Many of you regulars have seen some striking visual changes in the last couple of weeks, when visiting our store. The front windows lost the posters and gained beautiful new vinyl designs. The sign above the store got changed to a new design, with words "Comics & Graphic Novels" replacing the old yellow "COMICS & CARDS". The website got changed a bit too, with a logo re-design to incorporate the new "balloon" design that is on the store front, and to add an "EVENTS" page. What's up with all the changes?

The changes did not happen because of Free Comic Book Day, but you can say that FCBD forced the changes already in our heads to happen all at the same time. The changes are two-fold. The cosmetic, visual changes are just one part of the equation. There is also going to be a shift in attitude, a streamlining of some ideas I have always wanted to implement at the store.

First the visuals. I am not a big fan of being compared to other comic book stores, for the most part. I do not think that is aiming high (no offense meant to any of the great shops in LA, I know we have plenty), considering that comics are becoming mainstream, and we are no longer a "cottage industry" that is invisible to the world of outside retail. Comic book stores, for the most part, tend to want to hold on to older ways of doing stuff, posters on the windows and walls, hand made signs everywhere, dark and uninviting ambiance that invokes "the dungeon" look that Simpsons writers love to make fun of on the show with the amazing "Comic book guy" character. I spend a lot of time in book stores, places like Barnes & Nobles and Virgin stores. Every time I am there, I am happy because they are clean, well lit, and everything is organized and is presented in groupings by theme, author, or character. That makes sense to me. That is what I want to be compared to, even if I never reach that ultimate level of "barnesandnobleness" that I am aiming for. Well, at least in the last 2 weeks, we have taken a big step towards that, and it makes me happy.

Visuals are not the only thing that is changing. In the market where our industry is now much more visible to the "big business", we have to differentiate ourselves and make our stores "destinations" where our customers come for more than just selection of books (graphic novels) and periodicals (comic books). While preparing for Free Comic Book Day, I met a lot of people in the industry, and even befriended a few. This made me remember about the mid-90s when, as a young kid of 18, I used to visit Golden Apple on Melrose almost every single weekend, because they always had creator events. So many books got my attention for the single reason that the artist took their time to come down and talk to the fans, sign some books, do some sketches. I want to re-create that feeling with our store. Free Comic Book Day jump-started that idea in my brain, and we are going to follow through that with a determination as long as our customers help us with support for the creators that take their time to make themselves available. Go to the "Events" page and you will see at least a couple of new things scheduled, and a lot more to come.

Are we done? NOT EVEN CLOSE. FCBD was very valuable to us, as it gave us so many new ideas and new possibilities, and we plan to address them in the next couple of weeks in new and interesting ways. More changes to come, and a few of them will really surprise you, I think. Feel free to voice your opinions on the changes and give us suggestions as to other ideas you would like to see.