Alex Cox

In July of 2005, Alex Cox (with his partner, Mary Gibbons) opened Rocketship, a comics bookstore at 208 Smith Street in Brooklyn. Their store has received write ups from the comics press, and from mainstream press periodicals like The New York Times, Publishers Weekly and New York. Cox lives in Brooklyn with his girlfriend and their cats.

Before you had a shop of your own, you worked at another New York City comic book shop. Why did you initially want to work in that side of the comics industry?

I never did. It was a college job, and after working freelance in television for a year or two, I went back to comics retail while I decided what to do with myself. I traveled for a few years, and then came back to New York and, again, went back to selling comics while I figured out my next move. It was never a life goal to open a store. My only life goals have been to see the Pixies live and other useless and meaningless achievements. So I came into comics retailing repeatedly over several years, and it finally stuck.

What prompted you to start your own shop?

A variety of things, mostly involving needing some self-reliance and autonomy in my life. I decided that if I was going to be in a slow, depressing decline until I died, it would be on my own terms. (laughs)

It seems like some of the people who want to start comics shops start by asking fans on message boards for advice. What kind of research went into Rocketship?

Oh heavens. Years and years of working in the largest, busiest market on the East Coast. Knowing the neighborhoods and the demographics of Brooklyn and lower Manhattan. Visiting shops all over the country, comic or otherwise, that might have good and new ideas. Crunching numbers on what exactly we would be carrying, how much volume we would need to move, etc. It was a couple of years in the planning stages before we started building in earnest.

It seems like a lot of people say, "I like comics! I have some ideas! Every other store around here sucks!" and the next thing you know, they're either writing articles on-line in their spare time about how everyone else should run their shops, or heaven forbid, they scratch together some capitol and go feet first into it without any idea what they're doing. "How hard can it be?"

I've been managing comic shops most of my adult life, and I still mostly have no idea what I'm doing.

What ideas came from non-comics stores?

Racking, certain displays, cleanliness. Nothing that I can point to and say "That came from something I saw at Borders!" Just general vibes we got from certain record stores, or indie booksellers.

What kinds of things did you see in comics shops that you liked and wanted to implement? What were some of the things you didn't like?

I would rather not go into the negatives, they get hashed and re-hashed on-line ad nauseum. Anyone with a modem has no doubt seen endless screeds against comic shops and the Direct Market.

I genuinely love comic shops, and visit the local shop whenever I'm visiting a new place. I try and absorb whatever ideas catch my eye and, if not implement them, figure out what works behind the idea and use that initial motivation.

Why did you choose your current location (inside what used to be Johnnie's Bootery)?

Location, location, location. It is close to a train station (pirate gold in NYC), it's on a street with ample foot traffic, it's easy walking distance for my partner and myself, and it's in a great neighborhood, surrounded by great restaurants, bars, and a wide variety of other stores.

It was also pretty well ready to go without us doing any heavy remodeling. The shelves were in, the tile was perfect, slatwall, nice front windows.... it was a ready-made comic shop. The only really heavy work went into the backyard.

You've said that you had to jump in pretty quickly to secure the location you wanted for Rocketship. How did that affect your planning for the store?

It jumpstarted us by six to eight months, which was both good and bad in hindsight. Good because it forced us to play our hand and get moving and get it done and rolling. Bad because a few extra months planning and figuring out some finances is never a bad thing. Although now that we're six months in, I wish we had opened even sooner.

How would you describe the layout of your store for someone who hasn't been in it, and why did you lay it out the way that you did?

The front end is mostly gallery; an empty space facing a large wall that is typically showing comic art of some sort or another. We wanted this right at the front, because it's inviting from the outside. It's a nice, wide, clean space, with interesting things in frames.

The back end is walls of shelves, full of books, categorized by genre and author. There is a waist high shelf of new releases, with the last month's weekly comics below. it runs the two-thirds the length of the store, and on a Wednesday, it is easy for folks to browse and walk by as they pick up their new books.

There is a table in the middle with staff picks and gift books and other things we want on more prominent display, for whatever reason. And that's it. It's a pretty straightforward layout.

Your store has had an aggressive series of signing and release party events. How did you start making the connections you needed to start these things?

We went to MoCCA and started introducing ourselves, and begging people. Often it's just as easy as sending someone an e-mail. After the first event or so, I guess people started realizing that we were actually ready to work our booties off producing a good turnout and a fun event. It helps that we've had a series of top-notch creators willing to participate. If we've had good events, it's a testament to the talent and appeal of the folks that have signed here.

What goes into planning an event, and how long does it typically take?

Oh, golly. Weeks of planning and promotion. If it's also a gallery show, framing and prepping the art is very time-consuming. It's all a ton of work and stress, but ultimately one of the most rewarding parts of the job.

What have been some of the high points of the events you've had?

The Comix Jam with Jessica Abel and Matt Madden was a total blast, but every event is fun in its own way. Any time we have new art on the wall, I'm happy. Seeing Anders Nilsen's original paintings was totally amazing.

Do you have any events for the next couple of months finalized yet?

You bet. We just had the launch party for the Hotwire Comix & Capers (an awesome new anthology from Fantagraphics) on May 19th, and June 9th is a MoCCA Festival launch party, with several big names from L.A. I don't want to spoil the surprise on that one, but it will be huge.

Most of your events focus on the art comix/independent side of the comics publishing industry. What's the reasoning behind that?

Superhero events are pretty well represented here in NYC. It seems like every week one of the larger stores is hosting a Marvel or DC creator-du-jour.

We also have a philosophy that despite the persistent use of "mainstream" to describe Thunderbolts or Nightwing, superhero books actually only represent a slim portion of the potential audience for comics. Someone like Kevin Huizenga is actually far more "mainstream", and his books, will appeal to far more people than your average copy of Exiles. That's not to disparage superhero books, but I've found that superhero-centric events tend to be far more insular and limited, while someone like Michael Kupperman (who has appeared in The Believer and The New Yorker) will attract a crowd with a much wider range of people. In the end, that's why we opened the shop- to get people excited about comics, and by "people", I mean "Everyone in the World". So while having the guy who wrote House of Infinite Megacrossovers might be fun and might attract a lot of fans, we try to keep the appeal broader than just a single genre.

Like you said, there's an increased awareness of comics outside of the direct market. How do you think the increased presence of the Pantheon books and other non-superhero books in mass market affecting the direct market in general, and your store in particular?

What's the saying? "A rising tide lifts all boats"? That's pretty much it. Anything that legitimizes comics-as-literature is okay by me. I think of us as a bookstore that specializes in comics, so anything that raises the profile of bookstore-friendly material is great for us.

That said, though, not all comics are art, or even aspiring to be art. Or are you using "comics-as-literature" more as the medium's viability to consumers as a valid entertainment/artistic format?

Yes. I mean increased awareness, among people who enjoy reading, of comics that offer more than breasts and explosions. Although those can be fun.

For most of my lifetime, comics have been widely seen as a juvenile medium filled with idiotic characters in tights. That hasn't been the case, but that has been the perception. I think we're seeing a slow revolution to a point where comics are seen as a medium for auteurs who want to do stories about growing up as a girl in Iran, or lonely people in Chicago, or French fantasy stories about cats. Whatever the case, I think that slowly more people are associating comics with Chris Ware and Adrian Tomine, as opposed to Wolverine and Sabretooth.

Or Osamu Tezuka? Where do you see manga in the equation of comics today, from both a publishing and retail perspective?

I think that the market for manga will be look very different in five years

How so?

Different. It's already shifting in New York, and I think you can see winds of change in the Bookscan numbers.

It will still be a strong factor, but I think the days of seeing MANGA as a genre will die out, and popular manga will mix in with the rest of the western books, and it will all just be seen as "comics", but with more Japanese material on the racks.

The current bookstore boom is interesting to watch. I observe and pay attention and nod my head slowly. I've been in this business a while, and I've seen backrooms fill with unsold manga. But the good material is evergreen. As always, we will continue to sell interesting comics that have an audience in our market, Japanese or otherwise.

Some retailers and fans have expressed concerns on the viability of independent comics in today’s direct market. What informs your purchases from a publishing standpoint? I mean, what is it that makes you decide to carry or not to carry a new book or slate of books from a publisher?

My partner and I have worked in Comic Shop Land for a long time. We know our market pretty well. It's mostly a guessing game, but not always a hard one. It is mostly a mix of faith and experience. Mouse Guard is a good example. The solicit looked really cool. We do well with sophisticated all-ages books. The publisher has a history of high quality material. So we ordered heavy, and re-ordered heavy. The first issue has outsold the last four issues of X-Men: The End combined. You have to handle each book like a melon at the fruit-stand. Thump it, squeeze it, cut it open. If it's good, go get more.

So, at the time of this interview, you guys have been open for about nine months, give or take. What mistakes have you made along the way, and how have you learned from them?

You know Ed, the entire process of ordering for a comic shop is just a series of mistakes and surprises. You learn as you go, and things can change on a dime. So it's a never-ending learning process. The key is that you never stop learning, or being open to suggestions, new ideas, etc.

What kind of incentives do you do for your store? I know you’re not a fan of the deep discounting thing.

Well, we do this rebate thing, but it's not an incentive as much as a "thanks" to regulars. We don't live or die by subscriptions, they're just a nice service to provide and I don't mind doing it. Typically, the people you hold books for are your solid regulars, and I like to provide a way to thank them, by giving back credit here and there. Brian Hibbs did the math on deep discounting a while back in a "Tilting at Windmills" column, and showed what a bad idea it is. I tend to listen to Hibbs on most matters. If it's math-related, doubly so.

What about the whole "variant cover" issue? What do you think about it, and how do you address it at Rocketship?

Here's the deal. I don't care either way about variant covers. I don't really want to mess with them, so I don't. If they show up, they go out on the shelf with the rest of the books, cover price.

We certainly don't order to get incentive covers, down that path lies madness. If we order enough to get some, we sometimes take them, and have them available (cover price) if anyone wants them. Our customers don't really care either, so the whole thing is a big moot point.

I think if you create the demand by marking them up, making them a special item, and all that stuff, you are feeding a speculator monster that will consume you. The next thing you know, those variants and how much to charge for them, and how many books to order so you get variants... the whole thing takes over your brain and you're suddenly in the middle of the collectors' market. And that's not why we opened our store. I never wanted to be in a position where I had to flip through Overstreet to give somebody a price on something.

We just want to get comics to as many people as possible. Variant covers don't really cross our minds much, and it works out fine that way.

I never really understood the whole speculator thing, myself. Some stores cater pretty well to that set, though, so it's cool that you're going a different direction with things. Do you ever get the "no, really, where are your back issues" types of questions, or anything like that?

Every once in a while, we get the "don't you have a wall with expensive books on it?" I guess this is a standard in most shops. We get some people looking for back issues, but they're often not looking for a specific back issue from 1992 or whatever, they just want to know if we have them. I think it's a safety net for some folks. "If I miss the Hulk one month, there still may be a chance to get it... in the Back Issues!" I know the feeling.

I love stores with extensive back issue collections. We just don't have the room or the inclination.

Space certainly is a concern, especially in areas where retail space comes at a premium. Since you don't have a back issue section, what do you do with the comics that are a few months old?

We leave books out that have some shelf life (All Star Superman, for example, never stops selling, so we will leave out the issues as long as they are available), and as books seem to stagnate, we slowly slip them off to never-never land.

We actually have an incredibly high sell-through after two months or so on most titles, so it's not really an issue. We donate what we have left over to 826NYC (if it's age appropriate) or make grab bags, or other myriad ways of liquidating stock. But it's not a huge deal.

What is 826NYC?

826NYC is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting students ages 6-18 with their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write.

Ah, great--thanks. That's a pretty cool place to donate things to, and it reminds me--I think it's great that you have a client base that draws from all types of customers, including younger kids. I remember being kind of shocked when, at the Huizenga/Harkham/Nilsen gig a few months back, that there was a younger kid (maybe ten-years-old?) seeking those artists out by name. What kinds of stuff are they gravitating towards in your store?

We do incredibly well with Bone, Tintin, Asterix, Courtney Crumrin... it's a wide mix of material. Recently, a title called Fashion Kitty was our best seller among the younger girls that shop here. A lot of kids love Amazing Joy Buzzards.

Another retailer concern I've heard is things that ship late, or don't ship as solicited. In what ways does this affect your store, and what do you do to counteract it?

Late books are a bummer. Sometimes a book is so good that lateness doesn't affect sales. But books that need to build an audience, and come out rarely if ever, that's a bummer.

It's hard to support books (no matter how much you may like them) that have no promise of being around with any regularity.

As a retailer, what things about the publishing side of comics concern you or cause you grief?

Lack of mainstream advertising, I guess. I dunno. Most publishers are great.

Small publishers tend to expect a lot of retailers. Some guy with a day job starts self-publishing his book, or writing one through Image (or wherever), and suddenly every store is supposed to promote his book for him, order big piles, and make it a success. Robert Scott calls it the "build-it-they-will-come" mentality, and he's very right.

Just because you make a comic, it does not mean that retailers suddenly are obligated to stock it deep and promote it heavily—especially if there's no promise that it will be a) good or b) shipping on time, if ever.

This interview was conducted by Ed Cunard.