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address the specific and unique problems that you’ll run into on your sprint towards opening day. You might even be able to get up on to the Internet and find some resources that you can consult. In fact, there are many areas in which you can call upon for answers and expertise. It seems that many of the more savvy retailers are online in some capacity, and it’s easy to find ‘em. But.

The biggest pitfall that you can run across is actually listening to any of these people.

Even the most successful comics retailer has been so for idiosyncratic and possibly even special reasons. You will have to answer and implement questions and solutions for your own situation as it develops. Just as no two snowflakes are alike, no two comic stores are the same; what works like gangbusters in an urban area, for example, might spell a quick death in a rural location. So pick a good spot, sure. The most important thing is for your comic store to have an identity. Too many shops are just extensions of someone’s collection; one day, a guy looks around and realizes his stash of books is taking over his house, and he decides to open a store to maybe make a little money, and have a club house to sit around with his pals and talk about comics. Without further thought to how your store presents itself to the outside world, this lack sadasical approach may very well spell doom for your fledgling outfit. The first thing to consider is how you want to present your shop to the real world. Too often, shop-keepers ascribe to the Field of Dreams philosophy; that is, naively believing that “If you build it, they will come.” Nothing can be further from the truth in today’s economic climate. The comic book industry is fundamentally no different than the professional sports or motion picture industries, really; all are multi-million dollar businesses predicated on selling entertainment to the masses. The comic book is in direct competition for dollars spent on any other form of entertainment. However, it is the comic book’s unique position to be able to offer a meld ing of capital A Art and literature: painting and prose, individually, lack the power, emotion, and narrative drive that pictures and words have when the two are juxtaposed. In other words, funny books kick ass. In the past, it has been this very separation of capital A Art from the com merce of entertainment that has relegated comics to a backwater; they’ve been a bit of a bastard child of pop culture in search of legitimacy. But you read Entertainment Weekly ; I’d make the argument that comics are now being recognized as a viable art form that can deliver a superior entertain ment experience on its own merits. A good comic provides value in so many ways: a rollickin’ story, pathos, elegance, poignancy. It can illuminate, inspire, or unnerve. And unlike a movie or a ball game, once you’ve paid

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