Welcome to Store Tour, ROBOT 6’s weekly exploration of comics shops, and the people who run them; think of it as the retailer version of Shelf Porn. Each Sunday we feature a different store, and also get to know the person behind the register.

To discover a comic store in your area, visit FindAComicShop.com

This week’s store is Area 52 Comics and Games, 3640 Mundy Mill Road, Suite 140 in Gainesville, Georgia; it's located in the College Square Shopping Center near the University of Northern Georgia. We spoke with manager (and cartoonist) Dean Trippe.

ROBOT 6: Tell me about the layout of your store. How did you work that out?

Dean Trippe: I always favor a big wall of full-cover comics, so that was the first component to work out. We decided on three rows of books at an easy-to-reach level, because as a comics artist myself, I always prefer to see the covers that folks worked hard on. So we picked the left side wall and set three rows for the monthlies at an easy-to-reach level, and we built cubbies underneath for the recent back issues, which makes it simple Tuesday nights or Wednesday mornings when we swap out the new books, and easy for the customers to check if we have a recent issue in stock. So it’s an intermediary step before books make it over to the monolith of back issues.





Then we built the back issue bins and made space for the counter and gaming tables and stocked the right side of the store with our CCG, role-playing books and board games. The layout reflects the focus and sales levels of our item categories, and I like it kept neat and straight, so everything’s easy to find.





What is your store's secret origin? How did it come to be? How did you decide on its name and its location?

About 15 years ago, I came across a little comics-and-cards shop at the largest indoor flea market in Georgia, the Pendergrass Flea Market, so I asked the guy running it if he was hiring. Fred said no that day, but a few months later, he told me he did need help, so I started opening for him on Saturdays. Fred Clayton and I have been working together off and on since then, at a few different store locations depending on our lives and finances. If I’m within driving distance, and Fred’s running a shop, he hires me on to manage the comics.

At the new store, Area 52 Comics and Games, which has been open since Thanksgiving, Fred teamed up with Denton Theriot, who’s another big comics and tabletop gamer who'd wanted to get into the retailing side of things, too. Between the three of us and our new hires Sam and Tyler, we’ve really got our bases covered in nerd knowledge. We’re right next to the University of North Georgia in Oakwood, so we get a lot of locals who are used to driving half an hour to find comics or games, exactly the customer base we were hoping we’d find here. Denton had the idea for the name, which is obviously a play on Area 51, references DC’s the New 52, and, as a little nod to the fandom that Fred and I first bonded over, is the codename for Stargate Command at Cheyenne Mountain on Stargate SG-1. Plus it’s fun to answer the phone with just, “Area 52."





Why did you decide to get into comics retailing? What in your background do you think made you particularly suited for the retail side of comics?

I’ve been reading comics for almost a quarter century, working as a freelance comics creator for over ten years, and due to conventions and my site, Project: Rooftop, I know most of the folks making comics today, either personally or through their work, which helps a lot when ordering the books and hoping to find the best titles for your customers. The margins are small in this business, so ordering right is one of the vital components to making it work. Having a friendly, knowledgeable staff and a welcoming store appearance, I think, are the others. I also just love talking to people, and I think I make the connections well between stuff someone already likes to things they’d also like. I had a high-schooler who liked Spawn back in the day, because he was an anti-hero who used magic. I let him read the first part of an Azzarello/Frusin issue of Hellblazer. Pretty soon he was tracking those two creators across all their books, finding other creators he liked, and had twelve titles on his regular pull box.





Do you have a philosophy or strategy to retailing? I imagine being an artist and comic creator must have a significant influence on you. Has it evolved from when you first started? If so, what caused that change?

I do. I think a lot of us have been in less-than-stellar comic shops, even a few manned by Comic Shop Guy clones. I’ve seen retailers make fun of customers’ purchases, creep on female customers, ignore bestsellers for geek ideological reasoning, and treat kids in their shops like petty criminals. I’ve seen dirty, disorganized stores and apathetic managers. I’ve also been in GREAT shops, and am friends with a lot of exceptional retailers, like Shelton Drum, Jim Demonakos, Aaron Haaland and others. These guys run shops that serve their community. Shops that stand the test of time, organizing events, welcoming readers of all backgrounds, and providing everyone with stories they can’t find anywhere else.

I feel like comics are often ahead of the rest of pop culture in terms of subject matter. Batman v. Superman seems like a big deal to non-comics readers. But for a lot of us living in the multiverse, it’s like three decades behind. As the characters and concepts evolve in the comics, the secondary adaptations lag behind. Though, Marvel movies don’t by much! Winter Soldier, Iron Man 3, Civil War? Recent history, if not current events. And, of course, it sometimes feels like we’re dragging behind, with the slowness or outright regression from diversity and representation, but the fans are making themselves heard, and I feel like this year is the one we think back on as the tide shifting there.

Anyone who’s read my “secret origin” in Something Terrible knows how much this stuff means to me. The pretend superheroes saved my real life, and I’ll preach this gospel until I die. Upon this four-color rock I shall build my church.



What are your current best-sellers? What are your favorites that deserve to sell better at your store?

The Star Wars titles are all pretty big hits, but the standouts for me are Spider-Gwen, Batgirl, Unbeatable Squirrel Girl and Howard the Duck. I remember the owners suggesting my order was kind of insane on Howard, but we were sold out in a week, besides a few remaining variants. Then last week, we found out Howard outsold every DC title. That’s a pretty big win for Chip Zdarsky and Joe Quinones on Team Marvel. Likewise, it looks like the ridiculous success of Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel, Batgirl, Spider-Gwen and Squirrel Girl have shifted some thought processes at the Big Two, with Annie Wu and Ming Doyle about to be headlining DC books, and a dozen awesome things happening at Marvel. Even Spider-Woman made a strong move to a more positive vibe with her new Kris Anka costume (PLEASE NOTE ALL THE PROJECT: ROOFTOP NAMES I’M DROPPING. YOU’RE WELCOME, COMICS INDUSTRY) and I couldn’t be happier, as a dude who identifies with characters who’ve been told they can’t play in the big leagues and then show up for game day. My favorite title everyone should be reading if they’re not is Aaron and Latour’s Southern Bastards, but it sells pretty well here, too.

What is your customer base like? How has it change over time, if at all?

Being right next to the college, I’m seeing a ton of engaged female readership driving sales in both the superhero arena and the indies, like Rat Queens, Alex + Ada, The Wicked + The Divine and Bitch Planet. I’m pretty stoked to be providing a welcoming, fully stocked shop for new and previously mistreated readers. I also feel like this location has a solid community vibe, as I’m near several schools K-12 and a lot of local businesses, so when I’m around town running errands, I get asked what’s new at the shop from folks I’ve only personally met a couple of times. I love it.



Do you have a discount or loyalty program?

We make an updated checklist for pulls every few months, which makes it easy for our pull list customers, and we do a simple discount card that gives you free books the more you buy.

How do you reach out to new customers? How do you advertise?

We try to partner with local events and let the schools know about ours. FCBD was also a big Healthy Kids Day for the local YMCA program, so we sponsored their big “Spider-Mountain” climbing apparatus and gave out “coupons” for free comics at the shop to incentivize heading over afterwards. We also put up FCBD and Friday Night Magic posters on all the student boards at the University, which requires a lot of walking around campus. But it’s worth it. We always get a little boost in new faces.





You seem active online, between your store's website, Facebook and Twitter, and your own online activity (webcomics like Something Terrible and Butterfly, Tumblr, Twitter, etc.). How do you feel that supports or supplements your store?

I don’t know! A few fans of my comics have found their way into the shop since we opened, which has been cool. It’s like having public office hours for friends and fans. And I get to promote the shop news on my existing social media, though most of the fans of my work don’t live within driving distance, so it’s probably not a huge factor. But I do like it anytime a Something Terrible fan shows up for their official bat-hug.

Do you have any events or programming, such as signings? How is it coordinating those?

So far, just Free Comic Book Day. We had Wilfredo Torres, Tony Shasteen, Tom Feister, Cara McGee, Catie Donnelly and me, which was awesome. I was really pleased with our lineup, all friends and favorites, so it was great for our very first FCBD at Area 52. Coordinating was pretty straight-forward, I just asked some cool folks I knew lived close enough and didn’t already have plans for FCBD.





What do you see as the biggest challenge in the comics industry today that particularly impacts your store?

As superheroes have become so commonplace across other media, television and film, particularly, the level of fandom and knowledge of superheroes in the general public has increased dramatically, but some titles have, I think, mistakenly decided the smart move is to simplify continuity for these new potential readers. That’s not what works, in my opinion. The histories of the big superhero universes are complicated and weird, and wilder than anything that’ll ever appear on film, and THAT’S the draw we have. You liked Winter Soldier? Guess what? Sam’s the new Cap because Steve lost his Super-Soldier serum. That works. The 1989 Batman movie led me to my first comic, a Detective Comics issue with the third Robin saving Batman from having been technically killed moments earlier by forcing the Electrocutioner to shock his heart back into beating. That worked, too. What doesn’t work is dismissing the complicated beauty of everything you can imagine for boring simplicity that doesn’t even gel with the continuity these new folks know from the films. Keep tying the long strands together. Keep listening to the primary-color radio wave from the multiverse. Keep Comics Weird.



Also … we could use some real sales numbers. All the Diamond numbers we see are based on sales to retailers like me. Aging, white, male retailers like me. They are a dim reflection of actual sales to customers. The lack of diversity in shop owners is negatively impacting the lack of diversity on the wall. The numbers we see from shops ordering based on incentive variants and limited understanding of their actual potential market are barely a valid source of knowledge for future decisions the comics companies make. I think if we had real sales numbers, we wouldn’t have the standard, mediocre big-title books clogging up the weeks. Maybe every title would be A-listers. Maybe they’d start finishing books before they solicit them. Maybe they’d pay better.



Conversely, what is the industry's biggest asset that is helping you be successful?

Talent. It’s not rocket science. Every character or concept can be cool. Every one of them can be a bomb, too. You put a great writer with a great artist and you get a great book. And if you follow the talent rather than the characters, you can tell when Howard the Duck or Squirrel Girl are about to rock the comics wall. The best thing comics have going for them is all the talent who love this medium too much to go do better-paying jobs. It’s artists and writers and colorists and letterers trying to live our dreams and share them with everyone. We’re saving the day. My wall is more packed with talent than ever before, both at the Big Two and among the indies. It’s a great time to be selling comics, because there are too many good books for one pull list.

If you’d like to see your store featured here on Robot 6, email here.