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Despite Slowdown, Comics Retailers are Optimistic

Despite the economic downturn and increasingly selective buying by consumers, many independent comics retailers around the country are cautiously optimistic after weathering a tough retail period at the end of the year. In an informal phone survey of comics shop retailers across the country (and one general bookstore), some said they had been forced to layoff staff or cutback staff hours in order to survive. Others said they were proceeding with caution, mirroring their customers by being more careful about what they stock. Despite the tough times, the economy seems to affect different parts of the country in different ways and while some stores report drops in sales since the fall of last year, others claim they remain generally unaffected by the bad economy.

Jeff Ayers, manager of Forbidden Planet in New York City, said, generally December was a strong month for sales at his store. But this year was different. He noticed "a last minute rush of shopping a week and a half before Christmas," after a slowdown earlier in the month. "People were reserving judgment and making more informed buying choices," Ayers explained. Chris Rosa, manager of Meltdown Comics in Los Angeles, also noticed a similar pattern. "Christmas shoppers took longer to start," he said. "They have been steadily packed in the past, but this year, two weeks before Christmas, we started to see gift buying."

Tales of Wonder Launches Remainder House

The ten-year-old online retailer of graphic novels is setting up a separate remainder operation just for graphic novels.

Comics Publishers Enter the Kitchen

A growing number of publishers are exploring manga that take place in the kitchen.

A New Age Of Marvels

Kurt Busiek discusses his long-awaited follow up to Marvels, Marvels: Eye of the Camera.
more on comics
In this exclusive 8-page preview of Ace-Face: The Mod with the Metal Arms, a man in modern day Brooklyn finds himself unable to confront a group of loud neighborhood toughs, while his father—a British superhero from the 60s with bionic arms—battles a foe in flashbacks. Written and drawn by Freddie and Me creator Mike Dawson, the Ace-Face graphic novel is due out in April from Adhouse Books.
Click above for the full preview.
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Matt Thorn Returns to Translation

In 1988, while Matt Thorn was taking a class at Kansai University, a classmate lent him Moto Hagio’s manga The Heart of Thomas. "That was a life-changing experience for me," he said. "The biggest shock to me was that it made me cry. I mean really cry. I had never imagined that a comic could do that." That launched Thorn on a multifaceted career as a manga translator and scholar. As a translator for Viz in the 1990s, he witnessed the very beginning of the U.S. manga boom.

Funny Misshapen Body: A Memoir
JEFFREY BROWN. Touchstone, $15 paper (320p) ISBN 978-1-4165-4947-5

Previous books by Brown (Clumsy; Little Things) have explored his romantic life and eventual progression to a steady relationship and fatherhood in his trademarked slice-of-life style, leavened with awkward, self-deprecating humor. His latest explains how he began making comics, with each chapter focusing on a topic or event leading up to Brown’s early comics, with many of the episodes overlapping and out of order chronologically. As Brown explains in the epilogue, "I try to arrange stories to express the idea of figuring things out," leading to some meandering at times. Painful college art critiques, health problems (Crohn’s disease), forays into substance abuse and a stint working in a wooden-shoe factory make up the bulk of the events, but Brown doesn’t stay long enough on any one topic to get tiresome. The art is simple and crude at times, but has a comic strip’s direct appeal—Brown’s facial expressions are exaggerated, but make him likable. While some may find this extended trip to one cartoonist’s past egotistical, Brown is still an engaging companion on the journey. (Apr.)
see all reviews


"Unfortunately, the current economic environment that we are in right now is forcing our hand in this matter and we're testing out different options across the board to try to have a variety of product at different pricing. That's why we haven't gone to $3.99 across the board on everything. We'll see what works over the coming months, but trust me, we're very aware of how tough it is out there."

- Joe Quesada on comic pricing and the recession in My Cup O' Joe.


February 18, 2009
  • Atomic Robo Vol. 2 (Red 5)
  • Batman and the Outsiders: The Snare (DC)
  • Captain Britain and MI: 13 Vol. 1: Secret Invasion (Marvel)
  • Dorothea Vol. 4 (CMX)
  • Dragon Ball Z Viz Big Edition Vol 4 (Viz)
  • Garth Ennis' Battlefields: Night Witches (Dynamite)
  • Johnny Boo Vol 2 Twinkle Power (Top Shelf)
  • Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys Vol. 1 (Viz)
  • Pluto: Urasawa X Tezuka Vol. 1 (Viz)
  • Secret Invasion: Front Line (Marvel)


  • Weidenbaum to Leave Viz Media
  • Glyph Award Nominees Announced
  • Stumptown Awards Call for Nominations
  • Static Returns to Comics
  • Marvel Offers Lincoln, Obama Digital Comics
  • SLG Publishing Seminar
  • Bluewater Comics Go Green
  • This Week @ The Beat


PW Comics Week
Editors: Calvin Reid and Heidi MacDonald
Contributing Editor: Douglas Wolk
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