Sunday, December 24, 2006
Issue 4 - Down with the Brown
I have this friend. He is a big time indy comics fan. He's done a lot for the local indy comic scene. He even writes his own mini-comics. His name is Brandon Huigens. Brandon loves Jeffrey Brown. When I started to build inventory for the store I picked up a few of Jeffrey Brown's books. I read them and realized that Brandon and Jeffrey had a lot in common. The both wrote deeply personal autobiographical comic books. They both had a simplistic drawing style which was able to convey real emotion. They both write about their relationships with women. This can be a slippery slope. Jeffrey has become an indy comic book success with a dozen or so books published. His books are raw. Emotionally. Artisticly. Thematically. He lays it all out there for the world to see. Last year, I stopped by the Top Shelf to see who was signing. I stopped by to see Jeffrey. My librarian friend Rawdy Librarian was there to witness the dabauchery that my "I like your work" fanboy talk turned into. I started out telling him that "I like your work" and that I was amazed how vulnerable he allowed himself to be in his books. I explained that it felt like reading his personal diary. Then I said the thing that made Rowdy Librarian think "Ohhhhh no he didn't". I said, "I don't think that you will ever get a date again in your life. Anyone who dates you will feel like their personal moments will end up in a comic book." I didn't say it to be mean. It's just my reflection of his deeply personal work on display to the public. I don't think it is any different than Howard Stern talking about his home life, marriage, and divorce. I think that it might have gone over better that way. Instead, he had the "Ohhhh no he didn't" look on his face. I continued to talk with him for a little bit and walked away. Jeffrey, I'm sorry.
Friday, December 22, 2006
Issue 3 - The c Word
I was out of comics for eight years. Evidently, the world changed a lot while I was gone. For the last three years, I was blissfully ignornant of the changes until a few months ago. Totally unaware of the undercurrent of prejudice that lay beneath a thin veneer of respect for the customer. I was going around town using the c word. Unprovoked and without hesitation it would from my mouth. I didn't realize that it would cause any controversy, but evidently people don't like you to tell them that you are a collector.
My first experience with the collector prejudice was when I visited a new retail store that an experienced comic book retailer had opened to expand beyond the web. I knew of this Comic Book Shop Owner (CBSO), but I had never personally met him. I introduced myself and explained that I planned to open a store to grow beyond my web-based business. We talked for a while, when the question that often comes up with comic book fans, are you a collector? It seemed a fairly innocent question. I've known people who have an unfocused approach to purchasing and reading comics. I wouldn't necessarily call them collectors. I told him that I was indeed a comic book collector with over 5000 comics in my collection. This evidently opened the door for him to tell me everything that was wrong with collecting comic books. He described customers of his who asked for special lighting to view the comics because they couldn't tell the condition of the comic properly under flourescent lighting. He talked about how collectors almost killed the comic book market. He explained that he did not collect comic books. Evidently, the act of keeping the comics issue after issue from the same title is called collecting, but the person who does that is not a collector according to him. "There is the act of collecting and then there is a collector." It seemed like he was confusing comic book speculation with comic book collecting. Not every collector gets overly anal about their books, but I think that most would like to have their books in new condition. I'm sure if you bought a car you would want to make sure that it didn't have dents in the side before you bought it. Why should buying a comic book that you want to keep nice be any different?
So I thought that this was an isolated issue of a disgruntled CBSO, until I stopped by a second comic book shop. The owner had been out of comics for some time and didn't claim to have collected comics since he was a kid. We were talking about what it takes to open a comic book shop, when he asked the question, "Are you a collector?". I said yes. He told me that comic book collectors ultimately fail at owning comic book shops. I thought that this was a huge generalization. Having at least some anecdotal evidence, I seemed to find that most comic book shops that fail didn't have a plan or business plan before they opened. It really didn't seem to matter what comic book collecting experience they had previously. He was a nice enough guy, but it concerned me that comic book collectors had a bad rep.
So time went on, I opened the store. I started to get people coming in. I noticed that I got a lot of people asking if I was hiring anyone part-time. After getting quite a few people asking me about working part-time, I figured I might as well see what qualifications some of these people had. So I ask them, "What do you collect?". I know I'm making assumptions that people asking for part-time work actually have an interest in comics and read comics on an ongoing basis. After talking to a few of them, I kept getting the answer, "No" when asked if they collect. I thought this was really odd since they seemed to have an interest in comic books. One day when a teenager asked me about part-time work, so I asked him if he collected. "No, I don't, but my dad collects Master of Kung Fu." I decided to question him further. It turns out that he likes comics a lot. He likes video games based on comics. Most of his tastes are mainstream. He reads comics. He has a bunch at home, but he isn't a collector. It just didn't make any sense.
It comes down to this. Somewhere down the line, the train jumped the tracks. Collector became synomous with freak or weirdo, but only with comic books it seems. I know Beanie Baby collectors, Stamp collectors, Baseball Card collectors, Antique collectors, Soup Label collectors and Vintage Car collectors. I've never heard them discussed in the way that I have by my fellow comic book retailers and closet comic book collectors have about comic book collectors. It's gotta end. We can no longer accept the dismissive looks, the heavy signs or the rolling eyes that reveal comic book collector bigotry. I'm willing to lead the charge. I'm willing to raise the flag. I'm willing to shout my battlecry "I'm a comic book collector and I'm proud of it". Who's with me?
My first experience with the collector prejudice was when I visited a new retail store that an experienced comic book retailer had opened to expand beyond the web. I knew of this Comic Book Shop Owner (CBSO), but I had never personally met him. I introduced myself and explained that I planned to open a store to grow beyond my web-based business. We talked for a while, when the question that often comes up with comic book fans, are you a collector? It seemed a fairly innocent question. I've known people who have an unfocused approach to purchasing and reading comics. I wouldn't necessarily call them collectors. I told him that I was indeed a comic book collector with over 5000 comics in my collection. This evidently opened the door for him to tell me everything that was wrong with collecting comic books. He described customers of his who asked for special lighting to view the comics because they couldn't tell the condition of the comic properly under flourescent lighting. He talked about how collectors almost killed the comic book market. He explained that he did not collect comic books. Evidently, the act of keeping the comics issue after issue from the same title is called collecting, but the person who does that is not a collector according to him. "There is the act of collecting and then there is a collector." It seemed like he was confusing comic book speculation with comic book collecting. Not every collector gets overly anal about their books, but I think that most would like to have their books in new condition. I'm sure if you bought a car you would want to make sure that it didn't have dents in the side before you bought it. Why should buying a comic book that you want to keep nice be any different?
So I thought that this was an isolated issue of a disgruntled CBSO, until I stopped by a second comic book shop. The owner had been out of comics for some time and didn't claim to have collected comics since he was a kid. We were talking about what it takes to open a comic book shop, when he asked the question, "Are you a collector?". I said yes. He told me that comic book collectors ultimately fail at owning comic book shops. I thought that this was a huge generalization. Having at least some anecdotal evidence, I seemed to find that most comic book shops that fail didn't have a plan or business plan before they opened. It really didn't seem to matter what comic book collecting experience they had previously. He was a nice enough guy, but it concerned me that comic book collectors had a bad rep.
So time went on, I opened the store. I started to get people coming in. I noticed that I got a lot of people asking if I was hiring anyone part-time. After getting quite a few people asking me about working part-time, I figured I might as well see what qualifications some of these people had. So I ask them, "What do you collect?". I know I'm making assumptions that people asking for part-time work actually have an interest in comics and read comics on an ongoing basis. After talking to a few of them, I kept getting the answer, "No" when asked if they collect. I thought this was really odd since they seemed to have an interest in comic books. One day when a teenager asked me about part-time work, so I asked him if he collected. "No, I don't, but my dad collects Master of Kung Fu." I decided to question him further. It turns out that he likes comics a lot. He likes video games based on comics. Most of his tastes are mainstream. He reads comics. He has a bunch at home, but he isn't a collector. It just didn't make any sense.
It comes down to this. Somewhere down the line, the train jumped the tracks. Collector became synomous with freak or weirdo, but only with comic books it seems. I know Beanie Baby collectors, Stamp collectors, Baseball Card collectors, Antique collectors, Soup Label collectors and Vintage Car collectors. I've never heard them discussed in the way that I have by my fellow comic book retailers and closet comic book collectors have about comic book collectors. It's gotta end. We can no longer accept the dismissive looks, the heavy signs or the rolling eyes that reveal comic book collector bigotry. I'm willing to lead the charge. I'm willing to raise the flag. I'm willing to shout my battlecry "I'm a comic book collector and I'm proud of it". Who's with me?
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Issue 2 - Astonishing FanBoy Faux Pas
Now that we have the introductions out of the way...it's time to talk about all of the incredible FanBoy moments I've had over the past few years trying to get the word out about my comic book shop. For someone whose primary purpose of going to Cons is to meet comic book creators in the hopes that some day they might come to my shop to do a signing, I sure say some messed up things. Sensitive readers should stop reading past this point because it gets ugly real fast.
It was the spring of 2005. I had signed up for two V.I.P. passes to Wizard World L.A. As part of the exclusivity of the pass, you got a private signing with John Cassaday. He would sign the new Collossus Resin Bust based upon his Astonishing X-men Collosus and one other item. I was excited. Visions of a special room for the signing or silk divider curtains and a velvet rope. Ok, so maybe my imagination was more high-end L.A. dance club than comic book convention reality where deodorant was optional. I picked out some of my variant covers of Astonishing X-men and made my way to L.A. The day had been long. I brought my son and his cousin. It was my second big convention and their first. Like most young kids, they got bored fast and we had to wait in a lot of lines. By the time the Cassaday signing came up, I was tired and short on patience. The line was long and they announced that the statues were not yet available, so they would have signed stickers applied to the base with his signature once they arrived. After about an hour and a half, we had made our way to the front of the line.
Here's how it went down:
Me: Hey John! Wow! Long Line.
John: Yeah.
Me: We waited over an hour to be here. I hope it is worth it.
John: (silent....jaw to the floor)
He quickly signs both comics. I thank him. We are on our way.
How do you recover from that? Especially when you are wearing the stores newly minted t-shirt. Especially when it was supposed to go down like this:
Me: Hey John! Wow! Long line.
John: Yeah.
Me: We waited over an hour to be here. I'm sure it is worth the wait. It's nice to have finally met you.
The second conversation is the one that ran through my head for the hour and more before meeting him. The first is how it came out of my mouth. Big difference. That ranks as my biggest fanboy faux pas to date. I hope someday I can meet him again to tell him....
John, you are an incredibly talented artist. You bring a humanity and realism to comic book art that raises the bar for other artists.
If you have any stories of FanBoy Faux Pas, email me and maybe you'll see it on the blog. Your name will be changed to protect your innocence.
It was the spring of 2005. I had signed up for two V.I.P. passes to Wizard World L.A. As part of the exclusivity of the pass, you got a private signing with John Cassaday. He would sign the new Collossus Resin Bust based upon his Astonishing X-men Collosus and one other item. I was excited. Visions of a special room for the signing or silk divider curtains and a velvet rope. Ok, so maybe my imagination was more high-end L.A. dance club than comic book convention reality where deodorant was optional. I picked out some of my variant covers of Astonishing X-men and made my way to L.A. The day had been long. I brought my son and his cousin. It was my second big convention and their first. Like most young kids, they got bored fast and we had to wait in a lot of lines. By the time the Cassaday signing came up, I was tired and short on patience. The line was long and they announced that the statues were not yet available, so they would have signed stickers applied to the base with his signature once they arrived. After about an hour and a half, we had made our way to the front of the line.
Here's how it went down:
Me: Hey John! Wow! Long Line.
John: Yeah.
Me: We waited over an hour to be here. I hope it is worth it.
John: (silent....jaw to the floor)
He quickly signs both comics. I thank him. We are on our way.
How do you recover from that? Especially when you are wearing the stores newly minted t-shirt. Especially when it was supposed to go down like this:
Me: Hey John! Wow! Long line.
John: Yeah.
Me: We waited over an hour to be here. I'm sure it is worth the wait. It's nice to have finally met you.
The second conversation is the one that ran through my head for the hour and more before meeting him. The first is how it came out of my mouth. Big difference. That ranks as my biggest fanboy faux pas to date. I hope someday I can meet him again to tell him....
John, you are an incredibly talented artist. You bring a humanity and realism to comic book art that raises the bar for other artists.
If you have any stories of FanBoy Faux Pas, email me and maybe you'll see it on the blog. Your name will be changed to protect your innocence.
Monday, December 18, 2006
Issue 1 - The Origin
I'm a big time comic book geek. I admit it freely. I have had a fascination (some say addiction) with comic books for the last 20 years. I really believe that comic books are analogies for our real lives. Every Hero has an origin. Every Hero has Adversaries. Every Hero has Allies. Every Hero faces insurmountable obstacles and perseveres. Every Hero undergoes changes or training to become who they are. The parallels to real life are there if you look for them. So let's begin at the beginning...
The origin of my comic book store began over three years ago. I had just been outsourced from a major Semiconductor company to one of the top IT Services companies. It was going to be a badge flip. One day I had an employee badge, the next day I had a contractor badge. Same job for the most part, different company. But I knew that it couldn't last long. The IT Services company had signed a contract that said they would keep our salary and benefits comparable for the first two years of the contract. There is no way that they could keep us for long and make a profit. So I started planning for next career.
At the same time, I flew out to Indiana for my brother's wedding. It was close to my birthday, so my kids bought me some comics for the flight. They were Batman comics. One with the Joker. One with Nightwing. It was smack dab in the middle of Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee's Hush run of Batman. The art was amazing, like Neal Adam's Batman from the 70s. Jeph Loeb had the characters nailed. The Joker issue had mostly internal dialog and summed up the entire relationship between Batman and the Joker in one issue. I was hooked. I had been out of comics for 8 years. I was back in.
Working in a doomed job, my mind kept coming back to the question that all career counselors ask you, "If you won the lottery, what would you do?” My answer was I'd own a comic book store. I told my wife one day. She said "Why not?". I started bringing up my doubts. Can I make a living as a comic book store owner? What if I fail? Can I work for another 30 years as a comic book store owner? Will comic books be around much longer? What if I decide it isn't what I want to do? Then she said the one thing that I couldn't argue with "But it would make you happy".
So I started working on eliminating all the doubts. I researched the comic book stores out there. I started researching the industry from a retailer perspective. I started researching what it took to own and run a business. Two years ago, I created my company and started ordering my comics from the largest comic book distributor in the US. I started out as an online retailer. I started making the rounds to the conventions and found out that I loved talking to comic book creators. I also found out that I love the taste of shoe leather as I constantly put my foot in my month. Five weeks ago, my wife and I stepped out of cyberspace and opened up a physical store. Today, I start my blog where I can talk about my comic book store owner experiences and all my fan boy faux pas.
The origin of my comic book store began over three years ago. I had just been outsourced from a major Semiconductor company to one of the top IT Services companies. It was going to be a badge flip. One day I had an employee badge, the next day I had a contractor badge. Same job for the most part, different company. But I knew that it couldn't last long. The IT Services company had signed a contract that said they would keep our salary and benefits comparable for the first two years of the contract. There is no way that they could keep us for long and make a profit. So I started planning for next career.
At the same time, I flew out to Indiana for my brother's wedding. It was close to my birthday, so my kids bought me some comics for the flight. They were Batman comics. One with the Joker. One with Nightwing. It was smack dab in the middle of Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee's Hush run of Batman. The art was amazing, like Neal Adam's Batman from the 70s. Jeph Loeb had the characters nailed. The Joker issue had mostly internal dialog and summed up the entire relationship between Batman and the Joker in one issue. I was hooked. I had been out of comics for 8 years. I was back in.
Working in a doomed job, my mind kept coming back to the question that all career counselors ask you, "If you won the lottery, what would you do?” My answer was I'd own a comic book store. I told my wife one day. She said "Why not?". I started bringing up my doubts. Can I make a living as a comic book store owner? What if I fail? Can I work for another 30 years as a comic book store owner? Will comic books be around much longer? What if I decide it isn't what I want to do? Then she said the one thing that I couldn't argue with "But it would make you happy".
So I started working on eliminating all the doubts. I researched the comic book stores out there. I started researching the industry from a retailer perspective. I started researching what it took to own and run a business. Two years ago, I created my company and started ordering my comics from the largest comic book distributor in the US. I started out as an online retailer. I started making the rounds to the conventions and found out that I loved talking to comic book creators. I also found out that I love the taste of shoe leather as I constantly put my foot in my month. Five weeks ago, my wife and I stepped out of cyberspace and opened up a physical store. Today, I start my blog where I can talk about my comic book store owner experiences and all my fan boy faux pas.
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