Something that increasingly sticks in my craw is the provincial attitude the Direct Market of superhero convenience stores and a majority of its customers has toward comics from other countries, especially the Japanese comics known as Manga. Many DM stores carry little or no Manga whatsoever, despite the fact that it is one of the most read and most popular forms of comics in the world. Uncounted numbers of teenagers in North America could tell you chapter and verse about the goings on in their favorite Manga series (and the often accompanying Anime), but wouldn't have the first clue who Alan Scott, Hal Jordan, John Stewart or Kyle Rayner are. (If you're asking yourself "How come he left Guy Gardner off the list?" then you may already be a nerd. Congratulations.)

I see a lot of resistence to Manga and other non-North American comics, and I think at heart it's a blend of ignorance, fear and even a touch of racism that keeps a lot of people away. Because the fact of the matter is, Manga not only is comics, but if you think about it, it's good for comics here in North America, too.

Fact: Many comic book stores could substantially improve their bottom line by wisely developing or improving their stock of Manga. If you own a comic book store, chances are that there is a Borders or Barnes and Noble near you that is selling tons of comics (Japanese comics, yes, but so what?) right out from under your nose. It continues to boggle my mind why any canny businessperson would want to leave money on the table like that, but you don't have to visit too many comic book stores to see that that is exactly what is happening. Some shops will carry a meager offering of Manga as a half-hearted acknowledgement that Manga is Comics, Too, but their efforts are undermined by a lack of ongoing passion for the comics medium as a whole (which would necessarily include the very best Manga), usually accompanied by an unhealthy fascination for nostalgia-laden continuity porn of the type offered up by 90 percent of the titles being published by Marvel and DC.

I've noted before that some people who think they are comics fans are actually superhero fans -- the litmus test is, would you rather watch Heroes or read Love and Rockets? There's nothing wrong with preferring superheroes in any medium to well-told stories told in the comics artform, but the problem comes in when those superhero fans distort the market by their insistence that their preferred drug of choice (superhero comics, in color, thanks, and published by large corporate entities that stifle creativity and abhor creator's rights) is the only form of comics. Or at least, the only form that matters. They shout loud enough to drown out even the most passionate of non-superhero comic book readers, and the artform and the market is left all the poorer for it.

So I'll just come right out and say it. Comic book stores that aspire to be good, full-service stores (ones that welcome buyers of all ages, interests and genders) need to carry all sorts of comics, including a healthy assortment of comics from other lands. My comics reading these past few years would have been so much more desolate without creatores like Yoshihiro Tatsumi or Lewis Trondheim. The comic I am most eager to read this year is Tatsumi's autobiographical A Drifting Life, to be published by Drawn and Quarterly. Publishers like Viz, Fanfare/Ponent Mon and NBM (to name a few who specialize in comics from non-North American origins) are responsbile for a bounty of great comics reading, year-in and year-out, and they deserve the support of the marketplace, and individual readers like you.

If all you're reading is corporate-issued superhero comics, it's very likely you're denying yourself the very best entertainment the comics artform has to offer you. Diversity is a simple prescription for a better comic book industry in North America, but it begs the question, will comic book stores swallow their medicine? Probably not, but I'm betting some of the smart ones will at least start to see where their stores -- and their financial bottom line -- could be improved in the year ahead. In the end, it's a win-win for everybody from Manga publishers, to superhero fans whose stores would be on more solid ground with a better chance of surviving and maybe even thriving in the future.

And think, all they have to do is sell comics.