In his latest blog post, Tom Brevoort talks about retailers who, it seems, don’t want to sell the comics they’ve already paid for:
The poster in question had witnessed the following behavior at his local comic shop: a customer was buying an issue of AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, and the guy behind the counter openly mocked him for it, telling him that he’d given himself AIDS simply by looking at it, so terrible was it.*
Now, I certainly don’t have a problem with somebody expressing their opinion. But in this case, I really have to question the logic of it. The store in question bought their copies of AMAZING on a non-returnable basis; they paid for them, and that money is still going to be gone whether or not the books fly off the shelves. So actively berating a customer for buying a item that you’ve already sunk money into is just shooting yourself in the foot.
Tom goes on to say that maybe this was a shop employee who simply needed a lesson in customer service. But I know one shop employee who was trying to recommend Brand New Day at her shop, but the manager wouldn’t let her:
Before my shift was over at the store, they took my front counter pick away and replaced it with something else. The manager said it was because I was going to be off work soon, but this was the first time any of my suggestions had been taken away from their cozy nook at the registers for that last minute buy and/or sell while I was still in the room and in front of me. I wanted to fold a little flag and march it to its final resting place after being so brave and bold.
I think a point was being made pretty clearly to me by my co-workers, one that’s been made for the past week or so by a heft of fans at large.
You see, my pick was Amazing Spider-Man #546. I liked Brand New Day.
–snip–
He was polite about it, but the book was stank of what had come before, trapped in a world it didn’t create. Customers have come into the store with pitchforks and torches in their eyes and the staff have commiserated on what a ’slap in the face’ this all is, effectively continuing the hype of ‘the Worst. Storyline. EVER.’ I don’t think it’s a stretch of the imagination to think that the man in charge today simply didn’t like the book. But when I take Messiah CompleX to task for not exactly being clear on the stakes of the story, I get in trouble because I’m talking down a sale. I find my front counter pick politely escorted off the counter. Oh, the politics of fandom.
*Just for the record, you can’t actually get AIDS by reading a comic book.
January 31st, 2008 at 9:06 am
Everyone knows you can only get AIDS from toilet seats.
January 31st, 2008 at 9:12 am
It wouldn’t be unusual for the manager of a comics store to be as much of a comics fan as he is a businessman, or more so. Similar situations have probably occurred in bookstores, when a customer who doesn’t read much comes in to get something, heads for a trashy bestseller she’s heard about, and is steered away from that to something the bookstore employee thinks is better. I was a library book buyer for three years, and learned that there is a continuing conflict between ordering what people want to read (predictable bestsellers) and ordering what the librarian thinks people *should* read. Maintaining the turnover rate at a decent level, though, means ordering mostly what people want to read.
In the case of “One More Day,” though, the situation stands out as one in which the people involved are unrepentant about producing trash. Straczynski referred to the people involved as not knowing “Fantasy 101” (see, e.g., http://myalternatereality.com/EPOP/NEWSBYTE_files/COMIC/NEWSBYTES-Comic%20Marvel.html?catflag=epop ) in the use of magic. The marriage retcon forces anyone reading old stories to mentally edit/rewrite a story in which the marriage is a plot element. In his Q&A piece on CBR (see http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=12835 ), Quesada minimizes the problems with OMD by comparing it to other notoriously bad storylines, displays a complete lack of understanding about the use of magic in fiction, and comes across as someone who has no sense of having an obligation to produce something good for the customer to buy.
If a plot comparable to OMD had appeared in a story written in a writing workshop, the story would probably have literally been torn to pieces. If all the negative public reaction had been focused on a manufactured product, there probably would have been people fired, for generating bad publicity and hurting the company’s image. But, because AMS is a serial, and there will be people who are unconcerned about the premise for “Brand New Day,” and subsequent stories, they will act as if OMD was never published. From Marvel Editorial’s perspective, it’s probably a perfect example of the end justifying the means. There’s no trade press publication with enough bite to cause injuries, and the fan reaction, however negative, didn’t attain “critical mass.” People seem all to willing to act like children in picking their reading material, and to let the creators act like children in producing it.
SRS
January 31st, 2008 at 9:21 am
“If a plot comparable to OMD had appeared in a story written in a writing workshop, the story would probably have literally been torn to pieces.”
I’m afraid that 95% of superhero comics (if not 100%) would fall under this category.
January 31st, 2008 at 10:06 am
I once had a counter guy make a snide comment about me buying the POWERS HC, bitching about how it was ridiculous how many times Bendis+Oeming had repackaged the same material, etc. etc. I was like, WTF? I said, “I’m a customer about to drop $30 on a single item and you want to talk me out of it?” He looked like a deer in the headlights. I motioned to put it back on the shelf, adding that I would call the owner (a good friend) and tell him that I’d been talked out of a $30 purchase. That shut him up right quick. Seriously - retail 101 - don’t talk customers out of buying stuff! If I’d asked him for his opinion, if it was worth buying, a good value, whatever, fine. But unsolicited? That’s just dumb.
January 31st, 2008 at 10:18 am
I think Tom Breevort should stop blogging about the whole One More Day after effects. All it does is remind people about OMD.
Just let it slide away in obscurity so people can forget it quicker. The sooner that happens the sooner the quality of Brand New Day can draw people back in.
(Although Brand New Day still isn’t as good as Ultimate Spider-man: The Greatest Spidey comic ever)
January 31st, 2008 at 10:50 am
Thankfully, nobody at my store currently is like that. But Brevoort is 100% right: OMD/BND or no, the retailer is being a bad business person acting like this. A simple “I don’t like it, but your mileage may vary” would suffice.
January 31st, 2008 at 11:14 am
I’d guess that most of the characters in the M.U. whose powers could be replicated with technology, or are conceptually very simple (shape-changing, in the case of the Hulk, She-Hulk, et al.) could be written in stories that would be very similar to SF, if not indistinguishable. In prose stories, the costumes would be irrelevant, and the perceived obsolescence of thought balloons and narration wouldn’t be a factor. The market for the resulting novel *would* be a factor, of course, but in principle, the story wouldn’t have to be written to appeal to “lowest common denominator” comics fans. Piers Anthony’s OMNIVORE, ORN, and OX SF trilogy featured agents whose heightened abilities were those of comics heroes. Anthony also wrote MUTE, featuring mutants with powers. Frank Lauria wrote a series of novels featuring Dr. Owen Orient, a “psychic detective” and magic user. It’s just a matter of plotting a story that will appeal primarily to adults, and creating a context in which the powers make sense, and aren’t there primarily for visual effects.
SRS
January 31st, 2008 at 11:15 am
I too have had a similar experience at my LCS…As I am annoyed with OMD/BND I decided to drop it and threw a few back issues of Amazing Spider-Girl in my file and also put it on my pull list.
One employee at my LCS always feels the need to mock or question certain purchases (and I do not pull cheesecake stuff) that he does not agree with. I pretty much ignore him and get them anyway. Maybe one day I will mention it to the owner.
Then again, I pretty much ignore the guy. I mean, he plays Magic still so who is he to question…
January 31st, 2008 at 11:46 am
And some fans wonder why non-comic people are scared to go into comic shops some times. I work part time at a comic shop, have for the past 8 years, and the first rule that the owner put down is “Leave your negative opinions at the door.” It doesn’t matter what we don’t like, if someone is buying it, that’s a good comics. We don’t have to lie and try to recommend what we don’t like, but you don’t abuse people who want to buy comics. It’s bad business.
January 31st, 2008 at 12:14 pm
This is why people don’t buy comics. Comic book shops are unwelcoming places.
The Simpsons’ Comic Book Guy is not an attack so much on the readers of comics but the LCS owner, the type of guy who thinks opening a comic shop would be a good idea and the people he would hire. Always thought CBG should have a sidekick clerk who looked like whatever trend was around at the writing of the episode. One episode Emo, one episode more Gothy, but always the same parroting annoying teenager.
January 31st, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Here’s the original quote that I think Breevort’s talking about, from Hannibal Tabu’s “Buy Pile” over at CBR as listed under his “No, just … no …” section…
“Amazing Spider-Man” #548 (after finally seeing the Diamond-shorted #547 from last week) was not bad, despite what the retail troll behind the counter was telling customers about it. “You got cancer by touching it,” he told one man buying a copy. “You’ve read it, but now you’ve got eye cancer. It’s like visual AIDS.”
http://www.comicbookresources.com/columns/index.cgi?column=tbp&article=2976
January 31st, 2008 at 6:21 pm
Maybe some retailers don’t want to sacrifice long terms sales by making a quick sale of a book they don’t stand behind. Maybe if Marvel didn’t have an EIC who let his own personal beliefs dictate storylines, retailers would be more willing to promote Marvel’s books.
January 31st, 2008 at 10:40 pm
“Maybe some retailers don’t want to sacrifice long terms sales by making a quick sale of a book they don’t stand behind. Maybe if Marvel didn’t have an EIC who let his own personal beliefs dictate storylines, retailers would be more willing to promote Marvel’s books. ”
What a pantload. Seriously, they’re SELLING COMICS, not making them. I don’t give a damn what my LCS guy likes and doesn’t like, he can keep his trap shut and SELL ME WHAT I WANT.
This retail, I don’t go into a comic shop to hear what the clerk likes. In fact, I want him to avert his eyes and put on some deodorant. And take that thing out of his lip, and stop liking crappy music. Better yet, I want him to not speak to me unless it is to say “Can I help you, sir?” LIKE EVERY OTHER RETAIL CLERK SHOULD and often (but not often enough) does.
You sell comics. I don’t give damn what you think. I don’t ask the clerk at the CVS about the cold medicine, either.
January 31st, 2008 at 11:15 pm
On the other hand, why should any of us take anything Hannibal Tabu says remotely seriously?
January 31st, 2008 at 11:39 pm
Thats why I shop on Amazon ! No BS and geeks like that, not into superheroes so it also helps.
January 31st, 2008 at 11:59 pm
“This is why people don’t buy comics. Comic book shops are unwelcoming places.”
Agreed. Agreed. Agreed. I enjoy comics, but I rarely enjoy going to buy them.
February 1st, 2008 at 1:27 am
Man, I shoulda proof read that rant, skipped a few words here and there.
I blame my new wireless keyboard!
February 1st, 2008 at 2:09 am
For the record? I love my comic book shop. They treat me right and they treat all their customers right.
February 1st, 2008 at 2:11 am
You know what I’d love to see? I’d love it if, maybe, once a month, we could get a “Here’s something good my comics shop does and it surprised me” story along with the seemingly daily “Here’s an example of a bad comics shop, don’t all comic shops suck?” story.
Then again, I live in a town with a half-dozen really good comic shops (and I pride myself on owning one of them), so maybe I’m just spoiled at the notion that there are *good* comic shops out there.
February 1st, 2008 at 8:36 am
“You sell comics. I don’t give damn what you think. I don’t ask the clerk at the CVS about the cold medicine, either.”
I’m not saying that retailers should talk customers out of sales. I’m saying they’re under no obligation to promote a book that sucks. If they choose to eat the cost of a lousy book to keep customers, that’s their business not Tom Brevoorts.
February 1st, 2008 at 9:28 am
Biiiig difference between simply not promoting a book and telling a potential customer it will give them aids or ‘razz’ them for buying something they want. When has a clerk at a bookstore ever given you a hard time for buying something?
February 1st, 2008 at 9:56 am
Comic book sellers do not need to act like used car salesmen like TB and some of you seem to think.
Comic book retailers have a variety of products in their store that are constantly being replenished every Wednesday. Giving a customer a heads up that some of those products are inferior to others is just good salesmenship.
Marketing and Sales experts like Michael Masterson stress honestly and good cutomer service as being two of the keys to building a successful business. Saying to your customer, “Hey, that Spidey book isn’t so hot. You might want to give a different books a shot,” is exactly the type of action that builds long term trust between a sales person and a customer.
February 1st, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Of course, the problem is that this is in part at least a matter of opinion. If a comic book is poorly bound or misprinted and there’s a corrected version coming, that’s one thing. If you personally don’t like it that’s entirely another.
February 1st, 2008 at 3:08 pm
The problem is that the two examples are extremely different in nature. In the first example the employee is actively discouraging the customer. However, we have no real context for the comment other than it is a second hand report by another customer who may have no idea of the nature of the relationship between the two parties. It’s easy to put the Comic Book Guy voice to the comment, but it may have been made as a good natured jest.
The second example is far different in that it was an employee being told not to promote a comic. I think an owner is perfectly in his or her rights not to promote a product he/she doesn’t stand behind. Some people rely on their retailer to give them good buying recommendations. Not every customer treats their retailer like the local McDonalds drive-thru worker.
February 1st, 2008 at 3:56 pm
“*Just for the record, you can’t actually get AIDS by reading a comic book.”
I can’t tell you how relieved I am to hear that.
Good suggestion to hear positive comic book store stories, Randy. That would certainly be a refreshing change.