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What can we do? as comicbook collectors/buyers (Comic Book Forums)

  • What can we do? as comicbook collectors/buyers

Author Discussion
  • Posted: July 21, 2020 12:51:46 am
  • That is the question. What can we do to grow the population of buyers? Youth, these days, aren't thinking of spending money on comics.

    You want to claim publishers are the problem? Distributors aren't marketing the books? What are you doing to combat this?

    Kids love comics. Plain and simple. What are you doing to propel this enthusiasm?

    I say. It is up to us, comicbook aficionados, to grow the demand for floppies. I, myself, am not an aficionado. But... Yeah, I demand the printed copy. Do you? If so, then share it. We must do our end. Do not question a big Corp and their end goals (profit). Let's make it an objective to say that we did our end and be completely confident in blaming them for any failure.

    Share floppies. Get kiddos interested. Get them drawing. Tracing. Printing. Stapling a few pages together. Just help in any way possible.

    FYI... I share this because I do this regularly. I buy random comics to give out to children our company provides for. I have a huge stack of books for our techs to pick from to give away to our serviced kiddos.

    You and I need to think about how we can do something to keep floppies alive. Not BS about what they're doing wrong. What can we do to make sure floppies are still available.... Discussing the problems without a plan which we can execute is pointless.

    Anyhow... I'll post more updates. Let's try to make something happen, yeah?
    Obsessive Compulsive Comic Collecting Much? Join me on my bats#!t journey: Squeaky Shoe Comics. DM at your own risk.
  • Posted: July 21, 2020 11:00:15 am
  • The past few years I've been trimming my vast collection of "worthless" comics down (because I only have so much space before I start invading the general living area of my house and annoying my wife) by selling comics for a buck at the flea market and just giving them away free to any kid who walks by.

    I usually give away twice as many as I sell and it's a great feeling knowing that I might have started some random kid's love for comics.

    Of course there's also a little bitter taste when a kid declines. . .and it happens. I'm standing there saying "Get yourself some free comics. . .any of these you want." and they just walk on by staring at their phones.

    But generally-speaking, I can unload a full longbox in just a couple of hours and have a lot of fun doing it, even if I barely sell enough to cover the rent on the space.

    Of course, I use whatever money I DO make trolling the market for more comic books. Very Happy
    Favorite Characters: Lone Ranger, Green Hornet, Captain America, The Shadow, Zorro, The Rocketeer, Jonah Hex
  • Posted: July 21, 2020 11:09:29 am
  • What you say is true. If we don't get the kiddies reading comic books, who will? It's up to us long-time readers and collectors to try our best to get the youth interested in our hobby.

    I truly hope the under 18 crowd still think comic books are cool. They've seen the movies. They have the T-shirts. Everyone knows the names of the popular super-heroes.

    Every Halloween for the past 15 years I have been giving away comic books (as well as candy). When I ask them which they prefer, the candy wins out 66% of the time. I've never referred to them as "floppies" before. That's the first time I heard that to be honest.

    I'm worried that kids don't like to read anymore. Video games, TV shows and movies rarely have much reading involved. I've asked my nephews and a few other friend's offspring about reading comic books and most don't seem too interested.

    Who would have thought comic books are a tough sell to kids? Not me!!

    Last edited July 21, 2020 11:10:39 am
  • Posted: July 21, 2020 11:43:25 am
  • I'm glad to read these responses.

    Giving them away for Halloween--what a great idea. I hadn't actually thought of that. Some might actually take one and think it's cool.

    Also, what I meant by kids love comics is... They seem to love the characters, the parallel universe and existence of heroes, supers or mutants etc. They don't seem to love reading. Lol. Luckily, they can look at drawings.

    In giving away books, we've gotten a couple kiddos drawing their own art, collecting and sequencing, and another drawing/printing/stapling their own art. Most the others just flip through them, but more than once. Another screamed that they have the book after seeing a cartoon on television.

    Most, if not all, have begged their parents to take them to a LCS... I kind of feel bad for putting them on the spot, but not much. Most haven't taken them. I think I only know of one parent who actually did and never knew there were boxes of $1 floppies. Yeup. That's 1 win for me.

    I just sent out a handful this morning to one kiddo who likes creating his own comics. Who didn't even know he liked to do so until I gave him his first comic.

    And I have to acknowledge that most the families we provide services to are financially under-privileged so there's that aspect. So, I don't mind giving away $20 of books a week. I'm really not even keeping track. It doesn't matter. I also make sure each book is in a new bag and board. I want them to maybe get a feeling that that is the norm.

    I just think if a majority of us physical print buyers could make an effort, it will change the industry towards a direction more favorable to all types of buyers.
    Obsessive Compulsive Comic Collecting Much? Join me on my bats#!t journey: Squeaky Shoe Comics. DM at your own risk.
  • Posted: July 21, 2020 7:46:58 pm
  • I'm hoping that with all of the new comic book movies and tv shows that have come out, or are coming out..that that will help bring in new readers. It can only do so much though. As already mentioned, kids(even many adults) don't like to read. It's definitely tough.
  • Posted: July 22, 2020 12:30:58 am
  • brucifer said:


    Every Halloween for the past 15 years I have been giving away comic books


    I do the Halloween comic giveaway too! Everybody knows my house is the "Comic Book House". It's a great time.
    Favorite Characters: Lone Ranger, Green Hornet, Captain America, The Shadow, Zorro, The Rocketeer, Jonah Hex
  • Posted: July 22, 2020 10:31:46 am
  • I'm also known as "The Comic Book House" up here in Toronto. Some kids flip out when they receive a comic book. Others don't really care. If I give them the option: comic book OR candy, candy usually wins out.

    My absolute favourite story from a few years back was when a young boy (about 7 or so) came to my door, I gave him a comic book which I put directly in his bag. He looked at me oddly and made his way down my front porch. I was still at the door watching him. He came back up the stairs and said in a loud voice, "I hate comic books." I answered "Too bad." He left in a huff. Even if he did actually hate comic books, he could easily have traded it to someone for two or three candy's.
  • Posted: July 22, 2020 10:42:02 am
  • That is hilarious! This is just an initial reaction from me, but if you get candy corn (I dislike candy corn), can you come back and say I hate candy corn? Does this open up the giver of candy corn to "tricks"? Lol

    I'm going to try to think of other ways to give out some books.

    Funny thing. I don't want to give away "key" books because I don't know/care what happens to the books I give away. That being said, I was about to give away a Blue Beetle #3 and thought hmmm... Maybe I should check to see if it's picked up any first. Nothing here on CBR and I almost did give it away. Luckily, I decided to check some other site and it has picked up quite a bit. I don't think it's ever going to be a huge book but....

    1) how do you guys deal with/choose what you give away?

    2) is there anything we can do here on CBR so that we don't end up letting a "key" get given away to be trashed?
    Obsessive Compulsive Comic Collecting Much? Join me on my bats#!t journey: Squeaky Shoe Comics. DM at your own risk.
  • Posted: July 22, 2020 12:25:34 pm
  • In the boxes of dollar comics I take to the flea market, I always "seed" a few comics worth a little more. . .$10 - $20 so anyone really digging can come away with a little treasure if they know what they're looking for. . .or maybe a random kid just gets lucky, and that's awesome too! I do the same thing with the Halloween comic box.

    90% of my collection is "worth" cover price, so it's pretty easy for me to make sure I don't put anything TOO valuable in the kitty because my "gems" only take up about 3 longboxes out of almost 50.
    Favorite Characters: Lone Ranger, Green Hornet, Captain America, The Shadow, Zorro, The Rocketeer, Jonah Hex
  • Posted: July 22, 2020 2:58:52 pm
  • I use to volunteer as a book reader at our public library. Every time I had the opportunity I would read comic books to the kids. They loved it! Some of those kids I would run into years later and they'd tell me how I was the reason they got into comics.

    I also use to teach back in the early 2000s. Introduced a few graphic novels into the curriculum. Some students really enjoyed them and some didn't really care. I think the younger you get someone into comics, the more likely they are to continue reading them.

    There really is no excuse for comics not to be selling and gaining readership. Almost all of the entertainment and media these days is based off comic book stories. If anything, we as readers already do a lot to promote them. I have not met anyone at a comic book shop who hasn't recommended their favorites, or helped someone find their direction. What I would like to see is more of an effort from the creators and companies who publish. Numbers would be better if there were more quality stories. I'd like to see editors and publishers have a more solid plan and vision. Take the characters and make it exciting for both older and younger. There is too much greed on the corporate side. Comic books should also be affordable. Kids don't want to pay $6 dollars for something that gives them less than a half hour of entertainment. They can go to a 2 1/2 hour movie for less than $8. If anyone in the industry is actually listening, we are tired of the gimmicks, variants, and the relaunching of titles every few years. I don't like going to cons and seeing creators charging more for signatures than their comics are worth... it's killing it.

    I hate to gripe because I love comics but I'm not sure where it is headed years from now. In the past it felt like the publishers really cared about their readers. When you got into a title you became part of that family of readership. Some of that culture use to flow into the letters pages, which is now gone. I don't get that feeling anymore, like I matter because I buy your title every month, because I support your creative team, because I give out copies to get others into reading ... and I get the feeling they just don't care. One thing I have heard a lot lately is, "they don't care about the fans". It's true. Without us there is no reason for another issue ... and that's what worries me.

    Last edited July 22, 2020 8:51:37 pm
    We strike hard and fade away into the night
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