Kathy Bottarini of Comic Book Box in Rohnert Park, California, read the Talk Back from Dan Urazandi (see “Dan Urazandi of Bizarro World Comments on the Current State of the Comic Industry”) and wants to lend her two-cents about the current state of the comic book industry.
I want to lend my two cents to Dan Urazandi's comments regarding the industry--Thank you for saying what I've been thinking. There are so many trees being currently wasted for non-selling comics. The circulation numbers can't be where the any company could possibly feel comfortable. I too have lost many customer's due to the economy and the lack of jobs. The solution is not to raise prices--using less expensive paper would be fine for most comics, and would make the trades more affordable. Do we need non-eventful event books? No, we don't. Do we need 52 week commitment books? No, we don't. Why can't we have good core books that are self contained?--buying a comic is tantamount to buying a commitment, which is why casual readers are no longer interested in buying the single issues and would rather wait for the trade.
And, why are third and fourth tier characters getting hardcover treatment? They don't sell in comic format, why should they sell better in a hardcover? It used to be that only the cream got the hardcover treatment--now there is nothing "special" about the hardcover. In this economy the question that I get asked is when will it be available in softcover, and the maybe in a year answer is not what they want to hear. Does that make me want to order more hardcovers? Nope. And, everything is getting traded, so why should I bother with ordering the comics? We are a market in a flux, and in a depressed economy. I have customers coming in to ask if they can use their Border's 40% off coupons in my store because they can't find what they are looking for in Border's. I can't afford to match 40%. We all need to make a profit, but there needs to be a more concentrated effort on the publisher's agenda to make some cuts in their line-ups, and to produce comics where the perceived value merits the spending of $2.99. We are an entertainment, we are not a budget necessity.
The opinions expressed in this Talk Back article are solely those of the writer, and not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.
