Bumping this topic up from the past....
After delivering my (late) tax records to my accountant I was in Smiths today and noticed they've had another redesign for the comics display. Previously The Beano, Dandy, and Toxic were on top of a six foot high shelf. Could it get worse?
Yes. Comics are now crammed into a small area, deep shelves which go back into darkness. Dandy, Toxic, Marvel Heroes, Spectacular Spider-Man, BeanoMAX and GI Joe were all right at the back, impossible to see unless one was rummaging through the comics at the front to find them. So the chances of new readers discovering titles are nil. And unless existing readers spend time looking into the shadowy depths of the back shelves they're not going to find what they're looking for either.
What was at the front? Puzzle magazines (Junior Puzzleworld or something) and Doctor Who Adventures and various other activity mags. There was a separate display box for The Beano but that had been filled with... Simpsons comics.
Small wonder sales are declining.
I consider this to be a very serious matter. Smiths charge publishers a premium for shelf space. Do publishers KNOW what's going on out there? Do their reps check on these things? Perhaps city centre branches have better displays, but do the reps check out the smaller towns to see what they're doing?
I find it bl**dy annoying that such careless treatment of comics could impact on the livelihoods of those of us who work in comics.
A new method of getting comics to kids must be found. There is no longer any point in relying on the old system if retailers are going to treat comics like this. The DFC tried the subscription model and sadly that failed, but there has to be another way. Unless improvements are made, holding retailers to account to do the job they're paid to do, I can't see British weekly/monthly comics making it through the next decade.
Lew
