Comics flop in the chainstores -- again.

Marvel has chosen to remove their comics from Barnes and Noble and Books A Million.

If you remember, I predicted this.

Not because I'm negative but because I know how many comics I sell.  Which ain't many.  I couldn't imagine that the local Barnes and Noble would have anyway of knowing that you can sell 20 of this title, but only 2 of that title, when the titles look pretty much the same.  The only way they could do it was pick either number and do all the comics that way, and the more likely number was the higher number, which mean that there would be HUGE wastage.

At the time I wondered if it was the comic companies who were taking the risk or the bookstores.

Since this is Marvel's decision, I presume that it was the comic companies taking the risk.  The returns must have been enormous, if you figure the printing costs can't have been that high and yet the returns still made it a loser.

I'm going to say this flatly.  I'll probably get some argument, but I have 30 years and I know.

People don't read comics.  Just presenting them won't do a thing.  I've always said I  could hand 100 comics out to the first 100 passersby, and 98 of them would end up in the first trashcan on the street.

There was also the example of almost all of the drugstores and grocery chains removing comics years ago.  You don't remove profitable product, so why would it be different now?

People blame the direct market -- the market of comics in comic book stores -- for the state of comics, making it a "fan" thing.  But comics and their "non-returnable, but higher profit margin" model of business saved comics.  We take all the risk, we are careful to order what we can sell, and we have to know what we're doing.  It isn't a commodity that anyone can sell.

Chainstores are lousy at it.  If it seems like I'm dancing on their graves -- well, I am.  Suck it, B & N.  You thought you could just bulldoze us.

I also remember the example of comics in Waldenbooks.  They would have a spin rack, like I saw 20 of every title whether it made sense or not, and the rack would be hidden in the "dead zone" (every story has dead zones) and would be obviously neglected.  The comics would usually be damaged because they were displayed in a concise way, and a general rule of thumb is the more concise the display the more comics get damaged.  (Comic shops give comics room to breath -- open, with no places to bend them, with covers showing for each title -- very space consuming.)

Nothing gives off a message of not giving a damn about comics than letting them get disordered and damaged.

So, it doesn't work.  It will never work.  The American public will never read comics. (Yeah, yeah, except those of you who do.  I get it.  But the statement stands.)

Believe me, I wish it were different.  I used to think it could be different.  But after 30 years, I've decided it will never happen.  The bias is too strong to overcome.

It is a fan thing.

Ironically, that's what keeps us comic shop owners alive.  We'll never get rich, but we'll have a steady clientele, usually.  In a small town like Bend, it only gives me half a living, which is why I carry books and games and toys.  But a good steady base.  And I'm secure in the knowledge that even if B & N or ever Walmart wanted to do, they can't.  They try every decade or so and flop miserably.

Because, you know, you have to know what you're doing.