Warp I has two entrances: one located in the front, along the sidewalk of Whyte Avenue and another in the back, next to the store’s reserved parking spaces, and accessible by way of the back alley. I did not notice the store’s rear entrance for a few years, and a store employee I interviewed confirmed that the majority of customers use the front entrance; it is more visible from the street and attracts pedestrians. The rear entrance is typically used by frequent customers who know about the store’s parking lot.
Upon entering via the front entrance, customers can immediately see a variety of statuettes displayed in glass cases. Many of the characters depicted by these figurines are popular or iconic, creating a certain sense of familiarity. The store’s til is beside these display cases, and a variety of free promotional material is laid out on the counter. A staff member will typically be seated at the til, and he or she will greet customers as they walk in.
The shelves located closest to the entrance are fairly inviting for a wide array of customers. The ‘staff picks’ shelf houses a variety titles which have been ‘validated’ by comic book experts, and can reassure customers they are purchasing something worthwhile. There is also a shelf reflecting current trends and more universally appealing titles, such as anthologies of a well-known writer’s works. Much like the statuettes on display, this shelf is eye-catching and can foster a sense of familiarity.
Further into the store, there is long shelf upon which the weekly new releases are placed. This type of comic book is referred to as ‘single-issues.’ This section is geared toward frequent customers who purchase comic books at the same pace as the single-issues are released, a factor which helps to explain their placement: seeing as the content is less accessible (a new reader would not want to jump into the middle of a story arc), the placement in the store is less obvious for newcomers. Frequent customers nonetheless know exactly where to find the latest issue of their favorite series.
The other side of this shelf is dedicated to fairly recent or popular trade paperbacks and hard covers (volumes collecting several single-issues which formed a story arc). Customers who have a specific hero or storyline in mind can find an assortment of reading material there. The books on both sides of this shelf are displayed so that their covers are face-up, favoring visibility over efficient use of shelf space.
Two more shelves line the store’s back wall, displaying fairly recent single-issues. These are comic books typically released a few weeks or months ago that did not sell out over the course of their first week of release. These shelves are where customers can find issues which they have missed. A number of bins are also located nearby with a wide array of trade-paperbacks and hard covers stored in a space-efficient manner. It is necessary to flip through the books in order to find any specific titles; indeed, customers can spend hours browsing through this section of the store. Directly underneath these bins, there are a number of boxes containing older single-issues, often dating back several years. These boxes also lend themselves to time-consuming crate-digging, and their hidden-away spot makes them less accessible for casual customers.
The store also has spaces dedicated to specific genres of comics. Notably, there is a manga section, and another section which merges comic books originally written in other foreign languages and independent titles. The books in both these sections tend to be trade paperbacks or hard covers, and also tend to be translations. It makes sense that translated comic books would be published in volumes amalgamating several issues in order to better accommodate the delay necessary for translation. Furthermore, it is reasonable for the store to favor materials translated into English, seeing as it is located in a primarily Anglophone area.
There are also two characteristics which are universal throughout the store and establish in terms of the layout and organisation of various products. First, each section is organised alphabetically according to title. Thus, it is easy to find specific series of characters, even if a customer does not know the author’s name. Secondly, a considerable amount of the products available at Warp I is merchandise related to comic book characters or series. This merchandise tends to be displayed next to the titles to which it corresponds, allowing customers to easily find items related to one another.
Besides the single-issues, trade paperbacks and hard covers already mentioned, there are also back issues, omnibuses, artist versions and special collector’s editions. ‘Back issue’ designates older single-issues and omnibuses are large collections, often of much older stories. 'Artist versions' signal an oversized format featuring the drawings without inks or color, whereas 'special editions' are often oversized hard cover editions.
Single-issues, a Warp employee tells me, are favored by avid comic book readers who wish to keep up with the latest issues as soon as they are released. This format allows readers to avoid spoilers concerning plot points. Furthermore, single-issues feature variant cover art, which can be an incentive for certain readers. However, single-issues are somewhat flimsy and feature a considerable amount of advertisements. It is also more expensive to buy comic books in single issues than in collected formats.
Trade paperbacks are a less expensive alternative for readers who do not mind waiting before reading new stories. It is also easier to find trade paperbacks collecting older story arcs than to search for a set of individual issues. There are two major disadvantages linked to paperbacks. Firstly, there can be a delay of up to two years between initial release in single-issue format and publication as a paperback. Secondly, the quality of the binding is mediocre. These two drawbacks can incite readers to buy hard covers instead, which are often published before paperbacks, and are more durable.
Omnibuses, artist versions, and collector’s editions are expensive books which are favored by niche markets. According to the employee I interviewed, demand for these formats is extremely limited. In her experience, omnibuses have been purchased by older readers who were interested in reading stories they remembered from their childhood. As for the artist version format, she recalls only one sale – to another staff member, himself an artist. Collector’s editions tend to be favored by readers who are particularly fond of a specific story arc and wish to own it in a prestige format. Finally, back issues are a format which are primarily defined by their age, and tend to be purchased by customers looking through large quantities of comic books hoping to find a hidden gem.
I asked the Warp employee which formats did the best in terms of sales, to which she replied that single-issues (including releases from the past few weeks) and trade paperbacks were the most popular formats by a considerable margin. I then inquired about the ordering process for comic books in order to better understand how the quantities that get shipped to the store are determined. The employee explained that the process of ordering comic books is the comic manager’s responsibility, and this duty is assigned to a single person in order to avoid redundant orders and consequent overstocking on the shelves. The ordering process differs for single-issues and other formats. In so far as single-issues are concerned, the order must be placed three months ahead of time and it involves some guessing. Factors that influence the quantities ordered are each series’ previous performance, whether or not a book is heavily promoted as an ‘event’, as well as the amount of customers who have that specific series listed on their file.
Files are one of the privileges linked to membership (discussed in greater detail below.) This allows customers to request that the staff orders and puts aside a comic book under their name, which the customer can then pick up whenever is most convenient. Thus, the amount of readers who have a series listed on their file is the bare minimum for any order of single-issues. In terms of the other formats, the comic manager simply orders a new batch of trade paperbacks or hard covers whenever the store’s stock of that particular volume is running low. A typical order of this type consists of between five and ten copies of a book. Back issues cannot be ordered in larger quantities, seeing as it essentially consists of the overstock of older single-issues which are now out of print.
As the variety of comic book formats available at Warp I suggests, the store accommodates readers with very different habits. One notable group among customers is members. A membership at Warp I not only allows customers to request certain titles in their files, but also grants them an exemption from GST (a 5% discount) on comic books. Memberships, costing $25, are beneficial for regular customers.
The variety of types and genres of comic books appeal to readers with diverse interests. One such example is manga, which attracts a readership consisting, in part, of teenage girls, according to the employee I interviewed. She attributes this to the fact that a fair amount of manga creators have written material specifically for this demographic, which is not as prevalent in American comics at the moment.
There are also divisions according to age groups. For example, DC houses the Vertigo imprint, meant for ‘mature readers,’ and the store has conversely dedicated a shelf to children’s comics, with a slew of titles geared specifically toward younger readers.
Many factors and trends affect the popularity of specific series or characters. The employee explains that some characters - such as Batman or Spider-Man - are consistently popular regardless of outside factors, but superhero movies can have a considerable effect on customer’s buying and reading habits and can draw new customers to the store. In the case of X-Men: Apocalypse, which had just been released at the time of the interview, a number of customers sought to read the comic book upon which the film is based, both before and after watching the movie. The store staff sets up displays corresponding to movie releases, which can help increase related merchandise and book sales even further, citing the release of Deadpool as an additional example. Such practices are interesting in the sense that they seem to both respond to and further encourage the demand for products related to outside trends.
In conclusion, this report on the acquisition, presentation, sale and use of comic books as reading material within the community of staff and readers surrounding Warp I highlights the presence of a methodic approach on the part of the store’s staff in order to provide make accessible a wide range of reading material – in terms of both content and formats – and to cater to the diverse preferences and reading habits of its customers.
