His entire ‘death’ was an event solely contrived to sell lots and lots of comic books. “DC never had any intention of actually killing off Superman. Writing in his industry column “Tales From the Database” in 2004, Rozanski pulled no punches when reflecting on the “Death of Superman” storyline and its impact on the comic book industry and comic book stores. “For a little while, the wonderful earnings generated from this huge new flow of customers seemed to make all my arguments against the ‘death’ of Superman seem like a big mistake,” opined Chuck Rozanski, founder of Denver, Colorado’s iconic Mile High Comics megastore. But those entrenched in the business of comic books, particularly comic book store owners, were dismissive and felt the story had done irreversible damage to the comic book industry, especially their independently-owned stores. What resulted was surplus inventory that created a back issue market and a subsequent comic book store boom across the nation for comic book fans, new and old alike.īut there was no way DC comics would let Superman stay dead, now, would they? After a ten-month-long saga spanning several DC Comics titles, Superman made his anti-climactic return from the dead in October 1993’s The Adventures of Superman #505. Whereas retailers would typically return comics that didn’t sell to the publisher, direct market distribution prohibited retailers and their distributors from returning comics that went unsold. But the direct market presented a catch: all sales were final. Direct sales – whereby distributors bought wholesale comics from publishers and sold them directly to retailers – became the norm for comic book distribution in North America. The comic book industry changed forever in the late 1980s when the once ubiquitous spinner racks stuffed with the latest monthly titles were forced into antiquity with the emergence of direct market distribution. But retailers were unsure about carrying comics due mainly to their slight profit margins and flimsy and easily damaged format. All you had to do was go to your local newsstand, grocery store, drug store, or convenience store and look for the aluminum-wired spinner rack. There was a time when you could get a comic book almost anywhere. As new generations of fans become ambivalent towards traditional comic books and comic book stores, many in the industry can’t help but feel a little melancholy reminiscing about what the industry once used to be. So what exactly is the state of the comic book industry? Just like how the motion picture and music industries evolved over the past two decades to keep pace with and stay ahead of changing generational preferences and shifting business models, the comic book industry finds itself in a similar predicament. What resulted was an urgent call to action to comic book fans, many of whom wanted to preserve and protect the endearing legacy of their local comic book stores and prevent them from becoming a relic of a bygone era. We can do that.” Not only did Field have something to write about, but he also formulated the blueprint for what would become the event known as Free Comic Book Day.Īfter being canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and following a challenging year of disruption to industry norms and numerous comic book store closures, Free Comic Book Day returned in 2021 and provided a much-needed reprieve for comic book stores emerging from the ruins of the pandemic. “The only thing cooler than ice cream is comics. A line of customers formed, but they weren’t waiting in line to enter his store it was for free scoop night at Baskin-Robbins next door. As Field feverishly tried to surmount his writer’s block, he noticed some commotion outside his comic book store. The owner of Flying Colors Comics and Other Cool Stuff in Concord, California, and part-time industry columnist, needed to submit an article to Comics & Games Retailer magazine for their August 2001 issue. His novel “The Barbarian Nurseries” was named a New York Times Notable Book in 2011 and also won the California Book Award Gold Medal for Fiction his latest work is “The Last Great Road Bum.” He’s married, the father of three children and the son of Guatemalan immigrants.Joe Field was on deadline and didn’t know what to write. The Los Angeles-born writer is the author of five books, which have been translated into 15 languages. Tobar has an MFA in creative writing from UC Irvine and studied at UC Santa Cruz and at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico in Mexico City. He has also worked as features editor at the LA Weekly and as editor of the bilingual San Francisco magazine El Tecolote. Tobar was The Times’ bureau chief in Mexico City and Buenos Aires and was part of the reporting team that won a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the 1992 L.A. Hector Tobar worked at the Los Angeles Times for two decades: as a city reporter, national and foreign correspondent, columnist and with the books and culture department.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |