ComicsPRO.org

ComicsPRO is the only trade organization dedicated to the progress of direct market comic book retailers.

Friday, March 21, 2008

ComicsPRO directors elected

LAS VEGAS — Gary Dills, Amanda Fisher and Phil Boyle were named to the three ComicsPRO director positions up for election this year at the annual meeting.
Fisher, of Muse Comics in Missoula, Mont., and Dills, of Phoenix Comics in Sterling, Va., were re-elected to the board. Boyle, of Coliseum of Comics of Orlando, Fla., joins the board for the first time.

Outgoing director Michael Drivas, who did not seek re-election, is from Big Brain Comics in Minneapolis, Minn.

Fisher thanked Drivas for his years of hard work, and for being a member of the founding board of ComicsPRO.

More information about the incoming directors:

Gary Dills is co-owner of Phoenix Comics & Toys in Virginia and The Laughing Ogre in Columbus, Ohio, and he has worked in the Direct Market since 1994. Gary was a member of the ComicsPRO Founding Board and provided the organization with a startup loan to help make the trade association a reality. He is also a member of the Free Comic Book Day advisory board and a frequent poster to the Comic Book Industry Alliance forum, sharing his insights into comics retailing to help other retailers improve their businesses. Gary serves as Chair on the ComicsPRO Outreach Committee, supervising ComicsPRO’s presence at trade shows and conventions, Chair of the Nominating Committee, overseeing new board member elections, and Chair of the Staffing Committee, managing the development of ComicsPRO’s paid staff positions.

As part of the Founding Board, Amanda Fisher did the legwork for the creation of ComicsPRO as a nonprofit organization. She is the Chair of the Membership Committee, handling new applications and member files. Amanda began her career in comics at the age of 16, working at The Splash Page in Billings, MT. She helped open a second Splash Page location in Missoula at age 18, and became the manager of that store in 1998. In 2001, Amanda bought the Missoula store with a partner and renamed it Muse Comics. Amanda opened a second Muse Comics location in downtown Missoula in 2006. She has written articles for “Comics & Games Retailer” and is a member of the Free Comic Book Day advisory board. She was recently hired as the ComicsPRO Communications Coordinator, the organization’s first paid staff position, handling its corporate, administrative and outreach work. She is deeply committed to the success of comic book retailers, and her focus within ComicsPRO is finding ways for members to improve their stores.

Phil Boyle opened Coliseum of Comics in 1983. During the quarter century Phil has overseen the expansion of Coliseum into a chain of stores that runs coast to coast in Florida. Among the stores there is a mix of city, rural, and mall stores. Stores range in size from 5000 sq ft to 830 sq ft, which gives Coliseum a unique view of stores of all sizes and markets. Phil has been a member of DC Comics’ RRP since its inception, has worked on advisory panels for publishers, manufacturers and distributors, and serves on the ComicsPRO mentoring board hosted on Delphi. Phil writes the somewhat monthly column Comics Arena for Comics & Games Retailer magazine. Phil’s current projects working with ComicsPRO are creating a program for having retailers paid for dealing with inserts; working with the position papers committee, and writing a position paper for late comics.

The remaining board members are Joe Field, Chris Powell, Brian Hibbs, Carr D’Angelo, Rick Lowell and Ben Trujillo.

-- Matt Price
blog.newsok.com/nerdage