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W O R D S - A N D - P I C T U R E S
Comic Creators Network Newsletter
5.16.2005 - Issue 5
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NEWSLETTER CONTENTS:
-Quick Links
-Events Rundown
-Hot News
-Interview with Frank Mangiaracina
-Website Spotlights
-Anthology Update
-Message Board Tip

[More:]

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QUICK LINKS...
CCN Website - http://www.comixclub.com
CCN Message Board - http://www.comixclub.com/phpbb2
CCN Blog - http://www.comiccavern.com/blogs
Comixperience - http://www.comixperience.com
Free Web Comix - http://www.voidpulppress.com

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EVENTS RUNDOWN - Wednesday (May 18) is the Comixtravaganza @ Union Station, at 7:00 pm. Bring your sketchbook or your latest script and hang out with a lot of like-minded (and unlike-minded) comic creators! Rob Schamberger will be shooting some photo references for his graphic novel "The Black Chamber." Darryl Woods will be releasing his first mini-comic, "Hey everbody,its Star Wars Day" at the event. Tom will have the first 9 pages of Greg Gildersleeve's "Genesis 2100" ready to show off. And there will be lots of drawing and comics-talk! New-comers are always welcome. Click on the link below for more details about all our events...the June events are already posted there...

Comixtravaganza - Wednesday, May 18th, 7:00 PM, at Union Station
24-Hour Party - Saturday/Sunday, May 28-29, details on the message board

http://comixclub.com/phpbb2/viewforum.php?f=2&sid=3e0a8d237e665fecac20fb671665e757

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HOT NEWS (Note from Rob Schamberger)

Hey all,
Just wanted to invite y'all to participate in the photo shoots I'll be doing for my upcoming graphic novel, The Black Chamber, at this Wednesday's Comixtravaganza at Union Station. I'll be needing a lot of extra's and a few minor roles filled, so if you're interested, please come on by. For an example of the style I'll be working in, check out the mini-site at theblackchamber.blogspot.com. Everyone who participates will get credited in the book, plus a copy when it gets printed.

Thanks in advance!
Rob Schamberger
rob9076@sbcglobal.net

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INTERVIEW WITH FRANK MANGIARACINA
AKA, "FRIENDLY FRANK"

Frank, you own B-Bop Comics, B-Bop South, and Comic Cavern...all comic stores here in the Kansas City Area. When did you first realize you wanted to be a comics retailer?

FRANK MANGIARACINA: It was something of a progression. When I was 12 I bought my buddy’s comic collection so he could buy a guitar. He had some books I didn’t want or that I already had, so I started selling some of those to guys at school—three for 50 cents. When I was 13 my Mom told me if I got more comics than would fit under my bed she’d throw them away. My dream at the time had been to get every Marvel, but as Amazing Spider-Man #1 had recently hit $100, I was already thinking that was more than I could ever afford. Coupled with my mother’s ultimatum I decided to just concentrate on comics with “good art”—at the time I was particularly into Neal Adams, Barry Smith, Wrightson, Steranko, etc. That left me with a bunch of books that I was willing to unload, but there were no comics stores around Gary Indiana. So Mom agreed to drive me to a little convention in Chicago. I sold a few hundred dollars worth of comics, but at the end of the day a guy offered me a big stack of books for $50. I would have paid $50 just for the Barry Smith Conan’s I needed in that batch. Coincidentally, my Mom’s favorite comic was also Conan and she was also pretty interested in reading those early issues. I told her I thought it was a good deal, she agreed, and we came back with more comics that we started with. This would become a pattern.

Around this time I decided to take the plunge and quit my paper route. I didn’t know if I’d be able to match the Post Tribune’s $10/week salary working for myself, but I thought it would be more fulfilling. When I was 14 I started keeping financial records. Most weekends my mother and I would travel to sell at comic conventions. That same year I started a mail order subscription service, started advertising in Comics Buyer’s Guide (#78 I think), and sold my first comics wholesale. When I was 17 I purchased a van and started doing conventions further away. At this point the plan was still to go to College after High School, yet I kept seeing opportunities that I thought were too good to turn down.

At 18 (in 1982) I opened my first comic store, largely to keep from having to lug a truckload of comics up my parent’s 44 steps every Monday. The subscription service was really growing as most towns didn’t have a comic store. I made a sub-distribution deal with Glenwood Distributors, meaning we got a better price than a store, though not as good a price as a distributor. My mother ended up in charge of shipping, we started advertising in every CBG, and started hiring employees. Soon the UPS truck gave way to semi-trailers. Several other stores followed, as did a warehouse, a monthly catalog, and eventually we became a full-fledged distributor. In 1986 one of my stores was busted for obscenity, in a case that led to the formation of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.. Though we eventually won the case, we lost our lease, and I made a decision to concentrate on the wholesale business.

My mother and I continued to build Friendly Frank’s Distribution. In 1995 we had sales of $16 million, 100 employees and warehouses in Chicago, Detroit, Kansas City and Dallas. Marvel Comics was purchased by Ron Perleman who decided to radically expand output in a bid to put other publishers out of business. That’s a long story, but it led to our getting out of the business, Marvel going bankrupt, and an implosion in the comics business that led to a 90% reduction in comic sales (which is where things are today).

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Comic Cavern, North of the River, was the first store that you owned in Kansas City. What year did you buy Comic Cavern, and what was your motivation behind buying that store?

FRANK MANGIARACINA: In 1997 I’d just finished a two year stint liquidating the stock from my distribution company and my stores (and paying off all our debt). I was still bitter at Marvel for wiping out my life’s work, so I didn’t want to sell new comics . I’d spent a year selling old comics, but I couldn’t do many conventions as I was a single parent so that left mailorder. At the end of a year, all the profit from the mailorder business was in comics, not cash, which wasn’t going to work. I decided to do one last convention and then start looking for a real job. At that convention my tables happened to be next to BJ Simpson’s, owner of 1,000,000 Comix. I’d heard from a mutual friend that he had just purchased Comic Cavern, so at a lull in the convention, I complimented him on his acquisition. He told me that he’d just been helping Greg Weiss (owner of Comic Cavern), but had no interest in expanding. The next time I saw my buddy I passed this along to him. Then Greg called me. In less than a week Greg and I had a deal. After the high stress of the distribution business there was a real comfort level in being back down to one store, and in dealing directly with the guy who was going to read the comic. It took me awhile to realize this, but Greg and I also had a very similar philosophy of how to run a business.

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You opened B-Bop Comics in Midtown just a few years later...right across the street from Clint's Comics. There's a story there, right?

FRANK MANGIARACINA: Comic Cavern employed a few part-timers for peak times and times when I couldn’t work. As I was a single parent, I basically tried to work the hours my kids were in school. After a few years one of these employees had taken over most of the hours I didn’t work, and he handled most of our mail order fulfillment as well. Tim told me that he’d need more hours once he graduated from college, which was about a year away. At the same time, as much as I loved Comic Cavern and that customer base, we really didn’t sell much of what I’d call “Alt/Lit” comics—stuff by cartoonists like Crumb, Clowes, Ware, Sacco, Spiegelman, etc—which is personally my favorite stuff. At the time I was particularly fond of Sacco’s stuff, which was only selling 1200 copies. There are a handful of shops around the country that sell these books like most stores sell X-Men, and I’d always thought it would be cool if I could be one of them—I could sell my favorite stuff and support my favorite cartoonists at the same time. So I looked around KC, and decided that the Westport area was the right place to open this kind of shop. There was already a shop in Westport, called Clint’s, who didn’t sell any Alt/Lit. I spoke to the owner Smokey, asked him if he’d be interested in selling, and he said yes, and that I should deal with his son Jim. Jim ran the store, and though he seemed very friendly and open to working with me, the financial information I’d been promised never materialized. After months of excuses I just went down to get the info Jim said was on his desk. When he wouldn’t see me, I concluded he wasn’t really interested in selling. Getting back in my car, I noticed the store across the street was for rent. I inquired and was told it had just been rented. Months later I ran into Smokey and he asked me what happened to our deal, and I told him his son had never gotten me any financials. I had the financials a week later. Unfortunatley, Clint’s wasn’t making any money, owed $100,000 to their distributor, and they wanted $150,000. Jim blamed their problems on a store manager who they said had stolen over $200,000 before killing himself. I ended up offering only $100,000 which they turned down. Then, the landlord of the building across the street called me to say it was available again, and I decided to open up my dream store, specializing in Alt/Lit comics. This allowed me to promote my College Grad employee Tim Marks to manager, and for me to expand my business, for a lot less money than buying Clint’s.

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What makes B-Bop Comics different than Clint's Comics?

FRANK MANGIARACINA: Clint’s does a fine job of getting in the top 50 sellers, but that is really a small part of the business. They don’t do reorders, they don’t do special orders, they won’t save books for more than a week or two, and they don’t understand the perennial market. We also sell comics by local creators, we constantly buy back issues and we donate 1000s if comics to charity each year.

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More recently you purchased 1,000,000 Comix...bringing the number of stores you own in Kansas City to a total of three. Do you see yourself ever owning a 4th store here in KC?

FRANK MANGIARACINA: It’s hard to say. I was interested in 1,000,000 (now B-Bop) because it’s blocks from where my three sons go to school, and because it would allow us to qualify for Tuesday release. This means instead of getting the books Wednesday morning and having an hour to unpack, check-in, sort and merchandise everything we sell, we get them the day before. This way we can hire more full time employees as opposed to a bunch of part timers. But this raises our costs—we have to divide our own books between stores, which required us to buy a whole new computer software package, we have to deliver the books to our own stores, and spend 10-15 hours doing additional paperwork.

If we were to add a fourth store, none of these additional costs would go up much. On the other hand I’m getting by doing all the district management stuff myself now, and with a fourth store I’d probably have to add another layer of management. I’m constantly torn between ambition (growing) and quality of life (spending more time with my family). I also find myself worrying more and more about the fiscal health of the industry. I can’t imagine a future without comics, yet the industry is smaller than it’s ever been.

I guess my decision would be based on the strength of our staff, and my view of the industry at the time. If I had a bright, committed employee who wanted to go the extra mile required to expand, I would. I’d certainly lean more towards an acquisition than starting another store from scratch.

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Could you talk briefly about each store? Maybe use 30 words or less for each store, and explain what's special or different about each one?

FRANK MANGIARACINA: B-Bop (South) A high volume, very focused suburban store. This store racks few titles than our other stores but sells more copies of each. We’re in the process of doubling our back issue selection.

B-Bop (Westport) Though we carry a full selection of super-hero comics and TPs (currently our fastest growing categories) we have KC’s best selection of Alternative, Manga, and Noir titles, with several 100 examples racked of each. Classics in each category will be racked perennially. The back issues area is also categorized into these families.

Comic Cavern (Northland) This store still has one of the 100 best selections of back issues in the world, but the higher end selection was decimated by a string of burglaries, and I temporarily cut back on buying collections. Our largest store has traditionally been our lab for trying new ideas and product lines and will probably remain so.

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You have been very generous with shelf-space for local small press books sold on consignment at your stores. Do you have one or two favorite local books that have come through your stores over the past few years?

FRANK MANGIARACINA: I believe Kerry Callen is the single most important creator to come along in KC since I’ve been here. His stuff can be read on many levels, from enjoyable story appropriate for a fourth grader to something a philosophy teacher could use in college class. I remember being blown away when I first saw Josh Cotter’s Fun Comics (we sold the majority of the first print run). I also really like Travis Fox (enjoyable autobio can be rare), Dan Spottswood (getting better all the time) and Hector Cassanova (his color work is like a modern day Max Parrish). Sorry this is more than two…

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From a retailer's standpoint, what are five things a small-press comic creator should do that will help them succeed at selling books?

FRANK MANGIARACINA:
1) Have a good cover. Often I’ll flip through a book a notice that the cover art is some of the weakest in the book. If your cover is weak, you’ve already lost 90% of your potential buyers.

2) Size: Not larger than comic size. This is tough for me to say, because I personally prefer larger sizes, but many people will not buy anything that won’t fit in a comic box. Not everyone’s wife will let them have comics all over the house.

3) IF you have a success, build on it. A continuing title not only creates demand for previous issues it builds your franchise and is easier to remember. Will Eisner is remembered for The Spirit, not The Dreamer, Frank Miller is remembered for Daredevil, Sin City, and Batman, not Ronin or Tales to Terrible to Tell. I’m not saying don’t try new projects—I love The Dreamer and Ronin—but don’t make it hard for people to follow your body of work. Comic shops are set up to sell serials—if you have something that people can add to their pull list retailers will give that to everyone who requests it. Almost no one asks for everything by Kerry Callen or even Alan Moore, but some people want all Tom Strong or Halo & Sprocket.

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From a retailer's standpoint, what are five things a small-press comic creator could do that will most likely lead to low sales.

FRANK MANGIARACINA:
1-3) See above.

4) Too low of a discount. Most retailer’s break-even points are based on buying at half price or less. Distributors work on 60-70% off. I’ve had people offer me books at 20% off—making it very easy for me to pass. Our average discount is about 50% off and our profit goal is 10% of sales. Last year we didn’t achieve that goal, nor did many honest retailers.

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Where do you see your stores and your business in 5 years? What does the future hold for Friendly Frank that might surprise us?

FRANK MANGIARACINA: Last year and this year we’re concentrating on doing things better and building a solid foundation for whatever the future might bring. We have a good staff, but I wish everyone had worked here longer. Every week we notice something we could have done better. The next week we try to correct it.

For my first 15 years in the business the industry grew by more than 20% every year, and we grew faster than the industry. For the last 10 years the industry has been shrinking, yet Friendly Frank’s has continued to grow, both organically and through acquisition. 10 years ago I worried about the quality of the comics, now I think the quality is higher than ever—we are in a creative Golden Age, and in a Financial Depression. As a result I now make decisions based on a 2-3 year horizon as opposed to 5-10 years.

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You have been a member of the CCN, have been to a number of CCN events, and have been very supportive of small-press creators affiliated with the CCN. From your standpoint, what have been some of the best things to come out of the CCN's efforts to bring together KC's comic creators into a network?

FRANK MANGIARACINA: Since I bought 1,000,000/B-Bop South I haven’t been to a meeting, but I was very impressed by the energy, excitement and generosity at all the meetings I attended. By generosity, I mean very experienced guys making a living off their art explaining the basics to a 13 year old who’s never done anything beyond pin-ups. I do believe these efforts will pay off for the artform—some of those 13 year olds may turn out to be the greatest cartoonists of the next generation.

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Where would you like to see the KC Comics Scene in 5 years? Do you see it getting there?

FRANK MANGIARACINA: Well, I’m already pretty impressed. KC has more cartoonists than Chicago. With the CCN and some great comic stores we have really fertile ground to grow an ever more bountiful harvest (you can tell I spent time in the garden this week).

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What comic books do you read? What are your favorites...and what are your "guilty pleasures?"

FRANK MANGIARACINA: After 33 issues Y the Last Man is the first thing I read when I bring my books home, and I can’t wait till the next issue. I love all the cartoonists I’ve mentioned above, plus many more. A new area I’ve been getting into the last few years has been comic strips. I really like Segar’s Popeye (in my all-time top 10), Bringing Up Father, Little Nemo and Dick Tracy. Sorry, the only thing I sometimes feel guilty about is loving my job!

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Thanks, Frank! I've known you for years and years...and I actually learned a lot about you from this interview.

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WEBSITE SPOTLIGHTS

ARIE MONROE has some crazy stuff going on in her life. She could use our support. In her own words, "...check this out. I want you to make a contribution to the Arie's Being Kicked Out of Her Moms House and Needs a New Place to Live Fund. That Means I am FINALLY selling artwork. I will be making the prints here at home for your guys to purchase, as well as, I will be selling copies of the sketchbook." Follow the link below to see the prints and the sketchbook that Arie is selling. Copies of the sketchbook will be available at the Comixtravaganza @ Union Station on May 18th...bring $15 with you. You'll get a cool sketchbook and helping a struggling creator at the same time!

http://mainasha.deviantart.com/

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CCN BLOG - Want an (almost) daily update on everything being blogged by KC Comic Creators? Want to hear the latest news about the KC Comix Scene? Would you like a new blog that allows you to post directly onto the main CCN Blog? These are all possibilities over at the CCN's new Blog:

http://www.comiccavern.com/blogs

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ANTHOLOGY UPDATE - Show and Tell #3 has been digitally created and is at the printers at this very moment. We'll probably get it back in a couple of weeks. We'd like to thank all the folks that put in stories and put their money where their mouth is. Here's the text from the Table of Contents:
Reading Assignments:
Ken McDaniel - Peter Cutler – Hey Look - 1
Jason Preu – Marc Shank – Long Walk, Wet Day – 2
Rob Schamberger – Duane Cunningham - Band on the Sun – 8
Jim Kagel Jr. – Sonn of Odenn - 13, 21, 26, 42, 51, 60, 73
Mike Sullivan – The Morning After – 14
B. Winter – One Genuine Experience – 20
Mickmo – The Raven and the Beast 22
Matt Dembicki – Vampire – 27
Dave Bryant – Speed Driver - 33
Byron Dunn – Chris Garrett – Love is Hell – 34
Bill Hook – The Origin of Commander Sparky – 43
Drew Boynton - Dan Lauer - Lady VickiE: Cursed - 52
Shawn Geabhart - Sgt. Crock and Cheesy Co. - 61
Arie Monroe – Mainasha: Just Another Day - 62
Jared Blankenship – Josh Ziegler – Everywhere – 66
Michelle Kelley – 74
Peter Cutler – Weird Nightmares - 79
Mark Stinson – Kinks in the Chain – 80

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MESSAGE BOARD TIP

Changing your e-mail address on your message board PROFILE allows other CCN members to easily e-mail you. Simply click on PROFILE on the main page when you are signed-in, and type in your correct e-mail address in the spot provided. If you haven't put in your correct e-mail since we changed over to the new message board...your correct e-mail is NOT in there.

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Its going to be hard to top this week's newsletter, but we'll try! See you next week with more Creator Interviews, Website Spotlights, and News about the KC Comix Scene!

CCN Website - http://www.comixclub.com
CCN Message Board - http://www.comixclub.com/phpbb2
CCN Blog - http://www.comiccavern.com/blogs
Comixperience - http://www.comixperience.com
Free Web Comix - http://www.voidpulppress.com

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