Barnes and Noble - your neighbourhood comic shop?

[samurainoir]

Barnes Bleeding Cool Comic Book, Movies and TV News and Rumors

This will certainly be an interesting experiment in light of the repercussions that the Borders bankrupcy is having on the comics industry.

[Earth 2 Chris]

Anything that gets comics out to the masses is a good thing.

In my estimation, DC and Marvel REALLY screwed up when they abandoned the newstand market in the 80s.

Chris

[The Toyroom]

Anything that gets comics out to the masses is a good thing.

In my estimation, DC and Marvel REALLY screwed up when they abandoned the newstand market in the 80s.

Chris

Tell me about it...have to drive 25 minutes to pick up a comic at the LCS...will be the same distance if Barnes & Noble carried anything decent.

Of course I can't even think of an actual newstand in my hometown anymore...apparently people don't read....?

[samurainoir]

Given that they are utilizing Diamond, hopefully that means non-returnable product. Marvel and DC are big enough to weather the massive amount of trade paperback/graphic novel returns that will result from Borders, but we've seen in the past smaller companies finding really hard times in similar circumstances.

[ScottA]

Our B&N closed months ago.

[thunderbolt]

Both B&N's in Polk County closed years ago, so this will do me no good. If Diamond or Marvel or whoever wants to get comics to kids, drop the prices and get them into 7-11 and Wal-Mart, and get them to download cheaper than print. Its really a simple solution to the problem.

[jwyblejr]

The Barnes & Noble in Huntsville moved. I think I'll stick to Books A Million.

[CaptainTrenchcoat]

My gf works as the receiving manager at the local B&N. I will ask her about it. My concern is that they are required to put the security labels on 100% of the graphic novels. Hopefully they won't do that with the actual comics. Otherwise, the collectibility goes out the window.

[ctc]

Hmmmm....

I dunno; I've been picking up my comics at Chapters for almost 10 years now, so this seems like a no-brainer. 'Course, I think it'll continue the circle of comic life. Marvel, DC and sometimes Image have taken a back seat for a while now, since a lot of their old fans have moved on and the kids prefer Japanese stuff. But the kids, looking for something new and different will be exposed to the superhero monthlies now. (Since most of them probably get their stuff at Chapters or the equivalent too.) "Hey! There's a Batman COMIC too? I thought it was just a movie. Neat!"

>drop the prices and get them into 7-11 and Wal-Mart

Oh yeah! Unfortunately the push for bigger and better; both in terms of celebrity writing, high quality art and advanced printing priced them WAY out of competitiveness. You couldn't keep the "talent" AND lower the price, unless you can greatly increase sales, which won't happen if you can't lower the price.... And the old fans are pretty spoiled: they'll notice (and blog) if you lower print quality, or colour process. And don't even THINK about balck and white....

>and get them to download cheaper than print

That's where it's going; but you've got a lot of diehards who HATE digital comics. (Old fogeys!) And Marvel, DC and sometimes Image are still catering to the comic shop crowd. (Old fogeys!) Even if digital sales went up, they'd get a lot of negative feedback; which means a lot to a company; especially in this day of instant rating. If they get that wave of newer fans I mentioned earlier, this won't be a problem.

Don C.

[thunderbolt]

^^ Any downloads I've looked ar are right around the same price as a hard copy, not cheaper. Same goes for new release CD's lately.