Let's Talk About Subscriptions & Providers

HadjiQuest

So, I'm moving soon. My new LCS will be around 40 miles from where I'll be living, and although I'll be maintaining part of my pull list at my current LCS (as they only require pickup once a month, and I should be back that frequently anyway), it will be around 150 miles away.

This means I've started looking at different means for subscriptions.

I want to eventually convert this thread into a master list of subscription services, and the pros and cons of each. I'm hoping some of you guys out there who still subscribe directly through Marvel and DC can help me figure this stuff out, as well as those who use services like HeavyInk.


DC Comics Direct Subscriptions:
Price (per 12 issues): $24.99 for 2.99 retail books; $29.99 for $3.99 books
The Good News Is:

-Heavy Discounts
-Issues Guaranteed Through Mail
-Support for missing/lost issues

The Bad News Is:

-Subscribers receive issues 2-3 weeks after retailers
-No discount for subscribing to multiple titles
-Poor selection & Out-of-Date Pricing Errors (Batman is listed in the $29.99 category, but is currently $2.99 on stands)
-Awful website design and layout
-No sales or specials

Thoughts:
A 2-3 week delay might be worth it, if all of their books weren't currently in crazy cross-over mode. Maybe something like the new JSA or the new Detective Comics might still be worth a sub, since they don't tie into anything at the moment. On the other hand, when Marvel's service is so nice and so rapid, there's absolutely no excuse for DC to be like this. Marvel even charges $25 subs for their $4 books, unlike DC. Also, why isn't booster gold listed? Is it on the bubble?

Marvel Direct Subscriptions:
Price: Almost Uniformly $24.97 for the first book, $22.97 for any additional
The Good News Is:

-Heavy Discounts
-Issues Guaranteed Through Mail
-Support for missing/lost issues
-Discounts for Multiple Titles
-Issues Arrive as close to retail as possible
-Excellent Selection
-Well Designed, Frequently Updated Site
-Occasional sales and special deals

The Bad News Is:

-No Limited Series

Thoughts:
This is excellent! I can't think of any real reason not to subscribe to their ongoings!

Heavy Ink:
Price: Retail per issue, minus any current promotional discount, plus shipping
The Good News Is:

-Issues come later than Marvel's would, but much earlier than DC's direct subscriptions would
-Allows you to pick a jump-on issue # within 2-3 issues in either direction of the most recent release
-Incredible Design and ease of use
-Pay per issue
-Includes Limited Series, as well as trades, and hardcovers
-Titles from all publishers
-Social Networking Features

The Bad News Is:

-Expensive, possibly even more so than general retail
-Vague information about missing, lost, or damaged issues

Thoughts: This is really helpful for limited series and crossovers, and I think the social networking features have a lot of possibility once they've been polished a bit more. The shipping rate and discounts also out-run the few other sites I've seen catering to the virtual LCS method.


I'm hoping some of you will have recent experience with these three services, and will be able to help me define them more.

I'm also hoping that a lot of you may have other services, and can write up similar summaries for them in this thread.

The ultimate goal, of course, is to have a super subscription OP to serve as a future guide to those of us stuck out in the boonies.

Futt Bucker

I subscribe to Batman and Detective comics and DC sent me Battle For the Cowl. It was quite a surprise.

HadjiQuest

Futt Bucker wrote: »

I subscribe to Batman and Detective comics and DC sent me Battle For the Cowl. It was quite a surprise.

How's the 2-3 week shipping delay? Does it bother you at all?

Futt Bucker

The thing is, it's inconsistent. I've received books 3-4 days after they hit stores, and also 3-4 weeks after. Usually I get them the Friday or Saturday of the following week. I can imagine the wait can be bad if there's a crossover going on, but otherwise it's nice to have comics appear in the mail.

FeathersMcGraw

I have a couple of good LCS near me (and I subscribe at one of them) so it's been a while since I used a subscription service, but I've used both Westfield Comics and Mile High Comics in the past and was satisfied with the prices and quality the books arrived in.

PMAvers

I currently use HeavyInk for my ps238 subscription (the only comic book I regularly read anymore), and quite happy with it.

Not quite sure where the "expensive" description came from it, since they have a flat 20% off normal price for everything, and $.99 shipping.

Plus, they ship things out when they get it, unlike some comic sites who only ship subscriptions out once a month. (Still bitter about MyComicShop, where I'd have to wait sometimes two to three weeks for the comic that's sitting in their warehouse to actually ship out because of it.)

sportzboytjw

Yea I'm not really sure about "expensive" with heavyink.com... it might not be as cheap as subscribing in some situations, but 20% off cover and .99 flat shipping on any order is not expensive, and not close to newstand.

HadjiQuest

Expensive comes from paying shipping if you're just getting one or two books a week. Even though shipping is $1, it could put a small order right at or slightly above retail.

If any of you guys would like to write up a short pro/con blurb about places like Mile High or My Comic Shop, I'd be really grateful. I don't know if this thread will ever prove helpful to anyone beyond myself, but I hope it will.

blaix

I used to use SciFiGenre subs and loved it: http://www.scifigenre.com/subs

Pros: Super easy-to-use site. You can add and drop titles at any time. You can start a sub at a specific issue in the future. Search by creator, etc. You can specify if you want your books weekly, monthly, when it gets to a certain total, etc. I like the site so much I still use it to see what's coming out by who even though I don't have a sub with them anymore (moved and found a LCS only a few miles away).

Cons: Discount is based on number of "ongoing" titles and what qualifies as "ongoing" is sometimes weird. Shipping costs make it not much cheaper than retail for small lists.

wwtMask

I user Marvel Direct and HeavyInk, both of which I'm pretty satisfied with.

Marvel Direct is great if you can afford to pay up front for 12 issues of a book because it works out to be about 40-50% off the cover price. They reward you for multiple subs. Even better, they reward you for being a continuing customer by offering renewals and new subs for $20 per title. They also offer sweet deals to current subscribers, like subs for two select books for $38 or subs for three select books for $50. I got a year of ASM, Secret Warriors, and Wolverine: Weapon X this way. Their website isn't the best, but it's functional, and you can renew or add titles from it. Their telephone customer service is pretty good. The downsides are that sometimes the books arrive up to 3 weeks after release and they sometimes arrive in bad condition. Marvel is really good about sending out replacements when that happens, though.

HeavyInk used to be really awesome when they were doing free shipping, but now they're just awesome. The $.99 shipping is pretty reasonable and the 20% discount is just enough to justify my not going to my LCS. Their site is really well thought out and easy to use, and they've been very responsive whenever I had an problem. Books generally arrive in good condition because they ship in periodical packaging, and I usually get my books within a week of the order going through.

Hensler

An interesting question and answer from Cup o' Joe regarding subscriptions:

Kiel Phegley: User littleredhat excitedly asks, "Yo Joe! My [local comics store] is over an hour's drive away so I supplement it with Marvel's subscription service. But not only are many of my favorite titles such as 'Guardians of the Galaxy' and 'Amazing Spider-Man Family' not available for the service but there is no way to get the vital miniseries and one-shots to stay in the know in the Marvel Universe. Why is this?"

Joe Quesada: Well, lettleredhat, once again, I don’t really have anything to do with subs, but I did do some digging to get your answer. This generally happens because the US Post Office requires that series have from two to three years worth of issues planned, and that’s really hard to do these days with many ongoing series. Obviously one-shots and miniseries don’t fit in there at all. On the bright side, this also helps keep some of these titles exclusive to our largest partners, the direct comics market. So, that being said, I’m sure there are many comic retailers who would be happy to ship you monthly or weekly comics at a fraction of what it would cost you to drive there. Try one of the retailers right here. They may be able to help.

http://comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=22090

wwtMask

Just thought I'd let you guys know that there's a special on Marvel direct where you get 12 issues f $17.97. The code is J96QPS. It's supposed to be for current subscribers, so I'm not sure if it'll work for new accounts.

SightTDW

I've been taking a look at http://www.dcbservice.com/

It's a preorder service as opposed to a subscription, but the prices are amazing. Anyone have any experience with the site? As much as I hate the idea of stepping away from my LCS, I could really stand to save a little money on this particular hobby.

Hensler

Those are really good prices. I think I might order a few of next week's books off of there, to see how much shipping costs me and how long the books take to arrive.

wwtMask

DCBS sorta fails for me because of the shipping charge and the fact that I can't get weekly shipments.

SightTDW

Hensler wrote: »

Those are really good prices. I think I might order a few of next week's books off of there, to see how much shipping costs me and how long the books take to arrive.

From the looks of it you have to order two months in advanced, I don't know if you can order anything current from there.