More news on Lashawn Colvin and the independent industry
WBHM radio spoke with Lashawn Colvin, the first Black woman to open a comics store in Alabama, and what they note here sounds more informative than what you might see some other news outlets telling:
Bookstores are feeling the impact of the pandemic, but they’re faring much better than their niche counterparts: comic book stores. Still, Marvel and DC superhero fans are keeping the industry alive, as are indie comic lovers. One of those people is Lashawn Colvin. She recently opened her very own comic book store in Montgomery, becoming the first known Black woman in the South to do so.Soon, it's bound to be pretty much indie comics the industry will be all about. Unless, of course, the Big Two could be sold off to a business with a far better approach to writing, art and marketing. Lest we forget, Marvel/DC are on their last legs these days, so you can't say their fans are keeping them above water if sales don't reflect that.
Aside from running her business, Colvin has been editing comics since 2016 for Short Fuse Media Group, a comic book publishing company. And she’s created a lot of meaningful relationships in the indie comics world. She has an entire wall at her shop dedicated to independent authors she’s worked with over the years.To be sure, far more so than what you'd find in the mainstream, where the higher echelons can take advantage of you in ways far worse than executives in previous decades.
“I was flooded with so many gifts from independent comic book creators and it was so beautiful because they were so supportive,” she said.
I wish Colvin well with her growing career in indies, and her upcoming Beautiful Soldiers, which looks far more promising than the catastrophic mess the mainstream's become. Independents are clearly the way going forward at this point.
Labels: good artists, indie publishers, sales
