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Zebra · 11-28-2002, 04:40 AM

I have had 2 comic book stores in the last 10 years. Before I closed my last store last year I had over a million comics. Did a lot of buying and selling thru Comic Buyers Guide and other comic magazines. Once Ebay became popular things got wild and I had to decide on doing either comics or adult full-time. Adult was making me much more money so it won over comics. Have a 9 year year old son who was heart-broken when I closed the store. He made me promise that one day I would open another so that he could work there. Maybe sometime in the future when I have made my money from adult I will get back into comics again. I have organized several comic book conventions in the last 10 years and met pretty much everyone in the industry. The walls of my computer room are covered in original comic book art. Have commissioned art and original pages from Tim Sale (Superman: Man for all seasons page), Stan Sakai (Usagi Yojimbo), Jeff Smith (Bone), Ray Lago (Little Annie Fanny), Chris Moeller (Cover to Interview With the Vampire #11 and Cover to Star Wars: Devilworlds #2), Dan Brereton (huge Vampirella painting), Terry Moore (Strangers In Paradise), Evan Dorkin (hilarious Milk and Cheese painting), Dave Dorman (Luke Skywalker and Judge Dredd pieces), Adam Hughes (bad girl art), Erik Larsen (Savage Dragon piece), Don Maitz (awesome Pirate painting), Frank Cho (more bad girl art), Bernie Wrightson (Swamp thing and various monster pieces), Joe Simon (Captain America), William Stout (cool dinosaur), Dave Stevens (Rocketeer), and my favorite piece, the original origin page for Hellboy by Mike Mignola (bought it from him years ago and everytime I see him he wants me to sell it back lol). Got more signed comic books than I can count. Have tons of Star Wars figures signed by the actors. Signed Star Wars posters, statues, lunchboxes, etc.. Still collect about 20 titles a month. When I had my store I read about 100 titles a month. Have read most runs of the major titles.. Spider-man, X-men, Fantastic 4, Batman, Superman, and pretty much everything from 1980 on.

Funny how people laugh about comic books and when you tell them you read them they say "isn't that for kids?", but think of how much pop culture has come from comics. Spider-Man the movie.. nobody laughing about that. Made over half a BILLION worldwide this year. Men In Black, The Mask, Smallville, Batman, Superman, X-men, Daredevil, The Hulk, Road to Perdition (which will probably get a few Oscar nods), Hellboy, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (which Sean Connery in the lead), Justice League on CartoonNetwork, Blade, Ghost World, From Hell, WitchBlade, The Crow, Heavy Metal, the list goes on and on and on. Comics are a much cheaper medium for storytelling than TV or Film and Hollywood has realized that. I bet there are Hollywood suits who get all the new comics delivered to their door so that they can look for promising books to film. I had a friend that had New Line Cinema pay him $750k for a 5 year option for his comic book. They went 5 years and never got it made. He used the money to self-publish several other comics (and several of them are now being optioned). Yeah, comics are just for kids... too bad kids can't afford them any longer. 20 years ago tons of kids read comics. Today getting most kids to read ANYTHING is a chore. Pretty sad commentary on our society. Maybe all the comic movies coming out lately will help get kids interested again. Would be nice to see kids walking around with a comic rolled up in their back pocket. When the focus on comics changed from reading to collecting that really fucked the industry. All the gimmick covers and storylines from the late 80's/early 90's made some decent short-term money but left the industry with a bleak future. There are less than 10% as many comic shops today compared to what there were in 1990. Yet comic related properties are more popular today than ever. Hopefully things will turn around and comics will be popular again. Closing my store meant I have to drive 20 miles to the nearest comic shop. I remember when I was a kid there were several just within walking distance. Ah, the good ol' days..

11-28-2002, 04:40 AM
Zebra Banned from Kimmy's couch Industry Role: Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Down at Fraggle Rock Posts: 5,091	I have had 2 comic book stores in the last 10 years. Before I closed my last store last year I had over a million comics. Did a lot of buying and selling thru Comic Buyers Guide and other comic magazines. Once Ebay became popular things got wild and I had to decide on doing either comics or adult full-time. Adult was making me much more money so it won over comics. Have a 9 year year old son who was heart-broken when I closed the store. He made me promise that one day I would open another so that he could work there. Maybe sometime in the future when I have made my money from adult I will get back into comics again. I have organized several comic book conventions in the last 10 years and met pretty much everyone in the industry. The walls of my computer room are covered in original comic book art. Have commissioned art and original pages from Tim Sale (Superman: Man for all seasons page), Stan Sakai (Usagi Yojimbo), Jeff Smith (Bone), Ray Lago (Little Annie Fanny), Chris Moeller (Cover to Interview With the Vampire #11 and Cover to Star Wars: Devilworlds #2), Dan Brereton (huge Vampirella painting), Terry Moore (Strangers In Paradise), Evan Dorkin (hilarious Milk and Cheese painting), Dave Dorman (Luke Skywalker and Judge Dredd pieces), Adam Hughes (bad girl art), Erik Larsen (Savage Dragon piece), Don Maitz (awesome Pirate painting), Frank Cho (more bad girl art), Bernie Wrightson (Swamp thing and various monster pieces), Joe Simon (Captain America), William Stout (cool dinosaur), Dave Stevens (Rocketeer), and my favorite piece, the original origin page for Hellboy by Mike Mignola (bought it from him years ago and everytime I see him he wants me to sell it back lol). Got more signed comic books than I can count. Have tons of Star Wars figures signed by the actors. Signed Star Wars posters, statues, lunchboxes, etc.. Still collect about 20 titles a month. When I had my store I read about 100 titles a month. Have read most runs of the major titles.. Spider-man, X-men, Fantastic 4, Batman, Superman, and pretty much everything from 1980 on. Funny how people laugh about comic books and when you tell them you read them they say "isn't that for kids?", but think of how much pop culture has come from comics. Spider-Man the movie.. nobody laughing about that. Made over half a BILLION worldwide this year. Men In Black, The Mask, Smallville, Batman, Superman, X-men, Daredevil, The Hulk, Road to Perdition (which will probably get a few Oscar nods), Hellboy, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (which Sean Connery in the lead), Justice League on CartoonNetwork, Blade, Ghost World, From Hell, WitchBlade, The Crow, Heavy Metal, the list goes on and on and on. Comics are a much cheaper medium for storytelling than TV or Film and Hollywood has realized that. I bet there are Hollywood suits who get all the new comics delivered to their door so that they can look for promising books to film. I had a friend that had New Line Cinema pay him $750k for a 5 year option for his comic book. They went 5 years and never got it made. He used the money to self-publish several other comics (and several of them are now being optioned). Yeah, comics are just for kids... too bad kids can't afford them any longer. 20 years ago tons of kids read comics. Today getting most kids to read ANYTHING is a chore. Pretty sad commentary on our society. Maybe all the comic movies coming out lately will help get kids interested again. Would be nice to see kids walking around with a comic rolled up in their back pocket. When the focus on comics changed from reading to collecting that really fucked the industry. All the gimmick covers and storylines from the late 80's/early 90's made some decent short-term money but left the industry with a bleak future. There are less than 10% as many comic shops today compared to what there were in 1990. Yet comic related properties are more popular today than ever. Hopefully things will turn around and comics will be popular again. Closing my store meant I have to drive 20 miles to the nearest comic shop. I remember when I was a kid there were several just within walking distance. Ah, the good ol' days.. __________________ Old School