Utah Comes For Your Comic Books?

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,

"I see here Mr. Watkins, that Comics, Books, Games And More has been moving a lot of copies of Marvel's New Universe titles from your so-called 'quarter bin.' We're gonna need the contact info for all those buyers…"

Publisher's Weekly is reporting on a potential change in pawn shop legislation in Utah that's going to affect used bookstores. It's called the Pawnshop and Secondhand Merchandise Transmission Information Act.

The law – "requiring them (pawn shops) to very actively – and expensively – register all their transactions with a central state database" - used to exempt used bookstores, but that could be changing unless people get on the ball and join the fight against it.

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Comic Book Jobs: DC Comics Direct Sales

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Conventions, Editorials, DC Comics,

DC Comics is hiring again for their New York office. This time they’re looking for a Direct Sales Representative for their Sales Department.

You’ll get to coordinate “all sales of DC comics and book format titles, MAD Magazine and DC Direct items to retailers through exclusive sales agent.”

You’ll also be developing sales plans, special promotions, sales forecasts and all that sales-based stuff as you work to get people to buy more DC comics.

Bonus: scheduled calls to retailers and attendance at various conventions to interact with consumers and the retail community.

You know what that means? Free room at Comic Con International.

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Comic Books Jobs: Checking Out Craigslist

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Conventions, Editorials, Movies,

If you have the gift of retail, draw fast, love to intern or want to sell some of your stuff, Craigslist has quite the deals for you.

In Boston, The Million Year Picnic comic book store in Harvard Square has “immediate openings for part-time employment.”

If you have “retail, customer service or sales experience” that’d be a huge plus.

A knowledge of comic books and graphic novels is helpful “but not required. You do have to be able to show up for work every Wednesday morning because that’s new comic day.

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Comic Book Retailers Work In A Bad Part Of Town…

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,

Over the weekend, The New York Times ran a story on the resurgence of Archie Comics. There’s this quote in there from movie producer (and Archie Comics writer) Michael Uslan:

“I hate to denigrate comic book stores,” says Michael Uslan, a comic book historian and the writer of the wedding story line. “They are wonderful, but for a kid to buy an Archie comic or for a parent to buy an Archie comic for a kid, they are not going to go to a walk-up in a bad part of town.”

I don’t see anyone having a problem with that, do you? Cue up hurt feelings in 3, 2, 1…

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Happy Thanksgiving: Superman, Retailers, Marvel, DC, and Jack Kirby

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, DC Comics, Marvel Comics,

It’s Thanksgiving, at least here in the US. For those of you outside the 50 states, just know that we are currently gorging on the kinds of food we don’t normally eat at any other time of the year, getting together with family and friends (some of us might be watching football), and reflecting on things we are thankful for. And yeah, it’s usually about friends, family, and good health, but I’m also thankful for comic book stuff too.

Here are five things I’m thankful for, as relates to comic books. Of course, this is just my list. Your mileage may vary..

(1) Comic Book Stores. Seriously, what a great idea. You can argue over smart retailers vs. the other kind, but how great is it to actually have an LCS? I like going to every one I’ve been to; the ones where they know me by name or greet me as I come in, and the ones where the clerk acts like I’ve ruined his plans for the day just by opening the door. I’ve even waded through a pile of Wizards of the Coast players just to grab my comics. I don’t mind. The idea that there’s a place where I can go and get comics is amazing to me. Until you’ve lived in a place that has no convenient comic book store, I think it’s hard to realize what a luxury one truly is. And to any retailer who’s managed to survive this long, my imaginary hat’s off to you!

(2) Marvel and DC. Okay, sure we all have our share of Big Two Disappointments we can point to and their weird reliance on crossovers and events that no one believes in, but overall, it’s great to have them around. They are responsible for the Direct Market and for keeping it alive. It’ll be interesting to see what happens as everything goes digital (and more people read online comics instead of superhero comics) and the generations of print collectors die off, but for now, I’d hate to see the industry that had only Marvel without DC or vice-versa. Besides, I have friends at both companies and don’t want to see anybody unemployed.

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COMIC BOOK RETAILERS IN TROUBLE?

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials,

Comic Book Retailers In Trouble sounds like a great title for a must-read graphic novel – something that maybe Drawn & Quarterly, Oni or even Fantagraphics might publish, drawn by Dan Clowes or Seth.

These kinds of stories don’t happen very often – most retailers are a swell bunch of guys who would prefer to peep only in the inside of a longbox. So when crimes allegedly involving a retailer, a convention promoter or a comic book creator suddenly make the news, well, it’s at least as newsworthy as those World’s Biggest Tomato stories your local evening news.

But riddle me this, Bat-fans: if you’re allegedly going to allegedly indulge your alleged fetish for watching women go to the bathroom, why would you choose a low-traffic area like the bathroom of a comic book store?

The Perfidy of Marvel

Posted by Joel Rosenberg Categories: Editorials, Marvel Comics,

Comic shop owners, such as I, recently took quite a jolt courtesy of our dear friends at Marvel Comics. Of course that is not all that unusual, but this one was a killer.

Marvel had a program called First Looks, which, along with the regular Wednesday shipment, gave the dealers five-to-eight comics that were due to be released in the next week. These were never the biggies such as “Secret Invasion,” but there were always a few goodies such as “Captain America,” “Spider-Man,” and a few stinkers. My regulars would sniff around, but, although I could let them look at them, I wasn’t permitted to sell them… at least until my partner read them. 
 
Beforehand, Marvel e-mailed all its retailers and informed us that due to paper, ink, shipping, and other cost, the fee to be a part of the program would rise to $20 from $7 and asked us if we still wanted in. I did, but 95% of the dealers didn’t and so, Marvel canceled the entire program. Getting the books in advance was the main reason I went into this business because it certainly isn’t the money. This isn’t the first time the publishers have dissed the retailers and it won’t be the last… until Wal-Mart figures out a way to sell comics and puts us all out of business.