Update: Dreamhaven Books And Comics

Dreamhaven Books And Comics, the legendary Minneapolis bookstore and mailorder company, is shutting its brick-and-mortar biz in early 2012.

At least that was the original announcement back in October.

Owner Greg Ketter clarified his position on a recent LiveJournal post:

“I am planning to eliminate regular store hours at the beginning of February 2012. I will periodically announce a "SALE DAY", likely a Saturday, to be open, perhaps once a month or so. I'll announce it any and every way I can and I'll make sure I have some special discounts and sales to entice people into the shop. As I've pointed out to many, many people, I'm not moving out of my current location or even rearranging the store. I own the building, the taxes are reasonable, I need someplace to store my books and work from, so I'm staying put. I just won't have the doors open regularly so that I can actually get some work done. I won't go into all of the frustrating aspects of minding an open but suffice to say, it does keep me from actually making a living. (sic)”

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

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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