Bigwords wrote:They simply aren't capable of properly focusing on titles when they are dealing with so much other product, and without dedicated stands - such as newspapers receive - the sales will always be disappointing from such locations.
The comic stands aren't so bad in the ones I know - much less cluttered and disorganized than the big WH Smith.
Raven wrote:The Star Wars/Clone Wars comic was also down another 26.9%. Doctor Who Adventures was down another 23.2%. This is a continuing trend, every six months on it gets worse.
Bigwords wrote: Maybe it is time, then, to consider placing comics in different businesses. How about Waterstones? Indie bookshops? Whatever handful of music shops we have left (Viz used to do a roaring trade in Virgin Records)...
The rapidly disappearing record shops and bookshops?! That's rather missing the point of my argument, though; you're still assuming it's a problem of visibility and awareness, whereas I suspect the problem is that they're just not particularly interested in the entertainments we grew up with, so even if they get a free comic with their shoes they won't be interested in reading it. They won't be interested in a Morgyn the Mighty tie-in or reading PDFs of early 1980s Nutty comics, because they'll find these things archaic.
What we're contemplating here is essentially how to keep things in a state of permanent stasis at a time when all media is in a state of massive flux: everything's changing, and we're probably in the end days now of print media (comics, newspapers, magazines), prescribed television schedules, physical formats for music and films, and, for kids, old fashioned linear, narrative entertainment.