retailing

No idea why Diamond went away.

filed under Categories death of superman, retailing 15 Comments

So as I may have mentioned once or thrice, I inherited a number of items from my previous place of funnybook-sellin’ employment, following that location’s final closing. Like, boxes of old promotional material, this sign, and lots of old invoices. “You might find some use from the data there,” my former boss Ralph said, and I agreed, with intentions of going through all those pages to see what I can glean.

Well, it had been a while, and I finally pulled those boxes out to poke through them. Didn’t have any real plan in mind, aside from flipping open one or two here and there for the occasional twinge of nostalgia (“we ordered *that* many of that comic?”). As far as I can tell, I have access to invoices ranging from September 1986 (exactly two years before I started working for that store), running up to sometime in 1996. I don’t know if it’s a complete run, but it’s a significant amount of information of what Ralph had ordered, and what was available, from Bud Plant, Capital Comics, and Diamond Comics, and maybe one or two others in there.

By happenstance — yes, really — I found the invoice for the week when we received Superman #75, the nigh-infamous “Death of Superman” issue, dated “11-20-92.” (That’s the Friday of the week, though I’m pretty sure the comic went on sale on Thursday the 19th.) My memory over the years was that we ordered “ten times what we normally ordered on Superman comics” for this special issue, and thus, now that I have the exact numbers, I can pin down that assumption to a more specific amount.

Now, I don’t feel comfortable giving exact order numbers, as it feels a little bit to me like giving away trade secrets or something. Every once in a while I’ll have someone at the shop ask me “so, how many copies of [title] did you order?” and I’ll answer either “enough” or (usually, because they usually only ask if I’m out) “not enough.”

As such, I’ll be telling you that, combining both the deluxe black-bagged #75 and the unbagged “newsstand” version, we got in just a little over 7 times our normal Superman comic order. I will say that number is a few hundred copies, which, under all normal circumstances, would have been plenty to meet demand.

But then, as discussed on this site plenty of times (click the category link to see), and as you likely know already, the “Death” broke in the real world news just prior to release. Which is why when we were prepping to open, we were taken by surprise by the enormous line stretching down the street waiting to get in. Even by limiting sales to one per customer (which just delighted some folks, I’ll tell you what), we were out in short order. Had we ordered 20 or 30 times our regular order of Superman, we might have had enough, though given the number of people who wanted multiple copies, maybe even more would have been necessary.

Looking at this invoice, I was reminded of a particularly aggravating problem, in that Diamond shorted us our multiple cases of boxes of Doomsday: The Death of Superman trading cards. Just the total cost of the cards alone was about equal to, like, one of my weekly Marvel invoices now. Geez louise. Anyway, I barely recall there was some kind of issue with those cards at the distribution level, in that we never got replacements on them. (Eventually, the folks at the shop would get a full set of the cards for me for a birthday or Christmas or something, since I was a longtime Superman fan. Yes, I still have that set.)

Also interesting is that this week was also the debut of Doom 2099, and you’d think its foil-enhanced first issue would be overlooked in the rush for that guy in the cape what died. But, even though we ordered about 5 times what we would normally order on Superman (to continue using that comparison point), we would — eventually — sell out of it. At this late date, I can’t recall if sales on its initial release was hindered by the Superman rush, but I do remember running out of it.

Also shipped this week: Robin III #2 (both the collectors edition and the regular version), X-Factor #86, G.I. Joe, A Real American Hero #132, and, yes, Horny Biker Sluts #5.

What was amazing was the number of shortages we had, on top of not receiving the Death of Superman cards. We didn’t get our orders on Guardians of the Galaxy #32, Dracula: The Suicide Club #4, Kimagure Orange Road: A Retuirn to That Day VHS, Laundryland #4, Loco Vs. Pulverine #1 (may have been a restock, noted by Diamond as having shipped 10/31 on the invoice), the Marvel Super Heroes 1992 Holiday Special, Meatface: The Amazing Flesh #1 (um, what), Merlin #1, Night of the Living Dead: Aftermath, Nightbreed #33, Personality Presents #15 (with Michelle Pfeiffer), Rock Classics: The Doors #1, Savage Henry #23, Saved by the Bell #4, Scooby-Doo Giant Size #2, Screw Comics #1, Sherlock Holmes: Return of he Devil #2, Southern Knights #36, Stunt Dawgs #1, Tales of Screaming Horror #1, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mutant Sourcebook #1, Trailer Trash #3, UFOs Alien Contact #1 (both the regular and Deluxe Editions), Urusei Yatsura Movie: Only You VHS, XXX-Women: A Woman’s Work… #1, Yogi Bear Big Book #2, and Zoot #1. Oh, and a copy of Kitchen Sink Pipeline #70, a freebie newsletter to retailers.

And yet somehow we still had lots of comics other than Superman #75 to sell that week. Good gravy, what we put up with. Probably around this time I told our Diamond rep, after dealing with another slew of shortages, “if Diamond was a plane, I wouldn’t fly it” (a gag stolen from David Letterman). May not have been nice of me, no, but boy was I frustrated. But looking at the invoice, it looks like, for example, none of our Fantagraphics books showed up (which includes that Meatface mag), so maybe there was a problem with their books getting to Diamond on time, or something. I don’t know. Still, c’mon guys, that’s a lot of missing books. And cards. And videotapes.

Anyway, that’s a peek back at a notable shipping week from over thirty years ago. Now to find the invoice with the white-bagged Adventures of Superman #500 to see how many of those we shouldn’t have ordered.

Nature is healing…

filed under Categories collecting, retailing 6 Comments

…as speculation on Image Comics first issues is beginning to ramp up again. A few years back, my general sense of the Image speculation then was people hoping to twig onto whatever will be the new Walking Dead, a comic that expanded into other popular media and drove back issue prices into the stratosphere.

Now the speculation appears to be leaning towards first issues that are perhaps lower ordered, or otherwise under the radar. Titles that when they’re announced, and when it comes time for me to do my ordering, I don’t hear a peep about from anyone. And then, when it’s the day before the comic goes on sale, I start to get the requests.

From what I hear on the social medias, when I noted this, was that the comics folks on the YouTubes and the TikToks started to hype up these particular comics as “investable collectibles” within the last week or two. Of course, this is well past the time I’m able to get more copies, so even if I saw any of these videos (which I wouldn’t since I avoid most comics content on those platforms) what good was that going to do.

I haven’t noted the titles of the comics in question if only because the onus is not on them; they’re by creators doing books with stories they want to tell. And while I’m sure they’re pleased with the sales (and the attendant reprints), I’m not sure how happy they’d be to know that the primary push for sales is as a commodity, not as a storytelling medium. Look, I’m sure a bushel of twenties is a healing balm, but there must be some disappointment.

It reminds me of a creator at Marvel during initial COVID times, when speculators were desperate for anything to invest in, getting excited that an issue of their book suddenly shot through the roof in demand and sales. They seemed to think it portended future success, not realizing it was a one-off fluke as that issue featured an “invesetable” first appearance, and sales went right back to normal levels with the next issue.

So we have high demand for these new first issues, but no real indication of how many of those sales are to people looking to actually read it, and no indication as to what the sales will eventually settle down to once the investment opportunity is over. I’m just sorry that it may take two or three cycles of printings before the books can find their audiences. Unless they want to go on eBay and pick up the $20 or more copies of the first printings that were listed as such even before the release dates.

Collection and investment has always been part and parcel of the comics hobby — the phrase “must-have double-bag item” obviously came from somewhere. But in these days when comic orders are hewn close to the bone as it is, the surprise last-second demand for a low-ordered book is a frustration.

Featuring the debut of future Conan O’Brien co-star Anima!

filed under Categories retailing, teen titans 14 Comments


Oh, just a comic from an acquired collection that not only has a price tag from my previous place of employment, but has my writing on the sticker. Which means, this copy of The New Titans Annual #9 was originally processed as a new back issue after being taken off the stands by me around 33 years ago.

I’ve been at this a long time, you guys.

Too hip, gotta go.

filed under Categories retailing 2 Comments

First, let me assure you, the ProgRuin readers, that the Big Sidewalk Sale I mentioned last week was a success! I cleared out lots of comics from the backroom, giving me the space I needed to start revising/expanding my back issue section. That…will be lots of work, but at least now I can do it!

Also, I didn’t realize my passing reference to the online comic selling portal Hipcomic last week would generate commentary, but let me try to address a point or two you folks brought up.

adrian asked

“Is hipcomic disappointing because of the pricing, or the traffic? or the completed sales? or is it just too obscure a site to make it useful?”

To be fair, it may have been one of those “it’s not you, baby, it’s me” situations, as I was primarily using Hipcomic to sell leftover stock from the new comics shelf that I didn’t put into the back issue bins. It wasn’t necessarily High Demand Items, it was just largely low demand recent back issues. (Though every once in a while some random back issue would suddenly sell out from my listings and I’d discover the property had just been optioned as a movie or something.)

I suspect sales on the platform seem to lean toward the CGC-graded items, which as regular readers of this site know I prefer to avoid. That said, I haven’t given up on Hipcomic entirely, but I think I’m going to be a little more judicious in what I list there.

I don’t know how much traffic they get, but I think they’re doing plenty of sales on there. As to how obscure they are, I will say that whenever I mention “Hipcomic,” the response is invariably “what’s that?” I should note that when I search out specific comics on Google, I do get Hipcomic listings as results most of the time, so its footprint may be expanding at least a little.

And just to wrap up this particular set of inquiries, I’ve never had any problem with completed sales. Everyone there who purchased items from me paid up quickly, and I can’t recall having any problems with any transactions. At least, no problems that weren’t my fault (some kind of listing error that I didn’t catch, for example).

• • •

John relates…well, his experiences on Hipcomic, which to sum up, were disappointing.

I was pulled into Hipcomic with the offer of a free iPad and a free table-with-an-easel-bit that you can use to quickly take photos of comics for sale. The caveat is that in exchange for these goodies, I had to list thousands of books on the platform in a short period of time. I forget exactly how many, but it was a lot, which required spending an hour or two a day just plowing through stacks of back issues and getting them uploaded. The end result is that I had to list a lot of, like I said before, recent back issues that would not be fast movers.

It sounds like it would be an oppressive process, but it was actually fairly easy, especially once you got into the groove. You’d use the iPad, logged into the Hipcomic site, to take a picture of the comic (conveniently placed on the easel for easy photographin’), the Hipcomic database would, usually, identify the comic and fill in several of the particulars for the listing, you add in your quantities and prices, and submit the info to start selling. Prices and quantities can carry over from entry to entry, so you can list a bunch in short order without having to change those options, as long as the database recognizes the book.

And that was the issue that would slow me up, unfortunately. When I started on Hipcomic, the only covers in the database would be the main “A” cover, and variants wouldn’t be identified. Which would be a problem, since most publishers are heavily leaning on variants nowadays. If I wanted to list a variant, I’d have to enter all the information myself, which would take me a little extra time slowly typing out the letters on the iPad screen keyboard.

As time wore on, more variants started being entered in the database, so the autofill function would kick in, but still, not every variant. And not every comic, even from the big publishers, at least not right away. My process was, after pulling old issues off the shelf, attempting to list my extras on the service, but the month sales window I guess wasn’t long enough for these newer comics to get into their system. I’d have to enter those details manually, which isn’t a huge inconvenience but doesn’t facilite a quick and smooth stream of listings.

Plus, there’s the occasional qlitch where Hipcomic’s comic identifying software would misidentify the photo you took and enter the wrong informtion into the listing. And if you’re going a little too quickly processing these comics, it can be easy to miss, resulting in the listing errors I mentioned above.

And there were plenty of comics just not in the database at all, mostly the smaller indie titles. I would try specifically to enter those manually in the hopes that I’d be one of the few retailers on there selling those comics, which…worked occasionally.

Like John, I didn’t have a lot of sales, but again, I was trying to blow out extra recent stock, not offering items of more note. I had a few sales a month, usually at low price points, sometimes enough to pay the monthly fee but not always. Occasionally I’d get a good-sized sale but this wasn’t a major source of income, sadly.

I’m not giving up on Hipcomic…I do think their fee structure is a little better than eBay’s, and their listing function does, for the most part, makes things pretty easy. I’ve got a project or two to finish at the store first, but I’m going to try listing slightly higher-end and older comics, and see if that improves my listings-to-sales ratio. We’ll see how it goes. I think it’s a good platform overall, but I have to see if I can exploit it properly.

So anyway…

filed under Categories retailing, sterling silver comics 7 Comments

…getting ready for a Big Sidewalk Sale at the shop this weekend, with the admittedly odd timing of doing it at the same time the Super Bowl is running. Ah, that’s okay, who watches the Super Bowl any more, anyway?

But as time goes on, and collections get dumped on me that I don’t really have any immediately use for, the stock in the backroom builds up to uncomfortable levels and suddenly I find myself stuck with excess boxes of comics. Thus, my need for space necessitates the clearing out of these boxes of books.

On top of that, selling excess books on Hipcomic.com wasn’t going quite as well as I was hoping. I’m not giving up on that platform yet, but I’m going to rethink my strategy there. In the meantime, the many comics I had listed there have been removed, and all those will go out into the sale. I suspect I’ll make more money there with these books than I ever did on Hipcomic.

Not that money is the issue. I mean, sure, I’ll take it, but the primary goal is to lighten the load of excess material so I can repurpose part of the backroom into back issue overflow from the shelving and tables in the front sales area. Sigh. I really should knock down a wall and just make more front of the store, but I’m not quite ready to do that yet.

Either that or move to a larger location, and I’m not really up to doing that either. Sigh.

Anyway, the last time I did a Sidewalk Sale I did indeed shed several boxes out of the backroom, so here’s hoping it happens again. And if you find yourself in the location of my store this weekend…drop on by! Get a ton of comics! Help your pal Mike out!

Batman, absolutely.

filed under Categories batman, collecting, retailing 16 Comments

Hi pals. First off, I’ve shut down the comments on Friday’s post, and I’m going to consider the matter closed here for the time being. So, please don’t revive the discussion/debate in today’s comments. If something changes, I’ll put up a new post and start a new thread, but I think the topic has been covered sufficiently for the time being. Thanks to everyone for participating, and to Matthew for being a trooper.

Second, I’ll be returning to responding to your queries from the last Question Time post, as well as continuing the Final ’90s Countdown, in short order. I promise to finish both series sometime in 2026. Well, at least I’ll try with the Final ’90s Countdown.

Third, I know it’s an unpleasant world out there right now, and people are rightfully upset and afraid and angry at what’s happening. It may seem a bit silly focusing on comics like I am, but it helps to relax and center myself and escape from the world at least momentarily, at least for my mental health and yours as well. I’m not ignoring current events, but doing something quiet that I can control and enjoy really recharges the ol’ brain batteries. I hope everyone can find some similar respite.

• • •

Okay, I’m letting Wayne skip the question line a bit to answer this inquiry of his from last Wednesday:

“What is the deal with ABSOLUTE BATMAN?

[…]

“What is the main selling point? Is it violent like I’m the goddamn Batman? Is it Batman with no [other] bad guys or girls yet? I’m not checking Wikipedia.

“I want YOU to tell me why YOU buy so many copies and WHY it sells for you.You are in the middle of a desert, yet you sell more than the comic shop in downtown Chicago.”

Ever since Marvel hit it big with its fresh-start, continuity-lite (’til it wasn’t) Ultimate line, DC’s been trying to find a way to do something similar with their own titles. Essentially, “rebooting” their big characters with new hopefully-new-audience-grabbing titles and stories while still keeping the regular versions around in order to not alienate their already-existing readers. Sort of a have-your-cake-and-eat-it-too situation.

The initial two attempts were the All-Star line, started in 2005, which resulted in one genuine classic (All-Star Superman), and one still-as-yet-uncompleted run that received slightly more…mixed reviews (All-Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder). Both were not part of “official” DC continuity (however that usually stands), and were not connected to each other in any way. And while they both sold very well, the “All-Star” line faded out once the Superman story was done, and it became apparent that the Batman series had stalled out. Other series, like All-Star Batgirl and All-Star Wonder Woman, were planned but never released.

DC’s next attempt at an Ultimate-esque imprint as the “Earth One” line, a series of graphic novels aimed at the book market. And while a number of these were released, some with multiple volumes (like Superman: Earth One, have three volumes so far). I think, technically, this imprint may still be A Thing, even though the last graphic novel in the line, Green Lantern: Earth One volume 2, came out in 2020. (And Wonder Woman Earth One received a Compact Comics paperback edition within the last year.)

DC’s newest attempt at Ultimizing their comics, the “Absolute” imprint, certainly seems to have the most traction out, with current titles selling well, and new titles on the way. Unlike the previous imprints, “Absolute” has its origin in the regular DC Universe, via various Darkseid-related shenanigans that began in the DC All-In Special and are now coming to some kind of head in the DC K.O. event, currently running in a comic shop near you.

It’s possible, that at least for some readers, that connection means the comics “count” in their ongoing investment into the DC Comics Universe at large. And that pays off, in its way, with that current crossover I mentioned. I don’t know if that’s a significant factor in the Absolute line’s current popularity, but it’s not not one.

But when it comes specifically to the Absolute Batman series and why it’s popular, the biggest reason is that…


…it’s Batman.

And I know that sounds like a facile answer, but it’s really the big one. Batman is arguably the most popular superhero character of all time — or at least in the top three, behind Swamp Thing and Krypto — and having him headline the brand new imprint of comics is usually going to lead to big sales. Absolute Batman was first out of the gate with a comic book series, it showed everyone how this new line was going to work, and remains the flagship title of the imprint. It is the face of this publishing endeavor.

It helps that it stands alone, with (so far) only some minor crossing over with Absolute Wonder Woman, even though all the “Absolute” titles exist in the same world and the characters certainly will all meet each other. (Not counting whatever’s going to happen in DC K.O., of course.)

The quality of the art and writing is top notch, drawn by Nick Dragotta and written by Scott Snyder, with Snyder being already generally well-regarded for previous Batman work. I know when Absolute Batman was first announced, and the art was released, many fan reacted with “uh, Batman looks weird” but now that everyone’s seen it in action, those same fans are now “we love our chonky boy.”

But the two of them together have produced a work that is dense with information, both textually and visually. And given issue of Absolute Batman feels like it contains the equivalent of two other comics, and in these days of high prices and concern over cost-versus-content, it makes for an appealing buy. It feels…modern, taking these nearly 90-year-old characters and reinventing them via current sensibilities and storytelling techniques.

Now, I’m trying not to step too much on what WizarDru and William have already said in their correct and valuable responses regarding the actual contents of the books. These are new takes on old characters, from Batman/Bruce Wayne himself, all the way to his rogue’s gallery (many of who are, at least at first, friends of Bruce and privy to his secret). As William notes, emotion plays more into the proceedings, supporting the previous be-all Batman tropes of problem solving and punch-outs. And making Bruce poor, or at least not rich, puts paid to all the criticisms of “why doesn’t he stop crime with money” and “rich guy punching down, literally, on the underprivileged.” Every battle Bruce has is an uphill one.

And in concession to our online meme-full world, there are more cool elements in each story. More examples of pure radness and badassery that makes for lively discussion and scanned images on TikTok or Instagram or wherever. “Look at Absolute Batman just wiping out these white supremacists” sells more people on how cool a comic this is, making more people look for it, meaning more sales, more sell-outs, more reprints, so on and so forth. Making comics cool again, or at least these “Absolute” comics, can’t be underestimated as a factor, especially wit younger people not in the habit of buying physical media.

Another reason Absolute Batman sells well is for a reason that may not immediately come to mind unless you’re a comic shop owner observing comic sales. Or if you’re participating in this yourself…but investment. Not the kind of “investment” I mentioned previously, but “buy multiple copies, get ’em CGCed and put on eBay” kind of investment. The comic sells well, therefore there’s demand, therefore there’s opportunities. First appearances of Absolute Catwoman, Absolute Harley Quinn (that one kinda slipped past people), and of course Absolute Joker, that gets the investors excited.

Plus, the multiple printings each issue receives (#1 just had its tenth) attracts not just readers trying to catch up, but investment collectors who think the lower print runs on some of these may lead to a financial boon. And the more readers part = more demand for issues = more chances of higher prices on the secondary market.

I’m sure that’s not all the reasons, and that the sales on this book will continue like this forever. I’ve said a number of times that some days at the shop, I feel like I’m an Absolute Batman store and nothing else, as I get customer after customer, new customer after new customer, passing through my doors and asking where the new issue is, or where any issues are. And anything that’s getting new readers in is a good thing.

I would’ve read a Grim Ghost/Tarantula team-up comic.

filed under Categories market crash, publishing, question time, retailing 19 Comments

Isaac P. wants to know

“I’m fascinated by the ‘every publisher launches a superhero universe’ era of the 90’s that brought us the Ultraverse, Comics Greatest World, & the like. Is there one of these that you, as a reader, wish had been a success? Alternatively, are there any particular memories of this era that stick out to you from the sales side of things?”

I will tell you the one big memory I have of this particular period in the comics industry history. It’s probably one I’ve mentioned before, but it’s well worth repeating.

I very strongly recall getting in the new copy of the Diamond Previews catalog, which features Dark Horse’s “Comics’ Greatest World” on the cover, ballyhooing the arrival of A New Superhero Universe™!

Courtesy the folks over at the Longbox Heroes podcast, here is a scan of that Previews cover from April 1993:


And as you may be able to see, there’s a split down the center, where you could swing open those parts of the cover and reveal the Comics’ Greatest World gang lurking within:


Which is all well and good, but 30+ years later, I can still remember the thoughts I had upon seeing this cover. I thought about all the other Superhero Universes and such that were coming into existence around this time, and I thought of Dark Horse’s entry into that already-burgeoning playing field, and I wondered “how do they expect comic readers to pay for all these New Universes?”

And that was the real problem. Here’s Valiant, here’s Ultraverse, here’s Comics’ Greatest World, here’s…I don’t know, Triumphant, here’s that other shared superhero universe Malibu was doing aside from Ultraverse, and then there’s DC and Marvel of course, and probably more I’m not thinking of at the moment.

It was just too much…new comic readers weren’t suddenly going to appear from nowhere to read all these comics, especially during a market downturn. The fans that already comprised comic book readership were either going to have to cough up more money to buy additional books, or they’d have to drop other books to make room for some of these new titles. It wasn’t a huge growth move for the industry, it was more a lateral move.

You know how there was a huge push to make shared universe movies after Marvel’s success with that strategy, only for several studios to find out that it wasn’t quite as easy as all that? (And that even Marvel isn’t finding it so easy lately?) What’s going on in the comic book industry about this time is sort of similar to that, except 1) publishers had a slightly better hit rate, and 2) there was a whole lot less money at stake.

The rise and fall of the Superhero Universe in comics was enough of a thing for the Overstreet Price Guide to release a side-guide a few years back, the Overstreet Price Guide to Lost Universes. And as you can see at the link, it doesn’t just concern itself with ’90s efforts, as it includes the ’70s Seaboard/Atlas books…though, were they in a shared universe? I can’t recall any crossovers there. Anyway, I think I actually grabbed a copy of this for myself, so I’m going to try to dig that out and give it a once-through before I continue here.

Yes indeedy, this is going to be a two-parter, at least. I kinda want to spend some time with some of these departed Universes and not rush through ’em at the end of this post, so I hope you forgive the cliffhanger.

Just a little peek at what was goin’ on 26 years ago.

filed under Categories retailing 10 Comments


So I had a few Diamond Comics retailer informational thingies sitting around, back in the days when Diamond would produce a thick color monthly mag and a weekly black and white multipage newsletter.

One of the things you’d see in the newsletter, Diamond Dateline, are listings of the top reordered items. And this particular issue I’m looking at, from December 1st, 1999, includes the chart of the top reordered comic books that’s at the top of this post.

(And yes, there is a “top reorders by retail” that orders entries by the cumulative total cost of each reordered item.)

I don’t know that there are a lot of surprises on that list. Tomb Raider is kind of one, given the recent years spent as mostly a nostalgia brand, getting dragged back into the spotlight with new video games and media adaptations every once in a while. But one forgets that in 1999, the franchise was still a popular one, and thus retailers scrambling for more copies at the time begins to make sense.

The X-Men titles’ presence on the reorder list also comes as bit of a surprise, as I don’t recall sales fluctuating a whole lot on these then. The X-titles sell as the X-titles sell, with rarely much of a change. But looking at X-Men #96 we see it’s apparently part of some storyline involving the villain Apocalypse, and also Alan Davis drew it, so that may have goosed orders a bit. The Uncanny here is part of the storyline, so demand for that probably caught retailers off-guard a little as well. (Also applies to Cable #75 and X-Men Unlimited #25, the latter of which didn’t even note on the cover that it was a part of the crossover.)

That Batman: War on Crime book is one of those oversized Alex Ross productions. This is not a shock that demand for the book would have outstripped retailers’ initial orders, given the unusual format and how most retailers probably order conservatively on paperbacks. That said, the Superman one was just the year before, so maybe folks should’ve been able to estimate the number of needed books a little more clearly, but ah well….

I’d totally forgotten about M Rex, so it’s weird to see it here, at one point a Top Ten reordered comic book in the country. Probably stories putting all the Image Comics money into Tomb Raider #1 and forgetting about the other titles for the month.

Danger Girl is no surprise…mostly forgotten now, except by the occasional hopeful holdout, but it was red hot at the time and the cliché of “printing money” seemed to apply very thoroughly to this specific comic. I wonder if those reorders were even filled at the time…I imagine leftover stock didn’t last very long.

Steampunk: Catechism was a one-shot lead-in to the ongoing (at least for a bit) Steampunk series, a comic that I mostly recall for customers asking me “yeah, what’s all this about?” The art was nice, though, and based on the reorders on this initial installment there was a large amount of anticipation for what was to come.

Or I could just give every one asking a Swamp Thing.

filed under Categories retailing, watchmen 28 Comments

I noticed a lot of discussion on the Blueskies, at least amongst several groups of folks that I follow, regarding the appropriateness of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen graphic novel as an introductory comic for new readers.

Reactions, as you might imagine, are mixed, heavier on the “no you probably shouldn’t” versus “sure, why not.” My own particular contribution to the discussion was that I personally don’t need to handsell the Watchmen to anyone. It feels like anyone already coming into a comic shop looking for comics, Watchmen is already a known quantity, and it sells just find without my intervention.

It had been a while since it was that way…Watchmen sales took a hit around the time its movie was released, at least in my neck of the woods. But as time has passed, sales have slowly built back up again to having to reorder the books on a near-weekly basis. There were blips (or anti-blips, slowing sales down a bit) here and there, with the presence of the HBO series, or the prequel comics, or Doomsday Clock, but Watchmen is back to its bestseller status.

All that said, is Watchmen the right book to give to someone new to comics?

Well, it depends.

If someone comes in and asks “so, what are the classic graphic novels that everyone should read?” then Watchmen is definitely on the list, along with Dark Knight Returns and some others. I have received this question in the past, and these are exactly the kind of comics these people are looking for.

If someone comes in and asks “I’m looking for a comic to start with,” then it’s anyone’s guess. Asking “what are you in the mood for” and “what characters do you like” or “what kind of things do you like to read” and so on and so forth are necessary in pointing folks in the right direction. And not always to the graphic novels (unless they specify they want a longer read), but maybe finding a single issue as well.

It’s single issues that I most have to track down for folks who come in buying comics for other people, usually adults (parents or grandparents and such) looking for something for kids, either present or not. It’s not easy, sometimes, as for example I offered recent issues of Amazing Spider-Man and Superman to a couple of adults for a child, and their response was “these seem awfully dark.”

Many times when I have adults asking on behalf of children, they request “nothing too violent or bloody” which can also be a little tricky because I won’t know what their particular limits are for those sorts of things. Ever since I had a mom complain that the ladies in a reprint of a Steve Ditko Spider-Man comic were “too sexy,” I never try to assume what “too much” of something is going to be. Thus, it takes a moment or two of letting them go through the comics to make sure they match their needs.

We’re a bit off the main topic here, which is “Watchman: Good or Bad” for new readers, and honestly I’m neutral on it. Like I said, it’ll sell on its own anyway, especially now that it’s available in a $9.99 Compact Comics format. In terms of difficulty for new readers, I don’t think it’s too challenging for, y’know, a bright teen or an invested adult to tackle it.

As an alternative for someone looking for a good superhero comic to start with, the All-Star Superman book by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely is a popular favorite, as is Darwyn Cooke’s New Frontier. Both have their own challenges for new readers, but honestly any comic book-styled graphic novel may not exactly be smooth sailing for someone unfamiliar with the format.

Of course, this is just in regards to superhero comics, but when people come in for their first comics, it’s superhero stuff they’re looking for. But sometimes the little, little kids are happy with Disney or My Little Pony…I probably wouldn’t hand a 5-year-old Watchmen.

The answers to those questions may be found elsewhere on this site.

filed under Categories free comic book day, retailing 3 Comments

So some local high schoolers contacted me about doing a little filming in my store for their film class, which brought up the question “why didn’t my high school have a film class?” I mean, probably because you can film things on your phone now, versus having to carve a movie into rock frame by frame back when I a teen.

Anyway, they were good kids, held a brief interview with me (asking questions like “why did you decide to sell comics?” and “what’s changed in comics since you started in this business?”), and they even bought a small handful of funnybooks. It was bit of a fun diversion on a day where I needed a little distraction.

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One final reminder:


Free Comic Book Day has come ’round again, and hie yourself hither to your local comicks shoppe and get yourself some fistfuls of free books. Retailers have to pay for the freebies, so if they’re having an associated sale (and they really should be), buy a thing or two if you can to help them out!

Most of all, have fun and spend the day enjoying comics!

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So long, Butch.