ComicsPRO

24-Hour Comics Day is very soon upon us! On Saturday, October 4th, people all over the world will each be creating a 24-page comic book in 24 hours. Good Luck everybody who is participating! (It's all online this year due to covid-19).... http://www.24hourcomicsday.com/ See more

*** CROSSPOSTED IN VARIOUS INDUSTRY FORUMS *** The ComicsPRO Board of Directors wants to thank comic publishers who are working with the retail community to lessen the impact of the COVID-19 Virus. Image Comics, Dynamite Entertainment, and BOOM! Studios have or will announce returnability programs for their books during the crisis. The Board would also like to thank former DC Executive Paul Levitz for penning an opinion column on ICV2 suggesting returnability and other steps ...that Publishers and Diamond can take. The Board would also like to suggest other ways that Diamond Comics and the publishers can help save the comic industry. These five suggestions are based on the fact that comic book stores are the lynchpin of the comic industry; without a healthy, functioning comic store network, the comic book industry will implode. 1. Returnability of all comics and graphic novels shipped during the COVID-19 crisis. 2. Extended terms. This is especially necessary for the most vulnerable stores the ones on COD. 3. No interest payments for back debt incurred during the crisis. Interest payments can cripple comic stores. 4. Temporarily raising the Discount Levels. And making sure that reduced orders due to closings and reduced traffic don't affect these higher discount levels. By lowering the product cost to retailers, we will have more monies to be able to weather the storm. 5. Publishers should limit output. Push major projects back. Slow Everything Down. Fewer titles mean less cost to retailers. Additionally, the ComicsPRO Board of Directors suggests we postpone Free Comic Book Day by at least a month, reopen FOC, and also offer extended terms for FCBD items. And we suggest publishers postpone their FCBD related launches to coincide with this new date. Currently, FCBD falls under the 2 month window, in which the CDC has suggested that no more than 50 people can congregate. We believe that having Free Comic Book Day during this window will be viewed negatively by the public.

14 IDEAS ON HOW TO HANDLE COVID-19 OUTBREAK (PLUS A RESOURCE TO HELP BINC) (PLUS THE ONE THOUSAND COMIC CHALLENGE!) CROSSPOSTED IN VARIOUS INDUSTRY FORUMS...Continue reading

Comic Store Owners and Managers! You are invited to the Comic Industry Conference in Portland! (Sponsored by ComicsPRO) Early Bird Registration EXPIRES FRIDAY, 1/3/20.... The ComicsPRO Comic Industry Conference is often cited as the most important business-focused event of the year. Why? 4 reasons 1. It’s run by retailers and not a single Publisher or a single Distributor! As a result, we have the widest variety of vendors than any other conference. We help showcase alternative sources of distribution. We discuss things at our conference that won't be discussed at any other conference or gathering. 2. Lots of seminars! We have the most classes and seminars than any other conference. Sure, like other conferences, you will hear what vendors and Diamond are up to. But at our annual meeting, we also have retailer-led, "nuts-and-bolts" seminars on how to improve your store. 3. It's early in the year! Our conference is always in the last few weeks of February or the first week of March. We find that this is when Publishers and Distributors tend to make announcements of what they are going to be doing for the rest of the year. In the past, these announcements have ranged from DC announcing Rebirth .. Dark House unveiling Berger Books BOOM unveiling their guarantee program. If you want to hear BIG NEWS, come to this conference! 4. Very intimate! Usually we have between 150 to 200 retailers. This means more one-on-one time with vendors, distributors, and other retailers. Our Roundtable process allows you to meet with between 32 and 40 vendors and come away from the conference feeling that you've gotten a lot of information. PLEASE JOIN US! You will be definitely glad you did!! ---------------------------- REGISTRATION INFO THE COMICSPO COMIC INDUSTRY MEETING is being held in Portland, Oregon, on February 20-22. (Hilton Downdtown). REGISTRATION PAGE http://www.comicspro.org/meet20register Here's the schedule so far. We will be filling it in as we go forward. MAIN SCHEDULE PAGE http://www.comicspro.org/meet20 Hotel is $149.00 per night https://book.passkey.com/e/49962123

PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Marco Davanzo ComicsPRO (949) 387-9599...Continue reading

PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Marco Davanzo ComicsPRO ... (949) 387-9599 [email protected] LOCAL COMIC SHOP DAY RETAILER REGISTRATION NOW OPEN Fifth Annual Event on for Saturday November 23 (August 31, 2019) Local Comic Shop Day, the day celebrating the independent spirit of local comic book shops, returns for its fifth annual event on Saturday, November 23rd. Retailer registration is now open at www.comicspro.org/lcsd2019. Local Comic Shop Day gives local comic shops an opportunity to bring something special to their local community during the busy holiday season. Fans are inundated by big box messaging during the holidays, and may not remember their local comic shop is a fantastic font of comics related coolness, said Peter Dolan, President of ComicsPro. Local Comic Shop Day puts the spotlight on the local shop..where pop culture begins!" Every participating Local Comic Shop Day retailer adds their own unique spin to the event. There Is no 'standard' way to celebrate Local Comic Shop Day because every comic shop is its own universe, said Marco Davanzo, Executive Director of ComicsPRO. Local Comic Shop Day is all about how comic shops serve their unique and diverse local communities. Some shops will have special sales, or children’s art contests, artist signings, cosplaying, and charity involvement. All participating LCSD shops bring excitement to their communities! Publishers and creators help stores celebrate the local comic shop by providing EXCLUSIVE and LIMITED items for fans to purchase. Announcements from ComicsPRO and publishers are coming soon. Comics publishers wanting to get involved with Local Comic Shop Day or creators looking to distribute self-published work to participating retailers, please email [email protected]. Current information about Local Comic Shop Day can be found at www.localcomicshopday.com. ABOUT LOCAL COMIC SHOP DAY Local Comic Shop Day is organized and implemented by ComicsPRO retailers, putting the focus on locally owned independent comic book specialty stores--- the fire-starters of Pop Cuture! ABOUT ComicsPRO ComicsPRO is the comics' industry's trade organization dedicated to the progress of comic book specialty retailers. The goals of ComicsPRO are to help direct market retailers speak with a single, strong voice on important industry issues, to provide educational and mentoring opportunities to current and future retailers, and to offer opportunities for retailers to reduce fixed costs. For more information about ComicsPRO, please visit www.comicspro.org.

Local Comic Shop Day, produced by ComicsPRO, returns on Saturday November 23. Retailers, be on the lookout for info here about registering your shop as an official Local Comic Shop Day participating store. Fans, if you want you local comic shop to participate, let them know, so they can get signed up. Retailers need not be members of ComicsPRO to participate (but membership is a good idea, anyway!). ... #shoplocal #shopindie #comics #comicshops #SupportYourLCS #LCSD

For Immediate release April 9th, 2019 ComicsPRO encourages retailers to look at Comics Omnivore Program ComicsPRO supports programs and initiatives that help retailers mitigate their risks while increasing sales.... Phil Boyle, owner of Florida's Coliseum of Comics, recently announced a new initiative called Comics Omnivore, aimed at increasing sales and readership. ComicsPRO's Board of Directors encourages comic book specialty retailers to take a close look at the Comics Omnivore program as a potential path to new sales. According to Boyle, the program came out of discussions at the recent ComicsPRO meeting in Charlotte, NC. One thing we talked extensively about," said Phil Boyle, "was the need for a closer partnership between retailers and publishers to encourage more readership. This program is a direct extension of those meetings. The Comics Omnivore program features: - A retailer panel to work with publishers in picking specific comics to spotlight. - Publishers offering returnability on first issues and partial returnability on second issues. - Retailers discounting the first issue cover price by $1.00 for the first week. - Marketing support from ComicsOmnivore.com (not launched yet) , as well as participating publishers and retailers. ComicsPRO advocates for publishers to offer comics returnability as one of many ways to help comic specialty retailers grow sales and readership. Other incentives include deeper wholesale discounts, co-op advertising, creative outreach to new potential readers not currently visiting comic shops, as well as innovative promotional items. ComicsPRO supports programs and initiatives helping retailers mitigate their risks while increasing sales. ComicsPRO developed four main lobbying points from retailer feedback at its 2018 annual meeting in Portland OR, one of which is returnability. The full report can be read here: http://comicsprogress.com/comicspro-report-developing-inno/ ComicsPRO is the comics' industry trade organization dedicated to the progress of direct market comic book retailers. The goals of ComicsPRO are to help direct market retailers speak with a single, strong voice on important industry issues, to provide educational and mentoring opportunities to current and future retailers, and to offer opportunities for retailers to reduce fixed costs. For more information about ComicsPRO, please visit www.comicspro.org.

New content is being added to the ComicsPRO blog at ComicsPROgress.com We invite you to take a look. http://comicsprogress.com/

BOOM! STUDIOS ANNOUNCES COMICSPRO 2019 EXCLUSIVES AND SPECIAL EVENT Acclaimed Publisher Attends Premier Comics Retailer Event in February 2019 LOS ANGELES, CA (February 15, 2019) BOOM! Studios announced today the company’s exclusive merchandise debuts and retailer event at the 13th ComicsPRO Annual Meeting from February 21-23, 2019 in Charlotte, NC. BOOM! Studios is proud to return to the 13th ComicsPRO Annual Meeting as a Premier sponsor.... Retailers who attend the ComicsPRO Annual Meeting will receive exclusive Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Adventure Time variant covers for free that will only be available at this conference! The retailer-exclusive merchandise available from BOOM! Studios’ includes: Adventure Time: Marcy & Simon #1 ComicsPro 2019 Edition Variant Cover featuring the Vampire Queen Marceline and Princess Bubblegum on a date, art by Myra Rose. Buffy the Vampire Slayer #1 ComicsPro 2019 Edition Variant Cover featuring fan favorite characters Rupert Giles and Willow, art by Jonathan Case (Over the Garden Wall). BOOM! Studios President, Publishing & Marketing, Filip Sablik, will unveil the publisher’s vision for 2019 at a presentation on Friday, February 22nd at 1:40pm. Throughout the weekend, attendees will also have an opportunity to speak directly with Filip Sablik, President, Publishing & Marketing, Spencer Simpson, Manager, Sales, and Morgan Perry, Retail Sales Coordinator, about exciting new and upcoming titles from acclaimed imprints BOOM! Studios, BOOM! Box, KaBOOM!, and Archaia at roundtable discussions on Friday, February 22nd, and Saturday, February 23rd. The publisher will also bring along limited edition advance galleys of upcoming projects and other promotional items to share at the roundtables. BOOM! Studios will host a special event on Friday, February 22nd and invites all attending ComicsPRO retailers to join them at The Broken Spoke At Great Wagon Road Distillery for free food and drinks. Transportation will be provided to and from the venue from the conference hotel. The BOOM! Studios Celebration will take place 6:30PM-9:30PM on Friday, February 22nd, at The Broken Spoke, located at 227 Southside Drive in Charlotte, NC. BOOM! Studios will also co-sponsor the 8th Annual ComicsPRO Live Auction for the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund later that night. BOOM! Studios’ own Morgan Perry will co-host the event with IDW’s Dirk Wood. The Live Auction will take place at Crowne Plaza : Charlotte Executive Park, located at 5700 Westpark Drive in Charlotte, NC on Friday, February 22nd beginning at 9:00PM. For more news on BOOM! Studios at the ComicsPRO Annual Meeting, stay tuned to www.boom-studios.com and follow @boomstudios on Twitter.

ComicsPRO announces candidates for 2019 Industry Awards. ComicsPRO, the trade association for comics specialty retailers, proudly announces the nominees for its annual Comic Industry Awards. The awards honor those people who are or have been the best at what they do, making a significant difference in the business of the comic-book specialty market. There are two categories for the ComicsPRO Awards, the Industry Appreciation Award for active professionals in the industry and ...Continue reading

ComicsPRO thanks and commends Image Comics for instituting two programs to help Direct Market retailers sell more comics. "No Risk Number Ones and the Double Down Discount allow storefront retailers to minimize risk and be more profitable. Image continues to show dedication to sustaining and supporting the health of the comics industry, by providing returnability and deep discounts, helping mitigate retailer risk. The two new programs originated from discussions between r...etailers and Image and are designed to reduce the burden of risk on any comic shop looking to support a selection of highly curated and exciting new series. The No Risk Number Ones program allows comic shop retailers to order a selection of new number one issues at no risk and with no hoops to jump through. The Double Down Discount program offers an additional discount to all retailers maintaining a specific percentage of their orders from the previous issue on that series. Image joins BOOM! Entertainment in offering innovative ways to grow the comic industry. The BOOM! Guarantee program is considered by many retailers to be the gold standard retail partnership program in the industry because it includes returnability, additional promotional material, and first looks at upcoming projects. ComicsPRO encourages publishers to offer returnability on their comics (either full or partial) to help grow the market, mitigate retailer risk and be greater partners to storefront retailers. ComicsPRO applauds all publishers offering order incentives that include deep discounts and returnability, including efforts from Valiant and AfterShock.

For Immediate Release: December 21, 2018 Marco Davanzo Executive Director ComicsPRO (949) 387-9599...Continue reading

LOCAL COMIC SHOP DAY STORE REGISTRATION NOW OPEN Event kicks off holiday season for comic specialty shops & fans (August 29, 2018) Local Comic Shop Day, the day celebrating the independent spirit of local comic book specialty shops, returns for its fourth annual event Saturday, November 17, 2018. Store-Front Comic retailers are encouraged to register their participation now at www.comicspro.org/lcsd2018....Continue reading