I promise never to say “fave firstie” ever again.

§ November 24th, 2014 § Filed under question time § 8 Comments

So let’s get a couple of things out of the way before I start answering your questions from last week:

First, the local paper ran a story on my new comic shop, which has certainly driven some business my way. (Everything’s going swimmingly at the store so far, I’m glad to report!)

Second, blogging brother Tim is taking an in-depth look at tie-ins to Secret Wars II, and God bless him for it.

And third, speaking of Secret Wars, just look at this thing. Eleven hardcover books reprinting everything Secret Wars-related, shoved together into a big ol’ box. That is completely insane. Of course I’m going to carry it at my shop.

Okay, now…As for your Qs!

• • •

Dave Carter inquires:

Do you have any idea as to how you are going to order all of those DC Convergence comics?

Nope, haven’t the foggiest. For those of you who don’t know, DC is taking a few weeks to do what amounts to flashback comics, set in the continuity/ies that existed prior to the whole New 52 thing, while putting their current continuity/ies on hold for the duration. …Okay, I may have exaggerated slightly when I said “haven’t the foggiest,” as I do have some lightly-foggy notion that I’ll order numbers on these Convergence books somewhat close to whatever I’m ordering on the slightly-related current ongoing series. Or I’ll order based on my best guess as to what general interest in the titles will be. Or I’ll just take a wild stab and it and hope I don’t fail too badly. Actually, in my particular situation, what with a brand new store an’ all, the stakes are somewhat lower, since I’m not quite selling the numbers I did in my previous situation. I don’t risk much danger of being stuck with too-huge piles of books I thought would be popular but ended up not moving — (cough) Death of Wolverine follow-up minis (cough) — but we’ll see where my sale levels are at that point.

• • •

Thelonious_Nick wants to know:

Here’s a technical, comic shop kind of question. So my LCS gifts me a copy of Previews every month. But I notice some local comic shops have graphic novels or collections that don’t appear in Previews. For instance, I’ve been eyeing some R. Crumb collections at one shop, and thought I’d find the page in Previews so my regular LCS could order one for me–but they aren’t in there. But this started me wondering–do some comic shops order from sources other than Diamond?

Sure they do. I made an order direct from Top Shelf just prior to opening my shop, for example. And there was several other companies that offer graphic novels and other goodies that aren’t necessarily available through Diamond. But some items may have been available through Diamond at one time, and are no longer available…it’s possible the items you spotted had been sitting on the shelf for a while.

On a different note, was Tooth & Claw #1 the most gorgeous debut issue you’ve every seen, or what? What are some of your favorite first issues of all time?

It certainly was nice looking, from the brief look I’ve been able to get. I’ve been pretty busy recently, as you might imagine, but I have noticed that it’s sold fairly well for me.

As far as favorite first issues…I have a soft spot for the debut of the second Swamp Thing series from the early eighties, as I was really looking forward to its release. Another fave firstie was Don Rosa’s Comics and Stories #1. I’d been enjoying Rosa’s “Captain Kentucky” strips that The Comics Reader had been reprinting in the early 1980s, and getting a long-form adventure in a magazine format with his wonderfully-detailed art was a great gift. I must have read that thing dozens of times.

• • •

Sir A1! brings the sauce with:

Do you think you’ll need to diversify as in becoming a comic-RPG-cosplay-catch-all kind of place? Will comics-and-related suffice in today’s marketplace?

Well, so far in my 2 1/2 weeks of business, my shop, which currently carries only comics, graphic novels, and comics-related merchandise, has been doing quite well just with those product lines. So it’s at least theoretically possible to do so, given a sufficient customer base and a reasonably low-enough overhead. However, the eventual plan is to expand into those lines — like, an imminent expansion — once I got the comics-end of the business going. That was always the goal, to at least have some gaming/CCG material available in the shop. That’s not my particular field of interest, no, but I’m getting some inquiries from customers along those lines, and I have no objection to that material by any means. I just needed to focus on one product line first before tackling the next.

• • •

Vester plays it close to the vest with:

Image has been publishing good comics for a few years now, at a good price both in single issues and trades. But I never had the perspective from a comic book store owner. (I live outside US, so I don’t really have a way to know this things). Do single issues sell in a daily basis? I mean, do people actually come and ask for Image comics besides The Big Two? And do YOU think they are publishing good, quality books?

For a while there, it seemed like Image was experiencing what I called “The Walking Dead Effect,” in that people were rushing in to buy multiple copies of the first issues to various new Image series in the hopes that surely this comic will be the new hot title, selling for many times cover price within no time at all.

After too many occurrences of this not happening, these rush sales on Image #1s finally slowed down to normal: mostly mild interest, with the occasional series attracting more-than-average attention. You know, just like most comics from Marvel and DC. The titles folks mostly ask about are Saga, Black Science and of course Walking Dead. I do think by and large Image produces some good comics…sure, there are some comics they put out that I probably would have liked better if they had stayed trees, but that’s not a feeling I have unique to Image.

PD: Sorry for my english.

You did quite well…no worries!

• • •

Paul Di Filippo yanks my chain with:

Have you ever done Swamp Thing cosplay, at Halloween or any other time? If not, why not? Are you waiting for the contributions of a mechanical genius friend who can construct an animatronic Cranius to complement your outfit?

Sadly, I’m not much of a costume guy, despite repeated requests that I cover my face with some kind of mask. My interest in certain comic book characters rarely crosses over into a desire to dress like them…and that’s not a knock on people who do, because hey, however you want to enjoy your fandom, more power to you. It’s just not an urge I’ve ever felt…well, with maybe one exception.

However, next time Halloween rolls around, I’m going to pop into one of those seasonal Halloween shops and pick up a mechanical dismembered hand to begin work on my animatronic Cranius. YOU HAVE INSPIRED ME, PAUL DI FILIPPO

• • •

Rich Handley goes ape with:

Have you been watching Constantine? If so, what do you think of the cast and the writing? And how many times do you think the show’s writing team watches Supernatural before writing each script?

Constantine started as I was in the midst of prepping the creation of my store. I have the first episode downloaded from iTunes, but haven’t watched minute one of it. However, given recent news, it may be easier for me to catch up on it now.

I’ve never seen Supernatural either. I’m a terrible watcher of television.

• • •

ExistentialMan wonders:

Why didn’t you name the new shop Mike’s Magical Comics Fort? Have you caught anyone spooning on the floor of the graphic novel section lately? Can we get an updated drawing of a capybara by adult Mike?

1. Because if everyone knew of my magical powers, I’d never get a moment’s rest.

2. EM is referring to this, and everyone will be happy to know there’s nowhere to hide in my new shop, so no surreptitious spooning in my store!

3.

• • •

More answers tomorrow, maybe!

8 Responses to “I promise never to say “fave firstie” ever again.”

  • David G says:

    According to that newspaper article Mike’s favourite comics is Swamp Thing. Who knew?

  • Jim Kosmicki says:

    were you able to get in on the Indiegogo campaigns (there were two) that reprinted most, if not all, of Don Rosa’s pre-Duck material? I know one book was Pertwillaby and one was Captain Kentucky, with the third being mainly his fanzine spot art and such. I don’t believe that either issue of Don Rosa’s Comics and Stories were included, however.

  • Mikester says:

    Jim – there were a couple of hardcover books published some years ago that I have which reprinted all that stuff, including the Comics and Stories material, but not the fanzine work. I’ll have to see if I can find that third book, at least…I have a bunch of his fanzine work already, but it’ll be nice to have it in one place.

  • Doc Arkham says:

    I once uttered the phrase “Hey, you kids playing grabass in the board games – if you’re with the church bus out there, I think your chaperones are looking for you.”

    They were, and they were.

    This business, man.

  • Mathew says:

    A+ drawing, Mike.

  • Robert in New Orleans says:

    Whoops, I missed the call for questions. I was out of town last week and not checking all of my regular favorite websites. Glad to see that things are going well at the new shop and that you have enough breathing space to post new entries.

  • Casie says:

    Mike, that drawing is beautiful!!

  • Adam says:

    Old post, BUT.

    Most episodes of Constantine so far have been (loosely) based on issues of Hellblazer. So if anything the writers of Supernatural read issues of Hellblazer before writing their show. Then they throw them out and poop on a piece of paper and call it a script. Haha. Just kidding. But no, Supernatural isn’t good.