ART VS COMMERCE

Was reading another rave review of FUN HOME, and the reviewer commented that the book seemed to fly beneath the radar of most comics folk for a long time. It wasn't until the outside world, the Time, Inc.s ' and the Entertainment Weeklys' started awarding it prizes that our little corner of the world sat up and took notice.

I know that it was a pure fluke that I read it: I picked it up, like I do most books that come in, and leafed through it. The first chapter seemed to be about a guy renovating his historic house, and since I was in a "This Old House" moment in my life, it caught my attention. Of course, I was totally hooked after the first chapter.

But I've still only sold one copy, to Steven. I've had a number of people comment that they've read it; out-of-towners, mostly. When my one copy sold, I immediately ordered two, because I couldn't stand the idea that I might not have it in stock if anyone asked.

Here's the thing I constantly confront. Quality in no way matches sales.
I'm constantly enticed by a quality project that I simply know that no one in my store will buy. On the other hand, I'm constantly offered pure crap that I know I can sell a bunch. Everytime I order that quality title, my budget is strained. Everytime I order less of the crap than I might be able to sell, my budget is strained.

But I simply can't just go with the top 20% of the titles, the ones that will sell well simply because they got Wolverine in them, vs something like FUN HOME, which I probably will never sell.

I haven't sold MAUS, the Pulitzer winning graphic novel by Art Speigelman, in over a year. Almost all my Fantagraphics and Alternative Press and Top Shelf material gathers dust.

I could easily identify the top sellers, only order those, and drop the rest. My turns would probably go up, my sales might even go up. I'd probably no longer get the compliments of, "Nice Store", but that and .50 won't buy me a cup a coffee.

I could go strictly for the commerce. And I'd hate it.

In a sense, I consider the store itself a work of art. It has themes and textures and hidden depths, and shiny, flashy surfaces and quaint and horrifying and cute and all that is life. Reflected in art. And words. Its really amazing that there are all these talented authors and artists making almost no money working in a field that is looked down upon by most Americans. I'm sure many of them have fantasies of being the next Jeff Smith (BONE) or Frank Miller (SIN CITY), but they know in their hearts that probably won't happen.

How can I not support that?