Retailing & Marketing

The first superhero comic I paid for with my own money was Sensational Spider-Man #0. It arrived at the pharmacy my mom worked at...

Since I was just picking a fight with Brian Hibbs, now I'll quote him extensively. His latest Tilting at Windmills is an anniversary post, looking the original Diamond catalog from when he started in 1989! We've lost some soldiers along the way, but the Diamond catalog is now a bloated thing,

In yesterday's comments on the Mike Dawson Mid-career assessment, retailer Brian Hibbs stepped in with some comments, including this one

Live from San Diego Comic Con, it’s More To Come! Publishers Weekly’s podcast of comics news, interviews and discussion with Calvin Reid, Kate Fitzsimons...

by Brandon Schatz Just ahead of the next Image Expo and San Diego Comic Con, Image has announced two new retailer incentive programs that will...

by Brandon Schatz On Monday, the pop culture bereft owner of my shop phoned had asked if I had ordered enough of the “death of...

I was asked not too long ago what was something I was proud of writing on The Beat, and it's actually something I didn't write. This post by political communications specialist Brett Schenker entitled Market Research Says 46.67% of Comic Fans are Female from February, was pretty groundbreaking. Why am I mentioning a six month old post? Well, people continue to quote it when they look for demographic information on comics readership, and it represents a solid benchmark in an area where there is shockingly little research. Schenker's research via Facebook, which he's graciously presented here, has been quoted in numerous articles and yesterday it was referenced in this Time.Com piece on the new female Thor. I tweeted it again and it got a whole new set of reactions on twitter from people who hadn't seen it the first time.

Every year someone wonders before the big show if Hollywood is giving up on Comic-Con, based on a perceived paucity of panels or whatever, and then Steven Spielberg comes out on stage and kisses Benedict Cumberbatch and everyone forgets about this ideas for another 340 days.

Marvel promises to reveal something "explosive" on The View tomorrow. Is it Mark Millar's chili recipe? Is it who killed the Watcher? Is it...

It hasn't been the best couple of years for the last surviving book super-chain Barnes & Noble, but they are still in it to win it, and to tap into the big month of nerd-esque excitement surrounding San Diego, they've just announced "Get Pop Cultured" a month of events celebrating popular books, comics TV shows and movies. Events include Frozen sing-a-long, Matman Day, Marvel Day, and Comic Convention Collectibles weekend.

by Brandon Schatz There was a piece hovering around the comics internet this weekend about the industry’s supposed need of more shit-talkers. It was an...

by Brandon Schatz -- When you spend your days breaking open comic solicitations and marketing for a living, you begin to pick out patterns. A new...