Retailing & Marketing

Thanks to some hardworking employees, as the above video shows, the Staten Island branch of Jim Hanley's Universe which was closed due to flooding is now open for business.

Severe rains pummeled the East Coast this weekend, leading to record rainfall at Kennedy Airport and flooding throughout the region, especially hard-hit Staten Island. And sadly, the New Dorp location of Jim Hanley's Universe comics shop was badly hit, as the above video shows. On Twitter, it was announced that

Our Staten Island store in New Dorp will be closed again Monday. It suffered extensive rain damage in this weekend's storms.

A clean-up effort is under way but the total amount of damage looks severe.

News roundup and some personal notes on the rioting.

As The Big Day approaches, DC is putting out more information on its massive reboot. Newsarama has an addendum to the retailer FAQ that went out some weeks ago.

A new Cup O' Joe with Marvel's Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada reveals many things, including more about the origin of MIles Morales, and the fact that Quesada has been commissioned by the actual President of the United States for a piece of art. But it also contains an explanation of what has vexed many of late: Marvel's spoilerific PR in major media. For instance the story of the new dark-skinned Spider-Man broke on Tuesday inUSA Today, spoiling the story with its ubiquity before the issue in question came out. However, says Quesada, there really isn't any other way to do it:

Well, HOLY CRAP. It's all done broke loose now, hasn't it. What the hell is going on? The dead rising from the grave! Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together. OR should that be: men and women, blacks and whites making COMICS together. It seems like "The Diversity Issue" in comics has exploded all over the place. It can't be silenced. It can't be swept under the rug. More accurately, its ISP can't be blocked. The intersquawk just won't let these issue die. Is it just a few malcontents who won't shut up? Is it a reflection of the world we live in? Or is it just that as we enter the Digital Age of comics (and everything else) infinite accessibility means that the broadening audience for comics needs them to step up and join the real world?

August 31st will be quite a day for DC. On that day they will offer only two comics for sale -- Flashpoint #5 and JLA #1. And stores will be able to sell them at midnight:

The last time Marvel did a "Comics for Comics" program, they rather slyly offered a Marvel variant edition for the covers of some DC BLACKEST NIGHT tie-ins. And they are at it again, the cheeky devils at Marvel are offering a variant edition of FEAR ITSELF #6 to retailers who strip off the covers of a bunch of Flashpoint tie-ins. It's kind of a variation on the old "collecting scalps/heads of our enemies" routine. In the PR Marvel claims that tens of thousands of covers were sent in in past versions of the program...considering the print runs of some of these books, that would be a significant chunk of the runs.

Seven amazing comics retailers were nominated for the Will Eisner Spirit of Comics Retailer award, including stores from all over the United States. We have personal knowledge of many of these retailers and can testify that they all exemplify the passion and love of comics that is the heartbeat of the industry The winner will be announced tonight at the Eisner Awards.

A new Tilting at Windmills is up and this time, retailer Brian Hibbs talks about the backlist -- perennial books that sell and sell.

After a period of beta testing, Diamond is ready to roll out their digital comics sales this September. As there is not much else happening that month, maybe this will perk things up. More seriously, about 30 publishers are participating in the venture, which is run through iVerse and involves participating retailers generating codes for sale. The program will begin more advanced beta testing in stores in August. Interested retailers can sign up here.

PLEASE NOTE WE ARE A SPONSOR AND PARTICIPANT IN THIS EVENT! HYPE ALERT! That said we wouldn't be involved if we didn't feel it is an excellent line-up and the conference is sure to make a lot of headlines.