Comic Genius

I love working in a bookstore. I don’t think I’ve mentioned yet that I’m working in a major retail book chain this summer, both as a way to keep boredom away and a way to have some income before the teaching starts in the fall. I’ve only been there for a few days (three to be exact) and I’ve decided that I love it. Tonight, the manager and I put together an end cap to remind people that The Dark Knight is coming out in a couple weeks.

We probably had a little too much fun looking through the Essential Batman Encyclopedia. But when you work in a bookstore, it’s important to familiarize yourself with what you’re selling. I also love the fact that my manager is a big comic book fan, because we can have conversations every so often in relation to comic books and what has been happening in some books lately.

At one point this evening, we were talking about the possibility of this chain to open something like a satellite store that specialized in comics. We don’t have a comic book store anywhere close to us right now. The closest one is 45 miles away, and with gas prices the way they are, it’s hard to stay current when you can only make one or two trips a month. Most comic shops seem to be independent to me, so I think that the chain could possibly use our site as a test to see if something like a comic specialty store with the chain’s name on it would fly in our area.

Even if a completely new store wasn’t created, it would be nice to see more of a selection in the store. Right now, there is one shelf for graphic novels while the manga has about eight times as much. I understand that manga is popular, but it is hard to sell something to customers when there isn’t much selection in the store. With more selection, as well as a bigger selection of monthly comics from a variety of different publishers, the chain could increase their sales and perhaps see the need arise for one of those lovely satellite/specialty stores that would help serve the comic book fans in my area better.

I know I’m probably preaching to the choir, and that the people who read this blog aren’t necessarily the people I need to talk to about a new type of comic shop. I guess my point is that comics need to become more accessible if they are going to gain any fans for the future. One of the ways this could happen is if some of the national chains took an interest in it and either expanded their selection or created a satellite/specialty store to cater to the fans in an area where there would be no other competition. Discuss.