juanm85

January 18, 2012 1:34 pm There are people who pirate because they don't have a good store, I've heard it before. But people who pirate do it usually because of cost associated with collecting. I completely disagree with your solution to piracy. If everything were to go digital only today, comics would either be dead or a small niche market it a couple of years. Having 3000 stores board up there windows is definitely not the way to go. Stores need to improve themselves and show that the comic experience in a brick and mortar store is always going to be vastly superior to just going to an app store and buying whatever catches your fancy. That's something I preach about in my store constantly.

January 18, 2012 1:23 pm Excellent article. Couldn't agree more with all the points. I have the benefit of helping run a store that I am tremendously proud of in terms of our staff and stock that we carry. (Diamond has been doing secret shoppers this last year to grade stores and I was very proud to have my store earn the highest grade possible, sadly not many others stores got it) People who run stores need to understand it is a business. Greet people, be polite, do not act like you are the god of the comic universe. People appreciate if you remember them or even ask how their day is going. Now I will say a lot of comic fans need to be help us out. I can't tell you how many times I've walked up to someone to ask if they needed help or had questions and had them look at me as if I had sprouted a second head or offended them but just trying to talk to them. Also, do not come in with pretentious and/or negative attitude because most of the time you will come across as a jerk, and people will respond very negatively to that. Don't be the stereotype caricature comic guy. Come in, have a polite and civil conversation (I'm a chatterbox, and you can get me going on any topic)about whatever is on your mind and support your LCS . And you know what, if the people who run your store are being jerks or aren't carrying the stuff they should, don't be afraid to let them know. Honesty is the best policy.

September 12, 2011 1:27 pm Love that Jim Lee cover! If you look closely Batman is laying on the ground to left and Superman is maybe stuck in the tidal wave also? Looks great though!

September 9, 2011 2:23 pm Piracy is an issue. I've seen it first hand with many customers who just point blank said "Oh I'll just download that comic when I get home." It makes me cringe. The problem is there are no concrete statistics out there to show how many comics are pirated. But in industry with probably about 250,000 people that are still active (that's just a guess), even something like 10,000 downloads (a guess again)on book is pretty big chunk of the market share. Comparing comic piracy in terms of numbers to movies and music isn't fair since it wouldn't be close. Millions of people watch movies and listen to music, and many are willing to pirate. While is true the market has been in a downward spiral since the 90's, it has still maintain some stability in the past decade after the 90's bubble burst. The last decade has been rough economically for a lot of people are comics are going to be the first thing many people cut out of their budgets. Comics have to compete in against mediums where people really don't want to read more then they need to. Kids nowadays just want to play the latest Call of Duty or Halo, rather than sit down and read anything. They think reading is for losers or nerds. I see that as another growing problem. When teachers have to tell kids "Don't use text speech when writing a paper" there is a major problem out there with our youth, but that's a topic for another day (Forgive me for sounding like an old man, even though I'm only 26) Eventually in the future, smart phones and tablets will be more readily accessible to more people just as computers have in the last 10 years. And as they grow, it does give digital comics a chance to reach more people, but comics are at their best when there's human interaction. I always enjoy getting into playful arguments with people, since I have people who seek me out just to give me grief about my love for Grant Morrison. To declare comic stores dead in a few years, not that anyone has here but others have, is ridiculous at best and disingenuous. There are still a lot of great stores out there that are doing well and as long as people want print, which people will want, they will be around for a long time to come.

September 9, 2011 1:31 pm Long time iFanboy follower, first time poster. I work for a large comic retailer and I can tell you the comic community is pretty sound. True we don't have video stores anymore, but that is an entirely different dynamic then comics. Most people have instant access to movies now, or they can have anything delivered to them that they want, or they can pick up movies while getting gas. Record stores may not be around, but here where I live there are some really good ones that have survived and thrived. It's either adapt or die and good stores will always live on, bad stores will crumble. The root of the problem with any of these things is piracy. Pirating movies, music, or comics hurt those industries, and you aren't doing them any favors. I know it's tough for some people to buy everything they want, but any little you give to your local shops will always help, a lot. If they don't carry something you like, let them know. We sometimes miss the boat on things, but I know in my store we always more than happy to get in anything you want. Even if it's Hot Moms #6. I do see digital comics as the future of comics, but I don't see it happening for a long time. Retailers should view it as chance to reach out to new people that may not read comics anymore, or to entirely new people. And even if the majority of people go digital, there will be people looking for classic silver and golden age books to collect ( I personally would love to collect old WW II comics one day, since I love the propaganda comics of the era.) and that's something stores need to be aware of. After Justice League #1 came out last week we knew immediately that even though we ordered up significantly on all the new #1's, we did not have enough coming in on the mid tier books. We fixed it right away, and while we will be missing some great books the first week (Swamp Thing was amazing!), we shouldn't have that problem for the rest of the month. Forgive the wall of text, but I've been meaning to post on here for a long time now lol.