I am so far behind this week that I considered not even writing up an Editorial today, but I figured a paragraph or so wasn’t going to put me that much more behind schedule. Why am I behind schedule? Well, it’s a combination of fate and circumstance involving Steve having some minor outpatient surgery requesting him to be out of the store for a couple of days and the fact that Diamond’s computer system went down for a bit this morning. Steve is recovering nicely and is back in the store after being out on Tuesday and Wednesday so I finally got a chance to finish up the final version of the subscription form and that’s when Diamond’s system decided to take a dump. But its all online again and I have finally finished up the sub list. Actually I just remembered that I have a couple of more things to add to it, but it shouldn’t take more than a couple of minutes.
In any case, I should get to it. I hope that everyone has a fun and safe Halloween, both tonight and this weekend! Watch out for those ghosties and goblins!
Well, it’s another gorgeous Fall morning here in Northwest Ohio and I’m facing another blank screen as I try to decide what to blather on about in this week’s Editorial. You’d think it would be no big deal, especially with the way I tend to go on in person. I’ve never really explored the further limits of my abilities to chitchat. Unfortunately, and this may come as a surprise to you, but my life is not the thrill-a-minute whirlwind you may think it is…lol. So, let me soldier on and see if I can fill a sheet or two of paper and get this thing posted so that we can all get on with day.
I suppose I should mention that today is the Diamond deadline for submitting initial orders for the October Previews. I’ve been doing this for 30 years and yet this looming monthly deadline never ceases to sneak up on me. Month after month the initial orders are due on the fourth week of every month and yet I still manage to get surprised every time it jumps out of the bushes at me. I mean, I haven’t even looked very closely at the October Previews yet much less begun to assemble a coherent order. To be frank, I’m dreading going through the Marvel Previews which always takes about three times longer than main catalog. I guess it’s a little game I play with myself every month. Years ago the deadline made me so paranoid that I would insist on getting it done the week before it was due, but these days I guess I get some sort of perverse glee out of waiting until the last minute every month. Oh, well, at least I have episodes of the Flash and Arrow to listen to while I slave away at all the fiddly bits in the order form.
Speaking of the CW shows…how do you all do it!?! And by “all of you”, I’m specifically referring tot hose of you who manage to watch ALL of these darn DC/CW shows! Generally speaking, I’ve only been keeping up with my fave show, Supergirl, although I would always tune in to the other shows for the yearly crossover. It’s not like I particularly disliked the other CW shows. In fact, I kept up with Flash for a season or two as well. The problem became A time issue. I simply did not have the time to watch anymore regular network television, especially the way the shows relentlessly move onward, week after week, episode after episode. If you miss one week then you might as well miss three weeks the way the multiply like mice. After learning that this would be the final season for Arrow and that it was essentially “Bottoming out” into the Crisis crossover I decided that I would knuckle under and watch the last ten episodes so that I didn’t miss anything cool. Yes, Gentle Readers, I confess to having the same OCD issues as the rest of you when it comes to comic book stuff and needing to read/see every little bit of it. Of course, then the comments and reviews of the new Flash season started rolling in and it sounded that there was much Crisis material being included in the Fastest Man Alive’s series as well. So I figured I would watch Flash, Supergirl, and Arrow in order to get the full effect. Adding to the stress was the inclusion of the new Batwoman show which I had been eagerly anticipating since her first appearance during the CW crossover last year.
And, you know what? It’s just too much! Trying to keep up with four hours of CW shows a week along with American Horror Story AND The Great British Baking Show has been nigh on impossible, especially when coupled with the handful of other shows I’ve been trying to check out. I also have to divide my TV viewing time between Shows That I Watch Alone (typically while I’m handling work stuff like the shipping list), Shows That I Watch With My Roommate (which generally covers Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights), and Shows That I Watch With Hillman (which covers the weekend). I’m telling ya…I need a score card to keep track! As of today I have managed to catch up with Batwoman and Supergirl. I love both shows wholeheartedly despite their inclination to write scripts where everyone is required to react to quasi-adult situations as if they were teenage girls. I’m hoping to get at least two episodes of the Flash under my belt today while I’m fiddling with the order form. If you come into he shop and I have my ear buds in please don’t hesitate to throw something at my head if you need to get my attention.
Of course, my new viewing habits are not monopolized by merely the CW. It had completely slipped my mind that the new Damon Lindelof magnum opus, Watchmen, debuted Sunday on HBO. Watchmen is, for those of you new to comics, based on the classic graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons upon which the so-so movie was made by old What’s-His-Name back in 2009. The comic (and, to a more limited extant, the movie) dealt with a world where costumed heroes arose in the 40’s as a kind of fad movement and suddenly became much more serious when an actual super being inexplicably appears. One of the former costumed heroes, whose identity I won’t reveal on the outside chance that there is someone reading this who hasn’t read the book or seen the movie (Yes, Hillman dear, I’m looking at you…) is reading this and doesn’t want it spoiled, comes up with a plot both twisted and surprisingly simple to stop a world on the brink of a nuclear apocalypse. It’s a classic comic book story and one that richly deserves its towering reputation. With this in mind as well as the mediocre film attempt made ten years ago, I was cautiously interested in what HBO would make of the material.
Well, I watched the first episode of Watchmen last night and it was, well, both fascinating and truly bizarre. Apparently set in the Watchmen world some 30 years after the events of the comic/movies, we are greeted with a vision of a totalitarian state where law enforcement officers parade around in anonymity with scary masks and ninja outfits battling an apparently white supremacist domestic terrorist organization whose members have a fetish for wearing masks inspired by Rorschach, a sociopathic dead costumed adventurer. It begins with an extended historical flashback to the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921, a horrific event which ended in the estimated deaths of 100-200 people. The scenes are brutal and terrible and then the action segues into present day Tulsa where race issues are once again bubbling to the surface. This leads to the main plot in which are introduced to several characters on both sides of the fight and another terrible incident that leads to no small amount of death and destruction.
Into this mix there is a smattering of references to the original material, although not as much as I was expecting. Newspaper headlines mentioning Adrian Viedt and the Rorschach masks are introduced rather early in the proceedings, but for the most part there is very little to connect this story to the comic. There are other scenes, later in the show, that have more concrete ties, including a very strange interlude featuring a main character from the comic played to perfection by Jeremy Irons, a curious “rainstorm”, and the appearance of a piece of equipment also used by a former costumed hero. What any of this has to do with the main narrative of racial divides in the US or the apparent slow slide into fascism isn’t clearly addressed, but it is presented in such a frankly bizarre way that I couldn’t tear my eyes away from it. Even at its most obtuse, Watchmen is compulsively watchable, if only with the hope that all of this general weirdness is in some way tied together. I’m not really sure what I was expecting, but this wasn’t it and I mean that in the best way possible. Looking forward to checking out the rest of the season to see where it is all leading. If you’ve seen the episode please make sure to mention it to me when you visit the store as I am curious as to what you may have thought about it.
I have a big apology to regular readers of the Weekly Shipping List. I was getting everything ready for publication this morning when I realized I inadvertently erased the “Titles Not Stocked” segment yesterday while I was farting around with formatting. The time it would take to recreate it is way more time than I have to spare today so I am leaving it off. Never fear, intrepid readers, it will return yet again next week and I’ll try not to erase it before posting.
We seem to be cursed with feast or famine when it comes to Funko POP figures. Either we can’t get what we ordered or else three tons of them ship in over a two week period. We are currently in the throes of the later situation and after the tsunami of this week’s POP figures we have four more anticipated POPs coming in next week. POP Marvel 80th First Appearance Beast and Marvel Girl and POP Marvel Holiday Deadpool and Rocket Raccoon figured will all be making their Monarch debut next week. Those of you who preordered these figures will have them held behind the counter and you have two weeks to pick them up unless, of course, you get in touch with us and make different arrangements. This new wave of figures all retail for $10.99 each, although if you preorder the X-Men figures as a set you will still get them at $10 each.
For those of you who have been wondering, Hillman has recovered from his throat surgery quite nicely and is well on his way to acclimating to his “new” vocal abilities. While I have yet to hear him sing, I can report that his regular speaking voice is quite an impressive upgrade and much welcomed, especially when I’m talking to him on the phone. Because I am half deaf it was always a bit difficult to understand him over the phone, but now all of our conversations are crystal clear.
Thanks for tuning in this week and I hope all of you have a great weekend! As I mentioned ad nauseum above, I will be deep into the order form all day, but I will still be available for questions and inquiries through Messenger.
I’ve been racking my brain all morning about what to write about this week, but, frankly, there’s not much new going in the store this week. I mean, I could talk about how Hillman finally has his voice back after the throat surgery he went through last week because that was the most exciting event in my life. Hillman went for his post-op doctor’s visit yesterday morning and we were both relieved that the humongous mass that was clogging his vocal cords was not cancer and was a run of the mill papilloma, albeit a huge one. There is the concern that it will grow back at some point and he’ll have to repeat the procedure, but it looks like clear sailing once he completely heals and attends some speech therapy sessions. The speech therapy is apparently meant to essentially teach his vocal cords the proper way to work after nearly a decade of being held open by the papilloma.
“But what’s his voice sound like now, Ed?” I can hear you enquiring. (Yes, telepathic abilities are part of the skill set for comic book retailers.) Well, I was kinda hoping for a James Earl Jones baritone, but I certainly wasn’t disappointed in the end result. Hillman’s voice essentially, well, closely resembles his old vice, but without the sound of strain of trying to force the sounds through a massive lump of flesh. It was silky smooth and it was a joy to hear after a week of enforced silence while the healed from the surgery. I’m trying to talk him into doing a Facebook Live video as soon as he recovers a bit more so that everyone can hear what the new Hillman sounds like. I’ll keep you posted…
Meanwhile, back at the store, we have a whole new bunch of Funko POP figures that have been solicited to our market this week. I’m never really sure anymore when or where these things get released anymore, but I always want to make sure you are aware of them so I can take any preorders. This new round of POP figures include POP Marvel First Appearance Black Widow, POP Marvel First Appearance Scarlet Witch, POP Specialty Ser Marvel 80th 1st Appearance Kingpin, and POP Specialty Ser Marvel Fantastic Four Human Torch Vinyl Figures. I don’t believe any of these are exclusives to comic stores, but they are available for preorder with an FOC of 10/21. The estimated release dates are Black Widow (12/18), Scarlet Witch (1/29), Kingpin (1/8), and Human Torch (1/15). Let me know ASAP if you are interested in any of these figures and I will make sure we have one for you when they are released!
We will be receiving a ton of new POP figures next week that I solicited orders for months ago. The new figures include POP Heroes DC Batwoman PX (just in time for her new CW show!), POP Marvel 80th First Appearance Angel and Cyclops, POP Marvel 80th First Appearance Namor, POP Marvel Holiday Groot and Thanos, POP Movie Moment Batman 80th Light Up Bat Signal, and POP Marvel Into the Spider-Verse Casual Miles Morales PX! All of the POPs retail for $10.99 except for the POP Miles which is $12.99 and the POP Bat Signal which is $34.99. Additionally, those of you who preorder sets of the Original X-Men figures will get their POPs for $10 each. I am going to try and send out reminders to everyone who preordered these figures and we will hold them for two weeks unless you contact us and make other arrangements. Hopefully, the remaining original X-Men POPs will materialize before the end of the month! I have limited supplies of all of thee figures for the shelf, so make sure you stop by next week if you are interested in any of them.
That’s it for me, Folks! I better get cracking on posting the new shipping list and subscription form before the day gets much older. There are a few Marvel variant covers on the sub list this week that I have EXTREMELY limited quantities on, so order them quickly before they sell out and disappear from the list.
Well, it’s been a busy week for me and it is not going to get any easier as I cruise into the weekend! As some of you have already heard, boyfriend extraordinaire, Hillman Crawford, had to have a bit of throat surgery on Tuesday morning and we are knee deep in the recovery. My dear Hillman essentially lost his voice nearly a decade ago and has recently discovered a big glob was resting neatly between his vocal cords thereby blocking him from speaking properly. It was really bizarre looking and when viewed through a scope looked suspiciously like an Alien face hugger…lol. In any case, the icky blockage has been removed and we are all anxiously awaiting what he will sound like once he is allowed to use his voice again next week. Hillman, meanwhile, is resting comfortably at home and being driven slowly mad by his inability to speak for a week. No worries…I’m sure he’ll be fine!
Hillman recovering nicely after surgery.SPAWN #301 CVR H PARODY MCFARLANE
Unfortunately comic distribution is not an exact science and you have long heard me opine in the store about the various damages, shortages, and snafus that I have to deal with on a weekly basis with new comic shipment. Oftentimes these little challenges are invisible to the general public, but this week I’m afraid we had a shortage that is taking a little time to straighten out. Spawn #301 came out this week and, as per issue #300, had a whopping 17 different covers! I know this because I had at least one customer who wanted one of each cover…lol. The warehouse, however, screwed up and shorted us all of our copies of the cover H MacFarlane Parody variant and that just happened to be the cover that I chose to put on the rack. I reported the shortage immediately on Tuesday afternoon when we realized they were missing, but I didn’t hear back from my customer service rep until late in the day Wednesday about the status of the shortage. I assumed that there would be no problem getting them replaced as I had reported them early and it was a large enough number of copies that I qualified for an emergency shipment which ideally should have gotten them to us by Friday. Well, my customer service rep sent me an e-mail telling me that they were going to back order and I was essentially s#!t out of luck. I’ll admit that I lost my temper and hit the roof! I contacted Kat Salazar, director of PR & Marketing of Image Comics, to see if there was anything she can do about the situation and she said she’d look into it. Strangely enough, less than an hour later I received another e-mail from my customer service rep informing me that she had made a mistake and not only were my missing copies available, but they would be emergency shipped to me immediately. As of this writing I’m not sure if I will be seeing the shortages on Friday or Monday, but I will be getting them. So if you ordered a copy of Spawn #301 on the subscription form last week then you should have it by next week at the latest. Let’s hear it for the squeaky wheel getting the grease!
It’s an interesting new comic slate for DC Comics next week. One of the biggest question marks for me is how well the new Superman Smashes The Clan series by writer Gene Luen Yang and artist Gurihiru. Based on “Clan of the Fiery Cross”, a Superman radio serial from the 40’s, Yang presents his personal retelling of the Lee family as they team up with Superman to smash the Klan’s activities in a golden age Metropolis. The format is a kind of quasi-digest size with a cover price of $7.99 and manga inspired artwork. The project sounds interesting and rather different from the other Superman stories on the racks, but I’m just not sure how much demand there will be for it. I’ve ordered conservatively, but I’m living in a world of hope that DC will have extra copies on hand in case it turns into a break out hit. In any case, any fans of the golden age or of Superman should definitely check it out next week.
Another interesting project from DC next week is the first in their new series of one shots, Tales from the Dark Multiverse. What we are essentially getting is DC’s version of that old Marvel chestnut “What If?”. The Dark Multiverse is, of course, the roiling mass of alternate realities that seethes and boils underneath the regular multiverse. It is home to broken universe…universes where things have gone wrong that form and pop like soap bubbles before submerging back into the quantum foam from which they arise. In this first installment we find out the answer to the question, “What if Batman hadn’t taken the mantle of the bat away from Jean Paul Valley?” This might not be the first What If question I’d ask, but it certainly is an intriguing concept. I loved the old Marvel What If’s and I can honestly say that I am looking forward to this one immensely. It’s written by Scott Snyder and Kyle Higgins, a great writing team if ever there was one, with art by Javi Fernandez. Coming up in the next couple of months we have Dark Multiverse stories based on “Death of Superman”, “Blackest Night”, “Infinite Crisis”, and “The Judas Contract”. I’m excited to see where DC goes with this line and I hope it successful enough to warrant more one shots like this in the future.
Jonathon Hickman wrapped up his big start to his X-Men run this week with Powers of X #6! It is a fascinating issue, one that answers a lot of questions that have popped up and also creates more questions. Moira McTaggert has plans for mutantkind and with Xavier and Magneto working with her we will see if she has the know how and power to avert not one, but two, disastrous futures for mutants and the Earth. Of course, anyone who was expecting any kind of definitive ending to House and Powers of X are going to be sorely disappointed. This is the start, after all, to Hickman’s ambitious 2-3 year story line…the comic book equivalent to dumping all of the pieces of the puzzle onto the table. The upcoming slate of X-Titles, including X-Men, New Mutants, Excalibur, X-Force, Fallen Angels, and Marauders, will be where Hickman and his collaborators start putting the larger picture together. I, for one, can’t wait to see where all of this is going!
X-Men #1, written by Jonathon Hickman with art by Francis Yu, will be shipping in next week, so we don’t have a long wait to get right into the thick of things. I know I have been warning you about how I am going to be moving away from Marvel’s endless surfeit of variant covers, but I will be making an exception with the first issues of the new X-Titles, all of which have as many variants offered as the House and Power of X miniseries that just concluded. I had to split my orders between 5 different open order covers and all of them are on the subscription form this week. Just to explain, I keep these variant covers on the form until I get close to a sellout and then I remove them from your consideration. So if you have heart set on a specific variant then please check out the sub list ASAP so you don’t miss it. Additionally, if you don’t see the cover you are looking for then please contact me and I’ll see if there are any left for reorder.
I will be out of the store on Sunday, October 13th, to make a last-minute trip to Cedar Point. Hillman LOVES Cedar Point and we had this trip planned before his surgery was scheduled for this week and while he won’t be able to scream like a little girl on the rides I’m hoping he will still have a good time. For my part, I am not that big of a Cedar Point guy. I mean, the rides are okay, but the lines don’t thrill me and I went to the park enough as a kid that it just doesn’t have the mystique to me that it has for others. I have never experienced the “Halloweekends”, however, so I’m thinking I might get some mileage out of the haunted houses and scares. In any case, I won’t be here on Sunday, but Steve will be here to hold down the fort and I will check in to take care of any questions or requests on Monday morning at the latest. Actually, I’ll probably come home late on Sunday and throw together a reorder for any of you who place special orders on the subscription form. That’s the true example of my dedication to you!
Okily dokily, time to get his missive posted along with the shipping list and the subscription form! I can’t believe how long it takes me to update Facebook and the website every week! Oh, well, at least I have some episodes of the Great British Baking Show to watch (with my headphones on) while I putter around with it.
Have a great weekend, Folks, and I’ll see you next week!
I must admit that, generally speaking, the only comics I can keep up with on a monthly basis are the surfeit of D.C. and Marvel comics that come crashing in like a wave every week. It takes a lot of energy to follow the monthly adventures of Batman and Superman and Spider-Man and the JLA and the Avengers AND the X-Men. It’s just non-stop. As a result, I tend to miss out on the more off-brand titles from Image, Dark Horse, BOOM! Studios, and IDW, as well as the smaller publishers. I always swear that I will catch up when the trade paperbacks come out and yet I never seem to get around to them.
Well, I am going to try and turn a new leaf this month. I’m going to make a concerted effort to read more of the small press stuff. From what I’ve read online and what I’ve heard from customers I am missing out on a lot of good comics and, as I’m sure you can imagine, it is somewhat difficult to sell a book that you haven’t read and those of you who have been trapped at the counter while I expound on this comic or another know I like to hand sell stuff.
Keeping with this new initiative, I’d like to introduce you to a new comic on the stands this week from ABLAZE Comics, a relatively new small press label. It’s called Vampire State Building and it is written by Ange & Patrick Renault and penciled by Charlie Adlard (late of Walking Dead) and it is a doozy. Taking place at famed Empire State Building we are gradually introduced to a varied cast of characters including an intriguing mix of tourists, business people who work in the building, and security guards. It’s established early on that there’s some renovations going on in the building and there’s been a strange hidden room discovered…one with curiously primitive scribbling on the wall. Trust me when I say it doesn’t bode well for our intrepid cast. Something has come to awareness in the Empire State Building and it has put out a call summoning a mob of monsters. Once they arrive they take control of the building and start to hunt those stuck inside. Unfortunately, the police think they are terrorists, not aware of how truly awful things are about to get…
This is a great comic! Maybe I’m being influenced by the Halloween season which is bearing down upon us, but I love a good horror comic and this one is executed perfectly with just the right amount of suspense balanced with the gore. I didn’t carry it initially, but after I read about it online (as well as getting more than a few special orders for it) I decided to get some for the rack. So look for it when you come in for your stash this week if you’re looking for something a little different and a lot scary!
Speaking of small press titles, Kieron Gillen’s magnum opus, Wicked & Divine, has reached its end and the final trade paper back is on sale this week. I haven’t read it yet, but I am very much looking forward to the exciting conclusion. For those not in the know, Wicked & Divine follows the adventures of 12 gods, incarnated in human form every 90 years, who have two years to explore their divine power before, well, dying. Mostly illustrated by Jamie McKelvie, Wicked is an amazing piece of work with a twisty plot that moves and slithers and turns back on itself to deliver an exciting narrative and timeless mystery that jumps back and forth through the whole of human history. I have recommended this title to many people and not once has the reader been disappointed. If you’re looking for something a bit off the beaten track with intriguing writing and incredible art then look no further. And it’s complete now so you don’t even have to wait to get to the end!
So D.C. is having some fun with their new Dollar Comics line of books that are designed to compete with Marvel’s True Believer reprint titles. I’ve approved of the books they’ve reprinted so far (Detective Comics #854, Batman #608, Crisis on Infinite Earths #1), but I don’t understand why they are changing the covers! Joker #1, originally published in 1975, came out under the Dollar Comics banner and they’ve given it a new and updated cover despite the fact that the original was perfectly fine! I mean, okay, using the Alex Ross/George Perez are for the Crisis #1 Dollar Comic was somewhat understandable, but changing Joker #1? I don’t get it. I hope in the future they will stick to reprinting the original covers on the books. I’ve posted both covers below…which one do you prefer?
To my continual surprise, the art covered short comic boxes continue to be a roaring success! This week we received two new designs for your edification. We’ve got the DC Superman 80th Anniversary box, featuring Jim Lee art from the cover of Action Comics #1000, as well as the Marvel Panther Nation, featuring art by Brian Stelfreeze. Both boxes are gorgeous and retail for $12.95 each!
Just got word from Diamond this week that Funko has a plethora of new POP vinyl figured coming out devoted the first family of comics…The Fantastic Four! Featured characters this time around include Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, The Thing, Human Torch, Super Skrull, Galactus, Silver Surfer, Mole Man, Doctor Doom, and, of course, Herbie! They all stand about 3 ¾” high and retail for $10.99 each. The final order cut-off date is October 14th with an estimated release date of January 22nd! I will be carrying a selection of these figures on the rack, but please let me know if you’d like me special order any of the figures ahead of time!
Okily dokily…that’s about it for the week. I’ve really got to get the Shipping List and Subscription Form posted! I hope everyone enjoys the seasonal cool down and has a great weekend!
