Hey, Folks!
It is sporadically SNOWING outside today! Really, Mother Nature, REALLY!?! Yes, I know that Prince warned us decades ago that “Sometimes It Snows In April”, but I always think of it as more hyperbole than actual fact. Le sigh…well, at least we won’t have to shovel it!
So I’ve had a couple of boo-boo’s lately with the Subscription Form. Basically I have inadvertently oversold some of the items that I have listed on the form. It’s usually not that big of a deal because all I have to do is order a few more copies and, voila, the problem is fixed. This week, however, I made a mistake in counting the orders for the latest issue of Flash and I ended up short a couple of copies. Unfortunately, Lunar rarely has any copies of current D.C. Comics available for reorder and when they do have copies available it is generally two weeks before I can get them shipped to me. Anyway, sorry about that. I am currently working on an updated system for tracking orders more carefully and hopefully this will reduce the amount of snafus in the future.
Speaking of ordering snafus, many of the new D.C. Comics have been quick sell-outs here at the store above and beyond what I was selling before the Future State promotion began back in January. I pretty much got all of the regulars covered, but for anyone interested in starting the new line of D.C. Comics/creative teams the good news is that D.C. has announced a couple of titles going back to press for a second printing. So, this week I will be ordering a small number of copies of Nightwing #78 and Detective Comics #1034 for the rack. If you would like a copy then please let me know ASAP and I will add your request onto my order for them.
So some big distribution news dropped last week after I had already posted the EDitorial. This is probably a good thing as it gave me moment properly digest the news rather than simply having a public gut reaction to it. I mean, everyone, particularly comic book retailers, are suffering from a mild case of PTSD after all of the Covid driven industry problems/changes of the last year, so every time I get a suspicious e-mail in my box I break out into a cold sweat. Marvel Comics and Random Penguin House announced last week a new deal for distributing Marvel periodicals. Basically, Penguin will be the new suppliers of Marvel Comics periodicals starting in October. Penguin has, of course, been distributing Marvel’s hard cover/trade paperback line for decades to the book store market and these will be available to comic book retailers as well. If I understand the quite excellent presentation that Penguin sent to retailers correctly then accounts will still be able to order Marvel titles from Diamond, but they will essentially become “sub-distributors” and get their orders from Penguin.
Now, as I mentioned above, I had to fight a stab of panic when I first read the news. I mean, it was around this time last year when D.C. Comics dropped the bombshell that they were pulling out of Diamond in the middle of a global pandemic and general national shutdown and shifting their business to two different “new distributors” that were actually online comic book stores and we all saw how that turned out. This new Marvel situation, however, appears to be an animal of completely different stripes. In the first place, the Marvel and Penguin have clearly been planning this move for quite a while as witnessed by Penguin’s building a dedicated warehouse for Marvel periodicals and the amazing e-mail presentation they put together explaining the new terms. Additionally, unlike D.C.’s choice of “distributors”, Penguin Random House is one of, if not THE, largest book distributors in the world and they are well situated for comic book distribution on a scale that even Diamond would find difficult to emulate. I won’t go into all of the details, but the behind the scenes terms for comic retailers are also pretty good compared to Diamond and do include free shipping. Overall I’m feeling pretty good about the new distribution deal despite how adding yet another distributor may make things a little more challenging to keep up with at this point. I’m hoping that the briefly mentioned new promotional material will sooth any difficulties I might have at keeping up with another supplier. I did receive the confirmation of the my new Penguin Random House account this morning so they are very efficient so far!
Okily dokily…I had some more stuff I wanted to blather on about today, but it has been refreshingly busy this morning, far more than I am accustomed to on a Thursday and the day is already half over and I still don’t have the Shipping List up yet. I do want to mention that for the first time ever Monarch Comics WILL be open on Easter Sunday. Honestly, I’m not expecting much in the way of business, but I have to be here anyway to cover my usual Sunday duties so there doesn’t seem to be any reason not to stay open as long as I’m here.
I hope everyone has a great weekend and enjoys the holiday!
Eddie