Month: August 2020

Hey, Folks!

 

Well, I had a pleasant surprise this morning. I had to go to the BMV behind the store to get my license renewed. I was expecting a line when I got there and I wasn’t disappointed. I was greeted by a line of about 15 fellow drivers that stretched down the sidewalk. I groaned inwardly, but kept my smile on as I joined the rest of the group. I settled in for a long wait, but to my surprise the line moved at pretty good pace. I cheered when I finally got in the door at the half hour mark and after another half an hour or so I was at the counter, nearly failed my vision test, paid my fee, and got my picture taken. Just like that I was done! (The picture, by the way, was a pretty good one as these things are generally judged.) I have to give a tip of my hat to the staff at the Heatherdowns BMV…they do a great job!

 

For those of you who didn’t catch the good news on Friday from the Facebook page, Steve was finally pronounced Covid-free! The test results took almost a week to receive, but he is now back in the store and healthy as someone can be who just got over one of those irritating Summer colds. I guess we can all look forward to a healthy amount of paranoia once the cold and flu season REALLY kicks in. Thanks again to everyone who comes into he store and doesn’t require us to badger them about it. You have no idea how much I appreciate it, especially those of you who wear their masks properly. Hopefully this will eventually help stem the tide of this stupid virus.

 

Not much new to report on the comic book front this week. I can say that it looks like D.C. and Marvel are now firing on all cylinders and that the horrible weeks of little to no new comics are finally behind us! D.C. did report on Friday of last week a bevy of lower tiered comics that are on the cancellation block, including Batgirl, Batman and the Outsiders, and Justice League Odyssey in October, Hawkman, John Constantine Hellblazer, Suicide Squad, Teen Titans, and Young Justice in November, and Batman’s Grave and Metal Men in November. With the exception of Batgirl none of these cancellations are particularly surprising to me. I’ve gotten pretty good at predicting the end of monthly series based on how many copies of the titles we sell in the store. I expected most of these books to go the way of the Dodo months ago and I guess that would have born out if we hadn’t had that pesky shutdown to contend with back in the Spring. I suspect that we will eventually have some sort of replacement for the Batgirl  and the Hellblazer book before too long as neither character has been allowed to lie fallow for long. Suicide Squad is another title that I expect will be revisited at some point, perhaps as we get closer to another movie. In any case, I’ve read a bit of commentary online about how this is part of some D.C. “implosion” (a reference to a previous D.C. Comics back in the 70’s) or that it is a signal to D.C.’s “secret plot” to stop publishing comics or switch entirely to a digital model.

 

Well, I say that’s ridiculous. I’m not quite sure why everyone is in such a hurry to signal the death knell of the medium, particularly in regards to D.C. Comics, but the industry has been through much tighter spots than this in the 30 years that I have been running Monarch Comics and we’ve always managed to soldier on. Canceling low selling titles is nothing new and it is a necessary step in order to clear out the dead wood and allow explosive new growth. I’m sure D.C. has a bevy of new titles and projects to announce during Fandome which takes place on August 22^nd. Fandome is, of course, D.C.’s stab at an online comic convention and you can find all of the details on our Facebook page. So, buck up, Monarch Mavens! I know things look dark right now, both within and without the comic industry, but brighter days are coming…you just have a little bit of faith. Remember…”Optimism is a revolutionary act!”-Cameron Crowe.

 

Next week will see the long-awaited release of the much anticipated Three Jokers #1! Originally teased waaaaay back in Justice League #50 (2016), the Three Jokers will attempt to explain the mysterious message Batman received from the Metron’s Moebius Chair when asked about the true identity of the Joker. The chair’s answer? “Which one? There are three…” Now, I don’t know about you, but this little tidbit has kept me tantalized ever since they teased it. Written by wunderkind Geoff Johns, hot off his universe changing Doomsday Clock miniseries, and with art by superstar Jason Faboks, Three Jokers is a 3-issue monthly prestige format miniseries with a cover price of $6.99. As with most D.C. titles, it will have two main covers as well as a handful of ratio variants. I’ll admit that I haven’t checked my ordering records as to how many of the ratio variants are already spoken for, but those that haven’t been requested will be out on the new release rack on Wednesday tagged at whatever market price is when the blessed day finally arrives. I should also mention that there are plenty of other exclusive variants available online from a variety of different online concerns and there will also be a total of 9 premium variants (3 per issue) that, unfortunately, Monarch Comics could not afford the minimums to purchase. For those interested in such things, the deal with the premium variants is that a store had to order a minimum of 50 copies of each in order to receive them. Now I’ll admit that I wish I lived in a world where I could move 400 extra copies of Three Jokers…Hell, I’d settle for moving 400 copies period…lol…but this is not that world. From the little investigation that I have done there are plenty of copies of these premium variants available from different online resources, so if you want them then you should be able to find them pretty easily.

 

I also wanted to mention that our printed masks have been doing really well since we started carrying them and that we do have some new basic designs available. We now have at the register masks with the Batman logo, Wonder Woman logo, Superman logo, and The Child (From The Mandolorian) as well as Harley Quinn, Venom, and Spider-Man. They are still $19.99 each and we are still taking special orders if you have something in particular you’d like printed on them. For special orders all I need is a .jpg or .png file and I can have them printed up for you. Message me on the Monarch Facebook page or ask while you are in the store and I’ll do my best to mask you in style!

 

Ever since we reopened back in May, Monarch, as well as many other retail accounts, have had some difficult with Diamond’s reorder system. This has been acerbated by D.C. Comics’ decision to pull out of Diamond’s distribution system in lieu of other distributors. Many of you have listened to my continuous whine about how the system has been breaking down in regards to product being available for reorder and then shipped to us in a timely (and undamaged) manner. Well, I’m cautiously pleased to report that some of the issues regarding Diamond’s reorder system have begun to smooth out. Many items that have literally been on backorder for weeks or months have begun showing up and it appears that we are back to getting reorders in 2-3 days after I place them. UCS, the D.C. distributor we use, has also had more reorders of new comics available and are in the process of moving D.C.’s backlist items into their reorder system. It is not back to pre-Apocalypse levels in terms of service yet, but the signs are showing that both Diamond and UCS are making headways in fixing things. As ever, I appreciate your patience while both Monarch Comics and our distributor partners work our way through these challenging times.

 

After my aborted attempt to take a Saturday off two weeks ago due to Steve’s Covid scare I am once again scheduled to be out of the office on Saturday. I will be busy all day with various and sundry activities so I will most likely be offline all day, but if you have any questions or requests please message me and I will get back to you as soon as possible. Steve will be covering for me and, as you know, he only has limited access to comic book info, but I will be happy to help once I’m back in the office on Sunday afternoon!

 

I hope that everyone has a safe and exciting weekend!

 

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

 

I swear we are cursed to live in interesting times. As you may have heard, Monarch Comics is in the midst of a small Covid scare as Steve turned up sick last week with a mild fever. Well, he went to get the covid test just to make sure he didn’t inadvertently pick up the dreaded virus. The urgent care he went to promised results within 3-5 days and we are still waiting for the verdict. Steve is feeling much better now so we are cautiously optimistic that he’s covid-free. Obviously he’s at home in quarantine until we know for sure and if he turns out to be negative then no harm, no foul. If he turns out positive, well, then we are going to have to work something out. I will go get testing and if I turn out positive as well then we will have to figure out some way to keep the store going with Steve and I in quarantine. Yeah, it should definitely be interesting, but we will find a way to get through this situation and continue to keep the flow of comics going to you. In the meantime, I’m going to keep the hope alive that this is a false alarm. I should also mention that I have been monitoring my temperature and I have no symptoms myself at this point.

 

I’m sure you’ve all heard about ATT/Warner Bros. current layoffs and firings. I’ve spoken to some of you who are worried about what this may mean for our comic collecting hobby. I mean, it’s not every day that a publisher lets go so much of its staff, including editor-in-chief, Bob Harras. I’ve read several news stories regarding the mass layoffs, but I really can’t see how it is going to have much effect on those of us at the far end of the supply chain. Sure, D.C. Direct, D.C.’s boutique subsidiary is being shuttered, but that just means that there won’t be any D.C. produced statues or action figures. But D.C. Comics will continue to produce comics and we will continue to sell them. Life will go on and, in this case, it won’t look much differently.

 

I don’t know if you’ve been paying attention to the store’s Facebook page, but I have been continuing to bring in more and more of my “private stock” from home. This past weekend I unearthed a treasure trove of new back stock including a good run of 80’s era Action Comics as well as Avengers books from the 70’s-90’s! Of course, there is also “new” stock that is in the dollar boxes as well. I spent a productive hour rearranging the back wall behind the register some of these items and you really must take a look.

 

Geez…it’s 2pm on a Thursday and I still don’t have everything posted! Crap cakes! I did have some other things to blather on about today, but I think at this point it is more important to get the sub from and shipping list up and running. I really need to up my game for when I am permanently the only employee here at the store! I hope everyone has a great weekend…😊

 

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

 

I’m afraid that this week’s Editorial is going to be a short one…mostly because after weeks (and months!) of uncertainty and anxiety everything in the comic industry is FINALLY feeling a little bit normal. I mean, even the speculators have started up again…lol…if that’s not a sign of normalcy in this crazy business then nothing is.

 

I’m pleased to announce that all of our damages from the last few weeks have been taken care of to my satisfaction. For those of you who hadn’t heard, UPS has destroyed 3 separate boxes from Diamond in the last few weeks and because of the current COVID craziness there have been some customer service issues from Diamond when I attempted to have the problems corrected. The box of damaged Previews was replaced on Wednesday and the box of severely damaged items from last week have, more or less, been completely replaced. I can’t tell you how happy this makes me.

 

Diamond’s reorder turnaround time is also improving by increments. As you’ve heard me go on about before I typically put a reorder in on Sunday afternoon and, pre-Apocalypse, it would arrive by Wednesday afternoon. Since everything has turned on after the shutdown, however, we’ve had increasingly longer wait times for the arrival of direct ship reorders due to a host of complications between Diamond and UPS. Well, my Sunday reorder is set to be delivered today which means they are only about 24 hours behind pre-Apocalypse service deliveries. This is VERY good news as I now have a better idea about when I can expect special orders to show up.

 

Another issue has begun cropping as well and it’s one that I do believe will be straightened out with a bit more time. The normal way things work is that I look an item up in Diamond’s system, see that it is “in stock”, and then place my order. Diamond’s system generates a packing slip and the warehouse uses it to pull and pack my box. Of course, it is a little more complicated than that as there is a whole system at Diamond’s warehouses of conveyer belts and scanners and whatnot, but that’s the gist of it. Unfortunately, from what I understand, if there’s something on your order that is missed or that the employee can’t find then that item’s order is cancelled whether it is “in stock” or not just to keep the boxes moving. I get an e-mail informing me of the cancellation and then I have to reorder the item again to make sure that I receive it. Because Diamond is still working at getting their warehouses up to something approaching a full staff these kind of cancellations are occurring more often and in greater numbers.

 

For instance, I put a HUGE reorder in on Sunday. There was probably $500 worth of reorders at cost on the reorder. Many of these reorders are single copy orders for comics or trade paperbacks which I imagine is more of a headache for these warehouse orders than a bulk order of books or supplies. I got to work on Wednesday morning to find a laundry list of 11 different items that were showing “in stock” but were cancelled. Many of these items were special ordered which means that those of you I ordered them for will have to wait until next week to get them. It’s somewhat irritating, but I am trying to achieve a certain amount of understanding and compassion for a company that is clearly struggling between losing 30% of their business (D.C. Comics) and a pandemic. I really don’t want to deal with a near future where Diamond goes out of business or the distribution chain splinters more than it already has so I’m going to do everything I can to support Diamond at this time, even if they sometimes drive me crazy. To be fair, it’s a short trip.

 

I will be out of the office on Saturday this week to have a day off with Hillman. We have a few plans, but mostly we will just be hanging out. Steve will be covering for me so please be kind to him…lol. If you have an questions or issues then please leave a message for me on the Facebook Messenger for the store and I will address them when I’m back on Sunday!

 

Have a great weekend!

 

Eddie