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[The Bass]

I would agree continuity is a problem as it scares away new readers

If they're not intelligent to buy the preceding trade, or look up the character on wikipedia, than f--k them. I'm not a babysitter in the shop, and I'm certainly not a history teacher.

Kid comes into the shop and loudly - asks who the Red Hulk is. I'm paraphrasing a little - but this is the basic convo

Kid: So, who's the Red Hulk
-Actually Busy Dave: It's part of the story, they haven't said yet.
Kid: But you know, don't you, I mean if you work here, you know
-Busy with actual customer Dave: No, I don't, actually - I have my suspicions, but, thats all they are...
-Other customer who is actually buying something: You said it was Betty Ross
-Me: I said it was Jeph Loeb, it didn't have to make sense.
-Kid who is still here: So why don't they tell you who it is
-Mildly irritated Dave: Because its one of the standards of fiction: They've set up a mystery, and are keeping people in suspense until they choose to reveal it.
-Kid actually picks up Red Hulk ~2 and puts it on the counter: How much is this then?
-Pleased to be actually working Dave" Five Euro ten, thanks.
-Kid: A fiver? for that....f--k off, i'm not paying a fiver for that.

Kid goes off, and presumably agrees to spend seventy quid on some videogame he'll be done with in a week, while i spend 10 minutes of my life rearranging the comics he decided to pick up off the shelf and put back anywhere he felt like.

[Rockman]

I would agree continuity is a problem as it scares away new readers

If they're not intelligent to buy the preceding trade, or look up the character on wikipedia, than f--k them. I'm not a babysitter in the shop, and I'm certainly not a history teacher.

Kid comes into the shop and loudly - asks who the Red Hulk is. I'm paraphrasing a little - but this is the basic convo

Kid: So, who's the Red Hulk
-Actually Busy Dave: It's part of the story, they haven't said yet.
Kid: But you know, don't you, I mean if you work here, you know
-Busy with actual customer Dave: No, I don't, actually - I have my suspicions, but, thats all they are...
-Other customer who is actually buying something: You said it was Betty Ross
-Me: I said it was Jeph Loeb, it didn't have to make sense.
-Kid who is still here: So why don't they tell you who it is
-Mildly irritated Dave: Because its one of the standards of fiction: They've set up a mystery, and are keeping people in suspense until they choose to reveal it.
-Kid actually picks up Red Hulk ~2 and puts it on the counter: How much is this then?
-Pleased to be actually working Dave" Five Euro ten, thanks.
-Kid: A fiver? for that....f--k off, i'm not paying a fiver for that.

Kid goes off, and presumably agrees to spend seventy quid on some videogame he'll be done with in a week, while i spend 10 minutes of my life rearranging the comics he decided to pick up off the shelf and put back anywhere he felt like.

It takes you minutes to put a comic book back Just messing

Seriously though, continuity is a huge deal in comics and it bogs a lot of stuff down. If you expect me to remember something from 20 years ago to read a comic book today I think it is a little silly. Certain things about a character should be referenced, but I should not care that Spider-man fought vulture to a standstill in 1982 with a broken arm, it really is not that important and it should not bog down a comic book.

[LobsterJ]

I would agree continuity is a problem as it scares away new readers

If they're not intelligent to buy the preceding trade, or look up the character on wikipedia, than f--k them. I'm not a babysitter in the shop, and I'm certainly not a history teacher.

Kid comes into the shop and loudly - asks who the Red Hulk is. I'm paraphrasing a little - but this is the basic convo

Kid: So, who's the Red Hulk
-Actually Busy Dave: It's part of the story, they haven't said yet.
Kid: But you know, don't you, I mean if you work here, you know
-Busy with actual customer Dave: No, I don't, actually - I have my suspicions, but, thats all they are...
-Other customer who is actually buying something: You said it was Betty Ross
-Me: I said it was Jeph Loeb, it didn't have to make sense.
-Kid who is still here: So why don't they tell you who it is
-Mildly irritated Dave: Because its one of the standards of fiction: They've set up a mystery, and are keeping people in suspense until they choose to reveal it.
-Kid actually picks up Red Hulk ~2 and puts it on the counter: How much is this then?
-Pleased to be actually working Dave" Five Euro ten, thanks.
-Kid: A fiver? for that....f--k off, i'm not paying a fiver for that.

Kid goes off, and presumably agrees to spend seventy quid on some videogame he'll be done with in a week, while i spend 10 minutes of my life rearranging the comics he decided to pick up off the shelf and put back anywhere he felt like.

i guarantee that video game provides a better entertainment value than the loeb comics when you factor cost vs. the time it takes to "consume" it.

[thefourthman]

not made for kids, but appropriate for kids. Books that would appeal to everyone still reading comics, but would also appeal to the average 13 year old

No, but, sorry - of all the bullshit in Kirkman's idiot manifesto, this is the bit that sticks out as downright lies. There's no such thing as "books note made for kids, but appropriate for kids".

A book for kids is Tiny Titans, ok. Marvel Superhero Squad. Now, don't get me wrong, I actually like Tiny Titans (way more than the ACTUAL Titans book, but, there's no way that I'd want to see DC cancel Titans in favour of Tiny Titans - and this is EXACTLY what Kirkman believes in.

Furthermore - this is coming from the writer of Invincible, a "superhero" book we have to put in a mature readers bag.

Second of all - mass cancelling of books will not see millions of teenagers suddenly buying comics. As I have, unfortunatly, seen during half term - kids dont give a shit about comics - They care about idiotic violent video games. Personally - I hate videogames, so I'm probably a little biased, but all I saw was brat after brat wander into the store, gawking at the Gears of War/Prototype figures, and the Modern Warfare Ghost comic, and then leave, without, you know, BUYING ANYTHING. The ones who wanted to buy it refused to pay 5.10 for it, but spending seventy quid on some idiot game is ok? The mind boggles

kids will buy comics, they do all the time.

There is such a thing as a truly all ages book - Bone for example does not speak down to kids and adults enjoy it as well. For years and years Spider-man was a book first and foremost for kids and we all wish for the old golden days of the book to come back.

Also, and this is from experience, almost every shop I talk to that does well with kids books has dedicated kids sections. HEre at my shop we have a kids section that probably takes up less than a 2 percent of my floor space and accounts for 10% of the sales of the shop and I only ring up a kids sale when it is actually to a you know, kid... being kid friendly is the key to getting them in the shop... also knowing where to send them next.

Yeah Invincible is bloody, but there is no foul language, no sex, etc.... I don't think I have ever had a complaint that it was a mature book, yet you guys bag it in a Mature Reader bad, cutting off its legs... hopefully you have Nemesis in one and you damn well should have had McKeever's Teen Titans in one. But whatever.

You are always gonna have looky loos, that's just the nature of retail.

Not to mention the fact that Kirkman never even once mentions cancelling books.

[The Bass]

Well, dude, the presumed next Editor in Chief of Marvel Comics once said "continuity shouldn't get in the way of a good story". And God knows I've enjoyed the X-Men books way more since he took over...

[Rockman]

Well, dude, the presumed next Editor in Chief of Marvel Comics once said "continuity shouldn't get in the way of a good story". And God knows I've enjoyed the X-Men books way more since he took over...

who are you talking about?

[The Bass]

hopefully you have Nemesis in one and you damn well should have had McKeever's Teen Titans in one. But whatever.

We do have Nemesis in a bag, as it happens. Personally I'm in favour of bagging tons of stuff in the shop, but I'm the only one. On my holiday to Toronto last year, I was in this terrific store on new comics day, and the staff were bagging all the trades that came in through Diamond. I wish we did that. We bag up expensive books, and mature stuff, and we have signs up saying "Please dont open the bags", and people stuff do it, it's infuriating.

who are you talking about?

Axel Alonso

[thefourthman]

I would agree continuity is a problem as it scares away new readers

If they're not intelligent to buy the preceding trade, or look up the character on wikipedia, than f--k them. I'm not a babysitter in the shop, and I'm certainly not a history teacher.

Kid comes into the shop and loudly - asks who the Red Hulk is. I'm paraphrasing a little - but this is the basic convo

Kid: So, who's the Red Hulk
-Actually Busy Dave: It's part of the story, they haven't said yet.
Kid: But you know, don't you, I mean if you work here, you know
-Busy with actual customer Dave: No, I don't, actually - I have my suspicions, but, thats all they are...
-Other customer who is actually buying something: You said it was Betty Ross
-Me: I said it was Jeph Loeb, it didn't have to make sense.
-Kid who is still here: So why don't they tell you who it is
-Mildly irritated Dave: Because its one of the standards of fiction: They've set up a mystery, and are keeping people in suspense until they choose to reveal it.
-Kid actually picks up Red Hulk ~2 and puts it on the counter: How much is this then?
-Pleased to be actually working Dave" Five Euro ten, thanks.
-Kid: A fiver? for that....f--k off, i'm not paying a fiver for that.

Kid goes off, and presumably agrees to spend seventy quid on some videogame he'll be done with in a week, while i spend 10 minutes of my life rearranging the comics he decided to pick up off the shelf and put back anywhere he felt like.

wow, this is full of all kinds of nuggets.
I've told all kinds of crazy customer stories, but I've never gotten irritated at a kid for asking questions... hell they don't irritate me when they start repeating shit.

When the shop is full and busy and a kid comes to the counter while I am in the middle of ringing someone up or otherwise engaged, I will stop, excuse myself from what I am doing and take the kid to where the answer is. being flippant with the kid isn't even remotely helpful.

Next, kid can buy a video game and play it for a week for $50 bucks here... he logs at least twenty hours on the game that is what 2.5 dollars an hour for his entertainment... kid buys a marvel comic for $3.99, ten minutes later he is back to playing his game... which one seems like a bigger waste of money.

And then the whopper. YOU WORK IN A COMIC SHOP, it is your JOB to tell customers where a good starting point is. I've started many a thread asking for help when I couldn't answer a question or get the question readily. If they are asking who obscure x-men b is and what books he appears in, that's one thing, but if he is asking what he needs to know to read New Avengers #623, that's a whole another ball of wax and yet another example of you leaving money on the sales floor. You are supposed to be the keeper of the knowledge, the lord of the castle, a librarian. If you aren't THEN YOU ARE IN THE WRONG BUSINESS!!!

[habitual]

OK that clinches it.

Who the fuck goes to on a vacation to Toronto

Hab

[Rockman]

Fourthy sounds like a nerdy comic book guy. The guys at my shop do not even read comic books, they are nice people will order whatever I ask them, but I do not engage in conversations about comic books with them, they really do not care. They do like movies though and I have had a couple of conversations about movies with them.

[thefourthman]

hopefully you have Nemesis in one and you damn well should have had McKeever's Teen Titans in one. But whatever.

We do have Nemesis in a bag, as it happens. Personally I'm in favour of bagging tons of stuff in the shop, but I'm the only one. On my holiday to Toronto last year, I was in this terrific store on new comics day, and the staff were bagging all the trades that came in through Diamond. I wish we did that. We bag up expensive books, and mature stuff, and we have signs up saying "Please dont open the bags", and people stuff do it, it's infuriating.

who are you talking about?

Axel Alonso

We bag all our comics, not trades, that's insane. The only reason we bag the comics is because the shelves are horrible on comics. We sell through twice as many copies since we have implemented this. However, we still let people open the bags and look at the comics. The bags are just there to protect them from the shelves, not to keep people from having knowledge about what it is they are buying.

[Cat-Scratch]

OK that clinches it.

Who the fuck goes to on a vacation to Toronto

Hab

[GOSD]

This guy is clearly a clown and arguing with him when his opinions clearly get in the way of facts is pointless.

I consider him to be MOTA-lite and will continue to laugh at his hilarious jabs at Kirkman.

"Invincible is shit..."

[thefourthman]

Fourthy sounds like a nerdy comic book guy. The guys at my shop do not even read comic books, they are nice people will order whatever I ask them, but I do not engage in conversations about comic books with them, they really do not care. They do like movies though and I have had a couple of conversations about movies with them.

All of us are at Ultimate, we know a lot about comics and it makes us better salesmen. Special Ordering is nice, but how do I get your money before you leave? Also, a lot of people won't bother to order something, they just expect you to have it and if you don't that's what the internet is for.

[Cat-Scratch]

hopefully you have Nemesis in one and you damn well should have had McKeever's Teen Titans in one. But whatever.

We do have Nemesis in a bag, as it happens. Personally I'm in favour of bagging tons of stuff in the shop, but I'm the only one. On my holiday to Toronto last year, I was in this terrific store on new comics day, and the staff were bagging all the trades that came in through Diamond. I wish we did that. We bag up expensive books, and mature stuff, and we have signs up saying "Please dont open the bags", and people stuff do it, it's infuriating.

who are you talking about?

Axel Alonso

Which shop?