The Long Road

06/01/2004 Archived Entry: "YACBE"

It's somewhat disturbing that I can lay down hundreds of dollars for comic books when deciding to buy other things leaves me undecided for large periods of time. Why is that?

After some pondering, here are the answers I have come up with.

Each comic is unique; there is no shopping around to compare features, prices, and quality. When you buy a comic there's no chance that it will drastically drop in price in the next few months because something better and newer has come out. In fact when buying trades (bound collections of individual issues) you're guaranteed that the trade will always go at that price, they never gain or lose market value.

There is also the fact that there are no concerns about the trade suddenly malfunctioning and needing some kind of repair or replacement. They're pretty dureable when compared to, say, electronics, so I'm not wary at all about obtaining them.

Having worked at a comic shop, I am a highly informed comic consumer. I know what prices shops get their stuff for so I can tell when a sale is actually a good sale, and trades being what they are rarely go for something other than cover price, so when they're being offered at some insane discount...

Anecdote: I've owned a credit card for at least five years now and up until Saturday I have always thought that the limit you have on your card is "renewed" every month regardless of payment. Imagine my surprise when I tried to buy a couple hundred dollars worth of trades and was rejected because my b'lance carried over!

Replies: 5 comments

you thought your limit was renewed? that makes me giggle ... thank you for bringing me laughter on this sunny tuesday morning

Posted by melpie @ 06/01/2004 09:41 AM EST

lol.... you thought it was renewed every month? Silly Rayne =P

Posted by Anonymous @ 06/01/2004 09:46 AM EST

Iwatani, creator of Pac-Man, made a comment at the recent Game Developers Conference, that while on a different topic entirely, is extremely relevant.

He noted that the escalator is an example of a "perfect system". When an escalator breaks down, it simply transorms into a set of stairs, still very useful. In contrast, when an elevator breaks down, you are stuck in a cramped room with no way of escaping.

His point was that when electronic devices break down, all you have is a piece of metal, maybe some plastic case, and that's it. The intended purpose of the product is gone.

Of course, Comic Books and most other forms of art do not have this disadvantage. You can read torn out pages from any kind of book. You can appreciate broken statues that were sculpted centuries ago and have lost features. You can hum a tune even if you don't know every part. You can even hold film up to sunlight and see what happens (to an extent).

A summary of the lecture is here:
http://www.insertcredit.com/features/gdc2004/iwatani.html

Posted by Ian @ 06/01/2004 01:31 PM EST

Well, no one ever told me otherwise, so I just assumed. In retrospect I suppose it makes sense that the b'lance carries over.

Never thought of escalators as perfect systems, but yeah they are. Although I don't like it when they're broken and get blocked off..makes no sense.

Posted by Rayne @ 06/03/2004 01:12 AM EST

escalators also don't work well when they have to be cleaned and completely disassembled ... that was(is) a monthly process in the eatons centre ... and it would take almost a week for them to do it ...

Posted by melpie @ 06/03/2004 09:39 AM EST