by Todd Allen
I’m in Iowa for the holidays, so I thought I’d drop in to the local (brand new) Books-A-Million and see what kind of comics they had after they joined Barnes & Noble in removing the boycotting the 100 DC graphic novels made exclusive to the Kindle. There were a lot more Marvel books there than DC and, of course, no Grant Morrison Batman or Batman: Hush or… uh, oh. What’s that on the shelf?
Well, at least they’re not going to have any of those banned Sandman books…
Er, well, then at least they took Fables off the shelf…
Or maybe Books-A-Million is less concerned with removing books from the shelves than press releases would indicate?
It also seems they’re have a pretty good sale. A variety of Marvel books. Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Hulk, Spider-Man, etc. — hardcovers for $9.97 and tpbs for $9.97 or $4.97.
You may recall a lot of chatter about Barnes & Noble adding a comic book section to their newsstand. Come to find out, this Book-A-Million has one, too.
Archie, Dark Horse, DC and Marvel are present. Perhaps a hair tilted towards Marvel. Probably about half the size of the comic book section as the Barnes & Noble a couple miles down the street. It isn’t immediately obvious to me if this is a larger selection than the old Borders spinner rack this shelf space effectively replaces.
Anyway, the best editorial is and will remain DC Comics.
I saw the same thing here in Hagerstown, Maryland. Either the the Books-A-Million in the mall didn’t hear about the boycott or chose not to pull the books.
The BAM and B&N that I visit in Omaha have continued to carry most of thaws titles. If they’re not no the shelf, they will be restocked within a couple days.
OOOH AAARCHIE.
Books-a-million has had the comics clearance rack for months.
Chap, I don’t think that the point was that the clearance rack is new, but that, for all the tough talk against DC, it’s Marvel product getting a fire sale at the store.
Enjoy the monthlies being on sale at the big franchise book sellers, while it lasts!
I don’t see the stores making enough of a profit (vs. the amount of shelf space they take up) to keep it going for too long…
“I don’t see the stores making enough of a profit (vs. the amount of shelf space they take up) to keep it going for too long…”
Then again with the number of magazines dropping off, they might as well sell monthly comics.
At my local B-A-M, the comics monthlies rack has been there as long as the store has existed in town. That’s going on at least 5 years.