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Alright, let's get on with the show. Weeding down upon the underworld to smash gangland, come a friend of the unfortunate enemy of criminal. In a serious, powerful character, a problem to the police, but a crusade of a law. Welcome to the show, everybody.
Hi, I'm Sal. And I'm Joel. This is Elsworld's Exchange, a show where you take a comic, ideal or concept from the geek world at large, and then just kind of hash it out for about an hour. You know, what are our thoughts on these goings on of the day?
Adam Asmow came back and was like, you know. It was just, oh, that's a good one. So, thank you, sir. I appreciate the effort.
So, what was it? Yeah, so the concept that we're doing here today is we were talking a little bit about what we want to talk about today. This show is a well-oiled machine, and we have a lot of planning to do. Oh, yeah.
But one of the ideas that we had was this concept that came out recently. There's this dude in Chicago who is giving away his comic book store. Now, I sent you a link to the main thread or the main website about it. But to give you a little bit of a rundown, it's not quite as cut and dry as all that.
It's more like, so there's this lawyer who runs a comic book store on the side in Illinois, right outside of Chicago, and he's clearly planning on closing the store. And what he wants to do is instead of being like, I got a close shot, that's it. Superficially what he's saying is, why not give it to someone who wants to run a comic book store? Hey, whole thing is all just ready to go.
Turnkey operation. Oh, yeah. So instead of being like, you know, I'll just give you a friend or whatever he decided to hold, like a contest kind of deal. So it's like, you can win a raffle and get my comic book store.
It's not like a golden ticket. Exactly. All you have to do to win is you got to spend $25 to submit a essay. And your essay is about why you should own a comic book store.
And eventually he will select a winner, and then so long as you fill out all the paperwork, move to Chicago, work out all the deals with all the established current companies that are in place. Oh, you also have to pay rent, of course, on the particular store, and you can't leave or move. All these different weirdo provisions that completely suck. So, but it was not as advertised, obviously.
As you can probably imagine, right? Like, who's just going to give you a comic book store? What's that old saying? If it's too good to be true, it's because it probably is.
Exactly. Of course, there's a lot of other things going on with that. He's a self published comic book creator. He wanted to get a lot of fresh eyes on his material and all sorts of other blah, blah, blah.
Looking for free promo. That's why you're not going to find it. You can find it on the link in the description below. You can find it, just Google it.
Google's Chicago comic shop giveaway and you will find it. But I saw a lot of hilarious chatter about people being like, oh cool, you yourself can own a dying comic book store in a dwindling industry with ungrateful fans. Can I also win like a newspaper printer while I'm at it? Right, exactly.
Like, oh man, you yourself can win a fancy schmancy typewriter. It'll work terrific. That being said, it'll go great with my BCR repair job. Right.
Good deep dive there. So from the concept of giving away a comic book store, I thought, what would it be fun as a thought exercise to be like, what would you do if you not if you won this? But more like if you rubbed a lamp and a terrible looking CG blue genie came out that looked weirdly like Will Smith. And after all the hilarious like who's and naz he gave you and after welcome you to earth, he would say, what do you want?
And you'd have to also be like, I want to have a comic book store. And it has to be turn key. Basically, what if somebody handed you a comic book store? Right.
Just like you have this comic book store. And all the convenience that might be associated with it, it's nearby, you know, you know them. You have the finance to be able to support it. But more like what would you do?
You know, your local comic book store is going to have business in the guys like you're good luck. Figure it out. Just take it. Just take it.
Get this thing the hell out of here. By the way, so this is the premise and the idea is like what would you do with your own comic store. And that would be fun because like we have our own love affairs with comic shops, but we are also we're digital exclusive people. We know all about the digital market.
We ourselves on a previous show, we're talking about how important the digital market is and how digital exclusive books are a really big thing. So obviously we've got a lot of different ideas and I'd love to just explore those. Even if we don't, even if they're half baked to be fun to just hash them out. Oh yeah.
But before we bake ideas are the most fun. That's right. Yeah, that's what the show is half baked all by itself. In the live show, we have this thing called Super Chats where people submit questions to us while the show is going on.
We take those super chats, we answer them periodically throughout the show. It helps us keep a roof over our heads or in that case a studio that I can't get to in the snow. It's a big, big help and that's why we do it. But we encourage you if you want to be participating in the show live to use the Super Chats.
Like these fine people did just now. Thank you. I've never wanted to look like Jack Black. So I appreciate the compliment.
Mr. Abato. He's so Jack Black now with his big bushy beard. You know, YouTube keeps thinking I want to watch it which is like incorrect.
That's an assumption that they did not need to make. I'm not interested in his like not gamer channel that is unscentable. It's cute. But I don't care about Jack Black.
I didn't see Kung Fu Panda 3 and that's pretty much all I need to say about that. I didn't mean it wasn't worth it. We saw Kung Fu Panda 2 the other day actually and we were like, this is pretty dope. It is.
And then it's like, and I go, and that third one looked like frickin ass. Boy was it. It's amazing that you can, what is that thing when the mid-day? I love your trilogy as the best one.
Terminator. Godfather. So sometimes that happens. You just overstay your welcome.
Mr. Abato says, my idea only sell DC Comics in Archie. Good luck. I mean like, it's an idea.
And hey listen, like DC would support you. Oh yeah. Jay, Joseph Freischer says, those new Batman and the Emmys series action figures make me wonder what are both of your thoughts on a revival series whether that's in the form of a TV show or straight to DVD movie or comic. Batman and the Emmys series comic has worked, would work.
I think that's the easiest, quickest and cheapest and probably most fan rewarding version you could go with. Joel? Yeah, I mean, again, we talked about how important digital comics are. If they came out tomorrow and they're like, hey, we got a bunch of people involved from the original Batman and the animated series.
It's going to be digital and you know, it's going to be like every week now you're going to get a new one. For a reasonable price. I'd be like, I'm signing up. I will be the first in line.
Seriously. So Eric Myers is issue 420, adult smoking lounge and comic library, revenue is mostly membership, but have pull lists for anyone who wants them. You stole my idea. That was going to be my best.
Alright. Well, well, I'm sure we can flesh it out. Rescue 911 says not in the office today? No, it's snowing and I'm stuck.
I would have had to have dug myself out, drive through the snow, which admittedly it's only a mile or so away from my house, but then I'd be stuck at the studio. I was supposed to stuck here. It would not be. Brevin Campbell says, make a good online comic shop, big smiley face.
You read my mind, my friend. And Joshua Wright says, love you guys as always. Few stories, last doing, strictly comics or even primarily these days. I'd make it a gaming store that also sells comics.
Yeah, that's kind of the future of game stuff, certainly. Unless, you know, except for bankruptcy. Also that, yeah, you see, my big thing for a comic store, if I was to be given one and it's something that we're already seeing stores doing, you have to diversify what you do. You cannot get by just doing comics anymore.
I know all the stores around me, they're tabletop stuff. They got their Warhammer, they're magically gathering their UBO tournaments, they're whatever, because that's what you got to do now. Yeah, it's interesting. I guess before we get into what we would do with a comic shop, you have to talk about what comic shops look like today.
And what you look for in a comic store, because maybe what you want in a comic shop isn't what you would do with a comic shop. For me, a comic book store that works today has a lot of things going for it. For one, they are usually, the newer shops, the shops that are really successful, that succeeded in getting a business loan, as opposed to shops that have been a business for 30 years and somehow got grandfathered into the rent or something. Yeah, yeah.
Those, they're usually, they have a lot of space, even if they don't have a lot of room. They limit their inventory so that the customer can walk around without having to bump into anything, because you need to. Usually there's a very, very scarce amount of back issues, if any at all. No old books.
Those books are either in their storage unit, or they sold them at cost or at a loss at comic stores or online. Yeah, that's what stores are doing now. Only order as much as you'll think you'll need or else you'll just drown in back issues, and that will clog up the aisles that will hurt foot traffic. And it'll make your store look unprofessional and cluttered.
Exactly. By the way, it looks like the back issue is pretty much dying, because I was looking at like, actually one of my local shops was having a fun dollar bin sale, which I really enjoyed doing. And going to their dollar bin sale had like all these old books from like from the 70s up until the 90s, and also books from six months ago. A lot of books from like six months ago to a year ago, and they're just piles of them.
And I'm like, I remember buying this for cover price. It's a dollar. And many back issues, men's at comic book shows, at trades, you could find like, they are worthless. And so like, there's no cost.
There's no benefit to like keeping them or buying them at their cover price when you could just wait six months, and then you can get them at a loss that is so low. It's so it must be depressing to be a compassore on that. It's practically giving them away. And in fact, last free comic book day, I was looking through some stacks and I'm like, oh, wow, you got most of the all-star Western from Jimmy Paul.
Oh, yeah. Man, I loved this series so much. Can I buy these and the dude's like, just take them? I ordered way too many of them.
Like he was clearly sick of moving them from shelf to shelf and like his eyes almost lit up like your fit. Just take them. Yeah. It pained me to throw them away.
I was really almost going to get these things to hell out of my store. I did and I have them still. Two mics one takes us. F the snow and have a great show.
Thank you, Two mics. I appreciate it. Robert Carr, what are your thoughts on comics slash restaurants or comic store restaurants? I think it's a terrible idea only because like, so I'm having a burger and I have a catch up on it and I read my new book.
I remember my comic shop, my old, my comic book store. The comic store I grew up on, which is not the comic shop that I shot the old channel out of. It was right next to my pizzeria. Yeah.
I've ruined many a comic like reading comics while eating a pizza and it's just I have been conditioned as a child. Like when I read comics, I read them separate. Like I never eaten your comic because I know I will ruin it somehow. Yeah.
It's a dicey proposition. Again, I've seen a lot of stores go and try and use the Starbucks model. So like comics and coffee, comics and cafe. That's a little better because you know, most coffees usually got a top on them.
You're probably not going to spill. You know, you got like little croissants. Nothing too messy. Sure, sure.
I mean like, do you remember the comic store in kickass? The comic store that doesn't exist. Like no one owns. Only in fantasy land does that exist.
Yeah. I love the idea of like a Starbucks comic shop. I just don't see it. And I've never been one.
There's a place a couple towns over for me. It's not a comic shop. It's a manga shop in cafe and they got like a bunch of weird imports and they got like a bunch of like Filipino coffee and weird drinks from the east that you've never tried. I don't know if that place is still open but it really, it was tiny.
That was the other thing but it super felt like going into another planet when I saw that. Oh yeah. Oh in Manhattan, right outside of Brine Park there's a bookstore that sells like Asian market like mongas and anime and put also like, just straight up like, every single. Like every version of any kind of amount of manga you can find plus art books and they have like a western comic section as well.
Um, do that. Yeah, and it's super cool but they also have like a little cafe restaurant thing and it's like the whole thing is really neat and it is the closest thing that you can find to something like that. I know Cam and the Superchats as I always thought of a comic shop, Diner would be cool. Throw in some comic themed arcade machines and e-comic kiosks and you have to have a cool hangout.
That my friend Cam is exactly the problem with having a comic shop that caters to people who fill up a booth and don't leave. Is that you turn into a hangout. I remember I actually suggested to my old old comic store retailer. Um, again my pizzeria had like a Marvel vs.
Capcom arcade machine. We're playing the hell out of that all the time. Let me go over to Pegasus Enterprises. They don't exist anymore.
So it's okay to say. And Pegasus used to, they'd lost a room and I'm like, why don't you throw in a couple of arcade machines in here? And he goes, that's what I want. I want a bunch of teenagers hanging out in here longer than they already are.
Comic book shops have a major problem because again, if you're jamming up my story you're not buying anything. Exactly. Taking up space that could be occupied by someone who wants to buy something from my store. That's a thing.
There's a great place out in Victoria last time I was there called Legends. And this place was set up like a bookstore. They had spinner racks at the front with new issues. But only a couple of you would have to actually get in there earlier if you wanted to get it.
The man at the front wore a suit and he exuded this presence that said I am at work right now. This place of business. Do not hang out here. And I'm like, you sir, yes.
Right, I get your message sir. And yes, it's like the soup Nazi. One amazing Spider-Man 313. Like move on.
It was exactly like that. I didn't get my comic shop weekly guide. You want that? Three dollars.
What is it supposed to be for anything? No comic for you. Yeah, she got out. And Mr.
Aboutus says, any Canadian comics sold only in Canada? I think Chapterhouse probably has some deals like for Captain Knock and stuff. And finally, Decon 690. Yes, he got a diversified like manga.
I like comic bookstores with Japanese manga so I can look at both sections from East and West. That seems to be like a real sticking point for a lot of comic bookstores. I know that I go to where they're like, no, we are a Western comic book store. We will not sell out to the manga men as meanwhile you go to chapters there in their manga section.
It's bigger than their comic section. Right. There's a comic shop in Livingston, New Jersey called New World Manga. It's called New World Manga.
Primarily manga. They do have some comics and they also sell a couple statues. It's actually interesting. The whole store is like a square and all their inventories on the walls of the square.
And the middle is filled with nothing until it's time for yugio and shit. And then it's tables and tables and tables. And that's kind of like the comic bookstores that I see now that are successful, that are working, that are at least making money. They are diversifying.
They have a robust amount of media. They don't just sell Western comics anymore. They also sell manga. They also sell games.
They roll playing games, RPGs. They sell miniatures, figures, toys, Funko Pops are a big deal, collectibles, you should call it. And then whatever that word implies. So collectibles.
But that is what I see. And that's the future of comic shops at least from what I've noticed. Or at least it's the present. If you want to turn a profit that seems to be the way that the winds are blowing.
We are a pop culture curio shop that also functions as a comic shop. Ooh, I also forgot cards as well. Like you got some cards. I'm not sure.
I'm not sure. I'm not sure. And I think it still does, probably to some extent, but it's not quite where it was. And I think it's still probably to some extent, but it's not quite where it was.
All the ones in my store usually have the big case where it's like $60, $50. We do trade. Every every shop I've ever seen, it is like it was in the 1990's. Here are the boxes of cards.
Each bag of cards is $5. Not yourself. There's, you know, knock yourself out. Well, there's a place here called Grey Guardian Games, and I think that's their bread and butter or magic the gathering, but they also have like a little tiny place off to the side for new comic books.
Okay, so, but as far as I'm aware, if you're looking at a newer comic book store or a really successful comic shop, back issues are gone, collectibles are in, you know, you don't have a big, big, huge inventory of comics. It's mostly new stuff and other stuff. Yeah. So, what would you, oh, and what do you like in a comic store?
What's your preferred comic shop experience? Again, I like a strong focus on trades, on absolute editions, collected editions, rare issues. If you have some rare issues behind the counter, I'd be like, ah, this is a place of culture and taste. Again, this place, Legends I'm talking about, they had that too, I'm like, ah, you know, this is a more adult take on a comic book shop is what this is, this is for the discerning reader amongst us.
Of course, I know that I'm actually kind of impressed. My usual shop, Zap Comics, always has old school classic comics that you like, that are keys as the parlance goes, key issues that you need or want or that are important or relevant to the context of the context of the times. They're always up behind the counter or they're like, actually in between the back issues racks. And they're just, and they're always rotating.
It's never the same book. It's not like, I'm always seeing a copy for you, I recommend number one. It's no, it's constantly rotating. So the point where I was like, did you sell this book?
And it's like, yeah, no, that's old. And we rotated it out. Like you'd never know week to week if those books were over there because they're, it's like a poo when he's living with the Simpsons putting like, what was it, peas or beets or whatever? Like in cans?
Yeah, I gotta move these. Yeah, I'll never move in the cupboard. Ooh, peas. Exactly, you gotta put them on the, you gotta put them at eye level.
It's an ingenious operation of got going. But also very different from what I've seen. Like if I got like Newbury Comics for example, that's a very much a store that for me feels like where comic shops are going. If you ever been to Newbury Comics, it's like an FYE in every way.
It's an FYE, but it's comics in the title. Like literally that's what it is. It's just FYE. We sell music and magnets with dicks on them and like poop, hand squeezers and, oh, also some comics if you need those, but vinyl records and also like t-shirts.
Like it's just a mess. So a Spencer's gift. Spencer's, it's the exact opposite of what I want from a comic book experience. I've got to diversify.
I know. Stuart McNally says, we have UK chain that says Western Comics alongside manga with toys, figures, et cetera. I can't mention a comic shop not selling Western to be honest. I agree.
I mean, that's a staple. You gotta sell manga, no matter what. Well, I think the thing too is that a lot of people who own comic book shops are older geeks who see that as something encroaching on their fandom, right? That's like, well, I didn't grow up with this.
So I don't like it. Well, that's the thing. I've seen a fascinating little like mini documentary from a comic shop in California. I think I was talking about like what it's like to own a shop and like, because most people who own a comic store aren't business owners.
They're not people who got into it to become a business owner. They love comics. And so they're treating their business like a comic book fan as opposed to like a business owner. And so it's like, they don't think about things like how the place is structured, what the experience is like for women and men and children, like how it smells in there.
Like it's important to think about what the lighting is like. Also about like how to run a business and how to operate the books and how to like diversify your product and increase your bottom line. It's like it's a whole thing, which, you know, it's funny because our exercise is literally like, what would you do if you don't know anything about that? You're just giving a comic shop?
But we're getting there. Adam Eastep says, my comic shop is a bar, like beer. He had a beer with Jason A, he's an engineer. A comic shop is a bar is interesting.
Again, I think that would work, but only in like certain cities. Certain cities, they'd have to be like, you'd have a huge amount of foot traffic, a huge amount of adult population. And- Shrindy young people. Yeah, exactly.
I don't see working as like, oh, I have a comic book store. I'll just flip it and turn to a bar. Like that's not gonna work. The town I live in, small town Northern Canada, predominantly old retired age people.
I know a comic book store would not work here. And that's why I have to go to towns over when I want to go to free comic book beers. It's true. Sam Anderson, how would you deal with trades versus flopys?
Relicatif flopys to just pull this customer? Or on display? Take it away. Again, I would steal the idea from legends.
Here's what came out this week. There is only a set amount of them. I did not order more than I need. If you want them, you better get here early or you better pay for a pull list.
I've noticed that a lot of comic shops in my area have had the problem where like they've run, like they're like, we're out. And it's very unapologetic. And they're just kind of like, you can go to another store and get them probably. Yeah.
And that seems to be kind of like the nature of these right now. I would definitely treat flopys with extreme prejudice, where it's like, the books are here. You know, you gauge what your foot traffic is like, what your clientele's going to be. The Polis thing is a whole thing.
And actually, there's a great comic line discussion that we did over on this channel about it. You can watch it over on our comic line playlist. We talk about the pull list and how it's our kayak and needs to change. I don't know what I would do with the pull list.
I think for me, I would probably just like maintain what pull lists were in the system for the store that we were to inherit. Yeah. And kind of like wear it down or start to try my new polis concept. Yeah, yeah.
It's like, it's a problem, pull lists. You're always on the hook. And your job as a retailer is to make more money. So it's like, you've got to think about that.
You've got to be realistic about how that's going to hurt you. Yeah, for real. Especially in an age of digital as well. Yeah.
And that's going to be serious. I know that comicsologies had that whole retailer deal. That's dead. That's so gone.
Which I'm sad about. But you know what? There's ways around that. Matthew Mosley says, pay day tonight.
Here's a little something. Thank you very much, Matt. I appreciate it. And Mr.
How do you think a shop only selling Batman maybe? Just a Batman store? Unlike the comic industry, which I think DC has supported by Batman. Cam also says, I would like just one standard comic shop.
It's clean organizing well lit. Yeah, that's a problem. I love comic bookstores. I love comic book store people.
But there are so many places where it's like, I would never bring a date here. I would never bring my mother here. Oh, no, no, no. What I respected here.
He also said having signs would be nice. Yeah, definitely. Clear signage that indicates what you're looking at and where to get what you're looking for. It's very important.
Yeah, I agree. Certainly if I were to be gifted a comic store, we would be given a comic shop. Like here's the issue store. Oh, I'm sorry.
We were still talking about what we look for in our comic comp. What we like, what are our experiences? So Joel, I'm sorry. You were in the middle of your story.
No, no, I was down there. I'm just saying, there are some rough looking comic stores out there. It would be nice to fix the image a little bit. Like I said, that store of legends that I'm just gushing all over.
The man at the counter wore a suit, Sal, he wore a suit to work in a comic book store. Do you want to wear a suit? Would you do that? If that's what I had to admit, maybe a nice tasteful blazer.
Maybe not a suit every day. Maybe a sports jacket or something. Dress like Stilt Kevin Smith, where he's got the graphic tee and the blazer. There you go.
I know that for me, for my money. And this is so contrary to how I know this should be run. My favorite kind of comic store to go to is the crappiest kind of comic store you can find. There's a nice quality about it.
I love going to a comic shop that is claustrophobic, that is choked with books, that has thousands of back issues in very old, tattered long boxes that have seen action more than the comic shop owner ever has. And the Android's done, Jim, is what you're saying. Right, exactly. Just very classic old school comic shop, but has an owner that is realistic about what he's selling.
I went to one of those comic stores that is like that, but the owner is delusional. And so, you know, like he had, I will hear the story. He had a short box full of wizards, a short box of wizards. I was like, oh, jackpot.
I'll give this guy a tenor, and I'll get all these wizards. And that I'll be overpaying for it, because that'd be like if you went to Go Fine, and you found a trash bag full of golf magazines. And the lady who threw it away went, oh, no, no, no, no, you gotta pay for those golf magazines. These are 30 years old, Madam.
Yeah, well, I'm gonna get mine. I offered $10, he's like, oh, those aren't for sale. They're not for sale. I had to lift garbage off of it to see what was in it, because he didn't care about the store.
I'm like, dude, you are done. The store is, like, you must either own the building, which you don't, because it's a strip mall. You gotta be crazy. This is a different store and a different wizard than the one that I had on another store that is equally messed up, where I asked how much one wizard was, and he had to look up online what the cover value price was.
I'm like, you gotta be crazy. It's called, you buy anything in the store, you can keep the wizard for free. That's the deal, whatever. I won't sell you these old wizards, amazing.
No, those aren't for sale. I guess I could let you have one. I would almost respect him more if it's like, oh, I'm not going to sell you these old hustlers. They Might Be Worth Something.
Right? I actually had a friend when I was growing up who had classic Playboy magazines, like from the 60s and 70s, really old stuff. And like, some of it actually would have been valuable. I actually read, I read an article, believe it or not, from one of those Play the Magazines, because the cover promised an interview with Stan Lee.
And there's this great cartoon image of Spider-Man climbing a wall, and he's got his mask up, and it stands head, like it's Stan Lee in the- I like that image. It's a great image, but I think it's from that Playboy magazine interview. And it was like a fan, I was like, this is an amazing interview. Like, it was gripping, you know, in my porno magazine that my friend is, my friend's dad, Hidden Yatic.
But really, really great. There's at least some inherent value in those. Wizards, you give those to me. But only, I'm sorry, did Young Stephen King write a story for these old wizards?
Bingo. Yeah, exactly. There's no like, old Alan Moore or Grant Moore or Grant Moore sort of Frank Miller short stories or mini comics that are exclusive wizards that you can only get within the pages of those. No, there's no value.
But the guilty pleasure for me, the old school comic store for me is what I like, because I'm basically trying to create a little comic book store in my studio. It isn't really a comic store so much as it's just, I always wanted, like I remember reading an old wizard interview where they were like talking about it. They went into their archives. They had like thousands of comics like in the storage room that they checked when they had a question or like when someone asked them something.
I'm like, I'd love to have that kind of resource. Like a little like, you know, a little library that I could just consult whenever I need to. So I've been ever building it. And that's more or less what I'm doing with these stores.
But I also love seeing them and being like, oh man, and working out a deal where it's like, oh, you buy 10, you get like half of them off, like, you know, that kind of thing. But that's more of like an experience than it is like a shopping experience. Like I'm looking to travel through time and also explore, you know, comics as opposed to like, just I need to get a trade. I'll go to the store.
Another thing I've noticed about comic book stores and I feel super old because like Jesus Christ, Alan Dorkin was making fun of this back in the day when he was writing comics. And it's like, man, you notice most comic book stores that are still around now are in really bad neighborhoods? That I've not noticed. I gotta say, actually most comic stores that I go to are in like either like empty places, like areas that where there's nothing or there are areas that are like densely populated and they've been there forever.
The place I've gone to for like my last two free comic book days. Again, not the stores fault, but just rabid crack problems in this area there. And obviously when you know people who enjoy the cracks, oh free comics, I'll go in there. So I'm just trying to grab my free comic book day issues and I'm like, I feel uncomfortable here.
That sucks. That's an uncomfortable situation all around. Kings World, where I live, there's a comic shop called Third Eye Comics. I know that comic shop that has two buildings, one for comics and manga and building two is for games.
Nice work, you can get it. There's a comic shop, there was a comic shop in booten. Now it's just a game store, but it was as soon as a game store, then it wanted to be a comic shop and then it went, oh comics, there's no money in it. And dropped comics entirely, we came to film again.
And they have two sections, like they had two buildings. The first building was for gaming and new issues only, that's it. And only like the top 20 books, that's it. And they still close to that section.
But they had two rooms and one room was dedicated entirely to gaming. I think if you were gonna open your store up for gaming, you gotta have like a dedicated space version. You do, speaking of dedicated space, sadly this place closed down, but the legendary Meltdown comics in LA, they had a podcast stage where people would come in and celebrities would do their shows and stuff from there and they'd have like viewing parties and stuff. And I thought that was such a cool idea to make it like a hip happen in space for people to go to.
And obviously you get foot traffic through your store because it's in the back, it's sad that place couldn't make it because I thought that was an amazing idea. Yeah, I think Third Economics did that with the Nerdist. And because I've been to that shop that does that exactly they have a podcasting stage and it's like, they have like open mic nights and interviews and stuff like that and it's through the Nerdist. Amy Talhup works there.
It was a neat store. It was like, I really, when I went to LA and Anaheim for winding and dining back when we were in a much better place, we, I got to spend like just a full day in LA by myself and like Tiffany would have loved that store because it was an indie store. Like it was like indie comic shop. Can you imagine an indie comic shop?
Like there was no mainstream comics. There were like a couple of gaming areas. Like here's a spot where you could just plop down on a beanbag chair and play a Sega Genesis system or an NES or whatever. Like really, really, it was very cool.
I was like, this is a cool store. It's almost a little lost on me, but like man. And I had the Nerdist stage in a minute. That's the perfect thing too.
You know, when opening any business, not just a comic shop, you know, location, location, location, yes, you're gifted a comic book store. You got to do all the metrics on that area. For me, if it's like, you're given this comic store, one of the first things I'm doing is going like, what's the demographic of this area? What about the all the areas?
What about all the comic shops within like driving distance of my shop? Perfect example that place I keep bringing up legends. It was a more higher and more hoity-toity comic shop within walking distance of three other places that sold comics, one that was more of a game-centric place and the other one that was more of like a pop culture curio place. And it did my head in this idea that these three stores could exist within walking distance of each other.
Yeah, I've never seen that. And I can't imagine any of them sitting well with that idea. You know what I mean? No, I wish I could have shown this to you because I'm like, this is like seeing a unicorn in the wild.
Yeah, like, oh, I'm opening up a comic store. I figured I'd open it like a couple blocks down from the other one. Like, that's either hubris or you know something I don't. I think it speaks to the area, which is very hoity, very trendy, very young too.
Oh, okay, that's smart. It was at Kyle Johnson says, hey guys, I can't stay long at work, but here's a little something from my favorite channel. Thank you very much, Kyle. You're all.
Thank you. Ruskin910 has a Canadian-centric question. He says, I live in an area similar to Joel. We have a comic shop for maybe three years and they were doing everything you're talking about.
It's just not gonna work in smaller areas. That's right. It is, it really does. And again, living in the Canadian North, there's only not even just comic stores in general don't make it here.
Again, there's like $3 stores where I live and so many other big chain stores have just failed and our mall is practically empty now. Oh yeah, no, our mall is dying. I remember there was a very, very like, it's funny. My mall I've been going to since I was a kid, like the mall.
It had a comic shop. I know it did because Scott McDaniel did a signing there and my mom dragged me down there to get like the ray and deathstroke number zero signed and we had to buy them from that shop. And I'm like, there's a comic store at the mall? I thought that was just the place where my mom bought like clothes and no one remembers that shop.
Like nobody. It must have been open in 1992 and then closed. Like the mall could not support a comic book store and that was in the height of mall fever and comic fever for that matter. Yeah, malls used to be excellent tax shelters.
Oh yeah, now, man. We should do an episode, we're not going to, but we should do an episode where we just talk about how like malls need to be converted into old age homes and Canadian like condominium communities. Amen, that sounds like an episode we can do on Patreon is what that sounds like. That's a good one, yeah.
We got to move on. Heartless Fang on Break From Class for a few minutes. Just wanted to throw some love at you guys. Hopefully, I hope to send a package soon.
You guys have a good one. Thank you very much, Heartless Fang. You're awesome. You're awesome.
You will. Pricey84ty. Hey, Sal, we checked out the Spider-Man PS4 Artbook and see the horrible designs for Spider-Man and Mr. Negative.
Okay, what a good work. I did because I was gifted it on our live show. I have the artbook for the Spider-Man PS2 game, PS4 game, PS2, PS4 game. And yeah, I look through it.
The designs are really, really fun. Some of them are like, oh shit, that's what Mary Jane actually looks like. I see what you did there. But yeah, no fit in your gaming.
Sal, if you like that kind of comic book story, you should come to Krypton Comics in Omaha, Nebraska. Some of the guys that work there are horrible but backages as far as the eye can see. You guys are like, by the way, thank you, man. I would love that.
The next time I find myself in Omaha, Nebraska, I will absolutely go. Because that's something we like to do. Like whenever I travel, we go to a comic book store. From that area.
Whenever we take the Els World Exchange on the road, yes. When we finally pay off that big tour bus, we take it across America. Yeah. Asgers' webs as a clean comic shop just makes you feel so good.
Agreed. Makes you feel less terrible about yourself when you're going in the lead. It does. Red Samurai, I just want to say thank you for all the entertaining videos.
And Sal, you've been killing at these last few months with the Els World's with the Bard, and movie Batman pitch, as well as White Knight and Alan Moore Superman and Back Issues. Thank you very much. That's a testament to the incredible stock we have here on Els World's. There's some great guests and great co-hosts, which make the show flawless.
Or effortless, I should say. Not flawless. I'm screwing up all the time. And Will I'm Golden Says.
I'm from Queens, New York, and there's hardly any comic shops less than an hour away. Yup. Really, you think Queens would love that sort of thing. Again, I living somewhere else assume Queens to be a very trendy neighborhood.
Yeah, and it is. But it's going to be hard to find comic shops. Because the home of Spider-Man not have a comic shop, and that seems like such an easy layup. Yeah, I know.
I agree. Just as a quick Google Maps search, I just wanted to know. I'm like, is there something near Queens? I mean, there's Midtown Conference of Warehouse near Queens, Silver Age Comics is a shop on 31st Street, and Anthony's Art Warehouse in Office of Comics.
But that's all I can do for my friend. So Joel, you're giving a comic store. We've talked about what works, what doesn't work. What are you going to do?
How are you going to make it work? Get this Albatross right off and around your neck. Yeah, really. Because they're like, here you go, and then they run away.
Yeah, I know. It's your problem now, bat smoke bomb away. Yeah. Well, as the chat kind of beat me to this one here, I thought this was quite clever.
Obviously, if you know anything about the Canadian legal system, marijuana just got legalized here not too long ago. And it's an arms race out here for people opening dispensaries, and big shops and everything else. And I'm like, well, I know just personally from my own experience, and the chat has thankfully proved me on this one. If we looked at the big Venn diagram of people who enjoy the marijuana and people who enjoy the comic books, there's a decent enough little crossover there.
And I figure if I devoted a shop and kind of split it in half, where it's like, hey, use where you get your edibles, and your oils, and your smokeables, and everything. And hey, if you like that Jolly Green Giant stream right there, maybe you'll like this absolute addition of to go down the stream. Tell you what, you buy this together, I'll throw in a cookie. Right.
And they're like, well, that sounds like a great deal. Sign me up. That's very exciting to me. Jersey is getting closer to that, by the way.
Our governor is very interested in legalizing. And I think it's going to happen. I think they were supposed to make that decision in a week ago or so. But I am so unplugged from real world going on that I have no goddamn idea.
But I will say, I don't blame you there. My only concern is this. Is there smoking in your store? Because you're going to taint the comics.
You're going to smell like whatever it is that you're selling in your shop. Canadian anti-smoking laws are super harsh. So no, there would be no smoking here. I'm also too.
I couldn't do it in the province I live right now. I couldn't do it in Ontario because much like tobacco and alcohol, the Ontario government wants to when it's vegan, everything, and when that eventually starts rolling, you'll need to buy your smokeables at the out of the marijuana control board as you would the liquor control board. I know when you and I write fan X, well, I point it out, you're like, yeah, that's where they expect us to buy our booths from the government. Yeah, that was very weird.
It was I was like, oh, OK. And it's only this province. If you go to any other province, it's fine. But Ontario is like, no, we will make all money on.
It's in. That sounds very mommy. Boy, does it ever. Not to put too fine a point on or anything like that.
It totally is. So dispensary comic shop. Now, what are you going to do with your package? You're going to have only new inventory?
You're going to get, yeah, you said basically new books. Yeah, I think I'm going to take a page from Legends. I will have a very small amount of new issues, make the rest of it very prestige, very collected edition, very trade focused, like a bookstore, like a Starbucks. But maybe, you know, trying to diversify to by having some sort of web presence as well on top of this where it's like, hey, did you miss this book?
Well, here you go. You can buy it online. Right. I mean, you have to have some kind of online presence, even if you plan on having a brick and mortar store.
If only because your clientele is fluid, they're going to leave, like they're going to move and you know what, like make them stay with your stores long as you can, like offering to mail them their books. Yep. You need a Facebook, you need an Instagram, you need all of these things. Like, I'm in a unique position as are you being a somewhat notable comic book YouTuber.
Yeah, I would try and give the shop a thing on my channel, be like, hey, come to, I don't know, Gamabomb Comics or the Green Goblin's Lair, because again, I'm not doing both. I'd have to give it a cute name. Yep. Come see Joel of the comic multiverse and the else world exchange here.
That's true. And also when you have like a fence or a new free comp of day or like a special signing or like, you know, a sale, you're going to need some place to be able to reach out to your community and your clientele that isn't through like a mailing list, which you're going to have to maintain a mailing list as well, which is frustrating. I would also try and reach out to my friends who are also youtubers and be like, please, please come stay for the weekend and come to my store so I can, you know, talk about it. Exactly.
Silver Creek says just an idea, but don't overstock back. It's just a local school. It's got down on storage of a moveable products while also getting new readers hooked. And good faith too for your store.
That's a really good idea. I've seen a number of comic shops get down in the dirt with their communities in a big bad way and still get totally host. But it at least makes them feel good inside and they're doing some good work. But it's harder.
It's you got to run it like a business. You can't treat it like a family or community. No, it's here's an idea to I had. I know I mentioned this or two.
The next time there is a big comic book movie, again, let's use Captain Marvel for an example, because it's coming out. Yeah, I would call the owner of my local theater and be like, Hey, man, when your showtimes get out, can I come by in the comic mobile and be like, Hey, if you like that Captain Marvel, buy some trades and single issue. Oh my God. Yeah, getting like a like either like making a satellite store and an ice cream truck and driving to places where comic stuff is done is hilarious and great.
I saw that they did it on comic book, man. They tried to do that. It was like it was a gimmick, of course. It was like, it was a very gimmicky, but I would love to see that actually done.
Even just a handout fly is be like, Hey, did you like the movie? Continue to follow the adventures of Carol Danvers at my store. Yeah, exactly. Come to my store, though, please.
Come to my store. Please come to my store. Jay Ron says my local comic shop is owned by Angry John. He makes most of his money from rental properties and sits behind the counter of his shop with a scowl on his face.
No, I know a number of retailers like that. You're my advice to you, my friend ditch that motherfucker because you do not need his store. He needs your business. And if he wants to sell you books, he should learn to smile more.
My question is, was he angry John before or after he started working on a comic book store? It'll be rough. Like it that I've known a number of comic retailers. None of them are happy people anymore.
Oh, they don't seem that way. Mark Phillips in LA, the store that does that is called the comic bug. It hosts podcasts, even brings an industry talent to the store to talk to creators. Plus, it has a game store with the studio for artists to rent.
Nice. Asgers web, I think a way to get more people into comics will be to just make nerd stores, games, Blu-rays comics, people who buy games, people who buy games will be like, Oh, what's this? Yeah, that's certainly where it's going. I think like, I think if you look at your FYE, your Spencer gifts or Game Sops comics are right, right behind them.
I mean, like the FYE in my area is so crappy. They sell trades and the trades are treated like total garbage. Actually, sweet a picture or two of like how the ruined and I'm like, F you, you've ruined these comics. You have no respect for them.
That sucks. But if there was it was part of the structure, it was like integral to their whole business plan, maybe they might treat it more differently. But I think that's where it's going for good or for ill. What do you think of this to turn your store into less of a store and more of a museum to these kinds of things?
Yes. The problem with museums is they're public funded usually. How are you going to make any money with them coming to see things they can't take home with them? Damn.
Now that being said, you're not you're not on the wrong foot here. Preserving comics and the industry and like treating stores is kind of like an you know, educational experience. It's not a bad notion. I think with some workshop, you could turn that into some kind of money maker.