Retailing & Marketing

And with another "where are we at now" the revamped Trouble with Comics (or "Middle Aged White (mostly) Men on Comics") looks at the state of the pamphlet, or periodical comic, as we like to call it here at Stately Beat Manner. The question, McLaughlin Group style, is

As I'm probably too fond of saying, each year's San Diego Comic-Con represents the end of comics' fiscal year, and we're now in a new cycle of sales, renewal and looking forward to the next thing. Although the con was not that memorable on its own, it did mark a new plateau in the direct sales era for comics penetration into the mass media, and for having a variety of voices and genres that the medium has probably has never been seen before. This situation, while far from ideal, still represents a dream come true for a lot of us who have been toiling in the comics industry for a while. I remember as if it were yesterday sitting in various comics industry think tanks in the 90s wondering WHAT could be done to expand the audience for comics, how to bring in genres that weren't superheroes, and how to overcome the tyranny of the "32 page pamphlet" as it was dubbed by either Kurt Busiek or Marv Wolfman, depending on who you ask. These tasks seemed daunting at the time, and it actually took 25 years to get to a place where it could be argued that its true, and everyone at those meetings is a certified old timer now.

David Harper of Sktchd is at it again with the survey! This time it's comics retailers. The respondent base is only 25, so a...

By Nick Eskey When it comes to collectible toys and popular media merchandise, Entertainment Earth has just about everything. The company first started nearly twenty...

The internet will surely be the death of me. It will probably be somebody saying some petty racist stuff that will do it. My eyes...

In their struggle to stay relevant in the technology-obsessed 21st century, many public libraries have turned towards e-book services to keep membership levels high....

Note: The distribution numbers used below are estimates, not hard sales numbers.  They're accurate to the trends, but take the exact unit measurements with...

They did it last year, and had some success (I've only heard rumors... B&N doesn't give out attendance figures), so Barnes & Noble once...

As I’m writing this, it’s Sunday and things are slow. At my former place of employment, Sundays were one of our busier days -...

You all loved it when I tweeted stats, and now you can watch the ENTIRE panel section of last week's French Comics Conference, held...

The folks at Titan are really teasing their upcoming three four Doctor crossover story line from Hugo-nominated Who writer Paul Cornell, slated for release on August 12 ahead of their second annual Doctor Who Comics Day on August 15. On Monday, Diamond revealed the poster art to advertise the upcoming Doctor Who Comics Day event to their retailers. Drawn by series artist Neil Edwards (Justice League United), you'll be seeing the art in local comic shops in the near future, but allow us to leak that to you now, Whovians

There had to be a reason the new West Coast Dc hired all those branding, licensing and content managers. It's to create a new...