COMICSPRO RECAP - IS THAT HOPE I FEEL?
ComicsPRO 2020 is a wrap! And I am still recovering…
Why is the Aftershock logo at the top of this blog post? Details coming soon, you’ll have to keep an eye out for more!
This year’s meeting was a very unique one compared to every other ComicsPRO meeting that I have attended. In part, it was because my role was bigger to work on actual meeting logistics now that I have been on the board for two years. (Though to be clear, executive director Marco Davanzo and his staff did the vast majority of the heavy lifting. Marco is an incredibly hard working guy, I don’t know how he does it, but I’m glad he does!)
More notable this year, though, was the tone and the publishers we dealt with throughout the meeting.
In the early years of the conference, DC Comics would purchase an entire day of programming, with Marvel, Dark Horse, and Image all buying significant time and generally dominating the conversations.
This year, Marvel had an hour presentation that actually went very well thanks to some planning in advance to make the presentation more about the nuts and bolts of promotions and business than editorial content.
DC Comics had a short 16 minute presentation that primarily talked about upcoming projects which was the plan all along, even before the news of Dan DiDio leaving DC broke just a couple hours before their presentation.
The big difference this year? This was the year that kids books and book publishers came out to introduce themselves in serious fashion, and they were immediately attracted to the members of the organization. Retailers felt the same way. On top of that, smaller publishers like Scout, Aftershock, Vault, Bad Idea, and (as always) Boom! came out swinging with projects and initiatives that were a collective huge step forward.
One of the frustrating parts of the comic periodical business for as long as I have been in it is the tendency of the largest publishers effectively taking specialty stores for granted. They assume we’ll be here forever buying up what they produce and subsequently spend outreach resources on trying to get in every market that isn’t our stores instead of coming up with innovative ways to grow and support our market.
That is why it such a breath of fresh air when a graphic novel publisher like Scholastic or Penguin Random House meets with us and is excited to listen to us and learn about how our business works and what they can do to tailor their efforts to meet the needs of specialty stores. Fortunately, it isn’t too difficult since they already have a network of independent book stores they deal with whose business model is very similar to ours.
A meeting that many walked into with a bit of fear and concern turned into one of the most optimistic meetings I have seen yet as we all figured out new opportunities that will make us healthier in the long run.
As for the biggest news publicly that happened during the conference regarding DiDio and DC? I’ll be honest, I’m just glad that I am so busy with the day to day of my business that I don’t hear many of the rumors until they’ve been floating around for a while and others have had plenty of time to shoot them down, because I have heard some REALLY absurd speculation. I do think that a change needed to be made, though. The handling of Doomsday Clock alone was enough to require some kind of reorganization. I loved the book, but it was VERY clear that it was supposed to set the stage for a specific editorial direction for the DCU that we’ll never actually see because of the scheduling that caused the DCU to have to speed forward without the plan laid out in Doomsday Clock ever getting actually executed. DiDio was definitely responsible for some great successes at DC, both commercially and artistically, but much of his approach had clearly grown stale for the artist’s and audience’s tastes. I can certainly see him popping up elsewhere in the business after he takes a break. His passion and knowledge is top notch and he would be a valuable asset at any publisher who would want to bring him on board.
For now, though, I have to finish my prep for GAMA as well as another project that you should be hearing about very soon!
Tim