Curious about just how well hype sells, Jen DeGuzman attempted to see how readily available three critically acclaimed works — Exit Wounds, Alice in Sunderland and All-Star Superman — were by checking out her local comic shop, book store and library:
The city has but one comic book store that I could find. There used to be others. They remain in my memory—small, dark, dusty and cramped. The comic book store that remains is small but bright, clean and well-organized. New issues were out and unwrapped on racks, back issues bagged-and-boarded” in long boxes. I was surprised to see that there was absolutely no manga that I could spot. The graphic novels were shelved by publisher, and, alas, the publishers carried were not widely representative. I was surprised to see that there was absolutely no manga visible. The books that were on sale were in excellent condition. This is because they were all bagged or shrink-wrapped. I found All-Star Superman and showed the cover to my husband, who is a fan of “classic” Superman. “What’s that?” he asked, mildly intrigued. I said something about it being about the essential Superman, saving Lois Lane from Lex Luthor, that kind of thing. Neither of us wanted to ask if we could tear the shrink-wrap off, so like anyone ordering from Diamond’s monthly Previews, he only had a vague description and cover image to go on.
I know my comic store carries all three of those books, but I’m not sure about the library and Border’s. How about yours?
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:16 am
The closest comic shop to me is about 40 minutes away so I wouldn’t exactly call it local, but it seemed pretty well stocked the few times I’ve been there. (I mainly order my comics online now)
April 2nd, 2008 at 10:25 am
My regular comic shop is primarily a superhero shop, but they do stock some indies/small press stuff. I haven’t looked that closely at their trades, but I do know that they don’t carry Scott Pilgrim or Sharknife. They don’t have a huge focus right now on trades, but they also just moved to a new, bigger store, so maybe the new store has a better trade display.
The book store closest to me (Books-A-Million) does a pretty good job of having a wide variety of books. I remember seeing Alice in Sunderland there. Exit Wounds was probably there, too, if I looked for it. All-Star Superman is a given. They have a huge manga selection. Anything they don’t have in the stores is usually available online, too.
As for my library, they buy pretty much anything I ask them to. There have been a couple that they said they couldn’t get, but that has been rare considering how many things I’ve requested them to get.
April 2nd, 2008 at 6:21 pm
Shrinkwrapped/bagged/boarded comics are some of the most anti-consumer counter intuitive sales tactics ever. One of the reasons I pick up the vast majority of my books at the local chain bookstores. Unless I’m buying new singles.