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.

Labels: best in la, collector, comic book, comic book store, fox la, good day la, spider-man, website

For Immediate Release:

MARK WAID HEADLINES FREE COMIC BOOK DAY AT COLLECTOR'S PARADISE!


BOOM! Studios Editor-in-Chief will sign copies of IRREDEEMABLE #1


OBSERVE AND REPORT's The Yuan Bros. to tag along and look adorable, menacing.

Los Angeles - April 21, 2009 - BOOM! Studios is proud to announce that Mark Waid will be joining the Hero Initiative Benefit Party during Free Comic Book Day 2009 at Collector's Paradise in Winnetka, California. Joining him will be the BOOM! Studios' "unofficial" spokespersons, the Yuan Brothers, from this year's smash hit OBSERVE AND REPORT.

Waid will be headlining an all-star line up of the Who's Who in comics today, including Marc Guggenheim (AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, GREEN LANTERN movie), Jim Mahfood (GRRL SCOUTS, CLERKS), David Wohl (co-creator of WITCHBLADE, DARKNESS) Mike Kunkel (HEROBEAR AND KID), and more! Collector's Paradise Free Comic Book Day 2009 happening will be host to a full day of events for fans of every stripe and age:
Signings: Featured guests will be onsite from 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM. Product will be available for purchase to sign, including the TRIBUTE TO MIKE WIERINGO HERO INITIATIVE EXCLUSIVE - FREE with your Ralph's card and registering with HERO! Or you can bring your own!

Sketches: Jim Mahfood, Joe Benitez and Mike Kunkel can be yours for $10 a sketch, with all proceeds going to the Hero Initiative!

Auctions: Live eBay auctions of items donated by guests, starting May 2nd at 12:00PM Pacific Time, with all proceeds going to the Hero Initiative!

Professional Photo Studio: Customers (and their kids) will be able to take photos with their favorite writers and artists , as well as costumed characters! Prints will be available to purchase on the Collector's Paradise website (www.comicsandcards.net) and pick up in the store, with a portion of the proceeds going to the Hero Initiative!

Benefit: 10% of all the day's receipts will be going to HERO INITIATIVE.

Collector's Paradise is located at 7131 Winnetka Avenue, Winnetka, CA 91306. For more information, please call Collector's Paradise at 818-999-9455 or check the website at http://comicsandcards.net

About BOOM! Studios
BOOM! Studios (www.boom-studios.com) is a unique publishing house specializing in high-profile projects across a wide variety of different genres from some of the industry's biggest talents, including Philip K. Dick's DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP?, The Henson Company's FARSCAPE, Pixar's THE INCREDIBLES, CARS, and TOY STORY, as well as Disney's THE MUPPETS. This summer, things heat up as BOOM! enters a co-publishing deal with Fox Atomic, a division of 20th Century Fox. Founded by the creator of the TV show EUREKA, Andrew Cosby, and his partner Ross Richie, 2009 marks BOOM! Studios' fourth anniversary.

I have been putting this off for a long time, but thanks to Jonathan, one of our regular customers, we now have a new and shiny Facebook Page. IF you are on Facebook, please stop by and check it out, and if you feel like it become "FANS" of the store, we may do special "facebook only" offers in the future depending on the number of "fans" we have.

You can also see my personal Facebook page HERE. Let's be friends!

For the last 2-3 months, I have been doing a lot of preparation for the big party on May 2nd, FREE COMIC BOOK DAY. We are sure to have an outstanding event this year, even more so than we usually do, because of our high profile Special Guests and our great charity that we are doing this for. While I was trying to brainstorm how to get people into the store, and trying to think demographics that I wanted to attract, one thing struck me as something that I do not think we have accomplished as a comic book store. I do not think we have reached the young kids as well as their parents as much as I have wanted to.

And it's not for the lack of trying. For the last few years, we have done things QUIETLY behind the scenes to work with schools and libraries. A year ago, we became the Official Reseller of Graphic Novels to the Los Angeles Public Library System. We sponsored the Summer Reading program at the 7 West Valley branches of LAPL around us. We have done numerous donations to several school programs, including one we do Every Year for one of our friends, as well as the school where my two kids go to. We have paid a lot of attention to creating a vast and friendly "KIDS CORNER" in the store that is impossible to miss, and is located at the very front of the store. We even have Kids Sizes T-shirts now in stock, something I never thought we'd have until about 3 weeks ago.

So why is it I think that we are not doing enough? Partially, it's my frustration with the bureaucracy of the LA Public Libraries, with a ZERO Budget available for purchases such as these. We can only do so much with Donations. Another frustration is the difficulty I find trying to prove to school principles something I have known for a few years: Comics are one of the best ways to get their kids to read! My two children grew up reading comic books, and because of them, are both great readers, higher than their grade level.

All this frustration has been making me try to create a way for the people in charge of the libraries and schools to decide to WANT to embrace comics, and I think I may have found an interesting approach. We are going to contact every school in the neighborhood. IF the management agrees to this, we'll give them pre-printed coupon forms which they would give to their kids to take home. The forms will say something like this:

Print your school name in the space provided, and bring this coupon back to Collector's Paradise on May 2, FREE COMIC BOOK DAY. With a minimum $5 purchase (mainly to help the charity) your school will become eligible. The school that brings the MOST coupons will receive a $250 Graphic Novel Library (all age appropriate of course) courtesy of Collector's Paradise.

What that does not say is that we are likely to pick more than one winner. Our goal is to get comics into school libraries, and we'll try our hardest to do so. We'll award 2nd, 3rd places and so on. Any school that really promotes this to their kids and shows initiative in doing this, will receive something, even if it's a stack of 5-6 graphic novels. Something is better than nothing.

Would you like to get involved? Do you have kids that go to a school? Talk to their school principle and have them contact me. We'll get the coupons to them. I will be going to quite a few schools, but I can not cover them all. Want to see a new generation of kids reading comics? Help us spread the message, help us find a way to get the message across to people who need to see it.

We got a big plug from HERO on their website and in their blog. That should bring some people. The event is growing. Check out the FCBD Page for our new HERO EXCLUSIVE Benefit comic book.

HERO PLUG IS HERE

I know you have seen me wearing the "MARK WAID IS EVIL" t-shirt for the last few months, and I am sure some of you have been wondering, "what the hell do you have against Mark Waid?". Well, actually I don't have anything AGAINST Waid, as a matter of fact I am a huge fan. Why the shirt then? Because for the last 2-3 months I have been promoting a new comic book series, IRREDEEMABLE, by Waid, and making sure you remember it by now, because the book is hitting the shelves, and your subscription boxes, this coming Wednesday. Read it this morning, and my review is below. BTW, on May 2nd, you can tell Mark Waid in person what you thought about it.




Before I give you my review, here is an excerpt from Grant Morrison's letter that is published in the back of this first issue. He writes,

"Irredeemable is brilliant, hard-edged, progressive super-hero comics... it's a page-turning monster of a read. Irredeemable dares to show us what might happen when the best in us is finally brought low by the worst in us. And more frighteningly, it shows us what happens next".

Not much one can add to that. I will say, the art is wonderful, very reminiscent of D. Robertson's style on "The Boys". It fits the book's dark and moody style like a very tight glove. The story is not exactly what you expect, and it goes farther than most books trying to show you the grimness of the situation. There are a couple of nice twists, and by the end of the issue, you can't wait to see what happens next. It's everything you can and should expect from Mark Waid and it delivers completely.

Earlier, I took a chance and subscribed many of my subscription customers for this book. I don't go this aggressive most of the time, but I believe in this book and, as always with books that I like a lot, I am offering this book to any of my customers on 100% RETURNABLE basis. If you do not like it, bring it back and you get full credit, no questions asked.

And, on May 2nd, stop by the store for our HERO INITIATIVE BENEFIT EVENT, and tell Mark just how evil he really is.