Yesterday was our Facebook Comic Con | Make It So Marketing exhibitor table's Black Friday Special Event...

I decided to set up and run this special event, on my own, after seeing no other Facebook Fan Pages or Group Pages that I belong to, doing such an event, or at least publicizing it by Tuesday evening.

So, I set up the 'Event Page' first with just the preliminary data to have a 'flyer / poster' to promote. That was finished at 6:45 PM on Tuesday evening.

What's an Event without prizes?  So I thought since the Black Friday Event would be running from 8AM PST to 6PM PST on Friday, I should have hourly prizes.  So I pulled a few comic book sets and graphic novels that I had been sent by the creators of those projects for possible review to give away as prizes.  I only pulled the items that I posted favorable reviews on, as in the back of my mind I wanted to use those publications as additional promotional bonus for those creators / publishers. 

Then I started sending out 'invites' on Wednesday Morning, the day before Thanksgiving Day to those 'Facebook Friends' of mine at 4:45 AM. 

Since I was going to have to shut down operations for the day to drive up to Los Angeles at 10AM, there was only so much I could do to send out invites and continue setting up the event.  So only approximately half of the 3,200 Facebook Friends that I have in my network were sent 'invites' to attend at that time.

When I arrived back to my 'home office' later that day, I was able to send out a few more invites, but the final ones were sent Thursday morning, (yes... Thanksgiving Day), to the rest of the Facebook Friends.  Since I was getting a late start in setting up and promoting this Black Friday Event, I wasn't able to send out email invites to non-Facebook Friends.  That would have involved retrieving their email addresses and inserting into the invitation messages.

Next I started adding more Free Prizes to be given away.  There would have to be a total of ten prizes, as I figured giving out one an hour, on the hour.  So the first one would be given away at 9AM PST.  That went smoothly, except for one thing I noticed...

In the Event text, and in the communications I was sending out, it stated that to be eligible to win a Free Prize you had to be 'attending'.  What?  Isn't Facebook Comic Con a 'virtual comic convention'?  How could you be 'attending' an event that is in a 'virtual world'? 

Well... in the RSVP Box at the Event itself, there were three choices to choose from:  'Attending', 'Maybe Attending' and 'Not Attending'.  In the actual emailed invites that went out to my Facebook Friends there was another choice, 'Ignore'.   

With over 3,200 Facebook Friends I get a LOT of invites to Fan Pages, Group Pages, Events, Causes, Game Applications, etc.  And yes, I do click the 'Ignore' button on 'Causes' and 'Game Applications'... I do admit that! 

Additionally, since I am a comic book dealer online as well as a blogger that reviews comics, graphic novels and other publications, I don't want to possibly alienate my potential sales or reader base by joining causes!  Causes that I either believe in that may not be 'popular' with some or all of my friends, group members, or readers, OR causes that I just don't want to be associated with, even though they may be 'popular' with many others but not with me.  So I do click the 'Ignore' button on Causes that are sent to me to join. 

I also click on the 'Ignore' button for All Applications sent to me now.  I used to participate in several, but found as my 'Friends' Network grew, it took longer and longer for several of the applications to work.  It had to be something about pulling up the increasing numbers of Facebook Friends in the Network I've been building to make the application (app) work.

As a side note, I read recently that the 'average' Facebook user had 152 Facebook Friends.  My network is now over 3,200.  The maximum number of 'Friends' a person is allowed to have is 5,000! So if you have a smaller network of 'Friends' then an app would probably work faster... 

Getting back to our Facebook Comic Con (FBCC) Group Page... I also want to mention that the FBCC is a network of creators and other exhibitors such as ourselves that are involved in the comics / cartooning industry.  Tina and I are online comic book dealers, who also happen to have a Blog, (http://www.comicbookcollectorsblog.com/  ), that you are reading right now.  

The Facebook Comic Con network has over 380 'exhibitor tables' under the FBCC umbrella.  FBCC was founded earlier in 2009 by Michael Netzer.  I have written a few blog posts about other sanctioned events that the FBCC has put on.  An important number to remember is that according to Facebook policy, a 'Group Page' can only have 5,000 group members.   You may see other pages that have up to a million 'fans'.  Those pages are 'Fan Pages', which don't have a maximum set number of who can join.  A 'Group Page' is limited because there are supposed to be only so many members in a 'group', and 5,000 was the chosen number of maximum membership.

Okay, so I've covered FBCC itself, our FBCC - MISM exhibitor table, and the special FBCC - MISM Black Friday Event.  From there I've gone into setting up the Free Prizes to be awarded, and the invitations... So What Happened Yesterday?

First, sending out invites and the responses:   The person(s) setting up the event can't see how many invitees actually clicked the 'Ignore' button on the actual invation.  The person(s) setting up the event can see the number of 'Confirmed Guests' - those that clicked the Attending radio button.  They can also see the number of 'Maybe Attending'.  In my Event's case I deliberately set the 'Not Attending' persons to Not be seen by others, as those numbers would more likely be higher than those 'Attending'.  I could still see those persons named as 'Not Attending' in the Event administrator's control box.  The last number would be those that I would be 'Awaiting Reply'.  As you can see below, that number is quite large for this event.  But remember I only started setting this up on Tuesday night.

Here is a link to the actual event from yesterday:  

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=345907200385&ref=mf

Here is a link to the main Facebook Comic Con Page, which is actually defined as: FACEBOOK COMIC CON is an unofficial virtual comics, animation and media convention bringing together the robust community of industry professionals and fans registered on Facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=63366131619&ref=ts

So, I've covered the invites and responses participation.

What about the Prizes?   Yes, All ten of the prizes were awarded!  And will be shipped Free of Charge by us to the winners. The full list of winners will be posted on 'The Wall' of the Event, as I have received a message this morning already asking for a full list.  What I had posted was each winner's name along with the prize that was awarded after each hour.

Participation is the next part of this blog's topic.   For whatever reasons, there were still invitees that chose to only 'Maybe Attend', even though in the communications sent out and on the event page itself, it stated that you had to click the 'Attending' radio button to be eligible to 'win' a Free Prize.   I do appreciate those that chose to 'Maybe Attend', but sorry to see that their names would not be eligible to 'win' a prize.  And the Prizes were good! 

Here's the link to the prizes that were given away:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=345907200385&ref=mf#/photo_search.php?oid=345907200385&view=all 

My thanks to those creators / publishers that sent me those publications to read and possibly review in this Blog!  They made wonderful prizes, and I included a link on each photo's page to the review blog I wrote about each publication.

My thoughts yesterday, and now this morning after the event as to why the participation was lower than we would have liked.  Yes, the event invitations went out a little late.  But usually 'Black Friday Events' are sprung on the public just a day or two in advance in the 'real world'. 

Secondly, it seems that the idea of 'Attending' an Event, even though it is a 'virtual event' in a 'virtual world' is a little hard to convey to the invitees.  I've noticed that before at other sanctioned events at the main Facebook Comic Con.  All I was asking for was for the invitee to click the 'Attending' radio button in the 'RSVP' box to be eligible to win a Free Prize!  No Purchase necessary!

Purchases?  Yes, during this 10 hour Black Friday special event, we at http://www.MakeItSoMarketing.com were  giving 'Free Shipping' to any purchases made by those with US mailing addresses during this time. Besides getting our own online store's name made more 'visible', along with our Group Page for 'Facebook Comic Con | Make It So Marketing', our intent was to also give our Facebook Friends OR our Group Page Members a chance to purchase back issues of comics, graphic novels, and other items with FREE shipping as a Bonus during that ten hour period.  

I have learned a lot during the past few days on setting up a Facebook Event, promoting it, running it, and communicating before, during, and now after the event itself.   Those that say every business should have a 'Facebook Presence' probably have never set up and run a 'Facebook Event'!

I have already set up several Fan Pages or Group Pages for others during the past year+ I have been on Facebook as a paid consultant.  Trust me on this one our blog readers, setting up an Event on Facebook is 'rewarding' in more ways than one.  But it is a LOT of work!  Especially if You are the person that is doing the majority of the set up and running it, in the hopes of making it 'interactive' during that period of time the Event is running.  I'm glad that we decided to only run our Event for the 10 hour time period... I was groggy by 6:00 PM after being up at 4:45 AM yesterday getting ready for the Event! 

My Thanks to all that participated in this special Event yesterday, whether by donating the prizes awarded, or by clicking the 'Attending' or 'Maybe Attending' buttons.  And my Thanks for those that either publicly wrote on the Event's wall or my own personal Facebook member wall or sent me a private message!

AND... Thanks again to all of YOU reading our current and archived blog posts!  We do blog daily on comic book creators, comic book reviews, comic cons, and other pop culture news and events including some TV shows and theatrical films as they are shown!  

For the past several years during this Thanksgiving Holiday time I have had a blog series of "Whom I Am Thankful For"...

This year I have been so busy that I haven't blogged a series like that so far, but I did find after checking our blog stats yesterday, that those earlier archived blog posts on "Whom I Am Thankful For" were being viewed by several other readers of my blogs...

So that I can share those posts once again for those that are new to this blog, PLUS the fact that the original blog posts posted on the eBay blogs are no longer remaining due to eBay closing down 'their' blogs platform; here are the reposts from those archived blog posts and a couple of new ones added. The blog series was entitled:  

"Whom I Am Thankful For", and Included the following so far, with some minor updated revisions:

Part  I -   Stan Lee, who will be celebrating his 87th birthday this year! Stan and Jack Kirby were the reasons I started collecting comics, instead of just reading 'funnybooks'. Stan is shown to the left, signing my personal copies of Fantastic Four #1 and Strange Tales Annual #2 for me several years ago. Below is the text from that blog post:

Today is the time of year that many Americans stop, reflect and give thanks...

I am no exception to this as Tina and I get ready to go to my folks for Thanksgiving Dinner.

I was thinking about this as I was getting cleaned up just a few minutes ago...

I am thankful for many things, which is why this is but Part I, but one of the earliest things I can remember being thankful for was the early ability to read and comprehend which helped me become an 'A' Student in High School.

I have of course my great aunt and uncle who started me off with 'funnybooks', but it was pretty much one writer that moved me to look up new words in our dictionary that he wrote on his pages! Stan Lee also introduced new concepts and other genres of writing besides superheroes to me.

Additionally he made me and probably millions of others feel that we were part of a different world, that of 'Marvelmania' via his 'Bullpen Pages' where he wrote to fans like me!

His gift was that he never wrote 'down' to his readers, and his writing improved my vocabulary and started my interest in other pop culture items like Movies and TV Shows,  etc.

I am thankful that he and I have finally seen the fruits of his early labors make it to the 'Big Screen' in the past few years. I am truly thankful that my love of comics in printed format have finally been transformed to good/great comic book movies that I am viewing today 49+ years later!

Part  II -  Engineer Bill ... who has passed away since this blog was first posted. He had a great afternoon kids show with cartoons in Los Angeles during my childhood there. Below is the text from that post:

Yesterday was the time of year that many Americans stopped, reflected and gave thanks...

I was no exception to this as Tina and I got ready to go to my folks for Thanksgiving Dinner.

I am thankful for many things during my life, which is why this is but Part II, but one of the earliest things I can remember from my childhood was when my dad was stationed in Long Beach.

It was then that Engineer Bill (Stulla) hosted a kid's TV show on KHJ Channel 9 in Los Angeles.

He was a favorite TV show host during the 1950's and 1960's.

His show was broadcast on every week day about when school had been out for a while.

What really stuck out in my memory was his 'Red Light - Green Light' portion of the show, where my brother and I would drink, stop, drink, and so on when he would say 'green light' for us kids to drink the milk out of the glass, and 'red light' to stop drinking!

Some of the things that stick in your mind don't always make sense years later, but it was here that I found that drinking and eating what's good for you was fun!

By the way, other local televised kid's shows of Los Angeles during that time were Sheriff John, Chucko the Clown, and Bozo the Clown.

I don't remember many 'National' shows that I watched during that time but one for sure was Captain Kangaroo seen in black and white format.

Part III -  Sheriff John ... who also died since this blog post was published, (he passed in 2008). He was another of my favorite kids TV Shows hosts in Los Angeles. Below is the text from that post:

Yesterday was the time of year that many Americans stopped, reflected and gave thanks...

I was no exception to this as Tina and I got ready to go to my folks for Thanksgiving Dinner.

I am thankful for many things during my life, which is why this is but Part III, but one of the earliest things I can remember from my childhood was when my dad was stationed in Long Beach.

It was then that 'Sheriff' John (Rovick) hosted a kid's TV show on KTTV Channel 11 in Los Angeles.

He hosted the show from 1952 to 1970!

His program would open with Sheriff John entering his office while lip-syncing to the record lyrics of "Laugh and be happy and the world will laugh with you when people see you smiling, they can't help smiling, too..."

After that Sheriff John would go on to the check list, the  bulletin board for pictures about safety, and then to the US flag for the Pledge of Allegiance.

The big thrill for kids with birthdays would be to hear your name called on the show!

Plus a birthday cake would be decorated with thick frosting, candy and lollipops. Then while Sheriff John sang the birthday song, the carousel cake spun in a circle while displaying the words "Happy Birthday Brigadiers" on the side of the cake!

It may sound cornball by today's standards, but it was fun in those days! Plus it started me on the 'straight and narrow'!

Part  IV - Fess Parker.... Davy Crockett!  ... who turned 85 years old in August!  One of my best Holiday Seasons was in 2003 when we stayed at his Inn in Los Olivos, California! (See  photo of us with him to the left.) Below is the text from that Blog Post:

Yesterday was the time of year that many Americans stopped, reflected and gave thanks...

I was no exception to this as Tina and I got ready to go to my folks for Thanksgiving Dinner.

I am thankful for many things during my life, which is why this is but Part IV, but one of the earliest things I can remember from my childhood was our black and white TV set where I saw several TV Shows including one of my folks' favorites, 'Walt Disney'.

I definitely can remember those early years of watching Fess Parker as 'Davy Crockett' and made sure I would re-watch them when they were repeated years later!

Tina and I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Fess Parker a few years ago at his Hotel/Restaurant in Los Olivos, California.

We had visited his Fess Parker Winery, his Hotel/Spa in Los Olivos, and had a great dinner in his restaurant while visiting 'Wine Country' in the Santa Inez Valley.

I appreciated finally meeting the man who had given me so many years of entertainment and was a good role model for me while growing up!

Part  V - Howard and Marge McIntosh.... My Great Uncle and Aunt who are both responsible for giving me the first comic books to read at their house years ago!  Here is the story:

Years ago when my folks would drive to Howard and Marge's house in Los Angeles, Howard & Marge would have 'funnybooks' for my brother and I to read in the back patio, so we wouldn't either bother the adults or get bored listening to the adults talk!   The 'funnybooks' were a different world for me, and led me to really look forward to our regular visits to their house.  Because we could take the 'funnybooks' home with us!  

We are sharing this year's Thanksgiving Day with Great Uncle Howard with my folks.  Howard turned 95 years old this year.  Sadly, Marge passed away a few years ago. 

Definitely Howard and Marge were instrumental in getting me to enjoy reading more via funnybooks, and that in turn led me to read the comic book that Jack Kirby / Dick Ayers illustrated, (mentioned in Part VI), that started me collecting comics!

Part  VI - Jack Kirby, who 'showed' me that comics were made by real people and didn't all have to be 'funnybooks', as evidenced by the cover of Journey Into Mystery #72, which featured the 'Blob' - a MoNSter that stuck in mind for years!  That comic book is what started me 'collecting' comics instead of just reading them....

Definitely that led to my life long fascination with reading and collecting comics, even though my tastes in comics have changed since I first started reading 'funnybooks'.  In the photo to the left: Jack is shown at the left, with inker Joe Sinnott shown at the right.

Plus it was his artwork that kept going with comics, when I was told that 'comics' were for kids.  I knew different as I watched Jack's pencils become more and more illustrative in the late 1960's and into the mid 1970's.  Now it's known that comics aren't just for kids!  Sadly though, most comics are printed for 'kids' anymore either... Thanks Jack for keeping comics important in my life during those transition years of 'comics are for kids'!

Part  VII -   Tina LoSasso, with whom I celebrated our 8th year of marriage this month!  As shown at the photo to the left... we are on quite a journey. It's like I've stepped into a different portal to a new life being with her!

It's Tina who has merged my love of comics and her love of books into what we are both doing today; a business built on promoting comics and books, book launches and other publicity, including attending comics conventions, book signings and blogging!

Today is the day that I give thanks to Tina for a Great Eight Years, and here's to many more!   She would be here blogging too an addendum, but she's been baking pies for two different Thanksgiving Dinners we are attending on Thursday! 

Part  VIII -   Francis and Lois Hamersky, besides being my folks, were instrumental in giving me an 'allowance' during my early childhood, thus 'allowing' me to buy more comics to feed my 'collecting bug'!

In the photo to the left, my little brother Frank, and I are shown in the front of the Disneyland car, with Mom and Dad in the back. This is from a 1959 photo of my family when we were chosen 'Navy Family Of The Month' at the Naval Base in Los Alamitos, California, and awarded an all expense paid trip to Disneyland!

Today is the time to thank them also for helping form my life.  Thanks Mom & Dad!

BTW, I must have gotten that 'collecting bug' from my Dad, as he had a great coin collection for many years!

I am of course also Thankful for a LOT of other people in my life, and they will be mentioned as the year(s) go on in this blog.  After all it's not even a 'Top Ten List' yet!

Thanks again to all of those named above that have helped form me into the person I am today!

AND... Thanks again to all of YOU reading our current and archived blog posts!  We do blog daily on comic book creators, comic book reviews, comic cons, and other pop culture news and events including some TV shows and theatrical films as they are shown!  

Yesterday was the birthday rememberance for Boris Karloff.  I neglected to blog about that fact, although I have done so in previous years...

I noticed that a few other bloggers are running Karloff Blogathons this week or other events in rememberance for Boris.

However, what I am going to do today is blog about just one of several magazines that are being printed Today that remind me of stories that Boris Karloff and others like Rod Sterling presented to me when I was younger.  Yes, even though those two persons were on TV with their shows, Boris Karloff with 'Thriller', and Rod Sterling with 'Twilight Zone', both of those TV Shows had printed format version of those shows also!   Namely comics!

Well, Jim Main of Main Enterprises isn't printing a comic book here, but his magazine 'Dark Corridor' issue #3 had several features that reminded me of what I liked about the two above mentioned TV Shows / comics publications.

Before I start with my review, here is an excerpt from the press release for Issue #3:

What has been described as our best issue yet of our horror/fantasy/suspense fiction and illustration magazine is now availble. Cover art by Scott McClung, The Iguana and John Lambert. Interior art by Dan Taylor, Terry Pavlet, Jack Bertram. Fiction by Sam Gafford,(A Gathering Deamonica) Mark Orr (The Doll) and Michael Vance (In The Out Door). Plus our review section, Den Of The Dark(with reviews by Dennis Kininger and Glenn Walker as well as out letters page section. A 32 page full sized magazine with full color front and back covers.

I did not receive a review copy for issue #1, but since I published a photo of it above, here is the press release for that issue:

The long anticipated horror, fantasy, suspense fiction and illustration publication from Main Enterprises is finally here and is definately worth the wait! Michael Vance contributes the offbeat tales "The Zoo" and "Picked Clean" , while Sam Gafford is responsible for the mesmerizing piece,
"Showtime!" Artists Greg Woronchak, Dan Taylor and Sam Gafford handle the illustrations for the stories respectively. Rounding out the issue is the illustrated poem, "Siren's Song", by Brian Osborne and Armando Abeleda. Additional illustrations by Larry Johnson, Michael Connolly, Mike Roden, color back cover by Roger Foucault...and a stunning front cover illustration by Dan Taylor!

Okay... So reading the above press release excerpts you should get an idea of what the magazine presented to the reader.  So how did I find this magazine?

Well, the front cover of issue #3 that I received promised some dark experiences inside! The splash page had a message from the publisher "Grim" Jim Main, which reminded me of some earlier hosts both on TV and magazines and comics, which helped to set the stage. 

The 'Dark Correspondence' was next, which was the 'letters page'.  Since I had not seen the previous issues, the letters were okay, but probably would have been better to be at the back of the magazine, so that other 'newbies' to the mag like myself could have gotten right to the stories... However, having illustrations inbetween the letters was a good thought, and the letters printed were informative.

I liked the fact that the first story, 'The Gathering Daemonica' had four illustrations to help break up the text.  The next story by Michael Vance also had illustrations, in this case five of them.  Having illustrations interspersed in the story continued with the next story by Mark Orr.  Being a reviewer that likes sequential artwork, I appreciated having illustrations in this magazine's stories.  Not that I couldn't visualize the settings that the authors were attempting to portray to me, but that I enjoy having illustrations with my reading text.

The next section was called 'Den Of The Dark', which was the review section of the magazine.  Wasteland #1 was reviewed by Dark Dennis Kiniger, and then he went on to review four more publications.  Those included 'Coraline' by Neil Gaiman, 'Dark Delicacies' by  several authors, edited by Del Howison and Jeff Gelb.  Plus 'Duma Key' by Stephen King, and 'The Pines' by Robert Dunbar.  So again if you are a fan of this genre of fiction, you should be able to see if this reviewer's reviews matched your own if you had those selected books.

Added to the above were two inside cover illustrations, and a back cover illustration. Thus you have the complete package to Dark Corridor #3!

I believe this issue to be a well crafted magazine for those that enjoy this genre of story.  The illustrations added to the stories presented.  The letter section and the review section would make the reader of this magazine feel 'included' as part of a group, and 'feel' invited to follow the magazine next issue.  

Details on ordering these issues are as follows:

For issue #3 that I reviewed... Cost of this issue is: $3.95 plus 1.70 S&H. $5.65 total.  Personal checks only please, made out to Jim Main. 

For issue #1 that I did Not review... Cost of this issue is: $5.50 per issue postpaid in the USA.  Personal checks only, with checks made out to Jim Main.  

Jim's web site to order is at:

http://www.mainenterprises.ecrater.com/ 

Thanks to Jim Main for sending me this magazine and other items from his Main Enterprises catalog to me for possible review!

AND... Thanks again to all of YOU reading our current and archived blog posts!  We do blog daily on comic book creators, comic book reviews, comic cons, and other pop culture news and events including some TV shows and theatrical films as they are shown!  

Last Monday I started blogging about "The State Of Comics Retailing In 2009 Metro San Diego", as told by Jamie Newbold  of Southern California Comics in San Diego, (click here for Part I)...

Southern California Comics, a.k.a. SoCal Comics, is owned by Jamie Newbold and is one of the major places in Metro San Diego area that I stop in at for comic book supplies and new comics for myself. 

When I stopped there the previous week for the FACTION comic book signing, (click here for that blog), Jamie and I went over what's been going on in San Diego sales wise for comics. 

Part I of this series was an introduction to the Store, Store Sales, and New Comics. The following is from Jamie's own words about individual Comic Book Publishers' titles sales at his store:

"MARVEL COMICS: The Dark Reign event is entertaining. I like what’s been played out so far in the storylines. I think “Dark Avengers“, “Wolverine“, and “Invincible Iron Man” have been both well drawn and written. Although these series were enjoyable, some of the limited Dark Reign series and one-shots alternated between necessary and wastes of money. Spider-Man was retooled and continued to succeed even though I lost track of exactly who knows what about Peter Parker/Spider-Man. I was surprised with the return of the clone legend. That old chestnut bore Marvel shame in the 90s. Now, it’s back for reasons unknown and without much fan desire at my store.

Marvel’s concern for its standard bearer titles reflected in the overall quality of art and writing. I sold generous helpings of titles like “The Avengers“, “Hulk“, “Thor“, “Daredevil” and more because they continue to be that good. Brilliant titles like, “The Torch”, “The Marvels Project“, “Doctor Voodoo”, and Icon’s “Incognito” rocked! Marvel’s “Noir” titles sold in small numbers contrary to their potent entertainment value. It’s just hard to push variety onto a money-tight clientele.

 Disappointing fans with delivery delays and high cover prices slowed the momentum on heavily publicized “Captain America Reborn“, “The Twelve“, and upcoming movie phenomenon “Kick-Ass“. “Captain America Reborn” ran out of steam so fast that it literally chopped the sales of the regular title in half.
The “War of Kings” story event was surprisingly entertaining for me. I’d long since lost touch with the back stories of many of Marvel’s space-based heroes and villains. Bashing Inhumans into the Kree and others was fun. With the Skrull invasion all but forgotten, the War of Kings stories were briefly entertaining and offered suitable space opera replacements.
Marvel trade paperback book sales increased and continue to generate steady revenue through the year.

Marvel’s success formula for Wolverine in 2009 = “Old Man Logan”. Formula for a successful Wolverine story in 2010 = repeat the same as above!
Marvel continues to dominate back issue sales. 1960s Marvels remain on many buyers’ fantasy purchase lists. Conversely, new Marvel comics can be just as difficult to obtain after a sell-through as they were when Marvel began its “no over-ship” policy years ago.

DC COMICS: DC titles showed surprising resiliency in an unsteady market. I found a handful of their comics held their own sales weight against Marvel in numbers I don’t usually see. The “Blackest Night” story arc overwhelmed anything Marvel had. Blackest Night had the luxury of promotion at San Diego’s Comic Con and the wealth of Green Lantern merchandising in ‘09. Blackest Night sales began shortly before that show and caught fire with its inception.

I’ve enjoyed the new characters inhabiting the roles of Batman and Robin. The sales figures on the Bat titles remained consistent and I received favorable feedback from my customers. DC failed to produce much splash with the overworked Superman family. Flash and other frontline DC characters waded in shipping delays or uninteresting stories.

Vertigo usually produces several interesting titles each year, one or two which resonate strongly with my readers. “Sweet Tooth“, “Haunted Tank “, and “Unknown Soldier“ were tremendously entertaining. The emergence of Sgt. Rock in the hands of Billy Tucci was a supreme attempt at blending DC fiction with World War Two fact. Ongoing series such as “Northlanders” has sold steadily while former strong sellers (“Y, The Last Man“, “Preacher“, “100 Bullets“, and “Fables“) continue to dominate at trade paperback sales levels.

Wild Storm’s “Ex Machina” continues to be a strong trade paperback seller. “Gen 13” and “Authority” were best sellers in my store. At last, the final issue of “Planetary” arrived. However, their video game-based monthly titles have done less than I anticipated. They have a strong talent pool and many tradesmen to draw from. I’m anticipating that they must have something heavy waiting just behind the curtains.

IDW, IMAGE, DARK HORSE AND EVERYBODY ELSE: IDW works hard to find new subject matter and talent to bring to market. IDW is a company that works hard at their craft and keeps trying new things. It’s always fun to see what they produce next.

Retooled “Transformers” and “GI Joe” comics spotlighted IDW’s licensed titles. Their sales numbers plateaued after this year’s movie releases. A promising “The Ghoul” from Niles and Wrightson looks like fun. The “Angel” TV show comics continue to do real well. Joe Hill’s “Locke & Key” title has also been a store favorite with customers eagerly anticipating the upcoming third series.

Image Comics delivered with “Chew” this past summer. The first 5-issue storyline was great fun and sold extremely well. In fact, it met “Walking Dead” sales numbers quickly! Walking Dead is the king of trade paperback sales and sells constantly. “Back To Brooklyn” is a violent, tough-gangster 5-issue story. Garth Ennis and Jimmy Palmiotti captured a lifestyle that comics rarely engage at that depth (unless you read any Garth Ennis Punisher story!). “Haunt” with McFarlane’s cover art started well and with Kirkman’s writing, it proves to be a big hit with the customers.

Dark Horse has entertaining comics but customers are not purchasing them. Conan’s re-launch as “...The Cimmerian” is a great read and should sell better. “Kull” was exciting, well-done, and should have brought more attention. Even the Star Wars titles have left more unsold copies behind than in the past. “Aliens” and “Predator” were re-launched with little fanfare. I liked both but the franchises as comic books have slowed way down over the years.

Avatar’s “Crossed”, “Chronicles of Wormwood” and “Ignition City” should be avoided unless you really want to be highly entertained!

In my opinion, these companies and other independent publishers have suffered from uneven sales in 2009. It’s clear from a drop in our new comic’s sales that my customers have sacrificed almost everything to satisfy their Marvel and DC demands. That is a shame. Dynamite Entertainment (“The Boys”, “The Boys: Herogasm“, and “Garth Ennis’s Battlefields“), Boom Studios (Various Disney/Muppet titles and “Irredeemable“) and Zenescope (anything from the Grimm Fairy Tales series) make good reads and deserve to sell more copies than I’m currently able to sell."

Jamie went on to talk about Convention Sales / Web Site Sales / and eBay & other Auction Site Sales... I have titled today's blog post as 'Part II'.  If YOU would like to read more of Jamie's thoughts on comics retailing in the San Diego Metro Area and world-wide... Please email me, message me, or write on my Facebook Wall that YOU would like to read more and I'll move 'Part III' up quicker in the timeline for posting here! Thanks again to Jamie Newbold for sharing the above with me and giving me permission to post it in my Blog!

For those of you that are looking at visiting the San Diego area soon, be sure to visit Jamie's SoCal Comics store.  There is much more to comics in San Diego than just the once a year Comic Con International: San Diego (CCI / SDCC) that over 125,000 people attend!

Here's the direct link to Jamie's store:  http://www.socalcomics.com/!

Shawn Granger, writer and publisher of the comic book series 'Family Bones', sent me a copy of that series that was compiled into a trade paperback / graphic novel format recently.

I had not read this story when it was first published in comic book format.  So I was wondering what this book was about after first thumbing through  it, deciding on which publication to read next.  I  had opened up the mailing package that contained this and another one of Shawn's works that I had also not seen before. 

What I found was that this is a 'trade paper back / graphic novel' printed format of the collected FAMILY BONES comic book issues 1-5 that were previously published by King Tractor Press.

Also I found the following press release for the series:

FAMILY BONES is based on the TRUE STORY of the oldest married couple on Missouri's death row, as experienced one summer by their unwitting nephew. The writer, Shawn Granger, is a close relative to Ray & Faye and based the story on his experiences as well as those told to him by other family members.

Additionally here is more info:

FAMILY BONES is based on the TRUE STORY of the oldest couple of serial killers, as experienced one summer by their unwitting nephew.

This first volume collects issues 1 – 5 of the popular comic book series based on the lives of serial killers Ray and Faye Copeland.  They were the kind, elderly grandparents who murders farm hands at their home.

Sean is trapped on the Copeland farm, a slave for his uncle.  The heat simmers his skin to a full boil until the neighbor's beautiful daughter appears.  Wendy quickly becomes his hope, desire, and fear; not to mention his one trusted friend.  Together they discover each other and some very bloody family secrets.

The following are the credits and details for this compilation:

Written by:  Shawn Granger

Art by Orlando Baez, Kenneth Landgraf, Benito Olea Bellido, Mannie Abeleda, Pablo Agustin Lordi

ISBN 978-0-9787486-0-9
Publisher Shawn Granger
Copyright ©2007 Standard Copyright License
Language English
Country United States
Publication Date April 9, 2007
   
Page Count 176 pages
Size (Was a Comic Book printed format originally but reduced in size for book)
Binding Perfect Bound
Interior Color: Black And White

Okay... this is not the usual fare that I read.  However, after thumbing through the black and white art interior pages, I saw enough that made me want to read it first. Please note: I am not into the current vogue of TV shows that are in the CSI vein, nor shows like 'Medium', 'Ghost Whisperer', etc.  My personal tastes for murder mysteries is more like 'Castle', 'Monk', etc., with some 'Fringe' type of shows thrown in.

However, this story, although bizarre, was undeniably compelling to keep me coming back for the next chapter.  I'm glad that this series was printed in this format, as if were only left in series of single issue 'floppy' comic books format published once a month, I don't think I would have continued to pick this series up each month.  So this published format to read all of it, chapter by chapter in a book style is probably the better way to read this series for persons like me.

Also, even though this storyline is one that I wouldn't normally pick up, I can see it being a good introduction to graphic novels for those readers that enjoy this genre of story, but wouldn't read a 'comic book'. Because it is in sequential art format, it would be a good way of introducing those that don't normally read 'graphic novels', but instead read text / prose story books of the same genre.

So what about the artwork?  Well, I'm glad to see this series published in black and white format.  Black and white would have been my choice for this series also.  The different artists in the series have different styles, yet black and white 'blends' them together in a compilation much better than color would have.  The difference in art styles would have been a lot more noticeable in color, even possibly glaring.  Yet in black and white format the art flows well with the storyline and when breaking the reading time into chapters, it really isn't that 'different' from each artist that contributed.

The lettering by Richard Nelson was a consistent factor in the series, and worked well.

The color covers used for the front covers of the comic book series were well drawn and colored.  Each cover used was a good point-of-purchase display cover, and would have caused me to at least pick it up at my LCBS.

In summary, this story is a compelling read, and the artwork flows with chapter breaks for the reader to stop and then pick it up again to continue reading. A good introduction to those that have not read King Tractor Press publications before...

The following link is where You can see where to purchase this trade paper back / graphic novel: 

http://www.kingtractorpress.com/

Thanks to Shawn for sending me this and his other graphic novel to me for possible review!

AND... Thanks again to all of YOU reading our current and archived blog posts!  We do blog daily on comic book creators, comic book reviews, comic cons, and other pop culture news and events including some TV shows and theatrical films as they are shown!