Long-term Graphic Novel Best-Sellers & More Thoughts on FlyCo's Murky Future

At the start of every New Year, I take a look back to see what’s working and what’s not working in the hopes of improving our shop here. As many of you already know, 2024 will be a year of BIG changes for Flying Colors.

Our current lease expires in January 2025 and that will mean Flying Colors will not be in Concord’s Oak Grove Plaza after that. In the weeks and months ahead, we (and by ‘we’ I mean Libby and me along with our family, our FlyCo Retailing Brigade, as well as some of FlyCo Faithful) will be discussing options for the future of Flying Colors Comics.

A move to a different location will be expensive! The cost of the move for us at a time when many people our age are already well into retirement will definitely be a consideration. Your continued support of our shop is super critical at this time!

Please know it is our Top Priority to find a way to continue this business— our mini-community of Flying Colors— in another location. Our preference is to still be in Concord as I am pleased with how the City has supported small businesses here and how they’ve been good about shining the light on what Flying Colors brings to the community. Libby and I are also a proud citizens of the City of Concord, so that factors into the decision, too.

All that said, whatever happens, I hope to ease up at least a bit on the time I dedicate to Flying Colors. In March, Libby and I will have our first week-long vacation since 2019… and the last five years have seen us mostly working six days a week at 50-60 hours a week. That hasn’t left us with much time to spend with family and friends.

Also, as plans develop for the future of the shop, we want keep you informed. 

So please stay tuned to this blog and our social media accounts— Flying Colors Comics on Facebook, @FlyCoJoe on Instagram and Twitter (X). Also, please sign up for our Infrequent Flyer email newsletter. We don't send emails often, but you don't want to miss the ones we do send. 

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Now, about the Best Sellers list here:
(Click on the list to see it better)

Recently I posted Flying Colors 2023 Best Selling Comics and Graphic Novels. 

After doing that, I thought it might be eye-opening to take a longer view. So here’s a list generated from our Best Sellers since we went to a computerized inventory management and “point of sale” system. 

We went live with that system on March 1, 2012… so this list comprises our Best Selling Graphic Novels from that date until the end of 2023, almost 12 full years and many many thousands of graphic novels later.

My hope is you’ll look over the list, maybe share this post with friends and hopefully find something new to read. After all, with the amount sold at Flying Colors of each of these books, that’s a vote of confidence for just how entertaining and engaging these books are.

Peace ’n’ Comics!
And here’s to some Really Good News for FlyCo Faithful in 2024!

Joe “FlyCoJoe” Field

Flying Colors 2023 Best-Selling Comic Books & Graphic Novels

 A Tale of Two Lists!

Let's start with Flying Colors Best-Selling Comics for 2023.

To be honest, it wasn't worth doing a long detailed chart of the Top 100 or Top 50 because the list of best-selling comics at Flying Colors in 2023 was absolutely dominated by two titles--- BATMAN and AMAZING SPIDER-MAN.

However, there were also welcome surprises! The two biggest sales surprises of 2023 are VOID RIVALS and TRANSFORMERS from Skybound/Hasbro.

The emergence of the Energon Universe has been nothing short of a fan favorite.

Here's a little factoid: TRANSFORMERS from Skybound is outselling the previous Transformers series (from another publisher) by a margin of 10 to 1!

And VOID RIVALS, the sneaky intro to the Energon Universe, caught a lot of fans off guard. At Flying Colors, we're thrilled that Skybound, Robert Kirkman's imprint at Image Comics, continues to inject a positive vibe into the comics world.

Don't get us wrong--- we love that long-time best-sellers like Batman and Spidey continue to thrill fans. With that, though, it's awesome to see some energy put into the comics market by another publisher.

The fact remains--- there are so many good comics from many different publishers and Flying Colors is here to get them to you!

As always, if you know there's something you just can't afford to miss, you can put in a request for us to reserve every issue of your favorite titles.

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And now, here's
Flying Colors 2023 Top-Selling Graphic Novels!

There’s really something for everyone on this Top 30!

* All-ages friendly books from worldwide best-selling cartoonist Dav Pilkey (Dog Man, Cat Kid, Capt Underpants)

* Jeff Smith is the creator of Flying Colors all-time best-selling graphic novel, BONE, and in 2023 we were thrilled to introduce lots of readers to his new epic TUKI.

* Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips continue to deliver the goods for mature readers with their graphic novels, NIGHT FEVER and Where The Body Was.

* The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles graphic novel, TMNT THE LAST RONIN, is a true fan favorite.

* The SPARKS series is continuing to make happy young readers with its superhero story about a robot dog that’s secretly controlled by two cats!

* And a very special mention goes to Thien Pham’s “Family Style: Memories of and Amercian from Vietnam.” We’re happy to see this graphic memoir get the attention it deserves and there will be awards for this very singular, entertaining and moving graphic novel. Watch out, Eisner & Harvey Awards… here comes Thien Pham!

Please take a look at this list and see it as a group of books that are thrilling and moving readers. And we hope you’ll see there’s a lot more to comics than just superheroes (we still love our heroes, too!).

As always, when you visit Flying Colors you can ask our frankly fantastic FlyCo Retailing Brigade for great suggestions!

2024 is here--- and there’s a lot to look forward to! You're invited to join us all year long!

(Click on the images for a closer view)

OPEN Sunday 11AM-5PM, CLOSED on NEW YEAR'S DAY

 

ICV2.com Interview/Feature: 50 years of Comics' "Direct Market"

During the course of the last year, ICV2.com, the comics business-oriented site, has published a series of articles about the history and the players in comics' Direct Market.

Former DC Publisher Paul Levitz filed his thoughts about The Direct Market HERE!

One of my comics retailing mentors and dearly departed friends, the Big Kahuna, Bill Liebowitz of Los Angeles' Golden Apple shops was featured HERE! 

And now, it's my turn. Read the feature/interview HERE!

Honestly, when compared to so many others who helped lay the groundwork for this little industry, the comics specialty retail market, I feel humbled and grateful just to be mentioned.

It's been a good ride... my hope is that with the help of our FlyCo Faithful and our stalwart Flying Colors Retailing Brigade, we'll be taking Flying Colors into new and exciting directions.

There's a TON to do, a lot to investigate and ponder, and even with that, things are still a bit murky and no decisions have been made.

The continued support of FlyCo Faithful will help guide our decisions, so we hope you'll all hang in there with us!

 

Flying Colors Gift Guide!

In case you need some ideas for cool gifts for your friends and FlyCo Faithful, we suggest these!

 

 

 

 

 

Look at these NEW Classic Cover Metal Signs!

 

 

Check out these awesome TIN TITANS Lunch Boxes!

Always a favorite of comics fans and pint glass collectors!

Flying Colors has a deep selection of Graphic Novels for readers of All Ages!
Here's the brand new CAT KID graphic novel from best-selling cartoonist DAV PILKEY!

And of course, a Flying Colors Gift Card is the easy and awesome gift for anyone!

Follow Flying Colors on Social Media:

Flying Colors on Facebook

Twitter: @FlyCoJoe
Instagram: @FlyCoJoe

...and show your love of Concord with this exclusive Flying Colors bumper sticker:

The Awesome Return of SHOP CONCORD!

Great news!

SHOP CONCORD giftcards are back!

For a limited time, when you buy a $100 SHOP CONCORD giftcard, you’ll earn a FREE $50 bonus giftcard!

This is a fantastic way to support locally owned Concord shops, restaurants and services. We sure hope you'll take advantage of this deal and spend your giftcards at Flying Colors Comics!


Bonus giftcards are available for a limited time, so Get your SHOP CONCORD giftcards at this link NOW!
https://app.yiftee.com/gift-card/concord

The Family Business

It’s a family business.

Over the course of these last 37 years— including the two years before Flying Colors Comics & Other Cool Stuff officially opened in October 1988— the entire Field family has been involved and integral to the success and longevity of our shop… of our built from the ground up comics community.

In the years before the shop opened, the five members of my family would pack into the station wagon, drive from shop to shop to strategize the comic book shop we wanted to build-- "the one comic shop for the whole family."

At the time we opened, our three daughters Michelle, Jenny and Cindy were between four and eight years old. Their insights into what they liked and didn't like about other shops--- comic shops, sure, but other retail shops, as well--- were invaluable.

So here we are, all those years later, and all three of our daughters were present in some way for our 35th anniversary event.

Jenny, even while dealing with some serious health issues, gave her sweet presence to shop visitors on Saturday for more than four hours. Michelle visited the shop later in the day and her presence always melts me! Cindy was present in the music she makes as the ambient artist known as "marine eyes." We sold some of the new extended CD version of her "idyll" album (available now on Stereoscenic Records).

And then there's our frankly fabulous FlyCo Retailing Brigade! The day was filled with good vibes from current staff Dylan, Everardo and Zach (long-time staffer Mike was unavailable)... and it was very sweet to get visits from past FlyCo Brigadeers, too!

None of this would have worked without the love of my life, Libby! Who's the blessed dude? Yup, that's me!

The future of Flying Colors is honestly a bit murky these days. We have an expiring lease in early 2025. The comics biz is in a pretty rocky phase right now [Edited to add: So is the general economy] so the downturn in business adds another big question mark for the future.

Still, we're here NOW and ready for you to experience the nostalgia of missing us even before we might be gone or before we morph into something else/new/??

Whether you're a friend mine, a friend of the family, a fan of Flying Colors, a regular patron here, or just an interested observer of what we do, and what we bring to our local market, I'd like to encourage you to think about doing what you can to support your favorite local shops. What you do for your local shops, you do to make your communities much more flavorful than the big box boring corporate stuff that's everywhere and online.

Thanks for being along for the ride. We hope to provide many more good memories for everyone before whatever happens actually happens (or doesn't). How's that for vague!?!

Peace 'n' Comics,

Joe "FlyCoJoe" Field

35th Anniversary: Thoughts on a Murky Future

A note to close out October 3, the actual 35th anniversary date for the opening of Flying Colors Comics.

We would love to have you join us for our 35th Anniversary event this Saturday October 7. 

 

We’ll have some FREE stuff, some tasty Hulk Smash Brownies, a commemorative exclusive art print and signing with cool cartoonist Jeff Bonivert, and more! Signing at 11AM, brownies at Noon… Cool stuff all day!
More details HERE!

 

We need to celebrate these milestone anniversaries to reflect on all the gratitude we have for all those helping to keep us in business since 1988. 

 

Honestly, and maybe a bit sadly, there aren’t likely any more milestone anniversaries for this shop… in this location. So this photo of the shop at night is maybe a little reflective of the state of things as they are currently. 

 

Enough of that for now, though!

 

Please come help us celebrate these last 35 years of bringing the best in Comics & Other Cool Stuff to Contra Costa County. 

 

Help us celebrate this humble spot on the worldwide pop culture map. Let’s have some fun! 

 

“Don't it always seem to go

That you don't know

what you've got
'til it's gone

They paved paradise,

put up a parking lot…”

--- Lyrics by Joni Mitchell

Flying Colors 35th Anniversary party!

Saturday October 7 11AM-7PM
Libby's nearly world-famous HULK SMASH Brownies will be served at Noon!
More surprises!

Artist TRADD MOORE Signing 9/28

We hope you can join is for singing event as we welcome artist TRADD MOORE to Flying Colors, Thursday September 28 from 4PM-6PM.

Tradd is the artist of the fan favorite neo-psychedelic series, DOCTOR STRANGE: FALL SUNRISE and SILVER SURFER BLACK!