Warning: don't let a kid sort your back issue boxes at a con

At the Charlotte comic expo last month, I let a volunteer teen organize my long boxes while I grabbed coffee. He came back with everything alphabetized by the LAST name of the writer, not the series title. So all my X-Men books are under C for Claremont, and my Batman is under M for Miller. Took me 3 hours to re-sort them at home, and I still found a Swamp Thing in with my Sandman. Have any of you ever had a sorting system gone wrong at a show or shop?

1 comments

1 Comment

emeryr385d ago

Maybe the real problem isn't alphabetical at all. Alphabetizing comic boxes is a trap because nobody ever agrees on the rule, but the writer thing is a whole other level of wrong. I sort by publisher, then series, then volume, and I'm convinced that's the only sane way. Kids see a stack of random books and just make up a system in their head, usually the first thing they notice on the cover. Next time, leave a cheat sheet taped to the box. Or just accept that any volunteer is gonna mix in some weird stuff, like a stray issue of Spawn in with your Saga run.