Buddy Saunders of Lone Star Comics, headquartered in Arlington, Texas, saw John Riley's column on removing comic back issues from his store (see 'Sharpening the Sword--Back Issues, Part 1'), and offers an alternative way to approach the category:

The back issue comic market of today and yesterday are indeed two very different animals.  Today it is not possible for a store to carry all the back issues that exist--over 220,000 (enough to fill 900 long boxes). What John described is something we all know, but he did an excellent job of putting that reality into words.

However, there's more than one way to skin a cat.  While times have changed, back issue comics sales continue to boom, albeit through a different channel.

A comic retailer can maximize back issue sales while at the same time avoiding an excess of back issue bins by filling customer want lists from an internet source.  This not only brings in extra dollars but builds customer loyalty when the retailer provides a customer with a comic he can't get from the competition.  In our eight stores, we carry only selected comics from the past ten years, but online we offer over 136,000 different issues and any of those can be delivered to any of our stores.  Our stores aren't the only ones using this service.  We have hundreds of retailers across the country filling want lists through us, thereby making dollars and points with their customers.

In short, while the back issue market is today a very different animal, it is still one that can be taught new tricks to the benefit and profit of all concerned, from the retailer looking to increase sales to the comic fan seeking hard-to-find back issues.

The opinions expressed in this Talk Back article are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.