Blind Bag Blunders. How TCG Merchandising Impacts Comics
Blind bags have been all the rage the last 2 years. Mark Spears Monsters #1, published by Keenspot, is widely credited as the first one to start the trend. And ever since then the rest of the major companies have followed suit.
But why have they become so popular? And what are the comic book industry’s intentions with producing them?
As the title suggests, I blame the recent Trading Card Game (TCG) craze, specifically with Pokémon. I work at a comic book store, so I am on the front lines. I directly see the effects that trading card games are having on comic books. But first, I need to set up some context on how trading cards got out of control.
During the Covid-19 lockdowns, people had a lot more free time, and were able to get back into their childhood hobbies. Pokémon cards became the biggest of these, with people beginning to collect again, sharing it with their children, and finding just general enjoyment in reconnecting with their inner child. But soon, people realized that there was money to be made, especially if you had older, first edition cards.
People began selling their old collections, and buying new cards in stores by the bulk. This gave rise to the scalpers—who would buy products to resell online at higher prices. This also gave rise to online influencers, buying booster boxes to open packs. (If you’re not familiar, a booster box is just a case of booster packs, ranging from 24-36 packs.) They would open boxes and packs in the hopes of opening rare and valuable cards to, again, resell online at high prices.
But most of the time these influencers already had the rare card, and they’d place the rare card into an already opened pack, reseal it, and then place it into an already open booster box, and then “reopen” it. The purpose being to make a video with them opening the booster box, to make it seem like they’re just extremely lucky at pulling the rare card, therefore garnering likes and views. I’m not saying that all TCG influencers are like this, but my problem comes down to the children. It’s always the children.
Let’s call this what it is: gambling. These young kids are impressionable, and it leads them to believe that their favorite hobby is now a get-rich-quick scheme. That if they spend their allowance on packs, they might just pull the $100 card, just like they saw in the video.
They’re watching videos of people doing it all the time. Surely, they can do it too…right? And I know I talked a lot about Pokémon—but this also extends into the rest of the major trading card games as well. It even includes the recent blind boxes with things like Labubu’s selling for thousands of dollars.
So what does all this have to do with blind bags?
It’s clear to me that the comic book industry is trying to capitalize on this recent booster pack/blind box trend. They’re trying to reach the impressionable youth, who are already addicted to opening packs, to buy the blind bags, in the hopes of getting the rare 1:100 variant cover that runs for hundreds of dollars. And of course there are always the scalpers who want to buy the blind bags in bulk to, again, pull the rare variants to resell online at higher prices.
One of my fellow Pages and Panels writers, Rossano D’Angelo, wrote an opinion piece called, The FOMO Effect — Pages and Panels, where he talks about the recent speculation of D’Orc and White Sky issue 1, and that the reason these issues started selling for so high online, could be due to the FOMO effect (Fear Of Missing Out). We’ve all been there at one time or another. We don’t want to miss out on a trend, we want to see what all the fuss is about, and we want to be a part of the group and feel accepted. I’m sure there are plenty of people who are buying the blind bags, because it’s the cool thing to do or simply just because they’re curious. There is nothing inherently wrong with buying a blind bag because you think it might be cool.
The comic book industry is no stranger to chasing fads, and catering to the speculator market. The 90’s was littered with ventricular covers, embossed covers, labeled with exciting first issues, and put into plastic bags with an exclusive trading care inside. The FOMO effect was in full force, you didn’t want to miss out on some exclusive item that could be added to your collection.
Comic books have always been a commodity and a collectible. First appearances, first issues, and variant covers are always going to be in high demand. The blind bags are different. In the 90’s they were catering towards the adult speculators, which in my eyes is fine. They are consenting adults who know what they are getting themselves into. And sure, the blind bags are catering to the adults, but now they’re aiming at the kids. Kids love comic books, and just like trading cards, why not turn their hobby into a get rich quick scheme.
Therein lies the problem: Comic books have now become giant trading cards. And as we’ve seen with the trading cards, the prices are slowly becoming more expensive. The recent Daredevil blind bag was $5.99, the DC K.O blind bags were $9.99 and they’re only getting more extravagant. The Marvel 616 Day Doom Bag is at a whopping $14.99. It comes with a Doomquest #1 in black & white interior, with varying variant covers. It also comes with a facsimile of either a Fantastic Four, Avengers, or Iron Man issue that features Doctor Doom. And for the final touch, a foil Doom mask to presumably wear to Avengers: Doomsday.
And if you’re not the big two, your standard blind bag is going to cost you $10.99 and over, for one mystery variant. To offset the price, some of the other companies have been adding 2 or more variants just to compete with the big two.
So I ask: How much farther are they going to take the trading card craze? How long until a blind bag comes with 5 variants? 4 of them are standard covers, one of them is foil, with the chance to get a rare ratio variant, exactly how a TCG pack is set up.
When I initially thought of this opinion piece, I was going to make a joke about blind bag booster boxes. A display containing a number of blind bags to sell individually, or for someone to buy the whole case if they wish, just like a booster box. It was going to be a joke…BUT THEN THEY ACTUALLY DID IT!
Marvel has two events this year, the Queen in Black in July and DNX in September, both of which will have their new Blind Bag display boxes, each containing 26 blind bags, for sale individually or by the case.
Call me old fashioned; but I thought comic books were meant to be read. I thought we were all into this hobby, because we love the characters, we love the long running storylines, we love the creatives who work on these books, we love reading their superhero stories and also their original creator owned books. These books were not meant to be put onto a wall or placed into a longbox never to be touched again. And they certainly were not meant to be sold and resold online to the highest bidder, and to capitalize on a stupid trend that will die out in the next few years.
So what do we do? I say, this is a situation where we speak with our wallets. Just don’t buy the blind bags. You’re supposed to read the darn things. If there’s a specific variant you really need, just order it through your local comic shop. You might have to spend more money, but you’re going to be spending the same amount buying a bunch of blind bags in the hopes of pulling the variant you want. If we don’t buy them, the companies will listen and they’ll stop.
As a retailer myself, as long as people continue to buy the blind bags, I will continue to stock them. My job, first and foremost, is to make profit and to get new customers into the store. And if what is getting customers in the door are blind bags, then regardless if I like it or not, I have to stock it.
But at the end of the day, even if we stop buying blind bags, they’re still the problem of the TCG craze. As long as people are still freaking out about Pokémon, then the blind bags will persist. So the problem goes much deeper. We’d have to ask the entire TCG community to calm down, and stop scalping. And…I don’t see them doing that anytime soon.
Comic books have always had a hard time gaining a mainstream audience, it’s still considered a niche medium. And in recent years there has been some more mainstream interest with titles like the Absolute Universe, and of course with the popularity of Manga. So it’s natural to want to try to keep that audience interested. But Absolute Batman didn’t capture people's attention because of fad, it’s because it was a unique take on Batman with new and interesting designs and manga style artwork to compliment it.
Quality storytelling and incredible art is what is going to get you new readers, to keep your current readers, and to ultimately save the industry. It’s always been the truth and it will continue to be.
