Chuck Buys 40,000 Comics! Howdy! Chuck with a Full Van I returned from New York yesterday, after a whirlwind comics buying trip. Our head buyer, Pam Brandle, received two calls last week from long-time collectors, both of whom had compelling reasons for needing to sell their collections immediately. The difficulty for me was that one lived in central Virginia, and the other nearly 800 miles north, just below the Canadian border, in northern New Hampshire. I think that it goes without saying that viewing two collections so dramatically far apart is a daunting task... What complicated these journeys for me even further, was I had only three days that I could spare for this entire trip. In point of fact, I originally scheduled my East Coast trip for this week only because I had a meeting set up in New York City about a very important media project. Given my limited time, I had actually not intended to buy any comics. Thanks to Pam's diligence, however, my plans changed radically. To explain what then happened, once our first meeting in New York City was over, I immediately drove nonstop to Virginia, where I purchased 16,000+ comics. I then turned right around, and drove that night the 300 miles back to our warehouse on Long Island. The problem that then arose is that we are allowed to share space in the Hot Flips Comics Supplies building, but they do not unlock their warehouse until 11 AM. That meant that I was not able to finish unloading the Virginia collection until 1 PM. After I finished unloading the Virginia deal, I jumped back into my rental van for the drive northward. The trip to northern New Hampshire then took me 8 hours (including two hours down a winding two lane road through the White Mountains...), which meant that I wasn't able to start loading the second collection until after 9 PM. And, of course, it just had to be pitch black out, and raining, in this scenic little town in the middle of nowhere. Oh, and all the comics and books were located in a half basement, and I had to carry them up the stairs, and out through the mud, by myself... I finally finished loading those 25,000+ comics, trade paperbacks, and hardbacks into my truck at 11 PM. There were actually quite a few more comics and books in that one epic collection, but after jamming over 5,000 lbs of boxes in the cargo van, I figured that I had better quit and err on the side of safety, and have the rest of the comics and books shipped to us. I then drove all night back to New York City, for a second meeting at 11 AM the next day. Despite being bone-weary, I made it through two highly productive meetings, and then fought my way through a snarl of rush hour traffic back out to Long Island, to unload the truck at Hot Flips for a second time. As soon as I finished unloading, I got back in the van, and drove straight to Newark airport for my flight home. I barely made my flight... All of the above having been said, I have to let you know my time was well spent, as both of the collections that I purchased were fantastic! The second, in particular, contained hundreds of high grade older Silver Age and Bronze Age issue from the 1970's and early 1980's. The collection also included over 1,000 different comics trade paperbacks and hardbacks, most first printings, many with the original shrink wrap still intact, including over a dozen of the ultra-rare DC Editions.. I had to work myself into a frenzy in order to purchase these two deals, but now that they are both on pallets waiting to be picked up by our trucking company, I am very happy that I was somehow able to work out the logistics to be able to buy these two great collections. My trip to the East Coast was very brief, but I managed to still pack a lot into the three days that I was there. I will close today's newsletter by mentioning that I am only telling you about my adventures during my latest trip because I want to give you some sense of the effort that is involved in keeping our website stocked with comics. Simply put, our comics do not just materialize from nowhere, buy only come to be available because we travel all over the country seeking out rare issues to bring back to offer you. Our goal is to then provide you those cool issues at the lowest prices that we possibly can, while still treating those who are selling us their collections with fairness. We oftentimes end up not earning much on these deals after all the costs are covered, but one thing is for certain, and that is that I end up with some great stories to tell... Happy Collecting! Chuck Rozanski, President - Mile High Comics, Inc. April 19, 2013 Current Newsletter