Blog

The Passionate Pariah and Leadership

By Hervé St-Louis
December 28, 2011 - 19:55

I wanted to follow up on my leadership article. At the Bin we are pariahs of the comic book industry, even if we give so much and have done so much work to help it thrive. But that's ok. One day, our work will be recognize and people who like to hate us will have to change their tune. In 2012, for our 10th anniversary we are more than ever compelled to help this industry thrive and grow, as well as seek out solutions to problems and help you the reader connect with this hobby. We only do it because we like comics. There are no other reasons other than passion for this site to exist. Some may think we're idiots, but then again passion is what leads to changes and breakthroughs. There's so much work ahead of us.

The Comic Book Bin has given a lot to the comic book industry in the last 10 years. Whereas others bitch about stuff about how the comic book industry is broken, we continually try to find solutions and help people. When I first started the business plan for comic book creators series of articles, almost 6 years ago, it was to help artists who did not have the business fundamentals get them for free. Since, I’ve seen people take from those articles and try to sell the same stuff for a fee to creators, when all they have to do is come to the source at the Bin and read the articles here for free.

It’s the same philosophy I had with the ComicBookBin apps. We could have stuck to only serving news. Instead, I built a whole architecture and figure out how to make technology help readers find comic book stores and help people go to comics conventions all for free. No one ever got charged for all this or any of those listings.

Instead of bitching about how the comic book industry is broken, the Bin keeps on finding solution to help that industry, whether they recognize it or not. The work at the Bin is extremely rich for such a small team. Having three apps on three platforms is a big deal anywhere but in comics, where the rule of the game is to boycott and ignore the French prick who says all these things the establishment hates to hear but that actually help a lot of people. Whereas every other comic book app has siphoned sales away from comic book stores, the Bin’s app is trying to get people to go to comic book stores. We have not taken a single sale from them the way all these other apps have. Yet, we are ignored and people think the worst of us. CBR has a comic locator now, but we had ours on phones before. Also the problems with all these store locators, is that they charge tons of money to allow stores to be listed. Ours is free. Stores don’t have to pay anything. Better yet, it’s technology based. That means it’s not perfect, but it’s the most consistent store locator and it works outside of North America too. It works in China, Russian, Indonesia, even Africa. If there’s a store and we can find them, they are listed in the apps. If you’re planning a trip to Berlin, you can even search for local store in Germany before you leave. And it’s all free for both the user and the comic book store owner.

That’s why I’m asking people to come here and support us instead. If you run a iPhone, and Android phone or a webOS phone – go freaking get our apps. They are free and they are useful. Support the Bin by telling everybody about this app. If run Windows Phone 7, send me emails until I can move my ass and start working on the app for your platform.  If you don’t own a smartphone, come to the Bin and check us out. Give us a chance. Of all the sites out there, none have bothered to give so much back to the comic book industry. Support us.

Last Updated: November 10, 2023 - 14:53