Betting on a slow news day.

Every time a big 'event' is covered by the media, I'm caught short of product.

I learned a long time ago, big time media coverage will blow my numbers all out of proportion.

For instance, the Death of Superman -- back when. I ordered something like 30 copies, for a comic I was selling 3 of at the time.

I could've sold 300; Hell, I probably could've have sold 3000.

But I also can't tell you the number of times I've ordered that same proportion (30 copies) in hopes of big media coverage, and sold the normal (3 copies.)

For example, we were told Kevin Smith would be on David Letterman to talk about his writing the Daredevil comic, and because he didn't have a movie in the works they'd be talking only about the comic.

Instead, the S.O.B. didn't mention the comic once. Not once.

You get burned enough times, and you quit betting the farm on the hope that it will be a slow news day and that the mass media will pump up the volume.

Another example is the Obama Spider-man cover comic. Again, I could have sold hundreds, but I DIDN'T have ANY for sale. None. I completely missed the boat. Not only didn't I catch the hoops that I was supposed to jump through to qualify, I didn't even know the hoops existed!

I then compounded the problem by underestimating each of the reprintings; because historically, reprints sell poorly.

(Even so, I still don't read the Marvel Mailer that had the announcement, because it is the most spam infested piece of media tripe I have the misfortune of receiving. I could spend days of my life reading their hyped up hype and not learning a thing.)

But the media play on Obama stayed intense, and I messed up.

I'm not kicking myself too much about it, because it wasn't something that was creating future business -- as in readers. No, it created a bunch of 'collectors', who were buying the Obama comic only.

Still....a missed opportunity.

What brought this up is that I've got a couple of these 'events' on the horizon.

First up, a comic from Marvel called REBORN. They won't tell us what it is, only that we should order oodles and oodles of it. (I'm guessing that it's the return of Captain America. He's dead, you know. Oh, you didn't know? But surely you'll be tremendously interested in his return, right?)

The tendency is to over order the next event because you missed the last event, but lightning rarely strikes twice in the same spot. I've got dozens of copies of the white cover Return of Superman in the basement if anyone is interested. Cheap!

Still Marvel is promising "Major Media Coverage!!"

Again, whatever that means and again assuming it's a Slow News Day.

I repeat the most important part: THEY WON'T TELL US WHAT IT IS! Just reassuring us to bet big. O.K. Sure thing. Here's my money, Marvel.

Way back in my beginning year of business, I got a cassette tape in the mail. On it, Marvel Editor-in-Chief, Jim Shooter, went on and on about some special event, and reassured us it was the second coming of Spider-man, of Superman, of Batman, the biggest thing ever!

It was so bad, I don't even remember what it was. Just that I lost oodles and oodles of money....

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The other comic event on the horizon: Archie is Finally getting Married!!

Will it be Bettie?

Will it be Veronica?

Will it be Reggie?

How much do I order, and will anyone care, and will the media decide it's worth covering bigtime?

Because comics are non-returnable in the Direct Comic market, it's become a truism that no one loses money buy Underordering, only by Overordering.

On the other hand, I really hate having to say "No, I have none for sale" to so many people.

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Speaking of media coverage. The Bulletin had an article on board games this morning. It has a section at the end where I'm recommending Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, and Carcassonne, Munchkin and Killer Bunnies.

It has a nice description of the 'German' style games. I could do without the three mentions of the word "expensive" in a few paragraphs, though. Really, folks, they aren't THAT expensive.....

I wasn't sure if this was going to be a major article, or a sidebar, and it came out as more of a sidebar. Still, I stocked up on all the games just in case. Summer is coming, and I'm pretty sure I can sell them.

My part of the article below:

"LOSE THAT BOREDOM WITH THESE FUN GAMES"

"...At Pegasus Books of Bend, owner Duncan McGeary carries numerous board games that you won't find elsewhere. Among them, he recommends his $20 to $25 card games, including Munchkin and Killer Bunnies.

Some of his more popular board games are the strategy games, namely The Settlers of Catan, $42, Ticket to Ride, $50, and Carcassonne, $25.

McGeary says these games are referred to as German - or European-style because they focus on strategy, rather than conflict or luck. They also have more complexity and variation -- each time you play the game, it will be different -- and the game pieces tend to be high quality and expensive. The variations are fascinating and complex, even though the game rules are fairly easy to learn.

"You don't just figure out the trick to the game and win," he said.

These games can cost up to $80, McGeary said, with equally expensive game expansions, which add new elements or variations to the games. Owners can also buy player extensions to allow for more players, which cost $10 to $15.

"Board games can be expensive," he said. "But you get a lot of play for it."