Hey, Folks!
I hope everyone’s summer is starting to improve a bit with the warmer weather! Things have been good in the shop, although I really wish that we had some more new comics to sell…lol. I mean, I knew it was going to take a minute to get things back up to speed in the industry, but nothing really prepared me for the reality. This week and last week’s shipments were so tiny that I felt somewhat embarrassed by how empty the new release rack has been. Unfortunately, next week will not be any better as it is a Marvel “skip week” with only new trades and hard covers being released. DC’s comic load is also rather flimsy. Hopefully, by mid-July everything will be a little bit more better…😊
I know that many of you are wondering where the missing DC titles from this week’s shipment. You might recall that I reported to you last week that there were a handful of DC titles in which my orders were erased from my FOC page. I managed to get orders in while they were still showing “in stock” for most of the titles and thought that would be that. Unfortunately, the books did not show up yesterday and I have not yet been invoiced for them. I wasn’t actually too concerned at first as Diamond has been tinkering with their reorder system since before the Apocalypse and I have seen stuff get shipped long before I see it on an actual invoice.
But I sent an e-mail anyway, just in case there was some sort of chicanery going on here. The e-mail went out around 6:30 yesterday morning. I sent it out while I was still enjoying my morning coffee and reading the news. (As a brief digression, I checked the status of the reorder in question first thing in the morning rather waiting until I got to work because I had strange dreams about missing books. I awoke from a dream wondering if I remembered to order the variant DC titles that were printed on thin slices of sweet potato. Sweet potato? Yeah, I don’t get my subconscious either…) Again, I wasn’t terribly concerned about it at the time as I had an order confirmation with the books I had ordered. That’s usually a pretty good indicator I’ll have them unless they get left out of a box or arrived damaged. But as the day wore on and there was no response I started to get a little worried. As more people came in asking for the missing titles I found myself obsessively checking my e-mail for a reply and an explanation of when I could expect the missing titles.
Well, I just got the response at 10:12am. Yes, you read that right. It took 28 hours to get a response to a simple inquiry. I’m not saying this to talk smack about my distributor…I just want to give you a small example of what comic retailers are dealing with in the aftermath of the Apocalypse. Anyway, a random customer service rep caught my question and got back to me about the missing comics. He assured me that the order was indeed processed and that the books were on their way. He went on to explain how Diamond’s reorder system is a bit backed up right now, but is quickly catching up. He then told me that I had a couple of reorder boxes showing up at the store today and that the books in question be in them.
You would think that would be a clear, concise, and comforting reply. Unfortunately, I am rather intimately familiar with how the Diamond system works as I have been using it for 30+ years. You see, there is a place on the Diamond website called “Shipment Tracking”. When you go to the page it will show you a list of boxes on their way to you with a UPS tracking number that you can click on to see exactly where your box is as well as a button called “Shipment Details”. When you click on the “Shipment Details” button the system will show you a copy of the packing list that should, theoretically, show you everything that is in the box. When I checked the shipping details it contained items from the reorder I put in on Sunday and nothing from the reorder in question.
Le sigh. This is information that should have been available to the customer service rep. He should have been easily able to access this information, see that the books in question were not listed as being part of the shipment, and been tipped off that perhaps a little more investigation into my situation was necessary. Instead I had to send out yet another e-mail to explain the problem still hasn’t been completely addressed and now I have to wait for possibly another 24 hours for a response to basically the same question. Of course, I suppose it is still possible that the missing books were somehow included in today’s boxes and just didn’t make the shipping list. I won’t know until UPS blows through in a couple of hours. In any case, here’s hoping the damn things show up before the next issues ship. I’ll make sure to keep you posted.
The new Previews came in this week for the material set to ship out in August. It is a different sort of Previews then we are all used to in that there is no DC Comics catalog and the Marvel catalog has been folded into the main magazine. Although I don’t know for sure, I do believe the separate Marvel catalog will make its comeback next month. Most of the Marvel material spotlighted in the new Previews are old solicitations and reschedules of existing solicitations. There are a handful of new titles offered, but clearly not enough to bother with a separate catalog. Fair enough…I can see the wisdom in this decision.
DC Comics, however, is a horse of a different color. DC Comics, as I do believe I posted about last week, has completely taken their catalog from Diamond. This is because they have adopted a “multi-distributor” model that includes online retailers MidTown Comics and DCBS. As a result, the could no longer have a “DC Previews” that would be exclusive to Diamond. DC has decided to rectify this problem by no longer having a printed physical copy of their order form. Now if you want to access DC Comic’s monthly solicitations you will have go to their website and download a .pdf file with the information. It’s basically the same as their old printed catalogs, just as a .pdf.
I posted the link for the new catalog last week when this was initially sprung on us. For those of you who missed it, however, you can access it HERE. I will also be posting a copy of the catalog on the Facebook page and the website assuming I can figure out how to do it…lol. Now I’m not a big fan of this move mostly because I need a physical copy in order to properly make notes and process my initial orders, but I also have a couple of customers who are not particular internet savvy and it’s going to be a little more difficult getting the material in front of them. In any case, DC Comics certainly didn’t ask for my opinion and we will just have to deal with the situation. On the bright side, DC Comics is still included in the “short form” Diamond consumer order form. Ask me if you’d like a copy.
Let me also take a moment to announce that starting next week Monarch Comics will start carrying a selection of super hero themed face masks! These cotton face masks are extremely comfortable to wear for long periods and our initial offerings will include Deadpool, Hydra, Venom, and Harley Quinn. They will retail for $19.99. My supplier can also print custom images, so please let me know if there is a specific character you’d like to see on your mask and I will order one for you. This is all new for me so I can’t say yet how quick the turnaround will be for special orders, but I can’t imagine it would take more than a week or so. I fully expect to have a bigger selection if these take off the way I expect them to. It’s the best way to be stylish and safe…😊
That’s it for me this week, Folks! Have a great weekend and hopefully I will have more comics to sell you on June 10th!
Ed