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Atomic Comics, the nationally known Arizona retail chain, abruptly closed all four locations on Sunday, shocking staff, customers and industry figures alike. Although owner Michael Malve has yet to make a public statement, the closings of the stores in Mesa, Phoenix, Chandler and Paradise Valley have been confirmed online by multiple employees and creators.

“Yes, Atomic Comics is now closed,” Thomas Healy, former manager of the Paradise Valley location, tweeted last night. “I will miss running my store. I had the best staff ever!” His former employee Jen Davidson offered: “They just told us today. I hate everything. I’m so sorry. … I just feel bad for customers. Like NO NOTICE. It’s ridiculous. … All I’ve heard is that everything in every store is now the IRS’ malve filed for bankruptcy.”

Well regarded nationally for its in-store signings, innovative marketing and sheer size — it was believed to be among Diamond Comic Distributors’ largest accounts — Atomic gained international exposure last year when its name and logo were featured prominently in Kick-(bleep), the film adaptation of the comic by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr. The chain began in 1988, when Malve opened Bubba’s Comic Store in Phoenix. A year later he moved to Mesa, renaming the business Atomic Comics.

Malve, a major supporter of The Hero Initiative, sent a weekly newsletter to creators and publishers, breaking down sales at his four stores. Although Malve was said to be forthright in the emails, grumbling about the state of the market, there apparently were no indications that he was on the brink of closing the chain.

The news triggered immediate reactions from the likes of Jim Lee, Joe Quesada — “The best retailer I’ve ever met closed his doors” — Brian Michael Bendis, Warren Ellis, Kevin Smith and Dan Slott.

However, it also led some to pinpoint a cause, and to sound the alarm. Controversial retailer Larry Doherty chimed in, “If Mike Malve has fallen we could ALL be doomed. His genius in retail is the high water mark,” later adding, “Print runs are REALLY low. Publishers that market digital to the SAME customer base just put Atomic Comics out of business.” Retailer and promoter Jimmy Jay replied, “if Atomic has fallen, it didn’t happen overnight. [...] Digital didn’t kill Atomic, that is simplification.”

But then Rob Liefeld weighed in, writing, “Atomic Comics is a cautionary tale of hype over commerce. [...] Hate that this will turn into a blight on the comics industry when it is isolated to a specific chain, not all encompassing. [...] Once again, terrible news about Atomic Comics. Confident the AZ. Comic scene will recover and Malve will rise again.”

“Yes, Atomic Comics is now closed,” Thomas Healy, former manager of the Paradise Valley location, tweeted last night. “I will miss running my store. I had the best staff ever!” His former employee Jen Davidson offered: “They just told us today. I hate everything. I’m so sorry. … I just feel bad for customers. Like NO NOTICE. It’s ridiculous. … All I’ve heard is that everything in every store is now the IRS’ malve filed for bankruptcy.”

I think the catalyst for Atomics’ downfall, as some of you may remember, occurred in October of 2006, just as the recession was beginning, when a 16 year old uninsured driver, drover her car through the window of our Mesa Superstore, our largest and greatest revenue producer. This in turn caused a flood as the water main had been hit. This caused such severe damage and loss that we had to shut down for over 5 months. The damages were so severe we lost close to a million dollars in product. The loss of revenue due to being closed all those months as we headed into retail’s busiest season was astronomical. What really stood out to me was how many of Atomics’ customers were lost as we rebuilt the store. It seemed as if half our customers never returned. The great mystery to me is what exactly happened to all those missing customers. I can only speculate that once you take away the habit of weekly buying-it is hard to jump back into it. Since there was not another comic shop in the immediate area, I can only assume customers found other means to obtain their comics, maybe they started driving great distances to hit up other stores, some possibly went the way of the internet and are now ordering their books online or perhaps even downloading their books illegally, or maybe even some stopped collecting comics altogether.

spid wrote:It makes you wonder because if you have problem with a chain of stores wouldn't the first step be to close one or two locations instead of all four at once.