Tagged: Free Comic Book Day

Survey: How much of a discount are you getting for your comics?

Survey: How much of a discount are you getting for your comics?

This question was prompted by:

  • Free Comic Book Day, where a whole lot of comics were handed out at a 100% discount, and;
  • this comment from Vinnie Bartilucci about a firm being “the last chain in the history of the world to try and get list price for almost their entire catalog.  I despise them.”

So it got us to thinking– what are people actually paying for comics nowaday? Not how much are they consuming, we have decent numbers about that– but at what discount? That may give us a better idea as to what sort of margin stores are working on nowadays, and how comic readers are behaving.

So please, take a minute and
click here to take the survey
. We’ll post the results shortly.


online surveys

Free Comic Book Day…?

Free Comic Book Day…?

But at ComicMix, every day is Free Comic Book Day! Go and read them if you don’t believe me, the links are all in the sidebar. And there are bunches of webcomics you should be reading that are free every day…

Nevertheless, it is an annual rarity for stores to be handing out free comics and so attention must be paid. http://www.freecomicbookday.com has all the details, including a list of all the comics and the signings.

If you need to find a comic book store, call 888-COMIC-BOOK, go to comicshoplocator.com, or download the iPhone app.

And hey, FCBD even has a comercial this year!

ComicMix Radio: Free Comic Book Day Draws Thousands

ComicMix Radio: Free Comic Book Day Draws Thousands

Take two million free comics and a planet full of hungry fans, and you get the industry’s biggest one-day event. We cover it all from coast-to-coast!

Press the button for your Free Comic Book Day report, here on ComicMix Radio

 

 

And remember, you can always subscribe to ComicMix Radio podcasts via iTunes - ComicMix or RSS!

ComicMix Radio Extra: Welcome to Free Comic Book Day 2008!

The doors are about to open at comic stores all over the world, taking part in Free Comic Book Day. ComicMix Radio has full coverage, thanks to our coast-to-coast network of retailers that include:

Golden Apple Comics in LA; Sun Coast Comics in Jacksonville, FL; Midnight Comics & Games in Houston, TX; Midtown Comics in New York City, NY; Atomic Comic Superstores in Mesa, AZ and  ComicQuest in Evansville, IN.

Join us for a few minutes as we see just how these stores are gearing up for the annual event. Then head out to the store nearest you, grab your freebies and be back here later on this afternoon for our regular Saturday Broadcast and full coverage of FCBD ’08!

 

 

And remember, you can always subscribe to ComicMix Radio podcasts via iTunes - ComicMix or RSS!

 

CBLDF Interview With Charles Brownstein

CBLDF Interview With Charles Brownstein

With the recent resolution of the Gordon Lee case, in which a comic shop owner was arrested for accidentally giving a copy of a Free Comic Book Day  title that contained male nudity to a child, there’s been quite a bit of attention on the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund and their significant financial support for Lee during the trial.

Tom Spurgeon of The Comics Reporter has posted a lengthy, comprehensive interview with Charles Brownstein, the executive director of the CBLDF, that touches upon the Lee case, its impact on the comics industry and the group’s other current and future projects.

As always, Spurgeon conducts a great interview that really gives you all you could ever want to know about the group and why there’s a genuine need for it. In this excerpt, Brownstein discusses the group’s ability to wage future legal battles, given the expenses incurred by the Lee case, and what types of legal issues are most worrisome to CBLDF:

What really makes me lose sleep is the prospect of getting a case under the PROTECT Act’s horrifying provisions equating drawings of teen and juvenile sexuality with actual child pornography. I’ve seen a couple of convictions for anime and manga that was ruled to be child porn. These were dirty people who also had real child porn, and who deserved their convictions for that material, not for repugnant art. There’s a difference between photographic evidence of a crime and drawings.

Those are the cases where we really need the community to stay firm in their support of the First Amendment. I think a lot of the content in the sexually oriented manga is pretty repugnant, but it’s lines on paper. The thing that raises my ire about PROTECT and the current slate of child pornography laws is that in attempting to create stronger resources against sexual predators, they create categories of thought crime. Child pornography is photographic evidence of a crime. To lower that bar to include dirty drawings and uncomfortable, if not repugnant, ideas muddies the waters in a way that disrespects the severity of the crime, and the victims of it.

For the full interview — which I highly recommend reading — head over to The Comics Reporter.

Gordon Lee trial ends in mistrial

Gordon Lee trial ends in mistrial

Straight from the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund:

The case against Gordon Lee took another in an ongoing series of bizarre turns this afternoon when statements made by State prosecutor John Tully during opening arguments led to a mistrial.

Lee and his legal team, paid for by the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, appeared in court this morning for jury selection and returned in the afternoon to begin the actual trial. Before the jury was brought in to begin the trial, lead counsel Alan Begner argued an oral motion in limine asking the judge to instruct prosecutors that they could not admit statements from their witnesses alluding to Lee’s character and previous legal actions Lee has been party to. Prosecutors assured the court that they had instructed their witnesses not to address Lee’s previous conviction for selling adult comics to an adult. Then during opening statements in front of the jury, prosecutor Tully said witnesses will testify that Gordon was defensive and that Gordon had told police, “I’ve been through this before,” a clear reversal of his earlier statement to the judge that prosecutors would not be entering such statements into the record.

When Tully made his statement, defense counsel stared at each other in disbelief before Begner leapt up to demand a mistrial. Judge Larry Salmon put his head in his hands and called a 15 minute recess.

Upon returning to the courtroom, as a result of Tully’s statement, Salmon declared a mistrial, because the statements alluding to the prior incident contaminated the jury beyond repair for a fair trial.

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Palmotti talks Countdown

Palmotti talks Countdown

Can we handle another weekly comic? Countdown writer Jimmy Palmotti tells us why this will be the series to watch over the summer. Plus – the excitement from Free Comic Book Day has just settled, but we’ve got the behind-the-scenes action as we debrief some of of the nation’s better retailers on just what happened in their stores. All this and your weekly comic & DVD wish list, news on the girl who will end up in The Hulk’s hands – and a little ditty from the Blondie who isn’t married to Dagwood!

The 37th Big ComicMix Broadcast is in the air! Press The Button… or Jimmy Olsen dies!

Free Comics Day hits The Big ComicMix Broadcast

Free Comics Day hits The Big ComicMix Broadcast

Primed for Free Comic Book Day? Pumped up or punked out At Spider-Man 3? We cover it all on the Big ComicMix Weekend Broadcast, including news on Casper”s return, the next Superman Movie, More Star Trek in comics, and a quick drive by from Flo & Eddie! Plus we conclude our Comic Book Masters Series with a visit from an Oscar winning cartoonist who helped bring back The Golden Age Of Comics!

Press The Button – or no free comics for you!

FCBD: Robert Kirkman in NYC`

Free Comic Book Day started with a bang at Jim Hanley’s Universe in New York City last night – or was it a howl?  Robert Kirkman (Invincible, Marvel Zombies, The Walking Dead) was on hand to launch his new book The Astounding Wolf-Man.  The signing is the first of a series of five appearances across the country this weekend to promote the new book.  “If giving the book away for free doesn’t work, I don’t know what will,” said Kirkman.

Kirkman described his new book as “An action-packed superhero romp.” The crowd that packed the aisles of Jim Hanley’s Universe were certainly eager to pick up the premier issue.  Now that he has a book on zombies and a book on werewolves Kirkman said, “I think I’d like to do mummies.”

With comic book properties especially hot right now Invincible has been optioned by Paramount.  “I’m working on a draft of the screenplay right now.  There’s no casting yet.  No director either,” said Kirkman.  For those with more of a zombie jones Kirkman said, ”There’s interest in a The Walking Dead movie.  My agent is listening to offers all the time.  We’re waiting for the right one to come along.”

We asked him why he thought zombies were so hot these days.  “People like zombie comics when they’re afraid.  The last surge in popularity of zombie comics was at the height of the Cold War.  Now the war on terror has the same atmosphere.  The media is full of fear,” said Kirkman.

As for what’s next, “The Walking Dead and Invincible are both going strong towards issue 50, that’s pretty exciting.  Marvel Zombies 2 is also about to get going,” said Kirkman.

ELAYNE RIGGS: Forward into the past

ELAYNE RIGGS: Forward into the past

The comics industry stands at an exciting crossroads. International acceptance of graphic literature is starting to have a positive effect on how Americans see non-superhero genres, as manga saturates teen audiences and award-winning autiobiographical novels like Fun Home and Persepolis enthrall adults. When you factor the geek contingent into that, as even the superhero genre (the one most non-comics readers associate and conflate with the medium itself) gains mainstream acceptance in blockbuster movies and hit TV shows, it would seem to be another Golden Age for the artform. The future of print and online comics looks healthier than ever.

So why is so much of the comics industry still mired in the past?

Take Previews, for instance. Now, Diamond Comics distribution and comic book retailers do many things right. Diamond’s comic store locator provides a valuable service, and Free Comic Book Day (this Saturday, don’t forget to peruse your local store with someone "new" to comics!) has become a much-anticipated event. And I suspect Previews isn’t as much a problem as a symptom of a wider dilemma facing brick-and-mortar specialty stores caught in the timeline between the demise of newsstand and mom-and-pop outlets (where many of today’s adult readers bought their first comics) and the promise of mainstream bookstores and targeted online purchasing.

Personally, I think the root of the problem is non-returnable product.

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