Hi, All!
Yesterday I went to Downtown Comics, my local comic shop, bought a few things, and gabbed with good friend Pete Kilmer, one of the DTC managers. I hadnÆt been in a comic shop for a good while, and it was pleasantly overwhelming to see all the comics. Really, if I could afford it, there are things I would buy: For example, this Dark Reign storyline and the Avengers line as a whole looks right down my alley. It would be great to chart the rise, and eventual fall, of Norman Osborne, the key villain in the Marvel Universe.
Yet, I have to wonder, would it be that great to follow it? Marvel has begun raising its comic prices from $2.99 to $3.99. Four dollars is an awful lot of money for a magazine thin enough that you can read them in fifteen minutes. Some fans would argue that you donÆt just read comics once, that you read and re-read them. True enough. I do that.
I stopped buying the monthly comics because of two reasons: It cost too much, and I was running out of room in my house to store them. When I can, I pick up trade paperbacks. IÆm not alone in this change of purchasing trends.
When I dropped away from the monthlies, and turned to trades, I discovered that my buying habits in trades are different from the monthly titles I collected. Suddenly, I was not so quick to purchase Thor, or Fantastic Four, or Avengers, or JLA, or JSA, etc. Now, in trades, I had quirkier buying habits. Supreme, Black Summer, Watchmen, Project Superpowers, etc. I still loved good superhero stories, but I wanted stories that actually had something to say and a witty way of saying it.
At Downtown Comics, I was pleased to see that they had set up Alan Moore, Frank Miller, Warren Ellis, and Neal Gaiman sections, and this had reportedly done well for sales. These writers are the superstars of the comic industry, and with good reason. Pete noted that he should put up a Grant Morrison section, and I heartily agreed. Morrison is my favorite writer, after all.
Scott.
