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Comic Store In Your Future – 2020 Is Crazy, Man

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

The picture of Picard is what many people feel like currently.

It has not even been two weeks since I went to Florida and many of the places I visited are now closed. Disneyland in California is also closed. This is only the third time in its history to be closed. People are dying because of the coronavirus. The virus has hit around the world and is causing havoc. Grocery stores are seeing various items disappear off the shelves as people worry more about what is to come.

Seattle was one of the first areas in the US to be hit hard by the virus. Over forty people have died there because of the virus. Seattle restaurants for dine in have now been ordered closed. Hopefully, most will only be closed temporarily. Even before the order, restaurants in the area were struggling. Some such as Branchwater, Cursed Oak and the Brooklyn are now closed permanently.

Here in central Iowa, we have now started canceling events, having people who can work from home do so and feeling the changes brought on by the coronavirus.

Will there even be a Free Comic Book Day event this year? We are not hosting FCBD this year so we are off the hook. FCBD is supposed to happen on May 2nd. I hope that Diamond steps up and has a backup plan for it. Simply delaying the day would help comic stores. Many stores order hundreds or even thousands of dollars' worth of FCBD comics. May is not that far away. With what is going on and things looking to get worse, I would hope Diamond would not say here is a bunch of comics to give away and have stores pay for them even if there are government-imposed rules about how many people may gather due to the virus. Right now, 50 seems to be the top number in Des Moines, Iowa though many would like to see that number down to 10. Other states have already passed bans of having 50 people or more in a group. We easily had more than 50 people in the store at once when we did Free Comic Book Day in the past. Are people even going to be willing to travel to a comic store for free comics in May? The sooner Diamond makes changes to this year's Free Comic Book Day, the better for the stores. Announce a delay now or whatever and stores can make plans accordingly.

When I first opened Rodman Comics, part of the reason was that I wanted more control over my own destiny so to speak. Work for myself and not someone else. I have learned controlling one's future is not that easy. This virus is freaking people out. How bad will things get? It is hard to say. I already have talked with my employees trying to do the what if it gets so bad here in Ankeny that it becomes like Seattle, a ghost town? If the virus gets worse in the area should they even be here? No, of course not. I have told them if they have any concerns or doubt with everything going on to stay home. The discussions are in the top ten least favorite talks I have had here at the store though by not talking about possible worse case scenarios it could make things worse. I admit in the back of my mind I know a prolonged situation where fear of the virus keeps people away for a while (say over a month) could very well be a nail in the coffin for Rodman Comics. A business has to have cash flow to operate. We easily can have over $10 thousand in bills in one week. All expenses will still be expected to be paid on time. Diamond still wants their money for the comics, the landlord still wants rent payment and so on. Obviously, with all this uncertainty my future orders on products have been cut down. Currently, ordering non-returnable material is even more risky. No one knows for sure what will happen and the unknown can be scary.

Far more important is public safety. Lives far more outweigh any business. Protecting the public is of the utmost importance. Wishing everything gets back to "normal" as soon possible.

Hoping for the best and waiting to see what happens. Make it so.

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