There's an assumption on the part of comic creators' that if the comic shop owners would somehow just become more 'enlightened', and if we would just carry more and diverse comics, especially independents and children's comics, that all would be well.

It's a bit frustrating; especially for someone who is actually trying to do as they ask. And to know that, that in the real world, they are just flat out wrong.

I carry kids comics, lots of them, all the Asterix, Tintins, Bones, Scooby Do's, Sonic the Hedge Hogs, and on and on. I've given them the whole front of my store, prime territory. But on a scale of 1 to 10, with 5 being marginally profitable, I'd give them a 5 (after I've put blinders on, and giving them the widest benefit of the doubt.)

A typical scenario is that I get a Mom and a 9 year old in the door. I hear the kid say, "Look! Comics!"

I've learned to leave them alone. I used to drag them over the Marvel and DC comics, where they would just stand confused and then leave. Comics today don't look like what the kids or the parents expect....but they are what sell to the actual comic buyers. A stand off, if I've ever seen one.

So I let the kid look through my comics section. And what do they come up to the counter with, more often than not?

Garfield, or Calvin and Hobbes, or Get Fuzzy. Maybe a Tintin or an Asterix. Perhaps a Bone, of BabyMouse. Great, I made a sale. But it wasn't a comic; it isn't going to instill the comic reading habit in that kid.

And it wasn't because I wasn't carrying it, or wasn't presenting the comics in an attractive way. It just doesn't seem to be in the culture anymore. There is the desire to buy comics....just not any real comics. They want mythical comics, comics in the head, comics that came out in the 50's and 60's and 70's and 80's, except that all those comic buyers quit. So I've got a whole clientele of 20 to 40 year old mostly guys buying comics that the public doesn't want.

But I also have just about every comic I can find that I THINK will appeal to the public --- and they mostly sit there. This is the marketplace at work. I believe that newstands and grocery stores stopped selling comics because they weren't profitable. I believe that most comic shops have stopped selling kids comics because they weren't profitable. Believe me, very few store owners are adverse to earning money.

I'll keep fighting the good fight. I'll stack my selection and presentation up against any store in America. But I don't blame any other comic shop for not wanting to expend the money and space. The creators need to get off their clouds and get into the trenches. What comic creators are really asking us to do is be a non-profitable support system for the future good of comics. Fine. I'll do that. Just be aware of what you're asking for.

And, I say this as someone who is doing exactly as they wish! (I do it for myself, not them, but still....)