1. That kind of bluntness can be charming to some customers, creating a “Oh, they won’t push me to buy comics they know to be bad, they were so brutally honest about Astonishing X-Men. Larry’s Comics is the store that cares more about good comics than making sales.” perception.

2. With such a well-regarded writer “Don’t buy this” could have the opposite effect, making people curious how it could be so terrible.

What makes it work in this case, I think this is a book you can tell your customers “Don’t buy this” and they’ll buy it anyway, either out of loyalty to Ellis or with a feeling of “Thanks for the warning but I’ll see for myself.”

On the other hand, he could be the Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons just mouthing off.

And Kevin, yes, you’re right.

Censorship is not the act of not carrying an item in an inventory. Censorship is the act of preventing an entire group of people from obtaining that information or object in any way they could obtain it. Since the CD or book you can’t buy at Wal-Mart is readily available at other outlets, this is not censorship.

That is quite possibly the silliest statement I’ve seen in this whole debate. There are lots of reasons for stores not to carry something, and “we do not wish to be associated with this product” is a perfectly acceptable one.

I’m reminded of the time I went to some gaming store in NYC and wanted to get some X-Men figurine or something for a friend, and the sales guy there went on a rant about the stupid little Marvel zombies and their mutants … yikes. Or about the comic book store we had in downtown Boston that had a very anti-fanboy sign (”Don’t ask us when comics are coming out: read the signs; don’t talk to us about your favorite X-Man” etc.) You all realize that you’re running a business, right? It’s like someone who hates kids opening a day care.

But at the very least this is a lot better than deciding not to carry something at all, which is just plain censorship. (Hi, Walmart!)

If you are overly negative, to the point where you are saying things like “unless you’re a fanboy who can’t buy Playboy,” or something to that extent. That’s where you could run into a problem.

Because the second is insulting to potential customers. While the first, well even as much as our tastes align Johanna. There have been times where I’ve see you do the first, and go “Huh, I could see that, but it doesn’t bother me in that way.” and went on and bought the book.

Melinda and Odessa: I agree.

When I did the store newsletter where I worked, I generally only wrote positive reviews, since a) we only had two pages on space and b) it was a vehicle designed to move product.

I also found, as mentioned, people are more likely trust your opinion if you mix in good reviews and bad/average reviews.

For example, I had a campaign to promote Groo the Wanderer in our store. Having loved the series since it began – and acknowledging it was different than most of the other titles in the store – I knew many of the customers would love it if they were to read an issue. So, I offered a money back guarantee for the current issue (#17). Knowing they could return it if they didn’t like it, Most of the people bought a copy. No one returned it and many added it to their hold list.

Occasionally I’d give a less than favorable review, but this was when a customer asked me what I thought of a series or particular issue. Even then, I tried to be as democratic as possible.

Customers need to know their retailer will be honest with them – good or bad.