Professor John Donovan did me the great favor of checking out comic book shops in his area on Free Comic Book Day. Professor Donovan writes about the anti-communist message in comic for Ages of Heroes, Era of Men, yet he recently shared some new research at the Imagined Power Symposium at Rollins exploring depictions of President Obama in comics. John's take on FCBD is in sharp contrast to my own.
As he explains:
“I had the opportunity to enjoy FCBD by visiting the Boulder area (one hour north of my home in Colorado Springs). From experience, I knew that the best way to celebrate the day would be to visit Time Warp Comics, Cards and Collectibles in Boulder. I was not disappointed. The owner, Wayne Winsett, goes all-out every FCBD. He puts out balloons for the kids, has artists on hand to talk with fans, and has people in costume to entertain the customers. This year he had a batmobile in front of the store (on loan from a private collector), with a Batgirl to pose by the car. Outside the store were also Stormtroopers posing for photographs. Of course, the big draw for the folks are the free comics. Wayne lets every customer have three free comics of their choice. His selection of FCBD comics is one of the best I have ever seen at a store, and he puts out numerous copies of every title available. The atmosphere of Time Warp during FCBD is fun, family-oriented, and fan-friendly (just like it is every day of the year). Now that’s a way to celebrate FCBD!”
FCBD is a marketing opportunity and this retailer embraces the chance to bring kids (an important demographic) to the shop. How many retailers go to the trouble Mr. Winsett did for FCBD? The content available for FCBD is designed to be kid friendly and creating a fun atmosphere seems to be obvious move. Could it be that the better business owner does a better job? One sharp distinction I would make is that Time Warp Comics, Cards, and Collectibles has a broader built in audience. How many people who come for cards and collectibles took the opportunity to come and support the shop on FCBD? Like many comic shops, Time Warp seems to have move farther and farther into a specialize retail niche. Comics along cannot sustain most "comic book shops" indeed a visit any random shop and you will find the open floor space taken up with gaming table and the time honor tradition of boxes and boxes of back issues shoved off to the side (or not at all). Finding the balance between new markets in collectibles and games while keeping comics has become the standard approach for most comic shops. It a rare shop that only carries comics and that rarefied status is likely to increase as publisher move toward the digital publications more and more. Marvel is on the cutting edge in this regard. With Disney marketing expertise looming in the background, it is no surprise they had one of the first apps on the iPad. If they can get readers accustom to reading comics through the Marvel iPad app, they will be in the position to have access to readers much easier, but comic shops will suffer. The future is uncertain, but change is a constant.
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