WORCESTER — For nearly 40 years, Paul Howley has made his living by selling comic books. That’s Entertainment, his flagship store, employs 20 people and sells more than $500,000 a year in glossy new comics. He displays them stacked floor to ceiling, encouraging customers to browse.
But life as Howley knows it may soon change, as the industry rides a digital wave that has already transformed publishing. DC Comics — publisher of titles featuring Superman and Batman, among other characters — said last month that it will soon start selling digital versions of new comics online, on the same day printed copies are available in stores.
“Once one of my customers buys a comic online, then DC Comics has them forever,’’ Howley said. “They don’t need me. They have no interest in keeping people like us in the middle. This really is, in the long run, cutting our own throat.’’
That’s Entertainment also offers video games, toys, and other collectibles, but new comics, which arrive once a week, are a big part of business. The store stocks some 600 new titles a month at about $3 an issue. Many customers visit not only to pick up the latest adventures of their favorite heroes, but to hang out.
DC’s digital plan will make it easier to skip the trip to the store, though. Online comics will be available on any device with a Web connection, from a personal computer to a smartphone.
Matt Lehman, owner of Comicopia in Boston’s Kenmore Square, is hopeful that DC’s digital plan is good news. The easy access of the Internet could bring new readers to comics, he said, yet it can’t replace the clubhouse appeal of a store. “We’re not really that worried about it,’’ Lehman said. “This is a great way for new customers to check out the material online. That can only benefit us.’’
Lehman believes devoted customers will continue to come around, and newcomers who read a few comics online might come in to find out more about other titles.
“Customers value the interaction of coming to a store, the ambiance,’’ he said. “We’re definitely geek or nerd centers. People want to find out what’s cool . . . If we didn’t exist, they wouldn’t have that.’’
A DC spokesman declined to comment. But DC is in a troubled business, with a readership that appears to be dwindling. According to the online trade journal Comics Chronicles, sales of the 300 best-selling titles at Diamond Comics Distributors, the Maryland wholesaler that drives the industry, slipped from 82 million copies in 2006 to 69 million last year.
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