Addicted To Comics? Get Your Fix At New England Comics Online Store
Written: Jun 17 '06
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What sucks more than the mailman intentionally folding your magazines and comics then proceeding to shove them into the bottom of the mailbox ... wedged them in such a way that you need to get a butter knife and grill tongs to remove said objects? [That ranks pretty high on the suckiness level] What could be worse? Sweating your face off in the middle of August and having a December issue of a mag or comic arrive. That always irked me. Sure I liked having issues before everyone else but not when it contains stuff for a completely different season. New England Comics is one of the few comic book sites that truly caters to their customers. How so Freak? Well, they put you in control of when you get your copies. Simon has been into comics ever since he could flip a page but he hated getting subscriptions for a few reasons. One, the would arrive damaged [not the fault of the publisher]. Two, lost issues were nearly impossible to get replaced. Three, you would get them a month or two before the date on the cover and if you were missing an issue, you were essentially screwed. The comic would sit there and taunt you. You wanted to read it but you know you were missing the previous one. That's the equivalent of buying a boxed set of books and reading the even numbered ones then reading the odd numbered ones. Eventually you figure out what is going on but you spend a lot of time scratching your head trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together.
Selection
Some of the publishers they carry include DC Comics, IDW, Marvel, Image and Dark Horse to name a few. Titles range from Archie to Cartoon Network, Guardian Heroes to Superman [and Supergirl], Batman, Sonic The Hedgehog and Star Wars. If you aren't into comics then you might see "Scooby Doo" and think that it's just one series; that could be any of eleven or twelve that Scooby and the gang have appeared in. Same thing goes with Batman, Superman, Spiderman and other characters that have been around for a while. If you are shopping for someone else, your best bet is to call or email them to talk to someone that knows comics. In addition to what they sell at the site, they also have a lot of stuff at eBay that you can access right from the site. They do sell more than comics but a majority of what we've bought have been comics so you will have to head to the site to see the action figures and other items.
FFAST Mail Order Service
This is what we use 90% of the time; you control when you get issues and you aren't pressured into having to commit to something before you have had a chance to read about it. There are some sites that want you to preorder titles and most of the time you aren't disappointed but if you order it then heard that it isn't all that impressive you have a hard time canceling things. My son has his orders set up to arrive about a week before he comes home from school so they arrive when he is home. Like a true comic fanatic, he has his own way of storing them, the order that they are sorted and the types of bags they go in to. Another awesome thing is that they ship the comics in bags with backing cards to keep them in perfect condition. The FFast system is easy to use and billing is accurate to the penny. My son has memorized my credit card information and could use the digits at any site that sells comics but he goes with New England because of the way that they package things, prices on older issues and in his words, "When I call them to ask them something, they don't talk to me like I am a kid or tell me to put my mother on the phone"
This all ties in with customer service. It's one of the few sites - in any area of sales - that have knowledgeable people answering the phones. I didn't know the exact title of a comic but was able to tell them the basics of it and he went down a list of names until he hit on one that clicked. If you have a problem they don't start the conversation off with attitude, they work with you to try and resolve things. I will never say that I am someone that knows everything about comics so when I have a question, I know that I can call them and get an answer.
New England Comics
732 Washington Street
Norwood, MA 02062
[781] 769-3470 - orders
[781] 769-2853 - fax
office@newenglandcomics.com
www.newenglandcomics.com
Payment & Shipping
Orders can be paid for with MasterCard, Visa, American Express or Discover. They will take checks but you will have to wait for them to clear before your order ships. My son is the one that uses the site the most but he uses my credit card, so far I've never seen any billing issues or had any trouble with double billings. I'm not sure about money orders, if you want to pay with that method, call or email them to see if they will accept one or if you need to get a certain kind. Shipping is up to you, you can have them sent the cheapest way, Ground, or the quickest, Next Day Air. He goes with the Ground option because it's usually about twenty to thirty issues so it costs about a fifth of what it would cost if it were sent expedited. I tried to figure out the shipping charges but couldn't make heads or tails of it. When I did the math on his last shipment it came out to about six dollars for thirty two comics. Not bad considering that they arrived two days before they were supposed to. If you are concerned with the price of shipping or can't understand it, call or email them.
Retail Locations
If a store has a ton of retail locations that tells me that they aren't going to close up shop tomorrow and disappear with my money. New England Comics has seven retail stores respectively located in Allston, Brockton, Brookline, Canbridge, Malden, Norwood and Quincy. The Norwood location serves as their headquarters and is where most of the orders are handled. When you call them, the folks you talk to will be from that store. If they run their local stores the same way they run the website I am sure that they are a blast to visit. Sadly, the closest I ever came to making it to a shop was getting lost in Dorchester. Since they are an established business you know that you aren't going to get ripped off when you order from them ... and if they were a crappy company they wouldn't have been able to expand to so many locations.
The Bottom Line
Prices on older issues are great, shipping is fast and you can dictate when you receive comics. Bloodfire in San Diego will always be number one for me [ahh Kindergoth] but when I need to get issues for presents or have questions, I know that New England Comics is a place that I can turn to for help. Even if the prices were higher than other sites, their customer service is what keeps me coming back time after time. My son always calls them when he is home to see if they have specific issues he's missing or trying to hunt down and they never brush him off with a generic answer. If you're serious about comics then New England Comics is the website for you.
As always, thanks for the read!
~^V^~ Freak ~^V^~
© 2006 Freak369
Cartoon Network: Dexter's Laboratory
Rob Zombie's Spookshow International
Bloodfire: Kindergoth
Buffy The Vampire Slayer: A Stake To The Heart
Army of Darkness: Ashes 2 Ashes
Related websites ...
Things From Another World
Westfield Comics
Happy Toy Depot
Hobbytron
John's Toy Store
Action Figure Xpress
Fun To Collect
Toy Wiz
Recommended:
Yes
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? comics, gifts
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