"Nine times a week, Blanch leads a livestream from the store she lives above in Muncie, Indiana, to sell some comics and interact with regulars. She holds up issues one by one, usually for $5 or $10, and takes down addresses from buyers. It's a way to get by but helps keep the shop's community spirit alive. The show has a warm, thank-God-we-have-each-other feel to it."
"Long a repository for tales of world-threatening cataclysms and doomsday dystopias, the comic shop in the coronavirus era now finds itself drawn into a fight for its very survival. The crisis, felt across retailers, poses a particular threat to comic book shops, a pop-culture institution that has, through pluck and passion, held out through digital upheaval while remaining stubbornly resistant to corporate ownership."
Christina Blanch, owner of Aw Yeah Comics in Muncie, Indiana, hosts nightly livestreams from the store to sell comics, take orders, and maintain community connection. She offers issues for modest prices, drinks Modelo on camera, and mixes sales with candid conversation in a show called "What We Do in the Comic Shop." Brick-and-mortar comic shops face acute danger as pandemic closures halt new print issues and cancel events like Free Comic Book Day. The ink-and-paper industry is at a standstill, threatening the survival of independent shops that have resisted digital and corporate takeovers. Owners vow to fight to preserve store communities.
Read at Fortune
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