The Beat is a proud sponsor of Comix Experience’s Graphic Novel of the Month Clubs, which bring comics fans a curated mix of the best of new release graphic novels and conversations with the creators who make them. Each month, the staff of Comix Experience votes on two sets of upcoming books they are most […]
GRAPHIC NOVEL CLUB: From THE MATRIX to MAESTROS, how Steve Skroce Built His Legendary Career
The Beat is a proud sponsor of Comix Experience’s Graphic Novel of the Month Clubs, which bring comics fans a curated mix of the best of new release graphic novels and conversations with the creators who make them. Each month, the staff of Comix Experience votes on two sets of upcoming books they are most […]
Listen: Greg Pak talks Weapon H, Newsletters, Twitter and more on More to Come
I don’t often plug PW’s More To Come, the podcast for Publishers Weekly which I co-host along with Calvin Reid and Kate Fitzsimons. But on this week’s episode I have the pleasure of talking to Greg Pak about his recent efforts to connect with readers and work on Mech Cadet Yu and Weapon H. […]
Tilting at Windmills #267 – Dear Publishers: Weekly Comics Suck
By Brian Hibbs There’s a particular Myth of the market that says that the “Wednesday Warriors” – the hardcore, most committed fan, who comes in every week without fail, usually on a Wednesday – are the core of the business that we should be catering to. This is a narrative that is regularly advanced by […]
Tilting at Windmills #265: #MeToo – When a Bathroom Makes Women Uncomfortable
By Brian Hibbs So, this is kind of hard column to write, because it means being vulnerable and honest about issues that are genuinely hard to discuss, especially in the exact political climate we live in today. These are also things that are hard for me personally to discuss because I’m a fifty year old […]
Tilting at Windmills #262: Why Marvel’s Lenticular Numbers Don’t Add Up For My Stores
By Brian Hibbs As I write this, it’s the deadline to order the October “Legacy” re-positioning from Marvel, with the lenticular covers. Marvel has been explicit that if we don’t order the lenticulars by the initial order deadline of 8/24, then we should expect to get allocated on any orders we might place. One of […]
Tilting at Windmills #253: Was DC’s Rebirth a Commercial Hit… or Failure?
We’re still very much in the short-term phase as I write this as the fifth issues of the initial “Rebirth” series just come out, and we’re still at least a quarter, perhaps two, to see how the greater market ends up reacting over-all – but I can look at my own data and draw out a few initial suppositions.
Interview: Retailer Brian HIbbs on the Minimum Wage and Surviving in San Francisco
The other day we presented a story on long running SF comics shop Comix Experience and their plans to increase revenue in the face of the local rise in the minimum wage: a graphic novel book club that’s already had a positive response. It’s a serious issue for small business owners, and led to a lively comments section. I reached out to Hibbs to see if he had any comments on the comments and ever loquatious, he suggested an interview. The results can be read below.
Comis Experience has two locations, the iconic Divisidero St. shop just off Haight St. site of many famed signings by creators from Neil Gaiman to Warren Ellis and an early adapter of the grahpic novel movement; and a newer more superhero focused store on Ocean Ave. that Hibbs took over from a previous business last year. Hibbs has long been one of the most vocal comics retailers. His Tilting at Windmills column at CBR is must reading and the comics review blog he started Savage Critics is, unbelievably, still running after 10 years or so. I’m grateful for him to take the time to talk about issues that are sure to become more and more pressing around the country.
Minimum wage hike threatens SF’s Comix Experience
Well, here is a shoe that no one wanted to hear drop, but it can’t be termed unexpected. San Francisco will raise their minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next three years, and this threatens a lot of businesses, like bookstores, that have very small margins. The science fiction bookstore Borderlands planned to close, […]
Retailer Brian Hibbs acquires second comic shop, Comic Outpost
Veteran Bay Area retailer Brian Hibbs, of Comix Experience, Savage Critics, and Tilting at Windmills fame just announced something pretty momentous: he’s acquired a second store by purchasing the assets of Comic Outpost, Hibbs will take over running the sore on Monday December 16th. ON a FB ppst he added, “I have nothing but good things to say about owner Gary Buechler, and I think that store is a great testament to his love and passion for comics! I’m going to work hard to match that passion.”