2023 Was A Terrible Year For Comic Shops

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ธ.ค. 2024

ความคิดเห็น • 85

  • @ljkelty1766
    @ljkelty1766 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +38

    I can believe it. An employee at my LCS told me that their best selling titles were Sonic, Looney Tunes, Scooby Doo, and all the facisimile comics. That's right. Comics that are 35 to 80 years old sell out. They order 4x the number of Batman reprints as new Batman comics.

    • @comicsgatekeeper9746
      @comicsgatekeeper9746 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +8

      A few years ago my little pony:friendship is magic was the top selling comic😂😂

    • @mlcash9
      @mlcash9 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      I believe it

    • @brianwilliams9408
      @brianwilliams9408 9 หลายเดือนก่อน

      ​@@comicsgatekeeper9746I used to buy that title for my niece and I can tell you, every issue was very entertaining. I enjoyed it as much as she did!

  • @mikem3543
    @mikem3543 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +10

    Jacking the price of a number one issue is without question the most insane thing I can think of. Utterly insane.
    I simply cannot believe no one stood up and said “wait a minute, wouldn’t it be a good thing to get as many ppl as possible to try out the new series?”
    I am a case study. A couple months ago I was scanning the new releases. I spied a Thor #1, pick it up and figured I’d check out a Thor series for the fun of it. Then saw the $6.99 price and put it back on the shelf.
    I simply cannot understand how anyone could think this was a good idea.

  • @Awakeandalive1
    @Awakeandalive1 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +9

    Maybe I mentioned this here or in one of Ya Boi Zack's, but at the start of 2021 it cost $200 American/month to feed my family of 5. Fast forward and we are buying LESS food in 2024 (in part because we invested in chicken & geese during the world's COVID madness) but it costs upwards of $900/month to buy basic groceries now...
    Also, we live in the rural South and a small/normal candy bar is $2.00+.

    • @Eyrrll
      @Eyrrll 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      Food has been most affected for myself, but I haven’t had it anywhere near as extreme. Over the last two years we have seen about a 25% - 30% increase on food costs.
      That said, there is only 2 of us and we were spending WAY more than $200 a month on food in 2021 (for just the two of us). I would have to go back a decade or more for food to have been that cheap.
      So it’s possible that either we were in an area that was been high for a long time… or you have been in one that is unusually cheap.

  • @jonathansoko1085
    @jonathansoko1085 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +10

    On a positive note my shop is selling more copies of transformers in GI Joe than any Marvel or DC book and this is a mainly DC shop that sells quite a bit of issues. It isn't even close and he's sold out of several reprints that doesn't happen today for big 2

  • @EvandroACruz
    @EvandroACruz 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +11

    The sad true is that comics become a very expensive hobby. Even here in Brazil comics price is high in nowadays. Modern writers just know how write good or compelling storylines anymore. The industry needs of a radical change or will die in a next future.

  • @incubustimelord5947
    @incubustimelord5947 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +16

    The subway is way too expensive these days. Comic books are way too expensive these days. Candy bars are way too expensive these days. McDonald's is way too expensive these days. It's like everything that was made for poor people is now only for rich people. And then people wonder how can anyone live in New York City with those kinds of ridiculous prices. I live in the projects and even here the prices are getting too high.

    • @maxmazzotti6651
      @maxmazzotti6651 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      Very true, make those for both rich and poor btw!

    • @jeromemaida4933
      @jeromemaida4933 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      Bidenomics

  • @benevolentremnant2949
    @benevolentremnant2949 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +9

    My guess is floppy _unit_ sales are down by more than 15%. The big tell is when they break it down for some shops by variant vs standard covers, with standard dollar sales being down by a big margin and variant dollar sales only slightly down. That shows that spec incentive books are making up the gap. Only a matter of time before that falls through

  • @fvgbe342
    @fvgbe342 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +6

    In the store that i work at. We sell one candy bar for $2.55 before tax after tax. $3.25. in Minnesota U.S.A.

  • @billybarnett2846
    @billybarnett2846 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +11

    My comic shop closed in August.

  • @erniestrother3545
    @erniestrother3545 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +53

    These comics are expensive and they have terrible art with terrible storytelling.

  • @rolfe23
    @rolfe23 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +10

    I agree, this is not a good market to be putting out pricey books, especially if their content ranges from "Okay" to "*insert vomit sound*"

  • @MutantGenius
    @MutantGenius 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    What does the phrase "Let them eat cake" mean?
    As the story goes, it was the queen's response upon being told that her starving peasant subjects had no bread. Because cake is more expensive than bread, the anecdote has been cited as an example of Marie-Antoinette's obliviousness to the conditions and daily lives of ordinary people.
    Sound familiar?

  • @oldmandavid7944
    @oldmandavid7944 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +21

    My local comic is planning to get out of selling new comics , because they can no longer afford it . Think about that . A comic shop where you won’t be able to buy new comics !

    • @PubeStache
      @PubeStache 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      Hopefully they have a backup plan. The last lcs in my area to try back issues only, lasted five months before going under.

    • @oldmandavid7944
      @oldmandavid7944 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      @@PubeStache he says he will continue to order new books for box customers, but he won’t bring in new books for the table . He is hoping to sell more manga and back issues

    • @thenerdyentrepreneur8093
      @thenerdyentrepreneur8093 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      One of mines bought a resturant next door and is focusing more on Tabletop games because the comic sales are so bad. They make more money selling War Hammer 40K.

    • @AbortedEvolution
      @AbortedEvolution 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      We have a shop that went all old ten years ago. They're doing great.

    • @CreativeWM_Personal
      @CreativeWM_Personal 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      Tell them about Antarctic Press and the Rippaverse, how about Band of Bards as well?

  • @namelesswhocares8648
    @namelesswhocares8648 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +15

    Let's be honest here..
    Do we expect the sales of comic book to increase in 2024 ?
    With what they are producing ?

    • @lo1bo2
      @lo1bo2 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

      The next reboot will do it, I promise! Or the NEXT next one!

  • @janbaer3241
    @janbaer3241 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +6

    I sold off my collection. Tales to Astonish, Journey into Mystery, Avengers, etc up to around the 1990s. There's nothing since then that had interested me.

  • @jonrichelieu-booth1498
    @jonrichelieu-booth1498 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +13

    Love that you gave a shout out to my LCS, Jared Myland of OK Comics in Leeds..Other than the core Superman titles (Action and Superman) I'm almost done with the cr*p that DC is putting out.. and that's after being a Collector since 1992

  • @aqdrobert
    @aqdrobert 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

    Our local Arrowhead Mall in Glendale, Arizona, attracted many kiosks and storefronts filled with comic book character COLLECTIBLES, but not comic BOOK stores. The existing comic book stores near me attract mostly fans who play RPG card games, not comic book collectors.

  • @BrianRidgway-u5g
    @BrianRidgway-u5g 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +10

    Agreed to scale back. Marvel and DC should scale back to a dozen titles and keep them below $4, unless annual or special. Two Spider-Man books (Amazing and Team-up). Two Superman books (Superman and ?). One X-Men book, etc. Stop all this nonsense. Gwen Stacy and Mary Jane Watson comics? Enough is enough! You're not creating new readers - you are driving the old ones away!

  • @brokenm8950
    @brokenm8950 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +21

    A lot of the more niche comics should just be Web only. Stuff like Hawkgirl and White Widow, if they are really dead set on making them, should exist on the digital subscription services. And if by some chance they do well, only print a trade. It's just a waste of paper otherwise.

    • @majunior1944
      @majunior1944 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      The Shonen Jump+ model.

    • @trevorjones4854
      @trevorjones4854 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      I think this Is exactly the right call

    • @OQuinlan-nz1md
      @OQuinlan-nz1md 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

      Well that too.

    • @jeromemaida4933
      @jeromemaida4933 9 หลายเดือนก่อน

      No.

  • @KardboardKenny
    @KardboardKenny 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +5

    congrats on the 34k subs!!!

  • @AbortedEvolution
    @AbortedEvolution 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

    I spend 50 bucks a month on bullshit. Variants for comics I don't even collect. Reprints. I spend 200 dollars a month on omnibuses. I dump 150 on indie books. Kickstarters is another hundred. The hobby is insane expensive. And some Batman and Wolverine to top it off.

  • @scottforste4668
    @scottforste4668 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +6

    Batmans my favorite but haven't touched any batman titles for years

  • @xavierterrelong9385
    @xavierterrelong9385 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    Yesterday I was going to Macy's mall the check out the stores I was looking forward to go in Newbury comic but that's when I found it empty closed for Good and that's when I read online the sales for comic books were terrible for months I also saw that wasn't the only comic book store close because of the trash they put out for comic books these days I'm so disappointed

  • @janjoubert3225
    @janjoubert3225 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

    Marvel / dc only see the short term because no one at those companies can see the bigger picture. And they are at a point where they are so desperate, they carry on with the only thing that brings them money but is ultimately going to cause their distraction.

  • @guygardner8308
    @guygardner8308 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +5

    In the 80's, there was a "glut" of indipendant, B&W, limited run alternative comics. So much that it was defined as the first "comic book glut". Fast forward to 2024, and the new comic book "glut" is comic book variants. In 15 years, comic book artists who who be sought out will leave comic book speculators (not collectors) holding on to a pretty penny. Everyone else who (who didn't buy every variant), will feel cheated that they missed that "one copy
    they couldn't get, that is now the only comic book variant cover woth value.
    This is how Ty Warner (Beanie Babies) became rich. When I was collecting in the 80's, eveyone wanted offical comic shop comics. Now, everyone wants "newsstand comics". That took 30 years.
    I feel bad for new collectors, becuase they have no idea what can be worth something in 20 years.

  • @jeremiahperryman948
    @jeremiahperryman948 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +6

    Perhaps if they had written the series with a consistent plot and had written fire and ice like the actual characters from jli of the early nineties and late eighties and had more wholesome interactions between them and superman,'s adoptive parents it might have(at least temporarily) sold well to older comic fans if they had properly advertised it!!!

  • @notyouraverageharleyquinnstan
    @notyouraverageharleyquinnstan 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +7

    Not surprised

  • @cielant
    @cielant 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Great vid and I am glad you also bring up the ''How are families supposed to afford this shit with these prices going up and up thru the roof''-issue. Because in former times, when it was still like below 2$ per issue, you'd be like: ''Hack, yeah, let's just try if this new story line or DC-character or what-have-you is cool and if not: ''Ok, we didn't save a fortune on it. Nowadays you really have to ponder hard on the purchase of any issue or let's say it in another way: you won't go experimenting any more. Especially since the story lines are actually becoming hot food for imbeciles. If you are a completionist (which fortunately I am not), you have to either be filthy rich or completely broke and insanely stupid, too still be eager to complete your collection. They basically, as you have also stated, let their traditional core-business go down the drain. If they continue like that, it might actually be that soon you will only get the no-brainer-business trademark's like Bat- and Superman, maybe some JLA, and that's about it. The rest will be cancelled due to lack in sales and they will focus on their stupid movies. It is a sad decline, is my bottomline.

  • @jeromemaida4933
    @jeromemaida4933 9 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Wes, don't know if you've mentioned it, but the first couple issues of "Cable" by Fabian Niceza absolutely kicks ass.

  • @guygardner8308
    @guygardner8308 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

    Collectors love rarities. During the 1980's, rarities were the all the rage. How many have survived 30-40 years from the 80's? That should be the next comic run demand. Good comics, with limited runs, from the 80's. that still exist, considering their value dropped to nothing, and many collecters just dumped them in the garbage.

  • @patrickmoreau7592
    @patrickmoreau7592 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +5

    I cut back on comics because of quality and I do want to pay my bills

  • @MS-lk2sk
    @MS-lk2sk 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +5

    You have to wonder if they keep hiring these garbage writers where are the good writers.

  • @richardgifford5639
    @richardgifford5639 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +5

    Am I the only one that finds it ironic that Blade's final solicited issue is #10; yet there is a 59 issue tie in (relying on gore gimmicks and "killing' Black Panther) being released immediately thereafter?

  • @jk6919
    @jk6919 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +5

    I think DC does have some good writers, but I'm not sure their editors have strong leadership. No matter how talented a creator is, poor leadership will undermine the results.

  • @thorodinson5520
    @thorodinson5520 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    That corresponds with the prime interest rate. 8 percent rate =8 percent drop in sales.

  • @trickiricki68
    @trickiricki68 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +6

    It would be different if these modern comics where enjoyable!

  • @SlashTheWeasel
    @SlashTheWeasel 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

    Good video as always. I would love to purchase X-Men but to get me to purchase it now, Marvel needs to slim down to one book, get me interested with good art and story, and also for all their books, cut the price. I might pay $5 book each month for X-Men if it was good and not all over the place with several books so it feels like i have to catch up. Why should anyone try and figure out if something is worth buying if the price is so much per book(s)? Last year when I bought into some Venom/Carnage comics I only bought one cover, not both. Thankfully I really stepped out of comics many years ago due to money and that got away from the mess of alt, signed, etc covers and now I want to enjoy comics again.

  • @theapexfighter8741
    @theapexfighter8741 9 หลายเดือนก่อน

    The problem is that we can’t see the numbers of Digital comics.

  • @DrDetfink
    @DrDetfink 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

    No one can be surprised. It’s gonna get worse before it gets better

  • @raphaelzxa3729
    @raphaelzxa3729 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    the comic industry will only learn when is too late.

  • @scottforste4668
    @scottforste4668 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

    2.99 my cut off

  • @arturoalvarezkawai6773
    @arturoalvarezkawai6773 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

    No doubt the situation of USA comics is quite complex. As a long time comic book reader (I'm 50), I believe this descent can be tracked back several decades. Take Batman, for example. Remember the 80's and 90's? The stories were great in their simplicity, lasting mostly one issue, maybe two. If they extended over several, something that happened ocassionally, the story had to be worth it. So were released A DEATH IN THE FAMILY, A LONELY PLACE FOR DYING, 10 NIGHTS OF THE BEAST, the arrival of Tim Drake as the new Robin. Still, good stories: simple, linear, clear-cut.
    And then the big crossover KNIGHTFALL, followed by the beginning of the end: First CONTAGION, then CATACLYSM, and finally NO MAN'S LAND. Don't take me wrong. These were great stories. As a matter of fact, these were SUPERB stories. And therein lies the problem. They left the bar too high, and it seems the kids who grew up reading these books and now are writing them, only remember the "big events". All of them expect to create the big saga that is going to define the character E-V-E-R-Y S-I-N-G-L-E I-S-S-U-E A-L-L Y-E-A-R L-O-N-G. Can you really expect the character not being burn out?

  • @raiderbear1
    @raiderbear1 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Awesome work mate

  • @jasonhbush
    @jasonhbush 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Nice nod to Flying Colors in Concord. My LCS 🎉

  • @50scap3
    @50scap3 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    I don't know what my shop does so different but they seem busting with business always customers in there they have artists alley's all the time, i think they have a couple game nights but they got the whole magilla of Marvel and DC in there, lotta covers for the same issue.

  • @regishel
    @regishel 9 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Why I buy B-Covers more then A-Cover is pretty simple, the A Covers in alot of instances are: Boring, Lazy or just look like T-Shirt Art, not saying second prints don't do that but at least for the most part their just better looking.

  • @FantomKat
    @FantomKat 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    1 - I'm on the verge of dropping detective til V wraps up current storyline. This thing is DRAGGING.
    2 - B-Bop . . . not the best example, they are almost exclusively subscription and get next to nothing for the shelves. There are at least 3 stores in town that appear really healthy and sell a lot off the shelves.
    3 - I dropped the Star Wars books when they jacked up the price a buck during this massive event thing. I don't but $4.99 comics. That's a step too far.

  • @cobinizer
    @cobinizer 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    It will be easier to get comic book shop sales data when there's only ten of them left.

  • @rjhemedes
    @rjhemedes 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    Online piracy is rampant in the comic book industry. You literally have TH-cam channels that just stream brand new comics released online weekly. Why pay for something when you can get it for FREE? Buying collected editions is much more cost effective than buying single issues. I dont understand why people buy variant covers but as long as there are people to buy them, the publishers will keep on offering variant covers.

  • @garou12
    @garou12 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    you're right if you have to choose between a comic book and a meal it's a no brainer. how the fuck did those idiots get to this point of pricing themselves out of their market?? Even Manga despite being slightly pricier does its best to give its customers value for money. American comic books can't even be bothered to do even that.

  • @jeromemaida4933
    @jeromemaida4933 9 หลายเดือนก่อน

    Wes, if you still haven't picked up "Red Sonja" by Torunn Gronbekk you are missing out! Great action, beautiful art and formidable villains! Pick up #8 if you haven't yet.

  • @InfamyOrDeath-__-
    @InfamyOrDeath-__- 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    I do often wonder what it must be like to actually be one of these comic book shills, because it’s just something I don’t understand. I’ve no idea how someone can just wilfully lie like that, I just couldn’t do it.

  • @jdc4483
    @jdc4483 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

    Who cares? New comics = woke trash. Buy back issues out of the dollar box, and trades containing the same. If you haven’t read it yet, it’s new to you, just like any current comic would be.

    • @clonegeek3317
      @clonegeek3317 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      There are pleanty of good new comics out there like Conan, you aren't looking for them

    • @jdc4483
      @jdc4483 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +4

      @@clonegeek3317 I agree with you. I’m not looking for them. I’ve been burned too many times with picking up a newly published comic and it being woke, being a platform for ideology vs an entertaining story. I don’t trust publishers today, and the price point for entry is a poor ROI. “Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.”

    • @clonegeek3317
      @clonegeek3317 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      @@jdc4483 Conan is soild

  • @kamchikamchi2737
    @kamchikamchi2737 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

    I agree. I don’t think the variant cover trick will keep the comic sales up. The stories have gotten so bad that the continuity issues have evolved into lazy and ineffective storytelling virus that not alot of efforts are putting in. As well as letting the “tumbler” artist and writers to make these crap. Again, the iconic shield from both companies, spiderman and batman, are trying to hold back and with spidy struggling to get up from the fatal wound while batman getting shots in the limbs, they’re not going to last long until comic audiences just give up.
    Wes, you mean false Gods? At this point, they’re not even Gods anymore, more a joke and dress me up doll, only for the tumblers and the crazy activists to play them. Again, they screw themselves and the simple fix is further and further away as they no longer can hear the voice of reasons.

  • @egonnn244
    @egonnn244 9 หลายเดือนก่อน

    What's with the flickering hands? Is that a superpower manifesting?

  • @ensabahnur7657
    @ensabahnur7657 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    Socthe shit show carries on into THIS year!😂

  • @AL-ws5yi
    @AL-ws5yi 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    I just get my pull list and then leave my lcs. They seem to be doing ok. At least I hope they are.

    • @lo1bo2
      @lo1bo2 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +1

      Me too. But I do at least browse the higher value wall and counter displays to see if anything catches my eye.

  • @jamescole7930
    @jamescole7930 9 หลายเดือนก่อน +2

    I have not been a regular comic book buyer since 2018 /19 ish.
    And in like my 1982 to 1996 where I was buying 100 titles monthly.
    I was buying from a shop where the more you bought the higher your discount. So I was getting a 35 to 40% off the cover price. Which then .75 cents in 1984 to $1.75 in 1996 when they hit $1.95 a comic I cut back to 50 titles a month then they quickly jumped to $2.95 I was pretty much out. I kept about ten titles till 2000 . And I sold 95% of my collection in late 2000. I have switched to digital copies or TPB’s
    I tried to get back into the Fantastic Four in 2018 and I went two years almost and quit on it in late 2019 .
    I can not pay near $4 a copy and be disappointed each and every time. Fantastic Four issues 12 and 13 ( hulk vs Thing ) was a fun read. But that was the high mark in that run.
    And all of the inclusive and sexual orientation focus storylines are completely pathetic, stupid, gross, pandering trash that is forcing me to go back and read back issues that I never had read in decades gone by. And I need to thank you for this because I am reading great 1960’s - 1980’s gold. So thank you for all the gay trash garbage you are putting out, it has allowed me to discover why I enjoy comics in the first place in all of these 50 to 60 year old great back issues. 👏👏👏🙄