By the end of the summer, your favorite comic shop will have undergone an inventory expansion and sales floor facelift designed to increase our profits, enhance our competitive edge, and, most importantly, facilitate what we do best: serve our loyal customer base.
Thanks to the generous folks at the Union County Economic Development Corp., we secured a loan this past June to dramatically expand our selection of trade paperbacks/graphic novels and high end back issues. As many of you have already noticed, we have purchased and set up 4 large, handsome book cases where our bargain boxes used to perch (more on their fate shortly). During the month of August, we will fill those shelves with new trades and graphic novels. We have ordered over a 1000 new trades to add to our already formidable inventory. Hence, we will maintain the 6 spinner towers we already have on the floor (and add more if necessary), while filling the new book cases to boot. In addition to a deep expansion of variety and quantity in Marvel and DC trades, we have expanded the number of independent titles. As some of the most exciting and innovative material can be found among the small press companies, we believe any store worth its salt should carry and emphasize as many of these books as possible. Not only will you find a larger number of such publications in our stock (i.e. offerings by TopShelf, IDW, Fantagraphics, Slave Labor, Ape Entertainment, Drawn & Quarterly, etc.), but we are now on a mission to add new, quality indie titles to our shelves on a regular basis. Overall, by the time we are finished with this expansion, our selection of English language graphic novels and trades, well organized and neatly displayed, will leave all of our competition (both comic shops and box book stores) in the dust.
Furthermore, as we cherish the history of the medium and the artistic giants who made it possible, we are also adding virtually the entire TwoMorrows catalog to our inventory. For those of you not in the know, TwoMorrows publishes magazines (such as Roy Thomas’ superb Alter Ego) and books dedicated to exploring and celebrating the history of comics in the United States. In-depth interviews, extensive original art and vintage photos, learned analysis, and historical essays make TwoMorrows THE archivist of the storied history and cultural impact of the American comic book (not to mention the fact that they give many of the unsung creators of the Golden and Silver Ages long overdue recognition). From the Jack Kirby Collector to the Modern Masters Series, the Krypton Companion to the Back Issue magazine, WildPig will carry virtually every publication offered by this vital company. Additionally, we will also be carrying other publications examining the lives and contributions of significant comic creators past and present (such as the forthcoming authorized Jack Kirby biography by Mark Evanier).
As many of our regulars know, we take great pride in our back issue selection, and have broken our backs to bring you a superb selection of both high end Golden, Silver, and Bronze Age, as well as tens of thousands of worthwhile bargain books (which are always the centerpiece of our fabled 50% off sales). We have always believed our selection, in quality if not quantity (although we’re better than most in that category too), rivals, if not surpasses, any store in the state. Welp, we’re tired of having rivals, so we are doubling our selection of high end wall books. Within the next few months, the t-shirt display will be jettisoned, and at least 30 more Golden, Silver, and Bronze Age books will be added to the wall. Other stores may consider the latest variant a wall book, or try to pad their wall with low grade copies of unremarkable books, or over graded, overpriced high end books, but we take back issues very seriously (and we actually want to sell them), and our expanded wall will demonstrate that fact. Furthermore, we will continue to add quality books to our regular bins, and, while they have been removed from the floor to make way for the new trades, we are not abandoning our commitment to our popular bargain bins. Indeed, we continue to amass thousands of new bargain books (that you’ll actually want to read!), and, rest assured, come our next 50% off mega sale, you will have at least a 100 boxes of 50 cent books to paw through to your heart’s content.
From day one, it has been our mission to make WildPig a true comic shop in which both new book readers and serious back issue collectors would feel at home. We have always shunned fad-oriented products, as well as miscellaneous items that take space away from comics. That approach has sometimes led to lean times, but we have never wavered in our belief that, given time, people will come to appreciate and support our vision. This expansion is the next phase in the realization of that vision. You want shirts? Go to the mall. You want anime, toys, role playing, etc.? Go to any one of our competitors. You want an unbeatable reservation system for new books? The best selection of trades and graphic novels in the state? A dedication to back issues that is second to none? There is only one destination in central/northern New Jersey: WildPig Comics II.
