Colin's Comics and Collectibles

Marvel Digital Comics

2010-06-05T12:45:00.000-04:00

I feel betrayed. I went in with Marvel on their whole Digital Comics Unlimited. I felt that it could be a great tool to get people reading more comics. Letting them read some older stories that now tie into current storylines. Read the first issue of a trade that is coming out soon. Huge possibilities. Then the iPad came. And I still saw the same possibilities.

But yesterday they announced that they are going to release Invincible Iron man Annual #1 online the same day as they release it in stores. They are pricing it oddly, so that it actually costs more digitally than the print version. And they are calling it a test. But my big fear is that no matter the result, they will announce it as a huge success and will go forward with releasing digital content the same day as print sales across the board.

Was this inevitable? Yes, probably. But I don’t understand the big jump into the lake. They didn’t even bother to get their feet wet first. IDW, who has been doing online sales for the PSP for a while now, started with a one month delay between print and digital release. Fair enough. But Marvel decided to throw caution to the wind and do same day, because that’s what the internet wants.

Here are my problems with this:
1. I buy my books from Marvel non-returnable. If a book sucks, I am stuck with it. I have no more information about an issue that you do from the info in Previews or the internet. Now, I am going to have to compete with Marvel directly for sales. How much of an impact will this have on my sales? I have no idea. If my Marvel sales drop 10%, not only do I lose those sales, but I am also stuck with more books than I need because Marvel cannibalized those sales. Do I start cutting my orders now as a preemptive strike? Probably.
2. Marvel has the largest percentage of the new comics sales in the industry right now. Cutting that country-wide will have a very negative effect. Stores that are just hanging on will close. And if this proves not to be the be all and end all of the comic future, there is no way to bring those stores back. Comic stores are not great money makers. No one does this to get rich. We do it because we love the products and the medium. Chasing those people away is a bad idea.
3. Does Marvel even have a plan? I don’t know. My biggest problem with this is that Marvel didn’t tell us. We learned about it the same way as everyone else. No press release to stores. No mention even on the Marvel Retailer Resource Center, that I have to pay for to get Marvel information. I have a question on the retailer forum there as to how soon they expect to got full-line digital. I am very interested in how it is answered.
4. The iPad has only been out for 2 months. That really is not enough time for Marvel to have been able to really see how their digital download system is working. Its still so new and a fad. I was interested in seeing how it was going in month 6. To see if it was really viable for comic reading. My fear is that Marvel is jumping too fast and doijg irreparable harm to the industry with out getting the necessary data first. Kind of like they did in the 90s with heroes World. That didn’t work out too well for everyone (Marvel went into bankruptcy after that I recall, Diamond became a monopoly). Its disappointing to see them making the same kind of leap again.
Digital distribution has been hanging over our heads for a while now. No one knows what impact it will have. Same day distribution cannot be a good thing for us. I can’t compete with cheaper. Marvel sets the price on the books and I get a discount off that price. It has already be shown that the iPad has a built in mechanism to allow the copying and distribution of files online, so not only will I lose sales, but the pirates are now going to have nice digital files rather than scans to get. I get the impression that Marvel is expecting to get a large percentage of illegal downloaders to now suddenly pay for them. Good luck with that, guys.

And while this may be well and good for Marvel, I think it will really be bad for the industry as a whole. I bet that everybody has bought something they did not expect either through a recommendation or just by seeing something in the store and flipping through it. Now imagine looking at hundreds of covers on and iPad and trying to determine what is good. I also think that trades will suffer a huge hit with fewer comic book stores. Go look at the selection in a book store. They don’t carry 1/10th of what I have here in the store. Amazon? Great if you know what you are looking for. But not so good for browsing.

It is going to be a very interesting summer for comics. I will be glued to the news wires, since that seems to be the only place I can find out what is going on.

Comments

2010-04-13T10:15:00.002-04:00

No, I haven't been deleting comments I don't agree with. I have been getting a ton of spam comments lately. So just now I changed the setting to only allow registered users to comment. I am sorry if this in any way keeps you from commenting. I am just tired of having to delete spam comments every day.

Cancellations

2010-04-08T18:38:00.001-04:00

Every week, I get a list of orders that are cancelled. Many are due to late shipping, some are cancelled by the publishers. Most are backorders I place that do not fill. I am including this weeks because it demonstrates one of my biggest problems with publishers. Now, most of these are Image books. And most of these will probably be resolicited at some time. Maybe. I don’t know. All I know right now is that my orders are cancelled on all of these books.

APR082168 AMERICA JR TP VOL 02 (C: 0-1-2) 9.9900

JUN082241 TELLOS COLOSSAL HC VOL 02 (C: 0-1-2) 39.9900

JUL082174 YOUNGBLOOD BLOODSPORT #2 (RES) 2.9900

JUL082178 YOUNGBLOOD BLOODSPORT #1 DIRECTORS CUT 3.9900

JUL082198 GEMINI #5 (OF 5) 3.5000

AUG082274 M-THEORY #2 (OF 3) 3.5000

SEP082230 AMAZING JOY BUZZARDS GN VOL 02 MONSTER LOVE 19.9900

SEP082266 M-THEORY #3 (OF 3) 3.5000

OCT082288 FIREBREATHER SERIES #5 3.5000

OCT082296 PERHAPANAUTS #7 3.5000

NOV082251 WONDERLOST TP 14.9900

NOV082256 FIREBREATHER SERIES #6 (RES) 2.9900

NOV082264 JACK STAFF #21 (RES) 3.5000

DEC082240 DISPLACED PERSONS GN (RES) (C: 0-1-2) 19.9900

DEC082278 KITE DAY HC 9.9900

JAN092376 GOLLY TP VOL 01 CATCHING HELL (MR) 14.9900

JAN092394 FIREBREATHER SERIES #7 (RES) (NOTE PRICE) 3.5000

JAN092395 GOLLY #6 (MR) 3.5000

FEB092385 SMASH (ONE SHOT) 3.9900

FEB092392 MOBY DICK HC 12.9900

FEB092401 DAWN TP VOL 02 RETURN O/T GODDESS (NEW PTG)14.9900

MAR092409 ARMAGEDDON NOW JADA (ONE SHOT) 3.9900

MAR092426 DAWN TP VOL 03 THREE TIERS 16.9900

MAR092454 LUCHA LIBRE #7 6.9900

MAY090298 ARMAGEDDON NOW THE BEAST #1 (OF 5) 3.9900

MAY090308 LIBERTY MEADOWS SUNDAY STRIPS HC VOL 01 29.9900

MAY090349 GUERILLAS #5 (OF 8) 5.9900

MAY090352 LUCHA LIBRE #8 6.9900

MAY090992 CURSED PIRATE GIRL #3 (OF 3) (C: 0-0-1) 4.9500

JUN090372 ARMAGEDDON NOW THE BEAST #2 (OF 5) 3.9900

JUN090375 BAD DOG #4 (MR) 2.9900

AUG090349 BOMB QUEEN VI #2 (OF 4) (MR) 3.5000

SEP090321 BOMB QUEEN VI #3 (OF 4) (MR) 3.5000

SEP090330 FOUR EYES #4 (RES) 3.5000

OCT090412 BOMB QUEEN VI #4 (OF 4) (MR) 3.5000

DEC090059 STAR WARS DARK TIMES TP VOL 04 BLUE HARVEST 7.9900

Now this very well just someone cleaning out old orders. It is a lot from one publisher at once. I left the order codes in to show how old the orders are. APR09 means it was in the April 2008 Previews catalog.

Now none of these were ordered in huge numbers. But it did take me time to read each solicit, look at my orders for previous issues, sales numbers for previous issues and decide how many to order. So a little bit of wasted time. But the ones that kill me are books like Gemini #5. I have people who bought 1-4. I know one customer who asks every once in a while where the last issue is. Well, I ordered it in June 2008. And we have been waiting since. There are others where I received just issue #1. I sold some and have some left. So, some customers may never find out how the story was to go and I have some books that are pretty worthless. So, when these creators wonder why the orders for their books are so low, its due to the fact that I don’t trust them to finish the series. Now, sadly, I can’t remember who they are. I don’t keep a list of creators who cancel their titles (maybe I should). But it makes me take a cautious look at every small title by people I don’t know. Some are ones I do. Liefeld, Faerber. Some had big buzz. Remember being at the Diamond Summit in Las Vegas in Oct 2008 and Joe Keatinge from Image telling me how much buzz he was getting on Guerillas. Well that’s great, but we only got half of the story. So what good is that buzz now?

So, what is my point with all of this? It’s to say to the creators, when you ask me to purchase issue #1, you are making a deal with me that you are going to finish the series. If it is 1 of 4, I expect you to put out all four issues in a reasonable amount of time. When you ship #1, you are also making a deal with the readers that, if they spend their money on #1, you will also make the rest of the issues available for them to buy if they like #1. Issues 1-5 of Golly shipped, but you are not going to finish it? That’s not fair to them. What recourse do they have? Not to even bother trying the next book that comes out. So, not only are you hurting yourself, but you are hurting your colleagues and people who haven’t even started yet. Yes, I understand that there are unforeseen circumstances. Real life gets in the way. But, once you start down the road of putting out a book, you need to finish it. That’s all I am really asking for here.

Clarification of a Point

2010-03-27T21:58:00.001-04:00

In my last post, I made a point about DC needing to cut the crap. I used some examples. I want to clarify this point a bit.

I did not mean to imply that the books I mentioned are crap. To be fair, I have not read some of them (Magog and Azrael). DC did not do a good enough job to convince me that I needed to read them. I have enjoyed Great Ten, but I don't really see the need for this book.

Here is what I want to see:
- If you are doing a mini-series on a character, make it the best story about that character ever. Make it a story that I can sell as a trade for years. Stop the random mini-series that tie into some big overarching story that no one will care about in a year.

- If you are going to do a new ongoing series about an obscure character (Web or Shield) there has to be a publicity blitz. Everybody reading a DC comics for the weeks leading up to it need to see an in-house ad telling them why they have to read this book. If you can't, don't put the book out.

- Keep your books important. I stopped reading Justice League when it was Vixen and Company. That's not the Justice League, and I don't think I was alone in stopping reading. Lets get back to books needing only to be relevant to themselves. Tell some great Titans storylines, without anything crossing to any other book.

- I want people to come in and ask if I had read a certain book because it so excited them and they want to talk about it. I've been getting that with Blackest Night and Green Lantern, but not with anything else. In a long time.

- Find a way to get new readers into your books. Why should I read this book? Why should I jump on board? Make some buzz. Get the internet talking about it.

- Keep what you have worked so hard to get. Green Lantern has doubled for me with the Blackest Night story. Now keep them. Batman and its family of titles have grown with Reborn. Keep them. As soon as you hit a stinker of a story, they will find a reason to walk away. Keep them relevant.

- While I understand the desire to spin off from other titles, be careful not to cannibalize you audience. Putting out books like Justice League Lost Generation is that it is really only targeted at your core DC audience. It doesn't look like something I can switch a newly won over Green Lantern fan onto. Give me more books that I can. Give me more books that you don't need 15 years of DC knowledge to enjoy.

They cannot become #1 by getting the DC fans to simply buy more. They need to get more readers buying more. When I was growing up, I read Avengers AND Justice League. I read Uncanny X-Men AND New Teen Titans. Now, my Justice League sales are half my New Avengers. My Teen Titans are 1/4 of my Uncanny X-Men. That is what they need to change. Build it and they will come. Put out books that they cannot NOT buy. They have the characters. Write the stories!

Things I'd love to see from all companies:
- Thought balloons. That is one of the things that made comics unique. You could see a characters actions, but you also knew what they were thinking. The Beat had something about Stephen King wanting to use thought balloons in American Vampire and was told that they weren't used anymore. I think that is a big mistake. I truly think that there are two reasons for the disappearance of thought balloons:
1. Decompression of comics. When a story was told in one issue, the writer had to maximize each page. A well-placed thought balloon could go a long way to moving the story along. Nowadays they can use 4 pages of non-dialogued action to show it.
2. The Hollywood factor. Comics now look like storyboards for comics and if you can't see it, it doesn't happen in a movie.

- Better house ads. When was the last time you saw a house ad and it reminded you to grab a book? Its been a while. Or a page promoting all of the books shipping the next week? Somebody call Stan Lee and ask him how to promote a new book. You could all use the help.

- Better covers - When was the last time you bought I book you had no intention of buying solely because of the cover? This weeks Power Girl was the first book in a while I have flipped through solely because of the cover. Enough of the pin-ups. It is the best sales tool each book has, but companies are ignoring them. The last Irredeemable had a guy sitting in a chair. 1, that didn't even happen in the book and 2, who would pick it up because of that? If there is nothing in the book that is exciting enough to put on the cover to grab a shoppers eye, you need to rethink your strategy. I am sitting here thinking of classic covers and very few are pin-ups. The issue before last of Uncanny X-Men had Magneto meditating. Ooooh. Gotta read that! But there was an Iron Man a bit ago with Ghost coming through him on the cover that would make you want to see what happened.

- A Plain English Retailer Version of Previews - It would be much easier for me to order if I could get the info without the hyperbole. Ie, Captain America #605 - Cap and Falcon continue their search for bad guys, Part 5 of 6. The Previews solicits are now written for consumers and I have to read between the lines to get what I need. And when I have to do that I am going to miss stuff, like that stupid Deadpool Rank and Foul book that shipped this week. Just say Deadpool Handbook.

OK, that's enough for today.

DC Wants to be the #1 Publisher

2010-03-25T21:35:00.005-04:00

So, one of the news bits coming from the ComicPRO meeting in Memphis is that DC wants to be #1 in the Direct Market. First some explanation. ComicsPRO is a group of Comic retailers who have gotten group together as a means of speaking to publishers, distributors, et al with a united voice, rather than 3000 individual voices. And some publishers have decided to listen. Which is a good thing. Sadly Marvel has not, which is a problem, but also a great opportunity for DC. More on this in a bit. I did not go because I couldn't really figure out a way to be closed Weds-Fri and survive. Maybe next year.

As of February, Marvel led DC in Unit sales 45% to 34% and dollar sales 41% to 31%. Now part of the dollar figure can be based on more Marvel books being $4, but that is just conjecture on my part. The more DC gains, there will be some erosion of Marvel, presumably, DC need less than a 10% swing. How they go about this will be interesting to see.

Over at Bleeding Cool, Rich Johnston suggests DC is going to expand their line, greenlighting more projects than usual. This is scary, because I only have so much room for titles. Seeing one publisher flooding the shelves in an effort to push other books off is a scary thought. Comic shops like me buy the books on a non-returnable basis. We generally have very little to go on when ordering, especially with new titles. Action Comics has a track record and barring a major shake-up, I have a general idea of how many copies of each issue I will sell. New titles are a total guess. And if what Rich Johnston hints at says is true, there may be a lot of titles by unknown talent that will be a total guess. Now, having it coming from DC rather than Left Foot Comics is a little better, unless they are advertising and promoting each one, they are going to die on the shelves. My shelves. Books I paid good money for. I gamble on a lot of books every month, but the thought of a publisher intentionally flooding my shelves is scary. The fact that returnability is mentioned is intriguing if they are going to offer returnability with all of these new books, but I haven't read that yet, Just read it into what is being said.

Another problem is how much can my customers support. Generally, a customer drops a book they haven't been enjoying to try a new one. I know they don't have infinite money to add books. They can spend X amount. Throwing too much out there will result in stagnation. "I can't try them all so I will pass on them all." I don't know, but its scary.

When I first heard DC wanted to be #1, I started thinking about what they can do. What has worked lately. Well, Green Lantern has been a fantastic sales story for, what, 2 years now? Now, it was a well thought-out and executed series. Some stuff has been a little much, crossing over through all of the books, but the ring promotion was a great success for me. Do I want to see every lone go through something this expansive? No. Here is what I would like to see:

1. Core Characters - These are the bread and butter for publishers. Spider-Man, Captain America, Batman, Superman. From these, everything else grows. DC needs to shore up their core characters. For the last year, Superman was not in Superman. Not good. Its very hard to get that new or returning reader into the book. "Where is Superman?" and after you spend 10 minutes talking about New Krypton and Mon-El, their eyes glaze over and they move on to something else. The Batman change has been very well received here in my store, with all new titles doing very well. Better than all of the Superman line. But it is still a problem for new readers. "This is Batman, but its really Nightwing who used to be Robin." "Is Spider-Man still Spider-Man? I'll get that instead."

2. Too much crap - There is too much crap out there to wade through for most people, so they ignore it. It would be different if the stories were brilliant or cutting edge, but they haven't been. Was there really a pressing need for a spin-off character from a team book (Magog) or a new character with an old name from, what 20 years ago? (Azrael). Or a spin-off from a low selling spin-off (Nemesis). Or a spin-off from a 3+ year old story (Great Ten). Someone needs to tell me why I should order these books. Why will my customers be interested in them. I would love to get a little retailer insert for Previews for all of the new titles. Oni Press does it in their listing (Will appeal to...). I need it for many of these.

Lets have some fun. I just pulled out the current Previews. Lets look at DC's new offerings:
Brightest Day - No idea how these will sell, but DC is making them returnable, so I will guess a little higher than I may have.
Justice League: Generation Lost - Tying into Justice League International from the 90s. Why do I need this? Considering Justice League has lost about half its readers since it restarted, what is going to make this special.
Birds of Prey - OK, Gail Simone back on the title she is best known for. Good. I have known demand for this.
Flash - Good, about time. Just make it special.
Titans: Villains for Hire Special - New team, new direction. Trying to spur interest in this? Will sell less than regular series, so why not just make it part of the regular series and promote that?
DC Universe Legacies - Old guys telling old stories. Why is this special?
Batman: Return of Bruce Wayne - OK. Batman is doing well. This will do well. hopefully it will finally explain what happened to him because the "Omega Beam" answer wasn't doing it for most people.
Superman War of the Supermen - Big Free Comic Book Day intro. This will do well. Only a 4 parter. Good. People will stay for 4. Not so much for 12. Even better, its weekly.
Mighty Crusaders Special - Please just let this bad idea die.
Legion of Super-Heroes - Paul Levitz. Good good good. Known audience and may regain more.
Doc Savage - Old character, but great creative team and lots of buzz. Good.
Spirit - Last series tanked bad. may get some buzz, but with creative changes already taking place before it starts, I have little hope this will fly.
Zatanna - Really? Good creative team, but is there really a lot of demand for Zatanna. My hope is that they have a brilliant idea for the first arc that will make every reviewer scream that this is a must read. That's about the only way this will do well.

Now, what I'd like is a one page promo from DC about why I should order these. What is it going to be about, not "Things will never be the same!!!" Tell me the truth. Help me help you.

3. Less Editorial Edicts - What I mean by this is less crossovers. Less tying issues into other stories. Wonder Woman died an early death because I don't think the writers were able to tell their stories. Everything had to fit into something else (Amazons Attack). Let the writers tell the stories they want. Things get too herky jerky. Was Adventure supposed to cross into Blackest Night when it was pitched, or did that just happen? Let the stories flow. Let the writers find their way. I was reading a review of Starman saying how it took Robinson a while to find his voice with it. How would it have worked if he had to crossover into other storylines once a year. Let the writers write.

4. Don't Give Up Editorial Control - Books need to be on time. And each book has to be good. No space fillers. And I really wish there was a tighter gauntlet for getting books done, not a looser one. Why did we need a Red Tornado mini-series? Why did we need Black Lightning Year One? Sell me on the book. Don't just put it out there.

5. Wildstorm - No idea, but something has to happen with this. Or let it go for a year and then bring it back. Take a year to figure out what you want to do with the titles. The relaunch was so badly botched. And the Authority: The Lost year? Did anyone really think this was going to pull big numbers? Pick some writers and artists and have a conference, like Marvel does. If you come at me with a plan, I'll push it. Just throwing stuff out there is not working.

6. Creative Continuity - Changing writers and artists willy nilly does not help readers get comfortable with a title. Titans started strong, but has floundered down to Teen Titans levels.

Now, I like the people at DC. I like the effort they give to getting me promo material, overprinting books so I can get more when it is hot. They have the best trade paperback backlist out there. If they can make me care about their characters and want to read stories about them, they should have no trouble being top dog.

I am not a creative guy. I couldn't write my way out of a bag and a stick figure is the extent of my abilities. But, I know what I like to read. And right now, DC is a little staid and boring. Other than Blackest Night, there is no DC buzz. Lots of Marvel, IDW, Boom buzz. But other than BN, there is no DC buzz. If they can fix that, they may be able to do it.

Snow, Snow Everywhere

2010-02-08T09:47:00.002-05:00

I didn't open Saturday. 20 inches of snow overnight. I didn't finish getting the driveway shoveled until 1:00pm (and I started at 7:00am). Plus the township issued a State of Emergency. Sunday was really light. Closed today. And more snow coming tomorrow. Couple that with a very light week of new releases and this week is looking like a bust.

Gah. I know that February is traditionally a slow month for comics sales. The publishers certainly arent' helping in that respect. We got Siege last week, but no other tie-in books (don't get me started on Embedded). No Blackest Night or Green Lantern books. And nothing coming out this week either. Why are the publishers back-loading the months lately? January was like this as well. I just don't get it. There are 4 weeks in a month. There is really no excuse to ship all of you main books in the last 2 weeks.

Or, if they are going to make a habit of this, and I was a small press publisher, I'd make sure my stuff came out the 1st two weeks of a month. People would be 50% more likely to at least see your book. With no Avengers, X-titles, Justice titles or Green Lantern titles shipping, people are looking for things to read.

OK, enough complaining. Time for me to concentrate on selling things other than new comics.

2009 Sales Breakdown

2010-01-12T13:36:00.005-05:00

I found this interesting, so I thought I'd share.

Apparel .33%
Back Issues 2.99%
Card Games 3.04%
Games 3.65%
Graphic Novels 24.23%
Magazines (& Lead Figures) 3.36%
Miscellaneous 1.72%
New Comics 47.97%
Posters .04%
Supplies 1.76%
Toys & Statues 11.14%

A few clarifications.
Sadly, the system groups Toys and Statues together. I would like to see those separate. Maybe something to work on for 2010.
The lead figures are classified as Magazines and that is the bulk of that category. I don't sell that many Wizards.

So, my quick analysis-
- I sell more lead figures than I do back issues. The new side should change that, or I am going to have to seriously rethink back issues.
- For as much as people are screaming that comics are dead and trades are the way to go, comics outsell trades 2:1 here. I am happy with both of those numbers though.
- For the new side to really start paying for itself, I need to get games and cards both up to 5% and back issues up to 10%. in store gaming and the new back issue racks should help that.

Now these are only for March-Dec because that's when I got the new POS system.

Top Selling Comics
1. Blackest Night #1
2. Blackest Night #2
3. Green Lantern #43
4. Green Lantern #44
5. Captain America Reborn #1
6. Blackest Night #3
7. Blackest Night #5
8. Blackest night #4
9. Batman & Robin #1
10. Green Lantern #45

Top Selling Graphic Novels
1. Boys TP Vol 4
2. Boys TP Vol 2
3. Boys TP Vol 1
4. Boys TP Vol 3 (Yes, I feel shame for pushing these so hard)
5. Walking Dead TP Vol 10
6. Watchmen TP
7. Mini Marvels TP Secret Invasion Digest
8. Pride & Prejudice & Zombies
9. Walking Dead TP Vol 9
10. Joker HC
(tie) 10. Wolverine Origin TP New Printing

For fun, Top Selling Lead Figures
1. Green Lantern
2. Robin
3. Batman
4. Flash
5. Deadpool
6. Wonder Woman
7. Superman
8. Hawkman
9. Green Arrow
10. Catwoman

New Years Resolutions 2010

2010-01-02T11:31:00.003-05:00

Aside from my standard "Lose 30 pounds", I figured I would make some for the store this year. Since I can no longer use "I am out of room, where could I put it?" as an excuse anymore, I figured it may be cathartic to actually write them down and in a place where I, and everyone else, can see if I am accomplishing them. So here it goes:

1. Get more organized
While I have always blamed this on space issues, it is really more of a "me" problem. I am not and organized person, and it kind of shows in the store. Things are usually where they should be, or close, but my space is a mess. If I can focus on this, I see lots of things improving. And this has a lot of sub-categories:

a) Get inventory in computer correct once and for all. It is mostly correct since I started using it in March 2009, but it does not have all of the inventory in the store prior to then. I have been adding it piecemeal since then, but it is still not correct and I know that is hurting me by not having the product on hand.
b) Get back issues organized. If I get this done, the new side will start paying for itself. It was strictly a space issue before (Why spend lots of time organizing and pricing stuff when i had no place to put it.) It is a huge time sink though, and that has been keeping me from really jumping into it. Plus you can only look at so many boxes of early 90s Image stuff before your eyes glaze over.
c) Better organized overstock will let me be able to keep the racks thinner and not falling over, while still having easy access to those books.

2. Get Online
Yes, I know I am there, but I need to do it better. I need to do this more often. I need to do more with the website than just print shipping lists. Facebook, Twitter. Ebay. Again it is more of a time issue than a lack of desire. I will work on it

3. Read more comics.
What? Don't I read enough already? No, not really. I need to read more of the oddball stuff, so I can promote it. I still need to read the biggies so I know what is going on, but I need to read more. A lot more. I can't remember the last Superman family book I read. And that is not good. If you can't ask me about a certain book, who can you ask?

4. More promotions
Now, I don't mean more sales. Who doesn't love a sale? The bank. I have lots of ideas, but I generally run out of time. I need to take one of these fancy Marvel calendars and mark it up. These 3 weeks, I will promote X. Then I will do Y. It will make things more interesting for the customers and will help me move product around, get more books in front of people. It worked well when I did Brian Wood month. I really need to do this more.

Well, that's all I have for now. If I can master those in the next 12 months, I think things will take a pronounced surge in the right direction.

Skip Week

2009-12-21T12:40:00.003-05:00

I have to admit that I am kind of looking forward to a week without new books. There is a lot of work getting ready for the new shipment, from updating pull lists to moving the shelves to make new spaces for new titles and moving the new tags. Now, it is mostly routine for me now. Tuesday at 4pm, make the holes and move the shelves. 6pm start moving the new tags. But it is still a good bit of work that I have been doing every week for, gah! 165 straight weeks. So a week off is a bit of a break. Oh and the chaos that is New Comic Day. A week off of that will be nice too. I will be nice just to have a big ale. And it gives everybody a chance to get caught up on their reading.

Now don't get me wrong; I need new books every week to stay afloat. As of Saturday morning, over half of my sales for December were new comics. This is a trend the past few months. For the longest time New Comics were in the 40-45% range.

New comics are probably the hardest part of my business. Ordering correctly is a bit of a bear. Anticipating drop-offs or growth. Figuring out which new books are going to be hits and which are stinkers. I am doing the December order right now and it tough as well because for some DC books, the most recent data I have is for Blackest Night tie-ins. Will they sell at their higher level because of the cross-over or will they drop back down to their prior level? Or will it be somewhere in between. I guess somewhere in between and hope I'm not too far off. And Marvel now has all of the Siege tie-in issues. How much will this affect books like New Avengers and Thor? I'm sure there are some "Event" people who will pick them up because of Siege, but how many. They are (or were in the case of Thor. How do you NOT expect a drop-off when you title an issue Giant-Sized Finale? Kind of like yelling "Everybody Off!!!")

It is fun to read the comments on The Beat's Sales Chart analysis and see people commenting about retailers don't know how to order and that is the reason for the large drops in titles sales. I always laugh and want to reply, but I know it would be screaming into the wind. There are 2 Black Widow mini-series out right now. Exactly what sales data should I use in figuring out how to order them? I took a wild guess. Then you have the fun where one sells well and the other not at all. How do you plan for that?

Well, this went off on a bit of a tangent. All in all, next week should be a little more low key for me and I am looking forward to it.

Stress

2009-12-02T12:53:00.002-05:00

I am ready and prepared for the stress of the holidays. Do I have the right product in the store? Will people come? Even the family stress. Will she like it? Will it come in time? The stress I was not prepared for was the "Not Being in the Store" stress.

I have to go to my Sister-in-Law's wedding in Texas this weekend. I did everything I could to get out of it, but family harmony prevailed. The stress comes from the fact that it is 3 weeks before X-Mas and I will not be in the store to: 1) let customers know that their special orders have come in, 2) let people know that I have something they are looking for coming, 3) make recommendations that go along with what they are buying and 4) various other things that only I can do. I am not the be all and end of comic retailing, but in my store, I am the only one who knows what is going on. There is no way I could leave notes that would make any sense.

"This guy, who likes Buffy books, asked about the Buffy lead figures that came out. If he comes in, show it to him. No, I don't know his name, but I'd recognize him if he came in."

So, my fear is how much am I going to lose in sales by being gone this weekend? I fear that it is a lot, especially in the unquantifiable way. No one who will be working here will have access to the Diamond site to see if something is available (I'm not giving anyone access to my account. That could be very very bad).

It is such a crucial time of year. And no one understands my concerns.

Gah. Hopefully it will all be ok.

Publishers, Why Do You Hate Yourselves?

2009-10-28T04:22:00.003-04:00

This weeks shipment is a massive one. About double the number of titles shipping as usual. Now the months are usually heavy at the end. In order to not be late, the books must ship sometime during the calendar month, so the end of the month is normally heavier than the rest. This one just happens to be exceptionally heavy. The problem I have with this practice is that, while I can expect it, it really hurts the smaller titles.

Lets look at Marvel. Along with big books like X-Force, Hulk, Fantastic Four, New Avengers, Punisher and Secret Warriors, they are also shipping a bunch of their mid-level titles, like Nova, Incredible Hercules, Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers Initiative. And throw in 2 Dark Reign List one-shots (sure wouldn't want to space those out weekly...) 3 Wolverine books and the kick -off of the next X-Men storyline (X Necrosha). Plus 2 of the 3 Ultimate Comics titles. Then they think that the small titles like Spider-Man Clone Wars, Anti-Venom Models Inc and Marvel Holiday Spectacular will have a chance. Even the most devout Marvelite isn't going to be able to pick up all of their books this week. So what get dropped? Its easy to say people will just pick the books they can't this week during a slower week, but it doesn't work out that way. People will make a decision this week to stop getting certain books. Its going to be those books that they really aren't enjoying. Or that are in a storyline that they don't care about. Where they would normally keep getting it out of habit, Marvel has helped them make the decision to stop getting it. So, how does this help anyone involved? The head of Marvel sales, when confronted with this problem, continuously states that the schedule is set evenly, but some books get behind. Since it happens just about every month, you'd think they could adjust for that.

DC is no better, shipping both Blackest Night and Green Lantern the same week. The main story is going through 3 books. There is really no reason for 2 of them to come out the same week. Plus we are getting Detective, Batman and Superman all the same week. I remember back when I was getting ready to open and DC would schedule Superman, Action, Detective and Batman for separate weeks. 3 in one week is crazy. Space them out over the month, please.

The other thing that frustrates me from all of the publishers is late books. The last issue of Kick Ass was so late that people have given up. I sold 17 less copies of #7 than I did of #6. How can I plan for that? Had the book shipped on a regular schedule, that wouldn't have happened. And to make things more fun, Marvel has manipulated the system so that these books are not technically late, so I don't have the ability to return unsold books. DC, while playing with the same system, still makes late books returnable.

But late books really hurt the small publishers. I realize that they need the money and have to get the books out as soon as they are done, but I really wish that they would have all of the issues of a small series done before starting to ship. And this isn't necessarily just small guys. Image is notorious for late stuff. Bad Dog was at least 6 months late. I have no idea where Four Eyes is, but I doubt anyone that was reading it will care when the next issue comes out.

My only real requirement for telling if a book is good is "Do I want to read the next one?" Unfortunately, out of sight out of mind. I might be loving a book, but if I forget about it, I am less likely to grab the next issue when it comes out. And if it were to come out on a week like this one, it really wouldn't stand a chance. "Do I want to get the next (insert big event tie-in) or get this book that I think I liked but its been so long I really don't remember what is going on in it?" So they kill their own sales and wonder why the market won't support them. And for every small company title that gets abandoned and never finished, the entire industry loses the trust of a customer and store in ordering small company stuff. That is wasted time and money for all involved.

So, please, don't ship all of you books at once. And if you can't hit some sort of schedule, please wait until you have most of the work done before sending it out.

Your readers and buyers will thank you.

Buying Comics

2009-10-19T17:05:00.005-04:00

While my main goal is to sell comics, another part of my business is buying comics. And I buy a lot of them. Many are attic finds, or from the basement of a relative. Many are just thinning a collection. Far too many are people looking to cash out of their vast fortune of early Image and late Valiant comics. "But I have 6 copies of Spawn #1?" To which I answer "And if I buy these I will now have 258." But lately I have gotten some very nice collections. And it is reassuring. For all the crap I have taken in, it is nice to finally get some stuff I can put up on the wall. And with the recent expansion, it is also nice to have a place to put these books out for sale.

So, here is a quick lesson on how I buy books. One of my favorite questions I get on the phone is what percentage of book do I pay. Not all books are created equal. In the card (sports and non-sports) there are many card that are just called commons. Nothing exciting and minimal value. Most comics fall into this category. While the price guide my list these at cover price or a little above, that is more a factor of the guide not wanting to show that a comic is ever worth less than cover price. At worst, it will say "Cover price or less". But, sadly, during the overproduction (and poor quality) of books in the early 90's to early 2000s, many books can easily be found in Quarter or Dollar boxes. For these books, I typically pay $20 a longbox and hope I can turn them at a quarter each. While I may profit on them, the goal is more to make them go away. It puts books into peoples hands, but not a real profit maker.

Getting back to the "What percentage of book to I pay?" question, even if you have great books, I don't think you'll like the answer. I am buying books at wholesale and hoping to sell them for a profit. At some time. Maybe tomorrow, maybe next year, maybe in ten years. Asking me to pay you $20 for a book that guides at $40 isn't going to happen. I sell most of my back issues when they are on sale. So buying a book for $20 that I am more likely than not to sell for $20 doesn't make a whole lot of sense. And if it doesn't sell for several years, I am really out. So unless it is a book I know I can sell right away, my offer is going to be less. I just took in a nice collection of Thor, but it may take me 10 years to sell all of those books, so my offer was much less than book value.

This all brings me to a situation that happened this week. I bought a large (19 box) collection of books that ranged from commons (a lot of them) to really really nice books. My problem was this. The commons aren't worth a lot. The really nice books may be too nice in that they are very valuable, but because of that I don't know when or if I will be able to sell them. And all of those concerns were factored into the buying decision.

Now is it all as easy as this. No. Each case is different. but the overriding thing that I have learned is that I am not going to pay too much for books. If the customer takes my offer, great. If not, oh well. Most people that refuse my offer are for books that I didn't want in the first place. If you really want good money for your books, sell them yourself. Put them on eBay or get a table at a flea market. I'm not here to help you get rich off of your books. I am buying them in the hopes of being able to resell them. Given that back issues are a very small part of my business, I am not going to overpay for anything. It just doesn't make sense.

And Away We Go!!!

2009-10-19T17:02:00.002-04:00

Dear Brave Followers and people who have stumbled across this,

Since the beginning, my goal was to have a daily blog. How hard could it be, really? Something interesting or exciting had to happen daily. Right?

Well, maybe not. But I am sure that I can put something up here every day. At least more often than my semi-monthly dispersals of info.

So check back every couple days. Hopefully I will have put something up.

Almost Done

2009-09-28T09:46:00.005-04:00

The "Mom/Girlfriend Waiting Area"
The big hole
Back of the old side
View from the counter
Much more open now.
From the back towards the front
The small opening in the back, into the new side
From the new side looking into the old side

I just took these Saturday. I will post more when everything is neat and tidy.

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

2009-09-11T00:38:00.002-04:00

Well, there certainly have been a lot of changes going on in the comic world in the last week. Disney bought Marvel Comics. DC Comics corporate owner, Warner Brothers, decided that they needed to shake things up, make the properties more marketable and in the process their publisher, Paul Levitz left.

What does this all mean for comics? I don't know. And that scares me. I just signed a new 5 year lease for my expanded store. Will anything on comics be the same in 5 years. I don't know. They are the same as they were 3 years ago when I started. But, now? I don't know where they are going.

It has always been comics people in charge. But now its movie people in charge. Will it be for the better? Maybe. Maybe we need to shake things up. A lot of things do seem to comfortable. The end of every storyline always seems to be the beginning of something else rather than giving closure to the story. Maybe that will change.

I would love to see more stories about the story, rather than just continuing a story forever. Read Incredible Hulk 601 and tell me you would have any idea what was going on without reading the last couple of years of books. I love Daredevil dearly, but I don't even know where to tell someone to start reading. A customer came in asking about Superman. How do I help them make headway of that one? While I don't think they need to be dumbed down, making them more accessible would be great. How about some one-shots or two-parters? How about and Avengers book with actual Avengers in it. Or a Justice League with a regular Justice Leaguer?

This is my frustrating part about comics. I love them and I love selling them. But they don't make it easy to bring more people in. Selling trades of older stuff is great, but the new books are getting tough. And here is where the movie people come in.

Iron Man - Movie did great, in comics he was the most hated man in comics. Now, I will give them major props for starting the new book at the same time.
Batman - Movie did great, customers coming in were in the middle of the RIP storyine.
Green Lantern DVD - Not the best of time to try to jump in on Green Lantern.
Wolverine - Lots of interest, but in the middle of the Old Man Logan never-ending saga. Starting the new book at the same time was good, but not great, as there are already too many Wolverine books.
Maybe the movie people will help coordinate accessible comics when there is a movie coming.

But on the other hand, it is fun putting out the Whiteout book, so people see the new movie was a comic first. Same with Surrogates.

The thing that lead me to write this was on a comic retailer site, a comic news reporter was surprised that there was not much discussion about the DC shakeup. There had been a lot of commentary about the Disney/Marvel deal. What I wanted to say was this:

"The Marvel thing was a left hook to the body. Didn't see it coming. It could be good or bad. But even if it was bad, we could roll with it. DC is strong and steady. The DC thing was the right cross to the jaw. Didn't see it coming. It could be good or bad. But even if it was bad, we could roll with it. Except that Marvel is not the partner that DC is (or was). Paul Levitz was always concerned about us, the direct market. Marvel seems to see us as a necessary evil to get their books in the hands of their customers. We no longer have a rudder in DC. If both companies do things that are not in our (comic book stores) best interest, we could be gone. The basic business of comic retailing is the same as it was 3 years ago when I opened. I just signed a new five year lease. It's scary not knowing what things are going to be like in 6 months. Or a year. Or two years. Let alone 5 years. I'm not talking about storylines, I mean actual business. Will both of these parent companies decide to get rid of comics? Will they accidentally make decision (Heroes World) that will have major unexpected consequences on my ability to do business. What if Disney stores become the only outlet for Marvel Comics? And Warner Brothers follows suit? I can think of dozens of bad things. But not many good ones. I think most retailers are just sitting here hoping for the best."

So right now, I will go to the store and do the best job I can to make my business as strong as I can. maybe now would be a good time to get more into the gaming business....

Expansion!!!

2009-09-05T16:55:00.003-04:00

Wow, I haven't done this in a while and there is a lot to say.

After getting the news of the rent increase, I started looking around. I missed out on one spot that would have been really good. Too good, so I knew I was too late. Then I kept looking all around the area. Nothing was as cheap as what I am paying now, even with the rent increase. My neighbor was already on the fence about renewing, so with the increase, she decided to move. This lead to an opportunity for me, to take over her space as well.

They broke through the wall today. They are making a 6 foot opening and a 3 foot opening between the 2 stores. This was limited because they had to put a beam up to support the ceiling. But it is just as well, because I need as much wall space as I can get. I don't know exactly what I am putting where on the other side, mostly because I didn't know exactly where the holes were going to be. There is a big difference between what I can fit in 5 feet of space and 6 feet.

Here is a picture of my new hole.

The store is a disaster right now because of having to move things quickly to make space for the hole (right in the middle of my new comic wall.

Here are the rest of the pictures of the work in progress.

I will post more pictures as soon as I can figure out how to format them better

Rent, Leases & Landlords

2009-07-06T08:58:00.002-04:00

Lots going on, mind swirling, emotions in full rage and stomach flip-flopping.

My lease is up the end of August. For the last few months, I have been including a note with my rent, asking to talk about renewing my lease. So, it really wasn't a mystery that I wanted to stay. I thought that would be appreciated by my landlord, especially in this economy. I can't imagine that there are that many people looking to open new businesses right now.

So, when I get home Wednesday, there is a package in my mailbox from an attorney. "What did I do?", I wondered. Well, I opened it up to find a cover letter about signing and returning my new lease. As I look it over I see my base rent is going up $1 a sq ft. Not unexpected. But wait. Base rent? I was just paying rent. So I keep reading. They are now adding a "Common Area Maintenance and Taxes Fee" to my rent. And adding this to the increase in my base rent increases my total rent by 50% over what I have been paying. That is quite a hike, in my (and every one of my customers that I have told about this's) opinion.

I understand the concept of Common Area Maintenance fee. But this is not a shopping center. It is three stores in one building. About 4000 sq feet total. There are about 10 parking spaces and a little strip of grass. I don't understand what maintaining this area could be. For the first 2 years, she had someone weedwack the weeds every couple of months. There is usually a large hole in the middle of the parking lot that people have to drive around. The hole has been filled for a bit and they have actually been cutting the grass every other week or so since the spring. But I am not paying thousands of dollars for that. Property taxes are there problem. That is what I am paying rent for. For them to pay the mortgage and taxes on the building. Why make me pay for their property taxes AND also pay more in rent. That's like getting the best of both worlds. "We don't have to pay taxes or maintenance anymore. Lets raise their base rent to so we can make even more profit."

So, after not sleeping all night, I give them a call when I get to the store. Lo and behold, they are on vacation until today. Seriously, you drop a bomb like this on your tenants and then are unavailable? Not cool. If anything could have made me more angry, that was it.

Wednesday night I had emailed some of the big commercial places that had spaces available. I know that most are out of my price range, but you never know. Many have been open for a long time. On the way into the store Thursday, I drove around the area writing down numbers of available properties. I planned on using my typically slow Thursday morning to call around and maybe go see some when my help arrived. There was a specific place I new about. A boring 1500 sq ft rectangle, but not a bad location. In the building next door there was a 3000 sq ft space available. Way more than I could ever afford, but I wrote the number down anyway. "What the heck, it couldn't hurt to call, right?" I called both the numbers and arranged to see both places around 4:00. Luckily, the day was much busier than a normal Thursday. I talked with my customers about the potential move somewhere. Everyone was shocked by the 50% rent increase.

So, I finally sneak out of the store to go see the 2 places. Both are on a main road here. My current place is 1 block off the main road, but on a still busy road and right across from an entrance to a big shopping center. I am peering through the windows at the 3000 sq ft place. Hmmm, lots of windows and doorways. Not good for me. I need lots of walls for comic racks and bookshelves. There is also a big wall with what were changing areas for the dress store that used to be here. It looked like a lot of work to get it ready. And the fact that it is 3 times the space that I have now. I can't afford to triple my rent, and being on the main road, the rent per sq ft would probably be even more than I am paying now, so it is probabaly way out of my price range. The landlord, gary, gets there and we go in. Well, its may not be too many windows because there are a bunch of mirrors I thought were windows. The dressing area could easily come down. Not structural. There are a couple of extra rooms that I don't need, but may be able to do something with. OK, this could work. But how much? While it is more than doubling what I am paying now, it is only $900 more than what I will be paying under my new lease. $900 for better location and 3 times the space. That could work.

I leave and go look at the other place. A 1500 sq ft rectangle. I really don't like the space and the price is way too high for what it is. Only $250 less than the 3000 ft place. So my wife is out and about with the kids. She wants to see the big place. So we go look. I brainstorm some ideas about what I would put where. We both like it, but we are worried about the increased rent. I am comfortable with what I am paying now. More than doubling that is scary. Will I do enough extra business in the new place to cover that increase? I don't know, but at least I was able to sleep.

After talking it over that night and morning, we agree to go for it. The space is too good to pass up. I am completely out of room where I am and I need the extra room. This is far more than I would have looked for, but it is too good to pass up. So, I call Gary and tell him I'll take it. He had mentioned before that he was waiting for a guy to sign a lease on it, but he was still getting his numbers together. He is planning on gutting it and putting $25,000 into it to remodel it. I will take it as is. He said he was giving the guy this weekend to get back to him. He called him Friday and his business was closed for the holiday.

So, I should find out today what is going on. He is telling this guy he needs to sign now because he has another another guy (me) who wants the place. What will this unknown guy do? I don't know. My fate is kind of in his hands. Gary wants to rent the place. Its been open for a while and he could use the income. So I don't think he'll let this guy play him for long. I hope not.

My tummy is all flip-floppy. I am excited about the prospect of taking care of my sudden rent problem quickly. I love the idea of more space. I am doing my best not to think about what I would do in the new space so I won't be too disappointed if the other guy signs. But I am also scared of the new rent amount. Its not like I have that extra amount just laying around at the end of each month. I am also concerned about what all will be required to actually move the store. A bit of a logistical nightmare. It has to be done all at once. Close Saturday at the old place, reopen Tuesday at the new place. Coordinating the phone and all that stuff. So I am excited and scared at the same time. Kind of like when I signed my first lease.

I am 90% sure I am not going to get it, that the other guy will sign and I will have to continue my search. I am a firm believer in fate and what was meant to be will be. If I don't get it, I wasn't meant to. I have been needing more space for the last year, but I was willing to resign at my current place for convenience. I am looking at this whole thing as fate's way of saying I need more space and its time to move. So it may or may not work for this space. Hopefully I will know something in the next few hours. Then I'll be able to eat.

The End of Another Great May

2009-06-01T08:42:00.002-04:00

Another May has come and gone, leaving in its wake my best month ever. You'd think that Christmas time would be my best time of year, but instead, its May. Last year, May became my best month ever. And I blew past that number this year. The only explanation I can come up with is people are getting their tax returns.

So thanks to everybody who helped me raise the bar. Now to keep it going all summer.

If you've been by the store lately, you've seen the changes I made on Tuesday. 3 more bookshelves (Thanks, Ikea!) and new display shelves for some of the statues. I think at this point, I am pretty tapped on on what I can do with my floor space. I do have one more idea, but it would result in losing all of my in store storage, so I am not really excited. But it may get there.

This summer is going to be a huge sidewalk sale for me. I need room, so I am going to be moving stuff out. I lost room for the toys, so I am blowing them all out - 1/2 price. As soon as most of them are gone, I will be bringing 24 boxes I have at home in the basement. I brought them home to sort and bag one weekend while my wife was away and I never got them back to the store. 24 boxes is the exact number that I can fit on the 2 8-ft tables outside. So I am going to bring them in and sell them all for a buck a piece. Lots of good stuff. I just don't have the room for them even if I price them.

This week I am getting in several hundred trades and hardcovers that are all going to be half off or more. If you are looking for some good summer reading, now is the time. How I am going to display them, I have no idea.

I am also going to be getting stuff up on eBay, so any out-of-towners can help thin my inventory as well.

So, I have a very full plate ahead of me this summer. But I can't complain, because it is all fun.

Back To Normal

2009-05-04T23:50:00.002-04:00

Well, Free Comic Book Day has passed once again. What a great and joyous experience! Lots of new faces. Lots of new kid faces. A great day of sales (possibly the 2nd best day ever). And a whole lot of fun.

I was lucky enough to have Dave Hawksworth, an outside sales rep for Diamond Comic Distributors in the store both Friday and Saturday. His primary job is to make sure we are aware of lots of good, award winning trades and other products. He also usually takes pictures of the store and does a little profile on the Diamond site for other retailers. He didn't take any photos on Friday and I think I impressed him by having all but one of the books he was promoting. I had sold the other one, but had not reordered it. I even sold him 2 books so he could promote them at other stores on his voyage.

Dave came back on Saturday to take pictures during the Free Comic Book Day festivities. Luckily he was there at about the busiest point of the day, with lots of kids in the store. I was waaaay too busy on the register to talk to him, but I could hear customers talking me and the store up to him, and I really appreciated it.

Dave gave me lots of compliments and heaped praise on me and the store and how I am running the store. Now I do see this 2 ways. 1st, I doubt he ever tells anyone they are doing a crappy job. But, 2nd, he sees a lot of stores in his travels. So he knows good and bad, and I really do think he thinks I am doing a good job.

I am not the biggest store in the area, either in sales volume or in store size. But I do try to carry a very diverse stock. It was nice to have almost all of the books he was recommending. Its also fun to surprise people by having the oddball books they are looking for.

So I guess I will keep doing what I am doing. Hopefully, I'll keep getting better at it. And thanks to everybody that came down this past weekend. And thinks to everybody that shows up every week or month. I couldn't do it without you.

Diamond and the Small Press Situation

2009-01-27T12:25:00.002-05:00

The more I think about the whole Diamond restructuring order minimums thing, the more I think it will help me in the long run. Instead of just blindly ordering from the publishers in the Diamond previews catalog, I am going to have to look on the web for more information about the different companies. I am already getting set up with a small press distributor and there is another that I need to look at more closely.

Now will it hurt these publishers, at least initially. Sure. They are going to lose a large chunk of the people who may order their books. But I know there a lot of stores that don’t even bother with back of the Previews stuff anyway. I love that stuff. It’s what makes me different from the grocery store.

The thought of having to keep track of multiple orders from multiple distributors at first seems like a big hassle, but hopefully it will end up making me more organized. (And hopefully my new POS system will do some of the work for me as well)

The funny part, for me, is that Diamond had this ginormous “monopoly”. (I don’t think it is legally a monopoly, under the true definition) There was literally no reason to get your books anywhere else. They had the big companies (Marvel, DC) and you could get all of the rest there. But recently, stores have been going through book distributors to get graphic novels that Diamond was spotty about keeping in stock. Or at a better discount than Diamond was offering. And I have recently had to go direct through the publishers to get some books that Diamond was not restocking, or stocking at all in the case of hack Slash. I am opening an account with Haven Distribution. They have some books in stock that I have had on back order with Diamond for a long time. Now, their list of publishers is pretty small right now, but I sure expect that to grow in the near future.

I realize that Diamond was losing money on some of these publishers. I just question the 70% jump from in publisher order requirements. Seems awful big all at once. But maybe this is the kick in the butt those publishers needed to make changes to improve themselves and the industry as a whole. Who knows, maybe this will even help the entire distribution chain in the long run.

It is definitely making for interesting times.

Perspective

2009-01-20T14:01:00.002-05:00

My wife found out yesterday that one of her friends from Chicago has suffered an unbelievable loss. One of her twins was murdered by a day care worker. Had his head slammed into the concrete floor, fracturing his skull. The one thing the report does not say is that the child is a twin. I just cannot imaging the loss or how you deal with this sort of thing.

It kind of puts the whole Obama Spidey controversy in perspective.

Looking at a New POS System

2009-01-07T05:36:00.002-05:00

My current POS system is just that, a Piece of Shit. Comtrac. Supposedly the industry leader in comic book store POS systems. Sadly, they were never able to get me what I ordered and paid for. They started me out on a DOS version while the Windows version was in beta testing. This was in 2006. Windows has been around for a few years before this, right? This should have been a sign, but I was young and didn't know better. So I limped along my first year and a half on the decrepit DOS version. Sadly, when DOS was out, I was using my Apple IIe, so I didn't know the fancy lingo to get it to do stuff. Like working without a mouse. How quaint.

But the promises of the new system doing what I expected and being right around the corner kept me going. Well, finally in December 2007 I got the Windows program and had it all installed and ready to go for January. And it worked OK in January. Lots of bugs and things that were quite annoying, but, hey, I finally had it.

Well, that was great until about 2 days into February, when it had a fatal error. Contacted the company and many downloads and patches later I was told, by the IT guy who was looking at my monitor that I could not be getting the error message that was coming up. I pointed out to him that it was right there, but since it couldn't be happening, there was nothing he could do.

So, I went back to the DOS version and have been limping along on 1982 technology since. The day I was told that the system I paid $2000 for won't work anymore, I signed up for Diamond Comic Distributor's fancy new POS program based on Microsoft RMS. This kind of made me happy only because Diamond is the main company that I deal with for product and Microsoft hopefully has support people who won't tell me that there is nothing they can do to help me. Everything seemed like a good fit.

Except I have now been waiting 49 weeks for the product. I'm not greedy. I know they said it would be a slow roll out to make sure that everything was working properly. But, there are only about 3000 stores in the country. And I doubt all of them are getting the product. Maybe 10%. I certainly should have had it by now. Getting impatient. I really would have liked to have had the new system to start the year so that everything would have been in one place. But then again, that didn't work so well last time.

So, on a comic retailer forum, there was a discussion about doing the monthly order. The conversation quickly turned to how does your POS system help you do this. (Mine does not, in case you were wondering. They didn't do monthly orders back in the 40s when my system was created). And people who have this other system, called Moby , are giving their product rave reviews. I had poked around at this a while back, but was holding out for the Microsoft system due to support issues. But some of the people who have gotten the new Diamond system are commenting that it doesn't work as efficiently as they had hoped. Moby was designed by store owners for making things easier. RMS is a generic program that is being modified for comic books stores, but apparently is not a flexible as it could be and the stores have to adapt to it instead of the other way around.

So I ask a couple people I know who have it and the reviews are glowing. So I am probably going to go with it. I am going to talk to the Ben at Bitter End on Thursday and make sure I am ready for it and then we'll go forward.

I will keep you updated.

So You Want To Run a Comic Book Store

2008-12-29T10:58:00.002-05:00

I had a mom come in a little while ago, telling me her son wanted to do what I do and said he'd come and work for free. I told her that wasn't the best idea for many reasons, #1 for me was that I really didn't need to have someone hanging around the store all day. But I will pass along the advice I gave her.

Let me start by giving you the brief rundown of my illustrious career in retail. After graduating college, I bounced around many jobs. After leaving a job selling Chevy's, I ended up working at a Radio Shack. Someone I had worked with told me he made good money there during the holidays, so when I found myself unemployed in November, I decided to give it a shot. It wasn't bad, certainly better than selling cars in January, so I stuck it out. Eventually, I would run 2 stores on my own, before moving to Chicago.

While it certainly wasn't glamorous, it taught me a lot about merchandising, ordering, dealing with employees and dealing with customers. And all of this has been invaluable in running my Comic Book store.

Think about your typical comic book shop. Most of them are organized so that the employees can find stuff easily, not necessarily the customers. Half full boxes laying around. Stacks of stuff lying around. 2 employees arguing about who would win a fight between Spawn and Impossible Man. I told the mom to have her son get a job as an assistant manager in some national chain retail store. The reason for this is the job will have training and structure. Corporate will have requirements, created through years of trial and error. Corporate will tell you exactly how to do your job. And this is really crucial.

The single greatest thing that comic book store employees are missing is customer service. I cringe in fear thinking about my mom going into my old comic shop to get me something. If they bothered to talk to her, it would probably have been just to point in a general direction. All that lady is doing is interrupting their really cool day. They are better than their comic reading friends because they actually work in a comic shop. How cool is that! I get to read comics all day. And talk about comics all day. I'm king of the world!

And I think that this is what the lady's son was looking for. Wouldn't that be a cool job? Well, come by and ask Jason, my helper, who is sorting and bagging 90 long boxes, how glamorous it is. Or counting all the books on the shelf or all of the trades so I can figure out what I am out of. It is a job just like any other. Does it have its own unique perks? Sure. But the store won't be around long if people don't come back.

What Radio Shack taught me was how to deal with the person who didn't know exactly what they needed. Anyone can ring up a person who brings their stuff to the counter. It takes customer service to help someone find what they want or to give them purchase options. It takes asking questions and listening to the answer. Or how about add-on sales? When was the last time someone suggested something to you at the register?

Now can I teach someone how to do it the way I do? Maybe. But I don't really have time to teach. I just do it. I try to make attractive displays with like products so that someone looking for one thing may find another. I try to make sure everything is clearly priced. I try to make thinks as easy to find as I can (Space is becoming a factor in this one right now). Go work for a big box store (or a Radio Shack) for a summer and learn about dealing with customers. That will put you head and shoulders above many comic books shops out there right now.

Season's Greetings

2008-12-27T11:52:00.002-05:00

Yeah, I know its late. Just don't ask a retailer to do anything around the holidays except sell, sell, sell.

Its been another great holiday season. Luck willing, I will pass last years Decembers sales today and still have through Wednesday to show gain. Which is good. Especially in this "troubled" economy.

I got my invoice for next week and I was dismayed by the lack of product coming in. But when I started looking at it, I was overwhelmed by the great stuff coming in. So next Friday will be a test. Is it better to get a great variety of product or a smaller amount of very popular and sought after books? Heck, even Kick Ass is coming out!

Marvel's What If? line

2008-12-13T11:38:00.002-05:00

I have always loved What If? comics from Marvel. I often used them to learn about a story that I didn't know, like the Evolutionary War. And then it would take a different spin on it. But too often they turned into try out books. It seems like and editor would come up with a story idea and then give it to a new writer and artist as a try-out book. I remember some from the '90s being almost unreadable.

The 2 new ones that came out the last 2 weeks feel like that again. The last bunch from last year were good. I didn't care for the X-Men one, but they were good overall. The last 2 are really substandard. Specifically the art. The House of M one was a little light on story (the cosmic cube is a little more powerful than they gave it credit for) but the art brought to mind porn comics and not in a good way. I just read the Fallen Son one. The story was solid, but the art... Maybe he just needed an inker. It all looked unfinished. Like it was trying to be Tommy Lee Edwards, but not good enough.

2 really substandard books give me little hope that the rest of the current run will be any good. Too bad. I was really looking forward to it.

On a side note, I have never read the Young Avengers and only the first trade of Runaways, so the back up story make little sense to me at all.

An Open Request to Marvel Comics

2008-12-06T17:57:00.002-05:00

Dear Mr. Wacker,

Please put Marcos Martin on as many Spider-Man arcs as possible. Or give him his own spin-off book. His art is so perfect for Spider-Man. The bend in the fingers. The way the costume looks like cloth, not just drawn onto his body. they way he looks like he is straining while lifting something heavy. Even the way he made the Shocker's costume look like it was actually padded as opposed to just covered in criss-crossed lines.

Also, could I please get the original art from pg #15 of issue 561 or page #4 or 6 from issue 579.

Thanks

The Irony of Running a Comic Book Store is

2008-12-05T18:19:00.002-05:00

that I am generally the last person to ask about what is coming up in comics. I read a lot and, while I can remember specifics about books, I generally can't tell you what is happening in upcoming books. What made me realize this is that I was really excited about the new issue of Justice Society. I know, from reading the Previews, that there is a big Black Adam arc coming up. So I assumed it was the end for the Gog storyline. now don't get me wrong. I have been enjoying the storyline. But I thought it was ending, mostly because I am focusing on books 2 months from now. Last Tuesday I had to finalize my order for November and I started looking at the December order book. But this latest issue was from the September order book. That was 3 books ago for me. My memory is not that good.

Trying to keep all of this info in my head has gotten to be too much. Same with subscription customers. I do apologize, but I can no longer remember all of the books you get off the top of my head. I have a fancy dancy program that does that for me. But calling and asking what is coming in for you the next week is now beyond me.

Crazy Thursday Ahead

2008-12-03T23:31:00.002-05:00

Thursday is normally my "Get everything organized" day after the craziness of New Comics Day. I get all of the statues out and make sure everything is back where it is supposed to be. It is also the day I get my invoice for the next weeks books, so I update the website and do the board in the store. (If you've never been to the store, the board is a 3'x2' dry erase board that I write every thing that is coming in the next week on. I rarely do it in one try. And I have to concentrate to make my writing legible. It is my weekly chore that I enjoy.)

But this week, new comics are coming on Thursday. Bit of a bummer because I lose a day to sell them. And the weeks never quite work out right. Wednesday is usually very slow because all of the regulars know not to come in on Wednesday and Thursday sales are rarely equal to Wednesday + Thursday.

But, there are a lot of books I am interested in reading this week. So don't ruin Secret Invasion for me. I probably won't be able to read it until I get home.

Hello Blog World!

2008-12-02T18:30:00.002-05:00

I used to only blog when I felt I had something important to say or something was really bugging me. Which, as I guy who sits in a comic book shop all day, was fairly infrequently. Hence, a barely used blog.

But 2009 is going to be different. (Yeah, I know, you’ve heard that before). This Twitter thing has gotten me in the mood to something daily. Plus I want to create more of an online presence for the store, primarily via eBay, but also to get my name out there and let people know I am here.

So, my plan is to have something out there much more frequently, maybe even every day.

Today was pretty uneventful, mostly just doing a reorder of the gobs of stuff that sold this weekend. It scares me when my weekly reorder is bigger than some of my regular weekly orders in my first year.

Friday night was kind of slow (shopper burn-out) and I had the Freakangels trade on the counter, so I picked it up and started reading. Really good stuff by Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield. Its the story of 12 powered people in London who combined t cause a world catastrophe and how they are dealing with the aftermath. Very interesting stuff and I am eager to see where he is going with this. It is a collection of an online comic, so I got caught up there, but I do highly recommend it.

Not much, but hey, it’s a start.

Crazy Times Ahead

2008-11-25T11:19:00.003-05:00

My busiest day of 2007 was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. While I doubt I will be able to beat the awesomely incredible Free Comic Book Day of this year, I certainly have high hopes. Lots of people out of work early. A long weekend ahead. The unadulterated need for reading material. The fact that its a pretty darn good week of new books will not hurt either.

We have worked hard to get all of the trades in some semblance of order and today will entail getting everything neat and tidy. I am really hoping to finish November strong and then just bull rush through December, setting all sorts of sales records for the store.

Weeeeee!

DC Troubles

2008-11-18T18:18:00.000-05:00

So if the recent Lying in the Gutters story is correct, DC is falling into disarray. It is very disappointing to me. There was so much momentum behind its line right now. And it may all be for naught.

First is:

“The last issue of "Final Crisis" is further delayed as it is suffering from serious rewrites. It appears that DC Executive Editor Dan DiDio was unhappy with the way the story concluded and the implications for the DC Universe for a while and had ordered changes from a, naturally, rather unhappy Grant Morrison. Considering this is the way he wrote the pitch for the book.

As a result, creative teams working on a number of spinoff and affected books have also had to stop work while the “Final Crisis” ending is reworked.

Expect more lateness, more annoyance and less likelihood of Grant Morrison doing DCU work in the near future.”

DiDio has set the entire future of the DCU on this book. Remember when Countdown was the “spine” of the DCU and it got scoliosis and cracked a vertebrae. Now Final Crisis (“Heroes Die, Legends Live Forever”) is in disarray. And late. Very very late. We didn’t get an issue in September and it doesn’t look like we will get one in November, either. The first 3 issues were a jumbled mess of bits and pieces. “You need to have read Morrison’s stuff to understand it.” Well, that’s not good for the casual reader. What about the people who don’t like Morrison (and I can understand why)? They have been pushed away from this, DC’s big story setting up the future.

And now Morrison may be pissed and leaving the DCU. Well, that’s fine and dandy except for the fact that he has spent a long time carefully crafting Batman RIP. Is it now going to fall to just anyone to pick up the pieces and make a story out of it?

Also, if the end of Final Crisis didn’t fit in with the direction the DCU is going, does anyone know what’s going on? At least at Marvel, I have the feeling that they know where they are going for the next year. DC seems to be playing a month at a time. People were thinking that there was going to be a complete reboot of the DCU. Well, first, that would be a shame because of the great things going on in Batman, Superman and Green Lantern. Throwing all of that away would be silly. But on the other hand, is Final Crisis going to have any effect on the DCU? I don’t see how. Batman is dead (supposedly) but not in the pages of Final Crisis. Superman is heading to outer space with someone else taking over his titles (New Kryptonians, maybe?). Secret Invasion is a one day event and there apparently will be effects shown in the Marvel Universe. DC has shown no correlation between Final Crisis and anything going on in any other book.

The Second story is this:

“Morrison is not the only person having difficulties with DiDio's direction. I understand that James Robinson and Dan had a stand up argument that led to Robinson quitting the Superman books and the DCU in general.”

The Morrison Superman issues have been good. People really seem to like them. Why piss off yet another creator? Geoff Johns can’t write everything.

Overall, there just seems to be a lack of leadership, or vision, or something at DC right now and this is not the time for it. Get your act together DC. Comics are in the middle of a nice boom right now. Lets keep it going.

Happy November!

2008-11-11T09:37:00.002-05:00

Yeah, I know I am a couple days late, but I am happy to be past the election. Random thoughts this morning:

A Marvel Digital Comics Online person recently referred to actual comics books as "dead tree editions" in comparison to the online versions. This was in a Comic Book Resources article and has clumsily been edited out, but it certainly shows Marvels direction and maybe some of their ambivalence to the Direct Market (ie Comic Book Stores). I'm sure that there has been a lot of research done to show that this is the wave of the future, and of course I am very biased, but I just don't see it. I don't see all of the people who currently buy comics suddenly switching to reading them on their computer or on a fancy handheld device. Some of the hip kids who have every gadget known to man, sure. And supposedly there are already tons of people illegally downloading them. So there is a market. But is it a viable market? Are those people reading for free suddenly going to start paying? Or maybe one will pay and then send them out to their friends anyway.

There aren't that many comic stores out there. Under 3000 according to the last thing I read. These stores have been out on the front line, taking the heat for Marvel's publishing woes. Late books and bad books get blamed on the stores. The customers know its not our fault, but they can't complain to Marvel. So how does Marvel thank the retailers for being there, ordering and promoting their products? They decide to cut us out of the loop and deal directly with the readers. I can understand their thinking, but not their understanding.

Back in the early 90s, Marvel decided to eliminate the middleman in the distribution area. Why pay some other companies (yes, there used to be more than one distributor) to get their books out to the stores. So Marvel went exclusive with Heroes World and it was a disaster and nearly killed the comic book business. Marvels bankruptcy was partially a result of this decision.

I understand their thinking of cutting out the middleman, but not theeir understanding of what all was involved and what the repurcsussions would be. I was getting ready to open my store at this time and had to setp back, not because of the potential distribution problem, but because I would be getting my product from 2 sources. At the time, discount was based on the total order amount. Cutting that by a third would decrease my discount from both distributors and I was not certain I could make it with the loss of money. Marvel didn't think it through completely for everyone involved. Maybe its my lawyer training to look at both sides of the issue.

Right now Marvel is looking at saving printing and shipping fees by eliminating that part of their business. And, sure, it looks great. "I can eliminate 25% of our publishing expenses." But you again have to look at the entirety of it. Are they going to make the same amount of money from just publishing online? They are still going to have the talent fees, editorial fee and everything else involved with putting out a comic, just not the printing expenses. But is the monthly subscription fee going to cover all of this? They are in a tough position right now. Their online thing won't take off until they put the books online at the same time as the new books hit the stores. But when they do this, they will lose the business in the stores. While I would still carry the books, I would make no effort to support the books. I'd order just enough to sell out quickly and I would be pushing everybody else. Why would I help support my biggest competitor? And presumably Marvel would stop publishing actual "dead tree editions" and go exclusively online. And then went the novelty of the online thing wears off, I doubt that the stores that are left would be very receptive of Marvel coming back.

People have been bemoaning the downfall of the Direct Market for years. "The should go to a Graphic Novel only format and get rid of monthly comics." "The bookstore model is the way to go." Well, last I looked, bookstores aren't doing too well right now. From a Grand Rapid Press Article in May: "Borders is in the midst of a turnaround plan aimed at returning the company to profitability after reporting two straight years of more than $150 million losses."

Now a large part of this is lost sales to online sellers like Amazon.com. And recently Marvel had an ad in every one of their books for an online discount service. Now I understand that full page advertisers are hard to come by rigth now and that defrays a part of their publishing costs, but it was a bit annoying having Marvel actively promote my competition is frustrating. It would be like the inside cover of every books saying "You could have bought this for less at Amazon.com" Or the back cover of every CD saying "You could have downloaded this for half of what you paid."

The other, very confusing part of it is this: Marvel sets the price for their books. I don't have a choice on what to sell the books for. Right on the cover. And now Marvel is trying to dictate that I sell their product for less than that. If they think the price is too high, they should lower it, not point my customers to someone who has no overhead and takes no stock position on their product and is simply an order taker.

More to come

More Numbers Stuff

2008-11-01T12:15:00.002-04:00

Well, apparently September was an abberation and sales are back to where they were. Which is good and reassuring. I have heard some customers talking about having to cut back on their purchases, but I really didn't see much this month. Tracking sales is still really hard, only because I am still new and haven't seen any real trends. Well, except that November and December are really good for business.

Going back this year, January through April were pretty steady I had a 47% increase in sales from April to May. Then there was a 19% drop back down, but things stayed at this new higher plateau through August. September dropped back down to April numbers. That is why I am glad to see a 21% jump back up for October. Last year had a 31% jump from October to November and a 14% jump from November to December.

So, if things hold the way they went last year, I should do just fine.

Lots of good books still to come; the wrap up to Secret Invasion in December, Final Crisis still going, lots of Green Lantern goodenss coming as well.

On a side note, I haven't done many reviews on the site after there was a bruhaha about stores doing negative reviews of books they are trying to sell. And I kind of agree with internet on this one. There are lots of books I don't care for that sell well. Who am I to say what is good or bad. Plus this guy was reviewing books from his Marvel Preview books. So people were being told they were bad and not to buy them before they came out. Marvel no longer does the Preview books, so I don't get to see the books until you do. It will be a more level playing field.

So I will get to more reviews soon, but they will generally only be on books I feel positive towards or have hope that it is going somewhere.

Quick review. Incredible Hercules#122 made me laugh out loud.

Inventory Troubles

2008-10-27T14:20:00.000-04:00

Here is a little insight into the rough and tumble world of comic book retailing. Every week, I, or some lackey I trick into doing it, count the books on the shelves. I keep track of the last 10 weeks worth of merchandise, so I don’t count everything, just the recent stuff. It is a rather time consuming process and is rarely completely accurate. Stuff out of place or items sold after the count are not taken into account. Still, it’s the best way to see what is selling, what is not and what I need to order more of.

I decided to use my antiquated POS system to try to help me with the count this week. Sadly, it just tracks what is sold. I can print a report for what is sold on Wednesday, but instead of telling me I sold 27 copies of Secret Invasion #7, it has 27 lines stating Secret Invasion #7 and in several different places on the list. Why, I don’t know. It just does it that way. So it is quite a pain determining how many copies and just what was sold that week.

But given all of those problems, here is my big one. You would think it would be simple to just take the number received or the number on hand from last week and then deduct the number sold and then I would have my total on hand. This is technically correct, but it does not take into account items in customer pull files. For instance, I know I sold out of Thunderbolts #125 because there are none on the shelf, but my count shows 4 left. Thus they are in pull files. Yes, I can go through the files to see what is still there, but that starts to get time consuming again.

I think I would be better off just counting the shelves again.

Any ideas out there?

Changes, Changes, Changes and a recap

2008-10-02T06:42:00.003-04:00

More changes are in place at the store. Boscov's, a department store, recently went out of business. I was able to pick up a great slatwall gondola for less than it would have cost just to ship a new one here. The shelving for it finally came in on Tuesday, so I squeezed it in. I had to move a lot of stuff around, but I think it really looks good and I like how it is working out so far.

I have also made a change in my storage situation (something I should have done long ago) and now I will be able to get my back issues organized. If there is anything you are looking for, please let me know. I will soon have almost 100 long boxes sorted and priced. I can't fit them in the store, but I will be rotating them with what is currently in the store, so the back issue selecting will be fresher. Plus I'm sure that some of that will be fresh quarter books stock.

September was my 2nd slowest month of the year, which is not good, but is understandable. I just hit my 2nd anniversary, so sales data is really raw. Trends are really hard to see at this point. Last September was a small drop from August, so this may be a trend. School starting and activities and general craziness at home can certainly lead to lower sales. But last year was a 5 drop and this months was a 20 drop. I really hope this was just a blip.

Back on Track!

2008-09-30T00:03:00.002-04:00

September has been a crazy month. Sales were down, but I was busier and more unorganized than I can ever remember. The trip to Vegas the first weekend of the month really threw me for a loop and kept me off balance all month. I was talking to a customer Saturday and realized I had forgotten to add some books to his pull list that he had asked me to a long time ago. I knew I felt like I was flying by the seat of my pants and this confirmed it.

So, no more. I am going to get everything neatened up and I am going to get myself organized. I will be blogging at least weekly and I will updating more than just the "Coming this Week" list on the website. I will be reading more, reviewing more and recommending more. I am adding a big fixture this week, so hopefully things will start getting more organized and looking fresher.

So, come by and take a look at the changes I have made.

I Don't Understand Commercial Leasing Agents

2008-09-15T13:04:00.004-04:00

I found out something that blows my mind, so I thought I'd pass it along. All I know about commercial real estate is what I have dealt with personally. I hope someone out there is reading this and can enlighten me to what I ma missing. Here is my history.

March 2006. I decide I am really really going to open my store. I start driving around looking for good places to rent. There is one on the side of a shopping center. Not great, but the right size and maybe a good place to start. So I call the guy up. I had dealt with him for a client on another space in another town regarding the lease, so I felt good about the situation. We start discussing amounts and stuff. He gives me a range of what the spot would rent for. We'll call this place spot #1. So I think about it. I also find an empty spot in another strip near me and I inquire to the leasing agent as to what it would run. I turns out that space is waayyy too big for me at present, but he has another spot available. We'll call this space #2. The problem with this space is that they currently have a tenant there who they are evicting, so we can't get into the space. It is a photo studio, so all I can see is the reception area. We drive around and find some other spaces, one being a building that is being rebuilt (space #3) and some others. I make inquiry calls to the others, but they are a bit ridiculous, considering what they offer. Most of these have remained empty or had spots fill and empty on a regular basis. No one stays long.

So, spots #1 and #2 are both in strips that can't be seen form the street and are on the sides of the plazas. One can bee seen driving in, if you don't look where you are going. #2 is behind a bank drive through. So neither are very good at all, but I am not in a position to be really choosy. Good spots are too expensive and I am just starting out. #1 is the better of the two choices. So I tell the agent I am ready to go forward. Could he send me the lease to look at. If I can get it at the lowest of the rent range he gave me, I can do it. Of course, it is at the highest of the rates ($8 sq ft more). I tell him no way. He doesn't even counter offer. He just says ok. 2+ years later he finally found a tenant for it.

So I focus more on spot #2. It is less than the lower range of #1, but it is really in a bad spot and I still haven't even been able to see how big it is. So, 3 months of back and forth on when I can see it. I am now 2 months from my projected opening date and he still can't let me in, but he wants me to sign the lease to hold it. I give up. I dig through my notes and find the number for #3, one I really have never thought more about. It is on a side street, but it is right on the street. I call and stop by to look at it. It is perfect. It is my current home and I have been very happy there.

So, now I am running out of room. I need more space to put more stuff out on display. I can expand into gaming, if I have a place for tables. I can get back issues out if I have tables to put them on. The best thing for me would be for the nail place next to me to move so I could knock out the wall and just expand. I have that in writing to my landlord, but I haven't heard anything yet. Their lease is up in July, so hopefully I will hear something by the end of the year. One way or another, I would like to know what is going on.

There is a big store that recently opened. A standalone furniture store went out. It is a 5000 sq ft store, 5 times as much as I have now. Now I can't afford to have my rent go up that much, but I figured I would at least ask how much it was. I contacted the agent with the big sign out front. I contacted him once a month for four months until he actually responded. His response was that they were in negotiations to lease it and thanks for asking. So, ok. I probably couldn't have afforded it anyway, but being big and standalone, I figured they may have trouble filling it and may like a tenant on the cheap.

Nothing has happened in it for a couple of months now. So I am driving by today and I see something in the windows. I look closely as I get near. They are McCain campaign signs. He blew me off to rent the place for two months.

I would have to guess that commercial tenants are not banging down the doors right now. Place #1 just rented the space I was looking at, but still has two empty spaces. Place #2 did rent that spot, but they have 2 or 3 open spots as well. A new strip is just about done being built. It was a thought, but it is almost double my current sq ft rate, so doubling my space would quadruple my rent.

I realize that a comic book store is not the most common of businesses, but I am doing very well and I am looking to grow. Wouldn't it behoove a leasing agent to at least give me the time of day?

Kevin Smith Batman. Really?

2008-08-18T09:34:00.003-04:00

So, I am looking at the DC solicits for November on Newsarama and I come across this:

BATMAN: CACOPHONY #1
Written by Kevin Smith
Art by Walt J. Flanagan & Sandra Hope
Cover by Adam Kubert
Variant cover by Andy Kubert
Sketch cover by Andy Kubert
Best-selling comic book writer/director Kevin Smith (GREEN ARROW, Daredevil, Clerks) steps into Gotham City to write this 3-part miniseries event! Practically from out of nowhere, the mysterious masked killer known as Onomatopoeia returns and sets his sights – and sounds – against The Caped Crusader!
Retailers please note: This issue will ship with three covers. For every 25 copies of the Standard Edition (with a cover by Adam Kubert), retailers may order one copy of the Variant Edition (with a cover by Andy Kubert). For every 50 copies of the Standard Edition (with a cover by Adam Kubert), retailers may order one copy of the Sketch Edition (with a cover by Andy Kubert). Please see the Previews Order Form for more information.
On sale November 12 • 1 of 3 • 40 pg, FC, $3.99 US

Several questions pop into my head:
1. Is the whole thing written, or just the first issue? I feel this is a pretty valid question.
2. What does Walt Flanagan's art look like? I know he's Smith's friend and runs his comic shop in Jersey, but can he draw?
3. Based on the previous 2 questions, does DC seriously expect ANYONE to order 25 or 50 copies of this? A 1:10 variant, maybe, but 25. Not a chance. With the possibility of #2 hitting in 2010, sorry.

And I'm really not trying to bash Kevin Smith. I thought Daredevil Guardian Devil and Green Arrow Quiver were excellent stories. But Spider-Man Black Cat and the still unfinished Daredevil: Target make me less than comfortable going heavy on a new book of his with unknown art. And a variant Kubert cover is really not the draw it once was. If the brothers had not botched Batman and Action, there may be more good will towards them, but not now. And a $4 cover price makes this one even more potentially unsellable.

OK, enough of a rant for now. I'll keep reading about what's coming and see if there is anything else of note.

Watchmen and the Genius of DC Sales Team

2008-07-26T11:39:00.003-04:00

Several weeks ago, before the trailer of Watchmen was out, DC ran a promotion for Comic Book shops where we could order as many copies of the Watchmen graphic novel as I want and at a date in future I can return the unsold copies and only pay for what I don't return. I found out that 18 fit in a box, so, what the heck, I ordered 18. The promo stuff was gearing up. The action figures and mini busts were being ordered. What could it hurt.

I am now down to 2 copies left. In the 1 week since the trailer went up, I have now sold 16 of the 18 copies (including 1 copy while I was typing this). I am sure that the other 2 will be gone by the end of the day. This is incredible. And I have to commend DC for doing it right.

There is no way I would have ever ordered that many copies. Ever. Even if I knew the trailer was going to be there. But I had nothing to lose. And I will be ordering 18 more to arrive Wednesday. The best part is that I am sure that the book stores were caught unaware, even Amazon. And I am sure many comic books stores did not take advantage of the offer like I did.

Here's why I think that it worked so well. Comic readers have long loved Watchmen and non-comic people have most likely at least heard of it. The trailer is on one of the biggest opening movies ever. Comic book people are giddy about the trailer (well at least I am). And it stirs that interest to read it again. "Where's my copy? I lent it to someone and never got it back. I need to read it now!" So the people that know it want it again. And their friends who are sitting with them at Batman go "What's that about?" and the comic reading friend gushes about it. So they also want a copy. And the people who have no comic friends, but see the trailer think it looks interesting and POW, its on the cover of Entertainment Weekly and other places. Its all over the internet. "If this many people say its good, I'll give it a shot."

Hence 16 copies of a $20 book sold in 1 week. And its only going to grow.

Thank you for being proactive DC, and making sure I had the opportunity to stock the shelves to take advantage of this. It is a win-win-win situation for all involved.

Now to pull out my battered copy to re-read it. Or maybe I'll get that fancy new hardcover that is coming out...

EDIT: Just a quick update. I just sold my last copy of Watchmen at 6:45pm.

Infrequent Customers

2008-07-25T12:55:00.002-04:00

I just want to express my love of the infrequent customer, that guy who you see maybe monthly, but usually not even that often. Now, this is not to say anything bad about my regulars, the guys who come in every Wednesday or whatever day they always come in on. Those are the guys who keep the doors open. I look forward to talking with them every week.

However, the infrequent customer is like finding money in a jacket pocket. I count on the weekly guys, but the random guys are real treat. They come in and get months worth of books at a time. Or they clear out a overgrown subscriber folder.

Yet another name change

2008-07-24T14:13:00.003-04:00

Well, I decided to go with a name that made more sense. This name actually goes back to the beginning. This was my original name that I filed with the state of PA, way back in 1993, when I started doing conventions in anticipation of opening an actual store. It only took me 13 years, but I did it!

I know blogging about blogging is a sin, per Mike Sterling, so I will not belabor the point. My wife was looking at a customers blog and asked me if I had one. I said yes, but I don't do much. My customer does his much more and she said I had no reason not to throw something up every day. So, now, with no excuses, I will.

More to come later when I get some stuff finished around the store.

Sorry For the Distraction

2008-07-07T09:35:00.002-04:00

I apologize to anyone coming into the store the next couple weeks, well, and last week. I am trying to do some stuff and my head is not where it should be.

It all started Wednesday when the books showed up 3 hours late. Never a good thing and kills the rest of the day for me as it is a scramble to get the books out and sorted with customers standing there as every book comes out of the box. And I didn't have time to get the bar codes into the system. Very frustrating.

Thursday morning, I ran to Ikea to get 6 more bookshelves. I have run out of space for trades and the last few weeks worth are just stacked on top of the back issue rack. My initial plan was to have a rack for new DC, Marvel and Other Publisher trades, so that the new ones would be displayed face out and be seen and sell better. Well, those racks are full. And the new ones just get dumped in front of the other ones. Good for the new, bad for the old. The indy rack is now 5-6 trades deep, which makes it impossible to find anything. And there is no organization at all. Frustrating to the customer and to me. I have 4 books cases for the trades when they move off of the racks, but that was full as well, so things just began to stack up. I bought 6 more with the hope of making more of a display in the front of the store. All of the big sellers, like Vertigo, in one place. Plus a rack just for the new arrivals, like at the big books stores. And then I can use the racks to spotlight titles, like Batman or Spider-Man. I am mostly looking for a better way to merchandise. A big part it was the Marvel Essentials. I love them. I keep them all in stock. But I only sell 1 or 2 a month. They used to have a whole big rack. Then I moved them to the book cases, but they took up the whole book case. When I got the new bigger kids rack, I moved the Essntials to the old kids rack. But I was still spending a whole lot of floor space on something that really doesn't move well. That was part of the reason for making the change as well. Now they have their own out of the way book case.

So all day Thursday was spent trying to get these new bookcases built. I was only able to get 3 of the 6 made. It didn't help that I forgot a screwdriver and was using the Swiss Army knife.

Friday was 4th of July and I was closed.

Saturday morning I finished getting the books cases built. I then spent quite a bit of time finding a place for them. The fact that the store is not square, makes thing like this a little challenging. I like the odd shape, but it does create problems. So I finally got them where they will work. Rather than a square, they are a rectangle. I was hoping for a square with the side of the one on the left next to the book case you were facing, so I could put a little sign as to what was in the book case or whatever.

The other thing I did was replace the 4 foot front display table with a 5 footer. The two 8 foot tables with some of the back issues on them are 5 feet back to back, so this just made sense. I also replace the back 8 foot table with a 5 foot one. This table was only there while I sorted a collections, but it soon became part of the store. But it also stuck out 3 feet, so it never really fit. Replacing it with the 5 foot looks better. But it also cost me 4 boxes on display and the storage underneath. I kind of got everything tidied up Saturday night. We'll see how tidy tomorrow morning.

Oh, and in the midst of having the store disorganized, a customer brought in 2 life size stuffed Spider-Men. He won them at a fair or something and had no room at home. With no back room, I don't have any place for them either. For fun and to get them out of the way, now have them hanging from the ceiling. I will take pictures when I get everything straightened up.

Then I got busy the rest of the day, so I didn't even fill the book cases up. Then I was off Sunday and closed Monday. I just feel very disconnected from the store right now. Which may not be a bad thing only because of the changes, it feels different to me right now. I need to freshen it up.

This week, I will have Tuesday and Wednesday to get everything organized. Hopefully, I can get it all done. New books won't be here until Thursday, so I get an extra day to get ready.

But then more disconnect for me. We are taking a family vacation Friday through Tuesday. So, not only will I not be at the store, but I will be getting back on Wednesday morning, just in time for the new order. Getting the store ready for new books is about a 2 hour process. Moving the new books around to make space for new titles and replacing and adding the new signs. Not rocket science, but time consuming. Maybe I can leave the task for Matt on Sunday. But Wednesday is still going to feel a little odd.

So, please cut me a little bit of slack these next two weeks. I may forget that you asked for a specific book or forget to track down something. Don't take it personally. I just have a lot going on.

Marvel vs DC

2008-06-30T11:25:00.002-04:00

For what it's worth, in my store, the last issue of Secret Invasion outsold the last issue of Final Crisis 49 to 31. And Final Crisis had 2 covers.

But the last issue of Batman (part 2 of RIP) sold 39 copies.

So it would appear that, while most Marvel fans are picking up Secret Invasion, not all DC fans are getting Final Crisis. And after the debacle of Countdown, I don't blame them for waiting.

And looking at these numbers, I can't wait until I become a really big store and those numbers are 5 to 10 times bigger.

Motivational Issues

2008-06-27T16:34:00.002-04:00

I just had a great conversation last night with a customer about what I can do to beef this pace up. He used to work in a store, so I wanted to pick him brain a bit. Things are going great, but they can always be better, right? Plus, I need to know what I am doing wrong.

Now, I know my weaknesses and strengths. But my biggest weakness is lack of motivation. Sure, sometimes I get a fire under my butt about something and I won't let it rest until it is done. But more often than not I find it hard to get going. My single biggest problem with the store is clutter. I hate it, but I tend not to do anything about it. Now if everything had its place, it would be much easier. But having no real back room (some shelves in the bathroom don't really count) is a big problem. I have no place to put stuff. So you'd think it would make me keep everything nice. No. It doesn't seem to work out that way.

Hello, my name is Colin and I'm a piler. My piles have piles. an when its comics, it is especially bad. Books pulled off the new shelves to make way for more new stuff. Make a pile. You want me to buy these books? OK. Then I put them on top of that pile. Books transferred in from another store also go on that pile.

But then, when I say "Enough!" an even worse thing happens. I take those books and I put them in a box, typically a short box. And then that box goes SOMEWHERE. In the bathroom, under table or even worse, TO THE BASEMENT. (We'll get to that later).

The goal of the boxing, is that I will address it later. but we all know, that's never going to happen. Out of sight, out of mind. And then someone will ask about one of those books. And I look a them. I know its in a box. Somewhere. Crap.

The basement is particularly bad. I spent 2 hours down there on Monday night, going through boxes just looking for a box of overstock that accidentally went down there. I only went though about 45 long boxes. And herein lies the problem. Of those 45 long boxes, I hope to never have to look at half of them again. Reign of the Supermen. Breaking of the Bat. X-Men 1-25. X-Tinction Agenda. IMAGE. I swear they are multiplying down there, because I could not have possible bought all of those in under 2 years.

The other problem with the basement is that it can only be reached from out side. I have to walk around to the back of the building and down a flight of stairs. not the best thing to do while open for business. "Here's that copy of Spawn 42, sir. I knew I had it somewhere. Wait, where did you go? Where did my good books go? Where's my computer?" You get the picture.

My other problem is lack of space to display the stuff. In the space I currently have for back issues, I could probably squeeze in another long box worth of stuff. So there is a perceived lack of urgency in sorting and pricing those 60 odd boxes in the basement. Oh, I would get started every once in a while. Several boxes down there are ready to go. but then I'd hit one of those Image boxes and it would stop me cold.

So, to get back to the point of this whole post, I keep looking around today and thinking, Man I should really straighten up. But I just don't have the motivation today.

So I am sorry if you come in and its messy. I will try to do better tomorrow.

Bad News at DC

2008-06-20T22:31:00.002-04:00

Well, supposedly something bad is going to happen at DC soon. I wonder if it's Dan Didio losing his job. I really wouldn't mind. Yes, a lot of his problems were beyond his control, but he needed to have a firmer plan and better editorial judgment. He's not a comic guy, he's a TV guy. He tried to bring in his entertainment buddies and they blew it. Alan Heinberg on the relaunch of Wonder Woman. The TV guys on the relaunch of Flash. Bringing in the Kuberts brothers (who know they would bail on him so dramatically?) Maybe not all his fault, but he's the head. I think the Chuck Dixon thing will be the final card for Paul Levitz. Coutodwn was Didio's baby and it was a dramatic failure, especially with Grant Morrison distancing himself from it. It was Countdown to Final Crisis, right? And all of those Countdown minis were for what? I keep thinking back to Countdown Arena and wondering what the point was. It will be nice to see them get some direction from whomever takes over.

Memorial Day Delays

2008-05-27T09:16:00.002-04:00

In case you didn't already know, due to the Memorial Day holiday, new books won't be out until Thursday this week. I really don't understand why the stores have to suffer because of this. This week has a ton of product and I think one of two things should have happened.

1. The publishers (or Diamond) should have broken things up a little better. Too often lately we are getting big shipping weeks followed by little week. Some weeks have no X books followed by weeks like this with Astonishing, Uncanny, X-Force, X-Force Legacy of Violence, X-Men First Class, and X-Men Legacy. Why? A few weeks ago we got every Ultimate book (well, except Ultimates, but that is a whole different rant). People come in with $X to spend on new comics. When all of these types of books are dumped at one time, they will get them, but at the expense of something else, or they will decide that now is a good time to drop a book that they had been getting, but weren't that fond of. And either of those things is good. And chances are, next week will be a really small week.

2. While I understand that the reason for the delay is that UPS was closed on Monday and thus, everything is delayed a day. but, why couldn't Diamond have moved their system up a day and shipped on Friday rather than wait until Monday. Diamond is the one who determined the Wednesday on sale day, so shouldn't it be there responsibility to make sure that we have the books on Wednesday, rather than whenever they feel like sending them to us?

My big days, not surprisingly are Wednesday-Saturday. So losing one of those days hurts. The lost sales on one of those days is not made up in the other days. And I have one less day to sell those books. In the old days, that would not have mattered. But, with the odd shipping schedules lately, it does have an effect. I order books with the assumption that the I will have 4 weeks to sell the majority of the copies before the next issue comes. But the previous issue of X-Men Legacy came out 2 weeks ago. I did not know I would have less tome to sell that one. Now, in all honesty, I underordered it and can't get more, so it is moot for me, but the principle is still there. I remember not that long ago, Joe Quesada, in response to late books, said "No one ever said (comics) had to be monthly." I respectfully disagree. You, as a comic publisher, made the comics monthly. I remember when they used to have months on them. Don't call the retailers and fans unreasonable just because your talent can't produce the work in a timely fashion.

I ordered Hulk #3 based on the sales of #2. Sadly, I did not know it would be a month late and that the people who picked up #2 would give up on the book. The same thing has happened on Thor. Sales were very strong at in the beginning, but they are now half of what they started. In that case, I also think that the 2 covers on every issue with nothing to distinguish one issue from another to be a huge factor in lost sales. A customer comes in and usually can look at the cover to remember if they bought that particular issue. Each issue of Thor has had 2 cover and each with a pin-up of Thor. There is really no way to distinguish one from the other. Add in late shipping and you have customers looking at the latest issue and not being able to remember if they bought it or not. "Well, nothing has really happened in it anyway, so I guess I will get something else."

When a book is on schedule, people pick it up out of habit. Out of sight, out of mind. There is a big difference between "The new issue of X is out already?" and "They finally came out with another issue of X." There are lots of books available to readers every week. Publishers can't afford to lose readers. For most people, reading comics is a habit. Break that habit and you lose the sale.

Another problem retailers have with this is that, unlike other publishers, Marvel takes no responsibility for late shipping books. Due to the changes in the order process, retailers can adjust both DC and Marvel order numbers up to 3 weeks before they ship. But this does not take into account loss of sales due to customer apathy. DC, to their credit, still makes late shipping books returnable. They take the blame for the delay and unanticipated lack of demand for the late book. Marvel does not. Giant Size Astonishing X-Men comes out Thursday. Will it sell as well as the previous issue that shipped, what, 6 months ago? I have no idea. And being Marvel, if I do not order enough, I will not be able to get any more should it sell out. More on this later. This problem has already hit Ultimates 3 for me. #3, which was late, sold less that half of #2. Now, while I was able to adjust my order umbers, I saw no reason to order less than I did of #2. Why would I? You would assume that the same number of people that bought #2 would continue to want to read the story and get the next issue, right? And if it shipped on time, they probably would have. But the lateness cause people to move on. How do I order #4, since it is going to be late as well. Should I assume there will be more loses and order half of the sales of #3?

Well, that would be the safe thing to do. To protect myself, I should reduce the number of #4 I will get and then reorder more if I sell out. But, Marvel does not overprint their books and you usually cannot get more if you need them. That is why they are doing so many reprints. Secret Invasion #1 is going to its 3rd printing. Did they not anticipate demand? We, as store owners, are make complete guesses when it comes to something like this. Yes, I assume it is going to be big. But how big? No way to tell. Only Marvel knows the story and can make the judgment that it is going to be good. They need to have more faith in their own product since they are the only ones who know what it is. I get a 2 sentence blurb of nothing in previews to make my decision on.

Here is one of my favorites. Here is all I had to base my order of Kick Ass #1 on:

The greatest super hero comic of all-time is finally here. WOLVERINE: ENEMY OF THE STATE's team of MARK MILLAR (CIVIL WAR) and JOHN ROMITA JR. (WORLD WAR HULK) reunite for the best new book of the 21st century. Have you ever wanted to be a super hero? Dreamed of donning a mask and just heading outside to some kick-ass? Well, this is the book for you--the comic that starts where other super hero books draw the line. KICK-ASS is realistic super heroes taken to the next level. Miss out and you're an idiot!

And I have to order based on that. Or Marvel 1985, that comes out Thursday:

Before SECRET INVASION...before WORLD WAR HULK...before CIVIL WAR... The most powerful super-villains in the Marvel Universe gather their might to wreak havoc on the one place they've never before set foot-YOUR WORLD! As mankind's enemies cut a swath of destruction with unprecedented ferocity and ruthlessness, the fate of the planet rests in the hands of one person: Toby, a 13-year-old boy who holds the key to uniting his comic-book idols, the Marvel Heroes! Superstars Mark Millar (CIVIL WAR, FANTASTIC FOUR) and Tommy Lee Edwards (BULLET POINTS, The Question) deliver a Marvel Event the likes of which you've never seen!

I have a feeling I am way too heavy on this one, but they did 3 covers, so I felt that there must be something to it. But I am not confident.

It is hard enough to order the product based on the little amount of info we are given. Throwing lateness on top of that just makes it that much harder.

Enough ranting for today.

Gene Colan ailing

2008-05-12T09:07:00.003-04:00

I read about it here

Apparently Mr. Colan is having liver trouble. I am not a doctor, but it certainly does not sound good. Mr. Colan is one of my favorite artists of all time. From his Daredevils to his Howard the Duck to just about anything he has done. I am lucky enough to own 3 of his original Daredevil pages. I am truly saddened by this news. My wife tried to commision him to do an original piece for me for our 10th wedding anniversary, but he was too busy then. Boy, do I wish I had that now.

She did get Mike Grell to do this great one for me though:

I just sent him an email through his website and I plan to send him a card today. Far too often lately we have lost great creator and I always wish I had let them know how much they meant to me or inspired me. Well, I am not going to blow it with Mr. Colan. I think I will shoot off a quick note to Stan Lee, too.

Feel better, Mr. Colan.

Free Comic Book Day Wrap-up

2008-05-05T12:08:00.000-04:00

Without a doubt, Free Comic Book Day was a huge success. I don’t know how many books I gave away because I ordered tons and still have lots, but the numbers I do have are incredible. I usually have 35-45 sales on a Wednesday, my biggest sales day of the week. On FCBD, I had 84 sales and that doesn’t even take into account how many people just came in for the free stuff. It is safe to say I had over 100 groups of people I the store Saturday. I say groups, because many were couples and families. What a day!

It was great having so many people in the store. The bad thing was that I was pretty much stuck behind the counter and I couldn’t get out to talk to everyone. It was great to see some regulars, just there to shop, step up and help new people who needed some help making decisions. I knew my customers were the best and this certainly reinforced that opinion.

Sales wise, the numbers are unbelievable. I had a kind of impromptu customer appreciation sale. I knew a lot of regulars would be in for the free stuff, so I decided to give them an incentive to spend some money. Apparently it worked. Sales Saturday were 3 times the sales of last year and 60% higher than my best day EVER.

I can’t believe that I am already a third of the way to my monthly minimum goal and a quarter of the way to my “wouldn’t it be awesome if I could hit this number” goal. And all of this without having a new book Wednesday yet. And this Wednesday is going to be a doozy.

See ya then!

Pittsburgh Comicon Review

2008-04-28T00:09:00.003-04:00

I knew something was up when there was no line to get in when I arrived 5 minutes before they opened. Because I got in free, I had to walk across a hallway over the convention floor to the other side. Looking down I could see that most of the dealers weren't set up yet. Again not good. After getting in, I immediately noticed that there were less than half of the dealers from last year. And after walking the floor multiple times, I knew it was time to go. Normally I could stay all day, but there was nothing to see. Same local dealers, same local talent and special guests. And many guests apparently decided not to show up Sunday. Not good.

Now, I remember last year, there was some question of the viability for the show because the New York Comicon was moving back from February. And the fact that it actually ended up being the week before. I am sure that was the main cause for a lot of dealers not being there. Most could not do both and NYCC is mare more prestigious and probably better attended. The same problem with the guests I am sure.

Now there certainly were a lot of big names, but it is always the same big names. now while it is nice saying hi to many, including those that have been to my store, I think a variety would be better to draw in more people. Now I talked to the people I needed to and made a contact that will make both of us some money, but that was about it. A couple of notable absences were Diamond Comics and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund. A big deal, no. But odd that 2 national organizations didn't show.

And I am not even going to delve into the fact that the organizer was just convicted of murder. Probably did not help, but I don't know how much.

I looked at doing the show before I got in with New Dimension Comics, but the price was too much. $500 for a 10 x 10 square with one 6 ft table. That's a whole lot of comics just to cover that.

As for the selection of stuff.... I came ready to spend $400 on customer requests, maybe some stuff for me, maybe some stuff for the store. I spent $10. Hopefully next year will be better.

eBay Store is a Success

2008-04-22T16:59:00.003-04:00

I had some reservations about opening an eBay store. namely the high fees eBay charges. Well, I bit the bullet last Tuesday and opened one here (well don't go there now, but that's actually good news). So, I put up 2 statues that have been sitting in my store for well over a year now. 2 really cool Bowen statues, Full Size Scorpion and Rhino. I copies the pictures from Bowen and wrote a little blurb. Let's see what happens.

The Scorpion sold the night I put it up and the Rhino sold today. Both in one week. And at the same price I had them in the store, so it wasn't like I wholesaled them out. I am thrilled.

Time to make the internet work for me instead of cjuct consuming massive amounts of my time.

Pricing, Pricing, Pricing

2008-04-22T09:21:00.003-04:00

I realize that this is not particularly blog-worthy, but it is how my whole day is going to go, so I figure I should mention it. Last Thursday, I bought a 12 long box DC collection. Mostly the good stuff, Action, Superman, Batman, Detective, Flash, Superboy, Legion of Super-Heroes, Justice League, Jimmy Olson, Lois Lane. 12 centers up through late 80s, as I recall. Running through 12 boxes becomes kind of a blur, so I don't remember everything exactly.

Today, being a presumably slow Tuesday, is the day to get them priced. It is such a nice batch that I am forgoing my usual "Stick the boxes somewhere out of the way until I get around to them." I have 20 boxes in storage in the basement at the store that I literally have no idea what is in them. It'll be a little bit like Christmas when I pull them out.

Since I have no where to put them other than basement storage or bring them home (like the 20 long boxes currently in my basement at home - kind of hard to sell them this way), I figure this is the best thing to do. Timing couldn't be worse with Free Comic Book Day coming up and needing the table for that. Ah, well. I am becoming a master of having a store full of stuff without it looking like a jumbled mess. Or so I hope.

My father-in-law is going to build me 2 special long box racks, so I will have room for another 60 boxes soon, well as soon as all of his other projects are done. I don't have the tools, namely a table saw to do it and I would likely lose a thumb trying to do it myself. Plus he lives for doing these kind of things.

So, if you are in the area, stop by and see my great new collection. In all honesty, I'd love to bring this home and read them all, but, well, that ain't gonna happen. I'm lucky enough to read the books I am really enjoyed, let alone all of the new stuff that comes in every week. But that is a post for another day.

New York Comicon

2008-04-21T09:20:00.004-04:00

Well, today is my day at home, so I am going to use it to peruse all of the info from the New York Comicon. I know, sounds like fun huh.

Saw this video. I'm not sure what to make of it.

Buying stuff

2008-04-18T17:43:00.000-04:00

I knew when I opened the store that I would have people bringing me in books to buy. And I always thought for the worst. All I would see were early 90s stuff. And I certainly have seen a lot of that. But the amount of good stuff that has come in the door has really surprised me. I just took in a 12 long box collection of Batman, Detective, Brave & Bold, Action, Superman, Worlds Finest, Jimmy Olsen, Lois Lane and a bunch of other stuff. All DC. Then another guy brings me in Early runs of Power, Authority, and Planetary. That is the fun part.

The bad part is finding a place for all of this. I don’t have a back room, so the boxes tend to sit out, which drives me crazy. I don’t want to be the store with crap everywhere.

I need a bigger store.

A Happy, Friendly Store

2008-04-16T23:58:00.003-04:00

I feel really good that customers mothers and wives are comfortable enough to come and get their loved one's books for them and actually hang around and talk to me.

Today was one of my biggest orders yet. 30 boxes. It is usually 8-10. An unhappy confluence of lots of regular weekly stuff, half of the free comic book day order and a ton of stuff I bought from a special Diamond Comics Distributor sale. I am wiped out and the store is in disarray. I was lucky to get everything checked in before the customers started coming. Tomorrow is going to be pricing and organizing day.

Didn't read a single book all day. Definitely not a normal Wednesday.

Diamond Woes

2008-04-15T21:55:00.003-04:00

Well, today Diamond finally pulled the "We're Diamond Comics, where else are you going to get your stuff", in response to a product I received that was not how it described in the Previews catalog. I asked to be able to ship it back and they said, sorry, it was close enough. I ordered a $675 stretched canvas print and received a paper poster.

Well, I may be just one little comic book store, but I am going to see what I can do to get my stuff from some other sources. And as to that $2000 POS system Diamond wanted me to buy from them, um, I don't think so.

Name Change

2008-04-14T09:23:00.000-04:00

In an effort to jump start my blogging, I decided to come up with a witty name. I figured what would be a good place that people would like to come to every day. I was watching Happy Gilmore (actually my wife was, she loves that movie) and Happy found his "Happy Place". So I was thinking, "Where's my happy place?" Well, to be completely honest, my happy place is at the store, but at home it is in my chair surfing the interwebz or reading comics. Throw in a reference to a Monty Python sketch and we have a winner. I had to drop the "THE" because there is another blog named that and I don't know the rules of duplicate blog names.

In case you don't know the sketch to which I refer:

In the spirit of honesty, I do not actually read comics in the Comfy Chair, but the Comfy Couch is not a Python sketch.

Here We Go Again

2008-04-14T00:48:00.000-04:00

Yes, I suck at this. But I am about to get a whole lot better. I finally feel that I have a grasp of what I am doing in the store and now is the time to become "Master of the Internet" (dun dun duuuunnnnnn).

Well, not really. I am trying to make something useful and productive of the website. I will finally be opening my eBay store and doing regular auctions. And I decided to start doing a daily blog. Is anybody reading? Maybe not now, but hopefully I can turn this whole thing into something cool.

I am going to try to update it daily. I may change the name to something a little less specific. I don't know right now.

Stop by every once in a while. I will tr to make it fun or informative. Or both. Who knows.

Crikey! I Forgot About This

2008-03-03T08:09:00.000-05:00

I now have a website and a myspace page

I guess it is time to get back to my blog.

A brief history of me:

I grew up in Chicago and my first memory of comics was when friends of the family moved out of town and the 2 teen age sons left me what seemed to be a refrigerator box full of comics. Mostly Archies, Richie Rich and Caspers, but just enough Superman, Batman and Spider-Man to set the hook in permanently. Later in high school I found out that there were stores where I could get every comics book out there. They also had older comics and I could fill in the gaps and find out what happened. That’s when I started collecting comics and I have never stopped. After graduating from Penn State, I bounced around from many different jobs. I eventually hit a fork in the road in 1999 and decided that I would either go to law school or open a comic book store. Sadly, I chose law school. After graduating and working as an attorney for 5 years, I realized that that was not what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I started researching what was actually involved in the day-to-day operations of a store by searching the internet and finally opened my store September 7, 2006.

OK, I know that was fascinating. I guess the whole point of this blog for me is to try to pass along some insight that I have learned in opening a store. While it has been fun there have been a lot of mistakes and successes that I figured I would pass along.

If you really want to do this, get some retail management experience first. Luckily for me, when I wandering aimlessly through employment options after college, I took a temporary job a Christmas working at a Radio Shack to get some extra money. While never being a tech geek, it wasn't a bad job. I quickly moved up to management and ran a couple stores. Luckily, both those stores were small and I ran them mostly by myself. Good training for now. I also learned how to deal with customers, stocking levels, ordering and general business stuff that I still draw on today.

Comic Book Store Employees

The biggest problem I see for comic book store employees (and owners to be honest) is that comic books are such an odd product. To be a good, helpful employee, you need to have a pretty good knowledge of what is going on in the current storylines, know what is coming up (or as much as the publishers will let us in on) and know what happened in the past. Nothing is more impressive (or outright scary) for someone o come in and say I'm looking for the book where such and such happened and being able to grab the back issue or the trade where that happened. Now, the internet has made this a much easier task.

Editorial note: This is one reason that Borders will never be able to replace comic book stores and I hope the publishers realize this. I am not getting into the whole Bookscan debate, but most good comic books stores should be able to destroy a mass market book store on knowledge and selection and keep all of the trades selling, not just the most popular.

But to also be a good employee, a person needs to be personable, interested in what the customer wants, and be interested in what is best for the store. Most comic book readers think that working in a comic book store would be something they would enjoy and be a lot of fun. But their opinion is based on being around a lot of comics and talking comics all day. Which is great. That is a really fun part of the job. Sadly, a lot of the job is cleaning, straightening, merchandising, counting, ringing up sales and other retail type things. And this is where the "fans" fall down. I recently had a customer stop at another store and the cashier argued with him that the book he was buying was not as good as another book. I kind of blinked, not wanting to believe it was true. I make tons of recommendations all day long. "Hey, if you like that, you may like this." Or "I see you like that writer. Did you know he just came out with this book?" I have never, and will never, denigrate a persons purchase. Well, that's not true. I will good heartedly mock some purchases from the quarter box, but only with customers that know my level of sarcasm. "Ravage 2099? Really?"

I used to have to drive to get my Wednesday books and sometimes the books would be late, so I would be able to watch the employees interact with customers. I was pretty shocked at the level of disdain. The attitude was "Don't you know that this is when the new books come out and I want to read all of the new books, not deal with some nitwit like you." New books weren't available until the afternoon. One guy would take them out of the box and the two other guys would grab a title he wanted to read and actually stand there reading it! Phones were answered with a very "Why are you bothering me" tone. My personal favorite was when a part timer brought in a vacuum from his other job because they didn't have a vacuum to vacuum the carpet and someone decided it needed it.

OK. Enough venting on other store's employees. The point I am trying to make is that the desire to work in a comic book store has to be tempered with an actual idea of what needs to go on in a retail store. Spend some time working for a large corporation. While they may lack the personal touch of a small neighborhood store, they know what works. Read the employee manuals. See what they do to train. Understand merchandising, suggestive selling and even just basic bookkeeping.

Store Environment

I'm not saying you need to be a marketing genius, but you have to think about what makes people buy. How are you going to let people know you exist? What are you going to do to make sure they come back? Simply putting an open sign in the window isn't enough. And even worse is scaring them off once they bothered to come. There is a store nearby that I went to once. It is 15 minutes away, but I drove an hour to get my new books. It was a gaming store with about 40 titles of newish comics and 6 short boxes of 50 cent books. There were people playing some sort of game on tables in the store and they all stopped and watched me look around the store. I felt like I was intruding in their club. The counter was on a riser and the cashier was seated behind the counter with his girlfriend standing behind him, hand on his shoulder. I felt like I was approaching the King. Guess what? I have never been back. One of the owners stopped by right after I opened and said that they were getting much more into comics. I mentioned my experience (without the King comment) and said I didn't think I'd be treading on their feet since they didn't seem too serious about comics. He assured me I was wrong, but from the customers I have gained, I don't think this is so.

When you plan out your store, think about customer flow. How are they going to walk around the store? Make sure your aisles are wide enough for people to get past one another. Make sure customers are not having to step over merchandise. Make things logical. I never was able to figure out the shelving of another local store. He bags and boards all of his new books and put them on the shelves that way (but he doesn't sell bags and boards - never figured that one out). That is a great service for the customers and makes sure the books don't slump on the shelves. It also let him hide damaged books. Going through a box, I recently found the book that kept me from returning to his store. A copy of Bite Club #3 with a tear in the front and rear covers. Being in the bag disguised the damage. Now, to be fair, I never returned the book to him to have it replaced, but it angered me enough not to return. Do I sell damaged books? Probably. I can't look at every book when it comes in to make sure it is OK. But more often than not a customer has brought a damaged book to my attention. And I have never knowingly put damaged merchandise on the shelf for sale. It's not worth the damage to my reputation. I want every person to want to come back to my store.

That's all for today.

Start of Phase Two

2007-06-10T09:38:00.001-04:00

Well, here is the start of something new. The store is starting to run itself. Sales are about double of what I had hoped for at this point and growing. Last month was $3000 higher than the month before and this month is projecting about $2000 higher than last month. If it keeps growing like this I will be living large. To help that happen, I am expanding to the internet. I am working, with the help of a customer, on creating my own web page. This will hopefully lead to an online store, probably via eBay. If this works I will really be able to expand sales greatly.

I have purchased a ton of books since I opened (probably about 45 long boxes). Because I really don’t have the room for all of them on display in the store they are in storage. When I cleaned up for Free Comic Book Day, I moved 30 long boxes and 20 short boxes to the basement. Once I get these priced and ready for sale, I should be in good shape. Heck, even if I just stuck them all in a $1 box, I would be profiting.

The store has changed a bit as I have been growing. As soon as I get the new pics off of the camera, I will post them.

March Definitely Came in Like a Lion

2007-03-20T10:03:00.001-04:00

Even with less than stellar weather, March has been awesome. With 11 days to go, I am $1000 away form beating February's sales totals. And the way things have been going lately, I should accomplish that Friday. There is a big Wednesday of books coming, too.

Captain America 25 -
Well, everyone else has said their peace on it, so I will add my voice to the choir. I was warned that the book would be HUGE. I normally sell 8-10 copies. I ordered 50. I only sold 20 on Wednesday, including subscribers. The fact that there were 2 covers made this really only 10. Nothing big. I knew it was all over the news, but I didn't see any new faces. Until Thursday morning. I heard about the ridiculous prices going online. So I ordered another 30, just in case. Then the new people came out of the woodwork. Lots of phone calls. A lady came in for one and bought all 7 I had on the counter display. I did not care because I still had a big batch on the shelf and if she wanted to hand me $30, fine by me. I doubt she made it back on eBay unless she got it up right away. Then I was out and started taking names. We found out later in the day that Marvel had over-printed and we could get them the next Wednesday, but only if we had reordered by noon. The tricky part is that the books were listed as out of stock, meaning "You will never, ever, see these. Or in a worst caser scenario, in 6 months when Diamond does a physical inventory and finds a box, even if you no longer need them." So, a lot of stores probably did not even attempt to do a backorder.
All but 5 of my copies were accounted for through reservations. It is not fun turning people away. We should have 2nd prints next week.

My opinion on the whole thing. The only mistake I saw was the delay getting the 2nd wave of books out and not letting us know they were out there. We were told we could get more, but only if we had placed an order 4 hours before. Marvel could not have expected the media coverage it got, but remember that we were given no, zero, nada info about the issue when ordering. No cover picture or language ("Classified"). Yes there was rampant internet speculation. But there was on Civil War 7 too, and I still have a bunch. Spider-Man going to the black costume was going to be huge too. I have a ton of those as well.

Side note on Marvel: When the Spider-Man books failed to produce (no real payoff to promised story-line, "This will change Spider-Man forever, but nothing really happened) , I slashed all of my Marvel orders and now am getting bitten by Marvel's publishing decision. I sold out of Moon Knight and Punisher War Journal Wednesday this week (both had Captain America appearances). I went ot reorder around 4pm and found out that the were both out of stock. Wow! Talk about having no faith in your product. I need more now. Well, maybe they will do a second print that I will have in a month. This really kills sales.

I have just finished remodelling the store and will take pictured once everything is organized. I took down my "High Priced" "Wow, Look at That One" wall, magazine rack and an 8 ft table of 12 boxes of back issues to make way for 12' of more New Comics shelving. I was having to overlap my new issues. I had originally left room for 300 individual titles and now I have room for about 450. We'll see how fast that fills up.

Because I lost so much room for back issues, I built (along with my father-in-law) a shelf system that holds all 36 back issue boxes that I had out on the 3 8' tables. I have a bunch of boxes of books to add to those 36 and we are building another unit that will hold another 30. I will still have 1 8' and 1 4' for my sale stuff ($1 and 25 cent books).

I have also not yet made it to eBay. That should boost sales as well, once I get myself organized enough.

That's it for today. Tomorrow is New Comics day and it should be good. Getting more statues, too.

Yeah!

6 Months in Doing Great

2007-03-09T18:15:00.000-05:00

Well, Wednesday was my 6 month anniversary. Too bad nothing big happened in comics. Heesh.

Sales are rising every month and I keep seeing new faces as well as the old faces continuing to come back. New comics sales seem to be levelling out a little, so I am looking at other aspects to grow. Games and cards have done next to nothing here, so those will be one focus as will be moving the back issues via eBay. A website will be up in the not too distant future.

I'm still having fun. And will be taking money out to pay the bills soon.

Weeeeeeeeee!

Big Comic Book Day

2007-02-20T11:04:00.000-05:00

Well, Wednesday should be huge. Civil War 7, Amazing Spider-Man 538 and Brave & Bold 1 are all coming out Wednesday. Hopefully the weather here will be more cooperative than last week, where I only had 3 customers. I had a huge weekend though.

I am also planning my 6 month anniversary sale. It will probably be something simply, like 25% off everything in the store. Hopefully I can move some of the statues and games that have not been selling.

February has been great so far. Am am about $2000 ahead of January at this time and I am hoping for a huge week with the big titles coming out.

Dark Tower #1 has been my biggest selling title by far. I have sold about 45 copies. My preivious champ was Civil War 6 with about 30 copies. Hopefully things will continue to grow.

I am still working on getting the large collections I purchased ready for sale. I will have an 8 foot table full of $1 books and I hope to get some of the better books on eBay soon.

I am also working on redoing my back issue display because I have run out of room for my new books and I need to steal the all that I have an 8 foot table of back issues plus my expensive books display. I will take before and after photos.

Overall things are still going great. No feeling of burnout or distress. I am still having fun every day.

Hopefully this will keep going.

Always buying!

2007-02-01T09:22:00.000-05:00

Well this past week I have bought apporximately 3000 books form people cleaning out attics and basements. Yes, there were some of the dreaded early '90's glut (Malibu, Valiant, Image, Death of Superman, X-Force 1 - Still bagged with card!!!) but there is also a collection of approx 2400 books from the mid '70's through the mid '80's. Most of Miller's Daredevils including 158 & 168, full Crisis on Infinite Earths, Wolverine mini, huse runs of Fantastic Four, Avengers, all the key Spider-Man black cosutme appearances (well, except #300, but there are more books coming, I am told).

I will be getting a lot of these runs up on eBay as soon as I get them all sorted. I don't exactly have the workspace needed in the store to do this. I also used up my entire long box inventory getting them out of the banana boxes, file drawers adn milk crates they all came in.

Now to bag and board and price. Weeeeeee!

The Perfect Comic Book

2007-01-25T18:15:00.000-05:00

I had heard that All-Star Superman was a perfect comic book. Bah, I said. How could anything be a perfect comic book?

Well, they were right. I just read it and it is perfect. An absolutely amazing story and wonderful art.

Read it as soon as you can.

A New Home

2007-01-16T11:11:00.000-05:00

Well, since the title of my old blog made absolutely no sense any more, I decided to set up a new blog. And I promise to post more frequently.

The purpose of this blog will to have fun regaling you with stories of the daily running of a comic book store and my thoughts on the comic world in general.

Will anybody care? Who knows?

For starters, who the heck am I?

My name is Colin McMahon and I opened a comics books store back in September of 2006. After graduating from Penn State back back in 1990, I bounced around from many different jobs, trying to find something I wanted to do. My degree is in Economics which sadly means I am qualified to do absolutely nothing.

Waaaay back in 1993, while working at a job selling cars (not the right job for me, but it paid the bills) my wife said "You love comics, why don't you open a comics books store?" That's right. I married the best woman in the world. Well, I thought about it for quite a while. I lost my job at the dealership because all I was thinking about was opening the store. I was looking at storefronts and just about ready to sign a lease when Marvel bought Heroes World Distribution and the whole comic booc industry was turned on it's head. I backed off until things settled down. And I am glad I did. I don't think I could have survved.

One fun thing I started doing at this time was doing local conventions. Mostly small ones. I priced my then small collection and set up a table and had a blast.

I then got a job at Radio Shack, working as Christmas help to make some moeny during the holidays. I ended up sticking around and eventually ran 2 different stores in the ares. While not the greatest job, it did provide me with retail management experience, which has been invaluable to me now.

Flash forward to 1998. Beloved wife wants to get he doctorate and we move to Chicago, where my mom lives and I grew up. I start working at a law firm of a high school friend. I enjoy the work and consider going to law school. But the idea of opening a comic book store is still there in the back of my mind. I decide that how I do on my entrance exam will determine my course of action. Well I aced the LSAT and law school, here I come. Good thing too, becasue around this time or before, Marvel filed for bankruptcy and things once again got a little wonky in the comics biz.

So I finish law school adn we move back to Pittsburgh. Finding a job as a lawyer proves more difficult than I thought and I open my own office, which fails miserably. Not my true calling. Not enough of a go-getter and not confident about my ability. Eventually get a job at a title company woring 6PM to 2AM running the night shift and answering calls form evening closings. Not the best situation, but it worked well becasue I could watch the kids during the day.

After 4 years of this, I finally decided I had had enough. My mom passed awa in the fall of '05 and I finally had some money to open the store. I registered my no useless name and set up an LLC in December. In the Spring, I started looking at storefronts. I finally found a good one and left my job the end of July.

Diamond Comics Distributor required a reference to open an account, so I approached Todd McDevitt, the owner of New Dimension Comics, about helping me open an account. I had been shopping with odd since anout 1995, when I found his store between home and the Radio Shack I was running. New Dimension has 4 stores, all to the North adn East of Pittsburgh. My stor ein in the SOuth Hills of Pittsburgh and about 45 minutes from any of the other New DImensions, so I new I would not really be in competition with him directly.

Todd came back with the idea of me opening another store for him. This let me get past most of the new business problems. It also gave me access to the stock of his stores, a name with instant credibility and a larger discount than I could have gotten on my own.

So long story short, yeah right, I am now running the newest New Dimension Comics store, known as New Dimension Comics - McMurray, well, because it is in McMurray, PA. If you love in the area, please stop by. If you ever need any thing or have any questions about anything comic related, please ask away.

I promise to try to post here daily.

See ya!