"So You Want To Be A Comic Book Retailer...?" panel from Fan Expo San Francisco 11/26/2022

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Today at Fan Expo in San Francisco we did a retailer panel.

DESCRIPTION: Comics are the spine of modern pop culture, and it's a fantasy of many to own their own comic book store. But what is the reality of running your own business in the currently fast-changing market? Spoiler: our panel wakes up excited every morning! Meet some of the best comic shop owners of the Bay Area: Anna Warren of Illusive Comics & Games (Santa Clara), Eitan Manhoff of Cape and Cowl Comics (Oakland), Leah Morett of Sour Cherry Comics (San Francisco), and Leef Smith of Mission: Comics & Art (San Francisco), in a panel moderated by me, Brian Hibbs of Comix Experience (San Francisco) — you’re already at our website! You'll learn what thrills this diverse group of owners, as well as the common sets of challenges and how they're being faced to build the comics industry of the future!

Here is a audio recording (of modest quality) of the panel for those of you that could be interested.

Tilting at Windmills #282

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Its been a very long time since I’ve written a TILTING AT WINDMILLS, and you probably only care if you care about the hows and whys of how the comics market functions — but if you’re a process junkie like me, this will be a sold read for you. https://www.comicsbeat.com/tilting-at-windmills-282-the-end-days-of-dc-comics/

A few new TILTING AT WINDMILLS for your pleasure!

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I just realized I forgot to link to these recent columns published at the Beat — I’ve been writing about retailing comics for the better part of three decades, and here are the most recent additions!

TILTING #275: Discussing how the “Direct Market” is changing in light of more graphic novels being distributed by “real book” distributors. Read it here!

TILTING #276: Why weekly-produced periodical comics really suck — even when they succeed! Read it here!