Confessions of a Comic Book Guy is a weekly column by retailer Steve Bennett of Mary Alice Wilson's Dark Star Books in Yellow Springs, Ohio.  This week, Bennett suggests a New Years' resolution for comic retailers.

I'd like every retailer out there to make this New Year's resolution:

This year I'm going to be a better informed, more enthusiastic Comic Book Guy.

I realize how busy you are (after finishing my shift at Dark Star I find myself writing this); one of the major disadvantages of being a Comic Book Guy is you spend a lot of your time living out of sync with the rest of the world.  As soon as the comics arrive we're thinking about next Wednesday; which titles are shipping late, what we need to increase our orders on, etc. until Friday morning when we're able to access next weeks invoice at the Diamond Website.  That's when we really start thinking about it.

Of course, we're also thinking three months ahead, trying to finish our monthly orders before the next Diamond Previews lands - sending us yet another three months into the future.

Hopefully you're already checking out the usual suspect Websites a couple times a day, chasing the next hot new series, event, publisher, and reading previews of comics sometimes months before they're published.  There's (of course) ICv2, Newsarama, Comic Book Resources, Comicon, etc. plus Toon Zone, Anime News Network...the list literally goes on and on.

You read them because they have information you'll need to know, not just so you can order responsibly but because you're constantly going to be quizzed on it by your customers.  They're not only going to ask you what you think about House of M vs. Infinite Crisis, at least some of you will (like I just did today) be asked 'Do you have Berserk?'.  And you'll be expected to know that it's a violent, 16+ manga series without ever actually having read it.

We Comic Book Guys spend so much time thinking ahead it's sometimes kind of hard 'being in the moment' (plus there's the perpetual deju vu wooziness of never being absolutely sure whether you've already read the new issue of Amazing Spider-Man online), but the main advantage to this lifestyle is that it keeps you young.  Because you always have something to look forward to.

But then, the 'more enthusiastic' aspect of my proposed resolution is relatively easy for me because I'm a looking forward kind of Comic Book Guy as opposed to the looking back sort.  You know, the ones who like the way thing were better than the way things are.  I'll confess that there are days when I pine for my Captain Action figure and wish DC would hurry up and collect the original Dial H for Hero stories already, but mostly I can't wait to see what's next.

This is where the 'better informed' part comes into play.  Sure, you're already checking the Websites previously mentioned, but it wouldn't do you any harm to take a step outside our hermetically sealed comic book world.  In a previous column I advised you could get daily electronic versions of the New York and L.A. Times delivered to your mailbox free of charge and be sure to find at least one story that's connected to your business.

But there are Websites that will do the work for you, compiling links to comic related stories in the mainstream press.  You couldn't ask for one better than the World Famous Comics New Room (at worldfamouscomics.com) and if you're interested in comics around the world, there's The Comic Reporter site.  That's why I know more than you do about the upcoming Virgin comics' line.  And before anyone can say 'Who cares?' if you want to know what's next after manga reaches saturation levels in America, it's Indian comics.  You can quote me.

OK, that bit of information isn't likely to help your bottom line, either this week or next, but ultimately the more you know the better you'll be at your job and the thing is, you never know what you're going to need to know or where you're going to learn it.

For instance; every day via e-mail I receive a Daily Briefing from JTA (the Global News Service of the Jewish People) -- I'm not Jewish, just interested in just about everything.  Yesterday I learned something I couldn't from Newsarama; that Marv Wolfman had written Homeland:  The Illustrated History of the State of Israel, a 120-page graphic novel that tells the story of Israel 'from the Bible to Statehood to the present day'. 

It's set to be released in June and even if it's made available to Diamond and you do order it, it's not likely to set any sales records at your shop, but isn't it interesting how more and more people are realizing that if you want to connect with an audience, you do it through comics?

Or, to put it another way, years ago after the release of the Mars Attacks! movie someone at Dark Star asked about the comic.  I proceeded to regale them with the history of the property from it's beginnings as a cult collectible card set until their eyes glazed over and they asked 'Do I need to know this?'