I think that my feelings and experiences mirror the typical comics fan of the United States. In my travels in real life and in cyberspace, I have met fans of American comics from all over the world. I thought I was a dedicated comics fan, but these folks and the lengths they go to for their hobby puts me to shame.
The comics we get this week, Australians have to wait two weeks for. It used to be only a week delay, but there is a political push in Australia to scrutinize everything that may be detrimental to Australian values. What that translates into is that Australian Customs gets to read a lot of American comic books while Australian comics fans hold their breath and wonder if any book is going to be held back. What is amusing to me and to my Australian friends is that American values and Australian values arent all that different, therefore every American comic has reached the comic specialty stores thus far. The only comic that didnt make it into the Australian newsstand distribution was a Spawn comic that dealt with child molestation. Adult comics do make it into Australia, but they are sold in opaque bags. Back issues are also sold in bags, and one has to buy them without opening the book and looking at them. Australian comic bags are not resealable. American comic choices are limited to DC, Marvel, some Image books and some of the adult titles. If one wants to attend a comics convention in Australia, Sydney usually has a convention once or twice a year. One has to have a lot of patience to collect American comics in Australia.
Great Britain has a large and varied comics scene. American comics are also imported into Great Britain. There are large comics stores in midtown London that carry a wide variety of books. Most of these comics are current comics, however. According to my British friends, back issues of American comics are almost impossible to find. This even extends to back issues of books that are distributed by Marvel UK. I found out why, though, thanks to another friend. It seems that the British load unsold American comic books onto ships as ballast and ship them off to India.
Once our American comics reach India, distributors buy them and sell them to various shops and newsstands throughout the country. If reading comics in Australia requires patience, then reading comics in India requires a certain dogged sense of adventure. One can never be a letterhack in India because it takes three months for our comics to arrive there. Distribution is spotty, too. One has to drive or walk to a whole variety of places to find the comics one wants, an affair lasting hours, if not days. Rumor of a wanted comic in a far away place is enough to send Indian comic fans on a road trip. My Indian friend thought he had solved all of his distribution problems when he made arrangements to buy all of his comics from the local comics distributor. He did start getting issues of Teen Titans and The Legion of Superheroes in consecutive numbers. However, none of the Annuals ever made it into India and it was very frustrating when an annual featured a conclusion to a storyline. Today my Indian friend lives in America, and is always thrilled to find a comic featuring a storyline conclusion he has been waiting to read for fifteen years.
U.S. comic distribution in continental Europe is uneven. Europe has a lot of native creators and produces many kinds of comics and graphic literature. Still, American superhero books are popular in Sweden. They get Superman and Batman reprints only. There are regular book fairs in Sweden, and comics are always included in the fairs. American superhero creators always draw big crowds when they attend the bookfairs. According to my friend in Sweden, more American creators attend the book fairs than their European counterparts.
If I have felt it was tough to collect certain comics here in the US, my experiences are nothing compared to some of the ordeals my friends in other parts of the world endure. I have an aboriginal boomerang made of Eucalyptus hanging in my living room. It was sent to me in gratitude by a comics reading friend in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. The supreme act of kindness that I performed? I sent him the silver age Justice League of America #22. That boomerang serves as reminder of how good I have it when I start to feel pouty about what comics didnt arrive in my pull box. Having comic reading friends from all over the world gives me perspective on how easy it is for me to find and read comics.
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