Jolly Jim Featured on The Comixverse

Jolly Jim Featured on The Comixverse

Yesterday on thecomixverse.com, an interview with the Godfather of Cosmic Comics!, Jim, was featured in their Local Comic Shop Spotlights by Eddie Z and was asked questions ranging from what got him into opening his own shop, his thoughts on digital comics, and how he feels about the recent surge in the popularity of comic book movies.

Here’s some of the article:

Local Comic Shop Spotlight #2
Published on Sunday, July 1, 2012 by Eddie Z

Cosmic Comics Interview: Jim Brocius

Greetings comic fans, and welcome to the second installment of the Local Comic Shop Spotlight! This next interview features Local Las Vegas comic shop owner Jim Brocius.

When I walked into Cosmic Comics, the first thing I noticed were the pair of sofas and the coffee table right in the center of the store. Nothing fancy, but very tasteful and comfortable. Jim offered me a cup of coffee, and I knew immediately that we would get along well. Jim Brocius and His partner Brian Fudge have their own unique approach to the Comic book business. For them, it’s all about promoting reading in an unpretentious and straight forward way. There is a kids section of his store that has a small table and chairs so that kids can sit down and read to their hearts content. Who does that? The back issues are stored in wooden library cabinets, and the long boxes are on large display tables in the back, straight forward, clean and to the point. The following is a transcript of our conversation, I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did.

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Eddie: Jim, first of all, thank you very much for taking the time to do this interview, we really appreciate it.

Jim: Okee doke.

Eddie: Jim, I noticed that your shop has a very unique feel and vibe to it. What made you decide to open up a comic book shop?

Jim: Well, I needed a job, but I didn’t want to go to work. I have to make some money, I have a few obligations, and it seemed like a fun way to go.

Eddie: What are some of the unique challenges to running a comic book shop?

Jim: There are a great many things. I think a lot of people are under the illusion that working for yourself or running your own business means that you’re not going to have to work as hard. I’ve been self employed most of my adult life, and in my experience, it’s the exact opposite. I’ve been working in excess of 80 hours a week for 35 years, it’s a lot of work, you really have to be willing and able to sacrifice everything to succeed, to risk everything you have. If you’re not willing to do that, well, clearly you are limiting your chances of making it.

Eddie: Speaking of challenges, how are digital comics affecting the Local Comics Shops? Are they having a positive or negative affect?

Jim: It’s difficult to say, I believe that all competition is a healthy thing, as long as it’s a “level playing field” so to speak. As long as everyone in the game has some sort of ethical standards. The reputation of any group is only as good as it’s worst member. As long as everybody has some kind of half decent moral ethics, then competition is a good thing I think, whether its another shop opening down the road, or whether it’s the Internet or what have you.

Eddie: So, you think that digital comics can be a healthy thing for the industry.

Jim: Sure, assuming they can get their comics in front of some new eyeballs, it’s good for everyone, yeah.

Eddie: Do you think that the recent Marvel and DC films, Iron man, Green Lantern, Avengers, etc, are bringing fresh blood into Comic book collecting?

Jim: I don’t think they hurt, but I am skeptical that any amount of advertising or promotion can convince anyone to take up reading or to like reading. I don’t know what it is that makes people enjoy reading as a pastime. Obviously, great numbers of society don’t want anything to do with reading, there are a great many people in America who view reading as a punishment or something of that nature.

What makes people like to read? I don’t know, but I think that if you could do it with advertising, we would see books advertised on TV. But, we really don’t, and certainly there are a great many book publishers in this land who could afford to. It’s obviously not cost affective to advertise in that way. You can convince people to switch Cola brands or smoke this brand of cigarette, or drink this brand of beer, but I don’t think it works for reading. I’ve never seen Steven King’s books advertised on television, or the newspaper. The only place I’ve seen them advertised is in other books.

You can read the rest of the article here to see how Jim responds to “What do you think Comic book publishers can do to help the Local Comic Shops?”, “What is the most rewarding aspect of owning a comic book shop?”, and “What do you want people to know about Cosmic Comics?” among other questions.

Check out the article then swing by the shop to #getyourfix.