Hey, Folks!
This industry really cracks me up sometimes. I mean, I’ve been doing this long enough to know a thing or two about a thing or two, but there are still moments when I stupidly get blindsided by some trend or stupid speculator thing. While dealing with the fallout from the unexpected popularity of Batman Fortnite, BOOM Studios finally got around to releasing Brzrkr #2 and I’m going through the same thing all over again. I suppose I could be forgiven by my under order of Batman Fortnite #1 since as a 50 year old, non-video game player I had no idea what a “fortnite” was, much less how many people were going to come out of the woodwork looking to score a copy so that they (or their kids) could access the special code that unlocks a character skin (in this case, Harley Quinn). I’ll admit that I was worried that I would have to deal with a tsunami of increasingly desperate and vicious attacks when I sold out, but I must admit that the disappointed shoppers have all been very understanding which leads me to realize that they are already conditioned to accept it when the latest item their kids are panting for is hard to acquire. I’ve really made an effort this time around to be as helpful as possible by letting people know about the other stores in the area as well as the fact that they could simply buy a digital copy of the comic and still have access to the skin’s digital code. I feel like I might have missed an opportunity to get people into the store to see all of the other stuff we carry that they might be interested in, but for the most part I’ve decided to be content at selling out without having to worry about unsold stock or bothersome returns. Batman Fortnite #2 hits the rack next week and once again it will be limited to one copy per household for as long as supplies last. Also, I know there is a lot of interest in seeing the historic Batman VS Snake Eyes fight in #3 and I have ordered considerably more copies of that one with the expectation that many of you won’t be able to resist seeing that battle!
So Brzrkr #2 shipped in this week. This title is a real head scratcher for me. I mean, I sold quite a few copies of the first issue and probably could have moved plenty more had they been available for reorder. Of course, they weren’t available for reorder due to Boom! Studios fascinating foray into the Land of Collectors and Speculators. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but Boom! made the first issue returnable for retailers and then unleashed a wave of variant copies tied to the number of copies of the returnable issue. They had a plethora of incentive variants…multiple 1 in 25 and 1 in 50 and 1 in 100…even a 1 in 1000 variant signed by Keanu Reeves. As you can imagine, many retailers who could afford the initial book bill for a 1000+ copies went for the speculator gold to procure THAT comic. As a result, there are literally thousands of copies of this #1 issue out there on the market, but, curiously enough, none available for reorders by those of us who ordered basically what we thought we could responsibly sell. To add to the bumbling confusion, Boom!’s attempts at 2nd and 3rd printings to cover retailers who needed a handful more copies for when #2 came out backfired spectacularly and, due to low orders or printing issues, both of those later printings are selling for $100 or more on their release date. I ordered a handful of 3rd printings of the first issue in order ot have some on the rack for when #2 came in only to have my orders allocated by 50%. I mean, sure, I could potentially contact another store to purchase some copies of the 1st printing, but, frankly, it is way more trouble to go through for 5 or 10 copies of a single title.
And now we have issue #2 on the rack. I basically went for the same amount of orders on #2 as I did for #1 because I figured it didn’t make much sense to order more #2’s than #1’s. Of course, I’m nearly sold out of #2’s and there are none available for reorder again. Another reason for not going for more copies of #2 is that I had nearly zero customers mention the title in any meaningful way. Maybe I’m reading this completely wrong, but it seems that the appetite for this title has very little to do with any entertainment value and everything to do with its perceived collectability. I’ve seen THAT movie before back in the 90’s and I wasn’t a big fan of it then either. (Of course then I had Steve fuming at me when we sold out of a title too quickly for his tastes, but I certainly don’t have to worry about that now and I am way too exhausted every night to bother fuming at myself…lol) We will see how all of this plays out, but at this point, once again, I am trying to just be happy with covering as many of my beloved customers as possible and having a quick, neat sell out. I’m pretty sure no store ever lost money by selling out.
D.C. Comics continues their noble quest to be a minor pain in my rump. As I do believe I’ve mentioned here before, D.C. Comics will no longer be offering their little poster fliers with a checklist of their upcoming titles divided into weekly release schedules. This follows along with their “brilliant” idea of not printing out proper catalogs and instead only offering it as an online service. It is very frustrating when a company makes it more difficult and expensive to market their product while all the time they tell you they are doing it to help you. I really don’t need anymore of this brand of “help”. In any case, I wanted to let everyone know that if you need a copy of the D.C. checklist then just let me know as I have printed out a handful of copies to hand out. I would have had them ready Wednesday morning, but my stupid printer ran out of ink again and I obviously didn’t have time to run to the store and get more cartridges to get my printer up and running. Also, I had a few people ask me what happened to D.C. latest online catalog as it hadn’t been posted in the usual spot as of yesterday morning. For all I know it has finally been posted to the usual D.C. Connect website, but if you can’t find it there then bop on over to “lunardistribution.com” and you will find it right in the front page.
I know that lately Monarch Comics has been struggling to keep up with your comic supply needs and I wanted to explain that the problem is industry-wide at this point and I am doing everything I can to keep on top of the constantly evolving situation. According to Southern Hobby (the distributor I use as a back up supply supplier) the problem lies with pallets of comic book supplies being trapped on freight ships from overseas. If they are to be believed, it’s a bottle neck of epic proportions and as soon as these ships are unloaded and shipped everything should be available. This includes MyLites, resealable bags, hard plastic comic holders, regular bags, and whatever else we are currently either low or out of stock on. While I am currently out of current backing boards I do have a couple of thousand coming from Southern Hobby on Friday as well as another 1000 coming in from Diamond next week. I have also taken steps to put 1000’s of bags on backorder in order to stock up the next time they arrive at my distributors. Thanks in advance for your patience and understanding as we continue to navigate through these choppy post-Covid waters.
My renovation plans continue to chug along at a good speed. You may have noticed that I am gradually making my way through painting the various comic book racks in the store. It is tedious work and time consuming when you figure in the amount of time I have to take letting the paint dry and cure. Honestly, I didn’t really expect it to take this long. Hopefully I’ll be able to get all of the racks completed before the time comes to replace the flooring. I have no idea how long it will be before I can schedule the installation, but from the chatter in the store I’m to understand that, generally speaking, building contractors are scheduling things months out and the actually building supplies could be difficult to get together. In any case, I’ve got a meeting with my first contractor this afternoon to give me an estimate so hopefully I will have some more information soon!
Well, I suppose I should wrap this up and get back to work. I’ve got a HUGE reorder from Diamond to sort through as well as the D.C. Comics for next week and I would honestly love to get another coat of paint on the rack I am currently working on before I go home tonight. Have a great week and I hope to see you all soon!
Eddie