Retailing & Marketing

There was a time not too long ago when you could fit all the "women in comics" at a big table in a coffee shop. Now there re more than 300 women who just work in comics shops. That's the membership of The Valkyries, a private organization for female comics retail employees. and it turns out the group has been instrumental in promoting a coupld of books that have had great success this year, namely Saga and Lumberjanes. Janelle Asselin interviews group founder Kate Leth for all the details:

While most comics fans started New York Comic Con on Thursday, the die-hard industry insiders and watchers began their "con crush" on Wednesday. ICV2.com...

It's been a while (5 years) since we looked at Diamond's monthly backlist chart, and now, as then, it reveals a VERY DIFFERENT ranking for publishers. In the backlist, DC is king by a wide margin, with about 30% of the market. Marvel is only a tich above Image in units, while Image books dominate the top ten with Saga, Walking Dead, and Sex Criminals. On the manga side, Attack on Titan rules, no surprise given the way it's single handedly revitalized the category.

Welcome to TGI-FOC, a weekly feature at The Beat about comics on Final Order Cut-Off (FOC) and bits of the retail process that don’t...

A diverse group of retailers await entry into the exclusive event! Friday morning, Marvel hosted an exclusive event for retailers, announcing and teasing a variety...

September is Big Event month at DC Comics, and they crushed it this September as they usually do with their super lenticular covered Future's End event which saw stand-alone stories set five years in the future of the DCU. These "random future" events usually disappoint me as I expect to see the Flash living with is brother in law and their two kids, and Poison Ivy running a plant shop, but then, that's me. Anyway, Multiversity talked to a bunch of retailers about how the event did compared to last year's Villain's month which was allocated and ignited a frenzy as they say. Most retailers I've talked to say it was okay but not great and the Multiversity survey yielded similar thoughts. It is a sad time when a Batman butt selfie only does okay but these are the times we live in.

If you’re picking up Batman #35 this week, do yourself a favour and check out the price point. See that $4.99 price sticker? Originally...

The Death of Wolverine has gone over exceedingly well - or at least it has in my shop. Putting aside sales numbers (which were...

Welcome to Go FOC Yourself, a weekly column at The Beat about comics on Final Order Cut-Off (FOC) and bits of the retail process...

This is being written on the day that initial orders are due for my store, and with the three week vacation I took, I’m...

Well, this will come as little to no surprise to anyone but....the group of people who buy the most print books are the oldest...

Everyone should "Listen to JImmy" Palmiotti that is. The veteran writer, artist editor and publisher is one of the most knowledgeable comics people out there. With his collaborators from Paperfilms, Justin Gray and Amanda Conner, he's made a small publishing enterprise out of kickstarting a series of graphic novels based on the European album format. The seventh, Sex and Violence Vol. II is ending in a few days and we advise you to get in on the Amanda Conner/Dave Johnson action as soon as possible -- the books will not be sold in any other way. We talked to Palmiotti a few months ago when he was Kickstarting the SF tale Denver and got his overall thoughts on using Kickstarter as a platform. This time out we talk about the storytelling process,finding artists and also find out how Harley Quinn, which he co-writes with Amanda Conner, has become one of DC's bestselling titles, with a huge female fan base.