Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Feb 18, 2016 11:01:01 GMT -6
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Retailing | Black Medicine Comics in Des Moines, Iowa, is unusual in that it’s a comic shop that only sells comics—no toys or other collectibles—and it only has one employee, the owner, Ronnie Free. [Des Moines Register]
www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/local/daniel-finney/2016/02/16/finney-des-moines-man-pursues-comic-book-dream/80393658/
Finney: D.M. man pursues comic book dream
Ronnie Free is chasing the American Dream of owning his own business. The 34-year-old opened Black Medicine Comics, which joins several other Des Moines area comic stores. Find out what makes his shop special. Bryon Houlgrave/The Register
The two-story building of cream colored bricks at 48th Street and University Avenue is one of those early 1960s office buildings that seems to be architecturally designed to be ignored.
But on the second floor’s westernmost office, better known to the landlord as Unit 10, a man named Ronnie Free is chasing the American Dream of owning his own business.
Inside the humble rectangle is 34-year-old Free’s new venture, Black Medicine Comics, of which he is the owner and lone employee.
Free opens his shop at 11 a.m., Wednesday, which, as every fanboy and fangirl knows, is the day new comics arrive on the shelves.
This is Free’s big play in business ownership. He’s mostly worked odd jobs in a resume that includes construction, preschool instruction and even protesting globalization.
So this married father of two — his wife, Molly, is a tattoo artist at Creative Images Tattooing across the hall — has staked a claim in the surprisingly competitive field of comic book sales.
The Des Moines metro is rich with comic stores.
Mayhem Comics and Games, which has stores in Clive and Ames, probably has the largest inventory of new comics, back issues, action figures and gaming supplies.
Jay’s CD and Hobby is a sort of Des Moines pop culture empire, with stores on Southeast 14th Street and at Merle Hay and Valley West malls. Jay’s specializes in used CDs, DVDs and vintage toys, but he’s got comics, graphic novels and gaming, too.
Cape’s Cafe, which used to be called Cup o’ Kryptonite, is a coffee shop at the Des Moines Social Club with a comic book theme. They sell to regulars and have a few popular books on the shelves.
Rodman Comics in Ankeny comes closest to Free’s business model: a small family shop with comics, toys and some gaming.
Ronnie Free has spent years selling comic books, and on Wednesday, Feb. 17, he opened the doors of his new comic book store, Black Medicine Comics, to the public. The new comic book shop on University Avenue in Des Moines carries a wide assortment of titles, including comic books aimed at younger audiences. (Photo: Bryon Houlgrave/The Register)
But Free is cannonballing into the market with just comics. No gaming. No toys. Just stories told in serial graphic format.
“I’m going to take things as they come,” he said. “I know comics. I don’t know toys and games. If I see something that makes sense to add, maybe I’ll add it down the road.”
It’s a bold move. Free had beers with Katie Manchester, the comics manager at the Mayhem's Clive store. Her advice: “Take time for yourself, or the industry will eat you alive.”
Previewing the shop to friends last weekend, Free discovered the first problem of being a one-man shop: He drank a pot of coffee and didn’t have anybody to watch the store so he could take a bathroom break.
Comics are a tough racket. The distribution of comic books is essentially controlled by one company: Diamond Comic Distributors.
They offer retailers a discount based on sales volume. The discount for a new store is 40 percent off cover price.
A new comic usually sells for about $4. That means a new retailer makes about $1.60 profit off the sale of one comic.
To pay rent, keep the lights on and feed the family, Free is going to have to sell a lot of $4 comics, especially if he decides not to carry the more expensive, but higher profit, inventory of toys and games.
He is experienced with the grind. He’s been running an online comics distribution business for several years at blackmedicinecomics.com.
Free is, well, a free spirit.
He rolls his own cigarettes. He used to have the hippest dreadlocks in town until one fell off into a cup of coffee he was making.
He was so grossed out he went home and shaved his head.
He grew up in Indianola. The 1989 “Batman” movie starring Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson introduced a young Ronnie into the world of comics.
He stuck around until high school, when cars and girls and the usual things distract one from what’s really important.
Ronnie Free has spent years selling comic books, and on Wednesday, Feb. 17, he opened the doors of his new comic book store, Black Medicine Comics, to the public. The new comic book shop on University Avenue in Des Moines carries a wide assortment of titles, including comic books aimed at younger audiences. (Photo: Bryon Houlgrave/The Register)
Free got back into comics about the same time a couple of childhood pals were opening up Kup o’ Kryptonite on Fleur Drive.
He worked there slinging comics and coffee through the store’s first two incarnations — on Fleur and later on Beaver Avenue.
Free loves coffee, by the way. The name of his shop — Black Medicine — comes from an old term for coffee.
When the Cup became Capes, Free worked at the New World Cafe, a now-defunct vegan restaurant.
Free was a part-owner in the old Best Place Ever, a great (but sadly long closed) independent movie rental shop near 24th Street and University Avenue.
Except for a four-month stint at CenturyLink last year while he was recovering from knee surgery, he has never held a job where he had benefits.
“I tried the cubicle farm, and it nearly killed me,” Free said.
The funny thing about comic books is they used to be a secret language spoken only between a sliver of genre fans. Now they’re the dominate force in popular culture.
When the first “Iron Man” movie came out in 2008, reviewers remarked the hero wasn’t a household name the same way Spider-Man, Batman and Superman are. The move made just shy of $1 billion worldwide.
But if Iron Man is, pardon the mixed metaphor, inside baseball, then Deadpool, the foul-mouthed murdering mercenary, is the infield fly rule of comic characters. Yet the R-rated movie starring Ryan Reynolds made more than $135-million at the U.S. box office last weekend.
But big ticket sales at the theater does not necessarily translate into eyeballs on the printed page of the film subjects’ original medium.
Free's small shop offers the usual superstars in spandex. But he’s got a diverse lineup on the shelves he built himself — from stories of Russian spies working for the CIA to a serialized comic book history of hip hop.
I bought a stack of books from him during his preview opening. Free smiled the entire time.
“I love selling comic books, man,” he said. “It’s my favorite thing.”
And if that isn’t a man in pursuit of the American Dream, what is?
Daniel P. Finney, the Register's Metro Voice columnist, is a Drake University alumnus who grew up in Winterset and east Des Moines. Reach him at 515-284-8144 or dafinney@dmreg.com. Twitter: @newsmanone.
Retailing | Black Medicine Comics in Des Moines, Iowa, is unusual in that it’s a comic shop that only sells comics—no toys or other collectibles—and it only has one employee, the owner, Ronnie Free. [Des Moines Register]
www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/local/daniel-finney/2016/02/16/finney-des-moines-man-pursues-comic-book-dream/80393658/
Finney: D.M. man pursues comic book dream
Ronnie Free is chasing the American Dream of owning his own business. The 34-year-old opened Black Medicine Comics, which joins several other Des Moines area comic stores. Find out what makes his shop special. Bryon Houlgrave/The Register
The two-story building of cream colored bricks at 48th Street and University Avenue is one of those early 1960s office buildings that seems to be architecturally designed to be ignored.
But on the second floor’s westernmost office, better known to the landlord as Unit 10, a man named Ronnie Free is chasing the American Dream of owning his own business.
Inside the humble rectangle is 34-year-old Free’s new venture, Black Medicine Comics, of which he is the owner and lone employee.
Free opens his shop at 11 a.m., Wednesday, which, as every fanboy and fangirl knows, is the day new comics arrive on the shelves.
This is Free’s big play in business ownership. He’s mostly worked odd jobs in a resume that includes construction, preschool instruction and even protesting globalization.
So this married father of two — his wife, Molly, is a tattoo artist at Creative Images Tattooing across the hall — has staked a claim in the surprisingly competitive field of comic book sales.
The Des Moines metro is rich with comic stores.
Mayhem Comics and Games, which has stores in Clive and Ames, probably has the largest inventory of new comics, back issues, action figures and gaming supplies.
Jay’s CD and Hobby is a sort of Des Moines pop culture empire, with stores on Southeast 14th Street and at Merle Hay and Valley West malls. Jay’s specializes in used CDs, DVDs and vintage toys, but he’s got comics, graphic novels and gaming, too.
Cape’s Cafe, which used to be called Cup o’ Kryptonite, is a coffee shop at the Des Moines Social Club with a comic book theme. They sell to regulars and have a few popular books on the shelves.
Rodman Comics in Ankeny comes closest to Free’s business model: a small family shop with comics, toys and some gaming.
Ronnie Free has spent years selling comic books, and on Wednesday, Feb. 17, he opened the doors of his new comic book store, Black Medicine Comics, to the public. The new comic book shop on University Avenue in Des Moines carries a wide assortment of titles, including comic books aimed at younger audiences. (Photo: Bryon Houlgrave/The Register)
But Free is cannonballing into the market with just comics. No gaming. No toys. Just stories told in serial graphic format.
“I’m going to take things as they come,” he said. “I know comics. I don’t know toys and games. If I see something that makes sense to add, maybe I’ll add it down the road.”
It’s a bold move. Free had beers with Katie Manchester, the comics manager at the Mayhem's Clive store. Her advice: “Take time for yourself, or the industry will eat you alive.”
Previewing the shop to friends last weekend, Free discovered the first problem of being a one-man shop: He drank a pot of coffee and didn’t have anybody to watch the store so he could take a bathroom break.
Comics are a tough racket. The distribution of comic books is essentially controlled by one company: Diamond Comic Distributors.
They offer retailers a discount based on sales volume. The discount for a new store is 40 percent off cover price.
A new comic usually sells for about $4. That means a new retailer makes about $1.60 profit off the sale of one comic.
To pay rent, keep the lights on and feed the family, Free is going to have to sell a lot of $4 comics, especially if he decides not to carry the more expensive, but higher profit, inventory of toys and games.
He is experienced with the grind. He’s been running an online comics distribution business for several years at blackmedicinecomics.com.
Free is, well, a free spirit.
He rolls his own cigarettes. He used to have the hippest dreadlocks in town until one fell off into a cup of coffee he was making.
He was so grossed out he went home and shaved his head.
He grew up in Indianola. The 1989 “Batman” movie starring Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson introduced a young Ronnie into the world of comics.
He stuck around until high school, when cars and girls and the usual things distract one from what’s really important.
Ronnie Free has spent years selling comic books, and on Wednesday, Feb. 17, he opened the doors of his new comic book store, Black Medicine Comics, to the public. The new comic book shop on University Avenue in Des Moines carries a wide assortment of titles, including comic books aimed at younger audiences. (Photo: Bryon Houlgrave/The Register)
Free got back into comics about the same time a couple of childhood pals were opening up Kup o’ Kryptonite on Fleur Drive.
He worked there slinging comics and coffee through the store’s first two incarnations — on Fleur and later on Beaver Avenue.
Free loves coffee, by the way. The name of his shop — Black Medicine — comes from an old term for coffee.
When the Cup became Capes, Free worked at the New World Cafe, a now-defunct vegan restaurant.
Free was a part-owner in the old Best Place Ever, a great (but sadly long closed) independent movie rental shop near 24th Street and University Avenue.
Except for a four-month stint at CenturyLink last year while he was recovering from knee surgery, he has never held a job where he had benefits.
“I tried the cubicle farm, and it nearly killed me,” Free said.
The funny thing about comic books is they used to be a secret language spoken only between a sliver of genre fans. Now they’re the dominate force in popular culture.
When the first “Iron Man” movie came out in 2008, reviewers remarked the hero wasn’t a household name the same way Spider-Man, Batman and Superman are. The move made just shy of $1 billion worldwide.
But if Iron Man is, pardon the mixed metaphor, inside baseball, then Deadpool, the foul-mouthed murdering mercenary, is the infield fly rule of comic characters. Yet the R-rated movie starring Ryan Reynolds made more than $135-million at the U.S. box office last weekend.
But big ticket sales at the theater does not necessarily translate into eyeballs on the printed page of the film subjects’ original medium.
Free's small shop offers the usual superstars in spandex. But he’s got a diverse lineup on the shelves he built himself — from stories of Russian spies working for the CIA to a serialized comic book history of hip hop.
I bought a stack of books from him during his preview opening. Free smiled the entire time.
“I love selling comic books, man,” he said. “It’s my favorite thing.”
And if that isn’t a man in pursuit of the American Dream, what is?
Daniel P. Finney, the Register's Metro Voice columnist, is a Drake University alumnus who grew up in Winterset and east Des Moines. Reach him at 515-284-8144 or dafinney@dmreg.com. Twitter: @newsmanone.