Month: September 2021

Hey, Folks!

Boy howdy, is it an exciting week here at Monarch Comics!

As many of you are already aware, next week will be the first week that Penguin Random House will be distributing Marvel Comics! It’s been a somewhat nerve racking couple of days trying to figure out how to use PRH’s back end retailer website in order to cull the information I used to get from Diamond in order to get the Shipping List and Subscription Form up and running. I mean, with Diamond my invoice for the following week is available Wednesday morning which gives me a little time in order to sort through special orders and get the titles (and images that go with them) ready to be added to the sub form. Unfortunately, PRH’s invoicing system is a lot different from Diamond (or even Lunar) and it looks like there will be learning curve to figuring out how it is going to work for me. I mean, I was poking the PRH website with a stick all day Tuesday and Wednesday in order to figure out the best and easiest way to get the information that I need to do a proper sub form. I eventually found the files I needed, but the “simple” part was eluding me. It was a nice surprise to find a temporary patch to the issue that PRH added to help comic retailers after the inevitable complaints started rolling in, but it’s not a perfect solution and I’m expecting more fixes to be implemented as we move forward and PRH gets a deeper understanding about the kind of service comic retailers need. My biggest issue now that I finally got the shipping/sub lists ready is when I am actually going to see my first shipment of Marvel books from PRH. As of this morning there was still no invoice generated and one of PRH “things” is that they don’t post invoices until the shipment is packed and ready to go. From everything I’ve read PRH is currently planning on getting our books out via UPS for a Monday delivery. I will feel a lot more confidant about the process after I receive my first shipment.

My Lunar shipments have been coming in pretty reliably since I switched from FedEx to UPS for delivery. Unfortunately, I just ran into another problem with Lunar this morning as only one of the two boxes of next week’s D.C. books made it to me. The other box is currently showing as not having left the warehouse yet. I’ve got an e-mail to them asking what happened to the second box, but I haven’t heard back yet. I can’t tell you how annoying it is that Lunar does not allow their customers to call up their offices for explanations about issues like this. I mean, I didn’t care as long as I didn’t have any major problems, but an entire box of missing items is pretty serious and having to wait for someone to answer an e-mail and then continue the game of “e-mail tag” until the issue gets resolved is incredibly time consuming and very irritating. Hopefully it is simply a computer snafu and the box will suddenly show up tomorrow, but until I get some kind of answer from Lunar it’s a mystery!

Okay…I now have to confess to a mistake of my own. D.C. Comics Justice League Infinity #4 is being published next week, but as I was constructing the sub form I realized that I somehow missed ordering the issue at FOC. Ling time readers will know that this is the second time this has happened in the last month with the first time being the Batman Superman Annual. Well, in the case of the Annual it was no biggie because Lunar still had copies easily available. With this Justice League Infinity title, however, any orders are currently going to backorder. Of course, I only sell a fraction of the copies of Justice League Infinity that I do of Batman Superman and I am pretty sure that the copies I currently have on order will ship out once Lunar finishes processing any damages or shortages that may pop up this week. So, those of you enjoying the title can be relatively certain that I will have it in stock although it will probably not have it in stock until 10/22 due to the turn around time with Lunar. Sorry about that…I will endeavor to be more careful during my Lunar FOC time!

It is also my great pleasure to announce that we finally have Monarch Comics logo shirts available for sale! It was quite surprising to have the requests for the t-shirts ever since I had some made for employees and cosplayers, but I have listened and the shirts were just delivered this afternoon by my beloved t-shirts guru, Nichole Smith! They are comfortable and soft white cotton t-shirts with the Monarch Comics logo emblazoned across the chest. There shirts are currently available for $19.99 in a variety of sizes…😊

Okily dokily…that’s it for me this week! While writing this little missive I was hit by a big business rush and now I have to do some interesting dance party moves in order to catch up! Hopefully the distributor trials and travails described above will be dealt with easily and there will be no problems with getting the shipment up and running on time next week, but rest assured I keep y’all up to date on any changes as soon as they become apparent to me.

Have a GREAT weekend!

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

 

To quote Samwise Gamgee from the end of Lord of the Rings, “Well, I’m back.”

 

My vacation was a good one that was filled with relaxation, food, friends, (LOTS of) fudge, and, of course, BEARS! It was one of the best times I can remember having on vacation and my only regret is that coming back means I have tons of work to catch up on. I’m not really complaining, but I do have to admit that this ownership thing has been a little more labor intensive and time consuming than I ever expected. I mean, I’ve been working on projects since I took over from Steve from the initial store cleanup to the renovations to the restock to FCBD and I have come to the realization that it is never going to be less work than it is now and that it is time to manage my expectations and work on training Brian to do more of the daily/weekly tasks that keep things moving forward as well as work on managing my personal time better.

 

I know this missive and the posting of the sub form is a bit behind this week and this is partly due to the fact that I had another comic book collection show up for sale this morning. It took me 2 hours or so to sort through it and make an offer which the gentleman ended up accepting. It looks like I have another project added to the list of 300 things that need to get done before the week is done. Hopefully, Brian and I will be able to get these books sorted, processed, and put out for sale before the end of the week. There are, of course, a bunch of books that will be going into the dollar boxes, but there are also interesting restocks of Spawn, Wolverine, Infinity Gauntlet, Hellblazer, Preacher, as well as some other various titles. There will be a bunch of 90’s era Vertigo titles going into the dollar boxes as well. Watch the Facebook page for pics once I get them sorted and priced and always feel free to ask when you come into the store what new back issues goodies we have to offer.

 

A few of you were asking this week about Batman The Adventures Continue Season Two #4 this week. Well, technically it DID indeed get released this week, however, due to a printer’s mishap we (as well as many other comic shops) did not receive our cover A’s for the issue. They are going to be coming in with next week’s books so I decided to hold the cover B’s and put both covers out for sale next week. It’s on the sub form this week if you are looking for a copy.

 

We also have a bunch of supplies getting restocked on Friday this week. These supply items include Ultra Pro Silver Age Bags, Ultra Pro Regular Comic Bags (which is a size between Silver and current), Ultra Pro Resealable Modern Bags, Ultra Pro Resealable Regular Bags, Ultra Pro Resealable Silver Age Bags, and, for the first time ever, Ultra Pro Resealable Golden Age Bags. It’s been an interesting challenge to keep a variety of comic supplies in stock since I took over, but I think that I am finally getting the hang of it. I mean, in the old days, Steve and I would keep relatively light stock of supplies in the store as it was never any problem getting a case or two of bags or boards within 2 days of ordering them. With all of the Apocalyptic Craziness going on this year, however, maintaining a healthy stock of supplies has not been an easy job. I’ve got literally thousands of bags coming this week and my current stock of boards and boxes is pretty strong although it looks like I may need to order more boxes next week to keep up with the demand.

 

Speaking of difficulties keeping things in stock in a post-apocalyptic world, it looks like we soon have a major windfall in regards to out of stock Marvel backlist items. As many of you already know, Penguin Random House will be taking over the position as primary distributor for Marvel Comics beginning the first of October. We’ve been promised that a huge amount of Marvel backstock has already been delivered to the distribution giant and that they will be released into PRH’s stock for order on October 1^st. I am currently working on an order of potentially thousands of dollars worth of trades for next month in order to get things nice and stocked up for the upcoming holidays. Unfortunately, I can’t really tease what might be coming back into stock because the whatever the titles will be have to been released to us. I have also begun the task of restocking a lot of older hard covers/trade paperbacks from material that I have had in deep storage for years. So over the next couple of months please take a moment and peruse the new book shelves as they magically fill up with a cornucopia of new “old” books!

 

Okily dokily…that’s it for my blathering this week. As I mentioned above I have a million tasks to get through today, including Diamond September initial orders. Now that I am ordering D.C. and Marvel titles on FOC only, the initial orders stage is a little simpler, but it is still rather time consuming and the weekly Marvel FOC is rather different from other FOC systems that I am used to operating within and it is taking a bit longer to get the hang of it. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

 

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

 

After last week’s seemingly endless EDitorial I just have a few quick notes before getting the whole schmoo posted and ready to go! The biggest note this week is that there will be no EDitorial next and that I will be out of the office from Thursday, September 16^th-Sunday, September 19^th for my now annual trip up North to see da bears at the Oswald Bear Ranch in Michigan’s UP. This will be a little different from my previous excursions as I have decided to leave the office behind and let Brian give it a go to run things next week. This means I will not have the computer with me and I may be out of communication at various points due to the weak cell coverage up there. I will make sure to get the shipping list and sub form up and running before leaving Thursday morning and here’s hoping there will be no problems with it. I’ve trained Brian on how to process the orders, but I am apologizing in advance in case there are any blips while I’m gone.

 

This week also marks the first time I will be ordering Marvel periodicals from Penguin Random House. It’s an interesting process and I am curious as to how well it will work…lol. Back in the old days, i.e. last month, when I was still getting the Marvel stuff from Diamond I would place Marvel initial orders into the system and then I would do a final order cut-off every week in order to adjust my orders up or down based on inventory records. Well, the system is not quite the same with PRH, especially in regards to “initial orders’ VS “FOC orders”. I could put in an initial order for Marvel product at the end of the month as I did with Diamond, but PRH does not offer the option of adjusting orders down, only up, with their FOC system. As a result, I have had to devise an entirely new system of ordering Marvel Comics in order to properly track and manage special orders and the like. I think I have it figured out and those of you who helpfully let me know what you want to purchase ahead of time should be covered with no problems. I’m not sure how well prepared PRH is for reorders of periodicals, both the packing and shipping, but I have been using the, to restock hard covers and trades for a couple of months now and they have pretty efficient with the way they handle it. So I have big hopes that this new arrangement will work out just fine, but I thought I should mention it now to let you know that there is a sea change going on behind the scenes and that there may be issues with it that haven’t presented themselves yet. I will, of course, keep all of you in the loop and let you know if some problem has popped up!

 

Brian and I have managed to get all of the new shelving units up and running on the slatwall, but we are still working on filling them up so that the store doesn’t look half empty. Who knew that a wall of face-out trade paperbacks would contract so much when reoriented sideways!?! We have been spreading the stock out a bit in order to fill things in and there are plans afoot to start moving around the books and refiling things. The big work will most likely begin when I get back as I don’t want to burden Brian with it while I am out of the store. I do believe that we will, at least at the outset, have one wall devoted to Marvel books and the other wall devoted to D.C. books although this may change at some point if I get a better idea. In any case, I ask for your patience while we move things around and my current goal is to have everything spread out well filed before our annual Black Friday sale in November!

 

We have also been feverishly working to finish the restock on the back issue bins as well as finishing up refilling the dollar boxes. If you haven’t checked out the back issue bins recently you might want to take another look as we have added hundreds of restocked back issues. The dollar boxes are flowing pretty well now too and there are hundreds of new selections for your perusal.

 

Okily dokily…that’s it for me this week. To reiterate, I will be here in the store next week on Tuesday and Wednesday as per usual, but will be gone and incommunicado for the rest of the week. Please direct all questions to Brian who will attempt to help as best as he can and will direct any questions to me once I return!

 

Have a great week, Folks, and I will talks at ya again in two weeks!

 

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

 

Well, the last couple of weeks have been pretty hectic here at Monarch Comics, but I do believe everything has finally calmed down to pre-FCBD levels of stress. Between FCBD, putting the final touches on Ed Year One store renovations, training Brian how to operate within a business system created (and only used by) myself, dealing with delivery issues with our D.C. Comics distributor, and sorting through literally thousands of new back issue purchases it has been a very long August!

 

The biggest issue over the last three weeks has been the sudden breakdown of service between Lunar Distribution and the local FedEx hub. I’ve gone over the story with many of you and was posting about it when it was actually happening, but I thought it would be a good idea to go over the general details one more time and hopefully set everyone at ease over our delivery issues. When Monarch Comics initially moved from UCS to Lunar for distribution of D.C. Comics I must admit that there were no problems for months. I initially chose Lunar’s principle shipping partner, FedEx, to deliver our weekly shipments. For the first 7+ months the honeymoon was on and I had little to no problems dealing with FedEx for our deliveries. I generally received my Lunar shipments days before their street date and it was relatively easy to deal with them. However, Lunar/D.C. decided to wait until the week before FCBD to ship us our titles and that is when the problems began.

 

To be honest, I wasn’t particularly surprised when I realized that there was going to be a problem with that week’s shipment. I was a bit panicked, sure, but not surprised. I mean, I usually get between 1-3 boxes a week from Lunar and because of the FCBD titles I ended up getting 13 boxes. If other stores had a similar amount of boxes coming to them it wasn’t a huge surprise that Lunar or FedEx might have a little problem processing and delivering them. When I hadn’t even received shipment tracking numbers, much less the shipment itself, by Friday morning I knew there was a serious problem and that I was going to have to spring into action in order to fix it. I e-mailed Lunar and after a little back and forth determined that it would be necessary for me to drive to New Haven, IN, to pick up the shipment. Understand that Lunar is only about an hour and a half away from Toledo and while it is not a trip I’d want to have to take every week I decided that it would be a good idea this time if only to ensure that my FCBD titles arrived before the event. I put Brian in charge of the store and Hill and I made our way to the Lunar warehouse and picked up the pallet. (I won’t go into how there were actually twice as many huge boxes then I was told via e-mail…)

 

So, problem solved, right? Wrong. The following week was another case of not having tracking numbers by Friday morning and this time I was told by Lunar that I wouldn’t see the shipment until Monday…which eventually turned into late Tuesday afternoon. This was annoying as by late Tuesday afternoon I generally have everything unpacked and I am preparing to pull the sub customers as well as record a new episode of Monarch Comics Afternoon Delight. Still, I got the books and did the job and chalked the whole thing up as a blip in the general scheme of things. After all, the first 7 months had no major problems, right? And the other retailer woes that I read about online involving shipments from FedEx were on the other side of the country and I figured it wouldn’t be a factor in our delivery problems at all.

 

How wrong I was. The third week was the worst one yet. Again, no tracking numbers by Saturday and Lunar couldn’t really give me much information about when we would see our shipment or what the problem was. It was a single large box as it was a small shipping week for D.C. and I tracked its progress in a way that could be charitably called “obsessive”. The lone box ended up being checked in as arriving at the Perrysburg FedEx hub at 1:17am Monday morning and the box didn’t actually make it to the store until after 4pm on Wednesday afternoon.

 

When a box shows up so late that I can’t put them on sale Wednesday morning then we have a serious problem. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get any real idea from anyone about what the actual hold up was, whether it was a problem with Lunar or FedEx. I remembered reading about other retailers on the West Coast having similar issues with FedEx and figured that must be at least a portion of the problem. I also learned that retailers working with Lunar had no obligation to use FedEx and that we could switch to UPS at any time, albeit with a hefty shipping charge increase to the tune of 4X FedEx’s rate. This mattered little to me at this point, however, because all of the money I could potentially save on shipping means nothing if I don’t have actual book to sell.

 

So everything in regards to getting my D.C. books shipped from Lunar on a timely basis has been fixed. Last week I got this week’s titles on Thursday and this week’s books are scheduled for a Friday afternoon arrival. All is right with the world…at least for the time being.

 

There are new changes on Monarch Comics’ horizon in regards to comic distribution. As many of you already know, starting with the week of October 6^th, we will begin receiving our Marvel books from new comic book distributor Penguin Random House. The industry has been preparing for the changeover since May of this year and it looks like everything is going to go smoothly. Once I realized that PRH had product in stock that I couldn’t get from either Diamond or Lunar I began putting regular reorders in with them just to see how they were at packing and shipping items. They aren’t perfect, but I’ve seen a lot worse in my time and I am cautiously optimistic about getting the Marvel periodicals shipped in good shape. Because PRH operates so many warehouses in the US it can be a kind of crapshoot as to how long it takes to get a reorder from them or in how many pieces it will show up, but I don’t think that will be an issue with the comic books as they will all be coming from one dedicated warehouse.

 

There is also the matter of navigating PRH’s retailer website. It’s certainly different from Diamond and Lunar’s respective websites and I think I have it figured out, but I’ve had to make some changes to how I process order behind the scenes. I won’t bore you will al the spreadsheet details, but a major change I’ll be making is switching to FOC orders for Marvel rather than the way I did it through Diamond with Initial Orders followed by FOC tweaks. This is mostly due to PRH’s initial orders system is a little clunky and they haven’t updated their systems to allow for reducing orders for product on FOC. This shouldn’t make a difference to the way you order and purchase Marvel Comics at all and I am hoping that the transition is functionally seamless, but I’ve also been around this industry long enough to know that there may be issues down the road that I can’t even predict at this point. I think that I’ve worked it all out on paper and got it figured out, but if there are issues then I will rectify them as quickly and hassle-free as possible.

 

The final stages of Ed Year One renovations are in their final stages. I finally received the bookshelves and brackets that I have been waiting on since early July and Brian and I have been working hard to get them all up on the walls. For those of you who haven’t been in yet this week, this portion of my renovations consists of taking the metal baskets that have been hanging on the slatwall since the beginning of time and replacing them with much more attractive bookshelves which will allow us to display more titles on the walls as well as keep those titles in better shape. The supplies have also been moved from their old metal shelf and onto these knew and sleek bookshelves. I’m actually pleasantly surprised by how well this project turned out and despite a few hiccups, including having to repaint a whole wall because the paint didn’t stick well, it has been pretty easy to swap everything around. Over the next couple of months I will be working to bring in a lot more trade paperback/hard cover backstock in order to get these shelves filled up as quickly as possible, hopefully in time for my first holiday season!

 

I’ve also recently picked up a great deal of backstock for the store and Brian and I have working tirelessly in order to get it all out in front of you as quickly as possible. This includes some major new key issues in the showcase as well as a major restock of more general back issues in the boxes and the creation of many new dollar boxes! I won’t claim that we have a comprehensive catalogue of back issues, but we have a lot more than in the past and if there are books you are looking for to complete runs then it is certainly worth your time to check out the back issue boxes and dollar bins! Also, keep an eye on our Facebook page as I will be posting pictures of all of the new keys that come in the door and end up in the showcases.

 

I will be out of the office tomorrow (Friday, September 3^rd) for a much needed day off. It surprised me when I realized that I haven’t had an actual day off in almost two months and decided to treat myself since Brian just got back from vacation and was ready to hit the ground running. I will effectively be offline until I get back into the store, but if you have any questions that need attending to immediately please don’t hesitate to give the store a call and talk to Brian. He needs more experience in helping folks with comic book issues and he can always take a message and kick any problems back to me. Additionally, I will be taking a small vacation from the store starting September 16^th and I won’t be back until the 21^st. Hill and I are joining two other couples and journeying once again up to Michigan’s UP in order to visit the bears at Oswald’s Bear Ranch…😊

 

Okily dokily…that’s it for me this week! Have a great weekend and I hope to see you in the store soon!

 

Eddie