Comic Book Stores

I’ve written before about how I read comic books as a kid in the 1980s. I loved the Marvel X-books and still have nostalgic fondness for that era.

I stopped briefly into a comic book earlier this week...and it’s always a strange experience. It feels so far removed from what I knew and loved.

I asked the guy working there if any kids buy comics now. He seemed surprised by the question. I think he said something about parents occasionally bringing in their kids while they shop.

When I was a kid, I bought comic books at the local grocery store (Cronig’s) and drugstores (Leslie’s in Vineyard Haven, R.I.P.). My mom would haul me into town on errands and I’d go off on my own and check Leslie’s for new comics, and also the bookstore (Bunch of Grapes) for the new Cinefantastique.

I loved them so much! Each one was a portal into adventure, with hand-drawn, hand-lettered artistry—and, especially with the X-titles, a feeling of belonging.

The comics were 60 cents each so it wasn’t hard to just buy three or four of them—to try out an unfamiliar title or anything that looked interesting during a quick browse.

There weren’t a billion titles either. There were major characters who had their books and you could even be a “completist” with a certain character or artist without breaking the bank.

It’s sad because the industry absolutely killed their audience. In the early 1990s, they discovered how much money they could make with direct-marketing to adults, jacked the prices and did all sorts of obnoxious variants and issues sold in plastic bags.

Think about that—how is a kid possibly going to discover a title at the drugstore if it’s in a plastic bag?

So they made a killing on their adult audience, and froze out the kids—completely forgetting that the kids are how they replenish and grow their audience.

Thus their circulation has shrunk to a mere fraction of what it once was.

I don’t get it. It’s too bad, because as a kid, they were so much fun—illuminating, inspiring, entertaining and enriching.