Where do you get comics from? The Distribution of comics in the UK

Hey there internet, this is the first post of my research blog for my dissertation, possibly going to be named as the title of this post, working title, we'll see. I've created this blog mainly so I can collect my research in an organised way and possibly receive some interaction from readers out there. First of all, I'll put the abstract I wrote on my proposal form and then explain myself.

My original abstract;

Comics and graphic novels are becoming evermore popular with recent adaptations through film and TV, however their availability is questionable. With the absence of specialised comic stores in many parts of the UK, where are people obtaining their comics from?

In my proposal I continued to list my aims of research which might change but I feel I should list them here anyway despite whether or not they make sense to others.

1) List methods of buying or obtaining comics in the UK.

2) Problems of physical copies not being available as digital copies.

3) The internet: A gift or a curse to the medium and industry (publicity&piracy).

4) What will happen to comics distribution in the UK (speculations).

Now to explain myself a bit with a bit of an autobiography.

When we were given the introductory lecture on our dissertations we were advised to do it on something we're interested in, and the subject of comics is something I have an interest in as a budding graphic novelist and a fan of the medium in general. There's matters that provoke me to question certain aspects of it also; distribution, the acquiring of visual narrative, where are people getting their comics from? (As I try to sum up in my above abstract).

Growing up in Morecambe, a seaside town near Lancaster, I didn't experience much of the medium of graphic storytelling until I was in high school really when a friend introduced me to comics online - webcomics! Before then my only experiences were the 'comics' you'd find in magazines targeted to children. After my introduction to webcomics I regained an interest in art that I had lost for a few years due to some of the typical comments you receive when you're growing up.

"What do you want to do when you're older?"

"I want to be an artist"

"You know artists earn more money dead than alive" or "I know someone who's an artist and he lives in the gutter" etc, the typical things people say to you when you grow up with creative aspirations.

So I dabbled in webcomics, using the website deviantART and some free website websites to 'host' my own comics for a while, eventually I stopped creating the stories I was creating for my 'webcomics' but I continued with a story on and off for a few years in this little book I had. During my GCSE's (2008/09) I decided to do 'Icons' for my final exam, this led to an awful collage of superman drawings for my final piece but when I was preparing I discovered you could get old comics from Oxfam, so I did, I got a bunch of random Superman comics to use for reference/research. Around this time my brother noticed my interest in comics and got me a copy of 'Watchmen' By Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. This was the moment I began to seek out graphic novels to read, however I only knew of two places I could get them from. The first being, the bookstore - Waterstones, but their selection wasn't very big at the time and they were fairly pricey for a 16 year old. The second being Amazon, where they seemed to have a wide selection at cheaper prices. At the time I was just getting a bank card which allowed me to pay online for things but I didn't really start my new hobby as it were until I began sixth form and started getting my £30 a week EMA, most of which I spent on various graphic novels during my 2 years in sixth form (2009-11). Also during that time I was introduced to some comic series by a friend of mine who let me read his collection. 'The Walking Dead' was among those, having caught up on about 7 years or so of issues from issue #1-#80 of this continuing series I had no access to the latest issues.

So far I've mentioned a few ways of the distribution of the visual narrative we call comics, graphic novels etc, for anyone unaware of the terminology, I'll do a post on that, at the very least it will be my understanding of the terminology that I'll be using on this blog. 

   We have webcomics, of course these could and can be found on their own websites or on websites that host webcomics. I mentioned the online art community of deviantART, this was were I found quite a few webcomics and through those, some more webcomics suggested by the creators.

   There's also the secondhand option of charity shops to buy comic issues people have donated. The problem with this is that they're often random issues of old superhero comics and often not interesting.

   Then we have Waterstones - limited selection of graphic novels at the time, they've improved over the years however they're usually sold at the full RRP.

   Then Amazon, one of my favoured go-to places for graphic novels. During the time I was first discovering the magic of visual narrative I would seek out new books to buy and I was rarely disappointed by Amazon and it suggested ones for me which was great for a new reader of the medium.

   As I discovered during the summer after sixth form, my local library had a small collection of graphic novels. I was unaware how long it had been there as I hadn't visited the library in years, so it came as a surprise to me.

   Around the same time I found out there was a comic store in Lancaster, which was another surprise to me. This small market stall inside a building I wouldn't have guessed you'd find a distributor of new comics, not just back copies of old dusty superhero comics but brand new comics.

The point that I'm trying to make is that when growing up in a location I did, the distribution of new comics didn't reach me easily, so how does it reach new readers? I have all these questions and thoughts on the matter that I decided this is what I want to look into for my dissertation.