Wars roleplaying books out who all would be interested in a Star wars rpg night?
This Saturday at 4 on November 23rd the new Iron Man heroclixs are out. Time for an Iron Man draft!
Then come Sunday at 1 on November 24th Fear Itself the final round! Who will win the Serpent? And yes this is the day after the Iron Man draft.
I mentioned AvsX heroclixs in last weeks Projections and then found out I will have them on hand before December. We will be playing the AvsX Heroclixs on December 1st. Supplies are limited. I already tried to up my orders and found out no go. For starting the AvsX on December 1st I will keep it simple. You buy either the Avengers or the X Men pack and make a team out of it. Hopefully we can have an equal ratio of Avenger players vs X Men players.
Oddly enough after December round two for AvsX isn’t till February. The heroclix events are updated up to Februaray now. Feel free to check it out.
And yes December 1st is on a Sunday. Sunday at 1 Heroclixs are back. Multiple people I have spoken to have actually stated that will work better for them.
Again supplies are limited. Let me know which team you want. Official prizes from Wizkids will be provided.
Come Feb 2nd round two will be one 5 character booster of your choice mixed with a pre made team from your pre bought Avengers or X Men pack. It will be less expensive for players and retailers than Fear Itself was. A win for everyone.
Even my arch foe heroclix player Josh will be in for it. My losing streak to him must end sometime. Fear Itself sadly didn’t change anything for me. I doubt I will play in the final round of Fear Itself. With the holidays getting closer there is plenty of things I should be doing instead sadly. Though it be tempting to challenge Josh for the final round of Fear Itself.
Magic players please make note. There will be no Friday Night Magic on November 29th. No standard Magic on Saturday November 30th . No Magic Sunday draft on December 1st. I am going to use the extra time to spend Thanksgiving weekend more with family and friends. Which I assume many of you will be doing also.
Marvel’s Thor is a hit on the big screen while Agents of Shield has seen a 53 percent drop from its premiere. Agents of Shield like Arrow is something I have not had the time to actually watch. From what people have been telling me their beef with Agents of Shield is the lack of superheroes and villains. From what little I know putting Agents of Shield up against NCIS was a foolish idea. NCIS has been around for years and is very popular. Heck, even I have seen NCIS.

The Flash is now going to be in a CW pilot. Barry Allen will be showing up in the T.V. show Arrow but will not show up in costume till the pilot.

The rumor mill is pushing that the Vertigo title Preacher will be showing up on T.V. in the future. And that it will be on the AMC channel. And now bleedingcool reports it is true.

And speaking of the rumor mill and the AMC channel word is the upcoming Walking Dead spin off will deal with the early days of the zombie outbreak and what was done to try to stop it. Interesting. Sad since we know they will fail but interesting.

Geoff Johns is working on a new DC solo character series that will lead out of Forever Evil. So far which character it is has not be revealed. Could it be Stargirl? Stargirl is based on his sister who sadly passed away in a plane explosion years ago.

The smart money would be Geoff Johns writing a monthly Cyborg though.

Geoff Johns on a Vertigo book? Interesting.
Captain Marvel issue 17 that introduces the new Muslim Ms Marvel will be available as a second printing. Let me know if you want this.
This Wednesday’s items with the most buzz:
Avengers 23 Infinity
Batman and Two Face 25
DC Comics Super Villains Deathstroke Action Figure
DC New 52 Super Heroes vs Supervillains 7 pack
Harley Quinn 0
Indestructible Hulk 15
Marvel Heroclix Invincible Iron Man Heroclixs
Scooby Doo Team Up 1 Batman!
Star Wars Dawn of the Jedi Force War 1
Uncanny X Men 14

Upcoming events.

Friday Night Magic Draft at 8.
Saturday at 1 Star Wars X Wing
Saturday at 4 Iron Man draft. And no I do not know why there were more Alpha Flight heroclixs than actual related Iron Man heroclixs in the counter top set.
Saturday at 8 is Standard Magic
Sunday at 1 is a Magic draft.
Mondays at 6 is Monday night Magic draft.

Again let me know if you are interested in a Star Wars rpg night.

And of course please get your pull box cleared before Christmas!

Feel free to check us out on Facebook under Rodman Comics.

Happy Holidays everyone.

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