Katharine Kan, a graphic novel and manga reviewer and library consultant in Panama City, Florida, saw the retailer comments about Steve Bennett’s column (see “Confessions of a Comic Book Guy--Just Say No”), and says less popular titles are often worthwhile and retailers should encourage the use of pull lists:

I am a graphic novel reviewer who depends on my local comics shop for a lot of stuff.  I pre-order everything I want to see.  If my guy were to start telling me he wouldn't pre-order a title I wanted just because it wasn't selling too well, that would force me to look elsewhere to get my comics. 

Frankly, a lot of the comics I personally like to read tend to be on the lower end of the selling spectrum.  Another retailer said that retailers should just order for their pull customers.  As a pull customer, I agree.  My local store is nothing like Comic Relief or any of the larger retailers, and I have to pre-order the titles I want, since most of them aren't published by the Big Two.  (The people at the store half-jokingly say that if they receive a very oddball title, it's most likely mine.  I think they were wrong once in the past five years.)

Those low-selling titles may be selling at lower numbers, but it doesn't mean they're not worthwhile.  Retailers should instead encourage their customers to set up pull lists for those titles.  I have never depended on a shop carrying what I want to buy for 12 years.

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