Specialty store in Fremont runs FCBD with contributors to smaller business

The Fremont News-Messenger says a local store's brought over contributors for Aspen Comics to participate in their FCBD membership. But, there's at least one part here that's troublesome:

Locally, Rupp’s Comics will have four comic book world celebrities at his store to do signings and special sketchings, industry professionals from Aspen Comics Frank Mastromauro, Peter Steigerwald, Alex Konat and Chris Ehnot.

Mastromauro is a writer and the owner of Aspen Comics. Steigerwald is a comic artist with Aspen Comics that has done many covers for Marvel and DC. Konat began his career at DC, with the Gotham Gazette and has since also worked in the film world, doing PR for 20th Century Fox on many superhero titles. Ehnot’s art has been published in a list of award-winning publications that boggles the mind, but not the comic publishing industry.

[...] Rupp’s Comics store owner Chris Rupp has seen the evolution of comics from a rebellious frowned-upon genre, that teachers would take away from children, to the emergence of comics as collectibles and now returning as a rebellion to all the screens in our lives.

“This is international. I personally know stores in Italy and Paris that do Free Comic Book Day. To me, it’s just getting somebody to read, and put the phone down, or the iPad down and just read a comic book,” Rupp said. “Especially in this day and age, I think it was 25 years ago that Free Comic Book Day started, that the internet wasn’t so prevalent in our easy-access, every-day, every-second. I really feel that we need to take a break from technology and just read a book, or read a comic book.”

If they're not putting a heavy emphasis on Marvel/DC, and more of an emphasis on independent publishers, that's what'll make their specific event worthwhile. But, did they hint they consider comics merely "collectibles", and not enjoyable visual literature? Though the store manager does say reading's important, the part about collectibles dampens the part about reading being a good example. A shame, but that suggests even at this store, the collectible mentality's still prevailing, and it's something serious merchants need to move away from. Exactly why the continued use of pamphlets for storytelling needs to be abandoned.