Operation AIRlift
If you follow Standard Attrition, you may remember the loooong thread in Brian Azzarello’s forum about new ways to keep monthly comics viable. I thought a lot about what people observed and suggested, particularly in regard to mainstream bookstore/media exposure. I thought about getting my first monthly out of the gate in a crashing economy. And I hatched a scheme.
I call it Operation AIRlift. And just like Uncle Sam and Smokey Bear, I need YOU.
Here’s how it works:
1. Buy a copy of AIR #1 from your local comics retailer.
2. Read it.
3. When you’re done with it, get a no-bleed pen or marker. Turn to the first page. (The one with the title and the picture of Blythe and Zayn falling to their presumable deaths.) In some of that empty sky, write something clever, like “Curious? Buy the issue at:” followed by the NAME and ADDRESS of your local comics retailer.
4. Take your newly defaced issue to a nearby Barnes and Noble, Borders or locally-owned bookstore. Go to a section with books people who might like AIR would read. (Fantasy, literature, travel.) Stick the issue on one of the shelves, between two books. Make sure it sticks out a little so people see it. (It’s taller than most paperbacks, so that shouldn’t be hard.)
5. Snap a picture of your guerilla handiwork. Send the pic to info [at] gwillowwilson [dot] com, along with your mailing address. I will send you a SIGNED copy of AIR #1 to replace the one you’ve left to posterity. I’ll also post your pic here at StatAt.
Good luck, comrades. Let’s see if we can’t get more book-reading butts into comic shops.