Sara Gray of Mira Mesa Comic Gallery in San Diego, California saw David Bigas' comments (see 'David Bigas of Wyldstar on Comic Ratings') on comic retailers knowing their stock, and concurs:

As an experienced retail manager, I have to agree 100% with David's assessment of the condition of our shelves.  If a retailer can't go out and read the comics they're selling, how can they answer any questions a customer has?  How can they in good conscience recommend anything to anyone?

I read very nearly every book - including the Manga believe it or not - that comes out to our store.  Certainly, I eagerly await some books and kind of dread others, but I will give a book a chance, before deciding not to bother with it any more.

But I do this not only to keep myself busy during my workday, also to keep myself up on every aspect of my market.  If I know that a cameo appearance of some character might lead to an issue next month, an issue that otherwise would have gone unread by someone who hadn't been paying attention to it, there's a sale I'd have missed!  And a customer that might have come back at a later date asking me why I didn't point it out to them in the first place.

As a manager it IS MY JOB to read comics.  I joke about it at work of course, but it's still true: how can I properly present anyone with sensible, accurate information if I myself do not read the books?

I can use this knowledge to more accurately order (up or down), to recommend to new readers, to keep kids and parents from buying the wrong book?

I don't think it's any one organization or person's responsibility to 'tell us' what a book's rating should be.  It falls on the publisher first to determine what sort of demographic they're aiming at.  Second it falls upon the store clerks to read and be familiar with their books as well as their customer base.  And lastly of course it falls upon the customer to educate themselves by asking, or reading, before buying.

That's my two cents...