I've mentioned before that I get a catalog with 5000 lines of items every month. The first third of the book consists of the main four comic publishers, Marvel, DC, Dark Horse and Image. Then there is the so called 'back of the book.' Probably a third of that are things like toys, games, dvd/s, etc.

The other third consists of the 'independents'. Out of this, probably less than 20% are well known titles, with familiar content. 80% is stuff I've never seen or heard of before.

Now, I probably visit 20 comic oriented websites a day. Almost all of them are devoted to the neglected third of the Previews. (The Marvel DC fansites tend to be pretty useless. And I have a pretty good read on what to order in those universes.) Now, these indy minded sites will often show artwork and or review independent comics.

But I still don't know who most of these guys are. The artwork almost always looks intriguing, and Diamond does a fairly good job of weeding out the pure dreck (unlike books, comics are often self-published. It isn't quite the indicator of quality.) An awful lot of it is stuff from Europe. The rest are alternative, non-superhero narratives.

The problem? In my store, at least, almost none of the alternative stuff sells. The European stuff sells probably even less.

Oh, there are the indy superstars; the Strangers in Paradise, the R.Crumbs, the Eightball and Black Holes. But even the prestige publishers, Fantagraphics, Drawn and Quarterly, Top Shelf, produce a ton of stuff that I know will sit on my shelf.

But this is serious stuff; intriguing and thoughtful.

What to do, what to do.

I earmark a portion of my budget to this material, and order the stuff that really leaps out at me. Maybe 10% of my budget is gambled this way. I figure every comic shop in the world has Spider-man and Batman, but my store can have the unusual and strange.

I've been fortunate over the years to usually have one or two regulars who are open to buying this material, and I have a huge advantage in the tourist trade. But still, the average good alternative will sell once or twice. Right now, the only alternative buyers I have are the guys who tell me well in advance what they want. So alternative press that is ordered to put out for sale is almost guaranteed NOT to sell.

Meanwhile, on every one of these 20 websites I go to, there is a total disdain for the 'fanboy' oriented comic shops. I'm living proof of a store that ordinarily wouldn't have the offbeat stuff deeply stocked because of demographics and density.

Guess what? The art snobs are wrong, and the 'short-sighted comic book guy slobs' are right, when it comes to commerce. At least on the surface. In the short run.

Look a little deeper, and almost any shop would be better off in the long run with more selection.
I'm convinced that I need to make my store unigue, that I need to have a constant flow of new material, and not just the same old same old. But I also can't afford to sit on material that, while interesting, doesn't sell, when I could've bought 10 more copies of Civil War.

What to do, what to do?

This art vs commerce dichotomy is always present. But there is a solution. I buy them on sale. I probably shouldn't say this out loud, but if I order off of every week's liquidation lists, at anywhere from an extra 10% to 80% off, and I do it each and every week, and then I order off the seasonal specials, which are offered by Diamond, and I take advantage of every publisher clearance, well, I get a very impressive array of independent material.

I've never said this outloud on the comic bulletin board. Frankly, there are probably only a few of us retailers doing it this way. I'm afraid if I make too good an argument, I'll go to my close-out lists on Thursday morning and everything will be gone. Probably a needless precaution; retailers who are too stupid or too blind to see the advantages, aren't suddenly going to get smart and visionary.

It's become a point of stubborn pride for me. I want to have the most complete store possible. An 'oasis in the desert.' I know from the reactions of the occasional big city 'art snob' guys that I've doing a good job of it. I've been told more than once that I have a better selection than stores that are nationally famous. I take this with a grain of salt, because I know that every store looks 'new' to a 'new' customer.

Still, I'm pretty proud of it.