In the News
So, we get in a call at the store because the local News-Press has heard something of this 'Iron Man' fellow that seems to be a hit with the youngsters, so they want to talk to us about it. The torch is passed to the Comic Shop Girl (and let's be honest, it's for my enthusiasm and the fact I can spout this stuff off the top of my head) and they come by for an interview...
... which makes it to the front page. Go fig.
SORRY! Wrong link, though I admire Lydia's candor and wasn't so much of a cheerleading shill to say the same myself. Nope! Here's Yours Truly with the rah-rah for the store, Iron Man and anything else you pu in front of me.
Please note: It's me, a dog who sadly died and new Child Pornography laws. It really was a slow news day. But I said my best, got misquoted and spoke positively about comics in the media and how business changed what was once a child's medium. Sounds good, right?
It even got us a bit of business. So that's good there.
Getting the Word Out
So, I haven't gotten a chance to talk about Secret Invasion #2 yet (because, let's face it.... after #1 it was kind of a let down) because with summer coming up, we've hit promotion season at ye olde store. So this means heading out to events like the Santa Barbara Social Game Night to talk about the kind of games we sell at our store and demo something a little more different than your average board game, putting up a booth at the nearby university to promote the store with leftover free comics and a fine selection of the kind of floppies the college kids can dig, just generally getting the word out which is one of the best things about this little medium of ours.
I like comics and I like telling people I like comics. I like getting people to like comics with me. it's all part of the show, you know. So why I may not be on the snap or judgments of late, know that I'm doing my part. And reading comments.
This is what I recommend to folks who've come out of the Iron man movie and just so happen to make it to the comic shop. Believe it or not, we actually sold four Iron Man: Extremis TPs the weekend Iron man came out which I will consider a huge success. Since it's newer, the tech updated as only Warren Ellis can provide and the art something special, it's probably the better TP to siggest because it serves as a gateway to the current Iron Man and can keep people hip. The of course, two all new series: one is an ongoing and the other a mini for those people who 'don't want to get into comics per se'.
My job, ladies and gents.
Seeking May Flowers
If no one's said it before, let me be the first: OH MY GOD WAS THIS WEEKEND OVER THE TOP.
We had Iron Man released to the masses, Free Comic Book Day celebrated (which tend to come with a sale, a signing or at least a balloon) and then, just to top things off, Metro hosted the Magic the Gathering Shadowmoor release tournament. It was a madhouse I tells ya, A MADHOUSE!
But we survived. My sign remarkably worked wonders, people's enthusiasm was high and I can say with a head held high that Iron Man is the best superhero movie I have ever seen. Free Comic Book Day once again surprised us all at how incredibly popular it was, Nathan Kane is a complete and utter sweetheart and Bob Gale proudly showed me a few panels of a Thor at a malt shop (oh, Essential volumes, is there anything you can't do?). The tournament rounded us out at a whopping 36 players, and on Monday, I slept.
Bringing us to Tuesday.
Today we go in and see if all this promotion, good feeling and spectacular success has any long term payoff. I'm not even close to thinking that everyone who picked up a healthy stack of free comics is going to come back and set up a pull subscription, but it'd be nice to see some people wander in and ask about All Star Superman. Maybe someone who's seen the Iron Man movie ask us what's the next best thing to it in print?
From the Trenches
I come to you live from the madness that is Free Comic Book Day (which I do have to say that if you're not at, you should at least be watching Iron Man right now!), beleaguered and sore. Of the 35 or so titles we had this morning, we're down to 15 and slowly dropping. By the end of the day, we'll have the Big Ones (Hellboy, Marvel Adventures, All Star Superman, Jughead, The Disney One, and maybe Tiny Titans), but our free comic table will be skinny.
We had a line outside the door before we opened of at least twenty people as I rushed to make sure our hatches were battened down and the men were ship-shape. It has been fast and furious. People have come from miles away and hopefully all of them are leaving happy. Being a smart little store, we've got a sale going on at the same time which is encouraging people to stay. Our 'Mature Readers' books were preciously guarded and thankfully gone now nad our Free Autograph Signing with Nathan Kane from Bongo Comics and Bob Gale from EVERYTHING COOL is due up in a little under 30 minutes.
It's a busy day, but productive. We have no fear. ONCE MORE INTO THE BREACH, COMIC SHOP CLERKS!
I’ve Seen Iron Man
Da-na, da-na-na, da-nanananana, da-na-na.
This afternoon, when I came into work, I created this sign out of a used back board:
I created this sign because I could pretty much call how my day was going to go:
Customer: Have you seen Iron Man yet?
Me: Yes!
Customer: Is... is it any good?
I've had to go through this with every single comic movie that's hit the screen, throwing in Star Wars prequels to boot. That hesitant fear of a bad movie of four-color caliber causes customers to cower at the counter and now I'm just alliterating for the heck of it. But no, this is serious, as serious as I have had to answer the question before people even saw the sign.
This fear is not unfounded. We remember the Schumaker Batman flicks with guilt and remorse. The Hulk movie had me in denial for years until an intervention was staged to show me the truth, that the movie is darned well near unwatchable. So looking to others to see if it's safe is a perfectly rational reaction, especially for Metro considering the store manager is a film studies major.
I also think we look to sources of authority to ensure that the film is true, people who know comics who can call a spade a spade, if you will. If the comic fans don't like it, well then. Tear up your tickets! This morning on the radio the three disc jockies, self-admittedly out of the loop when it comes to the funnybooks, had to ask their regular movie reviewer if the 'nerds' would approve of how close Iron Man stuck to the source material. Even non-comic fans know our word is law on these kinds of things.
So I understand your reticence. I understand the fears and anxieties. But for the love of new super-computer Jarvis:
Please stop asking me.
Conquer your fears. See the movie for yourself and ride the rollercoaster of comic movie acceptance.
For the record? The Iron Man movie just so happens to be THE best comic movie I have had the pleasure of seeing. Mind you, I'm saying this still riding the incredible high of seeing it for the first time, so my snap judgment is just that: WHEE! Tonight, I see it again (this time getting the full effect as I had to cut out before the end (AND YES I KNOW ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS AT THE END OF THE CREDITS!) to go hand out flyers for Free Comic Book Day at Metro, so we'll see what viewing #2 does to the ol' brain pan.
Maybe I'll be more objective. Maybe I'll still want to declare it a modern masterpiece that thrills me to no end that Marvel has their own studios now. We shall see.
And so should you.
We’re DOOOOMED!
Matt Fraction and Ed Brubaker leave the Immortal Iron Fist in the hands of Duane Swierczynski.
Now, on one hand, this shouldn't be that big of a threat to the guy buying comics. Brubaker and Fraction get right to it when asked about what it was that made Danny Rand's adventures such a big hit and that's getting to the core of the character. Kung-Fu Billionaire is a brilliant place to start and as long the stories are kept to the heart of the matter, everything else follows through. Iron Fist is such an essentially cool character, the tone of the stories that Brubaker and Fraction have told is dead solid, this is a very easy pattern for someone else to follow. They talk about being blessed with a great editor, Warren Simons, and how he had gone to bat with Marvel for these great stories and if he's that much of a believer in a pulp martial arts bonanza, there is more than enough hope that he won't let the book go to a monkey with a pen. Brubaker and Fraction recommended Swierczynski personally for the job! This is good, right? Right?
Yeah.
I know, it's hard to think about the book doing half as good as it did under the rather surprising genius of the current creative team. Swierczynski comes off in the article like a generic Marvel parrot, saying nothing but platitudes and 'what he said's. I get no strength from the man; despite his rather good Punchisher: War Journal one-shot, you can't say Cable's been anything but underwhelming. And when it's Cable with a baby strapped to his chest, underwhelming is a pretty good choice of words.
Reading the comments to the interview, a lot of people look to be jumping ship. I know I'm going to get to work tomorrow with quite a few wails and moans of woe, and that's just from the staff. We at Metro adore and revere Iron Fist. Anytime a customer hasn't heard of the kung-fu goodness, I have to go run and grab the trade an show them that last panel from the last issue where two people kick each other so hard a building explodes. It's another sale the moment the enthusiasm passes from us to the customer and boy, our enthusiasm is boundless.
Funny story: I got to see Matt Fraction at WizardWorld LA this year. In fact, he was the first thing I saw when I went into the dealer's room; with my jaw on the floor, I slipped up to the table he was going to be signing at and proceeded to gush. I told him how well Casanova sells at the store and how Metro loves Iron Fist and he was a very pleasant and humble man with carefully crafted 'bed head'. I'd been sent down to the con with a few of our bitchin' store T-Shirts to give to store heroes and strangely wasn't expecting Mr. Fraction as the T-Shirts were L and XL... but I did have my store shirt. I planned on wearing it once I got to the con and had forgotten to change into it, but there was a size Medium and there was Our Hero, so I gave him mine and might have gibbered on about the cat hair on it. He was very nice and accepted my employee shirt and gave me his card and man, I was all professional and cool ... until I realized I wouldn't have a shirt to wear at the store next week.
Anyhow, back to the matter at hand: Iron Fist.
I can't say that I have all that much enthusiasm for the new writer; the new artist, Travel Foreman, on the other hand looks really different and I think he could pull it off. Mind you, Aja's a hard act to follow, so best of luck there. In fact, best of luck to all of them.
They are going to need it.
“Ugly Boys Store”
The above phrase should have been taken down in a statement to the police on why I had to strange a woman who came into the store with her young daughter and son. You think this kind of thing wouldn't happen; I'm fairly obviously a female behind the counter of a comic shop and so therefore, any arguement that comics are "just for boys" seems retarded. But as I approached this woman holding on to her daughter's hand as if she were going to be pursesnatched, I was perfecly polite to ask her if she needed any help.
We got a good customer service thang going on at Metro, or at least we give it the old college try. Some people jump back in fear, some give me a condescending look and others are just silent as they point to their curious child making a mess of our action figure selection and explain that "Oh no, we're with him." And that's okay. I can't make you be interested in what your child likes and after 7 long years of working at my comic shop, I've come to terms with that. I can go over to that small child and normally find a great conversation on how awesome Batman is and who that action figure is and might actually come away with a good sale from time to time.
But what I can't understand, and don't even want to, is disparaging the store IN FRONT OF ME. When I asked this woman if she needed help finding anything, she begged off any comment explaining that she and the little girl would be going to Old Navy across the street and were giving her son 'equal time'. She could have even stopped here and we'd be cool! What elementary school aged little boy wants to hang out with his mom while she and his sister look at t-shirts and other boring clothing things? That's awful kind of them to try and get him a book so he can be entertained, right?
But no.
This woman went on to say with a smirk that he needed time in a, and I quote, "ugly boys's store".
Now, I know you can think of your own witty retort, but at the time, I was struck dumb by her ... dumbness. Was she really trying to tell me that this store, my store, was ugly and for boys only? She didn't just call her son 'ugly' in front of me? Was this bitch for real? I repeated her words and she didn't back down, realizing how far her foot had gone into her mouth, but tried to get me on her side by adding, "Well, you know..."
No, lady, I don't! I don't know! AUGH!
Still aghast, I choked out something about how comics promote literacy and have a wide variety of stories to tell and how there are Classics Illustrated based on major works of literature. "Well, it sounds like you read a lot when there's no one here," she cheekily replied and steered her daughter from the counter.
I left them alone. When they left, I said thank you and turned to my fellow co-worker and we took a moment. I thought I was going to burst a blood vessel.
So remember folks: there are people who think comics are just for kids. There are people that think comics are just for adults. And then there are those who would rather be assigned on what to think and what to read purely based on gender.
Morale Low
They took my front counter pick away.
Before my shift was over at the store, they took my front counter pick away and replaced it with something else. The manager said it was because I was going to be off work soon, but this was the first time any of my suggestions had been taken away from their cozy nook at the registers for that last minute buy and/or sell while I was still in the room and in front of me. I wanted to fold a little flag and march it to its final resting place after being so brave and bold.
I think a point was being made pretty clearly to me by my co-workers, one that's been made for the past week or so by a heft of fans at large.
You see, my pick was Amazing Spider-Man #546. I liked Brand New Day.
I didn't find it 'boring', I had no major reaction to Peter kissing some girl on the first page, I'm not boycotting it because of One More Day, I even looked forward to its release and can't wait to see the next issue. The back up stories were a great way to get us interested in each writer's style and the tone of what's to come. Even Greg Land only used two other reference photos that he uses for everything else! Dan Slott was witty, Harry Osborn's return intrieguing and the supporting characters did just that: supported the main story and gave me a feel for where Peter was at nowadays. Colors seemed brighter, birds sang a little sweeter and, hand to God, this looked like fun. Peter's a bit of a lovable loser and- get this -the thought balloon WORKED, helping out the narrative by putting me in Peter's head without being annoying or overused. SOMEONE GET BENDIS ON THE PHONE! It's been so long to see Peter plagued by something simple, like humility or missing shoes, rather than the madness of mystical mishaps and over-angsting emo-attitude that has had him at the edge of death threats. It was good, not the pinnacle of comics everywhere nor good enough to change my opinion that One More Day was a bad storyline, and I judged it based on its own merit. When I opened the store, it sat next to me at the counter and I came in ready to sell.
The manager didn't agree. He was polite about it, but the book was stank of what had come before, trapped in a world it didn't create. Customers have come into the store with pitchforks and torches in their eyes and the staff have commiserated on what a 'slap in the face' this all is, effectively continuing the hype of 'the Worst. Storyline. EVER.' I don't think it's a stretch of the imagination to think that the man in charge today simply didn't like the book. But when I take Messiah CompleX to task for not exactly being clear on the stakes of the story, I get in trouble because I'm talking down a sale. I find my front counter pick politely escorted off the counter. Oh, the politics of fandom.
Spider-Man, ladies and gents. I'm a Brand New Day pariah. I WEAR THE SCARLET SPIDER! Though that would be worse, since the Clone Saga was lame and the actual Scarlet Spider really silly looking.
But I don't mind being silly looking.
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Courting Girls
When I worked at my first comic shop down in the City of Industry in sunny southern California, I was handed a small pamphlet titled "How to get Women (and other new customers) Into Your Store!". Well, something like that at least as that's the impression that was left to me upon seeing the cover. The actual title might have been worse. I do remember the cover was pink.
Now, back then, this excited me. I was the only real fangirl around the shop that knew her DC from her Marvel and the idea of attracting other girls into the store was just as much of a mystery to me as it was to the people who made this handy little guide. I was disappointed to see less of a 'how to promote your reading material to a group of people who have been somewhat trained to disregard it' and more of a 'how not to run a crappy store'. One of their suggestions was to make sure the store was 'well lit' and didn't smell. Another was to showcase featured books towards the front door to interest people in the covers and artwork. By the time I got to 'be friendly and approachable to questions', I was done with the little pink book.
Wasn't this stuff self-explanatory? Wouldn't a dimly lit, smelly store with unapproachable staff and hidden product turn off anyone?
I'm lucky to have worked in some fine funnybook establishments. Both my first job and my current employer run pretty kick-ass stores, if I do say so myself. I work at a very inviting and easy to navigate store with an eye-catching layout and less cardboard boxes, kept ship-shape by helpful and attentive staff. We love comics and so should you.
So how do we attract that ever elusive 'girl' market? By getting Minx books? By stocking manga? Can you lure in one type of customer over the other like that?
Now, I purely speak in a snap judgmently fashion here, so take this with a grain of salt, but to be perfectly honest: NO. You can't make a Lifetime channel for comics. You can't just stock manga and expect the chicks to roll in. Mind you, certain types of books attract the female reader more than others but when you really look at it, do you know what's really selling it? A GOOD STORY. That's right: good writing, aesthetic artwork and some drama will attract ANYONE let alone women.
Recently with the influx of Buffy comics (one of Metro's top sellers!), I was asked to make another display for 'Girls' Comics', getting my goat as if I had gift-wrapped it for them. Girls' Comics? REALLY NOW? Thinking about it, I sadly realized that it was a valid sales point. How many mothers called us a 'Boys' Store' or bee-lined straight for comfort zones? So I set about making a display that solved the issue and I felt groovy with. I tried to find books that were engaging, interesting and well-drawn that just so happened to have a female protagonist. I know, it's not like women only watch TV shows or movies about women, why should the protagonist matter, but again.... comfort zones. Next to our display of Buffy and Angel comics is a little rack with a sign that reads: "Real Women, Real Comics". Why yes, it is cheesy! We even have Strangers in Paradise, front and center! But we also have Whiteout and Queen and Country, Manhunter and She-Hulk, Blue Monday and Nana. I tried to make it diverse, but what can you do?
Especially when it sells. I've been able to put Manhunter in the hands of a few folks who'd never pick it up and you wouldn't believe how many guys stand around flipping through She-Hulk (remember kids, this isn't a library). I can't say that a primarily female audience is catching on to these books, but the very fact that they've been taken from their usual place on the shelves and given a little section of their very own seems to be doing the trick. Mind you, so does the Movie Themed endcaps on our aisles, so what can you say?
So in the end, what's all this mean? I am no feminist blogger; there are so many people who do it bigger and better than I do that I would feel like a moron to dare step into incredibly well covered territory. All I can say is that a retailer and reader, try not to shoehorn people maybe? Maybe the quality of the product is the only thing that's going to sell the book? Maybe that all of this is pointless? Be a good store with a great selection and you should have anyone beating a path to your door.
Also, make sure your store is well lit and smells nice.