Distribution Should Be Good

[pennywisdom]

Not too long ago, there was a "Where Do You Like to Buy Your Comics?" thread on the Comm. board.

I submitted this:

I stopped supporting LCS because I think they're death to the industry. They're often (not always, but often) staffed by unsociable fuckwits, but that's just my personal opinion.

The real reason I stopped going entirely is because I see them as being contributive to the comic book industry's complete inability to create a presence in a mainstream market. If someone asked me today "What's wrong with the comic book industry?" I would honestly say about 80% of it has to do with distribution and about 20% of it has to do with the content of the books themselves (they're too superhero-oriented, they need to cover more genres, they need to be less continuity-focused, etc.) Distribution is a huge problem for comics because people simply don't know where to get them. The place you go to buy comics is a small specialty store that's out of the way and creates a "clubhouse" atmosphere and if comics are to reach their cultural potential, the situation shouldn't be that way.

Consider the recent success of the Spider-Man, and X-Men films, not to mention the gaggle of other comic book adaptations that have enjoyed success on the big screen. These films are viewed by a large percentage of the population and make a ton of cash. Everyone is sitting around scratching their heads wondering why this success isn't translating to the comics themselves. Although this industry may have enjoyed a slight rise in sales over the past few years, overall it's still a niche market and it's still a niche market because it's being sold through niche venues.

Look at products and industries that are doing phenomenally well. Video games are the best example I can think of. They're popular because of content, yes, but they do so well financially because of their shelf space. You can't sell something that no one knows how to find. Video games became popular when they went mainstream, and they went mainstream when they moved from a dinky corner in the back of a toystore to the front and center position in the electronics department of Wal-Mart. You can now find video games right next to television sets and home computers.

Look at the comic book industry and the success it's had in Japan. In Japan, businessmen and kids alike will pick up and read comics right off the newsstand and enjoy them as reading material not as collector's items. They're all over the place... on subways, in restrooms, and on the magazine racks right next to newspapers and general interest publications. That's how comic books used to be in the United States, as well. In fact, when comic books were distributed through mass-market venues, they sold SO MANY COPIES that that era is now termed "The Golden Age". Comics had a much more prominent place in popular culture when they were out where everyone can see them.

Today, we wonder how to increase the business that the comics industry can pull down. At the same time, we purposely hide them in an unvisited specialty store that's poorly lit, terribly decorated, staffed by who-the-hell-ever, and generally ignored.

Comics have become such a specialty item that we advertise them by giving you a hotline to call to let you know where you can find a place to buy them. Think about that for a second. The Spider-Man movies did so well because everyone knows where the goddamn movie theater is. There's no hiding! With comics, it's like we belong to some sort of masonic society that we don't want anyone to know about. Then we all shrug our shoulders and wonder why we aren't making money.

So, to answer the original question: I buy comics through the same outlets that I do for books. Why should I give my money to an establishment that's only driving away business and killing the industry I'm trying to support? Fuck Diamond and fuck the LCS. I buy through Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble. I stopped buying single issue floppies and I buy only TPB collections. Let major, book-selling bookstores know that comics are a valid medium and should be on the same shelf as the latest paperback bestseller, and not relegated to some ghetto. Why not? It worked for manga.
Re-reading that, I regret using what might be perceived as a hostile tone, but that aside, I think I made a point.

Does anyone else think a major problem for comics in regard to their reaching a wider, mainstream audience is distribution? What exactly is stopping comic book companies from using the same distribution methods that magazines and newspapers use?

Maybe I'm just severely misunderstanding the logistical implementation of mass distribution, but it seems to me that niche publications covering every minor hobby under the sun, from fly fishing to stamp collecting to Victorian furniture refurbishment have all managed to secure the ability to sell their product to a wide variety of people through mainstream outlets. Half the people I know loved the Spider-Man movies, but can't find Spider-Man comics. I've never met anyone who cares enough about paintball to buy reading material covering it, yet Paintball Monthly is available through any bookstore and many news-stands.

What am I missing? Is there really a problem here or am I nuts?

[stealthwise]

No, I agree. The comic shops are the ones determining exactly what books get bought and which don't; at least with the newsstands you could see what the hell kids might be buying, rather than what retailers are assuming that their 40-year old clientele WILL buy. It's a strangling system that doesn't lend itself to growth at all, and basically shuts out any common person who wants to read.

What's the initial solution though? Bookstores? Newsstands getting more comics again?

[bored888]

The debate is kind of moot. You can get all kinds of graphic novels from a real book store. The problem with the comic industry is not distribution but product. They are trying to sell single issue products to adults. They are using a marketing scheme aimed for children for adults. Unless you were a comic fan as a kid, why would you want take time out of every week to get a single issue when you have to balance kids, work, and sleep? Waiting for a reprint is just a pain and if you are going to let them build up in a box at the store then why not just get the graphic novel form.

[stealthwise]

The debate is kind of moot. You can get all kinds of graphic novels from a real book store. The problem with the comic industry is not distribution but product. They are trying to sell single issue products to adults. They are using a marketing scheme aimed for children for adults. Unless you were a comic fan as a kid, why would you want take time out of every week to get a single issue when you have to balance kids, work, and sleep? Waiting for a reprint is just a pain and if you are going to let them build up in a box at the store then why not just get the graphic novel form.

Well, a lot of people like to get their stories each month, because they prefer the sequential side of comics. Sure, Ultimate Spider-Man might usually read terribly from issue to issue, but BKV's stuff on Runaways and Y has such great cliffhangers that it's almost impossible to resist buying them month to month, at least for me.

Actually, that's not entirely true, I just dropped Runaways from my pull list in favour of collecting in digests, in order to save some money. But while I find myself dropping titles left and right and consider getting them later in trade, there are still some fun titles like Fell or Nextwave that are great to get every month.

You make a good point about the "child's marketing scheme" in terms of comic shops not really making an effort to advance a decade's old marketing scheme to accomodate older readers though. Personally, the issues often feel too skimpy to me in terms of page content.

[bored888]

This is a personal preference of mine but I prefer having the collected form even for titles like Y. They can be kept on a regular bookshelf and it allows me to go weeks or months when I am busy without worrying about missing issues.

[stealthwise]

This is a personal preference of mine but I prefer having the collected form even for titles like Y. They can be kept on a regular bookshelf and it allows me to go weeks or months when I am busy without worrying about missing issues.

That's a good point, and it's probably a preference of mine to have certain titles on a monthly basis, although those are becoming less and less (Jonah Hex was another good one until I cut it from my pull list).

But back to the original topic, what can comic shops, or even one comic shop in particular, do to accomodate their readers, and new potential readers, more? You can up the amount of trades you carry, but there are still a number of the collectors out there who prefer to get the monthlies.

Do you cater to the sure-and-steady traditional crowd, or attempt to lure newer people in?

[bored888]

Comic shops are intentionally a "geek" market. That is why they keep things like War Hammer 40k, D&D, action figures and Japanese animation in the stores. There seem to be relatively few comic shops run as book stores. Attracting a main stream audience would require remarketing the whole line to major bookstores. This is where regular people go to buy books, not that I am implying that people who read comics are necessarily irregular. Most peopld would not set foot into a comic shop. Without this type of casual browsing, it seems unlikely that you are going to increase your readership drastically.

[stealthwise]

Comic shops are intentionally a "geek" market. That is why they keep things like War Hammer 40k, D&D, action figures and Japanese animation in the stores. There seem to be relatively few comic shops run as book stores. Attracting a main stream audience would require remarketing the whole line to major bookstores. This is where regular people go to buy books, not that I am implying that people who read comics are necessarily irregular. Most peopld would not set foot into a comic shop. Without this type of casual browsing, it seems unlikely that you are going to increase your readership drastically.

So basically the local comic shops should analyze how their stores are set up? Or that bookstores should just get more graphic novels? Do you ever scope out the monthly issues in, say, a Chapters store, or do you just head right for the shelves to see what's in collected or graphic novel format?

[bored888]

Comic stores are not designed to attract a mainstream audience. It is clearly designed to cater to the comic collector. The mainstream book store clearly has the facilities to hand graphic novels and new issues of comics (most major bookstores have a section with magazine racks). I think the major problem of shifting to mainstream bookstores is that it could kill any independant distributors (especially given they already get very little space in what is essentially a specialty store). Also, the back issues of single issue comics would be problematic for main stream book stores.

[stealthwise]

Comic stores are not designed to attract a mainstream audience. It is clearly designed to cater to the comic collector. The mainstream book store clearly has the facilities to hand graphic novels and new issues of comics (most major bookstores have a section with magazine racks). I think the major problem of shifting to mainstream bookstores is that it could kill any independant distributors (especially given they already get very little space in what is essentially a specialty store). Also, the back issues of single issue comics would be problematic for main stream book stores.

What about hybrid stores? When I was a kid, my local store was half comics, half books.