Ilan Strasser of Fat Moose Comics and Games in Whippany, New Jersey read Brian Hibbs' recent Talk Back (see "Brian Hibbs of Comix Experience on the Current Comic Book Market") and offers his thoughts on variant incentive covers:

I read Brian Hibbs' recent Talk Back with tremendous interest.  Having Brian post his opinions is a thrill in itself--in the years he wrote his weekly column for the Comics and Games Retailer magazine and I always looked to see what Brian had to say about comics retailing.  And while I agree with Brian that retailers who operate without thought or purpose hurt themselves specifically and the industry in general, I'm not sure that I agree that our ordering process is always to blame.  

I'd like to address the issue of variant covers that Brian mentioned.  I never order very many in my own store.  Just the 1-3 copies I qualify for based on my actual orders for the book itself.  And I never increase my orders for a comic just to be able to receive additional copies of a variant.  But I have a small group of customers who want these books.  And these same customers have proven over time that they are more than willing to buy the books elsewhere if I should choose not to carry them.  So I'd like to ask Brian--should I give up the $1,500 or so I sell in variants every year?  Should I give up that extra revenue when these customers choose to buy the regular cover as well and more so, should I lose additional profitability when the variant is the only thing that customer wants that week?  In this economy, anything I no longer sell that I can sell only hurts my bottom line.

Brian is unequivocally right when he says that EVERY retailer needs to take responsibility for his own store, as well as the health of the industry overall, by making smart, intelligent, and informed choices in terms of what we choose to order and stock.  And Brian is right on target when he says every retailer should have a vision of the type of store he wants and then set about creating and refining that vision.  But with all the immense respect I have for everything of Brian's I've ever read, I still have to say: no matter how we choose to run our individual stores, a too large portion of our success (or failure) is taken out of our hands because the publishers decisions are always reactive instead of proactive, and their thinking is always blinded by the short-term.  I'm truly glad that Brian thinks I'm wrong about the viability of the pamphlet--still, if it does die, I still believe it will be more a result of the choices publishers make rather than the ones retailers make.

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