I’m poking my way through the new Comics Journal. It’s the first time in a while I haven’t had anything in an issue, so I feel somehow more free to comment on what is included. Not sure why, but there it is.
Anyway, I recently finished Alan David Doane’s impassioned plea for better comics stores, titled “A Future For Comics”. Doane’s basic argument is that many direct market stores are run by folks who care a lot about super-heroes and only a little about being professional retailers; as a result, the direct market caters to insular fanboys and ignores basic professional considerations (opening on time, stocking diverse titles, not sneering at customers) which would allow for growth into new markets (women, kids, guys who haven’t read super-hero comics since they were 8 — most people, in other words.)
I’m sympathetic to Doane’s argument for the most part, and his analysis of the problems with the direct market (insularity, basically) certainly seems correct. But I think the future he’s hoping for is already basically impossible. Free-standing, specialist comic-stores are, in the medium-term, doomed, and it doesn’t seem to me like there’s anything that can change that. Yes, as Doane points out, a few stores have made a shift to stocking manga and alternative titles, and maybe some of those will survive over the long term. But, really, folks who want that kind of material are already well served by bookstores and online markets. Those stores have already moved agressively into the market; they have a huge advantage already. Traditional direct market comic stores aren’t going to make that up.
Indeed, for them to try might well hasten the demise of some of them. To attract new people to direct market stores would require an entirely different business plan; different kinds of marketing, different kind of expertise, different purchasing patterns — the works. Making that kind of transition is really hard unless you’re quite smart and determined. Doane suggests it’s just a matter of selling to girlfriends and children as well as to the guys who are shopping in the first place, but you don’t make a living on odd sales like that. If women and kids aren’t coming to the store on their own, the places are doomed — and they won’t come on their own without massive alterations in how those stores are organized — and that’s not gonna happen — so, yeah, it’s over. Someday in the not too distant future freestanding comic stores will be seen as a historical aberration, a weird comics retail transition between drug store racks and bookstores (online and otherwise).
Is that a bad thing? I dunno. I haven’t been to a direct market comic store in years (other than the great Chicago Comics, which doesn’t really count.) I remember the stores of my youth with some nostalgia, but, well, so it goes. Small independent businesses losing out to corporate behemoths is distressing, but, as Doane points out, if anyone has it coming, its comics retailers.
I will say that I think Doane is a little off-base when he says that:
“The collapse of the Direct Market in the 1990s was based in large part on the fact that the comics that were selling weren’t very good, and therefore weren’t interesting readers in their contents as quality storytelling. The prime reason people were buying comics before the ’90s collapse had more to do with issues of collectability and “investment.” But a comic book is worth nothing if it doesn’t contain a story that is well written and well drawn, and, more importantly, draws the reader into its world. And a comic that is worth nothing ultimately will drive its buyers away, however gratifying the short-term thrill of mere possession might be.”
I think Gary Groth has made a similar argument, and I thought it was silly then as well. The problem with super-hero comics isn’t that the quality is bad. I mean, there’s *lots* of dreadful stuff that have a huge fan base (things like, oh, Scooby-Doo cartoons…or Rolling Stone concerts….or Alicia Keys albums….) Quality isn’t objective, of course, but using any aesthetic criteria, you’re going to find that sometimes quality and popularity are directly related, sometimes they’re inversely related, and sometimes they don’t seem to have any relationship at all. The problem with super-hero comics isn’t that they’re “bad” (though I agree that many of them are bad); it’s that, bad or good, they’re aimed at an audience which is increasingly insular, and that, as a result, the genre doesn’t really look sustainable in the long, or even medium, term.
Hey Noah,
I appreciate you taking the time to analyze my essay, and although I think I’m more optimistic about the possible future of (good) comic book stores, I can’t really argue with anything you say, I can only hope that the truly great shops like The Beguiling, Million Year Picnic and Modern Myths manage to continue and thrive.
Thanks again for posting your response!
Alan
I was in comics retail in the early ’90s (as a clerk while I was in grad school), and I always thought the collapse of the market wasn’t that the comics were bad, necessarily (though some of the best-selling stuff I despised), but that there was a huge chunk of buyers (usually of multiple copies) who didn’t care if it was good , as long as it was profitable.
Cost doesn’t help either. Most direct-marketeers sell comics AND collections of comics (books of comics…oh, all right, “graphic novels”) at retail price. Nobody in their right mind would pay that much, when virtually all online retailers sell the stuff at 25-40% off. Manga books are much cheaper and so, I think, are more reasonable to sell in bookstores (and potentially comics shops) at “retail” price….but superheroes, etc. are printed in color, are more expensive, etc. The death of these kinds of comics stores are all but assured…but there are comics shops which focus on alternative stuff, manga, and anime…and they may well thrive. Bookstores like Barnes and Noble, etc. are not for specialists and so they carry all kinds of random crap without any real insight into the market and “collectors” interests. You can’t find “classic” manga like (I don’t know) Astro Boy or Princess Knight or Barefoot Gen (or whatever) on the shelves, for the most part, while real comics and manga nuts may want this stuff. There is a market for nuts of various kinds (superheroes, manga)…but most “comic book stores of our youth” don’t serve those audiences very well…So, yes, many will die…but good ones with enough shelf space to carry the less “mainstream” stuff that conoisseur(sp?)/nuts will want can survive…although online sales will take a bite out of that market too. Still, even small superhero comics shops can “survive” if run reasonably well. By ordering just enough product to sell and being smart enough to know what will sell, etc., these places can make minimal profits and stay in business…But that’s about it.
The comics shops of Noah’s youth are long closed by the way. Light a candle.
I was excited to see that comic shops could find new readers via “massive alterations in how those stores are organized” but disappointed to see that you didn’t elaborate what those alterations might be.
What would it take? What are comic shops declining to do that would create the kind of industry that Alan seeks?
Hey Leigh. I mean, obviously I don’t have all, or probably even any, of the answers. But at minimum comics stores would need to start stocking large amounts of manga, and fair amounts of “alternative” comics, and then they’d need to have some sort of agressive advertising campaign to let folks know that they have that product. That may not sound like much, but it would be an enormous change; they’d have to change distributors, marketing strategy, and product stocked — what they bought, who they sold to, and how the whole thing is financed. And the whole thing would probably still be a bust, since bookstores and online retailers already have a much better connection with the target audience.
Great point about marketing and advertising, Noah. Most comic book stores fail to even effectively use their front window to demonstrate the breadth of what they offer to readers, never mind investing in a comprehensive, multi-year marketing plan to create top-of-mind awareness in the minds of the people in their community.
Hey Noah,
Of those changes, the least likely seems to be the “aggressive advertising campaign” — I have seen retailers with impressive stocking policies and retailers who place substantial orders with non-Diamond distributors, but not much in the way of advertising. The bloggically-acclaimed stores like Rocketship, Isotope, Beguiling, and Comic Relief have been pretty successful at spreading the message “we’re a different kind of comic shop,” and I think they’re pretty well-known among their local populations. Their aggressive event calendars, and accompanying PR efforts, are about the most active advertising that I know of… but I assume you’re thinking of a step beyond that?
Apologies if I’m at a disadvantage ’cause I haven’t seen the TCJ piece yet.
The promotional efforts you’re discussing do work for some stores (Quimby’s in Chicago is another example.) I think if comic stores are to survive en masse, though, there needs to be a pretty sizable shift in consciousness, away from saying “well, this or that comic store is different” and towards a sense that “comic stores are good places to shop.”
I think that there probably will continue to be a handful of quality comic stores in urban areas. But Alan seemed to be hoping those stores would spread and become the norm. I doubt that’s going to happen — instead, the norm in most places and for most purposes is going to be no comic stores at all.
I have had similar feelings about comic shops as well, but I tend to focus on the fate of paper comics rather than the shops themselves.
One thing about that insular market – it also tends to be very similar in its tech savy demographics – so I keep thinking that eventually digital/web versions of comics are going to wisk broom this whole era of comic shops away into some digital dustbin.
“One thing about that insular market – it also tends to be very similar in its tech savy demographics – so I keep thinking that eventually digital/web versions of comics are going to wisk broom this whole era of comic shops away into some digital dustbin.”
Couldn’t agree more. The new model is definitely: web >>> cheap print collection >>> more expensive trade >>> ultra slick archive version.
This quickly places the product into the consumer’s hands, builds the interest at a lower cost, then moves it to the book retailer rather than the floppy-based Direct market.
If done correctly then the “publisher” could be in the black earlier in the process. By placing prominent advertising on the webcomics (Video games, movies, fashion, toy, music and other ads)and transferring that to the cheap print version they could pay for themselves before release.
(and before anyone says that it would be monstrously hard to get that sort of advertising for webcomics, I would say that any publisher should contact the ad sales departments of any major magazine and talk to actual ad sales folks who do it for a living. That’s what this sort of industry needs – a real business plan with business infrastructure geared toward making a profit)
I think that comics shops would have some sort of chance of retooling themselves for a different audience — if it weren’t for online stores. I mean, bookstores, which are way more professional and cater to a much broader audience, are having a terrible time because of places like Amazon. Given that reality, it’s hard for me to see how comics stores can reinvent themselves and be successful.
Even so, the failure of imagination when it comes to marketing is pretty amazing. When they have these big super-hero movies, do they even advertise the comics in the trailers? Surely you could write a contract where some sort of discounted rate for such an advertisement was part of the deal for selling the rights? And if you’re worried that the comics are too adult now, why not advertise the Essential volumes, where the characters were introduced?
Maybe this is impossible for reasons I don’t understand. But I do know that the refusal to advertise anywhere except in trade publications and the like is not the sign of a healthy industry.
I can’t tell you how utterly frustrating your comments are to a direct comic retailer (Pegasus Books of Bend, Oregon) who is trying his damnedest to make it work.
You say, “But, really, folks who want that kind of material are already well served by bookstores and online markets. Those stores have already moved aggressively into the market….”
We have 8 bookstores in Central Oregon. Barnes and Nobles has a section of manga, but outside of that I think you’d be hard pressed to find a total of 50 graphic novels, of which half would be Marvel/DC.
Whereas at Pegasus Books, we are carrying 7000 graphic novels; about 3000 manga (more and a broader and deeper selection than B & N.) Maybe a third of the remaining graphic novels are Marvel/Dc. The rest are indy’s.
Not only that, but I carry children’s books, cartoon collections, and a large number of art books.
I go out of my way to acquaint the casual browsers of the full spectrum of illustrations, from Edward Gorey to Frazetta to a full line of Fantagraphics.
To me the most revealing statement you make is:
“I haven’t been in a direct comic market store in years….”
Duncan,
Sounds like your store hews a little closer to my model of the future of the comic book store — if you’ve ready my essay in the new TCJ, I’d love to know what you think of it and how close my thoughts are to what you’re creating in your shop.
Alan
Alan,
I agree with much of what you say. But I wonder if the blanket anti-direct comic shop sentiment isn’t a bit dated.
I know there are a number of shops in Portland that are very enlightened. I have a compatriot down in little Ashland, Or., More Fun, who was my inspiration to expand my selection.
I know I’m doing my damnedest in little old, isolated Bend. Just in Oregon alone, I think the better shops outnumber the shlocky ones.
When I question out of town customers (I’m in a tourist area, one of the reasons I can be more diversified), I used to hear that “My shop doesn’t carry graphic novels.” “My shop only carries Marvel and DC.”
I don’t hear that quite so much. I think things are changing.
It’s changing out in the mainstream world, too. I’m in a high foot-traffic downtown area, and I get people off the street all the time now buying graphic novels, who don’t even look at the Spider-man comics. (I have a blog where I talk about this stuff sometimes: The Best Minimum Wage Job A Middle Aged Guy Ever Had.)
I think there is more of a chance of expanding our readership through comic shops than through bookstores. It’s an evolution; those that change will survive.
Oddly enough, I was in a direct market comic store just today. It looked much like the direct market stores of my youth; lots of super-hero stuff, not much else. And there certainly weren’t any women shopping there. I was actually there with my child, and there wasn’t a whole lot for him, either.
Your store sounds great, Duncan. It would be great if it became the standard. Best of luck to you.