Comic Shop
The Retail Mavericks Who Gave Us a New Geek Culture
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Narrated by:
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Douglas R. Pratt
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By:
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Dan Gearino
About this listen
The early 1970s saw the birth of the modern comic book shop. Its rise was due in large part to a dynamic entrepreneur, Phil Seuling. His direct market model allowed shops to get comics straight from the publishers, bypassing middlemen. Stores could better customize their offerings and independent publishers could now access national distribution. In this way, shops opened up a space for quirky ideas to gain an audience and helped transform small-press series, from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Bone, into media giants.
Comic Shop is the first book to trace the history of these cultural icons. Dan Gearino brings us from their origins to the present day, when the rise of digital platforms has the industry at a crossroads even as sales are robust. He spends a year with stores around the country, with a spotlight on The Laughing Ogre in Columbus, Ohio. Along the way he interviews those who shaped comics retailing from the early days, including many pioneering women; top creators; and shop owners who continue to push the industry in new directions. A guide to 40 of the most interesting shops around the United States and Canada is a bonus for fans.
The book is published by Ohio University Press.
©2017 Dan Gearino (P)2018 Redwood AudiobooksListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“This is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand comics in the US...a fascinating page turner.” (Heidi MacDonald, editor, The Beat)
"Great reference for future work." (ICv2)
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It's as if this book was written for me!
- By Greg on 03-15-13
By: Sean Howe
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In-N-Out Burger
- A Behind-the-Counter Look at the Fast-Food Chain That Breaks All the Rules
- By: Stacy Perman
- Narrated by: Loren Lester
- Length: 10 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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It's the untold story of the renegade burger chain that evokes a passionate following unlike any other. In fast-food corporate America, In-N-Out Burger stands apart. Begun in a tiny shack in the shadow of World War II, this family-owned chain has steadfastly refused to franchise or be sold. It is a testament to old-fashioned values and reminiscent of a simpler time when people, loyalty, and a freshly made, juicy hamburger meant something.
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Flowery Promo Piece
- By Melissa on 02-22-10
By: Stacy Perman
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Working Together
- Why Great Partnerships Succeed
- By: Michael D. Eisner, Aaron R. Cohen
- Narrated by: Rick Adamson, Michael D. Eisner (introduction and epilogue)
- Length: 7 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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Dig deep and you will find the most compelling argument for working together: Happiness. In business there are always unique individual achievers, but pull down the veil and you'll often find someone alongside them. Michael Eisner does just that in Working Together. Using his own collaboration with Frank Wells at Disney as a launching point for examining other famously successful partnerships, Eisner offers us an intimate and deeply personal look at some of the most rewarding business partnerships.
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Interesting to see what all partners had in common
- By Amazon Customer on 06-01-13
By: Michael D. Eisner, and others
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The Big Picture
- The Fight for the Future of Movies
- By: Ben Fritz
- Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
- Length: 9 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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In the past decade, Hollywood has endured a cataclysm on a par with the end of silent film and the demise of the studio system. Stars and directors have seen their power dwindle, while writers and producers lift their best techniques from TV, comic books, and the toy biz. The future of Hollywood is being written by powerful corporate brands like Marvel, Amazon, Netflix, and Lego, as well as censors in China. Ben Fritz chronicles this dramatic shakeup with unmatched skill, bringing equal fluency to both the financial and entertainment aspects of Hollywood.
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Who is overseeing the audio part of this project?
- By Lori P on 11-19-19
By: Ben Fritz
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Chicken Soup for Entrepreneur's Soul: Advice and Inspiration for Fulfilling Dreams
- By: Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen
- Narrated by: Alan Robertson
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Chicken Soup for the Entrepreneur's Soul is a compilation of short stories from entrepreneurs, both large and small, who share their experiences of success, failure and courage, with a little helpful advice mixed in. Many of these stories, told for the first time here, will enlighten you to new methods of entrepreneurship or simply help you believe in the possibilities of getting started.
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Great!
- By Anonymous User on 03-01-20
By: Jack Canfield, and others
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Appetite for Self-Destruction
- The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age
- By: Steve Knopper
- Narrated by: Dan John Miller
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
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For the first time, Appetite for Self-Destruction recounts the story of the precipitous rise and fall of the recording industry over the past three decades, when the incredible success of the CD turned the music business into one of the most glamorous, high-profile industries in the world - and the advent of file sharing brought it to its knees.
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Awesome Book
- By Todd on 08-15-09
By: Steve Knopper
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Buying In
- The Secret Dialogue Between What We Buy and Who We Are
- By: Rob Walker
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Marketing executives and consumer advocates alike predict a future of brand-proof consumers, armed with technology and a sophisticated understanding of marketing techniques, who can effectively tune out ad campaigns. But as Rob Walker demonstrates, this widely accepted misconception has eclipsed the real changes in the way modern consumers relate to their brands of choice. Combine this with marketers' new ability to blur the line between advertising, entertainment, and public space, and you have dramatically altered the relationship between consumer and consumed.
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Lets you in on the secret...
- By Jeff on 07-06-08
By: Rob Walker
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Dream Year
- Make the Leap from a Job You Hate to a Life You Love
- By: Ben Arment
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 7 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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What if someone could guide you, step-by-step, as you identify, plan, and launch your dream career - in just one year. That's what Ben Arment does in his transformative coaching class, which has helped hundreds of people reinvent their lives to enjoy greater enthusiasm and fulfillment while also making a living. Now he's sharing his best insights, advice, and inspiring true stories in Dream Year. You'll find out how people just like you are discovering (or rediscovering) what they were truly born to do, then following a proven process to make it real.
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Motivational!
- By ajanicad on 03-21-15
By: Ben Arment
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The Stephen King Companion
- Four Decades of Fear from the Master of Horror
- By: George Beahm
- Narrated by: Fleet Cooper, Claire Christie
- Length: 24 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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The Stephen King Companion is an authoritative look at horror author King's personal life and professional career, from Carrie to The Bazaar of Bad Dreams. King expert George Beahm, who has published extensively about Maine's main author, is your seasoned guide to the imaginative world of Stephen King, covering his varied and prodigious output: juvenalia, short fiction, limited edition books, best-selling novels, and film adaptations.
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A Kingopedia: Books, Movies, Bio and Art
- By tru britty on 02-28-16
By: George Beahm
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How Chuck Feeney Made and Gave Away a Fortune
- The Billionaire Who Wasn't
- By: Conor O'Clery
- Narrated by: Erik Synnestvedt
- Length: 16 hrs
- Unabridged
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In 1988 Forbes magazine hailed Chuck Feeney as the 23rd richest American alive. No one knew until then that he was extremely wealthy. Or was he? Born during the Depression in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Feeney had made a fortune as co-founder of Duty Free Shoppers, the world's largest duty-free retail chain. How he did it is one of the great untold retail stories of modern times. The greater untold story is that Feeney had in fact given away his fortune, in its totality, to endow Atlantic Philanthropies - one of the most generous and secretive philanthropic funds in the world.
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Horizons I never knew were there!
- By DTU_Garza on 08-13-17
By: Conor O'Clery
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Primal Branding
- Create Zealots for Your Brand, Your Company, and Your Future
- By: Patrick Hanlon
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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What is it that made Starbucks an overnight sensation and separated it from other coffee house companies? Why do many products with great product innovation, perfect locations, terrific customer experiences, even breakthrough advertising, fail to get the same visceral traction in the marketplace as brands like Apple and Nike?
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Good book, hard to stay interested
- By Axiom Brevity on 11-21-16
By: Patrick Hanlon
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Why We Buy, Updated and Revised Edition
- The Science of Shopping
- By: Paco Underhill
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
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Revolutionary retail guru Paco Underhill is back with a completely revised edition of his classic, witty, best-selling book on our ever-evolving consumer culture—full of fresh observations and important lessons from the cutting edge of retail, which is taking place in the world’s emerging markets.
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Author has knowledge but poor writing skills
- By Nidhi on 06-25-11
By: Paco Underhill
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The King of Content
- Sumner Redstone’s Battle for Viacom, CBS, and Everlasting Control of His Media Empire
- By: Keach Hagey
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Sumner Murray Redstone, once feared as the “mad genius” of media who would dump his CEOs for mere wobbles in his companies’ stock price, had built one of the world’s greatest media empires through a series of audacious takeovers constructed to ensure that he always maintained control. Today he controls 80 percent of the voting shares of both Viacom and CBS, meaning that on a whim he could replace the entire boards of two public companies with a combined value of $40 billion.
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Feels biased. Well researched, but not engaging.
- By Anonymous User on 04-03-19
By: Keach Hagey
What listeners say about Comic Shop
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Amazon Customer
- 08-30-20
A good listen.
An interesting history combined with an overview of what a comic shop was and is.
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- Steve Xameron
- 08-26-18
A great "behind the scenes" of comics retail
A great book -- well researched and told -- by a great journalist. Even as a long-time comics fan I had only the briefest understanding of the history of these specialty shops, so Gearino's book was a real eye opener and well as being a page turner (so to speak). I like that he spends as much time on the industry today as he does on it's history, including a long section at the back with store recommendations (which probably works better in print, but it has enough anecdotes to keep you listening).
A word about the narrator : I like his conversational tone, and his general reading style is easy to follow, but he should have done more research into pronunciation on people's names. I know there's a few he gets wrong, and that makes me suspect there are more. Also there are a number of places (usually interview quotes) where it's clear he doesn't know the subject matter so he gets the emphasis wrong or pauses in the wrong place. Minor quibbles for most, but it grated on me. Worse, during the second part of the book (starting with chapter 15 (17) where he lists comic shops), there are a lot of places where the first part of a word at the beginning of a section is cut off, presumably by the technician who was cutting together all the good takes, and that gets to be pretty annoying too. Though this is certainly not the narrator's fault, he comes off the worse for it.
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- Niko78
- 06-14-18
A History of the All-American Comic Shop
A unique book on an obscure topic. Virtually no serious academic attention had been focused on the Comic book store; until now.
If you have even a smidgen of love for the ubiquitous comic book shop - you will find this book interesting, to say the least.
The narration was definitely good, just not great. I realize this is subjective. Most will enjoy his professional reading of the book; I know I did (overall).
This book will lead to more serious study of the topic and for that we should all be grateful to the very smart author who created it.
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- Logan Howlett
- 11-30-20
super informational
A one of a kind insight into a unique business. As a business owner, I was very interested in hearing the solutions and ideas for success, and amazed at how different they were from each other.
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- Carlos Ramirez
- 04-25-24
Personal stories of those who fought for the art.
The description of every store was unnecessary in my opinion. Still it was a fun listen.
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- Amazon Customer
- 12-16-20
A lot of info
good listen lots and I mean lots of info. I now want to visit all of the shops he descibes.
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- Legendsfall777
- 07-07-24
Very informative
Great info about the origins of the comic shop in America. Loved the comic shop recommendations at the end of the book.
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