Elsewhere: Completely Great, a Total Pain in the Ass, and Everything In-Between

Retailers Discuss a Year of Change in Comic Shops

Hey folks!

Today, I’m proud to point you over to David Harper’s wonderful website SKTCHD where he has a “retailer roundtable” of sorts talking about how 2023 landed for different stores. While most articles at SKTCHD are behind a paywall, this one is open for all to peruse. Also? I was lucky enough to take part in this year’s discussion.

The title of this year’s retailer wrap up is quite spot on, featuring the words of Eitan Manhoff (the owner of the Eisner Award winning Oakland’s Cape & Cowl Comics), who said “2023 was completely great, a total pain in the ass, and everything in-between.”

An older picture of two of the store’s interns, Max (left) and Jim (right)

It really wraps the 2023 comics retail experience in a single thought, but if you’re itching for more context, there’s a treasure trove awaiting you at the link provided above.

A little secret: when David prepares these types of articles, he has a batch of questions he wants some answers to - though the person answering can pick and choose which bits they want to engage with. A lot of this information doesn’t make it into the main article, but what does provides narrative and clarity to the year that only someone looking at the grind from an outside point can provide. I always appreciate Harper’s ability to find patterns and build connections from what are generally disparate points of circumstance, giving a more sober look at what has been than someone can find when they are stuck in the day to day.

That said, over the next couple of weeks, I’m going to provide a bit more of my personal circumstance regarding 2023 and what I think is on the way for 2024. Some are going to be prompted right from Harper’s questions, some won’t - but I figured the best way to really kick off the new year of content here would be to get a look at the year that was, and see how it might inform the year to come.

So. Read the article! Drink in the ambiance. Then come back here and drop your thoughts in the comments. I’d love to hear from folks outside of these trenches, especially when it comes from how this all looks from your vantage point.

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Content is cycling back up here at The Indirect Market, and the next couple of weeks in particular will be packed. I have a big ol’ list that I’m working through, so I thought I’d do that thing a lot of writers do and give you the vague framework or “project name” for what’s to come. Not all of these will make it to the site, but if you see a topic of interest, let me know so I can bump it up on the ol’ schedule.

• When is an event not an event

• More (and less) variants

• Publishers look at back 2023, and forward to 2024 (SKTCHD)

• Amazing Spider-Man is always “the worst it has ever been”, and why that isn’t true, and doesn’t matter.

• Vault provides retailers with first issues for free - how does this work?

• Building “counter programming”

• The Neal Adam Letter War with Retailers

• The Fernando Pessoa “society” and the building of shared universes.

• Comic shops closing/in trouble

• Is it good? Can you sell it?

• The Void Rivals/Energon Universe marketing

• The Radiant Black story split

• The results of Knight Terrors

• The Parking Lot Reader

• The Case for Pull Files

• The Case for Firing Customers

• “Nothing Personal”: when a customer moves on

• The return of the Ultimate line, and the thing about the Spider-Marriage

• DC’s Compact Graphic Novel line up, and other ideas from France

• The marketing and reality of Bad Idea

• Comics conspiracy and Alex Jones

• The Man who Killed Frank Frazetta

• Ghost in the Machine

That’s going to wrap things up for today. You will see me back here this week with more than a link other bits and bobs.

Talk with you soon.

-B.

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Brandon Schatz is the co-owner of Variant Edition Graphic Novels + Comics, located in Edmonton, Alberta. They once won an award for being the best comic shop in the whole of Canada, which was nice.