Month: September 2019

Hey, Folks!

 

It’s gonna be a short EDitorial this week as the end of the month is creeping up on me like a hungry symbiote waiting to pounce! I’ve got so much to do in the next two days and not a lot of time to get it done, so bear with me this week.

 

One of my big projects today is getting my September initial orders finalized and uploaded. It usually takes me at least 3 hours to complete the task, but sometimes can run longer if I get distracted by other things (like writing a blog post or updating the website…lol.) I’m not quite sure why, after 30 years, I always insist on waiting until the last moment to get this thing done every month. There was a time that I would force myself to do it at least a week early just in case of unforeseen problems, but since I have never actually had any “unforeseen problems” I’m afraid that I have gotten lazy and now do it on the last day. Of course, then I am figuratively running around like Scarlett O’Hara fleeing Atlanta trying to get everything completed before the little red buzzer goes off. I guess I must be some sort of adrenaline junkie or something.

 

Anywho…if there’s any lingering special order requests out there then now is the time to place them with me. I will literally be at my desk all afternoon, so contact me via phone, e-mail, or messenger if you have your eyes on any particular books, toys, or variant covers. Remember…I am here to serve you!

Speaking of serving you, I am afraid I have to report a major snafu that occurred this week. In a sudden wave of customer frenzy, we blew out of all of our copies of Amazing Spider-Man #30. I still don’t quite understand what happened there and the quick sell-out was akin to being run over by a truck. Seriously, what the heck was THAT all about!?! I mean, I know it was the first Absolute Carnage crossover, but I put in my final orders I assumed that everyone reading Absolute Carnage was already reading Amazing Spider-Man. Apparently I was wrong…REALLY wrong. Anyway, the title is currently going to back order in Diamond’s system, but there is still the slight possibility that it may pop back in to stock after all of the damages and shortages are filled. I am closely monitoring the situation. And by “closely monitoring” I mean that I am checking availability every half an hour or so. Marvel has yet to solicit a second printing for the issue, but if they do then I will get some copies for the store. I can only apologize at this point and promise I will attempt to anticipate your needs better in the future…😊

There is some good news in that we have finally managed to get Boys Omnibus Trade Paperback v.1 back in stock! This collects the first 14 issues of The Boys comic series and is an excellent companion to the hit TV show. Trust me when I say that while the TV show is good, the comic is even better, especially the way it excoriates comic book conventions. It’s a little more violent than the TV show and certainly even racier, but well worth the read. Check it out!

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Please pay special attention to the “Back in Stock” section of the Shipping List for next week. There are quite a few items that have finally filled from back orders, in particular two titles from Boom! Studios that have been making a few waves online since their debuts. Both of Once and Future #1 and Something is Killing the Children #1 are in their final printings and I have a few of each issue shipping in. I haven’t read Once and Future yet, but many of my customers have and they are reporting how good the title is. I have read Something is Killing by writer James Tynion and I can personally report that it is a great first issue and well worth trying out. Tynion’s story about a monster stalking the woods eating children and the monster hunter who shows up to try and take it out is a thrilling and suspenseful beginning to what I hope will be a terrific narrative. This your last chance to sample the individual issues although you can be sure that I will be carrying the collections of both series when they ship.

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One final thing and then I’ll get back on the job. Diamond and Funko our putting out final solicitations for a whole slew of new POP figures. I have no idea if these particular POP figures are already available in other markets, but I will be carrying small amounts of all of them for the rack. If any of them strike your fancy in particular then please let me know and I will make sure you get one when they ship. The release date for the POP Batwoman figure is 10/30 and the Marvel POP figures are all scheduled for a 1/22 release date.

 

That’s it for me this week! I’m putting my head down to the grindstone and knocking this order form out! Have a great weekend, Folks!

 

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

 

I’m really rushing this morning to get this EDitorial completed because I have SO much to get done today! I mean, besides my normal duties of getting the Shipping List and Subscription Form up and running-no mean feat in and of itself-I also have to get cracking on my first draft September orders which are due to be turned in next Thursday. The inventory spreadsheet needs to get updated and, of course, I have to do the most important job…taking care of my beloved customers! To add to the excitement, Steve is taking the day off so I will be handling it all solo!

On top of all of that I am soooo tired! Hillman and I went to go see Rob Zombie’s latest exploitation magnum opus, “3 From Hell”, last night. I was excited to catch this picture as I really enjoyed “The Devil’s Rejects”. So imagine my surprise and delight to find out that last night’s special Fathom Events spectacle was a DOUBLE FEATURE…first showing “The Devil’s Rejects” and then plunging right into the raw horror and violence of “3 From Hell”. “3 From Hell” was a glorious evocation of the exploitation films from my youth and seeing at paired with the film it is a sequel of was amazing. I really got the feel of what it must have been like to go to the seedy theaters of the 70’s to experience the outer limits of human excess. The only downside was the 4 hour running time and how late the film let out…lol. I guess at my age I’m not really prepared to sit in a dark theater for that long and then get to bed so late.

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Before I go any further, I wanted to inform you of some last minute POP vinyl figure solicitations. The POP Heroes Batman 80^th Batmite First Appearance 1959 Vinyl Figure and the POP Heroes Batman 80^th Red Son Batman 2003 Vinyl Figure are both on FOC this week which leaves me scant time to properly gather any preorders, but I wanted to put them out there anyway. I will be carrying limited quantities of these cool POP figures on the shelf, but if you know you want one then let me know by the end of the weekend and I can guarantee that we will have one for you!

It was a great week for comics if I do say so myself. Tom King’s Batman had been rather floundering for a few issues, but has picked up tremendously during the current “City of Bane” story line. This week’s issue #79 concluded a two-part interlude story giving us a glimpse of how Catwoman has pulled Batman back together for a combined assault against Bane and his reign over Gotham. Apparently it involved a lot of sexy bikini shots and about a gallon of ginger ale, but both characters are back to fighting shape and ready to take on Bane for a Gotham City cage match. This issue also featured, albeit briefly, the Batman villain Magpie, a character I remember fondly from my youth and one we don’t see very often. Great art by Clay Mann makes this a solid issue and if you’ve been avoiding Batman it is certainly a good time to jump back on board.

Jonathon Hickman’s House of X continues to intrigue me. Hickman has been doing his usual level best on this quasi-reimagination of the X-Universe, throwing out his big science fiction ideas while gently folding and combining them with X-mythology. The recent two-issue story of the X-Men staging a somewhat disastrous assault on a Sentinel manufacturing base was startling and the solution to the problem of dead mutants was inspired. It is the kind of idea that makes you wonder why no one ever thought of it before now. The use of Sinister and Apocalypse, two X-Villains that have been overused to the point of nauseum, is inspired and I can’t wait to see what this status quo change will lead to in the upcoming regular X-series, as well as to the franchise as a whole. The shape of Hickman’s run is slowly revealing itself and I can’t wait for him to start putting the pieces together.

No one is more surprised than I at how much I am enjoying the new Vampirella series from Dynamite. Christopher Priest, one of my all-time favorite comic writers, has applied his deft touch to Vampy and has crafted an incredibly entertaining book. My problem with Vampy has always been a matter of not being able to follow the plot. She’s one of those iconic characters who gets completely changed with each new creative team. (Kind of like Venom, but even more confusing…lol) You know what I’m talking about. She’s one of those characters where every new creative team trumpets that EVERYTHING YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW WAS A LIE and then proceeds to give their own take on the origin, history, etc. It makes my head hurt trying to connect the dots. Priest has deftly side stepped this particular trope and instead has given us three issues of Vampirella on the extremely sardonic psychiatrist’s couch as she tries to work out in her head just exactly who she is and what she stands for. I love the psychiatrist and wish he got a book of his own (Therapist to the Super Heroes!) The art is pretty good and there is the expected amount of demon and vampire slaying that comes with a Vampy story, but it’s the conversations that really make this one of the most entertaining reads on the stands today. Also, Priest’s psychiatric scenes are waaaaay more enteraining than Tom King’s recent super therapy work in Heroes in Crisis.

My favorite book on the rack this week manages to tick all the boxes on why I love comics. Superman #15 has the conclusion to the excellent, if a bit long running, story line featuring the entire Superman family out in space investigating and seeking justice for the destruction of Krypton. It also reintroduces the Legion of Super-Heroes, heroes of the 31^st century and one of my all-time favorite super groups. This comic is teeming with great moments of drama and humor and instead of giving us more grim and sad tales (yes, I’m looking at you, Batman) we instead get hope and a display of super heroics that I find have been curiously lacking as of late. All of the scenes, from the Legion dealing with the inexact nature of time travel to Superboy wrestling with what to do with the Legion’s invite to Superman accepting the judgement against his father for his crime are all terrific and handled with Bendis’ typical skilled touch. Superman’s discussion with Adam Strange was particularly good. If you haven’t been reading Superman since Bendis joined the team then I implore you to check it out now. It is truly an excellent comic.

 

I will be out of the office on Saturday this week as Hill and I are making the journey to the Michigan Renaissance Festival up in Holly, MI. Hill mentioned wanting to check it out and Monarch Avenger Nichole Smith was looking for friends to join her, so now we are heading back to the 16^th century for a few hours. Steve, of course, will be here to hold down the fort and I will be back on Sunday to answer any questions or concerns that might pop up while I am away from the store. I’ll make sure I get a pic of myself on the Iron Throne to show off next week…lol.

 

Have a great weekend and I will talks at ya again next week!

 

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

 

Another week has gone by which means it is time for yet another rant from your favorite comic book retailer! Them problem, however, is that I really don’t have much to rant about this week. In fact, comic book-wise, everything has gone fairly smoothly for this cycle and since it is still a couple of weeks before I have to dive into the September orders I find myself with a little bit of extra time this week. HAH! Just kidding…I’m still trying to catch up from last week’s work!

 

I’m happy to say that reception for the new website has been uniformly positive and I am glad to see that more of you are discovering it every day and getting some use out of it. I have pretty much mastered the behind the scenes aspects of the site and I am now trying to institute a system of regular updates to the different departments. I will continue to update the Editorial. Shipping List, and Subscription Form on Thursdays and the Facebook Live video that I record on Tuesday nights will now be shared to the website as soon as I complete it. Please let me know if there’s any sort of store information that you would like to see on the website and I will work hard to make it happen.

 

Batman #78 came out this week and I am sorry to say that we are already sold out of the issue. Unfortunately, Diamond is also already sold out of the issue as well. I tried to order more after the last issue blew out, but those orders weren’t filled. Well, there is some good news for those of you who may have missed this issue as DC has announced a second printing of the title which is due out 10/2. We will be carrying the second printing, but please let me know if you’d like me to hold a copy for you.

Speaking of second printings, another surprise sell-out this week is Venom #18. I’m not quite sure what the deal is with this comic, but our monthly sales on the book veer wildly back and forth so that some issues we sell right out while others I have 10 or more copies sitting on the rack…and that’s with ordering the same numbers…lol. Well, there is a second printing of this title coming out as well and due out 10/16. There will be TWO different covers available for the second printing, a Coello Variant and an Immortal Wraparound Var. I will be carrying a small amount of the Coello second printing, but if anyone is interested in either cover then please let me know ASAP and I will set you up with one.

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DC very helpfully supplied me with a pdf file of the first issue of a new Batman miniseries coming out in October called Batman Grave. It is 12-issues and is produced by the super star team of Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch. I know there’s been a surfeit of Batman stories hitting the shelf lately, but I have to admit that the first issue was about as good of a Batman story as any I have read in the last few years. It’s a murder mystery and the first issue has Batman trying to get into the head of the victim in order to figure out the motivations of his killer. It’s excellent stuff for those of you into crime and procedurals and the art is as sharp as you expect from Hitch. It’s due out 10/9 and will come with a regular cover as well as a special card stock variant edition.

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Looking ahead to next week’s shipment, we have the debut of four very different comic series. First up is DC’s Flash Forward #1, a semi-sequel to the hit Heroes in Crisis miniseries. Many of you know that while enjoyed aspects of Heroes in Crisis, I wasn’t a big fan of the series’ central mystery or the revelation of Wally West’s involvement in the climax. Flash Forward, written by Scott Lobdell with art by Brett Booth and Norm Rapmund, promises to address the thorny problem of Wally’s guilt and redemption. I’ve read the pdf of the first issue and the book looks great. I’m still a little peeved at Wally’s downfall, but this is a step in the right direction at fixing the character and giving a new position in the DCU.

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Spider-Man #1, a five-issue miniseries by J.J. Abrams, Henry Abrams, and Sara Pichelli, debuts next week as well. There’s not much information to pass on about this one outside of the sparse description from the catalog, but Abrams is a great writer, so my hopes are up for this one! The series has, of course, many different covers, both ratio and open order, but I will only have the main Coipel cover on the rack. It also comes with a Chipp Kid Die Cut and Jason Polan variant. Both of these open order variants are still available for order at the time of this writing, so if you’d prefer one of these covers to the main then let me know and I will order them in for you!

Archie is not a company that I discuss a lot in my Editorials, mostly because I don’t see a lot of demand for their comics in the store. Next week, however, features the debut of the 5-issue miniseries, Archie 1955 by Mark Waid, Brian Augustyn, and Tom Grummett and I wanted to take a moment and mention it because it is a thematic sequel to last year’s Archie 1941 miniseries which actually did pretty well for us. Once again, we get an Archie story set in the past, but this time instead of WWII we have Archie on the ground floor for the birth of rock and roll! It sounds like a fun conceit, “Archie as Elvis”, and I am curious to see if the creative team can continue their meticulous attention to period detail in this latest opus.

Finally, we have another attempt by Marvel to give us another Black Panther regular series. Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda #1, by Jim Zubb and Lan Medina, builds on the back up team established in Jason Aaron’s current Avengers title. This book is marrying two of my favorite comic book genres, spies and super heroes, and throw in some more juicy Black Panther intrigue to boot. I’ve actually read the pdf of the first issue and it is exactly what I was looking for…a fun exploration of some pretty oddball Marvel characters, action packed spy stuff, and a surprise appearance on the last page by a Marvel character who we haven’t seen in a minute…one who inspires equal parts love and revulsion by the fanbase. Definitely a title to check out!

 

Okily dokily…that’s all I’ve got this week, my friends. I will be in the store all weekend this week, so if you have any questions or last minute orders I will be here to take them. Have a great weekend!

 

Eddie