(Note - I am diverging away from writing about comics for this post. I came across this information and I thought it was important to get it out to save some people money and frustration, and this website is my best avenue for sharing information. I’ll get back to comics with the next post.)

There are bad people in the world.

We see it everyday on the news websites, but the crime and the criminals usually seem so far away. Unfortunately, the unrivaled connectivity of the web brings us all just one mouse click away from many of these criminals. These people spend a lot of time and energy figuring out how to rip off the rest of us. It is disturbing to discover people on the web as despicable and immoral as the criminal thugs seen on “The Sopranos”, but they are out there. Our best defense is to spread the word on how these scams operate so we recognize them early and avoid becoming victims.

(There are some people who would say that a post like this only serves to educate other scammers on new ideas. I disagree. The criminals would seek this information out one way or another. The potential victims are the ones who most need to be alerted.)

This particular scam revolves around digital cameras and camcorders. Here’s how it works:

The victim is in the market for a camera and does some research on the web, looking for the best price. When checking one of the price comparison websites that comes up in a web search, he sees a wide range of prices with a couple of web retailers advertising it as in stock with a very low price. Here’s part of the scam. The same scammers own many of the low price websites so that their extremely low price doesn’t stick out as much and helps keep a red flag from being raised. The budget minded victim clicks on one of the stores with the very low price. All of the stores have high customer satisfaction ratings which are completely bogus on the price comparison website.

Once at the scammer’s site, there is very little to suggest a scam. The site looks very professional and has a wide selection of merchandise. They’ll claim that their products are “Factory Fresh” and “Still Sealed in the Original Boxes”. They even provide ordering and customer service 800 numbers for your convenience. Everything looks good and the victim is in a rush so he places an order (using a credit card) for a camera at a great price.

A few days later, the victim gets an email asking him to call the customer service 800 number to “confirm” his order. This seems a little odd since the camera should have already shipped, but he figures he needs to call to find out what’s going on. Once the scammer has him on the phone the scammer asks which battery would the victim like with the camera. Does he want the expensive 2 hour battery or the really expensive 5 hour battery? The victim is surprised and says he thought the camera comes with a battery. The scammer tells him that it doesn’t and that he’ll also need to buy the battery charger and other upgrades. The victim is confused and the thug on the phone puts on the high pressure (even bullying) sales tactics.

At this point, one possible scenario is the victim stands his ground and insists that he only wants what he ordered, in which case the scammer will become verbally abusive and then hang up on him. The camera will suddenly become on perpetual back order and the order will eventually be cancelled. This is actually the best-case outcome.

Another possible scenario is that the victim decides that the whole thing stinks and decides to cancel the order. The scammer will tell the victim that he can’t cancel the order (because the camera already shipped or some other such nonsense). When the victim insists on canceling the order he is told he will be charged and exorbitant restocking fee, which is quickly charged to his credit card.

The third scenario is that the victim is stunned and agrees to the “upgrades” at an extremely inflated price. Many times victim will regain his composure shortly after hanging up and try to call back to cancel his order only to receive the run around spending huge amounts of time on hold. If he eventually gets through to the surly, mean and abusive “customer service representative” he’ll go through the order cancellation scenario above. If the victim decides to just wait and see what he gets he’ll end up receiving an incomplete order with a price even higher than the over inflated price he was bullied into. The invoice is not itemized so he has no record of how much he was charged for each item, or even what he is being charged for at all. Now the victim has to go through the frustration of disputing the credit card charge and returning the merchandise. All while feeling like a fool.

Now the bonus. In a couple of weeks, fraudulent charges start showing up on the victim’s credit card so he has to go through the trouble of canceling the card and getting a new one.

This is a variation on the classic “bait and switch” scam, and people need to be aware of it. A little due diligence and cautionary behavior are usually enough to avoid getting ripped off. If the price is much lower than the big retail outlets (even if other small retailers you’ve never heard of have competitive rates) that should be a red flag. Don’t trust the retailer ratings on price comparison websites. Check a reputable, third party retailer rating website like http://www.resellerratings.com/ for feedback on the store. Or better yet, check the Better Business Bureau for complaints.

It’s a shame that some people have to learn an expensive and frustrating lesson in criminal behavior by becoming a victim to a scam like this. But I think the biggest victims had nothing to do with the transaction. The biggest victims are the legitimate and honest small web retailers. The criminals make it almost impossible to trust a small time merchant on the web (even though I’d bet most of them are honest and trustworthy). As more and more people come into contact with these criminals, more and more business will go to the big name retailers, and more and more small businesses will have to close up shop.

Let’s all try to recognize these criminals early and avoid getting ripped off. And spread the word, so that our friends and families don’t become victims of these thugs either.

Are you a comic book fan or a super hero fan?

There is a tendency to link comic books and super heroes together. Over the past 40+ years the two have shared a symbiotic relationship. There are good things and bad things about this relationship, but overall I think it has been a good thing. But I’m starting to wonder if this relationship is changing.

Until recently, the super hero genre was unnecessarily saddled with many of the campier story devices from comic books. The old Adam West Batman television show is a prime example. It made the comic book “POW!” effect become a standard super hero genre device. (Don’t get me wrong; I still think that the Adam West Batman will lead to world peace.) Linking super heroes and comic books so closely helped keep both alive, but with the unfortunate downside of limiting the audience of both. People not interested in super heroes were not going to explore the comic book medium, and people not interested in comic books were not going to explore super hero stories told in other mediums.

I started out as a super hero fan. There was something about super hero stories that I really connected with and comic books were the best place to get them. Eventually I began to explore the other story genres in comic books and developed a love for the medium. And I think we are beginning to see comic books and super heroes grow beyond each other.

Status Quo

Comics and super heroes will be connected for many years to come, but both are growing. More and more comic book creators are exploring genres outside of super heroes with wonderful success. Comics like Usagi Yojimbo, Y the Last Man, Kabuki and The Walking Dead just to name a few. Additionally, super heroes stories are being told outside of comic books without relying on comic book story devices. Movies, television and video games are all starting to experiment with the genre.

The comic book/super hero status quo is changing and there are going to be some growing pains, but I think that the best days for both comic books and super heroes are still ahead.

Forget the Marvel Civil War. The Next Generation Console War is upon us. So which consoles would different comic characters line up behind? Here are the answers:

 
Spider-Man: Wii – Spider-Man is always broke, so he has no choice but to pick up the least expensive console. He might say it is because of the innovative Wii-mote but we all know it was the money.

 

 
Superman: PS3 – Supervision calls for super-graphics. Almost went for the Xbox, but Jimmy Olsen already has one.

 

 

 
Iron Man: Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii – He has all three consoles. All three still in the boxes, never opened.

 

 

 
Batman: Wii – Bought it for Robin as a gift. Batman doesn’t have time for video games.

 

  
Captain America: None – Cap just doesn’t get the whole video game thing. Give him a nice crossword puzzle at the end of a long day. Yessiree.

 

 

 
Guy Gardner (Green Lantern): Xbox 360 – Not sure why. It just seems right. Maybe it’s the green logo on the Xbox.

 

 

 
Wolverine: PS3 – You would think that an X-Man would choose the Xbox, but there you go.

 

 

 
Robin: Wii – Gift from Batman. He really wanted a PS3. You’d think that with the kind of money and connections Bruce Wayne has he could have scored a PS3.

 

 
Madrox (The Multiple Man): Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii (with the maximum number of controllers for each console) – When you can make an unlimited number of copies of yourself, each with a different part of your personality, you need a lot of options.

 

 

 
Lex Luthor: Xbox 360 – Curious that the only villain on the list chooses the Microsoft product. Hmmm.

 

 

Civil War #6

Marvel has announced another delay in the Civil War series.

Issue 6 is being delayed two weeks and is scheduled to come out on 1/3/07 now. Issue 7 (the final issue) has been pushed to 1/31/07. I get my comics monthly so a two week slip is nothing I can’t handle. So, while I don’t think this latest slip in the shipping schedule is anything to get worked up about, is it symptomatic of a larger problem?

I can guarantee that Marvel does not like to ship books late, but they also have an eye on the bigger prize. Marvel understands the value of the trade paperback (TPB) reprint market. Marvel could use multiple artists to keep a high profile book like Civil War on schedule, but that makes for a much less attractive TPB. An attractive TPB can be a long term annuity. Look at the Watchmen TPB for example. DC has been cashing in on that series for 20 years. (Start of shameless self promotion. If you haven’t read Watchmen then may I suggest buying a copy of the TPB from my store because every comic fan over the age of 18 should read it. End of shameless self promotion.) I’m not trying to suggest that Civil War is as good as Watchmen, and I recognize that the success of Watchmen is an extreme example, but it illustrates the point. I remember waiting and waiting for the long delayed last issue of Watchmen, but I don’t complain about the delay when I re-read the story. Rather, I’m glad they allowed the creative team to finish the story.

So for the sake of the longevity of a story, I think the delays, while annoying, are acceptable. Up to a point. When the delays start getting measured in months, then there is a problem. The months and months of delays in the Ellis/Granov Iron Man re-launch is a prime example of unacceptable.

So in the end, while I get frustrated with delays like so many other fans, the reality of the TPB market and its demands for high quality art are going to make it a part of comics publishing for the foreseeable future.

Next time your favorite book is delayed, pick up a random title that you’ve never read. Who knows what you might find?

Imagine having your own comic shop.

Many of us think about owning our own business, but the realities of day to day living make it too risky and expensive to quit your job and chase a dream. It shouldn’t be that way. And I’m finding that it doesn’t have to be that way if you are willing to adjust your dream a bit.

Absolute Sandman
One of my featured
products

The web makes it possible to start your own business for very little money. Affiliate programs make it possible to start selling with very little risk (to you or your customer). Combined, these let you start your business working nights and weekends without quitting your job. The downside is that other companies make the bulk of the profit from your sales. The upside is that you get to build up a customer base with little start up cost or risk. When you are successful in generating traffic and sales you will have an excellent “jumping-in” point for a more serious retail store of your own.

Go ahead, unleash your inner entrepreneur.

Pride of Baghdad
Another featured item

For me, taking the fan-boy plunge and starting down the path to living the dream means adding an Amazon.com aStore to this website. The aStore is a recent addition to the Amazon.com affiliate program. According to Amazon.com: “aStore is a new Associates product that gives you the power to create a professional online store, in minutes and without the need for programming skills, that can be embedded within or linked to from your website.” You set up the store by defining some categories, selecting featured items for each category and choosing a few other options. Then Amazon provides a couple lines of HTML to embed in your website and “voila!”… instant website!

Here are the 7 steps to starting yourself down this path:

1. If you don’t already have your own website, register a domain name and set up hosting. I use Anhosting for hosting my website. Click on the link and check them out. If you are looking for a hosting service you really should consider them because they offer a lot of features for a very low price. For $6.95 a month, they will host your website on their servers. Signing up for a year costs you $83.40 and includes the cost of domain registration. That is pretty much your only monetary cost (plan to invest many hours of your time).

2. Again, if you don’t already have your own website, you can now set one up. I chose to use the free blogging software package Wordpress for my site. Anhosting provides a simple setup utility to get up and running with Wordpress quickly. They also provide a site builder tool, although I didn’t take advantage of it. Wordpress was all I needed. The hardest part was setting up my “theme” which is the overall look of the site. I started with an existing free theme as a template and then built mine. I wanted the page to have a look and feel sort of like a comic book page. It’s a perpetual work-in-progress.

3. Sign up as and Amazon.com affiliate.

4. Once you are part of the Amazon.com affiliate program, set up an aStore. Pick your categories and select up to nine featured items. Using the aStore setup wizard, modify the colors and options to fit your site.

5. Embed the aStore HTML into your website. Here’s where I ran into a little bit of trouble. My theme’s width turned out to be too narrow to display the entire aStore. I had to create a separate HTML page to house the aStore. Getting this page to have an appearance similar to the main site was a pain. This page is also looking to be a perpetual work-in-progress.

6. Now comes the hard part. Driving traffic to your store. You get a cut of every sale made through your store. Not a huge cut, after all Amazon.com needs to make some money and they handle all of the inventory and shipping, but with very little upfront investment you can make your first step into having your own online comic shop.

7. Profit.

With Amazon you can
sell other items like
DVDs

I’m still working on step 6. If I figure out the secret to connecting customers with my store I’ll pass it along.

So there you have it. For those of us who’ve always thought about having our own comic shop but need to keep our day jobs, an excellent option is now available.

You can see my store by clicking on the link in the upper left of the site.

Check out my store and pick-up that something that you’ve been wanting for a while. Because you deserve it.

What kind of information do you look for? How do you find it?

Digg.com provides an excellent way for you to find and help others find interesting content on the Web. Digg is a cool site. But more and more I’m finding myself getting frustrated with the current selection of topics. So I’ve come up with what I think are the Top 10 Topics Missing From Digg.com.

1. Comic Books. This is the biggest missing topic from my perspective because comic books are getting more and more popular every day. This would be my number one tracked topic. This should be a sub-topic under the Entertainment top level Topic.

2. Books. Non-illustrated literature deserves its own topic. I think this would most likely fall as a sub-topic under Entertainment, but it also raises the possibility of adding Art as a new top-level Topic.

3. Music. Another sub-topic needed under entertainment. I would love to have a way of discovering new music.

4. Microsoft. Under the Technology top-level topic Apple and Linux/Unix have their own sub-topics but Microsoft doesn’t. Now I’m as big of an Apple booster as the next zealot, but let’s be real. We shouldn’t be ignoring the elephant in the room just because the elephant is bloated, buggy, and riddled with viruses and spyware. Besides, where else can we gather all of the upcoming articles bashing every part of Vista?

5. Games (non-computer). Where do the articles on chess go?

6. Self-Improvement. We should all be striving to improve ourselves. There is a ton of great information out there for self-improvement. There is also 10 tons of crap out there. Certainly the power of Digg can be harnessed for the continual improvement of the human species.

7. Entrepreneur. A needed sub-topic under the top-level topic World & Business. Many of us on the web are huge fans of entrepreneurship and start-ups.

8. Blogging. A big part of Digg’s readership. The number of bloggers is growing daily which means that the number of people looking for good articles about blogging is growing daily.

9. Digg. Digg users aren’t shy about digging stories about Digg. Let’s make it official. Let’s have a special Digg topic for stories about Digg.

10. Other. Seriously. Every top-level Topic should have the catch all “other” sub-topic. Right now only Sports has an other sub-topic. Let’s give it to the rest of the topics.

So there you have it, ten topics missing from Digg. I know that Digg needs to keep a balance between simplicity and completeness, but I know my Digging experience would be improved by these changes.