The first time I saw Nick Barrucci was on the Home Shopping Network. I was channel surfing a few years back and happened across a full-screen image of a Todd McFarlane Spider-Man. Being something of a comic book fan, I stopped a moment to see what it was. Turns out, HSN was doing a segment on comic books and comic-related merchandise. So I watched for a bit to see what kind of stuff they were selling, and one of the three "hosts" was bouncing off the walls like he'd been drinking coffee by the pot all day. What surprised me, though, was that he actually seemed to know what he was talking about. The couple of previous times I'd seen comics being sold like that, the folks really had no clue what they were talking about. But this guy actually did.After a little while, they eventually mentioned that this was Nick Barrucci, president of Dynamic Forces. DF was still relatively new to the market at the time, and the comic collectors bubble hadn't entirely popped yet. I seem to recall thinking that they were going to tank in the not-too-distant future when the vacating investor types started putting significant dings in DF's financials.
But here we are, probably almost a decade later, and DF is still going strong. By all rights, I think the place should have folded years ago, but somehow Barrucci's been able to keep the operation alive and afloat. I have to give him an inordinate amount of credit. He's running a business in a niche market of a niche market. Especially with comic book creators being so much more accessible than they were even 20 years ago, it seems almost impossible to create a self-sustaining business almost exclusively on the strength of creator autographs. And yet, Barrucci is doing just that.
I suspect he works absurdly hard all the time to keep things running. He has to constantly be tracking down creators to get signatures, and working deals with Diamond to get extra copies of limited edition pieces. Or, geez, he's somehow managed to line up Stan Lee and John Romita, Sr. to appear on HSN with him on the 25th. I would be surprised to learn if Barrucci puts in less than 60 hours during any given week, and I would half-expect him to frequently put in 80 or more. But I'll be damned if it doesn't seem to be working for him!
So, even though I don't have much interest in most of what he's offering (with the major exception being a collected version of American Flagg if anyone would like to buy me a copy...) I have to hold a lot of respect for what Barrucci's been able to accomplish. Kudos, Nick! Here's hoping that you're able to take a vacation at least once in a while! :)
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