Wizard World/Comic Con 2010

Ok, I'm late on this one, the convention was last month. But I have a one year old and a full time job and well... excuses abound.

Anyway, I found it funny this year not seeing it called Wizard World. Instead we're now to refer to it as Comic Con again. Wizard runs it though.

I also missed the chalk artist guy. He always does amazing work and if he was there he certainly didn't have a location where I could find him. Where are you chalk artists guy?

Even with calling the convention Comic Con it felt less comic book focused than in years past. In fact it feels less like a comic convention each year and more like a pop culture convention. Now, I don't mind pop culture conventions. I got to see Michael Trucco of BSG up close and he IS just as good looking in person as he was on the show. But let's not call it a comic book convention if the only thing representing comic books is a handful of dealers. Even the panels were primarily meet and greets with actors and screenings of upcoming shows, not the discussions of comic books that they've had in years past. Once again this year Marvel and DC were not present either. I don't mind seeing small publishers at conventions, I like to see them out promoting themselves. But even those were few and far between - comic creator-dom was largely represented by artist alley where individuals were out to promote themselves regardless of publisher. Again a good thing! However artist alley seemed like it was an after thought this year for the convention except for the occasional appearance of a bigger name artist who would have a line.

Sure, there were some fun comic book character costumes. We always get a kick out of those. But even those, at least on Saturday, seemed fewer in number. More costumed people that I didn't recognize who they were than in years past, a lot of them looking rather scary.

These are really just observations. I still enjoyed the convention, but would really like to see something more comic book focused I'm going to check out C2E2 next year - I've heard good things about that. But there was one BIG thing that REALLY ticked me off about the convention and I know other people found it alloying to - the presence of Rod Blagojevich, former Chicago governor outed due to political corruption. Sure, he's from Chicago and the convention was in the Chicagoland area. But why do we need to promote this guy? Who made the decision to give celebrity status to a guy who gives politicians, and heck even people, a bad name? I'm embarrassed at having attended an event that was publicized in local media not as a great place to find out about comic books and have fun, but the place where people could pay to have a picture and/or autograph with a political criminal.

(Thanks Phil, for this pic that summarizes my opinion soooo well!)

Whose Job is it, Anyway? - Responding

My Whose Job is it, Anyway post received a couple of comments that I want to take the time to respond to. Rather than just responding in the comments area of that post, I'm committing a new, follow up post to doing so. If you need to see the comments in full (I have kept portions here that I respond specifically to) you can refer to the original post.

Does the existence of the Direct Market, in the way that it currently functions, serve to slowly but surely pare down the total comic reading base and prevent a new readership from forming?

The commenter responds in the affirmative, but with no explanation. I'd love to know the logic of this. How do stores whose very existence is predicated on growing comic book readership end up paring down that market? As a store owner myself I can tell you that one of my main tasks at the store is to try to increase readership. We host Free Comic Book Day and promote it heavily to the surrounding community. Not only that, but we order a large number of the "free" (not actually free to retailers) comics and distribute them to the libraries, banks, doctor's offices, and other businesses in the area, we hand them out at the city Christmas Parade as well. In addition we do presentations at the libraries to share information about comics, we have worked with the area literacy council, we have donated comic books to schools for teachers to use to get reluctant readers interested in reading again. If this commenter has other ideas about how we can grow the market I know I'd love to hear them! Please, if you know ways to increase how many people buy comics let me know because if I can cost justify it I'll try it.


I think many comic fans and creators actually understand the current problem for what it really is: the industry is contracting. And, if things do not change, the industry -- in the form and format in which it currently exists -- will die.

Why does contraction = death? Sometimes things become bloated and need to contract in order to survive. Again - if you have seen the Previews catalog you know that it's gotten larger and larger over the years. To state that there is so much contraction that the industry is dying would lead me to believe that Previews would be much smaller, like it was a decade or two ago, not large like it is now. Not every single thing created in the sequential format deserves to be sold, let's face it. Some things just aren't that good. And let's not discount the growth of web comics. Today there are MORE comics available than ever before. Maybe not a whole lot more readers, but plenty of choices. Just like the 700 pound man needs to go on a diet before he dies, sometimes bloated industries need to contract to survive.

Second commenter:

...Which you probably AREN'T taking responsibility. Not because you didn't hear about it, but because frankly like 99% of all the retail community in the comics industry, you're lazy and only care to promote what you said yourself: "what you KNOW will sell".

If a publisher and creator makes an effort to make sure I know about their stuff I will at least consider, if I find the item to look well done and seem like something my customers would enjoy, selling it. Even if I have to do some hand selling of the item once it arrives. And there are plenty of other store owners who do the same. If I don't know about it and from the brief Previews solicitation I'm not convinced that I'd be able to sell it to someone, I'm not going to order it. There aren't enough hours in the day for me to learn everything about every book solicited in Previews. That's not being lazy, that's being realistic.

YOUR job is to be the ambassador to the medium of comics on the whole- INCLUDING the publisher who DOESN'T HAVE tens of thousands to blow on advertising...

I don't have tens of thousands of dollars either, so I can relate to publishers who have to market on a shoestring. We've hosted creative teams who have comics you probably have never heard of, helping them promote their comics. We go to local conventions and talk with area creators, allowing them to bring their items into our store to sell. We have let creators and publishers send us samples and/or web links of samples of works so we can check them out. We've had calls from creators and/or their representatives and we listen to what they have to say and judge based on the information if we think we'd like to give that piece a try. I AM an ambassador. And I never asked these creators to wow me with full color banners, TV ads or even a full copy of their work. There are PLENTY of ways they can promote their works in a less costly manner.

...and not just to your fanboy clubhouse members, but to the general public at large, who honestly couldn't give a shit less about Marvel or DC product by and large, so why the hell are you not promoting products that might actually draw in, y'know, NORMAL people?

Keep in mind, not all markets support a flurry of independent works. My store is a suburban, Midwestern store in a politically conservative town. Sometimes no matter how hard we try to get people to read something different they just won't -- they like their Spider-Man and Justice League and they just won't step out of that. I know plenty of other retailers who carry large amounts of small-press indies because they have a customer base that they KNOW will support those works with dollars. In those stores selling Marvel and DC is the chore. Again - each store is buying what they are relatively sure they can sell to their own demographic. Let me also point out that claiming that characters have endured for decades, been serialized into TV series, movies, and product licenses are characters people don't care about seems like a pretty weak claim. If people REALLY didn't care about these characters then how have they continued to maintain popularity? How are they able to generate the revenue they do, not just within the "fanboy clubhouse" but with the general public at large? If you surveyed people on the street, showing them an image of Superman and an image from Warlord of Io, asking them which character they're more interested in, I'd bet that most, not all but most, would choose Superman. And these are "normal" people. I witness this annually at Free Comic Book Day - the comics with characters people recognize, those characters owned by DC and Marvel, ALWAYS move more copies than the other comics, and we get plenty of non-clubhouse members in that day.

Tell me, what do you do when you have a customer who's complaining about what 'sucks' about X-Books, or Batman... whatever "hot ticket" item it is this week, but is still buying it out of rote habit? You're sure as hell not doing what a responsible retailer would do- tell the customer, "No, you're obviously not happy with this product. Let's put this back and find you something else that you will be happy you purchased."

That's quite an assumption! And it's wrong. If someone loves comics but becomes discouraged with their current titles we do try to make other recommendations. But to recommend something we have to be familiar with it. If I don't know about Wizard of Io I can't recommend it. Sometimes the recommendation is another title by the same publisher, sometimes it's a title written by someone that customer likes, sometimes it's a book in a genre they've shown an interest in before. And sometimes customers want to buy the comic anyway - they complain because they have an emotional tie to the work and something in the book has upset them - or they complain sometimes because that's just what some people do. To assume that everyone who complains about a title actually wants out of it is, again, a very false assumption.

I'll lay odds I can walk into your shop with a list of thirty to forty titles that I read, and you won't carry a single one of them, because you're too damned busy wasting your budget on corporate crap because it's easier for you to just throw that on the shelves, sit back and rake in money, than it is to actually function as a proper retailer and be a salesperson for the medium of comics as a whole.

I don't know you well enough to know what you like. But if you did shop in my store I'd work to meet your needs. But you don't. I don't have to meet your needs. I have to meet the needs of MY customers and those potential customers who live in my demographic. I've had many people comment about the fact that my store carries a more diverse collection of graphic novels than any other store in the area they've seen. That's a testimony to the fact that we DO work to provide customers with a broad selection of items. Sure, Marvel and DC take up more shelf space than the independent titles do, but that is because that's what my particular customer base has expressed an interest in.

You are not the model by which every comic book reader was made. Not every comic book buyer is as interested in trying out new things as you are. Not every person on the street could be convinced to purchase a comic book oh, if only, it didn't say Marvel or DC on the cover. And these books you love so much, what are they? As a clearly passionate fan tell me why I should carry them. If you support the works then show your support by encouraging retailers to check out those works, by promoting those creative teams, by passing those comics on to friends and growing the market, by getting a job in a comic book store or opening your own so you can share your interest and passion, rather than pointing blame at people you know nothing about. It seems that you are not thinking about anyone but yourself here. You're to hip for mainstream comics, I get it, but don't think for a second that everyone else is like you. Not every store will carry what you buy - that's why it's called small press, why they're called independent. Just because a comic book store doesn't have what you like doesn't mean they are not meeting the needs of their customers, especially if you are not their customer or reflective of their customer base at large.

Being a comic book retailer is far from easy, even if one only carries Marvel and DC. Meeting demands, creating interest, growing the base - all of these things require work. Many comic book retailers do that work. Not all, sadly, but many do. This is not the early 1990's when people are flocking to comic book stores to buy multiple copies of the Death of Some Guy and Image #1 with the holographic cover because they have heard people are getting rich buying them. That market no longer exists. There are still some collectors, but most of them actually READ what they buy now - not all, but most. Succeeding in business, be it owning a comic book store or creating a comic book, requires dedication and hard work.

Laziness rarely results in success, especially in this economy. That's another problem with these small press creators. I can't tell you how many titles I've brought in because they looked good - like something I could advocate in the store - only to have the creative team fall apart, the publisher go belly up, or the title start coming out every three or four or six or twelve months instead of the monthly or bi-monthly production schedule customers seem to need to maintain interest. I've found that I'm better off supporting these works in graphic novel format - once I know the entire story arc is complete - rather than in single issues. I don't like disappointing my customers by telling them: sorry, that title you've been enjoying is STILL not out - I don't know WHERE it is - yes I know it's been six months now since the last issue, yes I'm SURE I ordered it... For many creators in the indy world making comics is not their full time job. I get that. But don't expect to grow a fanbase if you can't deliver on time. And don't expect retailers to go out of their way to sell your works if you have a history of late delivery. Kevin Smith is a big name in comics, and also known for is inability to deliver on time - DC has learned to require him to get the full story done before they solicit it for sale. Indy creators could do the same - write one-shot stories or create your story first, take your time, make it good, and then ask me to buy it. If I know I can supply interested people with regular issues I will work harder to promote your stuff. If you are just going to do what you can, when you can, then just let me know when it's done because I don't have time for that lack of commitment.

Whose Job is it, Anyway?

I recently came across a post on publisher SLG's web site saying that the Warlord of Io graphic novel would not be distributed by the major comic book distributor, Diamond. Within that article is a link to a post on The Comics Reporter that seems to blame the Direct Market (comic book retail) for this, and the potential decline in the industry itself.

In 2009 Diamond Distribution changed it's thresholds for products, making $2500 wholesale their cut off. In other words, if an item's initial Previews orders are less than $2500 Diamond will cancel the item and not distribute it.

If you have ever seen the Previews catalog you know that there are LITERALLY thousands of items solicited for sale each month. You should also understand that Diamond, while having a monopoly on the Direct Market distribution channel and often pulling some crazy stunts, is a BUSINESS. A for-profit company with overhead like warehouses and employees. Like any business they want to turn a profit and minimize expenses. It is not a government agency spending other people's money no matter the cost, nor is it a dude in his basement trying to spread the word about comics by giving them out to anyone he can. I know sometimes people have a hard time understanding the concept of BUSINESS when it's close to home, they make it emotional, but it isn't. If Diamond determined that it is not cost-effective to distribute an item that hasn't brought in $2500 +, it only makes sense that they would cancel the item. Sure, if you are a fan of that item or the creator of that item you might be bummed out, but it's nothing personal.

You know what else is a business? Each Direct Market comic book store. Sure, some of us barely make a profit, but that IS our goal. We want items in our store THAT WILL SELL We don't just buy things because it's good for the comic book industry or to have cool stuff sitting on racks collecting dust. We buy with the intent of selling that item and making a profit. Part of having that comic book store is bringing in customers. Each retailer does what he or she can to market their store, to bring customers in. We might buy ads, we might hand out free comics or coupons, we might do presentations at schools or libraries, we make it a part of our business to get people into our places of business. Then once those people are in the store we try to sell them something we have in stock. Again, we buy items that we believe WE CAN SELL. If customers come in and pre-order an item, or ask about something, or if we've heard good buzz or seen a great preview of an upcoming work, we order it, believing that once it arrives we have the ability to sell it.

You will notice that I do not assign the task of promoting a comic or graphic novel to either Diamond or the retail store owner. Diamond is in business to move products from one point to another. A retail store owner's job is to get people into the store and sell them something once they've arrived. Both of these businesses promote the Direct Market in the process of doing their jobs because they are an important piece in the process of getting comics into the hands of readers.

So whose job is it to promote works like Warlord of Io? It is the job of whomever stands to profit by its sale or experience a loss if it isn't sold. Diamond has plenty of items to sell, and if they need to see $2500 wholesale before they profit, then they obviously do not experience a loss from not distributing items that fall below that. The retailer, if they have the item IN the store, profits from selling the item and looses if it isn't sold. However, a smart retailer does his or her best to avoid buying something that doesn't have the ability to sell due to lack of interest.

Get where I'm going with this? It is the job of the publisher and the creator to promote their comics and graphic novels. Make me want to order them for my store. Get consumers asking for that item or issue. Just like Craig and I, and all other comic book retailers have to work to promote our stores or see them die, creators and publishers need to get out there and promote their works or expect that the item won't survive in the mass market. If the publishers and creators aren't out there creating interest in their work, or if they are but it isn't working, then they should not expect Diamond or the Direct Market to experience financial losses just so their item can see the fluorescent lights of comic book stores. On occasion a creator or creator's representative will contact us at the store, giving us information on a work they have in the Previews catalog. We look at it, and if it looks like something good, that we believe we can sell, we will order it. But that happens very rarely. Sometimes a work has a fan buzz, for example Atomic Robo and Umbrella Academy had a good deal of fan buzz - people came in asking for those works before they even were in Previews. Retailers knew there would be demand, so we ordered those items. But again, this happens on rare occasion.

In a sea of new items, it only makes sense to do what you can as a creator and publisher to get your items to rise to the top, and if you do not, then EXPECT to fail. To blame Diamond and/or the Direct Market because no one wanted to buy your comic book is not only irresponsible, it is RIDICULOUS. I know many in today's society prefer to blame everyone else for their own failures; it's easier than doing the work. But it doesn't fix or accomplish anything. As a business owner and as a human being I resent being blamed for the failure of others to do their jobs. Sure, occasionally a good thing meets with disaster - there have been some comics I thought were great (The Miscellaneous Adventures of Stykman for one) and whose creators were out working the front line to promote their works, but still were unable to meet Diamond's distribution cutoff. But by and large the failure of a work to meet the cutoff lies directly in the lap of the publisher and creator, no one else.

If there was an opportunity to profit from the distribution of smaller works to the retail market, a company would be doing so. However those that have tried in the past have met with failure. If a store really believes in a creator the owner will bring in that person for a signing and/or do an in-store promotion to build up interest in that person or work. It isn't like there isn't opportunity for these smaller publishers or creators. The opportunity IS out there. Yes, this current economy makes it harder for everyone, but there is still potential if you are willing to put in some effort. And sadly, in this life there is no guarantee that you will succeed. Today, for good creators who have works that have fans, but not quite enough to make the cut, there are GREAT opportunities on-line to get works to the fans. Maybe not through a retail outlet, but that isn't the only way to succeed today.

I enjoy comics, as do most comic book retailers. Even Steve Geppi, the owner of Diamond, likes comics. We WANT the direct market to grow and thrive. Because we love it, AND because we can profit from it. We are not choosing not to distribute or stock an item because we want to limit the market, we make these tough choices because even though we love comics, we fail if we don't also pay attention to the bottom line. We do our part to grow and promote comics each and every day. The Direct Market doesn't fail because some works are unable to gather enough interest to get them through Diamond to retailers - it fails when the essential pieces of the Direct Market close down due to bad business decisions that lead to financial ruin. Every time a comic book store closes comic book consumers are lost, but every time one opens new ones are found.

DC's Batman & Robin Variant

Once or twice, or maybe a few dozen times, I've ranted here and on other blogs about variant covers. I'm not a fan. I think the industry would be fine without them. I'm especially not a fan when publishers try to use variants to sell larger quantities of their comics.

But what DC is doing here with the new Morrison/Quitely Batman & Robin #1 variant is pretty insane. Here's the solicitation:


BATMAN AND ROBIN #1
Written by Grant Morrison
Art and cover by Frank Quitely
Variant cover by JG Jones
Sketch variant cover by Frank Quitely
"Batman Reborn" begins here! With the reunited team of Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely (ALL-STAR SUPERMAN, WE3, New X-Men), this first issue kicks off a 3-part story arc that can't be missed! The new Dynamic Duo hit the streets with a bang in their new flying Batmobile as they face off against an assemblage of villains called the Circus of Strange. They also tackle their first mission investigating a child who’s been abducted by the mysterious Domino Killer. But will everything go smoothly? And who exactly are the new Batman and Robin? The newest era of The Dark Knight begins here!
Retailers please note: This issue will ship with three covers. For every 25 copies of the Standard Edition (with a cover by Frank Quitely), retailers may order one copy of the Variant Edition (with a cover by JG Jones). For every 250 copies of the Standard Edition, retailers may order one copy of the Sketch Variant Edition (with a cover by Frank Quitely), which is a sketch version of the Standard Edition. Please see the Previews Order Form for more information.
On sale June 3 • 32 pg, FC, $2.99 US

Now don't get me wrong. I'm sure this will be a popular comic. Especially the first issue. But 250 copies?!? This promotion is clearly going to benefit about 10 - 15 of Diamond's largest customers in the U.S. who have a need to order that large of a quantity. 100 copies is about the largest quantity we order here for a variant on a book we anticipate to be hugely popular. So I'm afraid we won't be getting one of these sketch variants - so don't call and ask. You'll have to settle for the 1/25 JG Jones variant.

Clearly DC is hoping that this book will be the #1 seller for the week, and they're going to try to push larger retailers to order in quantities that will earn them one or two of these. I have no doubt it will be a VERY rare variant, since I really don't think that many average size, single store retailers can afford that many issues. And when you are out and about at the comic book conventions over the summer and see tables full of the regular edition of this issue you'll know why.

Everyone's Ethics

You have probably heard all about the All Star Batman & Robin #10 scandal, but if you haven't I'll summarize. There were some bad words in the word balloons. The words were shaded out, but not well enough. Some of the misprinted comics were accidentally sent to comic book stores. Stores were to destroy them if they received them. But yet there were copies being sold on eBay, and for big money too. The picture is one page, and you can head here to LITG for some others. Rich also gives you the exact words in the panel.

In today's LITG Rich gives us some names of retailers who sold copies of this comic book: "Some put them on eBay, either obscuring exactly who the seller or was, or being totally blatant about it. Such as Comix Central in Canada, Warp 9 Comics in Michigan or Empyre Comics in Maryland." There are 85 currently listed on eBay right now. These are all being sold by comic book retailers, or from customers of those retailers who bought a book they shouldn't have been sold. Many of the retailers have disguised themselves so that Diamond and DC won't know who they are. However, I do think that Diamond should at least know who they sold copies to and who has not returned them or returned all of them, and I hope they take some action. This type of thing is unethical, and it disappoints me. Fellow retailer Brian Hibbs also shares is disappointment in these actions on his blog. Read it, it's quite good and spells out very clearly with some profanity just why this kind of behavior is bad news.

You know what else is unethical? That DC's editor for this comic book didn't have these words removed from the beginning. Also, that Frank Miller isn't clever enough to write the story without using excessive bad language. Why the word Cunt? He couldn't come up with anything else? This comic book story is filled with mysogoney anyway, but this just takes it to a whole new level.

This whole situation makes me mad because it makes the comic book industry look bad. The series isn't great and Millar shouldn't be allowed to use the language he did. They black it out anyway, right? Or at least try to. It shows the greed and opportunistic nature of retailers who, rather than doing what's right, go for the cash grab. And what about those that feel the need to spend excessive amounts of money to purchase the issue in question? What's wrong with you? Don't you have anything better to spend your money on? If that's the case how about donating some to the Neptune Comics moving-the-store fund. t least you'd be investing in something that makes money. And this isn't just some little thing that was kept within our comic book community. It's been a story across the country, thanks to the Drudge Report breaking it.

In light of this event and because of the actions of some unethical retailers, ComicsPRO has been discussing the establishment of a Code of Ethics for their members. I say it's about time. Although I do believe that most members are ethical and wouldn't participate in this, there are some that may have. Sure, it can be hard to resist making $50 + on one comic book, I get that. But those of us that agree that these kind of actions are not best practices should establish and agree upon a code of ethics that we can be proud of as retailers. If we want the general public, distributors, publishers, and the media to take us seriously we can't behave like used car salesmen! And those of us who want better for the comic book community shouldn't stand by and let a few bad apples spoil the whole bunch.

Accepting Mediocrity?

Is our society now just going to accept mediocrity? Not even accept it, but reinforce it, encouraging people not to work harder than need be?

The other day I was watching the Olympics coverage and the reporter said that he didn't know why Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps was swimming so fast, pushing himself so hard, when it was only a qualifying round. He could qualify without breaking records. I was SHOCKED by this!! Yes, Phelps could just swim hard enough to win. But he needs to push himself - winning isn't enough for him, he needs to break records. He wants to do his best in every race, not just enough simply to qualify or to win.

At work I see, as I'm sure many of you do, people doing the bare minimum to keep their job or do the assigned task. They don't deliver anything extra. They don't try to do their best, just enough to get by. And those people are often treated the same by the company (& it's management) as those of us that try to do a little better, who want to go above and beyond.

I've heard "who cares, as long as it gets done," and "well, it's finished" come out of the mouths of people on the street. I have heard people on the bus say, "I'm not going to work any harder than I have to." I have heard people complain about prices, politics, employment, their back yard even, and just say that it bothers them but they're not going to do anything about it.

Part of me really gets aggravated with this mentality. Is it new--are we getting lazier. Or has this mentality been around forever and I've just not noticed it until recently? Are we going to just accept "getting by?" Should I not work so hard and get by like the rest? Does it even pay/benefit someone who goes above and beyond any more? Do I feel better about myself because I did the best job I could, or do I take the time to relax and not work so hard? What are we going to ask for as a society? What do we reward? The average or the overachiever?

Bringin' the Kids

As many of you know, Craig and I do not have kids. But many of our friends do. And here is something I've noticed (Those of you with kids of your own, feel free to chime in here.) Today's parents bring their kids everywhere!

We have a 10 game Milwaukee Brewer ticket pack and there is a family behind us that brings their young boy to every game. He is around 3 years old I would guess. And he cannot sit still. Those people are in the middle of a row and they are up and down over a dozen times in a game between trying to watch the game they paid for and trying to keep the kid happy. He's knocked over beers. He's kicked people (including me) in the head. I have no idea why they can't leave him with a baby sitter.

When I was a young kid my parents went out very little. When they did go out they often left us with family who would babysit myself and my sister. I didn't get to go to athletic events or Summer Fest or the Arts Festival or to dinner at nice restaurants. I remember a few trips to the zoo and one trip to the public museum; a few camping trips to the Dells where we'd stay in a relative's camper we'd borrow; a couple of weddings; two kids films with my mom. Until my sister and I were old enough to sit for a couple of hours and quietly behave I do not remember us going out to do much.

These days it seems like parents bring their children everywhere. What ever happened to babysitters? Is it that teen age girls, the typical babysitters, aren't mature enough to watch people's kids any more? Is it that parents leave their kids in schools and day care all day and feel guilty not being with them the rest of the day? Do parents now feel that their kids are good enough or deserve to be able to go to these places that parents didn't used to bring the kids to? Do parents feel that they have the right to infringe on the peace of others at that restaurant or movie or Brewer Game, where the parents of the past didn't want to inconvenience others at such places?

I am all for families being together. However I do not think that every event or public place is appropriate for parents to bring their children along. You love your kids - but don't expect everyone else to love them too.

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U.S.A. VS G.T.A.

Our big summer festival in Milwaukee, Summerfest, decided to ask the US Army to "tone down" their Virtual Army Experience by taking out scenes from the game portion of the presentation in which players ride on a Hum-V and shoot at enemy combatants. To see more information about the experience, click here. This game is available for purchase as well, and has been a big seller. It is rated "T" and as part of this experience people volunteer to play the game, which is enclosed in an area that isn't out in the open, so only those interested in the game can get to it. Still, a Summer festival that allows open containers of liquor and has a variety of heavy metal bands swearing day and night, is telling the Army that they can't have the full game play in their exhibit.

To make it even more interesting, in the arcade area, they have the Grand Theft Auto game, which is rated "M," available to be played. Now, I am not one of those people who criticize GTA. Heck, I've even played the game. But part of that game is to shoot people, including police officers, pick up hookers, and steal cars. This game was not shut down by Summerfest, nor was the arcade vendor asked to censor, id players for age verification, or remove the game from the arcade.

I find this quite upsetting that the marketing arm of a summer festival that would seem to support art and free speech telling the United States Army that they have to edit themselves while allowing things that are as much and more offensive to continue.

So somehow a portion of a Teen rated video game is more offensive than a Mature rated game. Somehow shooting enemy combatants within the context of war is more offensive than shooting cops. Quite the double standard we've set!

This isn't about weather or not you support George Bush or approve of the war.

It is about freedom. Freedom to decide for yourself if you want to play the Army game or not. Or GTA or not.

It is about equal representation - if you are going to censor, set standards and apply it to all. If you are going to allow freedom of expression then allow it for all.

To tell the United States Army to censor a presentation that no other city ANYWHERE, including Madison Wisconsin, has asked to have censored, on the weekend that we are preparing to celebrate the very freedom the Army obtained for us and continues to provide. Well, it's really pretty stupid.

I say GO ARMY!

Stupid is as Stupid does

Yesterday in my bus ride rant I mentioned how people seem to do stupid stuff even though it will get them into more trouble than it's worth.

Well let me tell you, working in the bank I see this stuff every day. Mose people just don't have any sense. I mean seriously! And they seem to think that the bank employees are somehow too stupid to catch their careless crimes.

I've seen people make an ATM deposit with an empty envelope and then come into the bank to say they made a $1000 or $4000 deposit and want to take some cash out of their account now.

I've seen 20 year olds claim to be the signer on accounts belonging to 50+ year olds.

I've seen people INSIST it was NOT them that used the ATM at the casino 6 times and DEMAND we file a fraud claim - until we tell them we'll have security review the video right away - and suddenly they remember being there.

Oh, just this week I had a woman come in to order a new check card, worried because she had lost hers and wanted to be sure no one used it to buy stuff. When I asked her if she remembered when and where she lost it her reply was, "no, I was completely drunk and totally wasted when that happened so it could have been anytime anywhere." She said it completely deadpan and in all honesty. At that point I just wanted to get her out of my office as quick as I could!

I've seen people bring in checks that are obviously fraudulent and try to cash them. I've seen people write bad checks, some from accounts that have been closed for years, depositing them into their bank accounts and then coming in the next morning trying to get us to give them money out of their bank account before we've realized that the check is bad.

I have seen people bring in checks they've gotten from some con or another and think that there's a chance THIS check will be good and THEY will somehow be the lucky one who won't get hurt from the fraud.

Oh, then there's the guy who opened a checking account at every, and I do mean EVERY, bank in town claiming that how else would he know who was any good. Of course he was also kiting checks from one account to the other while only having made one good deposit at the first bank to get him started.

NONE of these things are a good idea. More often than not you'll get caught and at least kill your chances of getting any kind of future bank accounts, at worst you'll end up in jail. Not really worth it, in my opinion.

Some people use their bank accounts as a free loan - continuing to spend money they don't have right and left and then getting angry when the bank charges them fees. So angry that they then decide they will continue to take the bank for as much as they can by writing checks and using their debit cards until we shut the whole thing down, and then acting shocked when not only is their existing account sent to collections, but other banks won't open an account for them because they are now on ChexSystems, plus their credit score heads south because those checks they've been using to pay bills are getting returned.

Believe it or not, I had a woman call the bank asking me to open her account back up. I looked and we had placed a hold on it because she was $1,800+ overdrafted. I asked her why she needed it turned back on and she explained to me that she had bills to pay--two companies take automatic payments out of her account and they can't get their money because the account is closed up. I then asked her what the total of those was. She said about $1200. So I told her to bring $3,000 and I'd be happy to open her account back up for her. She was shocked, insisting that she just didn't have that kind of money. I explained that the bank won't just let her borrow money for free, and that the only way she was going to pay her bills was with her own money. She told me that that wasn't fair because she had bills she had to pay. I insisted that she needed to bring some money in and those bills would get paid. Needless to say, she never brought that money in and I'm sure she still thinks I'm a terrible person for not letting her pay her bills.

See, working for a bank isn't all glamor and fun. I've got to deal with some seriously stupid people!! Stupid and desperate.

Your Other Set of Wheels

I ride the bus. I'll admit it. Craig and I have conserved money by only making one car payment. Unfortunately, now that I don't work at the store with him I have to find alternate transportation. In the morning Craig drops me off at the bank and then when I finish at the bank I take the bus home. On new comic book day (Wednesday) I ride the bus both ways.

Usually nothing exciting happens. Just your typical - lots of people bringing beer home. Guess you can figure out why they're riding the bus. Some people who seem to have not showered in ages. Some who use canes or wheel chairs. In the morning there are students. In the evening there are some other office types - but not very many.

Today though, we nearly had our first fight on the bus. Some younger white male who seemed to think he was a gang-banger with his shorts ready to fall off and his had on askew seemed to have started something with a relatively normal, middle aged white man. I think the disagreement started while they were at the bus stop or as they were getting onto the bus. They got on around 27th street and the middle aged man sat close to the front while the troublesome young man went to the back. Nothing good ever seems to happen in the back of the bus. After a couple of blocks the gang-bang boy gets up out of his seat and sits behind the middle aged man. Banger says something quietly that I can't make out. Then average man tells him that he shouldn't talk so big and that the kid should show respect for people. Banger starts getting irritated, asking average man what he means and what he knows and who does he think he is. Average man continues to tell Banger to quiet down and not talk so tough before he gets himself in trouble. Then Average man turns around as if to say he'd had enough of trying to talk sense to Banger.

Banger then goes back to the back of the bus and hang with his "homies." Banger goes on and on, loud enough for Average man to hear, to his friends, about how Average man was telling him to quiet down and show respect and who does he think he is. Banger's homies were also chiming in, feeding him and his anger. Banger starts to loudly say, "why doesn't he just get off the bus and show me how to behave," and "I dare him to get off, I'll show him how hard my head is, yeah he can't make me quiet down." As his homies chant, "you're right, man," and "no doubt," among other things.

This went on for over 20 blocks! Finally Average man gets off of the bus- at the Veterans hospital, on about 51st street. The Banger walks to the door like he's going to get off and show him what he's made off. His friends are all cheering him on. But he never gets off the bus, making some quiet excuse about how he can't fight with someone by the veteran's hospital. Personally I don't think it would have mattered where Average man got off, that kid was more talk than action and just wouldn't have had the guts. I kept thinking to myself, "If you're such hot sh@# why is your sorry ass on the county bus?

So far this was the most exciting bus ride I've had. The banger guy was just one example of people doing stupid stuff that could get them into more trouble than it's worth, but still doing it anyway.

Oh, and while I was waiting for the bus I saw a group of guys walk out of the Irish pub kiddy corner from the bus stop and one of the guys puked, his friends laughed, and they went back in for more.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Multiple Cover Maddness

How long has it been since I've complained about a comic book having too many covers? It feels like it's been a while. Too long, I guess, since it looks like the publishers, well Marvel to be specific, have stopped listening to me, or they've forgotten.

Pictured above are the six, yes that's right, SIX covers for the Invincible Iron Man #1 comic that came out today. Why six? Why not I guess. Three limited variant covers, the movie variant cover and the two regular covers. The Avengers/Invaders book put out by Marvel & Dynamite Entertainment had three covers, a regular cover and two limited variant covers.

I had the morning off from my job as a banker at the bank (because I got a perfect score when I was shopped) so I came and helped Craig with the new books. There were many, many variant covers today. Just too dang many, OK. Some of the other Marvel books had what they called a "skrully" variant, there was a DC Ran Thanagar War variant (who even WANTS a variant on that??) an Angel sketch variant, a black and white Logan variant cover... you get the idea? Just too darn many covers for the comics.

While a cool cover is nice, we don't need six cool covers for one issue of one comic book. REALLY, we don't. Save those nice covers for upcoming issues or something instead of flooding the market with three or six different covers. Yes I'm talking to you publishers. Lay off the variants! I prefer the comic book to be good ON THE INSIDE. If the best thing about the comic is the cover then you can keep it. If we have to resort to flashy variant covers in order to increase sales, let's redevelop the business plan and marketing plan. Sure, I do have some customers that like variants, but they are getting to be fewer and fewer. Would those customers continue to buy comics if there weren't variants - probably yes, as long as they could still enjoy the comic itself.

I don't know yet if the Invincible Iron Man comic was any good - I will have to read it in the next day or two and see. But I do know that six covers is unnecessary if the comic is good and unforgivable if the comic stinks and the covers are the only way to sell it.

Feeling Bad for Th3rd World Studios

I know a guy who works with Th3rd World Studios. In fact, he is a customer. They are a newer publisher on the scene, and have a couple of comics in the pipeline right now.

One of their comics, Omega Chase (pictured), had its first issue ship the first week of October. On my invoice for November 7th is an overship for more of the Omega Chase #1's. Which is VERY weird because we almost never get an overshipment of an issue more than a week after the initial shipment.

For those of you unfamiliar with the term, overshiping is an optional thing where a publisher can have extra comics sent to every store that ordered the regular issue. After a certain point in time, the retailer can send back any of these unsold overshiped comics and the store account is not billed for the overship comics until after the return window closes. The store is then asked to pay for any unreturned copies. Personally I like the program - it has saved us a few times by giving us more issues than we ordered originally on comics that would have otherwise quickly sold out. And if we don't sell them, we just send them back to Diamond - no harm no foul.

Usually the overship copies of the comic come the same week as the issues we originally ordered, occasionally a week later. But I cannot remember, although I am sure it must have happened on very rare occasion, having a month's gap between the initial order shipment and the overship delivery. This one I noticed right away because I know the guy from Th34d World.

So I sent him an email to find out if he knew about this month-long gap between the regular and overship issues and if he did, why they made that decision. Now here is where it gets bad! He calls me up and tells me that they had no idea until a week ago that the overship comics had not yet gone out. He also found out at that time that Diamond decided to hold off on shipping issue #2 because they wanted retailers to have time to sell the overships and increase their orders for #2 before they send out the #2's. Well, they weren't exactly happy about any of this over at Th3rd World Studios. And they have tried contacting their Diamond representative several times. However, they have received no return calls or emails FOR THREE WEEKS. He also told me that they received information from Diamond before the first issue shipped, telling them that Omega Chase #1 would be shipping in September 2007. That's it - no week of shipment, just a month. And then it STILL didn't actually show up in stores until early October.

You might remember by "Why Steve Geppi Should Hire Me" post a couple of months back. I discuss this very disconnect and lack of communication that seems to be happening between Diamond and everyone else. And there isn't anywhere that Th3rd World Studios can go to get their stuff distributed - Diamond is the monopoly comic distributor to the US. Their only options are to put up with Diamond or self distribute.

Also keep in mind that comic book retailers tend to dislike publishers who offer their comics via a web store while also offering them in Previews for retailers to buy. Many retailers feel like they should be the source of comic book sales, or else do not put the comic in Previews. Some retailers, if they find out that the comics are also available directly to the public via a web store, will refuse to buy any copies for their brick and mortar stores. In addition, many comic book retail store owners ONLY buy from Diamond. If for no other reason than it is easy to keep track of orders and payments when they all go to and from one place. So, having publishers sell directly to comic book retailers is an uphill battle.

The other frustrating thing is that unless retailers like myself contact the small publishers to find out what's going on - why comics arrive late or overships are sent out a month after the initials - they probably just assume it is the publisher's fault. I know I often do. Now I am starting to really question that because I have heard from more than just Th3rd World that Diamond ships out stuff when they feel like it, without really adhering to when the agreed upon date originally was. Distributors have told me that Diamond has had copies of their comic sitting in warehouses for WEEKS and WEEKS before they finally get around to shipping it. I would assume that Diamond has some rhyme and reason for what they're doing, but I have not been told of it, and apparently they do not share it with the publishers either.

Craig and I are in charge of putting together a publisher report card for ComicsPRO members to use. On this report card we will be evaluating publishers on things like weather or not their stuff arrives on-time. Hopefully if small press publishers score poorly here they will step up and inform retailers if it is not their fault, but Diamond's. And hopefully, if enough of a stink comes off of it, Diamond will work on improving the climate they have for small press publishers.

Sure, small houses like Th3rd World don't put much of a dent into Diamond's pocket overall, so they focus on the big guys who do. But doesn't the comic book industry NEED and WANT small press too? And don't those guys work just as hard as the guys at Marvel and DC to get comic books created? In fact, I think many of the small press guys work HARDER at getting their comic books into the hands of the consumers than the big guys do. So, what can be done? Even if the little guys cry out will anyone hear them? Will we eventually see only Diamond's top 10-20 dollar sale publishers distribute through them and the rest of the small press go with web comics and self distribution? Can another publisher step up and survive by distributing all comics that are non-exclusive with Diamond?

I am not sure. But I do know that now that I have taken the time to find out from some of these small publishers what is really going on, I feel bad for them. It is a difficult job to sell a comic no one has heard of, often done by creators few have heard of, via a publisher that few have heard of, with discounts that comic book retailers wish were larger to a largely super hero buying public. They do not need that complicated by a distribution channel that seems to undermine them at every turn.

What is Wrong With People?

Let me start off with a disclaimer - I'm having a bad week. Our vehicle is a money pit and continues to have issues. Our house hasn't sold and the contract is running out, meanwhile the tree guy STILL hasn't called to cut the mangy tree down AND the neighbor's gutter continues to leak into our basement. This has been a slow week at the store, Diamond screwed up our shipment and it was a day late, AND it's one of the biggest invoices we've seen in a while. So, I'm crabby. OK. If I come across in this post as nasty or bitter or just plain mean, forgive me but I've been impacted by a slew of bad luck.

So yesterday Craig was running around most of the afternoon with is dad looking for a used car we could purchase (now he wants to hold off, but whatever). That left me to run the store by myself, on a Wednesday, which wasn't a big deal since we didn't get most of our comics. I mostly apologized, handed out "we're sorry" coupons and asked people to come back tomorrow pretty pretty please. It took every fiber of my being to keep on smiling and being positive while I dealt out bad news to person after person with the register sitting silent.

This couple comes in and the guy begins to dig through the $1. He's at it a while and his wife/girlfriend just grabs a chair we had closed up off in a corner, WITHOUT ASKING and plops down in the middle of the room. He continues to flip through the $1 bin. Then after about half an hour he moves over to the back issue bins. The woman moves the chair to a different spot and sits down. THEN she gets up and walks back by the back issues. As someone else comes into the store and I deliver bad news I hear one of the store's back room doors slam shut. Quickly I look up and see this woman opening every door in the back of the store, even though one is marked "Emergency Exit" and the other two are marked "Employees Only." Then she wanders up and asks if she can use our bathroom - which was inside one of the doors she opened. I said "No. You have to use the one in the George Web, next door." (Since we don't sell food we don't have to allow people to use our rest room, and since we've got a lot of junk hiding in there, we tend to not let anyone use it - but the restaurant is right next door with a nice bathroom.) She was gone for a good 10 minutes! Thank goodness I sent her over there!

When she comes back she goes up to the guy who is still looking through our back issue bins. They whisper to each other and she sits down again in the chair she left in the middle of the back part of the store. He continues to look and she wanders again, looking behind every shelf - who knows for what.

Then the guy moves over to our work counter where we have some of that silver age collection we purchased as well as other books waiting to go into the back issue bin. He doesn't ask and just starts digging into those. Well, I let him since all that stuff is for sale, but he really should have asked, especially since he's never been in the store before. Anyway, she comes over and leans way up on the glass counter, like right in my space, and asks me if we'll give them a deal if we buy a bunch. I say that I'll see what I can do depending upon what he gets. Then, instead of going back and telling him, she just stays there, leaning up on the counter and right in my face, with nothing much more to say. Finally when I take a couple of steps backwards and look distracted she walks back and sits down again.

The guy takes quite a while fishing through those boxes. THEN he goes to our drawer box display and opens all of them, looking for comics. I tell him that's just a display so people can see the drawer boxes, and he nods and then walks to the back of the store after I turned around to go to the front. When I turn around I see him WAY in the back looking at the boxes that have excess inventory and some that are empty and ready to get thrown out. People are NOT supposed to go back there, but he sees me make a move to come back to him and exits that area.

The phone rings and it's Craig wanting me to look up a car on Kelly Blue Book on-line. While I'm on the phone the guy goes and grabs a large plastic tote that was closed up and "stored" under the $1 bin. All that is in there are the "leftovers" from the silver age collection that don't have covers and many are shreaded or in really bad shape - we just haven't had the heart to throw them away yet. The totes are NOT meant to be gone through by the average person, and again he NEVER ASKED if he could open them. They were UNDER a table level bin - not out in the open. I let him dig while I look online.

As I said, the comics in those plastic totes are in bad shape. That whole collection had that really bad paper smell, and those loose ones are really bad. His wife/girlfriend started to sneeze up a storm a few minutes into the guy's investigation of the totes. And she kept on sneezing. She gets up and walks to the graphic novels and lets a big sneeze go - no need to cover her nose of course. Finally after a few more sneezes she comes up to me, once again leaning way to close in for comfort, and asks if I have a tissue. I gave her paper towel - that's all I have up here at the counter. She blows her nose as I put it away. The next thing I know she's throwing the used paper towel over the counter in an attempt to get it into the garbage. Luckily she made it but MY GOSH how gross and rude. If she'd missed I'm pretty sure I'd have lost it and gone off on both of them. She sneezes a couple more times and I give her another paper towel. Then she blows her nose right at me and continues to hang out right in my face. Finally when the phone rings again she walks away.

After over an hour the guy brings up his comic finds and asks me what I can do for him. I sort through what he has, putting them in a couple of stacks organized by price. He grabs one and starts shuffling it around before I even say anything - so I tell him "I'm not done with those." Some of the comics are already priced really low, so I tell him I can't do anything on those. But, there was a group that I told him I could do 30% off if he buys them all. Well, he then just walks away from the counter and says "no thanks." He doesn't even pick out the ones he really likes or ask me if there's any way I could do better or offer to put them away or ANYTHING. Just heads toward the door. Before they leave he tells me that he really likes the store. I say "thanks" through gritted teeth.

Over the 3+ years we've been in business I've not had any couple be that rude while in the store. I had the mentally challenged guy act up (he hasn't come back) and we've had some teens be obnoxious and some parents who don't watch their kids as the kids go crazy - but those are all to be expected. But not couple who APPEARED to be of average intelligence and income acting like they own the place and have absolutly no manners. And on a bad day of all days too. It was almost more than I could take. If I hadn't been busy with cars and customers I'm sure I would have lost my temper with those two.

Oh, and I almost forgot, when they left he still had those plastic bins pulled out - didn't put them back and the woman left the chair right in the middle of the back issue section - never bothering to put it back where she took it from.

And on Heidi's blog Comics Fairplay she has some nut in front of her in the grocery store take forever to use food stamps for groceries but then pulls out a $100 bill for cigarettes & beer. And at the Taco Bell drive through the person in front of her orders like 10 combo meals instead of going in for that order or, gods forbid, calling ahead.

I ask you - WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?

Greedy Bastards

I know I promised a blog about those that take everything in site at the retailer summits, but I just haven't had time. But here it is Monday and the store is quiet at the moment, so I'm jumping into it.

For the last three years we have attended one of the Diamond retail summits. The first in Fort Wayne, IN and the last two in Baltimore MD. And at all three, in both locations, they have an exhibit hall where retailers can wander through. It gives us all a chance to meet publishers and even some creators, and talk to them one-on-one. There are also usually some game company reps from places like Mayfair Games and Wizkids, etc. that answer questions and give game demos. Many of these exhibitors give things away to retailers. Even Diamond has a bundle of stuff they give to us for attending. These items are supposed to be used: 1. to promote the publisher and the comics/books/games/whatever they're selling and 2. to help recoup some of the costs of attending the summit. The items vary - you've seen many of them pictured here and here in the last few days. There were other items we've already given away to customers we know will enjoy them. And, our Diamond stuff probably won't get here for another month or so.

Many of the exhibitors at the summit put their free stuff out on the table, so as people walk by they can grab it. Others put items they are promoting or want to sell out. Well, some attendees at the summits don't seem to know the difference. I was talking to a woman about how we don't order DVD's from Diamond because they don't show up on time. As we were talking she was taking most of her stuff off of her table because it wasn't for taking - it was for promotion of upcoming video releases - but people were just walking up and grabbing them without asking and walking away before she could stop them. I saw some people at one publisher's booth looking at manga displayed and waiting for the person at the table to turn his head - at which time they'd grab a handful of the manga and walk away.

We saw one guy in Baltimore with two huge bags full of stuff, about 1 hour into the exhibit time, sorting and flipping and figuring out what he had. His forehead glistened with a bit of perspiration as he tossed out some "unnecessary" items to make room as he prepared to make another lap around.

There are some items that are given out one per attendee, and we've seen people bringing in their children to claim a copy. People will also use children to try to con more free stuff off of the tables. Even if a kid has come by the booth once or twice before, of course the vendor is going to let them take the freebie again - how can you say no to a kid?

Some exhibitors do a good job of monitoring things. They will give one per person after a dinner, or have Diamond monitor the handing out of items by marking off registered accounts from a list. Others just let people have a free-for-all, the operative word being "FREE."

Typically most retailers are good. Some take absolutely nothing. Others make sure to get the quality items in the one per account or one per person quantities they're supposed to be distributed on. Top Shelf looked like they were selling a TON of graphic novels - people weren't just taking them. So, I'd have to say that overall it isn't that bad.

But you know what they say about the bad apple spoiling the bunch... there are still a good number of people at these summits who show up for and only attend the exhibit portion - not any of the other programs, meals, demos, etc. They come for the free item grab and run back out. There are those that make trip after trip, grabbing as much as they can get. There are those that hear booths having giveaway drawings at the end and calling off store names and when no one claims it will run up and pretend they're from that store. (I witnessed this one!)

The picture at the top of this post is of the group I call the "Greedy Bastards." The two on the right were part of a group of three that just continued to do laps and grab everything that wasn't tied down. ALL of that stuff pictured was theirs. Even if they each represented one store that's a LOT of stuff. We had one Diamond double box and some stuff in our suitcases. That was it. These people would take turns guarding their growing stacks of stuff and running to grab more. When vendors were packing up they REALLY went nuts, grabbing everything they could and running back to throw it onto the stack and go back for more. The Dark Horse stand pictured is one example of their madness. We saw a stack of at least 20 of these in their pile - and those were just the visable ones. WHO needs 20 of these?? Sure, they look cool, but that kind of quantity seems a little, ummm..... unnecessary. They don't come with the comics - just the stand - you fill it yourself. You don't even get a coupon with them to use toward a Dark Horse purchase. They are JUST cardboard stand up displays. You saw the post with the Garth Ennis M&M's right? People even took those - and tried to sell them on eBay. Last year we saw Michael Turner at his booth - alone - no one was talking to him or anything - because he'd run out of the free comics he was signing and giving away. In fact, you can usually tell which exhibitors have run out or didn't bring anything to give away - they don't have a soul at their booth.

These greedy bastards can make the rest of us look bad. Many retailers sit back and shake their heads at these types when we see their kind, every year, at every retailer summit. And I know there are people at every con or exhibit that do the same kind of thing, so it isn't just us comic book folks that try to freeload. There are things that Diamond and the exhibitors could do to keep this from happening - like not having exhibit day registration or having registered account lists and once someone from that account gets their stuff they can't get more from that exhibitor. I didn't think that this year's Baltimore summit was as bad as the two previous Diamond summits I attended in terms of folks going nuts for anything that wasn't tied down. With the exception of that group pictured at the top, who seemed to try their best to make up for the rest of the usual "grubber and glutton" crowd.

Superman Confusing...

From our DC weekly email:

CONTENT UPDATE FOR SUPERMAN CONFIDENTIAL ISSUES

Originally scheduled to appear in SUPERMAN CONFINDENTIAL #6 (MAY070149), the final chapter of the story “Kryptonite,” written by Darwyn Cooke and illustrated by Tim Sale, will be rescheduled to appear in a future issue of SUPERMAN CONFIDENTIAL.

SUPERMAN CONFIDENTIAL #6 (MAY070149) now will feature the story that had been scheduled for issue #7, written by Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin with art and cover by Koi Turnbull and Sandra Hope. In this story, the first chapter of a two-part tale, the fate of Metropolis is at stake when Superman gets mixed up with Lori Lemaris!

SUPERMAN CONFIDENTIAL #6 (MAY070149) is scheduled to arrive in stores on September 26. Retailers may adjust orders on this issue through the Final Order Cutoff date of September 6.

SUPERMAN CONFIDENTIAL #7 (JUN070175) now will feature the concluding half of the the story written by Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin with art and cover by Koi Turnbull and Sandra Hope, originally scheduled to appear in issue #8. This issue includes appearances by Lori Lemaris, Lex Luthor and Lois Lane, and is scheduled to arrive in stores on October 17.

SUPERMAN CONFIDENTIAL #8 (JUL070223) now will feature a story written by Vito Delsante with art by Julian Lopez & Bit and a cover by Pete Woods, originally scheduled to appear in issue #9. This issue, guest-starring Golden Age Green Lantern Alan Scott, is scheduled to arrive in stores on October 31.

SUPERMAN CONFIDENTIAL #9 (SEP070187) now will feature the first part of a three-part story written by Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning with art and cover by Chris Batista & Cam Smith. In this issue, witness Superman’s fateful first encounter with The Forever People and Darkseid! When Beautiful Dreamer goes missing, the Forever People take their search to Earth, only to find The Man of Steel! But as the battle between New Genesis and Apokolips rages on, Superman finds himself — and all of Earth — caught in the middle! SUPERMAN CONFIDENTIAL #9 is scheduled to arrive in stores on November 14.

Confused yet? Me too. How's the average person supposed to follow this? I need a guide book to make sure I know what's going on here.

DC has been doing these weird story arc cut-and-paste jobs in order to get the comics out on time. I appreciate them wanting to do that, but I don't like this particular result - arcs starting and finishing with no rhyme or reason. It killed my sales numbers on Action Comics when they did this! Maybe, just maybe, publishers should work a bit harder to get people do deliver their work on-time. Is that so hard? Give them enough time and a deadline and be firm to that - it is what happens in most other workplaces.

Also note - I pasted the notice from DC directly into this blog. The spelling errors are theirs - I guess they don't have a spell-checker on their email. In fact, they even misspell the title of the comic once.

Why Steve Geppi Should Hire Me

Mr. Steve Geppi (pictured) is the owner of several businesses, one of which is the infamous monopoly holder of all comic book distribution in the United States - Diamond Comic Distribution. He needs to hire me, or at least whomever runs Diamond needs to hire me.

Why?

Because there is such a disconnect between the company and the people on either end of their services. I think the company needs someone who can bridge those gaps - well probably a few people, but they can start with me and see how it goes. The communication between Diamond and the comic book retail outlets is really pretty bad, and from what I understand the communication between comic book publishers (especially the small guys) and Diamond isn't great either. Yes, we all have "Diamond Reps" that are supposed to be the go-between from the stores and publishers to the corporation that is Diamond, but it seems like there is some kind of lack of organization or supervision or something that causes little communication to actually go up and down the pipelines.

When someone wants information on starting a comic book store Diamond is of little to no help. They mail out a Diamond catalog and that's about it. As if all the answers were there.

We had our Diamond sales rep get a promotion and for MONTHS we were without a rep, so when we had a problem we were LITERALLY on hold for 20 minutes or more waiting for the "next available Diamond sales representative" to take our call. Eventually when one did, if there was something they'd have to "look into" and get back to us, we almost never heard back and would have to call back and see if we could track down that rep for the answer or solution. Then this week we called with a problem and Craig asks when, if ever, they're going to finally give us a new sales rep. Turns out Gary is our rep, and he's been it for a couple of weeks now. Gee... you'd think he'd call or something. Wasn't Gary wondering why his job seemed easy - not getting any calls from his current accounts?

Diamond also asks every day on their mailer for stores to send them their sales ideas. What I'd like to know is WHAT happens to these ideas? Either they've never had a single store send them an idea, or they just archive these for use "some day" because I have never ever seen the list of retailer submitted sales ideas appear anywhere.

Diamond also does an occasional survey to find out people's satisfaction with the service they get from them - mainly being the weekly shipments. I think I have seen one report that had the accumulated data on it in the nearly 4 years we've been working with Diamond. There might have been more that I haven't seen. But let me tell you it is one thing to collect data and make nifty reports with it - it's another thing to use that information to try to fix problems. Problems like week after week of damaged shipments or wrong comics and books being sent out or shipments arriving at stores a day or days late. Yes, there will always be errors. And yes, accidents happen. Sure, Diamond does replace damages (as long as they still have replacements in stock) and send correct items out when the wrong ones come. But the infrastructure for this process is difficult and seems to change from week to week -- sometimes they want damages sent back in the same box they came it, sometimes they don't want damages sent back at all, when the wrong item is sent they seem to not have any kind of process to reclaim those items (we have an entire shelf of incorrectly shipped items that we don't know what to do with).

When I call my rep to find out where an item is - why it has not shipped yet - they typically have no idea at all. Often they cannot give me any kind of new shipping date either. Then when I take the time to contact the publisher myself I find out the reason. Sometimes it's a publishing issue like the printer or something. But other times they tell me that Diamond has had the item for WEEKS and they have no idea why it hasn't shipped yet. Clearly there is not a good line of communication between publishers and Diamond and then down the chain to stores. If a comic book or other item is not shipping on time I think the folks at Diamond should have an idea why - and if it is just sitting in their warehouse they should know that too.

Here's what could help the situation - some organization and a person who's job it is to make sure these lines of communication stay open and go both ways. So when a store has a problem they can feel like Diamond is actually doing something about it. If a store looses a rep this person makes sure that the store is still serviced properly and then knows who their new rep is as soon as that person assumes the position. Someone who maybe has run a store and has some idea what it's like to be on that end of the service. Someone who collects data from publishers and retailers and compiles it into usable data for both Diamond and the folks on either end of their service. Someone who makes sure that these go-between reps are doing their jobs and that both stores and publishers have some idea that they're actually being helped. Someone who works on improving the shipping times for certain areas of the country. (Washington State is one example of an area that experiences constantly unpredictable shipping from Diamond) They need someone who is organized, friendly, smart, tenacious, persistent and appreciates the comic book industry. Someone just like me.

Of course the problem is that Diamond does not have any competition when it comes to distributing comics, so they really don't have to try to improve anything. And I don't really want to move out to Baltimore, MD and leave my comic book store and great customers. But, I really would like to see Diamond do more than create a Point of Sale and inventory management program and host two retailer summits in order to try to get retailers to feel like they're being helped. Forget those big things and focus on little things like helping new stores and making sure that existing stores know who their sales reps are.

Are You Fan? Really?

What exactly is "fandom?" I had assumed all this time that it meant you were part of a group of people who were big fans of something. Often spending money on related products seems to be part of being a fan. Maybe I'm not even referring so much to "fandom" as simply being a fan of something - a group membership isn't necessary.

Let's take comics for example. If you are, say a Daredevil fan* you probably buy Daredevil comics, statues, t-shirts, etc. Maybe you belong to a Daredevil forum on the internet, maybe not but you love Daredevil - he rocks. Go DD! Right?

Maybe not.


Lately it sure seems like being a fan isn't so much about loving something as it is about griping about it. In fact, it almost seems like the more one gripes and complains the bigger fan one claims to be. Does that even make sense?

One might say, "DD rocks, except the comic sucks, the movie sucked, the most recent Bowen mini-bust sucks - and I know because I'm the biggest DD fan EVER."

Ummm.... OK?

First, why spend money on it if you don't like it? Just because one is a supposed fan?

Maybe one does like it, at least a little, but he/she really just has to, as a fan, complain about some little nit-picky thing because, well he/she IS a fan. Or is the logic that one has to spend the money buying things that he/she doesn't like, just to prove that he/she is a fan? Perhaps in order to be a fan people feel the need to rip apart every bit of the very thing they are a fan of, in order to support an idea or concept or product they want but aren't getting?

I still don't get it...

Is that what being a fan of something has become in this internet era? Is being hyper-critical and never happy the way to show the on-line public how much you really really like something?

What happened to fans who LIKE and say GOOD things about the item/character/show/etc that they claim to be fans of? What happened to buying things they like and brag about how awesome the items are?

Let's say our Daredevil fan buys DD comics, but can't stand the current artist or writer - well rather than wasting money on something the DD fan doesn't like and then posting the negative feedback all over the internet, how about this DD fan instead simply stops buying DD until things change. There are plenty of other characters one could decide to become a fan of. Or one could stay a fan of DD but not buy the offending comics and instead go back to the issues he/she loved and tell people how awesome it was then and how people should run out to the nearest comic book store and find the graphic novels from back then because they were so SWEET!

WHY, if one is really a FAN of something, is there so much vile screed being spewed by those same "fans?"

I have been to comic book fan boards, news sites, and comic blogs and comic podcasts and you know what so many (but not all, mind you) supposed fans of comics are doing? They are saying what the don't like, what they can't stand, how everything is wrong and nothing is interesting. They're mad. They're disappointed. Yet, they continue to spend money on the exact things they don't like, seemingly just to have more to complain about. And they spend more time on the internet complaining about how they don't like these very things they've supported with said time and greenbacks.

If these fans REALLY are fans, and REALLY don't like what the comics are about now, the ONLY way to convince anyone of that, and to maybe even enact change, is to stop spending money on the things one doesn't like. In addition, maybe said fans could support what they DO like by talking positively about those things, rather than just groaning about what they don't like.

It is getting harder and harder to go to these "fan" sites and blogs because suddenly I find myself being more grouchy and critical as well. Complaining is contagious! I knew a couple back when I was in college who were ALWAYS negative. They never had anything positive to say. My friends and I would be hanging out somewhere and having fun and then these two would come over. In a few minutes we'd all be complaining about this or that, rather than just enjoying the moment. Often we wouldn't even realize we'd taken the negative turn until later, when we were doing something else and thinking back. Something similar starts to happen when I read about how comics are crap and comic book movies suck and comic book stores are ruining the industry...and...and... you get the idea.

How about those of us that claim to be fans of something talk about how GREAT that thing is. How about we actually like and enjoy and support with words and deeds, and probably some cash, those things we are fans of. And not be hypocrites who dish out time and money on something we claim to be fans of, only to bitch and moan about it on every fan site around.

Personally, I'd like to start enjoying a more happy and less stressful fandom experience.


*the Daredevil fan is purely fictional, but exemplifies what I've seen a great deal of lately on the Internet

What Can Brown Do For You?

Ugggg....

This has been the week from hell. How does that Green Day song go? Wake me up when September ends? Yeah, do that. First we have the house deal fall completely apart. Then UPS doesn't get our comics here on time.

That's right. No new comics today at Neptune. Well, there's like a 2% chance our books could still show up today, but that's not a whole lot of a chance.

The UPS truck broke down at 6:28 am today on it's way from Illinois to our UPS hub. The guys at the hub claim that the truck will arrive sometime today, but it won't be unloaded until late tonight for pick-up tomorrow. So, *sigh* no new books today. Up again early tomorrow to try it again.

UPDATE: We now have official confirmation that the new comics won't arrive until tomorrow. Sorry everyone!

The Exclusive Problem

You all know about Diamond Distribution by now - and the fact that they've got a monopoly on comic book distribution. This is due largely to the fact that they signed contracts with DC and Marvel to be their exclusive distributor to the U.S. Then other publishers followed suit and soon it didn't make sense for people to buy comics from other distributors because the bulk of the comics would come from Diamond anyway, and it's just easier to keep track of orders when you work with one company.

Diamond also has a sister company that distributes games: Alliance Distribution. So far the game industry still has a lot of distributors, and Alliance is just one of them. But, recently Alliance signed an exclusive contract with game maker Wizkids - so now Wizkids games like Heroclix and Pirates are only available through Diamond and it's sister Alliance. This caused quite an uproar in the game industry, and people are still upset about it. The other distributors who supported Wizkids are angry that they were left out of the loop. Game stores that don't have a Diamond or Alliance account were angry because they had to either get an account with them or not get these popular games. But Both Alliance and Wizkids insisted that it was the best thing for EVERYONE.

This week is a big game release - Marvel HeroClix Avengers. Wizkids is making a few changes to the HeroClix games, and the Marvel Avengers set is the first one to have them, so people are interested in checking it out. Knowing that these would be in demand, and that many stores don't get shippments from UPS until hours after they've opened, Alliance said they'd ship out the game a day early to stores, so that we'd have it ready to sell first thing when we opened on Wednesday. This sure seemed surprising from a Diamond company - since they refuse to do anything like that for comics unless you're one of the few accounts that have so many stores that your comics are freighted out on pallets.

Well, guess what, it didn't happen. Our Marvel Avengers HeroClix did NOT show up today via UPS. Our Alliance rep made some excuse about how it was UPS's fault (now that's what a Diamond company would do) and he claims we'll get them tomorrow afternoon when UPS arrives in the afternoon. This is all well good, except that I know I'll have customers come looking for this game in the morning and we won't have it. And, it wouldn't have been so bad if we weren't told we'd get them early.

Now it turns out that it would have been better for us to order them from Diamond instead of it's game arm, Alliance, because at least if we got them from Diamond we'd be picking them up at UPS in the morning instead of waiting until 2 pm for UPS to deliver them.

Diamond Blues

We lost our Diamond customer service rep, Kyle. He worked for them for around 7 years and finally got promoted. In the mean time we don't have a rep, which means when we have problems we get stuck with whatever rep isn't working and answers the phone or generic email. It stinks! We ordered a Wasp mini-bust for a customer and it didn't show up - it took the random rep a week to get back to us, after we bugged her three times, to tell us she couldn't get us any information and she'd get back to us in another couple of weeks. So, we asked around and found another retailer who was willing to part with one for cost so we will have one for this customer.

Today a bunch of our books, especially Marvel titles, were banged up. Thankfully we didn't have any where the full run was damaged so badly that we couldn't put any out (that has happened in the past). There were some trades, like 52 Vol 1, that were too damaged for us to put any out. We have enough for today, hopefully, of the undamaged ones - now we'll just have to wait until next week for replacements. When I sent in the damage report we received the replacement order report twice - so now I'm wondering if we'll get double orders.

When we did our Scott McCloud deal we got a bunch of TPB's from Diamond on consignment. We sent a bunch back - and according to the list we got back from Diamond - they lost some. So we had to call and have "random rep" check with the warehouse to see if they could find them so that we won't get charged.

Usually Diamond is OK - rarely are the problems so bad that I'm raging mad. But even these little problems get annoying when we don't have a regular rep to go to with them. And other stores have complained about their regular reps - so now Craig is worried that we'll get stuck with some idiot who doesn't know who Wonder Woman is or something.