Can a back-issue market survive without a new comic market?

[delekkerste]

I was talking at length with my local comic shop dealer yesterday about some of the topics we have been discussing on the Board here. He does a decent amount of business in new issues, back issues, TPBs and toys & other licensed merchandise. He says that last month was his worst month EVER in the comic business, even worse than any month in the early 1990s recession (which hit NYC harder than many other parts of the country).

 

He says he actually does more TPB business than anything else, BUT that NEW ISSUES are the only thing "saving his bacon" right now. The economy is slumping badly and people aren't as willing to buy the higher dollar items...but they do keep coming in every week to get their fix of 32-page pamphlets. I would wager this is the business position of the vast majority of comic shop owners out there. Chuck Rozanski, in his recent CBG articles on starting and operating a successful comic business, pretty much said as much as well, highlighting how precarious the business position is of so many dealers out there.

 

I also asked my local shop owner what his opinion was of the comic hobby going forward. He was very pessimistic. He said that hardly any kids shop at his store anymore. He says that kids see comics as being antiquated and that the movies coming out only serve to fuel videogame sales and perhaps television/cartoon viewership of the same character. He says that there is far too much new product coming to market, selling to an ever-shrinking audience and that any businessman knows this is a sure-fire prescription for long-term calamity.

 

He says that comics had always been a niche business, a "cottage industry" as he put it...only recently (last 10-15 years) has it become a big media business. He seems to think that comics will survive, whether in pamphlet or TPB form, in some fashion, but that the industry will retrench, so you will see fewer titles in the future to serve the shrinking number of readers and collectors.

 

Objectively speaking, I don't see where he's wrong.

 

Gene

[FlyingDonut]

The comic shop where I go (here's a plug - Pheonix Comics in Herndon, VA, a very good store, well lit, good selection, nice staff) is the "survivor" in Northern Virginia, the last store in the affluent western Fairfax County area. They've survived by 1) being smart business guys and 2) buying up all the OTHER stores carcasses.

 

In talking with them, they have told me repeatedly that they make their money on new issues, as the footprint for new issues is much smaller on a per dollar basis. They have a good back issue selection, and with the expansion of their store, a nice wall, but they make the majority of their $ on new books as the turn is much higher.

 

Whenever I go in there (and its mostly on Saturdays), there's ALWAYS kids there. I think that Gene's store's experience may be more based on the NYC economy than anything else. The economy in Northern Virginia has sagged, but it hasn't cratered, because there's always the federal government jobs here.

 

[dam60]

It's great that you see kids in the store - being from NYC also, I can definitely verify that there are hardly ever kids in the stores when I am there (and I too go on Saturdays).

 

I am too young to say this, but it might be a generational thing. I am part of the Big Brothers program here in NYC and my little brother LOVEs the Yu-gi-oh cards. He liked the Spider-Man movie, but wanted the video game and not any of the comics. I really believe that far fewer of the next generation are interested in comics as comics. Comics for the movies / video games / toys, yeah, sure, but not for the 32 page pamphlets.

 

 

[aardvark88]

32 pg Marvel Max titles with their new higher prices don't look that entertaining now that Diamond is distributing mags (like WWE, Maxim, Details, Premiere, Skateboarder) to all comic retailers.

[Kevin Boyd]

Gene's situation in NYC somewhat mirrors what we see in Toronto.

 

There are at least 6 comic shops that I visit on a regular basis, and I very RARELY see someone in these stores under the age of 18. I can't think of a single store that makes it's money solely from new issue sales. Most tend to cater to a target audience that is looking for something in particular.

 

The most successful store - the Silver Snail - makes it's money from being a (for lack of a better word) multi-media store... comics, action figures, books, statues, gaming, movie posters and so on are their focus. The SS is the place where celebrities will go when they are in town. It is the "ideal" of what an all-ages comic shop could be. They de-emphasize the back issue side of collecting in favor of the overall aesthetic of "geek" culture. I don't think they even do customer files any more.

 

Another reasonably successful store in Toronto is the Beguiling. It tends to play up the "artistic" side of sequential art, less on superheroes and more on independants and mature reader alternative books and european comics. You will rarely see a child in The Beguiling as they aren't old enough to buy what they are trying to sell.

 

My hang-out in TO - Paradise Comics does have kids coming through frequently TO BUY YU-GI-OH and POKEMON cards EXCLUSIVELY. The kids have no interest in comics and only a marginal interest in toys. If they do look at comics it is only at SIMPSONS/ARCHIE/SONIC/SCOOBY DOO, et al. Paradise is probably the best store in the city for gold/silver/bronze back issues.... the store focuses more on collecting and is the largest CGC dealer/agent in the area and is a big part of the business. Graphic novels have been an expanding area, while new issue sales are usually okay.

 

None of these stores seem to be in trouble... although there are a few smaller shops that I can't quite figure out how they DO stay in business as there are never any customers in their stores. They must rely on a constant group of regular customers to stay afloat.

 

Canada's economy is supposedly in an upsurge... and we have LOTS of government workers in the city.

 

Kev

 

 

 

 

[delekkerste]

Chuck Rozanski from the Jan. 17 CBG:

 

"On the surface, [the state of the comics industry] looks OK, as the graphs show that the dollar volume of product shipped during the past few years has been holding fairly steady, which is an enormous relief after the catastrophic declines from 1993 to 1999. It was during that dreadful seven-year period that we lost approximately 7,000 of the 10,000 comics retailers active in the business in 1992 to bankruptcy and voluntary liquidation.

 

"What the graphs do not clearly show, however, is the continuing steady erosion in unit sales of comics. It is fairly self-evident, however, that, if cover prices are rising steadily yet overall sales are not increasing, then unit sales must be going down. Making matters worse, in my opinion, is the fact that comics retailers keep closing up shop. Just last week I heard a rumor that the last direct-market comics store in Santa Fe, NM was closing. Santa Fe is not a large or populous market area, but there has been a comics shop in that town for more than 20 years. What is wrong with this picture?

 

"I don't present this grim news to depress you but, rather, as a wake-up call..."

[The_Man_Of_Steel]

Speaking from a pre-code horror view, yep, since the market hasn't been there for 45 years!

 

I see what you are saying, but what percentage of the ENTIRE comic book back issue market does pre-code horror books account for? Even though your introduction into the hobby may be different, I would think that the new comic book does help generate interest for pre-code horror books. Sometimes people start out collecting Super-Hero books, and then move on to collect books from other genres, but it was the NEW Super-Hero books that brought brought them into the hobby, where they latter learned about other genres that were a product of their time (like Romance books).

 

More and more, and I have felt this for over 25 years, the concept of a single comic book market simply does not exist. There will always be an oddball like me around!

 

But I don't think that there would be enough "oddballs" to keep the back issue market alive FOREVER, IMHO.

 

[The_Man_Of_Steel]

You raised an interesting question, and obviously something that several of us feel strongly about. In a sentence here is my take on the question: Yes, the back issue market could survive without a new comic market, but ONLY FOR A SHORT TERM. Looking at the LONG TERM, the back issue market would most likely go bankrupt because 1.) the older collectors buying back issues will pass away 2.) and without a new issue market there is nothing to generate interest for a new generation of readers/collectors/investors/speculators. When the demand is low, the supply is practically worthless. It's would be like trying to sell a Barbie video game to male gamers. IMHO, if the new comic market dies, then it's only a matter of time before the back issue market dies along with it.

[The_Man_Of_Steel]

Question though....do you think the present comic collecting/buying public will segment and shrink if no new comics are produced? There will be only a section of back issues buyers collecting Marvel for instance. Do you think that the supply will eventually meet demand (even high grade collectors) when the supply of new collectors shrinks as a result of no adventures of their "favorite" character being produced for them to start in the first place?

 

Bingo, you hit the nail on the head! Will there ever be enough demand to make the X-Men (2nd Series) issue 1 by Claremont/Lee worth more than the paper it's printed on? How many millions of copies of that book exist? Considering the high print runs for many popular titles from the 60's - 90's, I would say that if the new comic market died, then interest in the back issue market would die, and the books with excessive print runs would almost certainly become worthless (as in dollar value, not reader/collector value) and nearly impossible to sell.