Brian Hibbs is one of the smartest retailers in the industry, if not THE smartest. So when Brian speaks, attention should be paid.
In the latest installment of his
Brian Hibbs is one of the smartest retailers in the industry, if not THE smartest. So when Brian speaks, attention should be paid.
In the latest installment of his
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“I have a feeling some of the people who dropped the book figuring it would be one unending mystery, might
This is an interesting thread going on here. I have an idea for retailers that might help somewhat. For retailers that still have copies of Fallen Angel 1-6 in the store, bag them up together and offer the set at the same cost as the trade paperback. Try this also with issues 7-12. This gives the customers a chance to pick up the individual issues to try, and then they MIGHT be tempted to continue picking up the monthly issues. And if your store is missing some of the issues, you might still be able to order some of the back issues from Diamond (not sure about the first 12 issues though).
Just a thought…
Just a note of clarification.
Ignorant does not mean stupid. Ignorant means not knowing. If one is incapable of learning, one might be stupid, but I never called anyone stupid.
I also must agree with one point that Peter made. Many readers are lazy (my words, not Peter’s). It is difficult for them to follow a story that requires thought. It is to be expected, I think, that a reader would gradually grow to be able to follow more complicated storylines after they had been reading for awhile. Apparently, this is not so.
Maybe all comics should be written with footnotes on every page so that the reader can understand what is happening. Or maybe we should have more art panels that have a caption saying what is going on. Sorta like the panel of Superman flying over Metropolis with the caption reading: “As Superman flys over Metropolis…”
Well, after this and the other threads, I gotta say….readers are not stupid….at least not as stupid as SOME retailers are.
You’da think that the stupider retailers go washed out in the implosion of the late 90s….
(And what I’m REALLY afraid is that they WERE).
I wrote: “I have a feeling some of the people who dropped the book figuring it would be one unending mystery, might
I’m one of those who dropped the book early. I would have bought every issue had I known that they would complete a story. Likewise, if I knew (one way or the other) if Lee was the former Supergirl, and that this would be later revealed, I would have stuck with the series. But with no useful data concerning the book, and the high cost of comics, I dropped it in favour of a series I could get more information on. You push individual issues all you want (my comic shop faithfully displays a copy of two of FA each week, byt the way), but with so little to go one, what did you expect to drive sales? The DC logo?
frustrated,
Andrew
Please pardon the above typos, and my frustration with the way this comic has been pitched.
One more item to add – trades or back issues, I would still go back and buy a copy of each that I’m missing, now that I know a bit more about the series. However, I can’t find them.
Here is an aspect where I believe the industry of late has hurt new series: if you don’t jump in with #1, how are you supposed to get caught up on the story? Hear good things as of issue #6? Tough – no back issues to go pick up. Low print runs and few or no back issues makes it hard to jump in after the fact.
I have loved Fallen Angel since day one. I have all the single issues, and I will probably buy a trade to take advantage of this offer. I just moved into an apartment which is no where near any good comic shops, so I am using mailordercomics.com. In my next order, it will include the Fallen Angel trade.
“I have a feeling some of the people who dropped the book figuring it would be one unending mystery, might
As a retailer all I can say is that we try but unfortunately, there’s only so much money to go around. We don’t stock “Fallen Angel” but we do order it for those who have requested it. We do stock other “lower-profile” books that have had interest expressed and sold well off the shelves but at the end of the day, we can only carry so much.
And while some of this has been said above, how long should I carry something? I stocked “Supergirl” for 2 years and didn’t sell a single copy so, I stopped stocking it. Does that make me a bad retailer? In a sense since I should have dropped the book a year earlier and put the money into something else.
In our budget, we allow for some cash to be spent on trying books that wouldn’t normally be on the shelves. And we have to cycle through those books until we find one that works. When we do, we can move that book from the “try” budget to the “regular” budget and then try something else. At the end of the day, it does come down to dollars.
We retailers are like any segment of the comics industry; there are good ones and bad ones, just like companies, creator and fans. We all have to share the blame. Where are the promo posters for “FA” for me to put up ion my store? Where is the fan asking about the book (instead of just looking for it, not seeing it and walking out)? To put the onus completely on the retailer is false and to blame all of us (all 3000 of us) for the poor service of a few is a disservice.
If you have a problem with your local comic shop, point it out to them (politely). If you are wanting a book, ask for it, even if it’s one copy (DC is pretty good about making copies available for a couple months after a book has been released). If everyone works together, quality books can survive but to blame one segment of the industry is wrong.
As for Marvel, you can make adjustments 3 weeks prior to release date and many of us take advantage of that, especially to reduce the orders 😉
Jay
Happy Harbor Comics & Toys
I bought the book Q-squared. Inside is a strange marking in black marker. It looks like someone did it signing the book. I cannot make out if it is supposed to be a form of “Peter David” in any form. It looks to have been done quickly. Is there someone that could try and identify it? I could email a photo of it?
thanks
bobby
thank you very much for your help. You guys 70727 rock, thanks again.