I just wanted to note that I found it amusing that this was the photo Yahoo used on the front page to illustrate their Captain America story:
Just wanted to follow up with some brief commentary about Monday’s post:
1. There’s one thing I really, really, really, really hate about comic book stores (well, any store in general, I guess), and that’s when they don’t open at their posted times. I don’t mean a minute or three late. I mean, like the example I used, a half-hour late or more. I mean, c’mon. I understand that, once in a while, something happens and it can’t be helped (especially in small stores run by, at most, one or two people), but if it happens on a regular basis, maybe it’s time to change the hours to a time y’all can make.
We’re fairly fascist about making sure our shop is open during its posted hours, which is why we laugh at people like this who claim we weren’t open when we were supposed to be. That’s trying the wrong tactic on us, pal.
2. I don’t get it when stores just put the porn books right out there on the shelves with the superhero books. Apparently on purpose. I can’t even fathom that. I’ve got enough problems with parents getting antsy over the apparently-sexual content of Teen Titans Go…having them come across a copy of Blowjob on the rack next to Batman would probably kill them.
Granted, I don’t imagine this is a common problem, but I remember visiting a store or two in the past that would do this, and wondering how they got away with it.
3. This isn’t really intended to be a criticism of certain stores, since I realize and understand that some shops put less emphasis on back issues than we do. I’m just amused when people come in and ask for our “Silver Age box,” since that’s what they’re apparently used to at their usual haunts, and I have to tell them that they need to narrow it down a little. “Would you like to see one of our half-dozen Superman Silver Age boxes?”
4. Yes, I knew of someone who would actually say that books weren’t priced as marked, as the new price guide was out and he was in the midst of repricing all the books.
One, that’s crazy talk…it’s a good way to tell your customers to shop elsewhere. Two, if a comic hadn’t sold at $5, repricing it at the new guide value of $6 isn’t going to help.
I do know some repricing has to be done sometimes, but it’s not repricing I’m objecting to. It’s the whole “I’m going to charge you more than our price tag says” thing. For example, more than once we’ve sold something out of the bargain bins that had since gone up in price and demand since we dumped it in there. It’s our fault for not digging them out of those boxes, not the customer’s for finding it. We snoozed, we losed, as they say, and I’m not going to jerk our customer around on the comic’s cost. That’s just plain rude.
5. I haven’t personally encountered the “too busy playing Magic to help you” thing, but I’ve heard about it enough. I have encountered the “too busy playing this arcade game in our store to help you” thing, where, astoundingly, there was a line at the counter at this one shop I was at, and the one employee had to finish his game before he’d help any of us. (I only stuck around in line because the item I wanted to buy had been particularly hard to find…but I never went back to that shop.)
6. We have lots and lots of female customers, probably because we treat them like customers and not “look, it’s a g-g-g-g-g-g-girl!” And if there was any flirting or come-ons going on, it was our female customers hitting on the gay guy. Man, that Dorian gets all the chicks.
7. We carry lots of indie books…always have. Every once in a while I’ll have someone ask for an indie comic like this: “There’s this one comic I’m looking for, it’s pretty obscure, you probably don’t have it, it’s very small press…it’s called Lenore, and it’s from Slave Labor. If you don’t have it, that’s okay….” And then I point her to the rack where we have every issue in stock.
‘Course, carrying lots of indies means there are a lot of titles on the shelves, and I can’t always remember every comic off the top of my head. I’m usually pretty good about it, but Dorian had a better head for that sort of thing than I do, and now that he’s run off to the Foreign Legion, I’m doing my best to keep up on top of things.
Luckily, if I don’t recall a book someone asks about right away, a quick Googling usually brings up the info I need. I don’t get totally stumped very often, unless it’s something that only exists in the customer’s head: “I’m looking for the comic where the Aliens…you know, from the Sigourney Weaver movies…where the Aliens fight the Borg.” “Yeah, I’m pretty sure that never happened.” “I KNOW IT CAME OUT. You’re not much of a comic shop if you don’t have it.”
8. I’m usually the victim of the “new comic spoiler at the store.” Look, I know I work in a comic shop, but that doesn’t mean I get to read the new comics right away. I won’t get to read them until after work…which means DON’T SHOW ME THE LAST PAGE OF EVERY NEW COMIC YOU’RE LOOKING AT.
I will admit that I once accidentally spoiled the end of a comic for a customer, but at least I had the good grace to feel really crappy about it and grovel for his forgiveness.
9. Okay, once in a blue moon, we’ll run out of pennies (like at the end of a really busy day or on a Sunday afternoon), and I’ll round up change in the customer’s favor. Thankfully, that’s rare, and usually only a temporary situation.
From the comments section:
10. I can’t even picture leaving the front of the store unattended. Might as well put a big sign in the window saying “FREE STUFF – Come in and cart it away!”
11. I do ask for a one-time deposit for our pull-list subscribers, if only because we have the occasional abandoned pull-box and I’d like to have something to show for it. But that deposit gets returned if the person had to end the pulls for whatever reason, and is nice enough to let us know ahead of time rather than just disappearing.
12. I’ve only ever yelled at anyone in the store once…well, technically, they weren’t in the store, they were two kids banging on the door and shouting at me through the mail slot before we’d opened for the day, and I gave them a hearty “KNOCK IT THE HELL OFF!” Not even Gandhi would have blamed me.
On a slightly unrelated note, just this past weekend I banned a customer from using our store bathroom, since this is the second time I’ve had to (sadly, literally) clean up his shit after he used it. Yeah, I know, he should have been banned the first time, but he was gone before I discovered what he did, and I didn’t know he’d been let back into the bathroom the second time until it was too late.
So I banned him. Didn’t yell at him, though. Should have.
Oh, hi! Welcome to our store! Sorry, I know we’re opening a bit late today. We try to shoot for our posted hours, but sometimes, well, you’re gonna be a half-hour or so late. What can you do? I hope you didn’t mind waiting.
Say, that’s a bit of a nasty cough, there. Hmmm? Oh, I don’t think it’s that dusty in here. I assure you, I dust and vacuum at least once a month, whether it needs it or not. Maybe you tracked something in with you.
Is there anything you’re looking f…whoa, hold on, that’s my cell phone. I gotta take it, gimme a sec.
Okay, sorry about that. Is there anything you’re looking for?
The new issue of that Stephen King comic? Sure, we got it here in the case…it’s $7.99.
What’s that? Oh, it’s been out for a week. Yeah, I know the cover price is $3.99, but it’s red hot right now…lots and lots of people are looking for it, and I have to take advantage of that, right? Yeah, you know what I’m talking about. I’m gonna make a ton of money on this book, especially once the reorder comes in.
Sure, we’ve got comics for kids. How old is your kid? Six? Well, here’s the new issue of Wolverine. Kids love Wolverine.
Not quite what you want, eh? Krypto? You want that for your kid? Well, it’s your money, I guess. There it is, on the new comic rack…yeah, right there, between Tarot Witch of the Black Rose and Pee Soup.
Hey, you’re right, it does kind of stand out, there.
Well, yeah, the rack isn’t terribly organized, I admit. We tried racking by publisher, and then just straight alphabetically. But we’d go through the trouble of organizing the rack on new comics day, and when the next new comics day rolled around and we checked the rack again, everything was a mess, so we stopped putting it back in order. Hey, if our customers can’t be bothered to care, why should we?
Interested in back issues? Yeah, we’ve got some, here. Silver Age comics? I’ve got a box of ’em around here, somewhere. Hang on, let me look for it.
Ah, here you go. Keep in mind, though, that the new price guide just came out, so we’re in the process of repricing our back issue stock. We should be done in the next week or so. In the meantime, the prices on the back issues may not necessarily be what we’re selling them at. I’ll reprice them at the register when you’re ready to ring up.
Hmmm, didn’t spend too long on the back issues, I see. Well, I’ll let you shop. Lemme know if you need anything.
Oh, got a question? Sure, let me finish this hand of Magic: The Gathering and I’ll be right with you.
So, what’cha need? Manga? Really? Um, okay, I got a couple manga volumes here. I’ve got Dragonball volume 13 and, um, another copy of Dragonball volume 13. Yeah, we’ve had these two for a while. I guess manga isn’t very popular around here.
Say, look what just walked in. Why, hello, miss, how can I service y…er, be of service to you today?
Why, sure we have comics for women. Supergirl…Wonder Woman…Witchblade. They all star chicks. Take your pick!
Huh? Yeah, I know your eyes are up there, why’re you telling me that?
Boy, she sure left quick. Girls, who can figure ’em, am I right, buddy?
Independent comics? Yeah, we got those. Image or Dark Horse?
Neither, huh? Okay, what are you looking for, then?
Love & Rickets? Oh, Rockets, sorry. That a sci-fi comic? Yeah, I don’t think I’ve heard of it. Is it new?
No, I’m pretty sure I don’t have any trade paperbacks of that love rocket book, either. You might want to check our sci-fi/mystery/superhero shelf, there, and see if you spot it.
Yes, our bookshelves are in order. I said it was the “sci-fi/mystery/superhero shelf,” didn’t I? Hey, they’re in better order than the new comics rack, so don’t complain.
Okay, if you’re ready to ring up, just take your stuff to the counter, there. Here, let me move my cheeseburger…watch out, don’t drop your comics on the mustard, there…gotta protect that investment, right?
Lessee…you sure about this Krypto comic? Okay, whatever…oh, hey, you’re buying the new Stormdrain-Runoff Man? I love this issue…I was totally surprised at the end when the hero’s girlfriend turned out to secretly be his archnemesis this whole time.
Huh? You changed your mind? You don’t want it? Boy, fickle, aren’t you?
All right, here’s your total, then. No, that total’s right. Well, yeah, I know the cover price on that Krypto is $2.25, but it’s last month’s issue, which technically makes it a back issue, so I added a buck. Hey, we got a lot of comics in here, I can’t put price tags on everything.
So here’s your change. Sorry, we’re out of pennies and nickels, so I rounded your total up. Hope you don’t mind.
Thanks for shopping! Here, take a business card…tell your frien….
That’s funny, he didn’t want a business card.
Wonder why?
“Hey, this comic has two different covers. That’s weird…I’ve never seen that before!”
And I assure you, that wasn’t sarcasm. And he’s been buying comics from us for a while.
It’s a little reassuring, actually, that there are still comic fans who don’t worry overly much about the publishers’ marketing gimmicks. Sometimes I forget, since I have to look at and deal with these things pretty much every day, that not everyone is totally plugged into every single aspect of the industry.
So, yeah, I bought it…the two-DVD set that came with the little metallic-silver covered booklet detailing the character’s history (including the “post-Crisis” status of the character that’s becoming less and less valid as time goes on).
As for the movie itself, I reviewed it, kinda sorta, here, here, and here if you’re curious. Though I’d like to amend my statement about Luthor looking a bit like Smallville‘s Lionel Luthor during the museum heist…I now think he looks more like Snape from Harry Potter.
“We haven’t finished the design of him/it so be careful about what you read and believe.”
Admittedly, I don’t know a whole lot about filmmaking, but with the movie opening in June, isn’t this cutting things a tad close? Though I seem to remember that Star Trek: The Motion Picture, I believe, was still putting final touches on the film’s effects almost until the absolute last minute, so this sort of thing probably isn’t uncommon. I’m sure one of you folks out there can set me straight.
When I was talking with pal Dorian about this at the shop on Saturday, it occurred to me that maybe some kind of William Castle-esque gimmick can be employed. Reed Richards, at some point in the film, can point offscreen and shout “Look out! It’s Galactus!” And then someone in a Galactus costume can run down one of the theatre aisles, shout “I HUNGER!” or something similar, and run back out again.
This is what goes through my head at work when I wait too long to take my lunch break.
“Will Swamp Thing go back to the original DCU? Didio: We ask every day. We really do.”
VERTIGO EDITORS! LET OUR SWAMP THING GO!
Clue #2 – Would you like to buy a full run of Dazzler? ‘Cause we got it. Multiple full runs of Dazzler, actually.
Photo totally stolen from Chris Karath, who has lots more large pics of this toy and the Apocalypse “Shape Shifter.”
“Comic books can be enjoyed on paper too”
I swear the opening lines of this article don’t refer to me; for one, I don’t wear my Swamp Thing t-shirt at the store:
“When is the last time you went into a comic book shop? Was is [sic] yesterday, or maybe last Wednesday? Or was it a month ago to pick up the back-issues that the friendly middle-aged clerk with the Swamp Thing shirt has been saving in your file for you?”
The article, however, is mostly about this:
“So why do comic book movies draw in the masses but comic books themselves are largely neglected? People accept the action and characters in the movies as suitable and entertaining for adults, but this same action and these same characters in print form are relegated to the realm of children’s amusement.”
No answers to be had, just further statements that, yes indeed, people would rather watch movies about superheroes than read comics about superheroes. The writer makes the point that, since “comic books themselves are often poorly written, with undeveloped, unchanging characters and predictable plots,” they make effective inspiration for dumbed-down flicks for the masses.
Just thought y’all would enjoy that.
In other news…well, not “news,” but a couple things that popped up at the store:
If this were just a comics thing, I’d be less surprised by this. But T.V. Guide, of all mags, has done multiple covers…it’s common enough in the “real” world that people still being confused by the concept comes as bit of a minor shock to me.
Other unfair judgement of customer questions: “Hey, what’s an ‘annual?'” “It’s a special issue of a comic book that comes out once a year. The term ‘annual’ is more or less its definition.” No, I don’t say that exact thing to them…I’m a little nicer than that. Not much nicer. And I realize it’s been a while since comic book annuals were commonplace…I should cut folks some slack.
“Uh, no, but thank you for at least asking first.”
“Hello, um, I’m a concerned citizen, and I just happened to be driving on East Fifth Street in Oxnard right now, and I saw a billboard that had the Silver Surfer on it, and I was really concerned that they might be making a sequel to the Fantastic Four movie, which I hope is not true. I was hoping you could clarify this for me.
“Um…I’m just going to go drink instead. Thank you.”
In other news:
“Then there are the Hernandez brothers. Coming out of nowhere (or Oxnard, Calif., which amounts to the same thing)….”
As an Oxnard native and current resident, I have two things to say: “Hey!” — and “Well, actually, I can’t really argue with that.”
But then again, our fine town was repeatedly referenced on Alf, so we’ve got that going for us.
The specific example I remember is Avengers #1 (the Gold Key based on the ’60s TV show)…we had a very nice copy priced at $150. The thrift store folks also priced their copy at $150, and had it framed on the wall of their shop…where I was able to get a good look at it and determine that it had apparently been run over by a truck at some point in the comic’s history.
Sad when it happens to someone you know, isn’t it?
Here’s hoping the DC direct-to-video flicks are better…but then, they’d almost have to be.
