Posted in: Batman, Comics, Conventions, DC Comics, Events, Pop Culture, san diego comic con, Superman | Tagged: absolute, Absolute Batman, Absolute Superman, Absolute Wonder Woman, CoverGate, jim lee, sdcc
Jim Lee, President Of DC Comics, Part Of Absolute “Price Gouging”?
Is Jim Lee guilty of Absolute Batman “price-gouging” under DC Comics new retailer exclusive variant terms and conditions at SDCC?
Article Summary
- DC Comics warns retailers against Absolute Batman price gouging, urging caps of 5x cover price unsigned and 10x signed.
- Jim Lee SDCC variants at Torpedo Comics list for $100 to $150, far above DC’s new retailer exclusive guidelines.
- Absolute Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman variants include a Jim Lee signature token, raising questions over compliance.
- With Jim Lee serving as DC President and artist, the SDCC exclusive pricing controversy gets especially awkward fast.
Recently, Bleeding Cool scooped the news about DC Comics’ new Terms and Conditions regarding exclusive retailer variant covers commissioned by comic stores, conventions, or creator studios and sold at a markup. WithAbsolute Batman exacerbating the market – and interest – DC Comics states that “DC does not wish to support price-gouging of DC’s customers” and “strongly encourages” a limit to five times the cover price for unsigned books, ten times for autographed books. DC says that they may discontinue future sales of exclusive variants to retailers that exceed those guidelines.
Well,Torpedo Comics has a San Diego Comic-Con variants of these Absolute titles, Absolute Batman #22, Absolute Wonder Woman #22 and Absolute Superman #21, all covers drawn by Jim Lee, and priced at $100 for trade covers, $125 for black-and-white covers and $150 for virgin foil. Each includes a token to get a signature from Jim Lee at their Booth #1000. That is much more than five times the cover price for unsigned books, or ten times for autographed books.
ABSOLUTE BATMAN #22
ABSOLUTE WONDER WOMAN #22
ABSOLUTE SUPER MAN #21
Cover price for these Absolute titles would be $4.99 for trade or black-and-white, $9.99 for foil. So that’s twenty times for the trade and black and white, fifteen times that for the foil. So that’s a clear breach of DC Comics’ new T&Cs, right? Right? Well, it might be slightly complicated by the fact that Jim Lee, artist of these covers, signing at the booth for most of the Thursday, Friday and Saturday, just happens to be the Publisher, President and Chief Creative Officer of DC Comics. So good luck reporting him, or them. Here’s Jim Lee’s Signing Schedule at Torpedo Comics Booth #1000. Daily quantities are limited and available while supplies last… bring the new terms and conditions along and see if you can renegotiate a reduction…
- Thursday 9:30 AM – 11 AM
- Friday 10:30 AM – 12 PM, 2:30 PM – 4 PM
- Saturday 11 AM – 12:30 PM, 4:30 PM – 6:30 PM
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