At The Counter #8: Small Press & Speculators

Welcome back to At The Counter where our own Tony Thornley talks with 22 year comic retail veteran Greg Gage of Black Cat Comics in Salt Lake City’s Sugarhouse neighborhood.

This week, after some heavy topics Tony and Greg sit down to talk about something a lot lighter, and an old industry trend that’s coming back with a vengeance.

Tony: We’ve had a lot of heavy topics lately, so let’s talk about something more fun. The comics industry’s “indie” publishers landscape has completely changed over the last decade. The publishers that used to be small and independent are now behemoths full of licensed series.

What is the definition of an indie or small press publisher in today’s market?

Greg: It depends on who you ask, really. I don’t really consider Dark Horse, IDW, Image, or Dynamite indie anymore. They still have creator owned properties, but they are also doing licensed content. I just can’t consider anyone that publishes Transformers to be indie anymore. It’s too big a property.

Tony: What would you say is the difference between a creator owned and independent comics? It seems like an indie would always be creator owned, but creator owned comics are far from always being independent.

Greg: Take Walking Dead for example. Anything but an indie book, but definitely creator owned. Hold that up to Canto at Dark Horse. That’s an indie book. In my mind, it has to do with how much mainstream success the book has. If it has an Amazon series, I have a hard time wrapping my head around it being independent.

Tony: What’s the best way for someone looking for something outside of superheroes to find these independent books?

Greg: You have to look. They’re all over the place. The biggest thing I would say is actually go into a comic shop. Remember years ago when you’d go to a mom and pop video store, ask somebody what they’d recently watched, and have a conversation about it? That’s comic shops now. If you go to the right place and ask, you’ll get more recommendations than you can handle.

Tony: What independent books are you currently reading?

Greg: I’m actually getting more into indies all the time. Florida Hippopotamus Cocaine Massacre was crazy fun. This week’s Is Ted Okay? is phenomenal. Feral continues to be a lot of fun. T.A.M.A was also a blast. I loved every issue.

Tony: Now, the bigger creator owned writers (and studios) started somewhere, but there’s no denying they’re important to the landscape. As a retailer, how have creators like James Tynion IV, Matt Fraction and Kelly Sue Deconnick, and Robert Kirkman helped shape the current landscape?

Greg: The funny thing is, they were all considered indie creators, working on a bunch of stuff that nobody had really heard of at the time. Now they’re some of the biggest creators around. That just goes to show. You never know what smaller press book you’ve skipped over just because it’s not Batman that could be launching the next big writer or artist of tomorrow. 

Tony: Now, directly feeding out of that, some of these studios — Skybound and Tiny Onion in particular — have had some massive hits lately. It seems like that’s driving a massive resurgence of something that nearly killed the comics industry thirty years ago, the speculator market.

Why do you think the speculator market has made such a resurgence?

Greg: TV, movies, and options. It seems the studios are looking in a different direction now. Not so much the big two anymore, but more unknown stuff that should come across differently on the screen. There is only so much you can do for cinema audiences with Iron Man or Batman. Department of Truth is different. The general population doesn’t know anything about it, so I think people are trying to bank on the next big thing. 

Tony: It seems to me like Invincible Universe: Battle Beast was the kickoff of the most recent surge. Is that about right or was it earlier? Or later?

Greg: A little earlier. See Absolute Batman…

Tony: While the speculator market hasn’t ever fully gone away (which is why variant covers exist), the current surge seems like the worst it’s been since the 1990s. Has that been your experience?

Greg: Yes. There was an uptick in the spec market during Covid because of a perfect storm of factors, but I believe it’s more now. It goes in waves. For a while, it seemed like it was dying, but a few small press, low order, indie books showed up and people had interest in them. They were hard to find because of all those factors, so, of course, the prices on eBay and such go crazy.

Tony: Why do you think that might be?

Greg: Covid was unique. People were getting paid to stay home, getting checks from the government, couldn’t go out to concerts or to eat, or, really, anything at all. Nothing but time and money on their hands. 

Tony: We were talking this week about how it used to seem like the Salt Lake City market was relatively “safe” — just meaning that it used to be around here that a “hot” item wouldn’t sell out for at least a few days. But the last two big speculator books — Image Comics’ D’Orc and White Sky — were gone from your shelves on day one.

Have you seen any indication of why?

Greg: Scarcity and an increased customer base. I’ve had an insane increase in customers of late. I’m not sure why that is (although I have a few theories I won’t share here…). Whatnot also seems to be making a comeback as well. Several of my customers are pretty much doing that for a living now.

Tony: Interesting side note, it’s not just comics. I also collect toys, and it’s extremely difficult to walk into a physical retailer, whether it’s Wal-Mart, Target, or GameStop, and pick up a figure today in Salt Lake. It’s definitely led to some speculation (sorry) from the collecting community. Is it possible that scalpers — in other words speculators who have no interest in the industry — be driving some of that in a bit?

Greg: Maybe. The main reason is probably because of Diamond’s pooping the bed and disappearing into the bankrupt nether. I really don’t have a place to get toys anymore, so the remaining stores with accounts from manufacturers instead of distributors are getting a lot more business and, of course, that makes them more scarce. Speculators notice this stuff. They have their fingers on the pulse of collectibles. It’s just what they do.

Tony: Do you ever see indications of something becoming a hot book before one of these sell-outs? How do you prepare for it?

Greg: Honestly, I just have to do my homework. It’s not easy, and I don’t always get it right, but if you pay attention to the trends, you can at least get it right sometimes. I’m right a good 75% of the time, I think, but even I get caught with my pants down sometimes. 

Tony: And really, that’s the worst thing that could happen, because no one wants to see that.

Black Cat Comics is on the web at https://blackcat-comics.com/ and via all the usual social media channels. If you live in or are visiting the Salt Lake City area, you can visit the store at 2261 Highland Dr, Salt Lake City, UT 84106, or call Greg and his team at (801) 461-4228.