One of the commonly held beliefs about the comic journalism community is that all of us are in this game for the explicit purpose of “breaking in.” We’re all chasing that ultimate dream of writing “Batman” or “X-Men” or even bringing our own ideas to life at a publisher like Image or Top Shelf through the connections we make while reviewing and interviewing.
It’s our foot in the door, and a shortcut to realizing the dreams we’ve all held since we were kids drawing scenes of Batman (Jean-Paul Valley, naturally) squaring off against Cable.
But just because it’s commonly held doesn’t mean it’s actually true. Or at least universally so.
For me, I write for Multiversity for one reason: because I love comics and ever since I was a kid reading Wizard Magazine, I thought, “man, I wish I could do that.” And sometimes, when I’m writing articles, I think about that and it makes me smile.
But beyond that, one time my friend and fellow Multiversity writer Brandon Burpee asked me if I could do anything in comics, what would it be, my response was quick and filled with utter certainty: I’d want to own my own retail store.
Wait, what?
Why would I want to do that? Isn’t that kind of like buying a ticket on the Titanic when you’re clairvoyant? To paraphrase Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker in The Social Network, “you wanna buy a Borders, David?”
Well, no. As Image publisher Eric Stephenson pointed out in his ComicsPro speech:
Every publisher here talks to your counterparts in the bookstore market, and do you know what they’re telling us?
They’re telling us graphic novels are one of the only categories of print publishing that is growing.
That’s something you should be proud of, because while a growing graphic novel section in your local Barnes & Noble might not seem like something you should be happy about, you can rest assured that even the largest of those graphic novel sections is smaller than your own.
Comics and graphic novels are one of the few aspects of print that are actually growing, both on an industry-wide basis and a store-by-store one, as confirmed by several retailers I’ve spoken to on the subject.
But that’s not why I want to get in.
I’ve always dreamt of owning my own shop, and there are a lot of reasons why.
For one, I live in Anchorage, Alaska, and odds are I’m not moving any time soon. Alaska as a state is lacking in quality options for comic fans – or at least any level of competition – as there are only two shops and both fit under the same umbrella at this time in 2014. For every time I have a negative experience or a book I’m interested in is shorted or wasn’t added to my pulls, my vigor to create my own store becomes that much stronger.
I know for a fact that there are plenty of readers in Alaska, if only to help us survive the harsh winters, and the market I believe could sustain multiple stores, and would likely make it stronger for it.
Beyond that, running a comic shop is like taking all of my interests and putting them into a cauldron and stirring it up to make one hell of a magic potion to seduce me. My marketing background (I have degrees in two business disciplines and work in an advertising agency by day) and uncommon fervor for the art of spreadsheets make small business ownership appealing in general, and when focused through the lens of my love of comics, it’s just an obvious solution.
And I just want to help create and develop interest in comics, and give better alternatives to what I’ve experienced.
As a big traveler – during my tenure at Multiversity, I actually traveled around the world for half a year – I’ve been to comic shops on multiple continents and many countries, and have seen shops of all varieties, and I’m sad to say that I’ve had as many negative experiences as I have positive ones.
For every Gotham City Comics & Coffee (in Mesa, Arizona) or Floating World Comics (in Portland, Oregon) or King’s Comics (in Sydney, Australia), who have diverse collections paired with friendly and knowledgeable staffs, there are shops that have truly apathetic – or worse – employees who often actively discourage readers from buying comics.
Continued belowFor example, my nephew, once upon a time, was developing an interest in reading comics, and he was in that mythical demographic of “young people” who allegedly are not interested in comics. When he went to a shop to start reading Deadpool, he asked an employee for help. Instead of actually helping him, the staff actively mocked him for his desire to read that comic in specific, as if reading a Deadpool comic was a deadly sin in the comic world.
When he told me about the experience, I explained to him that quite often you have to “earn” your place at a comic shop. Like you’re joining a special club that you have to prove your worthiness for.
Looking back, the weirdest part of that anecdote to me wasn’t that he went through that experience.
It was that it felt perfectly normal saying my response to him.
New readers are definitely out there, ready to read, and even readers younger in age. A lot of times the difficulty stems from getting people through the door, and that’s often triggered by the general perception that surrounds comic shops.
As Patrick Brower of the Eisner winning Challengers Comics + Conversation shop in Chicago told me in an interview, “Getting younger kids into comics isn’t hard at all–it’s their parents that have to be willing to bring them into the shop that’s the hurdle.”
Eric Stephenson elaborated on this in an interview when I asked him about all-ages comics, saying, “this is anecdotal, obviously, but from conversations I’ve had with parents I know, I get the impression that comic books stores rank only slightly lower than sex shops on the list of places they don’t want to go.”
It’s not just those types of experiences, which I can corroborate, as I’ve been to shops that dissuade you from buying certain comics, make fun of creators who worked on the book you’re purchasing and generally act like they are doing you a favor to help.
Sometimes it’s more superficial, as I’ve been to shops that organize comics like all of their employees are Errol Childress (that’s a comment about the poor state of his house, not a Yellow King related one), ones that are so low light you can barely see inventory and ones with layouts that would make Storm go into the fetal position.
Then there are the ones who think that basic sales concepts like “Staff Picks” or “Recommendations” are some sort of jingoistic mind control that should be avoided like the plague, regardless of any advantages they may bring to their bottom line.
Many retailers – as I’ve said – do an amazing job at welcoming people of all shapes, sizes, genders and creeds, and creating an atmosphere that is both welcoming and encouraging to sales. But many don’t, and amongst a lot of other reasons, that’s something that drives me to want to become a retailer.
Because we – meaning not just retailers, but readers as well – can do better at welcoming new people to the medium, or expanding what current readers are actively reading.
That’s a whole lot of talk about what I want to do and why I want to do it, but there’s always the how to consider.
How can we make comic shops better?
Look to the ones who do things well already.
I mentioned Challengers Comics + Conversation already, and from afar, I have a bit of fanboy crush on their work. They seem like they have it really figured out, and I think there is so much to learn from how they approach things.
That, to me, is brilliant. Obviously not every shop can support something like that, but to dedicate store space to developing the readers – and customers – of tomorrow would certainly be something I’d look to factor into my shop.
Actively taking interest in your customer base and hand selling product seems like something that would prove valuable to the average comic retail store, yet strangely is absent in most I visit.
As Brower told me before, “Just talking to people is the best way to find out what they want. Too often someone is about to leave empty-handed, and all it takes is a ‘Did you find what you were looking for?’ to turn that visit into a purchase.”
Challengers is hugely successful with that tactic, as besides the standard “Batman” and “Saga” like titles residing at the top of their sales charts, they also feature books like “The Sixth Gun” and “Revival” as top sellers because they regularly hand sell them to soon-to-be-happy customers.
I remember visiting Gotham City Comics & Coffee in Mesa, AZ when on a business trip, and when I walked in, an employee (whom I found out while researching this piece was manager Jamie Ruiz) came up shortly after I’d been browsing their graphic novel and trade sections. Instead of just giving me a cursory “anything I can help you with?” the employee struck up a conversation with me, asking me what comics I enjoyed and giving me recommendations based off what I said I was interested in.
While I didn’t end up purchasing anything in that visit, it was a great conversation that stood out to me as a notable experience, and it made me want to purchase something.
The question is, should what Brower and his team and Ruiz from Gotham City in Mesa do be so notable? Probably not, but in my mind, that was another thing I tucked away for use later when I opened my theoretical store.
I know when I’m in my local shop, and the employees are – to my frustration – ignoring the customers to discuss something they saw on Tumblr or god knows what, I often will talk to other customers and help them out.
One time, a couple who clearly were fans of the AMC show were looking through loose “Walking Dead” issues saying things like, “Carl doesn’t have an eyepatch! This comic is wrong!” while being generally confused about what to buy. Instead of mocking them, I asked them what they were looking for specifically. When I left them, they were walking to the counter with the first two compendiums of the series, thankful for my assistance. It wasn’t difficult to guide them to a positive customer experience, but I shudder to think what would have happened if I left them alone to their own devices.
There are plenty of things one can take from shops, from the well-lit and open floor layout of Floating World Comics in Portland to the general encouragement of self-published works in all of Portland’s shops, to the frighteningly logical organization of titles in King’s Comics in Sydney and the diverse and often one-of-a-kind stock Gosh! Comics carries in London. These are things that turn non-readers into readers, and active readers into happier, higher purchasing ones.
The list could go on and on about the things that seem to work in shops, and the things that get readers in the door and to stay there once they do. The question, for me, is does the idea of me owning my own comic retailer seem like a good idea?
One thing I know, and something I’d be remiss to go without noting, is that life as a retailer is a lot more than just hanging out at a shop and talking about things you love all day. Besides just the day-to-day running of the business, you have complications that arise from the increasingly archaic and frustratingly rigid system of ordering at Diamond Comics Distributors, the constantly looming specter of digital comics, and the aforementioned stigma on comic shops that keeps some of your potential customer base outside your shops regardless of what you do.
Continued belowIt’s not quite clubbing with ‘Ye and Jay or taking private jets to Monaco, is what I’m trying to say. This ain’t the sexy life.
But for those who do it, and do it well, it is a good one, and it can be an amazingly rewarding experience, personally and financially. I mean, do you really think Brian Hibbs – who is pretty much the bee’s knees and the Obi Wan Kenobi of comic retailers – would have bought a second store if this didn’t have the potential for success?
So yes, I aim to open a store or buy an existing store someday. I think from what I’ve learned and experienced, and what I know and what my skills are, I could do better.
But we all can.
I’m not a comic retailer.
At least not yet. For now, I’m just a guy who writes for a comic site, who someday would like to own his own shop, just like some people who write for comic sites want to create their own books. But what I am, and will always be to a degree, is a member of the community of comics. We’re all a part of it. Retailers. Readers. Creators. Publishers. You name it, we’re in this together.
Even if we don’t all end up living our dreams and doing what we ultimately want in this industry and with this medium that we all love, we can make things a little bit better by being better members of the community.
For example, that shop I mentioned in Alaska towards the beginning of the article? The one that’s an inspiration for me to own my own store, partially because of perceived ineptitude? Instead of just venting in an article on this site, I reached out to the owner of the shop and shared my concerns, and was met with open arms. When I went to the shop next, one of the employees talked about how much they appreciated that, and how they love hearing feedback – positive or negative – from customers.
Sure, I could have idly complained behind a thin veil of anonymity online, but instead I made my voice heard. And maybe things will improve, ever so slightly, and that will make the comic shop experience better for others who visit.
Looking back to Stephenson’s ComicsPro speech, that message could be expanded beyond retailers and publishers. While you may glom onto the things he had to say that frustrated you or made you shake your head, what he said is a call-to-action, and hopefully inspiration for not just retailers, but readers too. We all have our part to do.
I know that even if I don’t end up opening my own shop, I’ll do my best to encourage interest and growth in comics, by being an evangelist for this great medium. At the very least, I think that’s something that comic fans of all types should try to do, even if it is a small step to make this medium we love stronger and more successful, both for today and tomorrow.
