Let's talk about the "softening of the direct market" as quoted in the Comics Beat story. I'm particularly interested in hearing from retailers. Ppl have been predicting the collapse of the DM for as long as I've been in comics, and thankfully they've never been right. But this time feels different.

Do you have a link to this story on Comics Beat? I can’t seem to find it.

My take: much like TV, there doesn't seem to be as much collective audience investment in ongoing storylines in recent years--not like the heyday of GoT, for example, when we were ALL glued to the screen at the same time. Last time that happened in comics was HoX/PoX.

Obviously, comics will be fine. But, I’m always concerned about the ongoing feasibility of single issues, particularly for smaller publishers.

My daughter's 8, and loves comics, love series like Lumberjanes, Hilda, etc., but there's not much for her at our local comics shops, which are heavy on superhero and adjacent stuff. Booksellers and the library are much better bets.

Popped into a LCS I used to frequent every week about ten years ago, and the display of single comics was down from covering an entire wall to just a few small shelves. Everything else was board games, Gundam models, TTRPG stuff.

My business has been steadily increasing, seeing larger and larger crowds on New Comics Day, etc. But price points are causing some audible grumbling from some customers and the periodical market is going to have to evolve, and soon.

Anecdotally I'm buying comics again after following you here and seeing your incredible work 😃

I love the DM, but for a certain level of creators, self-distribution has become more profitable both short and long term than a lot of deals laid out by mid-tier publishers. That's not to say publishing doesn't have value, but it's shifting perceptions for some as to which market to prioritize.

I miss going to my local comic shop and picking up the latest stuff from my subscription box and looking around to see what else was happening. But that was thirty years ago. I no longer have the budget, space, or patience for physical media of any sort, really. Still love comics.

Well, I sell comics, but as other, smarter people have said, every comic shop is an island until themselves. That said, business is just fine, but we sell fewer singles than we used to. I don't count the singles market out, but we need crossover hits for adults, and those are hard to market.