The Four Color Media Monitor

The Miami Herald interviewed the manager of A&M Comics, previously spoken about a few years ago, which has until now been able to remain in business with little difficulty compared to other stores that haven't. At the start, they tell how this is a store built on collectible items:

While his family planned to get lunch and prepare for their trip, Berger had other ideas. A Yelp search showed him that he needed to be at A&M Comics and Books on Bird Road.

Berger, 27, is one of the many visitors in search of rare collectibles who journey to A&M, a Miami-Dade comic shop that has been in business for more than 50 years. The 1,000-square-foot shop, said to be the oldest comic shop in Florida, has long boxes of vintage comic books and stacks of collectible Spider-Man figures stacked to the ceiling.

That’s the way store owner Jorge Perez likes it. As much of entertainment shifts to digital subscription models and as comic book movies have become more popular than their source material, Perez has maintained his shop, affirming the cultural importance of the comic books he sells.

But see, that's the problem. Movie adaptations have at least seemingly become more popular than the zygotes for years. Of course, as recent examples indicate, even that's pretty much changing. That there's still plenty who only care about collectibles rather than reading value is also a shame. But here's where things become very appalling:

With a renewed enthusiasm for comic books and collectibles, Perez began to learn more about collectibles like baseball cards and sci-fi paperbacks. But nothing could have prepared him for 1992’s “The Death of Superman.” In the comic book story, the “Man of Steel” died in a highly publicized event that made headlines the world over.

“It revitalized the industry completely,” he said. “I ordered 400 issues. We had never bought 400 issues of anything.” Perez said he had to hire a bouncer to ensure only five people could enter the narrow shop at a time: “When I showed up that day, over 100 people stood in front of the whole [plaza], blocking parking completely.”

Perez called other local comic shop owners, who said that they were selling their copies for $30. After hearing that, he sold his copies of the comic, priced at $2.50 by the manufacturer, for $20 apiece.

It's very sad how a story like DC's from the early 90s is considered a celebration, when in the long run the industry only declined in success, and so much occurred that did more harm than good for comicdom. Why, to sell a lot of these copies for several times their actual price is taking advantage of consumers for something that's nothing to write home about, and was reversed soon after. That any retailers took advantage of the overrated storyline from 1992-93 for profit is sad and inappropriate. I'm sure not all did this. But those that did, A&M included, gave a poor image of what comicdom is all about.

By 2000, the days of reselling comics for 10 times their original price were long gone. Comic shops like A&M were on the verge of closing as the comic book bubble burst due to overproduction of comics that sat on shelves and speculative prices that sent wholesalers into debt.

It was around that time that a longtime customer had died, and Perez attended the customer’s funeral when he was approached by the customer’s 91-year-old widow. “This was my husband’s passion, not mine,” the woman told Perez. “I enjoyed going with him on the hunt to your store to visit you and talk with you, but I don’t have that much time left, so I’d rather his collection ends up with somebody who helped him form it and who was like family to us.” Perez was floored. The offer was flattering, but there was no way he could afford to buy the collection of immaculate comic books from the 1940s to the ‘60s. The widow told him that she wanted him to take the comic books for free.

After four trips in his small car to the widow’s house and back to A&M, Perez transported a large collection of vintage comic books, other books and fine china to his shop. He sold it all for $150,000 and says that collection would be worth up to $2 million today.

Gifts like that one have helped keep A&M in business even while other comic book shops across the country have closed their doors. Perez is well-versed in collectible markets outside of comics and sells a handful of pricey items throughout the year, helping the business stay afloat. The small shop also does not have a large staff, allowing Perez to keep his overhead low.

I honestly think it's a shame the lady didn't donate the collection to a museum, since it's highly probable whoever bought it later didn't do so for reading value. And now, it's probably being traded round and round on the speculator market by people who keep the issues all locked away in vaults most of the time, and not on public display for anybody to see at exhibitions. That's why this sounds just so self-defeating.

Since the release of 2008’s “Iron Man” movie, A&M has sold comic books to new generations of collectors who have grown up watching film adaptations of the same superhero comic books that fill the comic shop. Like Berger, the cruise passenger from Philadelphia, fans of all ages hunker down next to densely packed boxes of comic books looking for their next holy grail.

And by that, they mean something they hope'll be worth tons in dollars, right? Well let's hope they know better than to buy the disgraced Neil Gaiman's Sandman series' back issues, because after the Gaiman sexual assault scandal, anything he wrote will be worthless at this point, on the speculator market or elsewhere. I wouldn't be shocked if over the years, some speculators did, his insults to fandom notwithstanding, and now look what's happened. Any back issues they have of Gaiman comics will be a total embarrassment to keep around, and many investors with common sense won't want to buy them.

Arenas, 25, moved to Miami shortly after his birth in Zaragoza, Spain, and lives in South Miami near the shop. Arenas first visited A&M in 2019 and has worked there on-and-off again ever since.

“I never really liked comics at first,” he said. “And then, after a few years of working here, I got into [independent creator] Robert Crumb.”

Wonder what he thinks of all the PC university students who've turned against Crumb in modern times? Not that I care for Crumb's works, but if PC influence is a worry here, one can only wonder how well Crumb's influence will hold up as a result.

Even without a significant online presence, A&M’s reputation as the oldest comic book shop in Florida has gotten the attention of high-profile collectors like Star Wars creator and billionaire George Lucas. Perez said one of Lucas’ assistants knew an A&M customer and bought original art from the comic shop — the valuable black-and-white artwork from which many comic books are made.

Through research years later, Perez said he discovered that Lucas was purchasing original art from shops like his to build a museum of comic book art.

Well at least this is getting somewhere in making the point I feel is vital for comicdom: if history of the art matters, that's why it's better to donate old comics to museums, not to sell them cyclically on the speculator market. Towards the end:

Sitting at his computer to answer emails, Perez said he is aware of the changes that have happened in his industry over decades. The two top-selling comic books are Absolute Batman and Ultimate Spider-Man, each a new version of well-known superhero stories.

No matter what latest movie comes out or what trend pops up in comic books, there’s one thing that he believes will remain constant.

“I know that the comics sell across the board as long as you have an interesting story,” he said.

Gee, that's a point anybody could make, myself included, but then, why does he think it such a big deal to emphasize selling collectibles more than stories by merit? This just doesn't make any sense. And they even highlight another example of pretentious imprints that don't mend the damage already inflicted upon the flagship continuities of DC/Marvel, and remain PC themselves in any event. No sales figures provided here, predictably, and regardless of whether there are interesting stories out there, nothing is selling in millions of copies. This interview is very disappointing.

Labels: dc comics, history, Iron Man, marvel comics, msm propaganda, museums, sales, Superman