Posted in: Comics | Tagged: 2025, comic shop

Comic Store In Your Future: 14 Years Behind Me, Nothing But Hope Ahead

Comic Store In Your Future: 14 years behind Rod Lamberti and nothing but hope ahead for Rodman Comics in Ankeny, Iowa

Rodman Comics has now been around for fourteen years. We opened in Ankeny, Iowa, on the 1st of October, 2010. I spent roughly forty dollars on a sign saying "October 1st" and put it in the window. It was the best forty dollars I had ever spent in the store. I was told the sign would fade out in a few months, but I have been putting it up every year when the store's anniversary comes up, and it still looks good. We are at the same location we opened, with the same stubborn person who opened it (me).

The first two months of this year were not a great start for us. Things started to look better in April, and by the summer, things looked good again. I have learned a lot in fourteen years, and I am not the same naive, wide-eyed person I was when I first opened. Many of my concerns about the comic industry are still there, though my love for comics is still alive.

And I do have hope for the future. People can be hard to order for, they can be complicated, they can be rude even. Absolute Batman came out last month, and people mocked it when it was first announced. "How big is that symbol on his chest? How small is his head? Is that meant to be a bat?" Not one person said anything positive about the Absolute versions of the DC characters when they were announced. The day it came out, I had people coming in, asking if that empty space on the shelf was where Absolute Batman should be. Yes, it was. People were going to the various comic stores in central Iowa, trying to hunt down a copy when something sold out at another central Iowa store, which often created a frenzy of people wanting it even more. "In order to make a man or boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain," said Mark Twain. He said it about painting a white fence, but it's true about Absolute Batman, too. As a comic store owner, I am glad it sold out; comics are mostly sold as a non-returnable product. No one complains but me when I overorder a title because I am the only one out of any money for doing so.

Comic stores, do you still have stock of the DC All In One Shot on hand, or do collectors need even more reason to buy it? That is Absolute Batman's first appearance in an actual comic.

The Bleeding Cool scoop that Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee were teaming up on the ongoing Batman title is great news. During a Zoom meeting DC held with Jeph Loeb while promoting Batman: The Last Halloween, I asked if there was any chance of him teaming up with Jim Lee again. He said he was up for it, and it was all up to Jim Lee's schedule.

I am glad that they will not renumber it in this day and age of non-stop first issues. Jim and Jeph's run in Batman with their Hush story without renumbering it did not hurt sales. I worried that if they had their own Batman title, the limited series would overshadow the main Batman title. There are plenty of Batman comics; ordering them is like playing whack-a-mole. Give me one main Batman title with a top-notch writer and artist; that is an easy sell.

The long-running card game Magic: The Gathering used to be a strong, reliable product to sell – a cash cow. Even if something came out in years past that did not sell well during its release month, the question was only how long it would take to sell. Long gone are the days of seasonable releases with no delays. During one month this year, we got two different Magic releases in the same month. Magic had a set this year with fewer cards per pack at a higher price; that did not go over well. Magic: The Gathering now has exclusive material available directly through their website, while gone are the days of such things as From the Vaults, a yearly limited product available only through brick-and-mortar hobby stores.

One of the most positive things about the store is that despite dealing with the public and those who make things unpleasant (as anyone who works with the public knows), I have been very fortunate to have some of the coolest people come in and keep coming back. This little hole-in-the-wall store must have some charm because I know I don't. I wake up and go through a checklist of everything I need. I remember almost writing a column about how much work running a store is, then remembering that different owners do different things. There is fun to be had here, such as when a group of us did the parade this year. I joked on our Facebook page we would all be seeing Rodman Comics Human Resources department afterward from all the joking and teasing of one another. We also passed out candy and comics to kids. Well, they passed out candy and comics while I drove in the parade for the first time. Hopefully, the kids got some good reading.

Another pleasant thing about owning a comic store is hearing when parents buy their kids or kids comics and how much improvement they see in their kids' reading skills. Instead of viewing reading as "work," comic reading is "fun."

Just three-hundred-and-some days until the store has its fifteenth anniversary. What will I write about for Comic Store In Your Future? How many have I done? Do I hold the world record for most columns typed up by a comic store owner? [Don't write in Brian Hibbs, Chuck Rozanski, Buddy Saunders, Cliff Biggers, I'll tell him later – Rich.] What surprises does the future have for the comic industry? For all of us?

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