Talk the Talk, Walk the Walk is a weekly column by Kendall Swafford of Up Up Away! in Cincinnati, Ohio.  This week, Kendall looks at how to express a store’s personality, and the shutdown of Wildstorm.

Last week, the very first Cincinnati Comic Expo took place.  It was the first "real" comic book convention in the Greater Cincinnati area in over a decade, which is truly amazing in a metropolitan area of over two million people.

We were very proud to be major sponsors of the show, and while I have no right to speak in any official capacity, I can say that by every measure, it was a rousing success for a first-time show.  This might seem like no big deal to any of you that have successful conventions in your city, but here in Cincinnati, it’s been long overdue.  I won’t bore you with the particulars, but I have a few thoughts on the subject.

Speaking as a retailer/vendor, setting up at a comic book convention in your own hometown is a very different animal than a convention outside of your market.  We all want to sell stuff of course, and from that perspective, it was a very successful show.  But far more importantly, we wanted to show people what’s different about Up Up & Away, and why they should be shopping at our store.

To this end, we constructed a booth unlike anything else at the convention.  Taking cues from larger vendors at larger shows, as well as my experience with booth displays during my decade in the entertainment business, our booth was more like an extension of our store, with store fixtures, ambient lighting and the ability for the customers to walk through the booth.  It was a LOT of work, especially for a one-day show, but it proved to be worth it, as visitors to the convention went straight to our store after leaving the con, and others have visited the store in the days since.  THAT was my number one goal; to expose comic fans who haven’t visited us yet to our store.

I have to admit, I was a little surprised by the local comic shops that chose not to attend.  No matter how well-established and/or popular your store is, you can’t ever miss an opportunity to remind people that you’re there, and why they should be shopping with you.  I get the sense that if asked that question directly, many store owners can’t articulate an answer, and that answer is vitally important to your store’s identity.  Every store takes on a personality, for better or worse, and you have to make sure you are the one that defines that personality.

Whatever that personality is, embrace it, and like-minded customers will come.  If you want to be the Walmart of comic stores, go for it.  Don’t be surprised however, when shoppers with a "Walmart mentality" are the ones that gravitate to your store.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that.  But it’s a choice that’s both conscious and sub-conscious.  You can make a concerted effort to say "this is the kind of store we want to be," but that is either reinforced or opposed by a thousand decisions, both big and small, every day.  All of which add up to inform your store’s personality.

Why should someone shop at your store?  You better know the answer.

****

I’m sure we’ll all be talking about DC’s bi-coastal marriage for weeks to come, but it’s a little premature to speak of it in any great detail, especially as I have no “insider” knowledge from which to speak.  That said, Wildstorm has finally been put out to pasture, and I for one couldn’t be happier.  It’s literally been years since Wildstorm mattered at the retail level, and it is/was one of a number of publishers that has no reason to exist.  I’m all for publishing diversity, but I’m tired of comics no one cares about clogging up the channel, and my shelves.  It pained me to do so, but after five months of not selling a single issue of Gen13 or WildC.A.T.S., I stopped carrying them altogether.  And no one noticed.

I’m guessing (and maybe this is public knowledge, I dunno) that DC’s purchase of Wildstorm (and Jim Lee’s services) came with a caveat to keep Wildstorm alive (if not well) and living in La Jolla.  All well and good, but without an identity to call its own, Wildstorm became a floundering ship.  The last product under that imprint that had any sales traction was the first Heroes collection.  At the time however, Heroes was such a hot property, you could have published it under "Dead Cat Comics" and it would have sold!  I appreciate that Wildstorm’s west coast connections probably got that deal done, but that was one bright spot in a sea of darkness.

Here’s hoping books like Astro City and the next Ex Machina find a home at DC and/or Vertigo.  The Vertigo brand is the single most powerful publishing imprint in my store right now, and it seems like any book published under the DC banner that is not tied directly to the DC Universe gets largely ignored, i.e. Peter Tomasi’s The Mighty.

****

It’s worth mentioning that, on this very website, I read this past Thursday that Kate Beckinsale has signed on for a fourth Underworld picture, featuring a script that is currently being re-written by none other than... J. Michael Straczynski.  Huh.  Wonder what the Man of Steel thinks about that.

The opinions expressed in this column are solely  those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.