A comics survey
Generally I don't bother with such things, but I followed a short chain of links from David Fiore's site to this survey from someone looking to develop a comics retail business, and, well, this is probably as driven by a desire to do something other than what I should be doing at the moment than anything else, and that's enough.
1. Do you tend to go to the nearest store, the best store, any store, or does it matter?
My primary comics buying is done online via Westfield. Aside from that, much depends on the available time and what I'm looking for. If it's to pick up something recent I missed ordering, I'll likely go to the closest store. None of the stores that I'm aware of in my area offer discounts, and those that may probably only do it for regular customers with a pull list. If I've recently been interested by a series that has more than an issue or two out (and that I don't want to wait for a collected edition) I might swing back to my old area, to a shop that tends to keep the past 6 or more issues of a series on the wall, behind the latest issue. Few things bother me more about a comics shop than those that immediately bag, board, and slap an inflated price sticker on a comic that's just a few months old.
Were I buying my comics weekly from a comics shop, it would have to have a pull list system, with a solid discount (at least 20%) on at least the pulled items.
2. Ladies, what books do you tend to purchase, or what kind would you like to purchase (if you are a male please leave blank or supply what a girlfriend reads)?
The only comics material my wife's read in the past few years have been self-contained items of a decidedly non-superheroic bent, such as Chester Brown's biographical Louis Riel.
3. What one thing would you add or change about your most frequented store (i.e. What is the worst thing about the store)?
I'm afraid this question isn't especially relevant to me these days.
4. What one thing would you not change (i.e. What is the best thing about the store)?
Again, I'm going to pass on this question. I'm simply not making sufficient use of any comics shop to have much of an opinion on this.
5. Do you read any small press comic books currently? Which one(s)? (examples: Lone Star Press, Avatar)
Phew. At the moment that's tough to say. I've been tending to wait until collected editions of most comics - mainstream or not - are put out. I'm watching to see if and when Paradigm continues with issue #13 (once presumably at Image, though now that seems less certain), and I try to note when a new issue of Runoff comes out. I keep meaning to dig into unfamiliar territory and look for something special, but I've so often come up with second tier talents and highly derivative material that it's been easy to put off.
6. What back issues do you buy?
I hardly do this ever anymore. I got into comics reading in the late 60's, and it soon became a passion. By the mid-70s I'd essentially filled in my Silver Age Marvel run (which was almost my exclusive focus at the time, and is still what's closest to my heart) and since then I've been more likely to pick up collected reprints of Golden Age material, or Silver Age DC, than buy individual back issues.
7. How do you decide what comic book to buy? Writer, artist, character, word of mouth, etc?
Depends on the situation. I'm proving myself a sucker once again with Marvel's stated re-emphasis on a shared universe via the upcoming Avengers arc by Bendis and all of the tie-ins, so there's some character loyalty still left in me - if I think I'm going to get the "real" characters, and not some distorted flavor of the month's take on them. I ordered into Astonishing X-Men largely because Joss Whedon's doing it, much as I picked up New X-Men (the first X-title I'd touched in a decade) when Grant Morrison came aboard, figuring that if there was something that needed a fresh perspective it had to be Marvel's mutants. Artists rarely are the central draw for me on a title, though they're undoubtedly a huge part of whether or not the material works for me and are undeniably part of the appeal. It's more likely that an objectionable artist will keep me away than a good one pull me in. (e.g. I won't pick up anything illustrated by Humberto Ramos.) As for word of mouth, it'll depend upon whose mouth is in motion.
8. Do you buy strictly current age comic books or do you buy older comic books? What kinds?
As for older comics, see above. As for new ones, well, Marvel (primarily) continues to tease my nostalgic attachments to various characters. Someday I'll learn better, perhaps. A variety of ABC (such as they still exist)and Vertigo (Lucifer and 100 Bullets, to name two quickly) titles are still of interest to me, though I generally wait for/gamble on collected editions.
9. How do you feel about graded comic books?
Especially if we're talking about "professionally graded" comics, sealed in plastic slabs, I've gotten no warmer to the idea than mere acceptance. It's an objectification of the comic as a commodity, and so is a perversion of what it was created to be. That said, most comics are available in other, less expensive forms for those who wish to actually read them, and speaking as someone who's sitting on a nice collection of Silver Age comics I must confess that the idea of slabbing some of them prior to selling them on eBay has started to appeal to me a few times. This is especially the case when I see how an officially-graded comic, particularly in higher grades, can command more than a few times the Overstreet value for that grade.
10. What comic book related merchandise do you buy?
At the moment... Heroclix are just about it.
11. What do you read if you are not reading comic books?
Whatever strikes my interest at the time. I'm more of a nonfiction reader by default, leaning towards Sci-tech and history, but I thread novels through that channel, too. I'm more inclined towards science fiction & fantasy, or at least something with that as a theme, when choosing fiction.
12. What do you buy at comic book conventions?
If I see something interesting being pedalled by someone in Artist's Alley, I try to spend my cash there. Sometimes the earnest hunger in their faces is too much to bear, and walking through the Alley can be like running an emotional gauntlet (especially with so many of them either poorly aping mainstream material or trying to sell something that should still be lurking in a fanzine), but I try to give it a serious look, as they've generally gone through a great deal of effort in getting that far.
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