Barnes and Noble - your neighbourhood comic shop?

[samurainoir]

The best way to get a kid to read a comic these days? Install any of the ridiculous amount of comic apps on their iphone/ipad... particularly ones with free content.

I'm suspecting that this discussion is centred around trying to preserve the old paradigm of superhero print comics we grew up with rather than promote the broader scope of "comics" themselves.

Witness the Scott Pilgrim launch party on Toronto's Markham Street last year (outside one of the most innovative comic stores ever, The Beguiling)...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIpxJH61cB4

The participants were mostly in their teens and twenties, and numbered in FOUR DIGITS! When was the last time a Marvel or DC event sparked that kind of excitement?

Kids are reading comics, but it's just not necessarily Dad's comics.

Scott Pilgrim is six original graphic novels in "manga" format, 168 pages and sells for about ten bucks a pop. With a readership comprised of kids, teens, twenty-somethings and older hipsters, Male AND FEMALE, this is as broad an audience as you can hit with comics.

And Bone is also a runaway success in this regard as well now that the colour scholastic editions are pretty much everywhere (including the school book club).

[thunderbolt]

^^ Yeah, but DC and Marvel need that gateway drug to keep more people like us flowing. A parent isn't going to buy a 3.99 comic for a kid that is as thin as a dime and not to mention part 16 of 82 of some idiot storyline. Now a parent might buy 3 or 4 dollar comics for that kid. Of course, I'm assuming that DC and Marvel want to keep the floppy comic, they might not give a damn about it and go to all trades. They are probably easier to distribute and book sellers are more likely to carry them. When the floppies go, so does the LCS.

[samurainoir]

Here's the thing I think most people are not grasping... comics are actually MORE accessible with a ridiculous amount of material kept in print, than any other time in North America history.

If a kid wants comics, it's not necessarily the 7-11, drugstore or newstand... pretty much most bookstores these days have a graphic novel section, and the big superstore ones have more than one... with specific Graphic Novel sections in both the kids and teens sections as well as the big one for the grown ups.

I wish I could go back and time and kidnap my 8 year old self and plunk him into a contemporary Chapters/Indigo or Barnes and Noble. Those shelves are monoliths of comics reading compared to the puny spinner rack of the 70's.

Not that that in itself doesn't have risks as well... bookstore returns might even be riskier than newstand returns. Diamond started distributing to the bookstore market on a returnable basis a few years ago... and the Borders situation is not pretty.

Whatever direction this goes, just keep in mind that these days traditional print is potentially a huge pitfall. And it won't be the monoliths like DC or Marvel that could suffer the most. They are essentially reduced to R&D for their licensing and feature film/television divisions... that's where the real profits are, not the floppy colourful pamphlets. The big two aren't primarily interested in selling comics anymore... they are selling bedsheets and sneakers and movies.

[VintageMike]

I'm favor for two reasons. One, in the big picture it will hopefully mean more comics sold overall. Secondly while I will always support a shop first, I've had to change shops twice in the last year and a half as two closed. While I know of more it's always nice to have another option of where to get my comics.

[kingdom warrior]

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.

Great Idea, but when you're a bunch of greedy SOB's like Marvel and DC who only look at the dollar sign.......that's never going to happen.

[johnmiic]

If B&N is getting into carrying current comic titles -then it is because they want to put your local comic shops out of business. Support your local shops and avoid B&N at all costs.

When I worked for B&N in 1990 they were poised to launch their "Superstores". The point of their superstores was to put the competition out of business. If they could carry nearly everything in print in each of these stores-no one else could compete with them. Many other smaller & family owned bookstores went out of business in NY when the B&N Superstore came into vogue, (Eeyore's, Tower Books, Colliseum Books, B. Dalton-which they bought out, Ruby's Books to name a few I can remember). Only Shakespeare & Co. remain as a competing chain of bookstores here in NY, (and that's because the customers at S&Co. are snobs and loathe` B&N). The movie You've Got Mail (1998), uses this point as part of its story. Tom Hanks is a stand in for the Riggio Bros. who own the B&N franchise.

[thunderbolt]

^^^ Then Diamond needs to reach out beyond the direct market to new outlets if they are the only distributor. They also need to get the big 3 or 4 publishers to do some reprints or new stuff and a deeper discount to get hinders in the seats. Get spinner racks back in 7-11's full of one or two buck kid friendly material and they will be pulling in future audiences.

[samurainoir]

As someone pointed out earlier... What News Stands? Other than Archie and Mad, Comics didn't leave the New Stands, quite the reverse. And just look at all the attempts various comics companies, including DC and Marvel have made to attempt to return to the magazine racks with varying degrees of success.

Check out how print sales and volatile the magazine business is these days. As much as the direct market is a problem in a great number of respects, it is also a relatively stable and gamble free proposition compared to the magazine biz where returns will just kill you. Non returnable allows them as close to a print to order system as they can manage. This gives them a base of profit and sales that allows them to take more calculated gambles on the shelf life of a collected edition (but again, bookstore returns can come back and bite you vs the non returnable nature of trades and hardbacks in the direct market).

The current problem with the direct market is the fallout from the nineties comics wars... the system is now dependent on a single distributor as opposed to multiple competing distribution companies. As we've seen... when that one distributor gets hit, all your eggs are in one basket. The Borders returns are going to be brutal for the small press comics.

As sad as it is for us old fogies, digital is the future inside of the next decade or so. The world is changing and we can't set the time machine to go back to the 70's when we bought our comics from drugstores and the convenience marts and such.

[MIB41]

Glad to see them trying to broaden the scope of comics once more. But, like anything, the success of this venture will lie solely on how well they stock titles. Comic shops tend to do a better job of meeting consumer demand when big issues come out. A book store isn't going to have that kind of connection with a comic collector. So chances are good a lot of popular titles will sell out quickly, thus leaving the consumer to return back to the tried and true comic shop. I think that was the primary reason why comic shops became all the rage to begin with - availability of titles.

[ctc]

>Serious comic collectors and readers are always going to pick a comic shop/subscription service over another type of store to buys comics,

....which I think has been the big problem for the big Two and a Half. They worried too much about shoring up distribution back in the 80's and 90's, and hanging on to their established base rather thyan bringing in a new one. Half of the comic shop crowd were speculators anyhoo, and booked when prices crashed. Then they got swooped by the Jump stuff 'cos it was available everywhere and sold for a lot less. Once THAT took off, the independants moved in with their GN and compilations, since regualr book stores who wouldn't touch a 24 page comic were okay with anything that looked like a phone book.

>Increasing the volume in sales is the only way the companies will ever be able to reduce prices for much time at all.

That's true, but the 90's saw the advent of the designer comic, and correspondingly increased costs for the big names. That hurt the bottom line, especially when sales slumped. Same with the super-mondo-chocolatey printing of the 80's. They came up against maximalization: they HAD to shell out the bucks for slick production, or the established fans would cry foul. But doing so raised prices, and became deadly when readership dropped.

I'm kinda surprised Marvel and DC HAVEN'T been pushing for this sort of thing. I think one problem they'll have.... at first anyhoo.... is that they're still catering to the comic shop crowd. So you get books that have stories and characters with appeal to long time fans, but not so much for new ones. And the problem that you can't just go back and buy the preceeding issues you missed so's to get caught up. I can't help but wonder if the rash of anual non-events is their answer to this: by setting up benchmarks that are easily collected into GN form you give new readers a jumping in point. Except that you LOSE them next year when you do the same and effectively rewrite the universe.

Don C.

[madmarva]

Serious comic collectors and readers are always going to pick a comic shop/subscription service over another type of store to buys comics, if all things are even, but getting comics out in other venues can only help sow the seeds for new readers, which is what the industry and the hobby needs.

The reason the darn things cost so much isn't only the paper or high-dollar talent but also the low sales. Production costs will always be there. Increasing sales is the way to increase profits. Higher sales not only bring in more cash but it would generate more advertisers for the companies and increased ad rates. Increasing the volume in sales is the only way the companies will ever be able to reduce prices for much time at all.

DC and Marvel and comic shop owners and even readers and collectors should do everything they can to get comics into the hands of potential readers, particularly the young.

I doubt I'd be a comic reader today, if I hadn't got hooked on them young. If I would have been as a teen or older, I think I would have dropped out by now.

So I think it's great for B&N to pick comics up. If they do well there, maybe Wal-Mart and Target will respond. For better or worse, more shoppers (potential readers) walk through Wal-Mart's aisles than any place else. If I were DC and Marvel, I'd do everything I could to get my product in their stores.

[ctc]

>Any downloads I've looked ar are right around the same price as a hard copy, not cheaper.

THAT'S a problem too! I saw Marvel ones going for $3, whereas the comics are what; $4? Not muich of a savings, even though the company isn't paying for printing or shipping; beyond bandwidth. I suspect that's 'cos the market is still comparably small, and their expenses are still pretty big; so they're unwilling to make the cut. Realisticly, they'll keep the price high until inflation raises the price of a regular book to a point where this looks like a bargain.

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.

[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.

[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.