Hey, Folks!
This week turned out way better than I had any right to expect. It was, of course, the first shipment from new D.C. Comics distributor UCS. I haven’t had to deal with multiple distributors for comic book product for a long time and the last experience I had with it was during the Distributor Wars of the late 90’s and despite the fact that it was over twenty years ago I still wake up at night with cold sweats remembering it. All thing considered, UCS did an admirable job of getting our books to us in a timely and, more importantly, sellable condition. Only two single comic shortages and half of our shipment showed up on Monday with the other half following on Tuesday with Diamond’s shipment. I am well pleased. Still futzing around with their reorder system, but that seems pretty stable as well. I am cautiously optimistic that this will be a smooth transition.
Now that’s not to say that there aren’t still flaws to address. At this point I have to bounce back and forth between Diamond and UCS for reordering D.C. product, particularly D.C. backlist items (like trade paperbacks and hard covers). I was going to take the leap and just begin ordering all of my D.C. stuff from UCS, but apparently they aren’t quite stocked up on older items which necessitates getting them from Diamond. Also, Monarch Comics has had enough weeks in business post-apocalypse/shutdown to realize that we have a nice uptick in business and that the pre-apocalypse numbers for a wide variety of periodicals has gone up and needs adjusting. Since I now have two companies from which to cull reorders you would think it would make things easier, but, alas, there doesn’t seem to be the amount of overstock ready to fill reorders that I was expecting. Whether this has to do with the precarious business standing of Diamond, the inexperience of the new distributor UCS in ordering overstock, or the cautiousness of comic publishers in printing overstock in an uncertain retail environment I don’t know, but it’s probably a mixture of all three. In any case, I’m working hard to navigate the new intricacies of this wild, new comic book retailing landscape and I will continue to give you my level best.
Now you may remember a couple of weeks ago I reported a missing 60lb box from Diamond. You may also recall that I was told the box was “completely destroyed” by UPS and I was assured at the time that all of the missing items would be replaced. Well, 6 customer service reps, a half a dozen phone calls, a boatload of e-mails, and three weeks later we have not yet received the balance of everything that was missing from that fateful box. I was hopeful that my last conversation with a Diamond rep had the problem taken care of, but I’m afraid that the solution that I thought was coming is sadly nowhere in sight. To be fair, the bulk of the order has been replaced, but there are a couple of titles we haven’t seen yet. I suppose it is fortunate that the most of what has still not been replaced were single copy special orders here and there, but the two main titles I have been waiting for are Teen Titans #42 and Year Zero #2. I have decided to write off Diamond at this point as I don’t believe my blood pressure can stand another fruitless phone call explaining to yet another customer rep the whole story from soup to nuts, so I have gone another direction in my attempt to resole this situation. The Teen Titans were easy…al I did was check to see if UCS still had them in stock and ordered from them. SO those of you still waiting for Teen Titans #42 SHOULD see them next week. The Year Zero #2 (from new publisher, AWA) are more problematic as Diamond is the only distributor who carries them and they are currently sold out of the issue. I tried e-mailing AWA directly and explaining my problem with the hope that they would have a few copies laying around the office, but, unfortunately, I was informed that they were sold out as well. The AWA representative that I e-mailed with was very nice, however, and promised to look into the problem with Diamond. I was, like, “Yeah, good luck with that…” In any case, I’m afraid that I will not be able to supply any copies of the second issue of Year Zero and, as a result, after next week’s issue #3 (which was too close to publication for me to cancel orders) Monarch Comics will no longer be carrying this title on the rack. I will, of course, special order copies for this of you who still want to try and follow the book, but I know from experience that if I can’t supply the second issue of a new series then the sales on any additional issues will be difficult at best. If you are a fan of the book then please reach out to me and let me know. If I get enough requests for future issues then I will most assuredly revisit this decision. In any case, I will be carrying the inevitable trade paperback when it is released because I really did enjoy the first issue and I’m curious to see where it is going.
Next week begins the official roll out for this year’s FCBD titles! Of the FCBD material being released, Monarch Comics will have copies of My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic (from IDW), Power Rangers Ranger Slayer (from Boom! Studios), and X-Men (from Marvel Comics). These titles will be available FREE of charge to anyone wandering into the store while supplies last. For my subscription form customers I’ve also included them on this week’s sub form and if you’d like a copy then please feel free to order it there. Please be aware that I didn’t order nearly the same amount of copies for these titles as I would for the big FCBD event that we normally have in May, but I do believe I have more than enough copies to cover all of our wonderful customers. You guys deserve a little something for free as good as you’ve been to us during the reopening of the comic industry.
Many of you are already aware of this, but I am currently in the process of bringing in hundreds of “new” back issue comics into stock from what I’ve begun referring to as my private reserve. Yes, Mr. Katschke needs to clean out his storage spaces and I figure now is as good a time as ever to begin processing the literal thousands of comic books that are currently residing in my basement and garage. There is no rhyme or reason to this gradual unboxing. I am literally just randomly grabbing a couple of boxes a week and sorting through them when I have a moment between taking care of customers and doing my usual operations stuff. After sorting through around twelve boxes of comics I can now inform you that we have a huge new stock of back issues, including runs of the Superman titles, Batman and family titles (including Birds of Prey, Catwoman, Robin, Nightwing), Green Lantern (mostly from the Kyle Rayner era), Flash (including most of the Waid/Johns run), Fury of Firestorm, and many, many more. I have a huge amount of new dollar box material as well, although not all of it has made it out on the floor as of yet because I simply don’t have the space…lol. If you are interested in checking these boxes out before they get out on the floor then please ask me. I’ll be happy to haul them out of the back room for your perusal. Make sure you take a look the next time you come in!
Interesting news on the Marvel front this week. Remember how back in May Marvel announced a bunch of previously solicited comics were NOT going to be published as “floppies” and that you would have to either get digital copies or buy them in trade collections to finish them? Well, Marvel has changed their minds…lol. The following is a list of previously cancelled single issues that are now going into print publication after all. I’m not sure yet whether they will be re-FOCed or even resolicitated, but I hope this brings some of you happiness in the knowledge that these books will be coming in for you!
Wednesday, August 5:
ANT-MAN #4 (OF 5) FEB200986
AVENGERS OF THE WASTELANDS #4 (OF 5) FEB200989
MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN: THE BLACK CAT STRIKES #4 (OF 5) FEB200948
Wednesday, August 12:
GHOST-SPIDER #9 FEB200931
HAWKEYE FREEFALL #5 FEB 200967
REVENGE OF THE COSMIC GHOST RIDER #5 FEB201005
Wednesday, August 19:
VALKYRIE: JANE FOSTER #10 FEB201001
ANT-MAN #5 (OF 5) MAR201046
STAR #4 (OF 5) FEB200987
Wednesday, August 26:
AERO #10 FEB201008
GHOST-SPIDER #10 MAR200929
2020 FORCE WORKS #3 (OF 3) FEB200912
Wednesday, September 2:
SWORD MASTER #10 FEB201009
RAVENCROFT #4 (OF 5) FEB200952
AVENGERS OF THE WASTELANDS #5 (OF 5) MAR201040
HAWKEYE FREEFALL #6 MAR201029
Wednesday, September 9:
RAVENCROFT #5 (OF 5) MAR200996
STAR #5 (OF 5) MAR201047
MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN: THE BLACK CAT STRIKES #5 (OF 5) MAR201003
I keep thinking that there is something I meant to mention here this week that I’m forgetting, but after staring at the screen for ten minutes I can’t think of what it could possibly be so I’m just going to wrap this up and get the sub form live for those of you waiting for the important stuff this week…😊
I hope everyone has a terrific weekend and manages to get through it without melting or getting washed away in flood waters!
Eddie