FLLewis/A Writer’s Groove
Four copies of the first edition of that special Obama/Spidey comic went on sale for $40 at Legacy in Glendale 01/14/09.
Marvel Comics’ special inauguration issue of “Amazing Spider-man” dropped yesterday and the company is already planning a second edition. Some folks who were able to find and buy a copy were thrilled, while those who could not find the issue were understandably disappointed. Now, here’s some good news. The word is there will be plenty more copies hitting comic book shops next month.
At the House of Secrets in Burbank, the doors opened at 11 a.m. yesterday and an hour and a half later all copies of the regular cover version of “Amazing Spider-Man” 583 were sold. I stopped by there in the afternoon. Manager Erik Warfield was still getting inquiries about the special Obama/Spidey issue, “every other phone call … since last Friday.”
Warfield and owner Paul Grimshaw say they were as disappointed as frustrated would-be buyers that they did not get more copies of the special issue. They received only 70 regular issues and 45 of them were pre-paid orders. Apparently, retailers received an allotment of the the issues calculated on a complex formula based on certain previous orders.
Over in Glendale, Legacy Comics and Cards got only 30 of the regular Obama/Spidey issue and those were sold through pre-orders before the store opened its doors at 11:30 a.m. Legacy fared better than many retailers in that it got 47 copies of the limited special issue with the president-elect and Spidey on the cover. Twenty-three of those were pre-paid. When I picked up my copy of that issue at 3 p.m. they had only four copies left.
Aaron Eaton, who has worked at Legacy seven years, says some buyers were very determined to get that limited special issue. One woman, who happened to be in Las Vegas yesterday, had a co-worker pick up her copy. Another lives in Pennsylvania and could not find it there — so she had her mother buy a copy at Legacy. Also, while I was at Legacy, local Telemundo anchor Jose Ronstadt came in and bought two copies of the limited special issue.
Still for some the price tag of $40 for the limited special issue was too much. I saw a mother and a young boy leave empty handed for that reason. However, they’ll get another chance. The second edition of the special inauguration issue of “Amazing Spider-Man” is due in stores on Wednesday, February 11, 2009.
