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Now, I'm not one to use this space as my personal
sounding board to bitch and moan about stuff (At least, not
outside the world of the X-Books. That stuff is fair game for
complaints here.), but this month I just had a horrible
experience at a comic store that affected this month's rant
somewhat, and this must simply be shared with all, especially
those thinking of visiting the store. And I suppose, they kept
me from buying X-Statix, so this can remain tangentially on
topic.
Let's start off with a little background info on myself.
I'm cursed with vision issues, and thus am unable to supply
my own transportation to places, and a little over a year ago,
all the comic stores in the area disappeared. The nearest one
to me now, Earth Prime Comics, is just a little over two hours
away.
Wednesday, January 29th, was my latest birthday. As
most folks reading this know by now, Wednesday is New
Comics Day in the United States, and I thought it would be
neat to go to an actual comic store for the day, and get the
new books, prompted by my anticipation of a new CrossGen
Comics title, Brath, which was coming out that same day.
So, I queried my good friend John about this little
venture, and everything was cool with him, and he had the day
off. He just had to be home by 6PM for some family things. I
call up the store, find out if they're open on Wednesday, ask
for their hours (12-6), and if they get new books on
Wednesdays (They do).
So far, so good, right?
We leave at roughly ten in the morning, to get there
around 12:30 or so, after running a few errands, grabbing
coffee, and a bite to eat. We get there more or less when we
planned, and find the place quite easily. We didn't hit a
moose, or black ice, or a snow bank, no encounters with the
police, not a single incident. I should have known it was
going to easy.
John and I enter the store, and poke around first, then I
ask the guy at the counter, where the new books are. "Not up
yet," is his brief reply, barely looking up at me. After further
inquiring, he says they'll be up around three.
This is bothersome, but not a huge deal. That still
gives us enough time to get back in time for John's stuff, and
Burlington is our largest city, so there's ample stuff to do to
kill time.
We hit the mall and wander around, and return to the
store around quarter 'til three. Poke around a bit, and
discover the books still aren't on the shelves. Yet, they've
been there all this time, and even before I was there. After I
learn this, I begin getting annoyed, and am informed that
they're waiting for someone from the store upstairs who has
to 'approve' of them opening the comics and putting them on
the shelves. This person was called roughly an hour before I
had returned.
Another fifteen minutes pass, and this person finally
decided to move her lazy butt down the stairs to enable the
comic store to do it's true Wednesday business. They BS a
bit, and start looking at some of the boxes on the floor, and
decide that now is a good time to clear out some of these
other boxes sitting around (There was quite a few!) and make
some room. I catch snippets of conversation clueing me in
that some of these are from '99 and later.
'Clearing floor space' and 'idle chatter' are things that
should happen when you have free time, or while working for
the chatter, so you can actually get things done in a timely
fashion, not when there are roughly eight people in your store
mulling about and watching you, waiting for what they've
come for. These people working at the store, and I of course
use this term very loosely, seem unable to chat and do their
jobs at the same time.
It took them half an hour to get through ONE box of
the comics from that day, out of eight. Most comic stores I've
been to can get through their entire shipment in this amount of
time, and actually be making money. Of course, most comic
stores I've been to don't leave their comics sitting on the floor
for almost four hours taunting the customers.
By this point, all my time had been taken up, John was
getting understandably edgy, and they had stopped working on
comics, and were back to chatting amongst themselves again.
So, to make a long story not quite as long, I left. Without
giving these people a single dime from my pocket. Not like
they seemed to be in a mood to take the five bucks for the two
comics I wanted that were on the shelves by this point. They
were too busy discussing the newest Previews.
And thus, my birthday ended up being eight hours of
wasted effort, with nothing to show for it but my travel-mug
of coffee. I suppose it wasn't a total loss, in that sense.
As we drove back, it occurred to me that this attitude,
and variations of it, are one of the problems with a lot of
comic stores: the treatment of their customers as little more
than criminals half the time, and the other half as nothing but
giant wallets that will drop cash on the table. Most any other
reputable business treats the customers with respect, a smile is
nice but not required, and the folks coming into your store
aren't all criminals, cut back on the paranoia. No one wants
to shop in a negative environment, and that must affect the
steady clientele.
Now, how does this affect the column this month?
Well, I had planned to start doing occasional
recommendations of what I feel are good comics outside of
the world of X for folks to check out, as an alternative, and to
broaden your horizons. At least, if they're non-Marvel comics
being recommended. My first suggestion was going to be the
brand new Brath. Everything I've heard about the book still
leads me to recommending it, but not as strongly as I would
have likely done after reading a copy. And since it's the first
issue, Brath Prequel, actually, and has a money-back
guarantee if you don't like it, I still urge you to go out and
pick up a copy. You've got nothing to lose. And if you could
grab me a copy as well, I'll be your friend . . .
And if you're in the Burlington area, and looking for
comics, avoid Earth Prime Comics, especially on
Wednesdays, and if you want new comics, but I wouldn't give
them money either way.
Next month, our usual program should resume
broadcast, now that I've had a chance to blow off a lot of
steam. See you then!
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