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My comic guy in Bakersfield handed me Saga #1 in 2013 and I still can't get that feeling back
Three years ago I walked into a shop on Chester Ave in Bakersfield and the owner, Ray, pulled a beat up copy of Saga #1 out of a dollar bin and just put it in my hands without a word. I read it that night and came back the next day wanting more, and he laughed and said that's the problem with you new guys, you want the whole run at once. I've spent probably $600 since then chasing that same jolt and nothing hits like that first issue did. Does anyone else feel like the hunt used to be half the fun back when shops were the only way to find stuff?
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miles79823d ago
I heard a shop owner in Portland say on a podcast that back in the day he'd hold a hot book for a regular instead of putting it on the shelf, and that little bit of trust was a big part of why people kept coming back. Ray doing that with Saga #1 is the same thing, he gave you a moment, not just a comic. I've read that the chase itself is what our brains actually latch onto, the not knowing, the digging, the surprise, and once you can just order anything in two clicks the payoff gets smaller every time. That's why a beat up dollar bin copy hits harder than a slabbed one off eBay, it has a story and a guy behind it. I still hit three shops in my area just to flip through long boxes, even when I know I could find the same issues online for less. The books didn't change, the way we get them did, and that's the part I miss.
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