expatNERD

Category: Solicitations

  • 03 – Friendship Power

    03 – Friendship Power

    When you own a comic book store, you see a lot of different books and see a lot of different and interesting people interested in those books. And because of this I do realize that there are instances where something has totally passed me by. Like there is an entire world out there that is humming and progressing, and I am just completely unaware of it. My Little Pony is one of those things. A lot of people buy these comics from IDW Publishing and there is something of a following, which is putting it quite mildly. But this is something out of my wheel house that I need to refer to others when I am asked about it and completely put my trust in them. Franka, luckily, has a good grasp on My Little Pony, and also reminded me that My Little Pony: Rise of Cadance #1 by Christina Rice & Abby Bulmer is out tomorrow.

    MLP is in the media, there are quite a few series on Netflix (at least where I live), and the pony world does seem quite creative. It is in the pop culture consciousness so you can definitely chide me for not knowing anything about it. I mean is it so surprising that it is this popular? You can play with a lot of themes and I suppose the cute ponies, with their diverse symbols, act as more of a distraction or a bait and switch, while they actually talk about and address real issues. But hey, sometimes you do have to take a step back and also just allow people to have fun with it. I think Curt learned that lesson. Don’t take things too seriously but enjoy them. And I think we can find enjoyment and content that makes us think in unexpected places.

  • 02 – Bankruptcy

    02 – Bankruptcy

    The big news last week was that Diamond Comic Distributers declared bankruptcy. Sure enough and right on schedule, a plethora of questions from my regular customers came pouring in. Are we in trouble? Will I survive? Are comics now, truly and forevermore, dead?

    So when Franka sent me this comic I had to chuckle when I read it because I do think comic fandom, or people interested in comics, are unique in that a solid majority (more than 49.9%?) are also interested in everything around it. Whether it is a discussion on who makes the comic, how they made it, and even how they are shipped and in what boxes, these are topics you read around the internet and hear around the store. After scratching my head and really thinking about it for a moment, does any other industry have this? When you go out to buy records or cd’s (assuming you still do that), do you also inquire how their distribution channel is doing?

    Is everyone truly so interested in our business to business relationships that a disruption could actually threaten to end our store or an entire industry? What if we changed how an invoice looks or is processed?

    Look, is this a serious thing? Of course it is. And I feel bad for a lot people involved because there will be some hard consequences. But will comics survive? Yes. The industry is healthy enough, and there is still a lot of money involved, that it will be figured out. I remember when DC went exclusively over to Lunar Distribution and Marvel over to Penguin Random House, the exact same thing happened and people out to preach that the world was about to end.

    But as it turns out, we are still okay.