At The Counter #12: Bad Business And Nostalgia

Welcome to At The Counter, our biweekly column where our features editor Tony Thornley chats with comic store owner and comics retail veteran Greg Gage of Black Cat Comics in Salt Lake City’s Sugarhouse district. 

This week Tony and Greg talk about the controversy that’s arisen out of one Free Comic Book Day release, leading into some discussion on general business practices, and then the comics’ industry’s latest wave of nostalgia, and the effect its having on titles on the shelf today.

In the words of the comic we’re largely talking about, welcome Crawlers!

Tony Thornley: Hey Greg! Have you fully recovered from Free Comic Book Day? Is the store still a mess?

Greg Gage: No and yes. As much insanity as it is, it’s so worth it! I was also intelligent(?) enough to have a sale at the same time, so there’s so much more to do. We’re getting there, though.

Tony: There was some interesting controversy that came out of FCBD last week that I wanted to talk about. It seems that several shops went viral for hoarding, gatekeeping, or outright selling one particular release: Vault’s Dungeon Crawler Carl. First of all, is that actually allowed?

Greg: I mean, technically, I guess you can do what you want with them. Shops do pay for the “free” books. But that doesn’t mean you should do what you want. In this day and age, you have to know that if you do something sketchy, everyone’s going to know about it. A shop should just be maybe a little more careful in how they conduct themselves.

Tony: It’s obviously not a great business practice, selling something clearly marked as free. I think it sets off a debate for me though. Now, obviously, the shop that sold it is completely in the wrong here. This should not be a book that should be sold at all, and gatekeeping it behind a $50 purchase is equally bad, if not worse. But is there a case for shops requiring a minimal purchase for the free books during FCBD? Maybe something like a $5-10 purchase?

Greg: While I wouldn’t do that, I wouldn’t fault other shops for doing a policy that would require some sort of purchase, especially if they’re smaller or newer.

Tony: Yeah, that’s the exact circumstance that I was wondering if it was justified.

Greg:  I don’t think it’s the best idea, but with the industry and the economy being what it is, I can understand it. Requiring a $50 purchase for something that is advertised as being for free is beyond the pale, though. I leave whatever is leftover of my FCBD books out on a free table for a week after, just in case someone can’t make it, but then mark them at 25 cents (which is about what we have to pay, give or take) and throw them in my discount boxes.

Tony: Now this is the first FCBD without Diamond involved. We talked about how that led to some major issues as far as marketing goes. Hell, it was so poorly done that you and I both forgot that Lunar bought the Free Comic Book Day trademark from Diamond when we last talked. What issues did that cause for you? You’re fairly well connected in the industry, so did it cause any issues for other shops?

Greg: I believe it’s actually Universal Distribution that bought the trademark, and that presented its own challenges. Previously, shops that belonged to the Comic Shop Locator Service (which I don’t think exists anymore) were automatically listed as participating stores. Now, it appears that if you don’t have an account with Universal, you’re not listed on the official site. When I looked, nobody even close to us was listed. With that, there were obviously no promotional materials. The only thing I got was a poster with the Penguin Random House titles on it, several of which were actually cancelled after it was printed. Another problem is that about half of the titles available weren’t listed on the FCBD website, due to PRH’s titles not bearing the logo. My hope is that next year, there’s a little more cooperation between the two distributors. I had a lot of people come in surprised that FCBD was even still around. They had thought that since Diamond’s demise, the day was done.

Tony: This also leads into something that’s frustrated a lot of fans: the chaos surrounding Carl. I’ve heard everything from controversy surrounding the image above, to a single customer wiping out the inventory, to stores telling customers that every copy has been given to their employees.

At the core, I feel like poor management is to blame on many levels. And that makes me wonder … I don’t think there’s any industry where it’s so common for a fan of the industry — without any business background or acumen — to just decide to start a small business within the industry. Why is that so common for comics?

Greg: That’s on the particular store. There’s no way one single customer should be allowed to take a stack of the same book. FCBD was created to promote books and thank customers, not to satisfy one or two spec buyers. And I don’t believe for a minute that employees took them all. The average shop has, what? Maybe 5 or 6 employees? Who ordered 6 copies of Carl? Those were kept, unstamped, and either sent in to get slabbed or put right up on eBay. 

As far as fans starting businesses, I think I know the issue there. Most people think that running a shop is easy and nothing but fun. I can’t count the number of times customers have said they’re jealous that I get to read comics all day, or get whatever books I want for free. The explanation may be that the hobby is fun. Being your own boss seems awesome. Doing whatever you want (or so they think) is a great way to spend a day. Most people don’t understand that it’s no different than any other business. There’s expenses, frustration, distribution problems, so on and so forth, just like any other business.

Tony: What can comics retailers do to essentially get better at running a business?

Greg: Learn about it first. Don’t jump in thinking life is going to be a party. Don’t get me wrong. I still love doing this, but that love is tempered by reality. Find out about running a small business. Talk to people and take advice. 

Tony: Is there anything you personally did over the course of your twenty-two years that you would say is essential to building that foundation needed to run a business?

Greg: Keep things separate. By that, I mean that everything in this store is here to be sold. I’m not attached to any of it. The merchandise I love and am connected to is at my house. There are a lot of shops I’ve been to that have books displayed and aren’t for sale. A store is not a museum. It’s a store. Period. Except for decorations, you can buy about anything in here.

Tony: I’m going to switch gears here, because the comics industry has trends without a doubt. An interesting one I’ve seen lately is with nostalgia. How important would you say nostalgia is to the American comic book industry?

Greg: Very much so. Nostalgia brings you back to maybe a more innocent time. Memory is important. Things people enjoyed when they were younger bring a certain comfort, maybe even an inner peace of a kind. 

Tony: Now, I think it’s basically been this way for the last twenty years. I remember the time that it was a big deal that He-Man, G.I. Joe and Transformers made a comeback between 2002 to 2005ish. But those three properties have basically remained in circulation since, whether in comics, TV or movies (or all the above).

What we’re seeing right now is nostalgia for more obscure properties — ranging from the Disney Afternoon properties like DuckTales and Gargoyles to really obscure cartoons like SilverHawks. Hell, even books like Mark Spears’ Monsters at Keenspot are at least partially driven by nostalgia — in that case, for Universal Monsters and ’80s horror.

What is differentiating the titles that are riding this wave successfully?

Greg: The quality of the creation of these books seems to be driving it a lot. They’re looking to bring in some top talent for a bunch of them. There is a certain amount of care going into them these days. Many of them are geared toward younger readers, too, which is a strangely untapped market. 

Tony: For those that are less successful, what is causing the issues for those books?

Greg: Cash grab, plain and simple. Thundercats has taken a major sales dive, at least at my store. At any given time, there are at least 3 different Thundercats titles on the shelf. Crossovers, one shots, mini series, etc. etc. I believe that if the core title was the only one, the sales would’ve stayed pretty consistent. As it is, it’s just too crowded.

Tony: Is there a particular property that is just sort of getting ignored that you would say is ripe for the picking?

Greg: I don’t know why DC isn’t doing anything with [Warner Brothers’] horror properties. They own Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street. They own Final Destination, Gremlins, and Evil Dead. All of those franchises are essentially licenses to print money. 

Tony: You know, it’s amazing how under-leveraged Gremlins is in general. So much potential there.

From the retailer perspective, what does a publisher need to do to make sure these stories are not just a fad that will crash sooner or later?

Greg: See above. Keep quality creators on them. Also, stick to release schedules and only put out 1, 2 at most, titles. Don’t flood the shelves. It’s never a good business decision to compete with your own product.

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.