THE HEROESONLINE BLOG :: What Would You Like To See?
So this week is an especially slow news week. Besides the regular stuff we do in the store all week, y’know, selling comics, restocking comics, all that stuff, I’ve been working on some site-based stuff that’s had me hip deep in code for the last week or so. Not necessarily redesigning the site, but before we start putting up a bunch of stuff for HeroesCon 2010 (yes I’ve noticed the 2009 dates are still listed, thank you), I wanted to spiff the place up a little bit. A lot of little things will change, and I’m going to clean up the site navigation and other little odds and ends that have annoyed me since I redesigned it back in 2007.
The big thing is that I’m going to be moving this blog onto our site proper, via the awesome and swear-inducing complexity of WordPress. We’re going to be using the blog a good bit more, providing more content from out in the comics world, more interviews like this one, more reviews, more guest blogging, etc. So while I’m still in the planning stages, I wanted to ask you guys:
What would YOU like to see on our blog? What aren’t we talking about that you’d like? What ARE we talking about that you’re tired of hearing about? While it’s true that we’re a comics shop that wants to take your money, we like you and want you to enjoy having your money taken; or if you live too far away to shop here, at least enjoy reading about us and our various opinions and connections.
Point is, a lot of what has made us so popular over the years is YOUR very kind support, so I thought I’d ask YOU what you thought. See how I’m getting YOU to do my work for me? All it takes is CAPITAL LETTERS!
Anyway, let’s hear it: post in the comments section below what you’d like to see more or less of. As long as you’re polite, I promise we are listening. And in the meantime, thank YOU for listening!
OKAY– you asked for it
I would love to see a regular Comic Reader-type column where the same writer capsule reviews a dozen or so of the New Releases. A new writer can take over every couple of months.
A Discussion thread about every major comic related movie. I'd rather hear from this community about Iron Man II or the new Miyazaki instead of those pesky civilians who don't have a clue.
I would love to get some of the artists in the crowd to dissect some older ground-breaking comics.
More lists– everyone loves lists–everyone reads lists, everyone makes up lists. You guys started on the lists when this site was taking it's baby-steps– start them up again!! Did I mention that EVERYONE loves lists!
I want Phil Southern to write up a detailed explanation of why 1982 and 1989 (those may be be the wrong years)were the greatest in recent comics history.
I want to know what books– both current and historical- float Shelton Drum's boat
I want to know what books and graphic novels are selling the most and compare it to the nation. Are we Charlotteans following the trends or are we blazing our own trails.
Can you go back– without too much trouble– to provide trends? I'd love to know what has sold the most year by year since 2000.
Interviews with
Matt Fraction
Carlton from Creative Loafing
Roger Langridge
and other Heroes friends.
That is what I want to see– Hey, you asked!!!
More reviews…perhaps even written by myself. ;-p
peace,
Herc
My two cents (and I apologize if the marketing guy in me comes out too much here):
Definitely like the idea of more short posts that link out to other comic sites for news or whatever. It's an easy way to give the site some daily activity plus linking out to other blogs is a great way to bring traffic from those blogs back in.
Agree with Andy. People love lists. Top 10 lists, top 5 lists, whatever. They're fun, easy to read and tend to get picked up by other sites which then brings in new readers to this site. I'm still getting new waves of traffic coming in on Top 10 posts I wrote for another blog years ago.
Also polls. People love those too and they're easy to do. You could have one a day even.
New release run through. I know I've fallen off doing my Wednesday Comics Day thing (not just here but on all the other blogs I do it for). But maybe someone could do a quick and dirty run through. One sentence each is all it needs. Are you allowed to run any of the 2-3 page previews that Marvel and DC and others spread out each week among the comic sites? I'm sure they'd give you some.
Interviews definitely. You guys have ins with big names in the industry. Not every comic store can say that.
Showcase customer talent. There's a lot of customers that are not only professionals (Jason Latour, Andy Smith) but some that are on the cusp of making it big (okay Dustin doesn't count as a customer) and others that are knocking out webcomics and mini-comics some of which can be bought at the store (ahem…myself and the Sketch Charlotte crew: Herc, Tom, John, etc). Showcase their work, interview them, etc.
Short, frequent easy to read posts (keep it simple). Post comic-related You Tube videos even. You don't have to keep us here all day but get us coming back to check in often.
Dude, your two cents are awesome, Rich. Yours too, Andy. This is hardly a surprise.
Although I will point out that we don't have the manpower to go to a full-on link-blogging format, but we can flex into some of this for sure.
Dustin ol boy good luck with WP code. Isnt it just awesome?
To piggy back just a bit on Rich's idea about local talent.
How about a mini-comics round-up.
If it proves popular,
maybe you can offer some counter space on consignment.
How about an on-line comic roundelay ala "The Worm".
When it completed, it can be offered for sale and proceeds can go to funding HeroesCon 010 (oh-ten)
thanks for listening
I tell, one thing that the Heroes shop offers that almost no other comic shop in the country does is Andy's Discussion groups. I'd love to see it play out more on the website (especially since I always wind up not being able to make it to the actual discussions).
Maybe Andy can either host an additional discussion each month where he posts some thoughts on the blog and people go crazy in the comments section or at least follow up on the real life discussion group with a follow-up entry on the blog.
I'm always curious to know what I missed.
I pop into your blog every so often, but I normally do most of my comics blog reading via RSS feeds. If you new blog could have an RSS feed that has the full text of your articles / posts, I'd read everyone.
Currently, and I think I've done this 3-4 times over the past couple of months, your RSS feed doesn't work on this blog.
Funny, I'd been meaning to talk to you about doing some kind of column. I'll shoot you an email, Dusty.
Some great suggestions up there.
Good eye, Kivus–I'll get on that with the new version. Ditto for you Latour, let's rap.
Kivus, what RSS reader do you use because I've always been able to read full articles of this blog in Google Reader.
I'd like to see creator interviews from HEROES CON!
You all get top talent and should maybe ask a few if they would like to sit down and be interviewed for a few minutes.
I would! 😉
I'd like to see Andy Mansell write more posts about various topics. The thing that I like most about his contributions is that he makes the things that I don't know about or don't really care about sound interesting. I'd be willing to bet that the store would see a bump in sales in any comic/book/artist/writer that Andy talks about.
Also, It'd be great if you guys could do a live internet video feed for the discussion groups. I've seen a couple of artists use this for drawing and David Malki ! uses it a lot, too. You could then have people ask questions via twitter or email.
Also, mirroring what John Beaty said, I'd like to see more interviews from Heroes Con. I think it'd be interesting to have the pros interview each other, though. You know, pick a pro and ask him/her who they'd like to interview. I know there is a lot of comradery and respect among the creators. It would be interesting to see what kind of questions they come up with since they have an insider’s perspective on things.
One thing that I'd love to see corrected in the new design is LARGER previews of all comics covers referred to. Currently when you click the cover to anything featured all you get is the annoying thumbnail in a new window. [grr!]
When I don't post for a long time, I want people to ask Where's Daniel? I want this blog to stroke my ego.