Thread "The weird isolation of being in a modern American Comic shop (a furry's perspective.)" in forum "Comic Talk and General Discussion *"

Posted at 6:12PM, Dec. 12, 2021

Just an odd observation I want to bring up because today I manage to go to a comic shop and trade in my large collection of comics I had gotten for free or dirt cheap over the last couple of years, and while I waited for the employees to go over each issue to determine the value I kind of looked over what was available.

And I felt so utterly, left out.

There were tons upon tons of big two comics, independents trying to deconstruct or mimic the big two, gritty crime drama and maybe, MAYBE, one or two autobiography. I often hear over and over in youtube videos about inclusivity and diversity (from both extremes) yet I see in person all that is everything is so cookie cutter just with different shades of frosting. I search very carefully for forty minutes, looking for a furry comic of any kind, adult, kid friendly, autobiographical, something.. I found a TMNT spin off that focus on the humans, and that's about it. I felt left out by the industry, abandoned and ignored.

I wound up taking my store credit for some cheap anime dvds, a brand new copy of Beast Complex and a candy bar, and honestly it was a pretty great deal.

A sort of a here tangent is I was having a conversation with my mom about explaining Dark Knight Metal why it is very stupid, and instead of going into the "lore", "backstory" or what not I just gave up trying to explain this canon Calvinball and just use general terms and explain Cliff notes about things, this came about because we were talking about how superheroes work best animated because comics are draw and animation is a perfect fit. I was telling her about Darkseid, the scene in Superman TAS where his followers help up and tell Superman, "here, I am God", and how it was pretty scary and a powerful scene. This was all to explain how stupid Batman taking out baby Darkseid and holding him like a gun, with or without context.

Both of us agree it is the stupidest thing we had ever heard in a long time, and kind of ties back to my topic of what hell is going on in American comics? I love webcomics and how it is just flooded with furry comics of various degrees, as I would rather take over-abundance and Sturgeon's law over the non-existence of comic shop shelves, not only that they cross hundreds of different genres from horror and drama to supernatural and adventure along with actually interesting introspective autobiographies. I love manga for the same reasons, plus the super hero stuff actually feels like super hero epics. The big 2 don't have that feeling, rather it feels like edgelord crime drama trying to out do each other or acting like some crop in an IP farm.

I don't know what I'm trying to achieve with these ramblings other then expressing myself and seeing if others have similar feelings on the subject.

Posted at 4:12AM, Dec. 13, 2021

Not sure what to add to this, but I'm gonna try. Here where I live comics stores are pretty much an exstinct thing. There's like this one chain of shops that sell books, movies, comics (western, manga etc) and tabletop stuff located in the three biggest cities in Sweden (Stockholm, Gothemburg & Malmö) and that's pretty much all there is.

Been a while since I was in one of those shops now. Maybe I've had my head buried in my own creative works for too long, but it's really hard for me to get drawn in by whatever comics the mainstream comic outlets puts out. And what usely have happened when I have bought comics from those outlets is that I read them once and then never picked them up again.

If I'm going to buy a comic I would very much like it to be one that makes me wanna come back to reading it, like Bodycount by Top Shelf Productions (A TMNT one-shot story drawn by one of my favourite artists Simon Bisley) that one I've come back reading.

Being somewhat of a furry myself I wouldn't mind seeing more furry comics. Furry comics that pushes the imagination, takes their own stories seriously and boldly challenges romantic/sexual taboos, like having furry characters getting it on with human characters. It's what I feel is part of what I try to do with webcomics like Molly Lusc.

It really seems like its to webcomics one has to turn to in order to scratch those itches that mainstream comics refuses to.

Posted at 4:12AM, Dec. 13, 2021

Tempted to try a visit to my local comic book shop. It had its own reality show for awhile and was founded by a known local filmmaker who actually made a movie about comic book culture.

Best place remains the web though. A lot of stuff is too niche (or seen as too close to porn) to be in a lot of shops. But as the song goes: the internet is for porn. An adult store by me back in the day had a good selection of furry comics because it carried fetish literature. That's also where I'd find my hentai. Now I just go on Amazon.

For a lot of stuff you have to think about it from the point of view of the owners. Do they even know about furry outside of the usual stereotypes? Do they want some parent (or worse obnoxious comic book fans) getting in their face asking why they carry that garbage?

Similarly you just don't find Sanderson, Phoenix Phollies or Anime themed erotic miniatures in mainstream hobby shops. Have to order direct or find them at shows. It's just the way the mainstream works. And that's too niche even for Amazon.

Posted at 8:01PM, Jan. 28, 2022

Are you asking why arent there furry comics or are you asking what current superhero continuity is like? I felt kind of lost in your post

Anthro comics have existed before…they just dont sell. Furries and comic book buyers don’t seem to intersect. This isn’t some evil plot by comic publishers to marginalize any groups, they just arent going to print books that dont gain them a profit. There’s probably *some* anthro comic being published *somewhere* right now, but until enough people are buying furry comics, I doubt that any sort of meaningful change will happen on the stands.

Walking out of your LCS because your niche interest isnt represented wont really urge or entice marvel or dc to make a furry ongoing series. Try writing letters to editors and people who control what gets greenlit, if you have furry friends (lol) who feel the same burning desire to read a comic about furry stuff have them write in too. Cant support an audience that doesnt speak up, feel may

Posted at 4:02PM, Feb. 2, 2022

Actually, furry stuff does sell, and it sells really well. Furries are among the most supportive communities in existence when it comes to art and comics, and they're also usually not ashamed of themselves or sexuality, so there's a lot more freedom in that culture.

But, like any other creator who doesn't toe the kid-friendly, all-ages line, it can get you omitted from mainstream straight people comic shops. Which is ironic since there's a huge amount of really inappropriate graphic violence and a lot of elements that aren't great, right there in Marvel and DC both, and they do it with an exploitative intention, it isn't well-intended or nice.

But that's Marvel and DC and most major comic companies – they're not nice. They will never actually try to please you. They will only ever try to exploit you, and then bait you into fighting online to give them free publicity. The landscape is really and truly ugly now, and I have to say, my advice here is this: if you go into any shop and don't feel like you're welcome, and you don't feel like you are accepted, don't give them your money. Don't go back.

I'm all for the local comic shop, but not all of them are good just by virtue of being a local comic shop. I'd much rather support people I know I can ethically support online, and that way, I also don't have to worry about being "family friendly". I also don't have to just settle for whatever's closest to what I want, purely because they don't value my money or my time.

Just like Marvel and DC value neither of any of their readers. They are running comics into the ground as an industry, and that makes it much harder for us as independent creators.

It's an ugly situation, but you really should never feel obligated to give your money for something you don't want to support or don't feel like you're welcomed in. I have to remind myself that not everyone has faced that, all their lives, the assessing of things and the producers of things, and finding out if they're secretly working to oppress or suppress you and your kind. At the very least, you'll want to think about how that unwillingness to represent affects your community by silencing and censoring them, and if that's something you're okay with.