Comic Book Relief — Local services in Saint Charles

Comic Relief, one of the larger comic book retailers in the St. Louis region—much like the infamous Batman villain Two-Face—has two very distinct faces, one good, one bad.

The business is owned and operated by Mike, a soft spoken Spider Man aficionado, whose store is clearly a labor of love: Thousands of comics enshrined in custom file cabinets come together to create makeshift aisles, the tops of which are adorned by countless toys, trinkets, and pieces of memorabilia. Above hang rows of mounted vintage comics, which seamlessly merge with the new release/trade paperback shelves that line every wall. All in all, the atmosphere is more museum-esque than retail vibe, making simply entering the building a unique experience.

Yet, beware: Should one elect to transition from buyer to seller, Comic Relief quickly shapeshifts from dweeb Mecca into Scorsese’s Wall Street with a snake oil salesman at the helm.

After two decades of collecting and, having had a positive experience upon my first visit (I’d finally found No. 1 V for Vendetta at the slightly steep price of $45), I scheduled an appointment and hauled in 40 comics to sell. Despite having never sold before, I had a rough idea of my comics’ value: several mid-grade Silver Era Hulk, Wonder Woman, Batman, Superman, and Justice League; the first appearance of Red Hulk and Spider Man’s Toxin; early Venom and Carnage; a first printing of Alan Moore’s The Killing Joke; the death of Robin; No. 1s Doctor Strange (v.2) and Wolverine (both v.1 and 2); among others. After sifting through what I’d placed before him and taking a few notes, Mike made a bid.

$22.

No, I didn’t forget a zero.

I was flabbergasted. I’d spent years carefully calculating which characters and issues might appreciate over time and, moreover, also being a collector of sports cards and rare books— both of which resell at 50% market value—I was expecting an offer in the triple digits. I asked Mike how he’d determined the price.

He said he pays ten cents on the dollar (10%). I asked whether that was customary or if, as with overproduced baseball cards from the late 1980s, the bottom had fallen out of the buyback industry. He gave me a sympathetic, sorrowful smile which, I assumed, was meant to spare my feelings.

Having a decision to make, I rationalized it would be unlikely—in the Google Review Era—for a business owner to blatantly exploit a patron’s ignorance and, even if his bid was on the low side, it was probably nonetheless competitive, so I consented, but not before pulling every fourth comic (so as to be random, not cherry-picked, for reasons I’ll explain shortly). Mike reviewed what I’d opted to keep and said the new total was $17. He paid me and I left.

Curious, I drove to another comic store (Google Reviews TOS prohibits citing competitors by name) and laid my ten remaining issues on the counter.

The owner offered $92. I asked how he’d arrived at that sum. He said he buys at 50% market value. A pit welled up in my stomach. I did quick math: 22-17=5, 5 over 92 = 22 over X, X equaling . . . I could have made $404!

No wonder Comic Relief is the Better Homes & Gardens of comic shops: Mike’s pre-owned overhead is a fraction of his rivals’ while his markup is +40% above market, cf. the $45 V for Vendetta lists for $25 on Key Collector Comics as well as Comic Book Realm.

Granted, no one forced me to sell the larger portion of my collection to Mike. However, he had clearly, unabashedly taken advantage of my naiveté and trust by brazenly lying when I inquired whether he was offering a fair price on $808 worth of merchandise.

My final assessment of Comic Relief? Buyer beware, but seller be...

I want to start off by saying the store looks great. They did a great job modeling the facility to feel welcome and open. The prices are ok, there are better, but there are worse. The joke of the place is there offers. I understand when your sell to a brick and mortar store, but someone's it's more polite to say "we're not interested" instead of offering such an insulting offer. Even with the owners " we pay ten cents on the dollar for what it's going on ebay", he tried to tell me what it is on eBay was less than half what the lowest level of the same items. To put it in perspective if you know someone is worth 500$ on on the low end ( this it's in the higher end and anyone who cares why I can point out the differences) how are you going to offer someone 35 dollars. What made it aggravating to the point where I won't ever purchase anything from here is that I was waiting for 40 minutes for them to look at two graded signed comics, finally the owner says "come over here, I have to leave "...I had been waiting up at the front obviously just waiting on him but didn't know it because he was walking around, taking on the phone, looking through comics, standing at the counter. People's time is precious so when you are careless about others time it let's be know they are only concerned with themselves. Who knows they might normally be better. There clerk at the front was 5 Stars though. Just next time say, I just am not interested, treat others the way you want to be treated .That's...

I absolutely love this shop! The staff are incredibly friendly and the prices are great. The amount of comics in this shop is out of this world. If you're looking for a comic book that you can't find anywhere else, you're sure to find it here. This store has thousands, yes I said thousands, of comic books. All of the comics are organized in alphabetical order, so you don't have to spend countless hours searching for that one comic that may or may not even be there. The shop also has a lot of trade in comic volumes towards the back of the store as well as some 25 cent bins and merchandise. This shop is also home to the largest selection of gold and silver age comics I have ever seen, which are very reasonably priced. Comic Relief also has 4 different sizes of comic bags and boards for you to choose from for all of your comic book protecting needs (current issue size, silver age size, golden age size and magazine size). Their bags and boards run about 25 to 30 cents each, which is a fair price, and are of good quality. Don't be afraid to ask the staff questions about comics or anything else you might need they are friendly, patient, and are there to help you. I will definitely be back in the next time I am in the St. Louis/St. Charles area. I would give this shop an infinite amount of stars. Make sure the next time you're in this area to put this on your list of places to...