The Big Questions:

Where are you located?

What are your hours?

Do you buy comics?

Do you have a subscription service?

When can I order straight from the website?

I'm a creator, will you buy my comic?

I'm a creator, can I do a signing at your store?

I have some other question you haven't answered, you heartless bastard!

Q: Where are you located?

A: Comix Experience is located at 305 Divisadero St. (at Page) in the city of San Francisco. You can find a link to a map site here.

Q: What are your hours?

A: 11-7 Monday-Saturday, Sunday 12-5

Q: Do you buy comics?

A: Yes. For fifty cents a pound. Of course, one should call first before bringing your books in; sometimes we get overstocked and need to suspend buying until we sell down our back issue supply.

Seriously: CALL FIRST. (415) 863-9258.

Depending on the comic, this averages out to approximately five cents a book. We never ever vary from this scheme, regardless of what the comic is, or how old it is (if you've got pre-'62 comics, go over to the East bay and Comic Relief, or head out to Lee's) -- we have a freIght scale that we'll plop your comics on, sight-unseen.

At this point in the conversation, things usually go one of two ways. Either the caller thanks us profusely (no one WANTS to sell their comics, after all), or they start screaming obscenities at us, and accuse us of "ripping them off".

Well, no.

I mean, first off, selling comics is a mutual transaction. We can't "rip you off" if YOU are agreeing to sell them for that price....

But, more importantly, most old comics aren't worth a thing. No, honestly.

If you walk in to a comic shop with 100 comics, odds are fabulous they'll pick out 1, maybe 2 of your books, and offer you a realistic fraction of their selling price, and the other 98 comics they won't give you one thin dime for.

We started this policy when I went to sell my LPs. I went to 14 different SF record shops trying to sell my albums. Each took 2 or 3. By the time I made it to the last shop, I still had more than 80% of my collection left, and I had spent five hours of my life to make maybe $50. Yuck. I would have KILLED to find a place that would buy everything for a flat rate.

Think about it this way: your time is worth money. MY time is worth (at least) $20/hour. Looking at it from that POV, I LOST $50 selling my albums.

If you think 50 cents a pound isn't enough for your comics, you've got many options: You could donate them to charity, and take the write-off from your taxes; you could go from store-to-store and see what you might get; you could go onto e-bay (or the like), and sell them that way....

But, again, if you spend an hour of your time scanning, listing and tracking the comic you're selling, have you actually made any money?

For what it is worth, the "average" back issue is sold at CE in sets -- for prices that range around 25 cents a book. Single-copy (bagged and boarded) comics almost always go for 25 cents above cover price, and in the insanely rare circumstance where we look something up in a guide, we almost always price it at 50% or less of Overstreet.

The upside for you, is that we'll buy basically anything. I can think of less than 2 times when we've turned down a collection... and that was because they were coverless. We reserve the right to say "no" to multiple copies of Valiant or Ultraverse books, and we'll also turn down other retailers....but other than that, we'll take all your comics.

Q: Do you have a subscription service? (also known as "pull and hold" or "saver box" depending on where you're from.)

A: Yes. you can download our monthly subscription forms, so you can fax them in to us, or do them at home to bring in, but you should probably come into the store or email us with any questions first.

Unlike most stores, CE doesn't use a "standing order" system -- you have order month-to-month. That is, you have to tell us you want Snot-Boy #345 in May, and Snot-Boy #346 in June. We do it in this manner so you have the maxiumum flexibility, don't have to do frequent updates, and so that we make as few mistakes as possible.

We currently offer subscribers a 10% rebate on their next purchase. This applies to anything you buy, whether or not you pre-ordered it.

In some limited circumstances we WILL offer standing orders -- for example if you're leaving town for a few months, or you're in the military. E-Mail Brian (brian@comixexperience.com) for more details.

Q: When can I order straight from the web-site?

A: Never. This ia "business-card" site, not for "e-commerce" or whatever the phrase is. One of the conditions of our hosting is that we don't sell stuff directly on here.

Still, if you're looking for something, feel free to e-mail an inquiry to Brian (brian@comixexperience.com), or fax it over to (415) 863-9299. We'll take care of you the best as we can.

Q: I'm a creator, will you buy my comic directly from me?

A: You should feel free to mail a sample to Brian Hibbs, 305 Divisadero St., San Francisco, CA, 94117, and we can evaluate it.

In most cases, though, we're only willing to take books directly on consignment: 50/50 split upon sale, you take care of any shipping both ways. We'll throw out that rule for superlative comics, but then why aren't you distributing through Diamond, Last Gasp, or Cold Cut?

Q: I'm a creator, can I do a signing at your store?

A: Feel free to e-mail Brian (Brian@comixexperience.com), and we can discuss it. Odds are currently low, however -- we burnt ourselves out on signings (62 in 60 months), and are only looking for events that will get a lot of people showing up. Still with the right book/creator/situation we might reconsider.

Q: Zarthanious isn't on your staff page any more. Is he dead??

A: Some of us believe that Zarthanious is probably incapable of killing, at least as we mortals understand the term. So no, he is not dead. He just moved, and so we put moved his bio here.

Q: I have some other question you haven't answered, you heartless bastard!

A: Hey, it’s v 1.0 of the FAQ, and I'm at the store writing this, dealing with customers at the same time. Cut me some slack!

Ask your question to brian@comixexperience.com, and we'll do our best to accomodate you. Hell, maybe we'll even add it to the FAQ!