Battlemouth

It’s a place where you can talk with like minded individuals about things that matter, will the Sentry kill Osborn, is Delgado really looking out for the best interests of the people of the DMZ, do people really buy Blue Water books? Perhaps Rivers Cuomo wasn’t completely right, there are more places that we can feel safe besides “in the garage”…A good comic book shop has a balance of great selection and friendly operators that you know like all the same stuff you do; or at least know enough about the books they sell to carry on an informed conversations. When I go to pick up my comic books every Wednesday, it is never merely a stop-by-the-shop (a fact I constantly must remind my wife). It is a truly epic undertaking, the result of which is usually evidenced by the extra books not normally found on my pull list (probably something Blackest Night related…I keep an open mind) and the red face from arguing that Marvel and DC need to just team up for the better of all humanity. It is by far, my favorite day of the week.

As much as we love our local comic book shops, it is easy to forget that these places are still, first and foremost, a business. As such, they are effected by the ups and downs that accompany such an endeavor in an ever-changing consumer based economy. The question then, is just how much the small guy, in the comic book industry, is effected when the economy puts on the brakes. This was the topic of one of many discussions I have had with some of the my local comic book shop owners. The town I live in is a reasonably sized town, with Purdue University bringing in a balanced age group each year to round out our conservative blue-collar base. Thanks in no small part to the large number of middle aged to younger individuals populating this town, we have the benefit of 3 fine establishments from which we might purchase comic books and the like. All three have been staples of the town for more than a decade.

Firstly there is Castle Comics, in a more run down part of town, that focuses equally on table top gaming as much as they do comic books. Castle is run by an incredibly friendly, if not difficult to understand elderly Asian gal and her daughter, that know more about World of Darkness than they do most comic books. While the knowledge might not be there, the service is. These gals might not know anything about Old Man Logan but they will dig through their entire stock for you, just to make sure they don’t have what you are looking for. Castle is great for looking for older, harder to find books, however you pay for the selection with their prices.

Next up is the campus comic book shop and hipster hang-out. Vons has been a staple in town for years and years. It stretches to encompass three different stores, a book store, a bead and jewelry store, and the comics and records store. This is the shop that my hetero-life-mate Phil works at. Vons has a reputation for lacking in customer service…and selection. Mainly it is a place for kids to go that either don’t know about the other shops, or just like to be able to say that they frequent a comic book shop. Don’t get me wrong, they still stock quite a bit of quality books that the other stores don’t get thanks to their supreme buying powers. However, you must deal with the angry associates and the high prices.

Lastly is my shop…Blue Moon Strikes Back. In addition to have the far superior name, Blue Moon was opened by comic book and to this day is run by some of the most dedicated comic book fans you will meet. In addition to having a fantastic selection of trades, back issues, and new books, Blue Moon also frequently gets their hands on a plethora of those old comic book television shows and movies that you may or may not remember from your childhood. Before he was Mayor West…he was Batman you know…
On top of that they sell all their trades, by one get one half off. There is no way you can compete with that, Mike Mignola’s Hellboy Hardbacks Volume 1 AND 2 for only 50 bucks? And if you prefer issues to trades, Joe will scavenge high and low to find you that issue you are missing and get it into your hands. As Geoff and Joe are more friendly and talkative about their likes and dislikes, and the state of things in general, I sat down with them to talk a little about owning a comic book shop, and how they came to be. I hope you enjoy their words of wisdom, if you find yourself floating through Indiana some day, make sure to stop by.

Aaron- Alright gents, where are you both from?-

Joe- I grew up in Royal Center, IN. Born in San Antonio TX
Geoff- I grew up in the big town of Linden (15 miles south of Lafayette, Indiana).

Aaron- What were the circumstances surrounding your introductions to comics? And when did this evolve into an idea of opening your own shop?

Joe- I first remember reading old Fantastic Four comics at my best friends house. I then spent my summers mowing my grandmother’s lawn and then spending all of the money on buying comics at Hook’s Drugs off the old spinner racks.
Geoff- The first comics I really remember was a friends copy of a GI Joe, then we picked up a box of random comics at a yard sale or something that had everything from archie,beetle bailey to batman,spider-man. My first collecting began with the Transformers and GI Joe at a little drug store spinner rack in Linden, then buying them from Payless here Lafayette later. Then a friend took me to Earl Plaza books which is where Blue Moon got it’s start before becoming it’s own seperate store in the early 90’s. After shopping and hanging out there through it’s multiple moves, I started helping out on Wednesdays for credit. When they moved back into the book store I took over doing subscription pulls and shelves. Then they moved to our current location, changed owners, then when they were going to sell or close, Joe and I bought it in 2001. Of course you always think “Wouldn’t it be cool to own your own store?” but never really intended to have one, lol!

Aaron- I can only imagine how much fun owning a shop could be at times. Forgetting for a moment that you each have pretty much whatever books you want at your finger tips all the time… what books would be on the tops of your subscription lists these days?

Joe- I’m pretty much a die hard Marvel guy- anything Avengers, Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Fantastic Four, and the like. Some DC, anything related to The Teen Titans. I will also read the occasional nonsuper-hero stuff like Fables and some of the Vertigo titles.
Geoff- I tend to stick with books that aren’t mired in whatever crossover is going on or just with something interesting.
Punisher Max
Daredevil
X-Factor
Madame Xanadu
Anything Sandman related
Otherwise I follow Artists/Writers more than companies or characters

Aaron- When the two of you purchased the store, what kind of goals did you set to change things up for the shop and how do you feel you have done so far?

Geoff- Our main goal was to keep it open, lol! We also wanted to make it the kind of store people wanted to come in and feel like they could hang-out,talk comics, and feel like they mattered as more than just a sale. Hopefully we’ve managed to convey that to our clients.
Joe- There were a few things we wanted to accomplish. 1st and foremost we wanted to make sure that our customers were 100% satisfied with our service. I think that we work very hard to accomplish that. At the present one of our goals is to give Lafayette a top notch Comic related convention. Everyday I am working at putting that together.

Aaron- With two other stores within a 10 mile radius, competition is obviously an issue. Clearly I have my own answers to this one, but If I were new to the area, what would make me chose Blue Moon Strikes Back over the other guys?

Geoff- Even though the other store carry comics, we feel they have a different feel. Castle is more focused on gaming and Von’s has convenience of being on campus but we have always heard from customers that the atmosphere of those stores was not as inviting/helpful as ours. Having to deal with kids running around screaming about Pokemon or whatever and the aloof/rude employees on the west side have made us a better choice.
Joe- I think this can be answered by our goals stated in question #4, our customer service. I don’t want to sound arrogant;but I think, hands down, we offer better service and work harder for our customers then our competitors. We hear this alot from our customers. I’m not saying the other stores don’t have anything to offer. If you’re into gaming and cards, or if you live on campus you might want to go to the other stores. If we’re strictly speaking comics then you’ll come to us. I don’t want to sound like I’m taking a cheap shot at the others; but a few years ago I was approached by one of the other owners, speaking for both competitors. They wanted us to lower our discount rates from 15% to 10% and stop giving our free bags and boards. Geoff and I both agreed “no way”, if it wasn’t for this recession I feel confident saying that our discount rate would be either 18% or 20%.

Aaron- The big, obvious question. Has the economic trouble in the country made a visible impact on the customer flow?

Joe- We lost some customers but we also gained a few. Unfortunately we see a decrease in the number of books that they buy.
Geoff- Being a hobby market it always fluctuates but it has impacted it. Some customers had to cut back or stop do to lost jobs.

Aaron- When you put in your order with the distributors, are you seeing any increased discounts or price breaks to help combat the possibility of slow sales due to the economy?

Joe- Our discount rates set by our distributors are set by the number of issues that we order. I think they use the previous 1 or 2 years to determine this. So I keep waiting for your discount rate to drop a few points soon.
Geoff- No, our distributors haven’t really changed in discount/pricing but there are helpful in payments option,etc if times are slow.

Aaron- How do you feel about the price increases that are being spread around by some different publishers? (As a consumer or business owner.) Are these increases being given to you as a retailer as well?

Joe- The increases suck to be blunt. We pay a certain percentage per book around 50% a title, so we also see the increase in our billing. So because we are selling less books, we make less on our bottom line. I honestly don’t understand what the hell Marvel or DC are thinking when they raised the prices in this economy. If you have read the notes from Marvel’s stockholders meeting the only answer you can come up with are pure greed. Simple economics would so you that a lower price would sell more books and bring in my readers for some of their less selling titles.
Geoff- I understand that everything goes up but not all price increases have been warranted. Marvel overprints titles and gets rid of solid titles because they don’t do X-Men numbers. They bump up prices for bigger issues and pad the books with more ads and reprint material. Most of the other companies seem to more reasonable but even DC has had a few moments of stupidity. Anytime the price goes up our cost goes up and usually that has a better chance of someone not buying a book.

So In short, it seems that no one can truly escape the clutches of a failed financial system. Comic book shops don’t sell high dollar items; it can truly be a perilous road for them.. Don’t rip them off, not to mention the creators of these books. In truth as much as I love my friends at Blue Moon, I still throw some business to the other shops in town every once in a while just to help support the cause. One might ask why company’s like Marvel and DC feel it is ok to bait their loyal customer base with unnecessary spin-offs but like I said before…when it comes down to it, this is a business…it’s all about the Benjamins. As long as we keep buying Pet Avengers, Marvel will keep making it. As for price increases, that is just to be expected I suppose. Inflation, stagnation…good little consumers just bit the bullet and buy their comics no matter the price change. At least with the invasion of the eComic perhaps we will see a return to the .99 cent issue, if only for a while…granted you must first purchase a 300 dollar device to read it with…but hey…it’s the United States…get used to it. Nothing changes until the Zombies Invade.