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Comic
Shop Retailer Spotlight: Comics Plus
by Afro Thunder
Comics Plus, 5425 S. Padre Island Dr. #145, Corpus Christi, TX.
Jesse
Mendoza is the owner and operator of Comics Plus, Corpus Christi's
comic book oasis. Jesse was brave enough to be the first comic book
retailer to be put under the PositiveBrand.net microscope in a recent
interview where he told us what he really thinks of Jim Lee, what
it takes to make it in this business, what makes the ideal comic
book customer, and who the best all time Superman artist is (hint:
it's not Jim Lee according to Jesse.) Here now is the complete interview
for your consideration and enjoyment.
When
did you open your first comic book store?
1992
Why?
As in, why open a comic book store because there must be better
ways to make money.
It was a long time hobby of mine. It was something I liked. I looked
around the city and the immediate area in Corpus Christi where I’m
located here and I thought there was a need for a place that would
sell comic books and collectibles. There was already a long-established
store here and a couple of other ones that kind of dabbled in comic
books but none of them took it as seriously as I thought they should.
And so I went ahead and branched into that.
Is there a comic book community in Corpus?
What’s it like? Is it growing or shrinking?
I don’t know but there are a lot of fans that are into it
as there are in every part of the country.
Years ago, you had to go to a 7-Eleven or
grocery store to buy a comic book. Today, the industry obviously
favors comic book stores to direct selling or more general retailers.
Are there other things that the publishers are doing to support
comic book specialty shops?
Well, they provide us with promotional material. They don’t
provide as much as we wish they would but they do provide some.
They do provide a little advertising space for us like in the form
of the Comic Shop Locator Service. I wish there was a little more
they would do but I do guess they help us some.
What are the most popular items in your store?
Most popular comics?
The comic books and the trade paperbacks. The most popular comics
are the mainstays – the X-men, Spiderman, Superman, Batman.
Corpus Christi is more of a mainstream city in that superheroes
seem to dominate the market. We don’t seem to have a big market
for some of the independent books and Vertigo books. I know in some
parts of the country they tend to outsell superhero books. But not
in this city. I guess being in Texas has a part to do with that.
How has comic book retailing changed since
you first opened your store?
Well it’s become more professional. Or at least you’ve
had to become more professional in order to stay in the business.
As I mentioned before, a lot of people were dabbling in to it. A
lot of flea market dealers and a lot of sport card places that were
selling comic books as ancillary items. Now it’s stores that
are a little cleaner and a little more organized – that have
a better presentation. Basically we’ve had to transform and
become more like a bookstore over time in the way we display the
material and the way we upkeep the store. We’re not exactly
like a bookstore but we’re more like a bookstore than when
we started off.
Describe the ideal customer.
Somebody who comes in on a regular basis and spends a fair amount
of money. Not necessarily someone who comes in and spends a huge
amount of money. That sometimes backfires. Sometimes you have somebody
who comes in and they get into the hobby to quick and then they
get burned out. Especially if they are just speculating. Or just
looking for the hot thing. To me the ideal person is a little more
worldly and understands what there budget constraints are. Someone
who comes in regularly. Luckily we have a lot of those kinds of
people. With good paying jobs and they’ve been coming in over
a long period of time. They have a lot of control and they tend
to buy only what they really like. And that keeps them coming back.
Sometimes people tend to buy the same item because they’ve
been buying it for years and then they get burned out on an item.
And they don’t like it anymore and they end up getting out
of comic books for a while. That doesn’t help us.
What are some of the fringe benefits of owning
a comic book store from a comic collector’s point of view?
(Like getting preview comics a week in advance of their release.)
I get to read everything. I don’t really have a comic collection
anymore like I used to. Before I opened the comic book store. I
guess I don’t really consider myself a collector anymore.
I’m a reader now. As far as benefits go I get to read everything
now before I sell it. I don’t read everything in the store
but I get more of an opportunity to see stories that I was never
able to see before. A lot of old stuff. Especially the Silver Age
stuff. I get to read all that. That’s what I usually do is
I set it aside and read it and I sell it. I don’t hang on
to it anymore. I don’t do that kind of thing. If you want
to stay in business you have to turn it over – you got to
sell it. At least that’s my opinion. But I get to enjoy ‘em.
I get to read them and then you have to put them out.
If money was no object, what would you differently
to your store?
I think I’d expand. Get a bigger store I’d branch out
into more ancillary items. Things that are more related to comic
books – more collectibles and whatnot. Unfortunately the market
isn’t as big at least for us the comics books outsell the
merchandise. But it would be cool to sell more merchandise, more
statues and whatnot.
Have you been to other comic book stores outside
of Texas?
Oh yeah, I’ve been to a lot of different ones. I used to do
a lot of traveling. But whenever I went out of town I would go into
other shops. Just to see what they were doing differently. If there
were any things they were doing that I could incorporate into mine.
Any things, any mistakes that I wanted to make sure that I didn’t
repeat.
Which ones do you think are doing it the best?
The best? Well I wouldn’t be able to name them, but I can
tell you the type of shop. The type of shop that is well lit. Well
organized. That’s clean. That tends to show their stuff in
a professional manner. Not the kind of shop that puts everything
in a box or treats everything like a collectible. You gotta put
stuff in reach or display it in a way so that people can touch it.
At least the majority of it. We have display cases but I’ve
been in plenty of shops that have way too many display cases. I
prefer a shop that has more merchandise out on the floor where people
can see it and touch and I think that leads to more sales.
What do you think comic book retailing is
like in five or ten years from now? Will there be any significant
changes?
That’s hard to say. If I had a crystal ball it would be nice.
I think that it will be similar to what we have now. I think there
will be a resurgence in the back issue market. It’s getting
harder to find back issues. You can go on Ebay or go online and
find them but I think people want to go into store and find stuff.
Do you have a personal collection of comics
or is the store your collection by default?
Pretty much yes (by default), and it’s always a changing collection.
Favorite comic book of all time?
Hard to name. Have to think about that one for a minute. There have
been some stand outs here and there. A lot of the Superman books
from the seventies and sixties when I was growing up. Those are
the ones I remember most fondly.
Best
writer?
That’s a tricky one. It always seems to fluctuate. I don’t
gravitate to a writer all the time. There are some writers that
tend be good for a while and then they go sour. Their writing style
changes. I guess if I had to pick an old time writer, Denny O’Neil
would be one of them.
Best artist?
There’s a lot of them. And I’ll tell you one thing,
it’s not Jim Lee. Jim Lee seems to be a big hit. I think he’s
okay. But if I had to pick one it would be one of the Superman ones.
It would be Curt Swan. He did Superman for about 20 years. Maybe
even longer. His style of drawing Superman was the standard for
a long time. He did a lot of things with the characters that a lot
of artists don’t do now. A lot of today’s artists a
very detailed but they don’t follow the characters well form
panel to panel. That was one of the things he did very well. He
was able to draw the character's emotions. If you look at some of
the old ones. That’s the only way to look at them is to go
back and see what they were really like. He wasn’t much of
a poster artist. Instead, his strength was doing the panels –
showing Superman in flight. Those kind of things.
What do you think of Marvel and DC’s
current run of crossover events like Infinite Crisis and Civil War?
Overall I think that they are necessary for the business and unfortunately
some of them are ht and miss. Some of them are well thought out.
But I wish they would wait a little longer in between these events.
That way they would be able to formulate better ideas. Because they
try to create these kinds of events and hard to create these events.
Like the Infinite Crisis that came out. It seems to be overall fairly
well orchestrated. But House of M seemed kind of rushed. Seemed
like it was kind of manufactured. You can say that about parts of
Infinite Crisis but it seemed more thought out overall. They should
spend more time with them like that instead of just saying, “Okay,
time for another cataclysmic event.”
What’s the biggest disappointment you’ve
seen from Marvel or DC in recent memory?
Hmmm. Probably because they’ve strayed away form the type
of story telling they used to do. They used to focus more on the
heroic aspects of the characters. Now they lean more on the shock
value. Just the over the top action or violence in the comic books.
That’s what it seems to be about. How many people can we kill
in an issue before the Justice League shows up. Instead of showing
the Justice League averting the disaster.
Have you ever attempted to create your own
comic by either drawing it or writing it?
No. No. No. I let other people do that. I just do the retailing.
Nowadays you can find almost any back issue
comic available for purchase online through Ebay or a wide variety
of e-tailers. How does this affect your store and are you considering
how you can use the Internet to help draw new customers or improve
the experience for your current customers?
Yeah. Well it’s put a little bit of a dent in it. I don’t
have as much interest in back issues anymore because of that. I
think it will eventually swing back.
Just answer good or bad, whichever is the
first to pop into your mind. No pausing to think.
FREE Comic Book Day -- good
All-Star Batman and Robin -- bad
Peter Jackson’s King Kong -- good
Image Comics -- bad
Rob Liefeld -- bad
Hulk Ultimate Destruction for the Xbox – not familiar
Cowboy Bebop -- good
Infinite Crisis -- good
52 -- good
House of M -- good
198 -- bad
Trekkies -- good
Comic book guy on the Simpsons -- bad
Variant covers -- bad
CGC Graded comics -- really bad
Wizard Magazine -- extremely bad
Triumph the Insult Comic Dog – not familiar
Blue Kryptonite -- I don't remember any blue kryptonite so it must
be bad.
What advice would you give someone who wants
to open their own comic book store?
Just learn as much as they can about the industry before getting
into it. To realize that it will take a lot of work and planning.
And it’s not the way to feed their hobby.
So,
what do you think? Agree? Disagree? Let us know. All comments welcome.
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