Seriously...what store do you work in where SO MANY of the people that enter it lack even the most basic knowledge regarding the practices and customs associated with the comic book industry/community?
Do you think other specialty businesses have this problem?
Is there a laundromat somewhere with customers that come in all day and complain about the washing machines only taking quarters and not pennies? An antique store with people who whine over how there aren't enough blu-ray movies for sale? A guitar shop where the guy behind the desk is constantly being told how much better the guitars would sound if he'd just cut all the strings off?
I here this kind of remark at the shop I frequent. As comic book movies become more and more popular, the people coming into comic shops become more and more diverse.
It took me a while to understand the guy was complaining about it being too _expensive_. I went to buy two comic books today, priced 17 and 10 EUR. That's... 24 and 14 USD. Can you guess what continent I live in? T_T
I'm sure that he then proceeded to buy the comics in question, read them, and then immediately got on the Internet to complain about how bad they were. He will then be back at the store next week.
I suffer from a strange disorder that makes me want to understand people like this... SO, maybe he thinks comic book prices should be unchanged since 1980, or that comic books should be significantly cheaper than comic-book movies, or maybe he just thinks writers and artists should work for minimum wage...
Did he not notice that the price is actually printed on the book cover? Did he think that someone at the store printed whatever price he chose ONTO the already printed cover?
This intrepid whistleblower has stumbled onto the huge conspiracy that comic book shops (a.k.a. "illuminati") has been replacing the comic book covers with their own higher priced ones. Now that the truth is out, mayhap (yes, I said "mayhap") we can go back to spending a dime for each comic book as God and Stan Lee intended. Go try your money-grubbing schemes elsewhere comic book retailers! Your tyranny is at an end!
I didnt even know you COULD download comics. I guess because I'm actually paying for the physical thing rather than the story. Half the time I don't even give a shit what the story is, it's the book itself I think is cool. I guess the art isnt bad either but there's something about the physical comic book I find fascinating.
Considering that comic prices have a tendency to roughly double every ten years, I can somewhat sympathize with his plight. 20 to 25 cents circa 1970, .50 in 1980, $1.00 in '90, and so on and so on. Are we seriously going to be paying $6-$8 per issue in 2020? I do think that it's going to wind up killing the industry in the long run. I silently curse the day 20 or so years ago when they began using higher quality paper.
inflation has a little to do with the cost increase. normal growth is about 2% each year, so over 10 years they should cost about 20% more every year. Comic books have also had odd growth. They charge what the market can bear. that means that as the age of readership rose, and the collectability rose, so did the prices. A 10 year old as part of the target audience today could likely only afford a dollar or 2. but the 30 year old fan boys can afford 3 or 4 bucks.
Downloading comics is cool as long as youre not downloading pirated thats weak. But yeah I hear this all the time from people who go into the sporting goods store I work in. It's like dude I don't make the prices, in case you haven't noticed under armor and nike have clearly in their own ink, on their own tag have printed THEIR price... I hate people.
I used work in a comic store and had a lady ask me to order her Giant Sized X-Men #1 for her son cause he had seen the X-Men movie. When I said it was pretty much impossible and if I did, it would cost her $500 or more, she thought I was stupid because X-Men was a brand new comic that was only released because of the movie.
...show him to the cheap boxes... :P (I assume in the US it's probably a DOLLAR box, as it's the 50p box here - and it's where I've got most of my collection. Although, you DO have to sift through the hundreds of copies of 90's image comics - no I do NOT want YoungBlood #1 for 50p! :P)
"Seriously...what store do you work in where SO MANY of the people that enter it lack even the most basic knowledge regarding the practices and customs associated with the comic book industry/community?..."
How much research on a niche of the publishing industry do you think one must do before stepping for one's first time into a bookstore specializing in that niche?
How much do you think shoppers who didn't do that research should avoid that bookstore even if they happen to see it on their way to or from somewhere else?
If a merchant's going to welcome only customers who already did a lot of research on the wares, and badmouth customers who are unfamiliar with the wares walking in to browse and ask question, then he or she shouldn't bother having a bricks-and-mortar store at all.
Simply storing inventory costs less than renting or buying commercial real estate in an area with significant foot traffic and buying displays (including front-window displays!) that catch the eyes of shoppers both familiar and unfamiliar with what's in them...
The industry has gleefully killed off the potential to grow new customers. The 30-49 demographic which represents such a huge percentage of the money spent on comics will eventually lose interest or die off.
This is similar to the sports card industry that decided to cater almost entirely to speculators instead of young fans.
Listen, with any robust business, there's a healthy amount of customers the business should attract, who may not be very familar, or familiar at all, with the product being sold. New customers help a business grow. I understand that completely.
What I don't understand is the amount of customers (an amount that seems FAR beyond the healthy amount of new customers I mentioned before) Mr. Tim's store, specifically a specialty store, seems to attract, that not only lack previous knowledge regarding the industry and specialty in question, but seem to also lack respect for Mr. Tim and his store, and also the will to increase their understanding of his wares and the community in even the slightest way.
The point I was trying to make was not one railing against new customers unfamiliar with a niche business, but a point of how I can't possibly imagine other small businesses and specialty shops having to put up with the seemingly constant amount of uniformed people that come into Mr. Tim's store for what seems no other purpose then to mock and complain about something they have no knowledge of.
It's like his store must have a bright neon sign out front that flashes "THIS STORE DOES NOT HAVE COMICS! IF YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT COMICS, PLEASE COME INSIDE AND YELL AT ME ABOUT HOW COMICS SHOULD WORK!!!"
"...but seem to also lack respect for Mr. Tim and his store, and also the will to increase their understanding of his wares and the community in even the slightest way..."
Great point about the wares! :D
Not so great point about "the community."
Lots of specialty stores don't have all their customers from the same subculture:
* Not everyone who shops at a fabric store goes to quilting bees (some just want supplies to mend clothes).
* Not everyone who shops at a kosher butcher observes Judaism (some are Muslim and know that all kosher meat also meets the halal standards).
* Not everyone who shops at a comics store is a fan of superheroes (some prefer to read manga or indie comics).
So, if this place is a store instead of a clubhouse, then a new customer shouldn't have to start buying into a community in order to start buying merchandise...
In a shop with lots of foot traffic and hipster's that think it would be funny to walk into a comic book shop and laugh at the people, it isn't so hard to imagine. That is exactly where Mr. Tim's shop is by the way.
You guys missed the "it's true" tag. What's also true is Disney and Time Warner can easily afford to give the books away, digitally or otherwise. The industry is lucky they don't just dump all of the books, since all they care about are the IP rights.
How dare you try to MAKE money!
ReplyDeleteI shudder to think what might happen if he shows up in an art gallery...
ReplyDeleteGOD! COMIC BOOKS AND THEIR PROFITEERING WAYS! HOW DARE THEY TRY TO STAY IN BUSINESS!
ReplyDeleteDon't try to trick me, you photoshopped the price information on these covers! I'm on to you!!!
ReplyDeleteSeriously...what store do you work in where SO MANY of the people that enter it lack even the most basic knowledge regarding the practices and customs associated with the comic book industry/community?
ReplyDeleteDo you think other specialty businesses have this problem?
Is there a laundromat somewhere with customers that come in all day and complain about the washing machines only taking quarters and not pennies? An antique store with people who whine over how there aren't enough blu-ray movies for sale? A guitar shop where the guy behind the desk is constantly being told how much better the guitars would sound if he'd just cut all the strings off?
I would be shocked if there were ANY business that didn't have a problem with stupid customers.
ReplyDelete^ this.
DeleteI here this kind of remark at the shop I frequent. As comic book movies become more and more popular, the people coming into comic shops become more and more diverse.
ReplyDeletehear*
ReplyDeleteIt took me a while to understand the guy was complaining about it being too _expensive_.
ReplyDeleteI went to buy two comic books today, priced 17 and 10 EUR. That's... 24 and 14 USD. Can you guess what continent I live in? T_T
I assume that the anonymous above isn't referring to 22 page advert filled floppies, which are in question here.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure that he then proceeded to buy the comics in question, read them, and then immediately got on the Internet to complain about how bad they were. He will then be back at the store next week.
ReplyDeleteClearly the dude needs to be told that it's no longer 1974, when comics were a quarter.
ReplyDeleteI suffer from a strange disorder that makes me want to understand people like this... SO, maybe he thinks comic book prices should be unchanged since 1980, or that comic books should be significantly cheaper than comic-book movies, or maybe he just thinks writers and artists should work for minimum wage...
ReplyDeleteDid he not notice that the price is actually printed on the book cover? Did he think that someone at the store printed whatever price he chose ONTO the already printed cover?
ReplyDeleteThis intrepid whistleblower has stumbled onto the huge conspiracy that comic book shops (a.k.a. "illuminati") has been replacing the comic book covers with their own higher priced ones. Now that the truth is out, mayhap (yes, I said "mayhap") we can go back to spending a dime for each comic book as God and Stan Lee intended.
ReplyDeleteGo try your money-grubbing schemes elsewhere comic book retailers! Your tyranny is at an end!
Yes, it should be "have" and not "has." The damn illuminati infected my computer.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm a little drunk.
See, I get the complaints here about this guy and how he seems to think that creators don't need to make money. I really do. I'm very pro-capitalism.
ReplyDeleteProblem is I download most of my comics.
I am unable to resolve these two sides of me. HELP!
I didnt even know you COULD download comics. I guess because I'm actually paying for the physical thing rather than the story. Half the time I don't even give a shit what the story is, it's the book itself I think is cool. I guess the art isnt bad either but there's something about the physical comic book I find fascinating.
ReplyDeleteConsidering that comic prices have a tendency to roughly double every ten years, I can somewhat sympathize with his plight. 20 to 25 cents circa 1970, .50 in 1980, $1.00 in '90, and so on and so on. Are we seriously going to be paying $6-$8 per issue in 2020? I do think that it's going to wind up killing the industry in the long run. I silently curse the day 20 or so years ago when they began using higher quality paper.
ReplyDeleteinflation has a little to do with the cost increase. normal growth is about 2% each year, so over 10 years they should cost about 20% more every year. Comic books have also had odd growth. They charge what the market can bear. that means that as the age of readership rose, and the collectability rose, so did the prices. A 10 year old as part of the target audience today could likely only afford a dollar or 2. but the 30 year old fan boys can afford 3 or 4 bucks.
ReplyDeleteDownloading comics is cool as long as youre not downloading pirated thats weak. But yeah I hear this all the time from people who go into the sporting goods store I work in. It's like dude I don't make the prices, in case you haven't noticed under armor and nike have clearly in their own ink, on their own tag have printed THEIR price... I hate people.
ReplyDeleteI used work in a comic store and had a lady ask me to order her Giant Sized X-Men #1 for her son cause he had seen the X-Men movie. When I said it was pretty much impossible and if I did, it would cost her $500 or more, she thought I was stupid because X-Men was a brand new comic that was only released because of the movie.
ReplyDelete...show him to the cheap boxes... :P (I assume in the US it's probably a DOLLAR box, as it's the 50p box here - and it's where I've got most of my collection. Although, you DO have to sift through the hundreds of copies of 90's image comics - no I do NOT want YoungBlood #1 for 50p! :P)
ReplyDelete"The damn illuminati infected my computer.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'm a little drunk."
Thank you, Slade, for my new go-to explanation for every typo I make.
$11.99 - Paperback novel, 3 hours of enjoyment
ReplyDelete$3.99 - Comic book, 10 minutes of enjoyment
Yeah, yeah, glossy paper and ink are expensive.
He's not wrong,sadly.
ReplyDelete"Seriously...what store do you work in where SO MANY of the people that enter it lack even the most basic knowledge regarding the practices and customs associated with the comic book industry/community?..."
ReplyDeleteHow much research on a niche of the publishing industry do you think one must do before stepping for one's first time into a bookstore specializing in that niche?
How much do you think shoppers who didn't do that research should avoid that bookstore even if they happen to see it on their way to or from somewhere else?
If a merchant's going to welcome only customers who already did a lot of research on the wares, and badmouth customers who are unfamiliar with the wares walking in to browse and ask question, then he or she shouldn't bother having a bricks-and-mortar store at all.
Simply storing inventory costs less than renting or buying commercial real estate in an area with significant foot traffic and buying displays (including front-window displays!) that catch the eyes of shoppers both familiar and unfamiliar with what's in them...
The industry has gleefully killed off the potential to grow new customers. The 30-49 demographic which represents such a huge percentage of the money spent on comics will eventually lose interest or die off.
ReplyDeleteThis is similar to the sports card industry that decided to cater almost entirely to speculators instead of young fans.
Anon at 9/05/2011 2:11 PM
ReplyDeleteListen, with any robust business, there's a healthy amount of customers the business should attract, who may not be very familar, or familiar at all, with the product being sold. New customers help a business grow. I understand that completely.
What I don't understand is the amount of customers (an amount that seems FAR beyond the healthy amount of new customers I mentioned before) Mr. Tim's store, specifically a specialty store, seems to attract, that not only lack previous knowledge regarding the industry and specialty in question, but seem to also lack respect for Mr. Tim and his store, and also the will to increase their understanding of his wares and the community in even the slightest way.
The point I was trying to make was not one railing against new customers unfamiliar with a niche business, but a point of how I can't possibly imagine other small businesses and specialty shops having to put up with the seemingly constant amount of uniformed people that come into Mr. Tim's store for what seems no other purpose then to mock and complain about something they have no knowledge of.
It's like his store must have a bright neon sign out front that flashes "THIS STORE DOES NOT HAVE COMICS! IF YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT COMICS, PLEASE COME INSIDE AND YELL AT ME ABOUT HOW COMICS SHOULD WORK!!!"
Do what now?
ReplyDelete"...but seem to also lack respect for Mr. Tim and his store, and also the will to increase their understanding of his wares and the community in even the slightest way..."
ReplyDeleteGreat point about the wares! :D
Not so great point about "the community."
Lots of specialty stores don't have all their customers from the same subculture:
* Not everyone who shops at a fabric store goes to quilting bees (some just want supplies to mend clothes).
* Not everyone who shops at a kosher butcher observes Judaism (some are Muslim and know that all kosher meat also meets the halal standards).
* Not everyone who shops at a comics store is a fan of superheroes (some prefer to read manga or indie comics).
So, if this place is a store instead of a clubhouse, then a new customer shouldn't have to start buying into a community in order to start buying merchandise...
@12:13
ReplyDeleteIn a shop with lots of foot traffic and hipster's that think it would be funny to walk into a comic book shop and laugh at the people, it isn't so hard to imagine. That is exactly where Mr. Tim's shop is by the way.
You guys missed the "it's true" tag. What's also true is Disney and Time Warner can easily afford to give the books away, digitally or otherwise. The industry is lucky they don't just dump all of the books, since all they care about are the IP rights.
ReplyDelete