Jerry Wall of Atomic Comics in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma saw the recent Talk Back comments on retailers' responsibilities on knowing what they sell (see 'David Bigas of Wyldstar on Comic Ratings' and 'Sara Gray of Mira Mesa Comic Gallery on Knowing Your Inventory') and shares his thoughts on the issues:
After reading both David Bigas' and Sara Gray's comments on retailers responsibilities, I thought I should chime in. First, a disclaimer: I am a strong supporter of both more information up front from the publishers, and of content labels or tags on comics. I feel it is essential for the long term growth of our industry that we view ourselves as professionals and act that way.
On the subject of retailer's responsibilities, both David and Sara are 100% correct. It is ultimately the retailers' responsibility for what they sell, and to whom. That is why this is an issue that concerns retailers first and foremost. We are on the front line. However, since that majority of comic book stores get their comics the day of the street date (or at best one day before), I applaud David and Sara's ability to read 40-70 titles before placing them on their shelves. For the rest of us however, we must fall back onto other resources to make both racking and selling decisions. The sneak previews programs helps, however Outsiders #8 (the book which really brought all this discussion to the forefront) was not included in this program. In the future, the sneak peak program should be used more aggressively to give retailers advanced opportunities to review books which are outside DC and Marvel's normal publishing parameters.
All this being said, at the minimum, as retailers we should demand proper content and target audience guidance before ordering. This allows us to know up front who'll the book will sell to, and how we should rack it. We can place notes in our POS systems (for stores that use them) that alert us to books we should caution customers about on purchase. But in the long run, we need to look at proper labeling on comics. Marvel has already made some positive steps, both with their ratings on the covers, and using brands (such as Marvel Max) so separate out books. DC has also made welcome steps, and the majority of Manga books published also use ratings systems.
The trend is already there, and this is a change which is coming. The publishers, which fight it, will find themselves left behind, and hurting, and many retailers will be making our buying decisions based on the support and information we are provided by the publishers.
So while I support the cry of 'read what you sell' this alone is not an answer. It's not a practical solution, nor does it address the forward growth of comics as a medium and an industry, or help to affect public perception when it comes to content issues. Too many times comics are either referred to as either 'for children only' or 'smut.' Content labels on comics will help show the wide range of comics available, and that we as an industry take ourselves seriously.
