SALES TO ASTONISH #49 - SEPTEMBER 2026

I was grateful in September to be able to spend a few days away in Portugal. As it was the first time in five years I had been abroad and I had to check whether my passport was still in date! Taking a break away when you are self-employed and getting into the mindset to enjoy it is often quite tricky. As a lot of sales during the course of a normal month result from new items being added to the website on Thursdays and Saturdays there’s always the fear that taking time out of the business is a kind of ‘double-whammy’. 

However, it’s also just as important to recognise when you need a break, so four nights in Portugal doing nothing other than relaxing and reading some silly book about the bloodline of Jesus Christ and the Holy Grail was just was the doctor ordered. In fact reading that book reminded me of just how much I enjoyed Arvid Nelson’s series Rex Mundi (originally at Image Comics and then completed at Dark Horse) and when I got back I dug the full run out of storage to give it a re-read. There was a lot of additional material that provided a wealth of scene-setting and ‘alt-history’ that I skipped first time round but felt I would get more out of reading again with the book I had finished on holiday fresh in my mind. 

As it happened whilst there had been a noticeable slow down in sales at the beginning of the month the holiday ‘double-whammy’ didn’t occur and I was pleased to arrive back in the UK to find that I had had a number of orders including one to a person in the USA who bought some Trollcrusher and Alarums & Excursions fanzines. Old roleplaying fanzines provide fond memories for me as I produced a (mainly) Tunnels & Trolls focused fanzine called Pandemonium in the very early 1990’s. I did a few issues where I concentrated on RPG’s before switching the content to comic related material. Whilst I haven’t got any unsold issues gathering dust in the loft I know I still have the original proofs and from time to time I think that I should dig these out and look at doing a ‘Best of’ special edition. I’ve no idea whether there would be any demand but it’s one of those itches that needs to be scratched. 

It would be lie to say that I didn’t think about work whilst I was away, but I got back feel revitalised and had made a list of a few things I needed to do and some tweaks to my working regime. 

One thing I do need to do is to ensure that I visit the outlets that I have more frequently and change some of the existing stock around from time to time. For example I’ve noticed that the RPG hardcovers in Vintage Guru haven’t really sold so I may move them into Brackley Antiques Cellar to give them some exposure there. I could also probably move some of the boxes of £1 comics around so that regular visitors are always finding something new. It does require me to change my mindset somewhat as my natural default position is that when things are slow I try to get as much new stuff listed on the website as journey to restock Brackley for example can take half a day or more 

In the latter part of September I started to process some of the items I had picked up in the collections I had bought last month. I thought I would put up a bunch of Marvel magazines like Epic Illustrated, Marvel Premiere and so on. And I was glad I did!  Apart from a couple of issues of Epic Illustrated they pretty much all sold immediately as they hit the store (see below for some of the highlights). I think these black and white magazines are often overlooked especially when some of them actually feature first appearances of Marvel characters like Rocket Racoon and Star Lord. Although the cameo appearance of Dreadstar in Epic Illustrated #2 is so obscure it took me four attempts to locate it! 

Another book that sold straight away in September was Amazing Spider-Man #300. 

It was a nice copy that I had graded at FN+ and was snapped up almost immediately as it hit the store in mid-month.

On reflection, September was a bit of an odd month. It started slowly and I was worried about the post-holiday drop off. In the middle of the month there was an upturn in sales due to the Spidey issues and magazines dropping into the store then a slight slow down again at the end of the month. As a small business reliant on regular (daily) sales any 24/48/72 hour period without sales means there is a knock on effect that 3-4 days later there’s no money coming in. This is particularly difficult at the end of the month when bills need to be paid. However, I am of the opinion that had I had more time to list more items from the collections I had acquired then I would have sold more. So the good news for anyone reading this is there’s some great stuff to come in October and I’m going to be burning the candle down to the wick!! 

Thanks once again to everyone who supports the store as and when they are able and how ever they are able.  I’m finishing writing this as I prepare for the Lake District Comic Con in Kendall.  It was great last year so I’m looking forward to be weekend and I’ll let you know how it was in what I’m planning will be a bumper STA #50 

See you next month! 

September 2026 Sales Highlights

Uncanny X-Men Annual #14 NM- £30

Amazing Spider-man #299 FN £45

Amazing Spider-man #300 FN+ £250

Werewolf By Night #33 VG £37.50

Marvel Preview #7 FN- £110