tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-168268312011-08-24T09:06:41.699-04:00The Graphic Novel BookshopSam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.comBlogger2061100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-81269258850973633572007-04-24T21:02:00.000-04:002007-04-24T21:10:28.085-04:00

Not exactly on schedule, but now for the rest of our FCBD ordering breakdown (for those who missed it, Part One):Comics Festival - (3.4% of dollars spent; 2.9% of total copies bought):As Mr. Butcher was kind enough to point out in the comments section of our last post, this is a very cool book. Essentially an anthology of short pieces from a variety of creators including personal favorites

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com38tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-28175158249042956712007-04-10T20:20:00.000-04:002007-04-10T20:29:30.784-04:00

I promised awhile back that I would break down our order for Free Comics Book Day this year and so, here we go. I'm talking only in percentages here, although the breakdown will include percentage of money spent versus percentage of total copies ordered (that will make more sense as we go). First, let me say that it's only so much hyperbole to say that we had a metric ton of leftover FCBD

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-80874311369740093692007-03-27T16:56:00.000-04:002007-03-27T20:26:39.501-04:00

The last two months have seen the release of a rash of what I like to call crossover comics, i.e. those books that bring new people into (or back into) comics in general and our shop in particular.Over the long term, I suspect that the most important of these will be Dark Horse's new Buffy the Vampire Slayer series. The wide-spread appeal of this comic is pretty amazing, so much so that, despite

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-82426176197505445242007-03-20T19:38:00.000-04:002007-03-20T19:55:49.449-04:00

Just a quick post to point out an unusual bit of coincidence:In the 3 months prior to and the month following the release of the film adaptation of V for Vendetta, MacGuffin made exactly $.14 more off of that book than we have off of 300 in the 3 months prior to and the 2 weeks since the release of that film adaptation. I found it rather unusual for the difference to be that small, especially

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-76867650037033851332007-03-05T20:57:00.000-05:002007-03-05T21:17:31.836-05:00

Over at Comics Worth Reading, Johanna Draper Carlson recently summarized some of the more important pieces of a conversation on the CBIA regarding the upcoming Free Comics Book Day offerings. The gist of the conversation is that many retailers are only willing to pay so much to promote a publisher's product via giveaways.There are 42 FCBD titles this year (a few publishers have more than one)

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-59655861380021046852007-02-27T20:34:00.000-05:002007-02-28T13:06:04.905-05:00

DC finally announced what we all new was coming, Countdown, a weekly series follow-up to 52. I will give them credit for a creative numbering gimmick (starting at 51 and counting down, presumably to either zero or #1 of Crisis Management or whatever they call their next event series). And, while I don't know that another weekly series is necessarily the best idea, it does give editorial the

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-33175084198993583932007-02-20T19:50:00.000-05:002007-02-20T19:57:01.382-05:00

In the interest of actually posting something besides weekly release lists in the month of February, I'll point out that this is the sort of thing I like to see:According to a weekly e-mail distributed to retailers, DC Comics is extending the sales incentive offered on their first Minx title, Plain Janes, (the possibility of full returnability) to the entire 2007 Minx line.This isn't the first

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-83466724248637262712007-01-29T19:20:00.000-05:002007-02-01T14:28:21.097-05:00

Due to what are apparently creative rather than business reasons, The Boys has been cancelled by DC Comics. Or, more likely, the creative team (who own the rights to the work) refused to make certain changes to the content and therefore DC decided to stop publishing the title immediately.This is pure speculation, but I suspect that the transition of The Boys from DC's Wildstorm imprint to

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-21628143160541976472007-01-23T19:35:00.000-05:002007-01-23T19:42:51.553-05:00

Continuing a look back at my favorites from last year we come to Scott Pilgrim and the Infinite Sadness. I was a latecomer to Scott Pilgrim and something of a reluctant one at that. I'd heard wonderful things and I liked what little I'd seen, but I made three separate attempts to read the first volume, each time finding myself pulled out of the story despite my ability to easily identify with

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-62540858385281032612007-01-16T18:36:00.000-05:002007-01-16T20:22:50.053-05:00

Wednesday sees the collected release of one of my favorite series from last year, Batman: Year One Hundred. It's a futuristic take on Batman that draws on two primary sources for inspiration: the classic first appearance, purple gloved The Bat-Man, wearing a cobbled together suit of cloth and leather rather than streamlined rubber and Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli's Year One with a bit of

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-15523680224079955832007-01-02T12:23:00.000-05:002007-01-02T15:49:07.647-05:00

I may be jumping the gun here and Diamond may very well bend over backwards in an attempt to get this fixed, but it appears that West Coast comic shops are receiving roughly 10-15% of their Civil War #6 orders this week (with the rest presumably to follow next week). Any number of things could cause a problem like this, from a shipping issue which prevents most of the books from getting there (

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-29734101395916567702006-12-27T20:13:00.000-05:002006-12-28T18:33:11.289-05:00

The end of the year being the designated time to compare completely useless information, I thought I'd do just that and see how MacGuffin's best seller list compares to Diamond's sales figures. It should make for ridiculously inaccurate comparisons and spurious analysis. The caveats:A- I'm comparing apples and oranges here, sell-in (to stores) vs. sell through (to readers).B- We're a small store

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-6019574938150884592006-12-12T19:10:00.000-05:002006-12-12T19:45:50.600-05:00

Competitive Advantage. It means pretty much what it sounds like, either offering the same benefits as one's competitors at a lower cost or offering better benefits than the competition. One of the first questions anyone gets asked when putting together financing for a new business venture is what sets this idea apart, why it is better than the competition.This is sparked by Matt Fraction's

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-63358357995225858802006-11-28T19:55:00.000-05:002006-11-28T20:08:22.304-05:00

There's been much written about DC's new Minx imprint set to launch next year, from enthusiasm that there will finally be comics for teenage girls to cynicism that they are doomed to fail to concern that DC's a bit out of touch since such comics already exist and are called manga (which you'd think they already know since they do publish their own line of essentially DOA manga under the CMX

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1162328681032113922006-11-13T18:02:00.000-05:002006-11-13T18:09:18.743-05:00

A few weeks ago Dave Carter at Yet Another Comics Blog posted about The Long Tail as it applies to comics, specifically in determining where demand is being under served. He breaks down (in a very straightforward way) how the physical limitations of movie theaters limit the number of film that reach their full potential audience and compares this phenomenon to the world of comics. In other words

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1162930811811623292006-11-07T17:32:00.000-05:002006-11-13T14:02:40.658-05:00

I offered some thoughts awhile back about DC's decision to publish a $.25 version of the first issue of Fables, a move we were extremely happy with at MacGuffin. I didn't mention that as a promotional tool for the Absolute Sandman volume, they reprinted the first issue of that series with the updated coloring and a few of the many extras contained in the Absolute volume.We've been giving both of

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1161734846207390192006-10-31T18:52:00.000-05:002006-11-13T14:02:38.850-05:00

After several months of development more than should have been necessary, MacGuffin has launched the online portion of our store at MacGuffinComics.com. At the moment it essentially functions as an online mirror of the graphic novel selection available at our brick and mortar storefront and acts as one more way for us to provide access to the widest range of graphic novels possible. Our online

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1161298017200979412006-10-23T17:20:00.000-04:002006-11-13T14:00:59.014-05:00

Fantagraphics has decided to open a brick and mortar storefront in Seattle, and thankfully the reaction has been mostly positive (if somewhat skeptical regarding the feasibility of such an undertaking). No retailers threatening not to carry Fantagraphics in protest to theoretically direct competition from what is theoretically a direct business partner, but then half the reason for opening the

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1159993406671952982006-10-04T17:34:00.000-04:002006-11-13T14:00:58.420-05:00

Publisher's Weekly debuted their list of the top ten bestselling comics and graphic novels this week (although the list includes only long form comic work). I believe that the titles are listed in order of units sold, but that is one of many assumptions about the list that we're forced to make because no methodology was offered. That's not necessarily a bad thing, as these sorts of general

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1158966557153990132006-09-22T19:01:00.000-04:002006-11-13T14:00:45.978-05:00

So the inevitable backlash to Civil War has begun in earnest with the unfortunate coupling of what was possibly the weakest issue of the series thus far coinciding with the longest wait and the anger caused by the delay. Personally I can't say I disagree with the negative sentiment on a story level (Brian Cronin is particularly insightful if equally brutal) but I think this issue had quite a

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1158076805537965382006-09-12T02:53:00.000-04:002006-11-13T14:00:45.122-05:00

All sorts of comic news out of Baltimore this weekend (including some fun Whedon news that I'll touch on later this week), most of which Tom Spurgeon sums up at The Comics Reporter. A few quick thoughts, though:*A deal between Marvel and the Dabel Brothers makes much more sense than I'd like to admit. While theoretically the Dabel's lincenses tap the mainstream book audience, in reality nearly

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1156882651444461582006-09-03T17:12:00.000-04:002006-11-13T14:00:21.914-05:00

With First Second's fall catalog about to hit shelves, I thought it was about time to offer my thoughts on their newest releases.First up is Gene Yang's American Born Chinese, which begins as three straightforward stories addressing Asian American stereotypes before a nice twist drives the message home.The book begins with what would seem to be an ancient fable with modern sensibilities about a

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1157073107435007062006-08-31T20:58:00.000-04:002006-11-13T14:00:22.280-05:00

This is the kind of thing that I really shouldn't get into but after a conversation with a few customers I couldn't keep my mouth shut.Those of you who read Rich Johnston's Lying in the Gutters column likely read about the printing error in the latest Gotham Central trade (it's about 3/4 down the page). Basically there's some missing dialogue which is annoying. Unfortunately, there's really no

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1156626428531811102006-08-29T14:55:00.000-04:002006-11-13T14:00:21.589-05:00

How important is it to have accurate sales statistics in the comics industry? I've been following the debate over at The Engine wherein the question is really being broken down into two parts.First, is it more of a benefit or detriment to have sales statistics available to the general public? Second, if some form of sales statistics are going to be available either through leaks or estimates,

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1156444500005210402006-08-24T14:29:00.000-04:002006-11-13T14:00:21.436-05:00

We've had a link to some photos of the store in the sidebar for months now, but we've had a few requests to post some new pictures, so I've done so here. Step right up and be the first to see how the store has filled out.Disclaimer:To be honest, I don't see much of a difference but I'm told there is and I'm here every day so I may not be the best judge (you can compare with these older pictures

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1155767470359098862006-08-22T19:11:00.000-04:002006-11-13T14:00:20.635-05:00

In general I simply don't post when I don't have much to say, which leads to unfortunate instances like the month of July when I averaged about 2 posts a week. I've pretty much had my say about full issue previews as a promotional tool. Still I thought it would be useful to at least point out DC's recent marketing and maybe offer a thought or two along the way.DC has made several interesting

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1156180946089308932006-08-21T15:54:00.000-04:002006-11-13T14:00:21.100-05:00

Cold Cut Distribution has revamped their discount structure so that all orders now fall under a flat discount rate ranging from 40% to 50% off based on publisher. For those who were unfamiliar with Cold Cut's previous discount structure, here's a brief summary:Discount was based on the amount of product ordered. Up to $500 retail was 40% off, up to $1000 was 45% off, up to $2000 was 50% off and

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1155675222162151472006-08-17T13:05:00.000-04:002006-11-13T14:00:19.675-05:00

As we get closer to the release date, which as far as I can determine is officially August 30th, the buzz continues to build on Lost Girls. I've now had several customers ask if we're planning to carry it (we are) and what my thoughts are. Not having read it, the only thing I can do is point to Neil Gaiman's review for Publisher's Weekly.If nothing else, it looks like we're going to get something

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1155744350231389792006-08-16T11:56:00.000-04:002006-11-13T14:00:19.847-05:00

I really thought I said everything I had to say about this yesterday, but I continue to see rants across the internet about how unprofessional and irresponsible "big name" creators are, as if that is the reason for this delay. The one single, solitary reason for Marvel's need to delay 2/3 of their publishing schedule for the rest of the year is poor planning.I think Graeme pretty much nails it

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1155672704688421742006-08-15T16:00:00.000-04:002006-11-13T14:00:19.527-05:00

I've made way too many comments about Marvel and DC recently but I can't really ignore this bit of info. Civil War #4, initially solicited for release tomorrow, then pushed back to 8/30, then 9/6 has now been rescheduled for 9/20, over a month after it's initial release date. Unlike DC, who had similar scheduling issues with Infinite Crisis, 2/3 of Marvel's titles tie in directly with the events

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1155577470019291182006-08-14T13:36:00.000-04:002006-11-13T14:00:19.336-05:00

Based on some early estimates and the claims of Mr. Millar, it seems that Marvel sold close to (if nor more than) 300,000 copies of Civil War #3 in the month of July and that number will almost certainly go several thousand more copies north once reorders are taken into account. I've offered my own cynical thoughts about these numbers in the past (here and here) but a couple weeks ago Brian

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1155487773256611912006-08-13T12:39:00.000-04:002006-11-13T14:00:18.957-05:00

As local creator Otis Frampton was nice enough to point out, Viper Comics offers previews of several of their books, ranging from great All Ages material like his own Oddly Normal and Emily Edison by David Hopkins and Brock Rizy to the slightly more grown up Dead@17 by Josh Howard. If you like what you see there, we have all of those in stock so stop and pick them up. And if you're lucky you may

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1155243303417306072006-08-10T16:44:00.000-04:002006-11-13T14:00:18.788-05:00

If I was feeling particularly cynical and angry today, I could make the case that DC and UGO posting the first five issues of 52 online for free is horrible for retailers. Of course, those of you who read the blog regularly could probably guess that I don't begin to believe that's the case. The reality is, there's no collection of 52 coming for at least 9 months and we haven't sold a copy of

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1154902412420712812006-08-07T16:50:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:59:50.654-05:00

A little over a week ago I mentioned that the Halo GN was going to be a one and done printing in hardcover. I wasn't sure this would be much of an issue since Marvel would likely go to a quick paperback version and copies of the hardcover should still be available for a few weeks. Well, I just tried to place a reorder and there are zero in stock at Diamond, Ingram or Baker & Taylor, the last two

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1153772529769825402006-08-04T15:47:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:59:49.630-05:00

Every once is a rare while a book, movie, play or comic comes along that seems to have been written specifically with you in mind. For me, the most recent example of this phenomenon is Jason's The Left Bank Gang.Since I first encountered mention of the Lost Generation in my early teens I was intrigued. How amazing would it have been to read about, much less see all of these phenomenal writers

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1154290248926918312006-07-30T16:03:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:59:50.219-05:00

Continuing our Halo kick, I heard the disturbing (to me) news this week that the Halo graphic novel was a one and done printing in the hardcover format. From all reports there was a sizeable overprint and reorders should still be available for at least a few more weeks (and there will likely be some available through bookstore distributors for awhile after that) but I can only draw two possible

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1153692150162042342006-07-26T15:55:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:59:49.228-05:00

It's not the fact that he does incredibly entertaining work in TV, film and comics.It's not the almost guaranteed weekly sale of an Astonishing X-Men trade or hardcover.It's his contributions to the hilarious first couple season's of Roseanne.It's not even my guilty pleasure love of the Buffy movie.No, its the fact that in the span of 45 minutes on Sunday we had two women (entirely new to

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1153763545483101512006-07-24T13:23:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:59:49.432-05:00

Two big and directly related stories in the world of comic retail that I haven't seen much mention of recently.First, DC has announced that as of their August solicitations (i.e. the Previews that arrives on Wednesday) they will be implementing an FOC (Final Order Cut-off) system similar to the one that Marvel has been using for several years now. This is a big step in the right direction in

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1152580980687509902006-07-10T21:11:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:58:59.827-05:00

Over at ICV2, Stephen Bennett has a regular column in which he advises retailers on how to improve their stores. While he has some nice thoughts, I wouldn't exactly call it progressive to push retailers to go out on a limb and carry books like Johnny the Homicidal Maniac and Asterix (although to be fair, he doesn't exactly call it progressive either). He speaks directly to stores that operate on

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1152233986999860372006-07-06T21:01:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:58:59.224-05:00

Despite the best efforts of Rich Johnston and Alan Moore and a helping hand from the BBC & the Great Ormond Street Hospital there doesn't seem to be much of a furor building for Lost Girls. From my (admittedly limited) vantage point, there seem to be two basic assumptions about the reception this collection will receive: either it's going to cause a huge stir because of its subject matter and

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1152134145156116162006-07-05T17:05:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:58:58.684-05:00

My last post provided a breakdown and thumbnail analysis of our sales breakdowns by department and graphic novel category for the last quarter and year to date.We're seen significant growth over the last three months in every area, but it was nice to see singles begin to catch up to graphic novel sales. We call ourselves The Graphic Novel Bookshop for a reason and anticipate that GN dollar sales

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1151879270334592002006-07-02T18:20:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:58:58.171-05:00

It being the midway point of the year, I've taken the time to do some sales analysis as a means of determining where we're succeeding and where we could use some improvement, as well as provide a bit of a behind the scenes idea of how we judge our progress. The first area I wanted to look at is a breakdown by departments and then by category within our graphic novel/trade department. As a quick

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1151619650761967892006-06-29T18:10:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:58:57.908-05:00

We all hate waiting. Noon appointment? Doctor didn't see you until 12:30, though, what makes his time so much more valuable (besides the medical degree and the possibility that she's making a diagnosis that could save or end someone's life)? We love the fast food, instant gratification, new episodes of Lost. We hate the line outside the restaurant, anything that delays our wish fulfillment and

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1151371078843690322006-06-26T21:02:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:58:57.658-05:00

So I'd seen quite a bit or trepidation regarding Eternals, from retailers regarding how well it would sell and from readers regarding how well it would read. Most of the concern stemmed from Gaiman's last Marvel book 1602, which has (somewhat retroactively) come to be considered something of a low point for Gaiman. From a retail shop perspective, I have no problem with 1602, particularly because

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1150932910350872052006-06-22T21:20:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:58:57.171-05:00

DC announced that they'll be releasing a $.25 issue of Fables #1 to coincide with the release of Fables: 1001 Nights in the fall. Now this is the kind of news I love to hear. There are some books, particularly from Vertigo, that sell well in trades but have such great first issues that they should really be kept in print if only to be used as promotional tools. James Sime wrote a piece a few

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1150558995676414702006-06-21T17:35:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:58:14.248-05:00

Continuing our theme of commenting on stories from ICV2, we have an interview with Jennifer Zatorski, Associate Publicity Director for Disney Publishing worldwide about their promotional efforts for former comic, now prose/graphic novel hybrid Abadazad. Abadazad had a HUGE presence at BookExpo and it's clearly a book that should be able to make some headway with young readers.Interestingly,

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1150751825779785812006-06-19T19:50:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:58:56.922-05:00

ICV2 released their monthly reports and analysis for May based on the Diamond indexes released last Friday. As I predicted in my last post, the three key items pointed out in these stories are based on massaged numbers. Without anything more than the most anecdotal sell through data, there's almost no way to have any idea if Civil War and 52 deserve those spots on the chart (see the comments from

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1150508224361875752006-06-16T21:14:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:58:13.955-05:00

Diamond put out their monthly sales index of the top 100 comics and graphic novels for May, numbers that I've been curious to see since May featured the beginning of two events and the finale of another. What we learn from looking at those charts is fairly dubious, but it does indicate a couple of things:#1- Marvel and DC are going to be able to brag that they've sold ridiculous numbers of comics

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1150247362857589542006-06-15T21:03:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:58:13.141-05:00

I'm going to modify my approach to this blog since my current rate of postings leaves quite a bit to be desired. I tend to ramble on at length about topics, something I rather enjoy but which takes quite a bit of time. While I will continue to do so, I really only have time for that length of post about once a week (as I'm sure you've all gathered by now). Instead of doing a Quick Hits post each

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1149960365476617672006-06-11T15:40:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:58:11.987-05:00

*Elks Run landed at Villard, an imprint of Random House last week (I have no idea who had the news first, so I'm linking to the creator's website). It's a nice success story, moving from a publisher that's gone out of business to a division of one of the biggest book publishers in the country, but it makes for an even more interesting example of the growth of comics in the mainstream. Not to blow

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1149881628092692602006-06-10T15:40:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:58:11.721-05:00

Those who frequent The Engine likely noticed a somewhat lengthy thread that began with a premise involving taking comics creators hostage in an effort to improve the quality of comics in general. Things quickly devolved from there until Ellis stepped in and ordered everyone to stop repeating themselves, leading to the best post I've seen over there in awhile (which was then topped the following

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1149448528573919692006-06-06T15:11:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:58:10.731-05:00

I mentioned Alison Bechdel's memoir graphic novel Fun Home during my BEA recap a couple of weeks ago and having now read it, I'm even more convinced that this is going to be a huge hit (Tom Spurgeon beat me to the punch on that assessment this morning). Comparisons to Persepolis are already being made, and in that both are memoir graphic novels by women featuring not dissimilar art styles, I can

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1149116219643429252006-06-04T12:20:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:58:09.888-05:00

*I was at a bit of a loss Friday when I checked Amazon.com's Graphic Novel bestseller charts. Five of the top ten spots were occupied by various volumes of Y: The Last Man for no obviously discernable reason. The Beat was nice enough to solve the mystery for me: apparently it's all NPR's fault. Seeing a quality book like Y get exposure is always nice and I'd be curious to see some Bookscan

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1149028107993437712006-06-01T18:10:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:58:09.368-05:00

As if to emphasize my recent posts, Mike Marts, editor of Marvel's X-Men comics, spoke to Publishers Weekly about the company's movie tie-ins.One thing that gets hammered home throughout the piece (either by Marts or by how he's quoted) is that Marvel tries to keep their monthly comics accessible to new readers -- which is both tough to believe and tough to believe is worthwhile when the latest

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1149027492982614552006-05-30T18:10:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:58:08.974-05:00

By far the most important element of selling anything is getting someone to take the time to notice and learn about whatever it is that you're selling. Our biggest roadblock at MacGuffin is getting people to know about and come through the door. Selling them a comic is cake compared to that. If someone never takes notice of the product, they can't ever become a consumer of that product.I've

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1148778272732979422006-05-28T17:43:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:58:08.196-05:00

I don't do much in the way of reviews at this blog since its set up as more of a nuts and bolts comic retailing site, but I reviewed X-Men: The Last Stand earlier for two reasons. The first was to get my own conflicted thoughts about the movie down on paper (so to speak). The second reason leads directly into this post: how do film adaptations benefit comic sales?As with anything in this industry

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1148755195356247922006-05-27T14:30:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:58:07.921-05:00

As a lifelong X-Men fan, I was of two minds while watching X-Men: The Last Stand. One part enjoyed seeing these actors once again embody these characters. If there's one thing that this trilogy has gotten right, it is casting. The other half of my brain, as a knowledgeable film fan, couldn't understand why the filmmakers were unwilling to rely on that strength. The movie sets itself on a

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1148424469685067522006-05-23T18:40:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:58:07.407-05:00

A few more random thoughts about BookExpo America:*I love the D&Q catalog, one big fold out poster featuring artwork from and descriptions of their 2006 graphic novel releases. While the format is a bit unorthodox, catalogs like this are pretty much invaluable when it comes to companies like D&Q, Fantagraphics and First Second since we don't order those through Diamond. They also give a much

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1148342389261368802006-05-22T19:50:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:58:07.081-05:00

The first thing I noticed at this year's BookExpo America were the name badges. Or, more specifically what was keeping those badges around people's necks. I attended BEA in D.C. on Sunday (unfortunately missing out on most of the best events on Saturday & Sunday) and on the block and half walk from the parking lot to the convention center, passed about 75 people who all had Abadazad lanyards

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1148164657176180492006-05-20T18:32:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:57:14.305-05:00

*Who needs Diamond, Baker & Taylor or even the publishers themselves when we have Amazon? Amazon pulled this the following day, but not before it came within a hair of passing the latest book featured on Oprah and The Da Vinci Code on the day the film opened. They then followed that up by offering Absolute Sandman (retail $99.99) for $14.99. Through Diamond Absolute Sandman would cost $65

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1147812467941049432006-05-18T14:20:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:57:13.861-05:00

Diamond calls it the F discount and when placing our "weekly" (sometimes twice a week) orders, it is the bane of my existence. F means 45% off of cover price and applies to all sorts of publishers that are popular at MacGuffin (Fantagraphics, AIT/PlanetLar, AdHouse, Top Shelf, and Scholastic's Graphix imprint to name a few). While I'm not a big fan of only a 45% discount for non-returnable

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1147818053342720712006-05-16T18:16:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:57:14.113-05:00

I have to give Image credit, they certainly try to get their books into readers hands. When we first opened (and when any store first opens for that matter) we received free shelf copies of several Image trade paperbacks, presumably on the theory that once we sold one, we would then reorder that title to sell more and Image would more than make up their cost. As it happens, we were already

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1147626692544526492006-05-14T13:04:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:57:13.441-05:00

Myopic retailers drive me nuts. I mentioned the other day the fact that many retailers have reacted poorly to Top Shelf's decision to sell Lost Girls signed by Moore and Gebbie direct to consumers via their website, viewing it as a supplier and theoretical partner turning into a competitor and "stealing" sales from the direct market stores that support that publisher the most. Nevermind the fact

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1147474061454082812006-05-12T18:41:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:57:13.216-05:00

The results of an incredibly informal poll recently indicated to me that MacGuffin is either on the right track in our approach to the industry or we've shot completely off the rails. This poll showed that we are in the extreme minority in our use of book wholesalers like Baker & Taylor and Ingram as a significant inventory resource.It's not that using book wholesalers is particularly uncommon

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1146252715735260222006-05-09T17:31:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:57:11.119-05:00

Tomorrow MacGuffin will receive the Wizard Magazine 2006 Mega Movie Collector's Edition, a title we did not order because it was not announced until two weeks ago. Generally in this situation, the product is included in the Diamond Dateline, a weekly newsletter that all retailers receive from Diamond updating product information. This is how we learned how to order the Superman/Batman FCBD book

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1147120069616173582006-05-08T16:22:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:57:12.718-05:00

Now that Free Comic Book Day has passed and I've been able to get some sleep, time for a few thoughts on the event as a whole:*By far the best promotion for the event was our school contest -- the schools that sent in the most students receive $150 in graphic novels for their library. At least half of our visitors signed in as part of the contest, nearly all of whom were unfamiliar.*The total

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1146252831779387742006-05-04T21:05:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:57:11.364-05:00

In case you hadn't heard, Saturday is Free Comic Book Day, a first for us here at MacGuffin. You may recall that I spent quite a bit of time breaking down how we had ordered books for FCBD (part 1, part 2). Well, those books are ready to be picked up on Saturday starting at 11:00 in the a.m. and running until roughly 9:00 that evening. As a refresher, we'll have the following available (while

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1146701511084431892006-05-03T20:07:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:57:11.893-05:00

*Johanna Draper Carlson had some thoughts on Bob Wayne's interview with Newsarama and puts them in the context of the great format debate. As I've said, in general I believe that form should follow content except in special circumstances, but Marvel and particularly DC seem to have decided that they're going to make a push back to the periodical nature of comics. Which of course leads back into "

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1145660352904853062006-05-01T19:28:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:56:26.052-05:00

In honor of their launch tomorrow, our supersized all things First Second Post:The Books:A.L.I.E.E.E.N.Deogratias: A Tale of RwandaThe Fate of the ArtistThe Lost ColonySardine in Outer SpaceVampire LovesThe Previews:First Second @ The BeatFirst Second @ Comics.212.netFirst Second @ Feeding ChangeFirst Second @ ICV2First Second @ MacGuffinFirst Second @ Panels & Pixels Part 1First Second @ Panels

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1146073661423281242006-04-28T15:16:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:57:10.656-05:00

Just about everyone's read the Wired column making the rounds the past few days (if not, go Marvel and Image websites, as well as in the form of free previews on sites like Newsarama. But clearly there needs to be a significant effort by both Marvel and DC to create a pay per download model ala iTunes (and if one has success with any sort of digital comics model, the other will undoubtedly follow

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1145980476436185742006-04-26T18:40:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:57:10.417-05:00

Brian Hibbs offered his latest Tilting at Windmills column over at Newsarama last week and it turned out to be a fairly scathing, apparently drug induced attack on DC's approach to their One Year later event, particularly with respect to print runs. It's not his best work (which Hibbs admits up front) and it contains at least one factually incorrect statement regarding Marvel's FOC program (

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1145660577640778392006-04-25T14:45:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:56:26.617-05:00

Two of my comic shop pet peeves came up in the last few days and are actually closely related to one another: Return policies and Reading policies. It seems that the majority of direct market comic shops fall into one of two completely opposite camps regarding return policies while a much smaller minority try to find a middle ground between the two. Policy #1 is, sorry you're out of luck, all

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1145660401916751282006-04-23T17:15:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:56:26.339-05:00

*It finally seems to be sinking in that the best advertising is word of mouth advertising and the best way to create that is by giving away free stuff. First, there's Free Comic Book Day. As great as the whole event is, by far the best element of it is the chance for retailers to get promotional product at a low cost that they can then afford to give away to create word of mouth about both

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1145648597030831502006-04-21T15:36:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:56:25.697-05:00

Over the last couple of weeks I was able to read and review five of First Second's six spring releases and to varying degrees I've enjoyed and appreciated them all. The level of planning, care and capital that went into this launch is pretty awe inspiring and will hopefully pay large dividends for the industry critically and financially.One example of just how committed and innovative First

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1145551300553861042006-04-20T12:36:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:56:25.096-05:00

I have no idea what this means (although many, many other people seem to think that they do) but Diamond went from just over 10,000 copies of Wolverine Origins #1 in stock on Sunday to sold out yesterday afternoon (expect the press release once another variant cover has been created). I've heard through the grapevine that in store sales have been very strong which was what I anticipated, what

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1145315058000482682006-04-17T18:58:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:56:24.289-05:00

*Mike Sterling ran down some simple steps for Free Comic Book Day that literally every store in the country that sells comics should be doing as a minimum. With FCBD hitting its 5th anniversary, it is beginning to to come under a bit of criticism for either a) having run its course or b) being ineffective from the beginning. Exactly what effect the event has had on an industry wide scale is

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1145042543500029302006-04-14T15:18:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:56:23.662-05:00

Whether it's film, books, comics, music or any form of art/entertainment, as my anticipation builds expectations follow suit. What inevitably follows is disappointment, either in the quality of the work itself or in my decision to learn as much as possible about the work before seeing/reading/listening to is myself. Generally I manage to spoil an otherwise perfectly decent bit of art by expecting

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1144955488287480552006-04-13T15:02:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:56:23.382-05:00

Continuing our tour of First Second's spring releases we come to Deogratias: A Tale of Rwanda. Jean-Philippe Stassen creates a small, brutal story that resonates far beyond its pages. The titular character, Deogratias, grows from a boy to a man over the course of the story, yet when we meet him at his oldest, he seems to have regressed to the mentality of a child (or animal). Through a series of

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1144703917702190462006-04-11T16:52:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:56:22.757-05:00

The other day I claimed that I was not going to go on a diatribe about my distaste for the practice of publishing variant covers, particularly as an ordering incentive. Apparently I was wrong.We do not carry variant covers unless it's unavoidable. In the case of Infinite Crisis, it is not a matter of choice. Yet, I know for a fact that it has increased our sales by at least 25% because several

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1144342064966740762006-04-10T16:12:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:56:21.554-05:00

I've spent several posts extolling the seeming virtues of First Second, and that trend will continue this week with reviews of most of the titles that comprise their initial launch. Before getting into that, though, I got a call from their marketing coordinator last week and I want to quote something Chris Butcher said after meeting a couple members of the First Second staff at NYCC "These guys

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1144535113252356352006-04-08T18:18:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:56:21.815-05:00

*I almost launched into a longwinded diatribe about how much I hate variant covers, including our reasoning for not carrying them at MacGuffin unless its unavoidable (Infinite Crisis and second printing variants being the obvious cases). Fortunately I wasn't able to get past the flinging bile at the keyboard phase and into the shaping into semi-coherent thoughts phase this week because a) I'd

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1144342030789844362006-04-06T13:10:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:56:21.249-05:00

The philosophy at MacGuffin is that any comic single over a year old (and less than say 25) that has been reprinted as part of a collection is dead money. Even if it hasn't been reprinted it is pretty much dead money. We are big proponents of comics as entertainment rather than collectible and in that context the back issue has a fairly select market. Ten years ago I was scouring back issue bins

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1144195248856910092006-04-04T19:55:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:56:20.922-05:00

The question of back issues has begun to rear it's less than attractive head. We're not a back issue store. That's not to say that we have none, rather we have only as many as can fit on the relatively thin shelves behind the most recent issue (i.e 4 or 5). This pretty much serves the purpose we have for it, namely that if someone picks up issue 27 of The Walking Dead on a whim, realizes how

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1144098023588529622006-04-03T16:53:00.000-04:002006-11-13T13:56:20.639-05:00

Today has been earmarked by me as a day for following up on previous posts (in the grand tradition of your least favorite daytime talk shows).First Second, by virtue of their name alone, gets the treatment first. Over at Panels & Pixels we get another quick rundown of first impressions of the first wave of releases (keep reading, its broken up into 2 posts) and the promise of future reviews (to

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1143927799993454642006-04-01T16:40:00.000-05:002006-11-13T13:56:19.408-05:00

*It's been covered about as extensively as something on a private forum can be, but if you missed it, our colleague, RIOT's Jason Richards, had a falling out with several other retailers at the CBIA forum. The conflict itself was sparked by a misunderstanding but was really based on a clash of personalities (and not just a little based on concepts of what a comic shop should be). As with any

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1143831232206907222006-03-31T13:50:00.000-05:002006-11-13T13:56:17.665-05:00

My initial reaction to The Lost Colony by Grady Klein was a bit of a mess. Not that the book is a bit of a mess, but I wasn't sure what I thought of it overall, or even about some of the parts. Which may be part of the intention here. It's the story of a secret island presumably in the United States sometime in the mid-1800's. The island is essentially a world (or at least a country) unto itself,

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1143676136833596532006-03-29T18:17:00.000-05:002006-11-13T13:56:17.393-05:00

Wednesdays tend to be difficult for blogging, mainly because I get busy doing other things and therefore spend less time letting my brain kick out whatever thoughts may actually congeal into a semi-coherent post. Last Wednesday was an exception since we did almost zero business and I was particularly annoyed by Diamond, so not much thought was necessary.In general, however, the day is well past

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1143580923739988392006-03-28T16:20:00.000-05:002006-11-13T13:56:17.089-05:00

I spent several posts running through some small publishers and discussion what they tend to right and or wrong from our perspective but today I want to look at a publisher that has yet to release a single book but has already done a solid job of positioning themselves in this market, namely First Second (or :01 as they have cleverly branded themselves).First, I do want to point out that First

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1143499386803973132006-03-27T17:40:00.000-05:002006-11-13T13:56:16.756-05:00

If you take a look at the sidebar you'll notice that we've added the ability to search our inventory (no singles for now) as well as the opportunity to browse by category. As of now all that is listed is title and price, but we hope to provide more information on each title in the future (similar to how the arriving this week pages work).There are a few problems with the system (i.e. many of the

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1143327737697458942006-03-25T17:56:00.000-05:002006-11-13T13:55:09.069-05:00

It's not "Do you have V for Vendetta" (while ignoring the nice display table. Nor is it "What's this whole Infinite Crisis thing?" Nor even, "why do comics cost so much?" No, by far the most asked question at MacGuffin is, "how's business?"This is a difficult question for me to answer, not because I'm concerned about divulging "private" information, but because it's a question that immediately

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1143229113187977632006-03-24T14:03:00.000-05:002006-11-13T13:55:08.928-05:00

*Word on the street is that DC's excellent artist spotlight Solo has been cancelled as of issue #12. Rich Johnston pointed this out Monday, though he seemed to be under the impression that the series was ending immediately. We'll have to see, but hopefully the work will eventually be collected in some form of archive format whether its a trade a hardcover or whatever because there was some

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1143070053635785302006-03-22T18:11:00.000-05:002006-11-13T13:54:48.355-05:00

Last week we received zero of the copies we ordered of Superman #650. We were invoiced for them and have now paid for them, but didn't get them when we were supposed to. Not entirely uncommon, since we're shorted several comics on a weekly basis. Usually, however, that's for a title in fairly limited demand, say Silent Hill or Hatter M. Unfortunately this time we were talking about a title with

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1142991841293497372006-03-21T20:39:00.000-05:002006-11-13T13:54:48.173-05:00

We're making a few upgrades to the site so there won't be a whole lot of commentary over the next couple of days, but I will still be checking in with some thoughts and updates on changes we've made.The first improvement to be implemented is the additional of a list of titles we are scheduled to receive this week as well as information on those titles. Simply click on Arriving Wednesday 3/22/06

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1142900824634519282006-03-20T19:20:00.000-05:002006-11-13T13:54:47.772-05:00

I've become a bit depressed watching some of the smartest people in the industry argue over why it's not good enough. There's this incredibly human need to understand why things are the way they are, and when things aren't how we want them to be, to decide who is to blame. There are creators, publishers, executives, distributors, retailers, readers and passersby who like comics the way they are.

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1142794705910178482006-03-19T14:05:00.000-05:002006-11-13T13:54:47.554-05:00

The tour continues:Oni Press does a nice job of balancing genre books with what I will call literary works. They've put out almost an entire line's worth of noir/crime fiction, though usually with a twist (The Long Haul is probably my personal favorite of these). They also publish the terrific (if erratically published) Queen & Country, Capote in Kansas, and they're currently putting out Brian

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1142636784438783672006-03-17T17:59:00.000-05:002006-11-13T13:54:47.345-05:00

As I'm sure you've noted (since every site I've been to today has mentioned it) Brian Hibbs has a new Tilting at Windmills up at Newsarama. Really good stuff that relates (if somewhat tangentially) to what I've been talking about recently, the back half of Previews. Too many small publishers see Marvel & DC as their competition when, in reality those two companies are only a small part of the

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1142548698025809332006-03-16T17:29:00.000-05:002006-11-13T13:54:47.158-05:00

Yesterday was MacGuffin's best Wednesday to date and the first that felt close to what we were expecting from a Wednesday with a couple of regulars coming in early and a few new customers wandering in as well. A good sign and things are at least still trending in the right direction. Now back to the countdown.We like Drawn & Quarterly at MacGuffin, based on their willingness to publish high

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1142369698239081972006-03-14T15:51:00.000-05:002006-11-13T13:54:46.994-05:00

Ever notice how many comic publishers company name start with A or B? Trying to get as close to the front as possible I suspect (can't imagine why Amaze Ink/SLG isn't listed as SLG/Amaze Ink later in the catalog). But back to our regularly scheduled post:BOOM! Studios seems to have set itself up with some quality titles without straining the limits of their line. Carrying titles from Giffen and

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1142268336541001362006-03-13T11:11:00.000-05:002006-11-13T13:54:46.808-05:00

We interrupt our regularly scheduled "Best of the Rest" segment to bring you a story about one of those best creators/titles:Tom Beland announced via press release today that his top notch comic True Story Swear to God is moving to Image. Congratulations to him, he makes it pretty clear in the press release that he's excited about the move and the decreased workload it should provide (which he

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16826831.post-1142116145887972182006-03-11T17:22:00.000-05:002006-11-13T13:54:46.654-05:00

For the purposes of the next several posts, we're going to consider any comic publisher besides Marvel, DC, Dark Horse & Image as small publishers. I've already talked about Marvel and DC enough and I'll probably go into some depth on Dark Horse and Image at the end of this, but for now we're moving beyond them.Going roughly alphabetically we come to several publishers right up front that we

Sam Hobarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17194106036276210697noreply@blogger.com0