Comic Book Shopping Experience Set for Debut

Dynamite Entertainment CEO/Publisher Nick Barrucci and retailer Jen King of Space Cadets Collection Collection in Oak Ridge North, TX, have joined forces to create the Comic Book Shopping Experience, a new network for increasing the profiles of comic shops.

The network, which will feature programming across Facebook, YouTube, and its own website. Will host a virtual convention on January 16-18, followed by its official launch on Monday, January 19. Content will become available on YouTube after it airs live. The network will launch with four hours of programming per day, eventually expanding to 24 hours.

The network will promote the Comic Shop Locator Service to connect visitors with comic shops and will, according to The New York Times, “sell comic books and other collectibles, feature creator appearances and hold virtual signings.”

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter’s “Heat Vision” column, Barrucci said, “We plan on being one of the ambassadors for the industry; it’s more important than I can ever express. So yes, let me circle back and say, if we strengthen comic retailers and help publishers get the word out as well, and we grow the industry, that will be our most important metric of success.”

King added that key aims of the network were to “bring more attention to local comic book shops, make comics as a medium easier for interested viewers to understand and to take the mystery out of that end of things for new collectors. With the success of entertainment based on comic books themselves, we want to do what hasn’t really been done yet: give a direct link and focus between the two and let people know where they can go get the source material. Their Local Comic Shop. They are the heart of the industry.”