Atom! Freeman is a retailer that I respect, if nothing else for
convincing the world that he needs an exclamation point in his first
name. He and his wife, Portlyn, are the owners and driving force behind
Brave New World Comics, 22722 Lyons Ave. #6 in Newhall, Calif. Brave
New World is the recipient of this year’s Will Eisner Spirit of
Retailing Award, a sort of hall of fame for comic-book retailers. Atom!
and Portlyn bought Brave New World in 2000; the store had existed since
1990. I feel something of a kinship with Atom! — I bought my store,
Speeding Bullet Comics of Norman, Okla., in 1998; the store existed
under previous ownership back to 1989. Atom! and I recently talked
about his Eisner award, and about generations of comic-book retail.
We’re in the same generation, one that Atom! calls the “third
generation.” This generation, for the most part, entered the industry
at an incrediblydire time and fueled the graphic novel explosion.
Click here for Brave New World'svideo entry for the award.
Newsarama: First off, congratulations on receiving the Eisner. What do you think worked in your store's favor this year?
Atom! Freeman: Great question. Several things. It doesn't hurt
that our store model nearly completely mirrors the qualifications for
an Eisner Award winning store. Things like community involvement,
innovative design, and diversity of inventory are our daily focuses.
So, having the most prestigious award in comics based on those criteria
helped more than a little bit. Aside from that, I've been studying this
award and submissions of the winners for a few years so that when the
time came tha t we felt ready, we submitted a packet and video that
addressed all of the concerns that past judges had brought up. I'd like
to think it was the content that made their decision, but the
presentation likely didn't hurt either.
NRAMA: Tell me about how you got into comics retail.
A!F: When I was a kid, my father was involved with the growing
innovation in restaurants we now know as fast food. So, I spent most of
my weekends with him traveling around to the chain of restaurants he
was a partner in critiquing them and motivating the staff. I was
listening. So, it probably came as no surprise to anyone that when I
finally let the film-making dream go, I knew that I wanted to open my
own business. I didn't know at the time what that was, but comics
retail was always on the list (along with bed-and-breakfast, antique
shop, various 'concept' restaurants, etc.). And, when I look back on
this time, I see that I always made the choice to work for the
single-owner start-up than the corporate chain. And the lessons I
picked up from those jobs just stuck.
Eventually, I landed a job managing photography studios in amusement
parks, which led me here to the lovely Santa Clarita Valley (and to my
wife and partner, Portlyn). On the same week that I told Portlyn that I
wasn't getting anything out of the photography studio anymore and I
wanted to start looking for a new job, my local comics shop explained
that they were expanding and did I want a job managing their first
location? Add in a stint as a sales rep for a publishing company and as
a columnist for the local edition of the Los Angeles Times and you get me to the point that I was when they offered to sell us the original location. Eight years later and here we are.
NRAMA: We discussed this weekend being part of the same
“generation” of comics retailers. Break down for me your theory of
these generations, and what characteristics do you find common in this
generation?
A!F: Here we go with the crackpot theories. Okay, as I see it,
the First Generation of comics retailers happened just after the direct
market was created. They were creating stores that reminded them of the
newsstands and drugstores that they bought their stores from and for
them “collectibility” was very important. This continued until the
booms of the 80s and 90s.
This Second Generation was quickly defined by the words “investment”
and “discount” and as a group were quick to chase and shape every fad
including comics, Pokemon cards and pogs. Think Android's Dungeon from The Simpsons.
This generation grew very quickly and contracted nearly as quickly.
This lasts un til the late 90s when the last of the 'investment
chasers' was chased out of the market. They also began embracing the
graphic novel format to collect and keep stories in print. Making room
for the Third Generation.
I usually count Brave New World as a Third Generation store even though
we were created in the Second and we try to keep up with the Fourth.
Our generation tends to be very leery of anything smacking of
speculation though we're still very much in love with American
super-heroes. Our stores tend to be much cleaner and more 'citizen
friendly' than the generation before (who were in turn clean er and
better organized than the generation before them). And though we did
the lion's share of helping create the graphic novel section in retail,
for the most part, we didn't get off the dime to help push the manga
explosion. Which gives birth to the Fourth Generation.
These guys are very interesting, because they tend to come from two
different camps. There's the suburban pop culture comics shop (closer
to our model), and the Urban Art Comics Shop. Both tend to be
beautifully merchandised and their level of customer service has come a
long way. Wanna know which one you're in? Look for UglyDolls and a
strong manga section. If you see them, you're in a pop culture store.
Otherwise, they are a lot alike in how they treat western comics with
respect and reverence.
Wow, what a long-winded response? Who knew I had thought that much about it?
NRAMA: What are some positive changes happening in direct-market comic book retailing right now?
A!F: One of the best parts of comics retailing in the past year
is the general rise of professionalism among my retail brethren. Three
years ago, ComicsPRO the trade organization for comics retailers was
formed. That in and of itself was a quantum leap for us and how we are
perceived in the industry at large. And while I don't know that
ComicsPRO is directly related to the increase in quality of stores, it
certainly doesn't hurt. After seeing all of the other videos that were
submitted for this years award, I am proud to report that the image of
the comics retailer as a guy who wants his personal comics cheap and
enough sales to afford supersizing his dinner are a thing of the past.
NRAMA: Where do you see comics retail going in the next five years? How about the next 10?
A!F: More tough questions. Next five years? I imagine we'll all
figure out how to get customers excited about Original Graphic Novels
in a way that they aren't now. I also think you're going to start
seeing regional stores being able to license their names and good will
to online stores. If our national economy doesn't start picking up, I'm
beginning to think that stores are going to start playing with
discounting again to keep customers living off of unemployment in the
shop each week until they have a job again.
In the next ten years is anybody's guess, though. The first time
someone announces a digital reader that behaves like Amazon's Kindle
but has a 4 color display, there will be a lot of people playing with
the business model so that it's not so dependent on the weekly series
reader. I have my theories on how to guard against that, but to see
them in action, you're just gonna have to come by the shop.
Matt Price blogs daily at Nerdage (http://blog.newsok.com/Nerdage) and is the co-owner, with his wife, Annette, of Speeding Bullet Comics (www.speedingbulletcomics.com) in Norman, Okla.
