I grew up reading comics purchased from newsstands and bodegas in the Bronx in the 70s, and experienced firsthand the birth of the direct market via Moon Knight. One of my first jobs as a teenager was a Page at the Mt. Vernon Public Library, mostly shelving books and exploring varied interests, including my introduction to Stephen King’s and Ian Fleming’s earliest novels.
Back then, comics and libraries weren’t a thing yet, except maybe for comic strip collections, and none of my childhood faves were being collected yet.
While I had aspirations of being a writer as early as 3rd or 4th grade, working in publishing or libraries never crossed my mind until after high school, when I got my first job in a bookstore in Manhattan. It was a temporary side gig, most notable for my serendipitous discovery of Matt Ruff’s Fool on the Hill, and it was the first time I became aware of publishers other than Marvel and DC.
Working in publishing was a vague notion back then, because I didn’t actually know anything about it other than it didn’t seem like an industry that employed people like me, and I only stumbled into it a few years later via a couple of temp assignments after I got out of the Army, unsure of what I was going to do next.
I’ve already written that origin story, though. This is specifically about comics and libraries, and how I’m saying farewell to both professionally after an unexpectedly long and rewarding run combining the two.
I realized yesterday that New York Comic Con was celebrating its 20th anniversary this month, which reminded me how involved I was in its inaugural year, back when blogs were still a big deal, and there was a much broader range of fan sites (and forums) than there are today. The takes were hotter and generally more authentic than the social clickbait we get today, and even some of those doing good work still play the clickbait game to survive.
That inaugural NYCC was where I first learned that some librarians were really into comics, but it was just an interesting side note for me at the time. I was deep into another bored with superheroes phase at that point, producing and moderating two panels on more interesting topics (Beyond the Capes and Spandex; What About the Kids? All-Ages Comics Roundtable), and also helped put together a fun after-party at the Bowery Poetry Club to promote one of my favorite indie series at the time (NYC Mech), which was a total blast.
Sadly, PopCultureShock (aka Buzzscope) is long gone, disappearing dozens of articles I wrote and/or edited over two-plus years, some of which I’ve been able to recover via the Wayback Machine. I did brief recaps of the con each day here (Day 0, Day One, Day Two, Day Three), and while the outbound links are mostly dead, this image of the after-party flyer somehow survived.
Hosting the after-party at the Bowery Poetry Club was a fun connection between two worlds, because I’d initially gotten back into reading comics after leaving the NY poetry scene (for the second time), and it was the home of one of our primary competitors on the slam scene. (That was a whole other lifetime ago.)
PCS was a side gig that started as a reader newly returned to comics, participating in their forums full of fans more like me than on the most popular sites of the time. I quickly became a contributor to help out, and then the Senior Comics Editor, writing a monthly column and reviews while managing a small crew of columnists and contributors.
My superpower — unlike most comics bloggers — was that I had zero interest in working in the comics industry. I was just a revitalized fan who ended up finding a community I clicked with, and I’ve never really known how to do things halfway!
That superpower helped me avoid so many hassles that come with fandom and access journalism, both of which have gotten much worse over the years. When my passion for comics eventually faded again — partly from dealing with the industry’s quirks and power structure, partly from boredom with superheroes — I simply moved on.
Sadly, it killed my interest in reading comics at all for several years, too.
Randomly ending up working in the comics industry (kinda sorta) many years later was a totally unexpected plot twist, and combining it with libraries and ebooks seemed like a dream job. And it was, for a while. The past few years have been tough on libraries on a number of fronts, and comics became a popular target for book banners because it’s so much easier to take a single panel out of context, especially online.
The tipping point for me was probably when PRH decided to change BOOM!’s licensing terms for libraries and unceremoniously pulled their catalog from Comics Plus… and nothing happened. There was a little media coverage, and a few outspoken librarians raised a fuss online, but it ended up just being another example of a Big 5 publisher telling libraries to eat shit, and they ate it. Again.
Living at that intersection took its toll after a while, and I dreaded the day when I might have to choose between being employed or being complicit in the soft censorship way too many librarians feel compelled to engage in. Or saying the wrong thing publicly that crossed some unspoken line and ending up out of a job. Since I don’t like to do things I halfway, I realized I was at a crossroads and made a surprisingly easy decision, albeit one that came with A LOT of uncertainty.
I don’t regret it at all, and I’m glad to move on to something new and a little different.
In the meantime, I’ve said my last word on libraries and ebooks for a long while, and am planning to enjoy just being a patron at my local library, where I’ve already taken advantage of Interlibrary Loan to start diving into my newest area of interest!
And unlike when I left PCS nearly 20 years ago, my passion for reading comics is stronger than ever, so I’ll be relying on my library to supplement my already out of control TBR shelves for existing interests, too. Physical books only, of course! 😉
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