Posted in: AfterShock, Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News | Tagged: comic shop, facebook, slab

Over Two Thousand 9.8 Slabbed Aftershock Comics For $40,000

Over Two Thousand 9.8 Slabbed Aftershock Comics, For Sale For $40,000, but youll need to bring a big truck to take them away.

Published Mon, 03 Jun 2024 08:57:07 -0500

by Rich Johnston

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Jen King, owner of the Space Cadets Collection Collection comic book store in Texas, as well as co-owner of The Experience streaming channel, is selling something rather notable. She posted to Facebook;

"We have the entirety of Aftershock's CBCS graded copies. They needed to sell them to move their offices. It's most of their titles from their beginnings (Animosity, lnsexts, Rough Riders) to right before the pandemic. The price is less than $20 each. Must take as a lot. Includes tons of variants and Signature series. This will need a very sturdy vehicle that can take a heavy weight, like a delivery truck. It's too heavy for a regular truck. I also can ship on pallets but that is super risky that they might get damaged (I'd insure them heavily, if I were you). I don't really want to sell them, but I need the space."

And that's quite a space. Over two thousand CBCS 9.8 slabbed Aftershock comics for $40,000. Given that slabbing such a new comic costs $22, you'd basically be paying for the slab and getting the comic for free.

Two years ago, Bleeding Cool ran a story about AfterShock Comics filing for bankruptcy, after we had run a number of stories concerning the comic book publisher and what had seemed an inability to pay their freelance comic book creators what is due to them. It was then revealed that AfterShock Comics of Sherman Oaks, California, and their partner studio, Rive Gauche Television, had filed for bankruptcy, stating, "On December 19, 2022, AfterShock Comics, LLC and affiliates filed for chapter 11 protection in the District of Central California (Case No. 22-11456). The Debtor reports Assets of $10M-$50M and Liabilities of $10M-$50M. The Petition states funds will be available to Unsecured Creditors. Debtor Represented by: David L. Neale of Levene, Neale, Bender, Yoo & Golubchik L.L.P."

Now, Chapter 11 Protection means that the publisher can continue publication operations. But they have burned through their production schedules. January 2023 had six new titles. February 2023 had seven. March 2023 solicits had five titles. April 2023 had just two new titles, and May had one, Bulls Of Beacon Hill #5 which was published last year. And that's was it for new titles.

At the Diamond Comics Retailer Lunch last year, Aftershock Comics representatives got up to a room so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Aftershock told the retailers that significant progress had been made, but there was still a ways to go before they could announce they were fully back. And they were still not there yet. It seemed an emotionally fraught moment for both the speaker and those in attendance. Tears are new to the Diamond Comics Retailer Lunch.

Retailers were told that Aftershock Comics was currently going through court-supervised proceedings to make sure that people get paid. But as a result if the current situation, there might be previously announced series that may not get out. All Aftershock Comics staff would be kept on payroll, are still working with creators on new projects and have announcements when they can. One of their more successful series, which was to have a new volume, Maniac of New York, had just seen the third issue pencils come in. And they state that a few weeks from now, collected editions will start flowing to shops again.

They talked about looking forward to having their marketing budgets back and getting the word out about their books. They were also still trying to get their books into Hollywood's hands, but the strikes were holding that up.