It's sort of long:

http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/cr_editorial_why_comic_shops_still_matter/

My very simple, non-confrontational question would be this:

There appears to be a move toward distributing comics online and in bookstores. This makes perfect sense.

In my old hometown, were I still living in my parents' house, my options would be this: drive across town and request that the one half-decent shop in the city order a book I was interested in; drive five minutes to Borders to see if they had it, then cut across the street to Barnes & Noble to see if they had it; or stay at home and order it online, probably at a disciunt.

Is it easier to embrace these methods of distribution, or to try to address concerns and fix the old method?

And might the move to new methods force the old method to improve or die?

-BCM

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Hawaiian Dick Online
BCM Message Board @ Imagecomics.com
The Daily '76 Blog! | Atomic Revolver: Six Chambers of Awesome

My answer would be that you should do whatever you want. You don't owe anyone your business, and making a value out of artificially working against one's interests can almost never be sustained. Me, I'd be on Amazon in second.

What would be nice is that if the comic shop were a serious option. Let's be frank that in a lot of cases, and in a lot of place, it isn't. I think trying to instill a value system within the industry where the comic shop becomes a more serious option in more cases is worth fighting for.

EDITED: 11 Sep 2007 by BCLAYMOORE

Scott, I'm not saying it's impossible to argue, just more difficult. I'm sure we could find someone who could argue with equal passion on the other side, using phrases like "Spider-Man is more mainstream than Marjane Satrapi." Ten years ago, that was harder to argue. (Well, using an equivalent for Satrapi.)

Besides, it quickly becomes different orientations butting heads, not a straight-up argument with an agreed-upon set of values.

Personally, I don't care. I think how mainstream something is is kind of a canard in an art form where reaching 400K is an industry-shaking success. Those arguments basically become who has greater appeal to a phantom readership.

Thank you Tom!

That was a nice start to morning, and a very thoughtful piece.

It certainly counterbalances the constant barrage of "LOOK AT HOW HORRIBLE COMIC SHOPS ARE" articles and link-blogging that goes on at other sites.

I certainly appreciate your even-keeled observations, and agree wholeheartedly!

"And, of course, most areas of the country do not have the option of walking into a decent comic shop and browsing good books, or of placing orders for books not on the shelves. "

"Most areas" of the country?

Really?

That list looks pretty expansive to me.

I'm not sure what L&R back page you speak of... if it's the COMICS COUNTRY ad, that's just a collaborative ad by stores that know each other... it's not a representative map of indy-friendly comic shops nationwide.

As for "urban areas" offering more comic shop variety... well, urban areas offer more, period. There's more people and more demand- this is pretty simple realities of the marketplace.

The town I grew up in couldn't support a general bookstore, much less a comics-specific one. But there was a great shop just a short drive away, and another one in downtown Nashville. I have never been at a loss for good shops.

I've lived or worked in small towns in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and now New Mexico, and I think Scott's more right than you are.

I'm two and a half hours from a comic shop right now, and that's a combination comics/paintball supplies shop. The nearest one where I could reasonably expect to see a hit alt-comic on the shelves? Five hours. The nearest one where I would bet more than $50 on it? Six and a half.

There used to be greater coverage for shops in general, but the 1990s shenanigans, including I believe Marvel outright raising their minimums for a period -- I was undercover at a distributor meeting where Marvel told a small-town Idaho retailer to her face she'd no longer be able to carry their comics -- blasted a lot of those stores from existence.

For instance, in 1994 or so there was a store here in town. And a store 45 minutes away and another store 80 minutes away. Now the only new comic for 200 miles in any direction is Shonen Jump.

There's also the very important issue of a general culture shift for comic shops away from carrying everything that came out to being more specialized that I would trace to the black and white bust. I've seen a half dozen shops in small towns carry Love and Rockets, because they're old stores and it's something they've always carried.

While I think it's a pipe dream to think there would be kick ass stores all over the country, I don't think it's a pipe dream to suggest there might be the possibility for better coverage, and that overall the industry might have as a value helping people get comics, even if it's not the ones they carry.

Wow, Tom, you're worse off than I am.

Nearest comics store of any type: 50 miles away in Fort Collins, Colorado. This is a college town which has two comics shops. One of them is also a gamer's den. The other looks like something out of the 1980s, and is full of cats. Both of them do carry a tiny smattering of indie comics.

Nearest comics store that carries a significant number of alt-comics: 110 miles away in Boulder, Colorado. (Time Warp, which is really a neat place -- I could spend hours in that store if I had the hours to spare.) Boulder is on the outskirts of Denver and home to the biggest state university in the Rocky Mountain region.

Clearly, what we need are more college towns.

Since moving to Cheyenne, I've noticed a tendency of those who live in large urban areas to think that NO ONE lives anywhere but in large urban areas. Or at least, no one who matters. It gets annoying.

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Scott Bieser Annoying my betters since 1957.. gallery: http://www.scottbieser.com My Online Graphic Novel: Roswell, Texas publisher: http://www.bigheadpress.com blog: Living On Mars Engine.ning

Yes, really.

This is a point I think guys who run shops in major cities have trouble connecting with when publishers are dying to get books into people's hands.

And the "hometown" I spoke before of has a population of 300,000 people. You'd have to travel roughly 200 miles to find what I'd (subjectively) refer to as a "good" comic shop.

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Hawaiian Dick Online
BCM Message Board @ Imagecomics.com
The Daily '76 Blog! | Atomic Revolver: Six Chambers of Awesome

EDITED: 11 Sep 2007 by BCLAYMOORE

"Nearest comics store that carries a significant number of alt-comics: 110 miles away in Boulder, Colorado. (Time Warp, which is really a neat place -- I could spend hours in that store if I had the hours to spare.) Boulder is on the outskirts of Denver and home to the biggest state university in the Rocky Mountain region."

Hooray for future me!

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		Steven Huls OUR|FUTURE|DOOM Ning Profile

Lovely article Tom, with plenty of food for thought.

A regularized shipping schedule would be a godsend. Though how to achieve it escapes me.

There is little doubt that we need more stores; and that there is room for improvement in even the best shops.

T'was ever thus.