Kita’s ComicsPRO Texas round up.
Joe and I spent the latter half of last week in Dallas, Texas for the annual ComicsPRO meeting. Where I had visions of landing in Texas, running over a cow with the plane and immediately seeing cowboy hats and giant belt buckles, none were to be had. We were immediately thrown into meeting after meeting, panel after panel of interactions between comic shop owners and managers and industry representatives.
On Day One (after being awake since 3 am and traveling for over 6 hours) the first comment I had the guts to say into a microphone–in a room full of people I didn’t know–was shot down faster than a nerd on prom night. Later my comment was defended at the bar by my peers, though. Seriously, the Blackest Night hardcovers are a joke right?
Day Two brought forth much more interaction and food with panels from the head honchos of Boom, IDW, Image, Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, and more. It was a nice open panel where the store representatives could ask questions, share feedback (comments and complaints) with them one on one.
Did I mention the food? Holy wow! They were feeding us buffet style like every two hours. There was no way I could keep up.
We got to hear that there will be nice swag with the FlashPoint event this summer (no, not rings). We also heard about upcoming toy lines and such.
The highlight of the event, and the best use of marketing money I’ve seen to date, was the Boom RV. What more to convince a group of comic shop managers and owners that you are awesome then an RV stocked with beer and liquor?
Saturday night we were all talked out and got to take a tour of some of the local shops. All of the stores were neat in their own way and each very different from the one before it. All of the shops also had a spread of food (I’m seeing a trend in Texas–lots and lots of food) which was super nice of them. It was super refreshing to visit other stores and see how they do things.
We got a ton of new ideas on the table and some great things coming up! Keep in touch because things are only going to get bigger. *Giggle*
By the way, if you take my comments about Texas seriously you don’t know me at all.
Great meeting you and actually talking to Joe in person rather than via e-mail. I really hope that the store’s anniversary year (30th and 10th WOW!) goes very well, and that you guys decide on a cool remodel. I’ll hvae to come up and check it out when it happens!
Thanks for the enthusiasm at the meeting, everyone in this industry needs to know that ComicsPRO is about solutions and the best way to accomplish that is to get everyone involved!