It's a superhero universe, and we all just live in it.

Over the years, I got a little away from the big publishers, Marvel and DC.  Marvel was always problematic for me, because I was not a natural Marvel reader.  I'd read what I thought were to better titles, but the continuity heavy interactive universe was hard for me to scope out.  I mean, I got it mostly right by paying attention to what was selling and what other people were selling or saying and by reading the industry news.

But deep down, I just wasn't a Marvel guy.

DC I understood much better, though I was probably equally lacking in knowledge of the continuity heavy interactive universe of super-heroes.  I loved the Vertigo titles and ordered heavy.

I thought I was pretty good about Dark Horse and Image and the independents.

The result was that I probably didn't do enough Marvel and DC and a little too much of everything else.

I'd often get compliments from the types of people who read that kind of thing -- which was, is, and always will be a influential minority of comic readers.

Influential, but not necessarily lucrative. That is, they'd pay me in compliments more often than in money.  Or they'd tell me I didn't have enough of the critical hits (even though it often wasn't selling.)

The turning point was the big 100.00 Acme Novelty Library that was sold-out all over the country during a Christmas season.  Years later, I still have it.

OK.

So I tried to curb my need to get the "critical darlings" and pay more attention to the baseline Marvel and DC superhero comics that are the bread and butter of the industry.

Along come Cameron and Matt, who really deep down like that stuff, and things improved.

I gave Cameron the responsibility for ordering comics, and things improved even more.  Especially in Marvel graphic novels which seemed impossible to get right.

Anyway, I was working last Friday, and about 8 new people I didn't know came in to pick up their subscriptions, and they were all enthusiastic and into that world and it really hit home that the store was reorienting in the right direction.

Oh, we'll still get the critical darlings, but hopefully they are going to be paid for by the next Iron Man comic.