Brian Kirsten

Comics and Mail Order

April 15, 2004
Correct me if I'm wrong, but does somebody out there publish a monthly (or quarterly) mail order catalog for comics? I'm not talking about Previews. I'm talking something more along the lines of the Pottery Barn catalog. You know something snazzy like that. I can hear you all screaming, yes I realize that new comics are out every month and the catalog would become a tome as big as Previews. I'm talking something with a decent snapshot of the market as a whole, with the ability to buy the prior issues of whatever their displaying as well. Does anyone do anything remotely like this? Cause the comic world is really just mail order. Anything you know your local comics retailer isn't selling you point at in Previews and they should be getting for you (if your retailer is any good that is). Yes, I know there are plenty of retailers on the web who offer a decent selection of comics searchable online. But have they tried the whole mail order catalog bit? I used to get a mail order catalog in the early 90's (the ancient days pre-internet) and we would get a majority of our comics that way. See, what I'm thinking of is a catalog offered by retailers that are located around the country. That way when orders come in each retailer fulfills the order based on geographic location. This would obviously need to involve plenty of infrastructure for ordering as well as the possibly of adding additional staff to the shops that would need to fulfill the orders. It's along the lines of the Amazon model (or at least the early days of Amazon), with fulfillment centers peppered around the country, so you wouldn't have to pay $4.00 in shipping charges for ordering $5.00 in comic books. Hell, you might even be able to just pick up the book at a local store that you may have never entered before for some reason or the other. Is this crazy?

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