Like Taking Candy From a Baby

eBay specifically and the Internet in general has changed collecting -- I'm sure that is undeniable. What was once a wild-goose chase lasting for years and years has, in many instances, become a mere click away. Now, when I want to find a gravy boat for our Franciscan Starburst dinnerware, I don't have to go from flea market to antique shop to thrift store. I can more easily fire up the computer and there are several available for me to purchase.

Obviously, that's a boon if I need said gravy boat pronto. But as the holidays are still months away and a buying recepticle for fowl juices is not a life-or-death situation, I still have the option of trying out the old fashioned way of non-electronic searches and going to said flea markets and antique malls. For many, myself included, the hunt is as fun as the acquisition.

There's also the cost to consider. While that gravy boat may run you $40 on eBay or $60 from a dealer in Prescott, Arizona, there's a chance I could find it for $5 at Al's Antique Alley or at the local Salvation Army.

The same goes for comic books. It took me years to complete my Marvel Daredevil collection, and after I finally got issue #2 (the last piece of the puzzle) after starting to search for the run a decade before, I was elated. In those days, I found the older issues by one of three methods.

One, I could go to local comic shops. This proved to be fruitful in the beginning, but as the issues I searched for were the more rare and expensive ones, the comic shops either didn't have them in stock or, if they were, they were out of my meagre price range. (Beachead Comics, which was in the city next to the one where I grew up, is a good example of that. They always seemed to have nice comics to buy, but they were so overpriced, I found myself often leaving with nothing when they had things in stock that were on my want list.)

My second option was the infrequent comic conventions that found their way into the Lehigh Valley. Unable to make my way to Philadelphia or New York on my own, I would have to wait to see if Jubilee Comic Conventions, who usually held theirs in Maryland, Virginia, and southern New Jersey, would grace the Allentown Holiday Inn ballroom with their twice-yearly presence. There was always plenty of things to buy there -- good prices, too -- but they only had them every six months and, near the end, every year. My passion for collecting couldn't stand the wait.

The last option was the Comic Buyer's Guide, now a monthly magazine, but up until a few years ago a weekly, newspaper for comic book news, reviews, columns, and, best yet, sales. Each Thursday, I'd get my copy in the mail, and before reading any of the editorial content, I'd scour the ads looking for those books to fill in the holes of my collection. If I found something I wanted, I'd quickly call the seller, reserving it if it was still available, and then running off to the post office to get a money order. I subscribed to the CBG for years, only briefly giving it up while I was in college and had no money to buy anything but newer, must-have books.

Between the three of those things, I was able to get a lot of cool old comics, and I was very content in the three-pronged search.

That all changed with eBay. Before, I could go for months without seeing that last issue of Thor I needed to complete my Simonson run. Now, type in the search field, and 5 were right there, many at prices well below a store, convention dealer, or CBG advertizer. For me, a steady super-hero buyer who had little need for high-grade or pedigree copies, it was a godsend, and I think many people felt the same way.

But eBay also changed some things about what people bought and how much prices changed all due, I feel, to the anonymity of Internet shopping.

For a long time -- and this is something I noticed as both a collector and retailer (I worked for comic shops and convention dealers) -- romance comics and super-heroine comics didn't sell. At all. (Except for those rare cases where there was some serious t&a or bondage or Matt Baker/Bill Ward art.) But copies of Wonder Woman sat in the bins. Mary Marvel sales were frigid. And My Romance copies collected dust.

My theory is, men don't want to be seen buying this stuff. A 40-year-old buying Wonder Woman? A 50-year-old perusing the romance comic section? Heaven forbid. But online, behind the comfort of a computer screen and a PO Box, people will buy anything. And sales of romance comics and women super-heroes exploded. What once sat for years unsold where whisked away to the nether regions of New Jersey, California, and South Dakota. If you search the Golden Age Wonder Woman listings on eBay, you'll see books go for closer or above guide.

Online, these books sell great. In store, however, they still sit.

Now this is just a theory, but one that was proven right this past weekend. The wife and I went and visited a friend in Omro, Wisconsin (a destination if I ever there was one), and there went to various antique-y places in search of cool things to buy. In Oshkosk, I stopped in a comic shop, and there found a small stack of romance comics, including an early My Own Romance, two copies of Teen-Age Romances (with Matt Baker cover and art, one of which is pictured above -- scan courtesy of the Grand Comics Database), a Prize Young Romance, and a couple of others. And they were cheap. Dirt cheap. Six comics, under $25. Put those same on eBay, and they're $50.

So what I'm saying is, things have changed because of the Internet and eBay. In many instances, you can get things for a nice discount over regular brick and mortar prices. But in some -- especially those niche things (which I include romance comics) -- you're actually paying a premium.

Have you noticed anything similar?

Online Love

About a year ago, I read about a Website called www.myromancestory.com which the site proclaims to be "Romance stories in a graphic novel format" and "All online in vibrant color pulsing to the beat of today's music. Escape into a fantasy experience that will excite your senses." They were being released by Arrow Publications, which you can read about here in their own words. I had never heard of them before, and there was nobody comic-book related associated with the company (that I could find), but I was, to say the least, interested. So I checked out a couple of their stories about 6 months ago -- they have 2 that are free, and you can either subscribe for a monthly fee ($4.99) and read all you want or purchase them individually for $1.99.

After reading the two free ones half a year ago (and another today), I've decided against taking the plunge into actually buying them.

You see, they're just not good. They are extremely wordy and the art is subpar, and save for Ron Randall (who I recognize as being a DC and Star Wars artist from years past), I've heard of nobody. Not that it's that important that these are name people -- everyone was an unknown at one time -- but these guys are unknown because... well... they're just not very good.

As bad as it is visually, it's even worse story-wise. The writers are nobody I've heard of (again, not that it's a big deal), but it doesn't seem like they're comic book writers. They're romance fiction writers. Gail Hamilton (one of the more prolific authors on the site) has written numerous romance novels. Cynthia Starr as well.

And I'm not saying that writers from one genre can't be good in another. It's just that the writer should actually make it seem like they're writing for that different style. These stories read like someone just plopped their prose story into comic book form, without real understanding of what comics are about. You don't shoot a movie from a comic book script. You don't draw a comic book from a novel.

The biggest problem, however, is how much they read like the worst romance comics of the past -- namely the sappy Charlton comics of old. They are filled with these silly whirlwind trips to all these exotic places, muscle-bound gents, and the escape from normal life. You can only read that so much. While much of the romance comics of the 50s had similar plotlines, the stories were actually much more down-to-earth and, while not exactly realistic, plausible.

My take is that if you're going to bring the romance comics genre back, you're going to have to do something new with it. Unfortunately, myromancestory.com falls well short.

Now where was I (redux)...

My wife and I (I almost typed, "the wife," but I remembered how much she hates that) bought a condo a month-and-half-ago, and in the preparation for doing so and all the hassle after, I'd nearly forgotten about romance comic books.

I know, I know. How can that be? you ask. Well, when the weight of a gigantic mortgage is looming ahead, you stop thinking about the wonders of 50s pulp and instead start dreaming of 50s wiring (when I think our place was last updated).

But now that things have calmed down and we've nearly finished unpacking (only slowed recently by the opressive heat), my mind again has returned to the wonderful world of love, the four-color variety.

In the months that I've been gone, however, not much else has changed. Manga is still the lone voice of love, Marvel released its reworkings of old romance comics (which I did not buy) and a romance trade paperback (ditto), and for the most part, the genre (and most non-super-hero ones) are still nearly forgotten.

It's a lonely plight, this love of romance comics.

I'll be posting more often again, with more covers, more interesting tidbits on comics history, and more links (if I can find them). I promise.