I have too much vacation time so I took off early today and went to my local comic book store. It’s amazing that the same store used to make its money on new release comics but that was a number of years ago. Now it is the smallest section with Manga, tabletop, and back issues being much more in demand.
I tend to buy back issue comics and now try to support the stuff from those who don’t hate their customers like Eric July, Shad, Razorfist, Drinker, and now manga since they have this odd concept of writing stories people want to read.
I can understand trying to expand your market but at some point they had to have realized that the massive female audience they wanted just didn’t exist. And they didn’t take into account that ever since MCU popularity people love the idea of comic books but don’t actually read them so those polls they like to tour are meaningless. Similar to those polls showing that women make up half of all gamers but when you break it down it shows what you would expect regarding the games that generally appeal to men and women.
On the bright side I picked up the first appearance of She-Hulk. Now if only they had adapted the Byrne run instead of making a show to specifically piss of actual fans
I'm suddenly remembering the last years of Hastings. I seriously loved that store. Free Comic Book day would be 6 comics each person, so you brought friends and had the entire list to read. They had everything I could ever want. Then it went under.
Now I'm watching comic shops and GameStop following the same. It's really sad, because it's like a fruit at its best right before it turns to mush and falls off the tree.