Dark Tower Midnight Release Party

I just realized how the title of this post could also be the title of an interracial porn video. I wonder if that will help my search rankings.

Anyway, last night I attended the midnight release party at Titan Games and Comics for the new Dark Tower miniseries from Marvel Comics, based on the books by Stephen King. Although I have yet to read the book, attending the release party was the geekiest thing I'd done since volunteering at the Atlanta Comicon a few years back, so I figured I might as well blog about it.

Really, I attended the release party for three reasons:
1. I'm a Stephen King fan AND a comic book fan, so I was excited about the series.
2. I was hoping they'd have free stuff and/or great deals at the party.
3. I live within walking distance of the shop and knew I'd be up at that hour, anyway.

Unfortunately, the party was pretty disappointing. In fact, it really wasn't a party at all. I'm not sure you could even call it an event. They pretty much just opened the store for a few hours, starting at midnight, and allowed people to shop like any other day of the year. There was only one special deal going on, which was that the shop had packed a bunch of their old stock into long boxes and was selling the boxes for a dollar apiece. I showed up for the midnight party at 12:03, and the twenty or thirty long boxes had already all been bought...by just two guys. So basically, by being third in line, I lost out on the chance to buy cheap comics. The up-side of this is that I didn't really need more boxes of old, unsellable comics sitting around the house. But it would've been sort of fun digging through them just to see what they contained.

Overall, the event was a letdown. Although I picked up my subscriptions and nabbed a few copies of the new Dark Tower book, there wasn't anything at the event that I couldn't have gotten by just showing up on my usual Saturday-after-payday visit. The store is having its annual February sale, but that started the day before the event, and is still going on. And I needn't have shown up at midnight to get my copies of Dark Tower, since I pre-ordered them and would've had them waiting for me in my box. Really, I'm not sure why Titan even had the event, unless it was just for the modicum of publicity they got on Marvel's website.

It's sort of sad, really, since I often see pictures of comic-related events in other cities on the many blogs I read. Many of them are nighttime events, with alcohol served, creators in attendance, and art on display and for sale. So going to a latenight event and finding things to be business as usual was a bit of a letdown.

Here are some suggestions for ways Titan can spice up their next event, maybe getting more publicity and greater attendance in the process:

1. Get the hours straight. The Titan site stated (and still states) that the event was running from 10-2am, which was only for one location. I know to the employees of that store, they see the company as a whole, but I honestly couldn't tell you where the other stores are. I only know of--and visit--my local shop. So when I go to their website and see an event time with no location mentioned, I assume it's for the location I visit. I showed up for the event at 10:43, and couldn't figure out why the store was closed.

2. Serve refreshments. Yeah, I know that handing out sticky soda or crumbly cookies in a shop full of carefully packaged and preserved pieces of memorabilia isn't necessarily the best idea. But making the customers feel like special guests should be a goal for any event. Maybe there's a food or drink that can be found that doesn't have as much risk of grubbing up the product. Or the consumption can be restricted to the front of the store so that people can't spill anywhere near any sellable items.

3. Have door prizes/giveaways. Honestly, this one should be an obvious one. If people are going to drag themselves to your store in the middle of the night, there should be some incentive. Giving something small but free to every customer would be nice, as would having a drawing for something big and expensive. Heck, why couldn't they have split the comics from the $1 longboxes into 10-comic "mystery bags" and handed those to each customer that came in? That would've been cool. And they could've always packed any remainders back into the longboxes after the event, to be sold for a buck that weekend.

4. Give a special discount. Assuming you're not opening the store for a social event, but instead are trying to increase business, why not have a two-hour discount during the event? I know the February sale is already going on, but why not add an extra 10% off just for that event? Or offer a discount on just items related to the reason for the event. For example, give an extra discount on all horror-related titles for the Stephen King release. Any small bonus is going to seem like a reward for those latenight visitors brave enough to hit the streets for their geek hobby. (Oh, and a limit of one per customer on the longboxes would've been nice, though I'll admit I wouldn't be saying so if I was first in line and had the chance to buy a bunch for myself.)

5. Bring in the talent. I know getting Stephen King was an impossibility. And even getting Peter David or Jae Lee (the creators of the Dark Tower comic) would've been equally as unlikely. But maybe there was a writer or artist on some other series that would've been able to appear to sign their own work. The event could've been the "Midnight Madness Event, featuring the release of Stephen King's The Dark Tower along with an autograph signing by Random Artist, creator of Some Comic You Know." In the least, the store should've tried to get some signed books or variant cover versions from Marvel as thanks for the push they're giving the book. Those special editions could then be sweepstakes prizes for the attendees.

6. Make it a stunt. Getting a mention on Marvel's website has to be a nice treat for a local shop. But wouldn't getting on the local news, in Creative Loafing or on local radio be a bit more beneficial from a publicity standpoint? And the way to do that is to add a bit of crazy into the mix. Instead of just having a release party, have a costume contest or some other competition that could be covered by a bored news crew on a slow night. Maybe do something record-setting (even if it's a stupid record). Anything attention-getting would help get the word out about the store and its location. Any press is good press for a local business.
   

In the end, the event at Titan was underwhelming enough to pretty much guarantee that I won't attend another. And considering that I live just blocks away and am a fervent fan of the industry, that's pretty sad. I should clarify, though, that I have no animosity towards the staff at Titan. I've only been shopping there for about a year, but I've found their employees to be friendly, intelligent, helpful, and quick to start up a conversation about any comic/sci-fi/animation topic you can come up with. They're a good crew who run a good shop. I just think they dropped the ball on this event, and could use some help in the marketing/promotions department.

Who knows, though, maybe there will be a live band and free pizza at the next event. Or at least a free comic for showing up. If not, I think I'll stay in bed.