Fantom Comics

Introducing... The Comics JourneyMan

When we got into the retail comic book business in 2005, there was always the underlying goal of expanding the market beyond the core demographic of folks who have continuously read comics since they first found them, which was likely when they were in elementary school or middle school or maybe even high school or college. And there is no doubt that by being conveniently located and providing above average customer service, we have successfully re-ignited the spark in many lapsed comic book readers.

But there is also no denying that the majority of the titles that Fantom sells fall into the "mainstream" category, which typically means lots of Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, X-Men, and whatever major "event" title is currently being produced by the Big 2 Publishers - Marvel and DC (currently we have Dark Reign from Marvel and Blackest Night from DC). The natural outcome of this trend is that when potential new customers wander into our shop, they will typically find that Fantom Comics abides by the 80/20 rule. This means that 80% of the titles on the rack are from the Big 4 Publishers - Marvel, DC, Image and Dark Horse - while the other 20% are from "Everyone Else". And the Big 2 tend to skew very heavily toward the "Heroes-in-Tights" category, something on the order of 90% of their books being super hero titles.

At an average of 60 new titles a week, this means that roughly 40 shelf slots are dedicated to super heroes, leaving only 20 shelf slots to every other genre imaginable. And since comics is such a malleable medium, nearly any type of story can be told in the form of comics, so there are a lot of different directions beyond super hero that comic book creators can (and do) take license with. But the overall sales numbers don't lie, and the publishers keep churning out the classic super hero characters to satisfy the core audience. And these economics translate down to the retailer, who is forced to limit exposure on books that do not have a clearly defined audience. This means that the ordering of those titles will be so thin (no more than 5 copies for the rack) that either a book is sold out before any critical mass of customers sees it, or the staff does not bother reading it because we didn't order enough copies to make it worth their while. That is not to say that nobody reads it, as existing customers who are interested in the book will pull the book as part of Fantom's Subscription Service (more on that service in future editions of this column). Plus there is the secondary market of Trade Paperbacks where a title gets a second life.

But the point of all this is that the "off the beaten path" books sell in far fewer numbers than those featuring Heroes-in-Tights. Not that there's anything wrong with super hero books (I certainly read 'em), but the challenge of raising the bar for what publishers and retailers view as "non-mainstream" titles remains. Looking at the 300 titles offered for sale in the month of October 2009, we can see the following:

Super Hero books: 182 titles offered, average sales ranking = 113
Non-Super Hero books: 118 titles offered, average sales ranking = 208

In fact, only 5 of the top 95 selling books are non-super hero books, with only Buffy the Vampire Slayer breaking the top 50. Sadly, 70 of the bottom 100 titles are non-super hero books.

My intent in writing this column is to fill a gap of sorts, to direct folks toward what they have been missing. Thus, The Comics JorneyMan (we will flesh him out more as a character in future editions as well). But the general idea is that the JourneyMan is a tour guide to what's coming up in the world of comics each and every week, typically the stuff that in theory has greater potential for mass appeal but is stuck in the vicious circle of the non-super hero world. The columns will focus on the books I have on my pull list (since those are the ones I am reading), the reasons I choose the titles that I choose, and also the books I wish I had on my pull list. As it matures, we will mix in various statistics on what sells and what doesn't sell, to see if we can demonstrate progress in raising the level of sales on the titles that are less popular according to industry sales statistics, but have the greater potential appeal to the broader target market.

I'm also writing this column because I believe the comic artform is a medium that holds vast potential for creatively communicating stories and ideas in any genre (see the Scott McCloud books for more on all of this, starting with Understanding Comics). So the column comes from the same place as the initial desire to start a company like Fantom Comics, and that is the fundamental question: "Why don't people read comics to the extent that comics could/should be read?"

Also, I welcome receiving comments back on these articles, so please post comments directly to the article.

And now on to... what to look forward to this week:

At Fantom Comics on 12/3/2009 [Note: New Comic Book Day ("NCBD") is delayed by 1 day due to last week's Thanksgiving holiday]

The Sword #20 (Image Comics)

So we are now 3 volumes deep into this one, having already seen Volume 1 - "Fire", Volume 2 - "Water", and Volume 3 - "Earth", and issue 20 will be the second issue of what will be the 4th and final volume. I have been reading The Sword from the beginning as The Luna Brothers of somewhere in Northern Virginia (not sure where) have made it onto my personal list of "Creators whom I will read any comic that they produce". Volume 4 is sure to be titled "Air". The Luna Brothers are at least partially responsible for getting me back interested in comics with their previous 24 issue sci-fi/slice of life story Girls, which debuted around the same time as Fantom Comics came into being. I've also ready their "Sex In The City" meets female superheroes chatting up their unique life issues over lunch and coffee in their previous book Ultra - 7 Days. Their art is very distinctive, and works well with the stories that they tell. The Sword tells the epic story of a young girl who comes into possession of an extremely powerful - you guessed it - sword that was created by 4 god-like beings that have lived for centuries upon centuries. If nothing else, the Luna Brothers know how to pull off the cliffhanger-in-comics format, with nearly every one of their monthly issues ending with a suspenseful full-page image that primes the reader for the next episode. It reads like a good weekly TV drama that keeps you coming back for more. What will be interesting to see is if the Luna Brothers can nail the ending of their 24 issue run on The Sword with a strong finish. Their wrap-up on Girls, which was a great read from issue 1 through 23, left something to be desired with the issue 24 finale.

Sweet Tooth #4 (DC Comics - Vertigo Imprint)

Four issues into Sweet Tooth I can report a nice pacing to this apocalyptic story with a twist. In this case it appears that the world as we know it has shut down by a sickness that has already killed off most everyone. The twist being that there is an immunity to the disease in some kind of new species that appears human but with some evident physical features of animals. So far we have the main character, Sweet Tooth (aka Gus) who has the ears and antlers of a deer, and now we have seen a woman who is either part rabbit or has chosen to wait out the apocalypse in her playboy bunny uniform. The pacing is spot-on for this type of story, which has characteristics of Stephen King's "The Stand", any number of zombie stories, and possibly the new film "The Road", based on the Cormac McCarthy book. For those interested in jumping on board with this story, I recommend that you start subscribing with issue #6 and purchase the trade when it comes out.

Things I wish I were reading.....

Pilot Season: Murderer #1 (Top Cow) - This is one of the vagaries of running a comic book store: the late shipping book. I have this one on my pull list as a bit of a flier, not having any idea what I am in for, but the idea sounds interesting enough to give it a try. Apparently Top Cow has been running this Pilot Season thing since 2007, and this will be the third year. The short story: 5 new characters get a one shot "pilot" (like they do with TV shows), and readers vote to determine which character gets a regular series from Top Cow. Turns out this book was originally supposed to be released on November 18, and I saw Comixology listing it for 12/3 until today, when it shows as a 12/9 book. Not sure if they are just bumping the date out by a week each time this title does not ship, but Top Cow is mum on the ship date. But the real reason I am curious to see it is because Robert Kirkman is the writer of all 5 pilots, and he's got one of the hottest non-super hero books around in The Walking Dead.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? # 6 (BOOM! Studios) - I am a huge Blade Runner fan, but have never read the Phillip K. Dick novel. I read issue #1 of this 24 issue series, and while I acknowledge that it was a bit wordy compared to the typical comic book, I love the idea of being able to read the full novel with an equal balance of pictures to complement the story. I also acknowledge that this is not for folks who have read the book, but more for fans of the film who have never read the book, but would like to read the book to see how far Ridley Scott diverged from Phillip Dick's original vision.

Cinderella From Fabletown With Love #2 (DC Comics - Vertigo Imprint) - I am so far behind on the flagship title Fables, that I am not ready to take on the spin-offs right now. But everything I have read in the Fables universe is great storytelling with mass appeal, and I love the idea that Cinderella is a spy among the Fables.

Empowered One Shot - I love books that poke fun at the super-hero genre, which is what I think this one is about. It looks like it's got a strong following building per its Comixology stats. Who knew there are already 5 trade paperback volumes of this title?

Terry Moore's Echo #17 - TM's other major work is Strangers In Paradise, a mass appeal title that was in stores well before Fantom Comics opened its doors, and thus we never really got to build up an audience with this great title. Fantom only ordered 8 of these, and most of these are likely already spoken for. Plus we are already 3 volumes deep in trade paperbacks on this one. I have this one on my backlist.

Looking ahead to the week of 12/9/09

Citizen Rex #6 of 6 (Dark Horse)
Daytripper #1 of 10 (DC Comics - Vertigo Imprint)
Pilot Season: Murderer #1 (Top Cow)
The Unwritten #8 (DC Comics - Vertigo Imprint)