This article was written by staff writer, Michael Worthan. And the following is a look at what the comic book community is doing in the United States during these pandemic times.
Photo credit: binc website
“Stay Safe” is something I have found myself saying a number times over the last few months. With the emergence of COVID-19 - a form of the coronavirus - we as a world have found ourselves in an odd predicament. Rarely are the burdens we face shared by everyone around the globe, and yet here we are quarantined, and wondering what the future holds. For many of us, this situation has unfortunately meant losing our jobs, or being furloughed until something is figured out, until the world can slowly re-open, and really, until some semblance of normalcy can be regained.
With the current situation comic books retailers have been hit especially hard. The industry itself has been slowly dwindling down, something we saw in mid-2018 when we saw the shutdown of long-time bastion of comics and other such nerdy wares: Meltdown Comics. Comic book shops have always been a work of passion and love, more so than making money hand over fist, and thus so far this year, they have unfortunately been thrust into an unprecedented situation that could shutter them forever.
Some stores have been able to flip their business models and do curbside pickup and online orders, but the smaller shops most likely haven’t. A couple of months ago Diamond, the only distributor of comics, stopped distribution. This left even those with the new curbside pickup stalled and without new books to feature.
Now in this grim time there are a number of people who have been working to support the comic book retailers. Robert Venditti launched #PullBoxPayItForward, where if you have the money you can pay for someone’s pull box and support them as well as the store itself. This idea has caught on pretty well on Twitter, and you should check it out. For Austin, Texas comic store customers, Donny Cates, was paying off pull boxes for people so that they have something to read, and escape to, in this tumultuous time. And writer/director Kevin Smith made mention of this on his latest Fatman Beyond podcast, and stated he was doing the same for customers at his comic book store: Jay & Silent Bob’s Secret Stash, in Red Bank, New Jersey.
This brings me to the main topic here, many of us are struggling on our own at the moment, but if you aren’t, and if you seem to have a little bit of extra money, please make a donation to the fine folks at Book Industry Charitable Foundation (BINC). This foundation donates to retailers in financial situations that would otherwise close them, mainly small book stores, but have adjusted to assist comic book stores and have also created the Comic Book Untied Fund partnering with Oni Lion Forge and DC Comics. If you’d like, you can donate right now.
A number of popular sources have donated to them, and to save books and comic books, things that are ridiculously close to my heart, I have donated a bit as well. Now if you have tons of money and are looking for some amazing art, Jim Lee, as well as a few of his friends, have started a 60 Sketches in 60 Days campaign on E-Bay. He will draw a sketch a day and place the sketch up for auction on E-Bay, with all proceeds going to local comic book retailers in the United States. These pieces are beautiful and obviously drawn by one of the most prolific comic book artists out there. Again, I state that these are not cheap items, and the prices keep going up, but they sure are pretty to look at.
Stay Safe, friends.