Tag Retailing & Marketing
New Logo Mania: Bongo gets new logo, new creative director and Matt Groening gets secret projects
Bongo is the successful comics publishing company that nobody knows about. Although it will celebrate its 17th anniversary this year, and has mastered the periodical to trade business model, and has been happily plugging along publishing essentially creator driven comics for all that time....no one in the comics industry EVER [read more]
Pre-Ordering Dominates Comics Purchases – Survey Results
Last week, I conducted a survey on how people buy their comics. The results of which are eye opening. 67% -- a little over 2/3 -- of respondents listed a form of pre-ordering as the primary purchasing method. [read more]
DC Logo use demonstrated
And here's the official word and examples of treatment. Looks like the Vertigo and Mad logos have been adjusted to include the Gotham-lettered branding for now.
Now that we can see the actual treatment, it's clearer how "the Peel" works as a symbol as opposed to a readable name—so even [read more]
DC Entertainment’s new interactive logo officially unveiled
A piece at business site Fast Company has unveiled the new DC logo — and yeah, it's been chosen because it can be animated and — probably —make a sound. John Rood and Amit Desai, senior vice president of franchise management, roll out the new malleable, adaptible, interactive logo: [read more]
Sales Charts: Barnes & Noble Graphic Novel Bestsellers
A snapshot of graphic novels bestsellers from BarnesAndNoble.com, taken at 3 PM, Monday, January 15, 2012. [read more]
Chris Powell joins Diamond to work with retailers
Diamond has just hired Chris Powell to the slot of Executive Director of Business Development for the comic book specialty market (CBSM). Powell is a familiar industry figure due to his many years at Lone Star Comics and as the head of ComicsPRO, and as a CBDF board member.
This [read more]
The Surprising State of Marvel Graphic Novels and the Diamond 2011 List
Over at Publisher's Weekly, I was writing about how Marvel has trouble keeping their books in print and had some retailers tell me how Marvel's sales suffer for it. Now with Diamond's 2011 year-end sales charts coming out, WOW, do things look odd. [read more]
Seuling, Schwartz among ComicsPRO Industry Appreciation Award nominees
ComicsPRO, the retailer advocacy group, has announced the 2012 nominees for their third annual Appreciation Awards, which honors pioneers in the direct market: [read more]
INTERVIEW: Kris Longo joins the Bonfire Agency
It's been abut a year since we covered the launch of The Bonfire Agency, an ad agency devoted to respectful and appropriate branding to the geek market, as well as market research and consulting on industry mainstays including the CBLDF and New York Comic-Con. [read more]
Case study: Axe body spray thinks comics readers need sexy scent
If you've watched any male-targeted TV programming in the last five years you know that it only takes one squirt of Axe body spray to turn the pudgiest sportsbar refugee into a rampaging sex god with the ladies. And now the cologne company has decided to turn to the [read more]
Who Killed the Newsstand Comics Market?
Today, we keep seeing attempts to bring back limited versions of the newsstand comics rack. 2011's Barnes & Noble program being the most prominent to get a little press. Interestingly, in recent weeks, both Jim Shooter and Chris Clarement have made comments about the demise of the newsstand system. Coming [read more]
2011 Sales Snapshot: Challengers Comics + Conversation
Sometimes it feels like people forget that different comic shops have different sales patterns, what with all the comments on the various industry websites. Challengers Comics + Conversation, a shop in Chicago with one of the higher profiles in that area, has released the top 200 sellers for 2011 [read more]
For sale: LA’s iconc Golden Apple comic shop
If you have $679,000.00 sitting around, you can buy Los Angeles's The Golden Apple, one of America's best known and longest running comics specialty stores. It's for sale on eBay right this minute.
The sale price includes $300,000 in inventory in comics, games, toys and so on. You can make [read more]
Gift Guide: Last minute gifts at your friendly local comics shop
We've been running several e-tail items here on the Beat over the last few weeks but as the precious hours until Christmas morning tick away, there's no time to trust to the Post Office, so may we suggest a trip down to the local comics shop for some great gifts? [read more]
Marketing to women: three case studies
How Sony, Ikea and DC Comics approach marketing to women. Hint: only one of these companies actually tried. [read more]
Must read: “A Seasonal Snapshot of Retail Funny Business”
Over at TCJ, Patrick Rosenkrantz interviews four of comics finest indie retailers:, Meltdown, Desert Island, Quimbys and Counter Media. Although Rosenkrantz warns not to take this snapshot as more than that -- he pointedly offers "no pie charts" -- it's stall a valuable look at four stores that [read more]
ComiXology updates their Retailer Digtial Storefront information
As the fallout from the Dark Horse digital initiative continues to blow like a glowing cloud over the internet, one other digital initiative has been trashed pretty thoroughly by a bunch of retailers in public and private: ComiXology's digital storefronts. The rollout of terms was poorly handled and pissed off [read more]
Brian Wood on digital vs brick and mortar: “Everyone is bleeding.”
Responding to last week's Dark Horse vs the retailers controversy over the price of Dark Horse's simultaneous digital release, writer Brian Wood has summed up the very hard rock and very rocky hard place that we all find ourselves in. While acknowledging that no one wants to see [read more]
How Hard Is It to Buy A Marvel Essentials on Amazon?
I don't know about you, but when the holidays come around and the relatives want a cheap-ish gift, I usually send them some links to Marvel Essential volumes on Amazon. They're relatively inexpensive, my relatives don't have to figure out where the comic shop is (in rural areas, this [read more]
December 2011 Diamond Sales Estimates: Notable and Surprises