Retailing & Marketing

For those with long memories, yesterday's announcement of 52 different covers for next year's JLA #1 book sounded some alarm bells.

Is this the magic moment? Probably. Or as a recent ICv2 headline put it:Comic Retailers Cautiously Ecstatic, following the "Return of the Pamphlet." Despite the innate caution, pessimism and low self-image endemic to the comics industry, it seems that following a year of improved sales, general awareness, mainstream recognition and booming live events, the comics industry has taken a moment to kick back the recliner and crack open a frosty one:

I know, I know! We have been arguing for such a long time that comics aren’t just for kids but the problem is that a majority of the comics publishers have neglected to realize that this is and will always be tomorrow’s adult comics fan. With the acceleration of the Children’s and Young Adult categories, the traditional publishers are dominating a market segment that for some reason, still isn’t registering with the folks who made it possible in the first place.

Whereas for some groups, it's Olivia Munn or Adrienne Curry who might be a a draw, for comic book retailers, DC's VP of Sales...

At the Diamond Retailer appreciation breakfast this morning, after being forced to surrender phones and become sequestered behind a blast shield door, attendees...

Judging by the number of emails featuring new business announcements we're getting, comics must be HOT. here's a new attempt at a mini-distributor: Comic...

The Beat: Jessi, you've already done a lot in a relatively short time in comics. Can you give us a little bit of your...

To me, the answer to that question is definitely: yes! But that also depends on a lot of moving parts and with encouragement from The Beat, I’m going to post a few columns here about the elements needed to create real marketing programs that can help better define what a bestseller is and where the real opportunities lie.

Launched on Sunday, Aces Weekly is a new anthology series created by David Lloyd, which seeks to bring back the spirit of traditional British...

While there is a certain dodginess that makes linking to this feel a little weird, I found this listing for a liquidation center's comic...

Retailer Brian Hibbs takes on variant covers in his latest column, and given that he uses the word "heinous" in the title, as you might surmise, he is not a fan. Hibbs traces the origin of the variant back to 1989's "Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight" #1, where four different covers sold like gangbusters and publishers could no longer resist the lure of boosting sales with the method. The practice has grown to where, by Hibbs' count 40% of the comics from premier publishers in October have variant covers. 40%. A lot.

By Steve Morris We're returning to Leeds for a second time this week (Leeds Week!), as the award winning store OK Comics celebrates ten years in business today. The...