SBX Classic: Interview with League of Comic Geeks Founder, Jordan Blanco

This episode was originally released in April 2022, as Ep. 356

Jordan Blanco is the creator of the ultimate social network for comic book fans: League of Comic Geeks. The platform helps collectors discover and discuss comics, organize their collections, and more. Jordan talks with me about the origin of the League, and how he's helping improve the comic experience for readers, retailers, and comic creators around the world.

Read the new SKTCHD article about what League of Comic Geeks has been up to recently: HERE

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Transcript

SBX Classic: Interview with League of Comic Geeks Founder, Jordan Blanco - The Short Box Podcast Ep. 356 Re-Release

00:02
in this episode of The Short Box.  What inspired the creation of League of Comic Geeks? Like, what was the genesis for it?  It's an interesting story. So  the original League of Comic Geeks kind of started as a comic book news and releases website. That was about 11 years ago. And I set that up with the help of family and friends.  We really just wanted a way to talk about things we love,  mainly comics, movies and games.  And it kind of evolved  to what it is today. But it was...

00:30
Ultimately, I really wanted this to be a free  tool because  I want the comic book community and the industry itself  to be better for it.  If I accomplish anything,  it doesn't really need to be, you know, money or anything like that. It needs to be,  did I get new readers into the hobby? Because I hope so.

00:54
intro music plays

01:17
Yoo, Short Box Nation. Hello again, welcome back and thanks for pressing play today. If you're brand new, welcome to the show. My name is Badr and this is the Short Box Podcast, the comic book talk show that brings you the best conversations about your favorite comics with the people that put their blood, sweat and tears into making them. Or in today's case, a short box classic, AKA an oldie, but a goodie.  This episode was originally released in April 2022 as episode 356.

01:47
And I know I say this every single time I do these intros for these classic episodes, but it does not feel like it's been three years. Oh my God, where has time gone?  Anyways, this is an interview with the founder, the creator, the  admin, the head honcho of League of Comic Geeks,  Jordan Blanco.  League of Comic Geeks is honestly much more than just an app and uh a website. It is a community, an online community for comic book fans where you can catalog your comics, you can set up pull lists there, you can track your pull lists.

02:16
You can discuss, can rate and review comics. They've got a great website and an even better app. And this is not a sponsored thing at all. I'm telling you right now, I use the app almost every single day. I used it today actually to see what new comic books are coming out. And it's telling me that I have a fat stack of books waiting for me at the shop today. It's seriously like a one stop shop for all things. If you're a Wednesday warrior, if you're someone that goes to your comic shop every week and you're not using League of Comic Geeks, I can't recommend it enough. Whether it's on the website or the app, it'll make your life a lot better. I'm telling you.

02:45
But anyways, this interview with Jordan uh was three years ago, I guess. So at the time we talked about some of his early comic memories, how he got into comic collecting, and then we got into League of Comic Geeks. We talked about the inspiration and the early years of running and creating League of Comic Geeks, some of the challenges of running the platform and building an online community,  as well as what features he was rolling out then to help comic collectors, comic readers and retailers alike. And you know, looking back, knowing that this it's been three years since his interview, it's

03:15
It's crazy impressive to see how far the site, the app, the community has come along since then. It's like everything he talked about in this interview  came to fruition and much more. I was also inspired to re-release this episode after reading the sketched article about Liga Comic Geeks titled Liga Comic Geeks Has Found the Answers. was written by David Harper, good friend of the show. He's also the host of one of my favorite comic podcasts. Off panel, he wrote an incredible long form article.

03:42
All About League of Comic Geeks, a drop last week. I'm gonna have that linked in the show notes if you wanna read it and learn more about Comic Geeks or what they've been up to recently. So I hope you enjoy this interview with Jordan. I hope you check out the article by David Harper. And if a Short Box classic is not enough for you, I highly recommend checking out what we got going on on the Patreon, the Short Box Patreon. Me and Drew just recorded another bonus episode for the Patronis over on patreon.com slash the Short Box. We're also doing monthly comic book giveaways.

04:10
on the Patreon as well. Those are actually open and free to everyone. You don't even need to have an account to take part in the monthly comic giveaways. A lot of good things happening on the Short Box Patreon. Once again, that's patreon.com slash the short box. And that's pretty much what I got for you this week. I'm working on getting some new interviews, some new episodes in the books. Those will come out later this week, as well as doing some New York Comic Con prep. I'll be at New York Comic Con this year.

04:34
I'm hosting a live crossover panel with the likes of David Harper, with Chris and Erin of Oblivion Bar podcast, and Brad and Lisa Gullickson of the Comic Book Couples Counseling Podcast. If you'll be at New York Comic Con, come to our panel. It's on Friday at 12.45. I'll have links to that in the show notes as well. And with that being said, that's all I got for you in this intro. Enjoy the short box classic, and I'll catch you next week with a brand new episode, all right? Take care of yourselves. Peace.

05:02
Let's give it up one more time for our sponsor and finally bring on the man of the hour. Short Box Nation, it's my privilege to welcome the head admin and commander of the League of Comic Geeks. Let's give a warm welcome to Jordan Blanco. Hey, Short Box Nation. Hey, Jordan. Welcome to the show, man. How are you? Hey, Bonner. I'm doing well. That's what I'm talking about. Welcome, welcome, Jordan. Jordan, you're a fellow Florida man like myself. I am. Just a little further south. Are you born and raised here in Florida? Yep.

05:31
Exactly. ah I'm sure I've been in the news plenty of times with the Florida man stuff.  I was probably fighting the Gators once or twice, you know.  Were you responsible for eating that dude's face or that was the other Florida man? Oh yeah. The bath salts, that was me. Oh man. I thought there was a theory connection there. uh got it.  Upon my research, I came across one of your bios. I think it was on the League of Comic Geeks site  and you described yourself as, or the bio reads.

06:01
Just a guy who likes comics. I also happen to be the admin of League of Comic Geeks. You know, I was gonna make a joke about how you're like the IT version of Ra's al Ghul in the League of Assassins. There was a joke there. But then I realized that Ra's al Ghul probably never had as many members in his league like you have. Indeed, but you know, it's probable that he killed off many of them.

06:26
For my League of Comkeek members, just know you guys are safe. I love you guys so much. Honestly,  the site wouldn't be what it is without you.  And I'll probably say that many times over,  of course. But  yeah, there's definitely  a ton of users that are uh actually using us,  know, time to time. And I say us, which is kind of funny because it's really  just me that's  the backbone of it. uh But...

06:52
Like I said, it's really the user base that is really doing the heavy lifting for me. I'm just really creating the tools at the end of the day. Much like Wikipedia or Fandom, League of Comic Geeks is kind of a community-driven database and there are thousands of Comic Geeks that contribute updates to comics and characters each week. They've essentially molded the site and apps into one most robust comic database. And as Cleve said,

07:18
Cliche as that sounds, their passion and that feedback is really like the integral part of the project and why it's grown so much. uh So like I said, if you're listening today, guys,  thank you so much. I appreciate everything you guys do.  And I'm gonna continue to build tools for you guys to help you discover comics uh now and into the future. Let's go to level set before we get a dive into Leave Comic Geeks, the site and the app as well.  I wanna know about you and your comic fandom. What's the earliest...

07:48
comic memory that you have? Did you grow up with comic books in the house? Not through my parents. I'll say that my, it's funny, my sister is actually the one that got me into comics. And I don't think that was an intentional thing. for whatever reason, and this isn't like, I don't know if it's the early 90s or late 80s, I can't remember that far, but she was collecting the Marvel cards, I think through Tops or Flare or something like that.

08:15
and she was trying to complete the set. Honestly, I think I just stole it from her.  And I just, took it over. I would  take my bike and go to all the local comic book shops and I would just go and buy all the cards that I can. And through the cards, I  discovered comics. That is  a tale as old as time when it comes to a lot of people's like first uh exposure to the comic books was those, you know, uh Flair and Ultra cards. Yeah.

08:43
I used to love them. I would have like duplicates and I would go around and trade them out with friends and whatnot.  But yeah, that was my introduction.  So what were some of your uh early memories as far as like collecting and then what were some of the comic books that you were personally collecting and enjoying or some of the characters? Yeah, I would say, know, because I was growing up in the  90s, there was a lot of focus on like the anti heroes.  So I have a lot of love for a few characters like Punisher and Ghost Rider, Wolverine.

09:12
You know that the ridiculousness and cheese that comes with them  and  I think one of my earliest memories of being in a comic book shop was just buying some of the Wolverine flip books that they had at the time. uh so  it's really just  Batman, Punisher,  like some of the X-Men  books, all of those things were really my childhood, I would say. uh

09:37
that kind of gave me a continued love for them even now.  I still go back to them. know, like Punisher Born is like one of my favorite books.  Even if it's like a bit of a guilty pleasure and you know, all  the things that come with it in terms of the controversy when you say you like Punisher nowadays.  But yeah, I  still love those type of characters.  It harkens back to that childhood.

10:02
And are you still collecting comics to this day? Like what's on your pull list or what titles are you enjoying like modern wise? I'm a big horror fan. So, you know, I tend to check out anything that's going on there. you know, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention some of my my favorite non superhero horror books. You know, like like Rachel Rising. I definitely still read something is killing the children. You know, House of Penance was great. Witches was great. So.

10:31
I tend to gravitate to those types of books, but I do dabble into other genres here and there.  Horror isn't my strongest suit, but have you read Basket Full of Heads? I have not, but I've been meaning to do that. I do love Joe Hill's work with Lock and Key.  I've been wanting to check that out. Yeah, I think you'd thoroughly enjoy it, especially based on some of the other titles you mentioned. um Right up your alley, for sure. When there's so many books that are coming out, it's a little tough to keep up.  That's kind of why I built the app. uh

11:00
And so it helps someone like me who can't read every single day or can't go to the local comic shop to buy something every single week. I can maybe create a list, keep track of that. And then when I know I'm going to have some time coming up, I just order and go through all of them as much as I can and kind of like cross them off my list. So that's been helpful for League of Comp Geeks to be that thing. What inspired the creation?

11:29
of League of Comic Geeks. Like, what was the genesis for it?  It's an interesting story. So the original League of Comic Geeks kind of started as a comic book news and releases website. That was about 11 years ago. And I set that up with a  the help of family and friends. We really just wanted a way to talk about things we love,  mainly comics, movies and games.  And

11:51
you we would post things like, Hey, there's a new casting for comic book movie or Hey, there's a new announcement for a new book that's come out of Marvel or image or whatnot. And it kind of evolved, you know, ultimately to, what it is today. But it was, it was really about like the difficulty to discovering new books, um, you know, to, read, even when things like previews is out there, you know, there's sort of like an enclosed community within the comic book industry that, that at least I saw.

12:21
I  know some people won't agree with it, but  everybody tends to gravitate to books with characters they like.  Even like I was saying, Punisher and Batman, I'm going to check those books out usually first and foremost before I go check out other things. But  when you don't really know the creators behind those runs or what else they're doing, it becomes really hard  to find new things to read.  Many of the avenues where publishers  could improve that feel a little bit dated.

12:50
And many of the comic book shops are not really equipped or well equipped to help in that regard. Of course you have like the distributors are too far removed from the direct consumer. And you see some people kind of like turn to Reddit, Twitter, Facebook groups and they ask for recommendations. like, know, recommend me some comics  and it helps,  but there's always this like level of noise that these websites have because they're not, they're not for comic book fans. And so that helped me.

13:17
of get motivated to explore new ways to help new and seasoned readers to discover comics really organically,  you know, through  talking about them or, um you know, kind of using AI driven recommendations.  So if we know  that you like a particular genre or a particular book, we can kind of start to see, hey, other people like this book. So really, it just kind of evolved from wanting to build tools around that.

13:45
to try and help the comic book reader and the retailers. And that's really  what it started from and how it kind of evolved. um I remember going into local comic book stores down here. Some of them are long gone now at this point  and asking to create a pull list, but  most of them pulled out a pad or a paper to write down the titles that they wanted. ah Some would just enter those titles within Excel or some other basic tools.  And you would just be like,

14:15
Oh, okay. um So really, I'm just going to give you a couple names and you're just going to order the books and then I'm just going to show up on Wednesday and you're going to give them to me.  And  it felt like  it could be way better than that.  And that motivated me to help those  retailers or to help readers that are in situations like me where I don't know what's out there. And sometimes you can't spend eight hours a day on Twitter

14:44
or Facebook following these creators to find out what they're working on. So these tools help you to do that. unfortunately with the community that we have, because all of it is community driven, ah when a creator announces that they have a new book, someone is actually contributing that data over to the League of Comics database.  And it will then pop up in someone's subscription if you're subscribed to that creator.

15:12
Or if you're just browsing, you'll see, hey, this creator has this book that's coming up. So  it really came from that. You just gave me flashbacks to,  I used to work at a shop and you gave me flashbacks to having to create a pull list for someone by using this  very dated  DOS uh software system. uh And it looks a lot like if you've seen the Batman, know, Riddler's  program that he ends up talking to Batman, then they go kind of back and forth.

15:41
It looked just like that. That's how we used to manage our pull list. Yeah, I would go into those shops and just be confused. And some of the retailers just were  scared of change at the time.  hopefully,  with new tools, they can improve that. Because I think a lot of comic book fans feel like there's just not enough resources out there. um And also makes it really hard for newer readers to figure out where they should start or where they should go. um

16:11
to find stuff. Going back real quick, you mentioned that you started, initially started the site with your family. Is your family like really big into the comic books and then kind of like this pop culture world? And how did you end up pitching them the idea of, help, you know, chipping in or helping out with the site? Yeah. I wouldn't say my whole family, but you know, like I was saying, my, my sister was into the, you know, comic trading cards and she met this, this great guy who,

16:40
know, would become her husband. And  so my brother-in-law, we kind of came up with this idea because we both loved comics, we were both into technology. And so it kind of evolved from there. um comics really wasn't  a part of our families or our lives beyond  us individually doing that. And so League of Comkeeks was a  means for us to build a community around us so that we had other like minded folks that could talk about comics and

17:08
if you think about it, League of Comic Geeks is really at its core social network for comic book fans. So, I think we've kind of done that and it's evolved so much since then. I think the main selling point when you first go to League of Comic Geeks is that you promote the unity that you're bringing with that dedicated like community page and then focus features for like that community aspect. I want to drill down a little more like why wasn't it important to give comic fans a space like this?

17:34
on the site when you already had, like you mentioned, know, there's Reddit, there's Twitter, there's Facebook and all of that.  Why did you feel the need to have such a uh prominent position for community on the site?  you know, if you're an avid Reddit user or just someone who's there on a regular basis, what you tend to find is that um image posts tend to  make up a lot of that content and discussions can be very hard to find.  The thing that I was trying to solve at League of Comkeeks was how to

18:04
Organically get those conversations to happen. So the way our community feed works is that if it's a comic that we know you pulled It will actually show you the discussions that are happening on it  and it'll know hey, there's probably spoilers here So maybe we need to be careful, but it's really bringing the right discussions up to the top here Whereas you know when you're on reddit or Twitter  all of these things are just

18:30
Like I said, they're noise, they're all coming at you at the same time and you don't know which ones  are things that you're going to care about or want to engage in. ah Reddit has tools like upvoting and downvoting, but you know, at the end of the day, people are going to use that for agreeing or disagreeing.  this was trying to create  a community where you can really have those discussions and not really like it become like an echo chamber to an extent.

18:57
the discourse that takes place on League of Comic Geeks is very civil in comparison to some other social networks and community  driven pages.  I would say that it's not immune to discourse. um At the end of the day, there's a lot of things that happen in comics that might be controversial.  There's  the John Kent stuff recently. So you have a lot of people going back and forth as to when characters change  and does that disrupt their

19:27
their view of a character and so you have these kind of discussions. um What we tend to find is that,  and like I said, we as in, I guess, as a community, what we find from um the moderators that  I work with on it or myself that I see, that a lot of the discussions  tend to be more focused on the content  of the actual comic, which is really what we're trying to accomplish rather than discourse being about the creators and, you

19:56
there's tools that we have that can kind of push away the discussions are not really uh good or even productive. on the topic of community, you're really reminded of that aspect across the different parts of the platform. You really don't feel alone  when you visit the site or if you're scrolling the app, even if you aren't engaged in a discussion. That sense of community that you've been championing is to me very apparent in passive and non intrusive ways. Even if you're just

20:25
browsing through titles or looking at upcoming releases, you're able to see the number of people also interested in that comic and even how many of them are also pulling it, only giving you a further sense of community and being amongst other like-minded people. For example, I've got think, Radiant Black and Amazing Spider-Man on there. And I wanna say Amazing Spider-Man, it tells me 8,000. I believe it was 8,000, hyperbole here. was like 8,000 other people.

20:54
have this title on their pull list. that is,  one, it's impressive. You're like, wow, this title has 8,000 other people.  know, no surprise it's Spider-Man, right? Like Marvel flagship character. Yeah, Batman's got like 13,000.  But it kind of gives you an idea, right? Like you kind of feel part of a bigger community. Yeah, those numbers are particularly important because,  you you have people who are like the hype chasers. They want to see the popular books or they're curious why it's popular. Sometimes it's actually for good reasons, right?

21:24
and they'll see the high number and they'll check it out. But there's also the people that they're like, oh, I'm kind of tired of the superhero books or I'm tired of the popular stuff. I really want to check out things that are  harder to find.  And when you see a lot of the stats, because it's all exposed to you,  you can actually see, hey, there's only a hundred people that are subscribed to this title. But of the hundred people,  they're rating it like five stars.  This must be a good book. And they check it out.

21:54
And so exposing  these patterns and that data is an easy way to get people engaged. You bring up exposure and I can honestly credit League of Comic Geeks for exposing me to like new creative teams and expose me to new titles that have found their way to my pull list and  introducing and making me aware of new and indie publishers, which I probably would have been introduced to, you know, as quickly on my own. And I think a lot of that credit is because of how you've curated and presented the information on the site.

22:23
and how easy you've made it to navigate the platform, whether it be on the site or the app.  Personally speaking, it's a good experience to just browse and scroll and check out  and look through the solicitations for new comic books.  Comics is probably  the one medium where we actually do judge a lot of books by their covers. And your platform prioritizes that very fundamental visual aspect by using high resolution  pictures of the comic covers where possible, which...

22:52
you know, sounds like a simple thing, but it really makes for a very striking  and eye catching UI experience. Like it feels like I'm in a comic shop and I'm looking through the, um, looking through a very organized shelf of like, Hey, here's all the titles that came out today. And sometimes you don't always get that experience when you go to a, to a shop because  you know, if you're not there at the right time, a certain title might be, you know, sold out or they've got it, you know, over here in the corner because that's their small indie publisher rack or whatever it may be.

23:20
Yeah, I think the artwork is incredibly important. A lot of times when  an artist is creating the cover, they're doing it in a way,  like,  can I summarize what this book is about and make it the most interesting thing to do? So  I always want to elevate that artwork to be a part of that presentation. So the first impression they see is not just that the cover that, hey, this one's coming up, but like,

23:49
the whole experience is important to it. would have thought that a cover would be so important to an artistic medium, know, oh, who would have thought, right?  A lot of my background is actually  graphic design. I have a degree in graphic design.  the  user experience was really important to me uh to nail that.  And frankly, I  look at it as there are so many companies that are out there that they have

24:17
software developers and you can hire like tons of software developers, right? But  UX is very difficult. Design is very difficult. You can hire an awesome UX  or designer. Sure. But it's  harder to come by than  the labor for the development aspect. So I leverage that more than I do my,  uh, the technical skillset. Uh, there's nothing that's outsourced here at all. Damn. I'm all of all American made, baby. What are some of your like,

24:46
inspirations? Like what are some other websites or  apps that you look at or that you've been personally inspired? Or even I guess just like art  in general, is there anything that inspires you when it comes to creating the experience or the UI or the flow of things in League of Comic Geeks? This one's always complicated to answer because  at the end of the day, there's a lot of information, a lot of features that I have to convey within League of Comic Geeks.  And I

25:13
As a designer, I always want to streamline as much as possible.  Realistically, I want it to be  so simple that anybody can use it. And that's always at odds with the amount of information and things that I need to present. uh There are certain products that I like to look at for inspiration on how to streamline that. ah I like to look at things like

25:37
Hulu, I can't say that every single interface that Hulu does um is fantastic, but Hulu's got  a design style that takes the presentation of the individual, know,  television show or movie,  and they use it as part of that, you know, the experience when you're going and checking out more information about it.  like, you know, the cover or artwork from the show is being used  on the page in like a banner format.

26:08
and the colors on the page change. So those are things that inspire me a lot and kind of give it a more, I would say, like curated experience. And that's been important to me on the ComGeeks is like as you're going through your collection, you're like, all right, I'm digging through the American vampire series and I can see, you know, all of the, you know, the characters like Skinner Sweet on the top and so on.

26:36
And that makes you feel like you're getting a more personalized experience. You're closer to your comics in that way. And  that to me as a comic book reader is what I want out of it. It's not just a sterile interface where I'm just looking at a list of comic covers. So we've talked about the community, the design, as well as the user experience aspects of legal comic geeks. And we've touched on the database  a little, if you'll grant me...

27:04
uh the opportunity to say that I respectfully consider the database that League of Comic Geek  runs off of as the meat and potatoes of the platform, especially when you consider,  one, it's largely built upon by the contributions of  the community, like you mentioned,  and then two, how in depth that cataloging system is and how, as a user, I can filter down into granular detail about almost any comics  publication details.

27:31
as well as finding the credited work of  my favorite comic professionals out there. The fact that I can see  what a particular comic writer, artist, or even colorist in Inker has ever worked on  and see what they're credited uh is an incredible feature to have access to. And I know this has become a very long-winded way of setting up this next question, but I was curious to hear if there was any other features, maybe a personal favorite feature of yours that really sets League of Comic Geeks apart.

27:59
from other similar comic book centric tools and sites. That's a tough one.  There's so many different things.  That's a good problem because you have so many features. Is there any that you're most maybe recently proud of rolling out? Yeah, I would say  the  flexibility of the subscription system. I kind of touched on like, let's say that I'm interested in Hellboy.

28:28
and I  pull  a Hellboy title and I keep track of all the individual releases for  the current Hellboy title.  And what the system is actually going to do is it's going to see that, like I said, you like Hellboy, so here are other related titles to this.  And it'll make these recommendations  in your dashboard. It'll  make these recommendations just from like  it when you're browsing the website and seeing things just pop up.

28:58
and you have ways to configure your subscription. So let's just say that  you no longer want to receive um the regular issues that are coming out and you want to be a trade waiter. You can actually set it to um pull all the trades as they come out. And that makes it very handy for someone like me who  can't keep up with the regular issues. I  can just set it  to show me the trade paperbacks. And then I receive an email that then says,

29:25
Hey, the Hellboy trade paperback is out and you should check it out. Um, to me, that's, that's probably like the best feature. And, I think it's one of the more unique features online that we have. Um, because at the end of the day, it's, it's making it so simple for you to just know what you need to buy from a comic book shop or from a digital storefront and whatnot. can't believe I didn't immediately say the fact that I can have my pull list.

29:51
on my phone instead of having to do the old call to comic shop  or in my case, I'll go to my shop and ask them to give me like the printout. Hey, what's on my pull list? I forgot what's on my pull list. The fact that I've got access to that uh on my phone is fantastic. It's cool to be able to almost even make a  like a dream pull list. know, like what I have here on my app doesn't necessarily mean I'm pulling it at the shop. But if I wanted to just stay aware of a series or a creator or a character, uh I have that option.

30:20
You know, it almost feels like doing a fantasy football, you know, but for comic books, it's like, you know, here's what's on my pull list if I had all the money in the world, you know? Yeah, indeed. You can actually pull all the different titles that you want and then you can see the cost of all of these each week. Right there. That feature right there. And for anyone that listened to last week's episode, we already got someone that went ahead and spoke about how dangerous

30:49
the spend forecast feature on League of Comic Geeks is. uh And I liked what you said, we brought this up before we hit record, but ah you made a good point in the sense of it does give you a good snapshot of where your money is going when it comes to comic books. Everybody wants you to read more comics,  but at the same time, it's dangerous in that you can overspend and burn yourself out of the market, out of the hobby itself.

31:18
And so the  spending forecast is really about trying to  budget that. So if you know that, you only want to spend, let's say, $200 a month ah buying comics, this is an easy way for you to do that. And if you  want to look through um the titles that you're actually subscribed to and see which ones are maybe the more expensive ones,  and you want to focus on the ones that you can fit as many as possible into your pull list as you can, that's easy to do here.

31:48
uh So  it's all about trying to make sure that  this  hobby is manageable for you. Well, I definitely  feel like an empowered sense as a consumer, right? Like I have access to all of this information that's on your database in all types of regards, right? Like I know who's writing and  what the creative team is doing in my book, how much is going to be ahead of time. And know, it of gives you that ability to make that decision before you even like walk in the shop, how you're going to approach.

32:16
you know, what you pick up or what you might check out. Yeah. One of the things that  I think a lot of users do is that they'll subscribe to a number of titles and keep it within their budget, but they'll pick a handful of titles and say, these are going to be things that I trade weight on. so they can budget around having active subscriptions, but also having a couple that are, you know, just going to come through trades later on. And so they save money by doing that.

32:44
while also maintaining the hobby from a week to week basis.  Well said. And since we're on the topic of comic shops and retailers,  you mentioned something,  you said something earlier  about retailers not really being well equipped. And maybe that was more so back in the day, but how is League of Comic Geeks helping retailers? So as a retailer, uh League of Comic Geeks has free tools.  And really what that means is, let's say that

33:13
You don't want to track your subscriptions with  paper and a pencil.  And you want to bring that online. We have a system that allows you to do that. And you can manage all of your customers  in a secure fashion. You can manage their customer data. You can manage the subscriptions that they're going to need.  And  so you'll know, hey, every Wednesday or Tuesday, these are the books that this customer is going to need.  And we'll give you advanced notice of that. You can run reports, all of that.

33:42
And all that is free. Wow.  And they can even do a store page so they can talk to their community that's only get ComGeeks.  And  users can go there and they can sync their poll list. So let's say that, you know, I want to  go to my local comic book shop and I want them to know all of my polls without going there in person. I can actually sync my poll list to them and say, you know, these are the books that I'm looking for.  And

34:12
when I go there on Wednesday, they'll have them ready for me. I don't mean to sound like a made for TV  commercial where I'm like, you're telling me that as a comic shop retailer,  but it's going to come off that way. But I'm generally like  asking, like you're telling me that you are essentially  offer as a retailer.  could just use league of comic geeks to run my, my pull list subscription. Yeah, exactly.

34:37
That's crazy that you offer that for free. offer a lot of things for free. I mean, you've been doing it for what? How many years? You said almost 11 years. Like  what is the push and the drive to continue maintaining it and offering so many tools for free? Sure. mean,  it's, it's a passion project  at the end of the day. It's, but it's a hobby of mine too. You know, comp books are important to me and I'm always going to need a tool myself  to, to enjoy that hobby. So,  uh, you know, fortunately for everybody,

35:07
I doubt that there's gonna come a day where I'm not reading comics and so League of Comic Geeks will always be there for you.  I would hope anyway. This was a means for me  to kind of get this like creative uh interest out there and to  try something new and really push my own skill set further. uh You know, I've added a pro and patron level subscription offering that allows people to get some kind of crazier features if they want it.

35:36
that way or just really to support help pay the bills. But ultimately, I really wanted this to be a free tool because I want the comic book community in the industry itself to be better for it. um I  view it as kind of like an enclosed community where it's difficult to bring in new readers  and it should be. So  if I accomplish anything, it doesn't really need to be

36:04
you know, money or anything like that. It needs to be, did I get new readers into the hobby? Because I hope so. I hope people can enjoy comic books much in the way that I have over the many years that I've been reading them, you know.  What are some of the challenges then that you face,  I guess, in your particular like pocket in the industry, right? Like you're not necessarily selling comics, you're not you're not creating comics like you're you're archiving comics and you're offering like a database and a community like

36:32
What are some of the, what are some of your unique challenges in your space? That's a complicated question because there's a lot of challenges that come into play. And, and of course, at the end of the day, I'm  a single person.  Um, you know, I've got a lot of things that I want to do and a lot of opportunities for me to, to spend on,  um, the, challenges that are kind of near and dear to me are really just how, how the market changes. So  when there's like a distributor shakeup that changes things a lot, you know, now people are looking for.

37:02
different  distributor codes instead of a diamond code, they now need  a code from  just two to three other distributors.  Or  if there's a new means for digital comics to come out, that can be a little bit tricky. um Really what I've been trying to do is future-proof League of Comp Geeks and really make it kind of  the IMDB or the letterboxed or the MyAnimeList or the tracked.

37:32
It's very similar to those in that respect where um this  can be the place where you always go to learn more about comics, learn more about the creators,  any of those things. And if you're looking to track your collection or your pull list, you'll be able to do that.  The real challenges come into  how the market is shifting  and  trying to get ahead of that. you know, there's things that are happening in  the movie industry.

38:01
There's tons of resources for users and to get inspired by those and bring those kind of resources over to the comic book industry is a challenge for me.  And a challenge in that I want to do it, right? What are your thoughts on the  market, you know, and consumer habits as well? Because I imagine with you collecting that data as far as like spending habits and things like, or spending average and whatnot, like you're privy to some interesting

38:29
information and an interesting perspective when it comes to  consumer habits and how comic books are being purchased. So analyzing that data has actually been really interesting.  If anything, it  kind of tells you a story that  there's not enough uh interest in independent comics than there should be. And of the people that dabble into the independent comics, or the creator owned or even just

38:57
things that are non superhero, um people tend to rate these much higher. Tell us, maybe the quality over there is actually better.  And  the challenge is that readers  either through nostalgia or other means are choosing  what's familiar to them, right? And they're not really discovering all these new books that are coming out. So,  if there's like a big data play, it's in trying to understand

39:27
why people like these things  and investing into creators and  genres or  things that will help improve the way comics are and create better content. ah Hopefully, maybe there's a time where I can expose a lot of this and that's kind my hope in my  pipe dream  is in  showing everybody what that's like and helping them understand so that maybe big publishers actually make

39:57
better decisions with their content. Hey, people are liking this type of stuff. You guys are doing great here, not just from a sales perspective, but in  engagement  and, uh you know, just from like, not just the ratings itself, but like, the discussions are more positive, or you tend to keep readers longer because I can see the subscriptions and the polls  and, and, things like that. So, ah yeah, there's a, there's a wealth of data there. And, and, and there's certainly been a lot of

40:25
interest in the Passover, uh being able to mine that data. And I want to just reassure the users of the site that if there were ever a time where that would happen, you would know about it and it would be done in a way that would be uh taking your privacy and respect and secure, of course. Jordan, you are like a combination of Reed Richards  and Ben Yurick. You've got such a  modesty to you and

40:54
Your heart is in the right place when it comes to this, man. It's really, I gotta applaud you, man. It sounds like you're doing all the right things and putting your users, their best interests and intentions  first and foremost. You're really looking out for them.

41:10
Yeah, I think so.  I think of it as  just as any other comic book reader, what would I want?  And  honestly, I always say at the end of the day, I built League of Comic Beaks for me.  And even if it were just one user, I would still be spending the time on it. Now, do any uh comic creators use the app or have they ever reached out or, you know,  complimented you or something to that regard? Definitely. um There's actually a number of them  that have like

41:38
secret accounts on the site and they don't want to bring attention to themselves. So  I keep that quiet. But um there's definitely a number of creators who get involved in some of the discussions. uh There's been a number of creators that talk to us on social media  and talk with the community and social media. um But  yeah, I certainly want to give them even more tools to interact with the community long term. um know, ultimately, I think

42:06
Twitter has become an easy place for them to really congregate and build a community. And hopefully in the future, they'll finally get ComGeeks. It's a great place to also do that. You know what? I take that back. You are more like Ian McShann and John Wick, who plays Winston, where you're the guy in charge of the hotel where all of the assassins. Oh, I run the International. Or is it the Continental?

42:33
Oh yeah, the continent. You're in the continental. You know, it's like, look, I don't expose nobody. This is a safe haven for all of my, my users  and a fuck around. might get in communicative.  I hope that's a compliment. I I'm trying to remember the, the last movie. What, what he did. I feel like there was a scene where he might betrayed people. So I don't want, I don't want to be. no.  Oh,  no, think maybe that maybe that was a twist. My memory is a little hazy right now. So now I'm kind of like shit this.

43:01
This compliment might have turned south.  But we're to run with the assumption that Winston ended up  being a good dude. Hopefully  I'm not wrong. I m know my listeners will let me know. But anyways, that was meant as a compliment. Moving on, I want to know, do you have any strong feelings when it comes to uh digital comics?  I know that's kind of a tired debate and conversation point, but as someone that

43:28
has built this technology for comic readers and fans and folks in this space. What are your thoughts on the progression  and uh the rise of  digital comic books in this space? Yeah, so I can't say I'm an expert  on the topic. I'm not  an industry expert in any form, right? So take what I say with a grain of salt. But um I think from my perspective, it feels like we're making some of the wrong decisions.

43:57
And we're not really pushing through the digital market in the right way. And I think that's just in how people are consuming that digital content.  And I hope we don't continue down the path of uh really kind of renting digital comics long-term. I think everything should be  DRM-free. when you buy the comic, it's yours. I think that it would help stop piracy as much as possible.

44:24
I think that's better for creators when a  reader knows that they actually own it and it's part of their collection rather than that being just uh another thing that they can go through and  check out on  Amazon. I think a lot of retailers are not embracing the digital market as much as they should. And I think part of that was maybe the push to have  kind of like affiliate programs through

44:53
uh, comicsology early on. And so it felt like it was an either or type of situation for those retailers that, you know, they should get some commission from those digital comics,  uh, while they get people in the store to buy the physical ones.  And, uh, you know, maybe there's a way to bridge that gap. And I've been thinking a lot about that for the past couple of years of how I can do that, or at least help the industry in that way. And,  maybe there are a couple of times where, you know, I  do something there, but,  um,

45:22
I definitely think that as an overall industry, can do better. Ultimately, digital comics are going to be around  and we have to embrace it in some way. What I could definitely see you doing in the digital comic space, and this is based off of what you've done for League of Comic Geeks, both the website and  especially the app  is I could see you developing a really solid uh comic reader.  I think one of my favorite things of League of Comic Geeks is how clean that UI is.

45:52
It's easy to navigate, it's presented well. ah I think the website, like  it looks great. know, everyone that I've recommended check out, you know, both website and app have both come back and said, yo, the  UI looks clean. I'm not confused at all. So it's interesting you say that. um I'm definitely working on something in that space, you know, something that integrates that digital experience with  kind of the discussions and the social aspects and. oh

46:20
I'm hoping to have something out there  for,  you know, com greeter's probably in like the next several months.  Um,  you know, that's, that's a short box nation exclusive.  yeah. I wish I had my air horns. Kind of stay tuned on that one.  I'll certainly talk a lot about that as we get a little bit closer to it. If there's someone listening right now that  is, you know, they've got a knack for technology.

46:44
but they also love comic books and they want to find a way to marry it together. Like what would be your advice for people who want to get into this space or do something similar to what you're doing? Like, was there any hard lessons that you had to learn when you first started that, you know, if you could go back in time and give yourself that piece of advice, like what would that be?  Sure. I think the comic book industry is, very small. There's very few players that are in the technology space  and

47:10
Honestly, what I find is that a lot of people start from the same spot. They want to track their own  interests or what books they want to buy or their collection or things like that. I would say,  look at what's out there. If you feel like you can improve the things that are out there, go for it. But  try not to waste your time  on things that ah maybe have already been done because this industry needs a lot of  new

47:39
new ideas, like new energy throughout. So experiment. There's a lot of awesome things that are happening in the gaming industry, movies, everywhere else that we just don't have in the comic space. And we have to take a lot of those  learnings  over to our industry to help  kind of pave the path for the future. So I really want to see  the um new minds kind of coming into the

48:08
to the industry to bring awesome ideas for us in the future. And that just kind of, you know, do the same things that we've been doing for three years.  is well said. I definitely think it's, it's, it's time that we get more, more of that innovation in comic books. mean, you're starting to see it, right? Like when digital comics started really blowing up and the technology that advanced there and then, you know, even sites like, like your own and certain apps that, I use, it's, it's exciting. And I echo what you just said that we could use more of it.

48:38
Yeah, I find there's a lot of people that want to get in the space on the speculation side. And I'll say that when I talk about the ComQt industry, I think of it as a very small industry. And so if you're really there to make a quick buck, it's a mistake. This is not the type of industry for that. This is very much a hobby for a lot of people. And so building the tools that allow us to advance as an industry is really the right path.

49:07
for you to take. Jordan, I want to thank you.  You have shared some great feedback and really good insight into the community you've got. Not just  what makes League of Comic Geeks such a good website and such a good app, but I really enjoyed hearing you highlight the community,  giving them credit for helping build  this thing that you've given away to the world for free and your continued passion.

49:31
in comic books and  the industry and helping retailers too. I think when you hear like comic books and digital or anything related to digital  be brought up, you  always kind of get that hesitance and that resistance because it's such a physical and  personal thing  for folks, that physical medium that means lots of them. um But it's cool to see like how you've been able to like link, bring technology into this space.

49:58
to benefit the collector and the end user. think that's very admirable. Thank you. With that being said, I want to thank you once again for coming on the show and give you an opportunity to plug or share any links or places that people should be following you or staying up to date with what League of Comic Geeks has got going on. So if you're unfamiliar with League of Comic Geeks and you're looking for a way to rate, review, or discuss comics with thousands of other comic book fans,

50:25
Check out our website, it's leagueofcomkeeks.com or find us on Android or  iOS. It's League of Comkeeks there as well.  The companion app or the website, they're very similar experiences  and it'll be particularly valuable if you're at your local comic book shop picking up books or if you just want to see what's going on. And  I think you guys will like it. I think the Short Box Nation is going to find it's really helpful.  And did I say it's free?

50:54
That is the Short Box Nation's favorite word right there, because they know that the struggle is real sometimes, man. So  any free help that we can get when it comes to this very expensive but awesome hobby is always appreciated. And with that being said, you are appreciated, Jordan, and I hope to have you back on soon again, man, whenever you've got another big push or whenever you got that secret project, when the secret project comes out. Gotcha. Yeah, I'd love to be back in future. So  this has been great. um Thanks for having me on.

51:22
And we'll certainly talk a lot more about the complex down  the line as we roll out some new stuff.

51:30
There you have it short box nation. That's the end of the show.  Thank you for hanging out. Thanks for being here.  And a special shout out if you made it this far. If you enjoyed this episode and you have some thoughts or comments that you want to share with us, write us at the short box, jacks at gmail.com. And if you really liked this episode,  help us spread the word, share this episode with a friend or someone you know that loves comics as much as we do. And don't forget to leave us a five star rating and review on Apple podcasts or Spotify  or wherever you get your podcast.

52:00
It takes two minutes tops and it would mean the world to us. Leave us a review. Now if you want more content like bonus episodes or perks like early access and commercial free episodes and in some cases free comic books,  consider joining our Patreon community at patreon.com slash the short box.  It's an easy and very affordable way to support the show  and get rewarded for being a fan. Once again, sign up at patreon.com slash the short box.

52:25
Speaking of our Patreon community, I want to give a big shout out to our current members, including Adam Chaitani,  RC Gamet, BJ Kicks, Blake Simone, Blythe Milligan,  Bo Evers,  Brian Brumleaf, Chad Landenberger, Chris Hackett, David Morales,  Greg Licktype,  Hershel,  Mack Jacobson,  issue number three, Brad,  Jay Sinner,  Jeff Fremid, Jerome Cabanatan, Jose Sepulveda,  Justin McCoy, Corey Torgeson,  Matt Godwin,  Amanda Maron,

52:54
Melissa Burton, Nick Wagner,  Ryan Isaacson, Steven Gamet,  T-Mix,  The Wait For It Podcast, Tony A. Uppie,  Trey Namo,  Walter Gant,  and last but not least,  Warren Evans. Big shout outs to the patrons.  And with that being said, that's it. That's what I got for you this time. Thanks for listening. Tune in next week for another episode. And most importantly, take care of yourselves, read a good comic, and continue to make mine and yours short box. I'll catch you soon. Peace.