Posted in: Comics | Tagged: comic store in your future

Comic Store In Your Future – 2019 is Already Looking The Worst and Its All Free Comic Book Day's Fault

Published Mon, 31 Dec 2018 12:30:48 -0600

Last updated Wed, 15 Jun 2022 16:23:09 -0500

Rod Lamberti of Rodman Comics writes weekly for Bleeding Cool. Find previous columns here.

For 2019 I am hoping for the best of course.

So far it is not looking great in my eyes at least.

For the store, I would like to finally get the sales tax overpayment taken care of. It is almost a comedy. People telling me the opposite of what the previous person did when I call in. In the latest I was sent an email with a link for a form for paperwork to fill out. The catch? I filled it out the previous week and emailed it in already. I resent the email stating that. Thank goodness the store did not need those thousands of dollars on hand anytime soon. My only other option other than having a check mailed was to use the overpayment for credit for the next quarter's sales tax. I never dreamed it would take over three months to resolve, though it has so it now looks like maybe that would have been the quicker option.

Star Wars Day May 4th, happens to fall on the same day as Free Comic Book Day in 2019. What a great day to have a Star Wars comic to give out that day. Oh, there isn't one from Marvel. IDW to the rescue with Star Wars Adventures. What the heck? No one at Marvel directly involved with Free Comic Book Day thought having a high-quality Star Wars comic aimed at potential older customers might be a good idea on May 4th? Not all Star Wars fans are interested or will be interested in a Star Wars comic aimed at kids. A big potential customer base has been overlooked.

There do look like some good choices for Free Comic Book Day this year. Stranger Things has been getting truly new people into the store so a Stranger Things Free Comic Book may have potential. Pokémon once again seen a spark of life before Christmas. I keep thinking Pokémon is dying out then it suddenly comes back. Doctor Who might have some interest. Of course DC and Marvel will not reveal what they are doing until later. Will DC have new material or reprints as they have in the past? Will they too come to the conclusion I have? FCBD is just not worth the extra money? DC Super Hero Girls is popular but not enough new DC Super Hero Girls printed material comes out for me to order for the store to make it worth giving away comics that I pay for.

Before reading the list of comics for FCBD I was debating if buying comics to give away is something I wanted to do this year. If, by some miracle, I had a ton of previous Star Wars comics I could just give those out on FCBD and celebrate Star Wars Day. Maybe for next year, just give out dead stock of comics for Free Comic Book Day, so I do not waste money buying comics to give away. It would be comics that were not being giving out by other stores and might even draw more people in.

I would like to see a Free Comic Book Day that actually does more than just bring people in for free material. I make more money off of sales that are not on FCBD than I do with sales that are on FCBD. FCBD needs to focus more on how to get people to return. Having people that stop in once a year just for free material is not the return investment I would like. Getting people into actually buying comics as a habit is a goal and aim of the store.

That average non-comic book person who walks in if for FCBD assumes that the comics for Free Comic Book Day are free to the stores. They assume the major publishers that are making millions off movies on characters they own are paying for them, not the small business person who owns a comic store. Once they find out, they are puzzled by why we give out the comics for free.

Over the years Free Comic Book Day has become stagnant. Doing nothing new. Trying nothing new. It just exists. When Wizards of the Coast had their version of Free Comic Book Day with Magic Appreciation Day it was the same thing. People came in for free Magic the Gathering packs and spent nothing. They were in for freebies only. The kick in the teeth though is Magic Appreciation Day Magic packs were at no cost to the stores while for Free Comic Book Day stores buy the comics to give away. Magic Appreciation Day for years went on then, suddenly, with no announcement it was done. I called and asked about it and was told something along the lines of, we can never confirm or deny that Magic Appreciation Day is happening this year. It disappeared and no one noticed. Profits and sales for Magic material did not decrease with not having the day anymore either.

What are the basis for choosing what titles get to be offered for Free Comic Book Day? Over the years there has been a lot of dead weight. From titles that did not have any quality to them to titles that did not even have another comic following up from the free one.

Free Comic Book Day happens the first Saturday of every May so it should be a pretty easy day to plan for. It is all set up with no new ideas to grow or support it.

What I hope for in 2019, comic wise, is more titles from the publishers that have the capability to sell well. Bringing back titles that were short lived due to cancellation with the same look and feel is not something I want to see. The return of Iceman and Unstoppable Wasp did not set the world on fire.

Less having comic book movies driving the look and direction of comics. Even back with the original X Men movies came out where all the sudden Marvel had the X Men stop wearing their masks and go to a similar black outfit look as to look as they had in the movies it did not work for the comics. Comic books are a different medium. After all these years though Marvel keeps failing when trying to get the comic movie-going crowd to buy their comics. Rocket Raccoon, Blade, Groot, Guardians of the Galaxy, and more are characters that are well known outside of comics though Marvel is unable to keep have them in their own titles without getting cancelled due to low sales.

Where is the improvement in Marvel's marketing? People that are not already reading comics should at least know that characters featured in blockbuster movies such as Rocket Raccoon, Groot, Starlord, and more are from comics. They should know that comic books are where these characters first appeared, not movies.

Where is the investment in new talent? I am an old school comic fan. Love old comics. I am glad to see creators I grew up with still getting work. That said in order to get the next generation of readers there needs to be creators that a new generation can call their own.

2019 is the year we should finally see the end of the popular Doomsday Clock limited series. What is next? DC needs something to jumpstart their publishing line. Rebirth was great, though years have passed now and it is time to see renewed excitement.

I will confess, if I had opened Rodman Comics in the last few years, I am not sure the store would still be around. Being established helps. Wizards of the Coast seems set on not raising their prices so those that sell their product share in the profits. Their whole price raise so only they get the increase is pretty bad.

As for Marvel I would have bet money and lost, that Marvel would have tried a whole lot harder and have new ideas after Axel Alonso left. I see no new direction or ideas.

DC usually follows Marvel's lead. Rebirth was an exciting launch years ago. Now without Geoff Johns in his old role, it seems DC is just fine taking a backseat to Marvel.

Image over the years for us has just lost its way. Without Walking Dead, it would hardly affect sales if we dropped carrying Image. Saga being on hiatus does not help Image. Lack of titles with any future being put out by Image really hurts. It used to be Image was proud of their sales. Now their attitude is we make the same amount if a title sells or not. Meaning the Image brand is stamped on a comic and they get money for that and it is the same if a title sells a hundred thousand copies or a thousand.

I obviously want to see the three publishers change. When they sell more copies that usually means comic stores are selling more.

For 2019 I would love to see a miracle happen and see competition for Diamond Comics. Though it would take a miracle. It would really help comic sales if more than one vendor sold comics.

More titles like Amazing Spider-Man, Immortal Hulk, Justice League, and others that have the fans excited to read them.

Some good new news. After writing these columns for so long I am surprised at the lack of exciting news coming from the publishers. Aquaman is a hit at the movie theaters currently. His comic book? Not so much. The disconnect between blockbuster movies and the comics that feature the characters they are based on is still alive and well after all these years.

2019 let it be the year of changes. Good changes of course. I see the same issues that have plagued the comic market for quite a while now and have seen as a retailer little if anything done to correct or improve the comic market. The powers that be seem alright with the way everything is. There seems to be a 'why try to improve anything' attitude. What I want to see the most happen in 2019 is more comic book readers. People actually reading comics is the lifeblood and where real growth for the comic market will happen.

2019 I hope is a good year for everyone. Happy New Year everyone.