Month: November 2021

Hey, Folks!

 

I hope everyone had a happy and safe Thanksgiving! I’m sorry the shipping list/sub form took a bit longer to get prepared this week, but with the holiday and all I was scrambling just to get it done. Big thanks to Diamond for extending the initial order deadline 48 hours for those of us that are still trying to catch up!

 

Monarch Comics will be having a Black Friday sale all day today featuring 25% off all hard cover/trade paperbacks, 25% off showcase books, 50% off our back issue boxes, and $2 off all of the POP vinyl figures! Check out the newly christened “Previously owned/Marked Down” rack for more book deals and remember that the 25% applies to marked down prices as well! Also, the shelves are now full to bursting with an array of new HC/TP stock that I have laboriously dug out of deep storage since it has been getting increasingly difficult to get backlist stuff back in stock. So come on by today to do some local Christmas shopping or to pick up a little something-something for yourself! Brian and I will be here all day to help with your holiday shopping!

 

Have a great weekend and I’ll talks at ya all next week!

 

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

 

Am I the only one who finds it almost impossible to believe that Thanksgiving is next week? I mean, time just seems to be flying by at hyperspeed! This year has been an eventful one between the pandemic, all of the changes being wrought within the industry, and, of course, dealing with the store as an owner versus the “Head Cook and Bottle Washer”. I am excited at the prospect of handling my first holiday season as the erstwhile owner and I am filled with trepidation over dealing with my first end of year tax season, but if it was easy then anyone could do it.

 

I’d like to take the time to announce that Monarch Comics will continue its annual Black Friday Sale tradition this year! On Friday, November 26^th, we will be featuring a preview of our post-holiday sale that runs in January and February with a while host of items on sale for your holiday gift needs! The sale will encompass the following items:

 

25% OFF HARD COVERS/TRADE PAPERBACKS (INCLUDING ALREADY MARKED DOWN SALE ITEMS!)

 

25% OFF SHOWCASE COMICS (THESE ARE THE BACK ISSUES CURRENTLY DISPLAYED IN THE SHOWCASES AT THE COUNTER)

 

50% OFF BACK ISSUE BOXES

 

$2 OFF POP VINYL FIGURES

 

As mentioned above, the trades and hardcover sale deal will encompass items already marked down and if we don’t have the book you’re looking for in stock we will extend the 25% off discount for any title that we can order in for you. We will be open regular Friday store hours (11am-7pm) and Brian and I will both be on hand to help with your shopping needs. Whether you are looking for that one special comic related holiday item or just want to splurge a little on yourself while out and about, Monarch Comics is here to give you a little cheer and big savings!

 

So, I actually got the new Shipping List and Subscription Form finished pretty quickly this week despite Diamond’s system still not being quite back up to speed. I spent a couple of hours on Monday night figuring out some work arounds on my current system and I think I did a pretty good job. The only hitch? I still don’t have a completely reliable list of Marvel Comics that are DEFINITELY coming out next week because I still don’t get my official PRH invoice released before Friday afternoon. So I wanted to give you a little warning that there maybe items offered as being on sale next week that might actually be rescheduled. I figure that after I receive my Marvel invoice tomorrow that I will take a moment to edit anything out of either list that isn’t actually shipping. I apologize in advance for any confusion that this causes and also reassure you that if an item ends up disappearing from the form that it will be included again once it ships.

 

Another apology goes out to those of you who are awaiting any special orders that have been placed in the last two weeks. As I mentioned above, Diamond is still trying to put the pieces back together after the devastating ransomware attack that they were hit with and one of the continuing casualties is their reorder processing and shipping system. I have not received any reorders from Diamond since the attack despite putting in my regular orders like clockwork. After e-mailing Diamond to ascertain whether these missing reorders were still going to be filled, Diamond released information suggesting that their reorder system is now scheduled to be back in motion as of Monday, November 22^nd. Of course, they initially told us it would be up and running by last Saturday, but clearly the problem is more insidious than they realized and more time was needed to get things running properly. I have been assured that all of the orders that I have already placed are still good and that I should be receiving them once they get the problems sorted out. If you have any questions about an item you’ve ordered please don’t hesitate to contact me about it.

 

I also probably note that I will be out of the office on Friday and Saturday this week and won’t be in until later in the day on Sunday. Hillman is whisking me off for an excursion to the Indianapolis this weekend. I think I have it worked out so it shouldn’t affect anything behind the scenes and Brian will be here to fill in for me the whole time I’m gone. This should be good practice for him…I mean, at being me…lol. I will probably be incommunicado while out of town, so if you have any issues that you need me to deal with then I should be back in the store by 2pm on Sunday.

 

That’s it for me this week! I hope everyone has a great weekend and let’s all collectively hope that the threat of a snowstorm next week is just a long running gag! I should also mention that I will do my best to get the shipping list and subscription form ready to go at the usual time next week, but it may be delayed by 24 hours due to the holiday!

 

Eddie

Hey, Folks1

 

So, you might have noticed that this missive is a little bit late this week.

 

Well, you would be right.

 

Poor Diamond. Last Friday they were hit by some sort of ransomware attack. Their website went down on Friday morning and, honestly, I didn’t think very much of it. It isn’t an altogether strange occurrence for the site to go down. This time, however, we got a weird error message that I had never seen before now. Frankly I shrugged it off and just kept doing my normal Friday stuff so that I could get out of the office.

 

Diamond didn’t get up and running on Friday. In fact, they put out a message saying that they were sending everyone home because of technical difficulties. Although there was plenty of online speculation, it wasn’t until Saturday that it was confirmed as a ransomware attack. It apparently hit all areas of operation from ordering to shipping to all manner of online files. Diamond managed to get at least part of the website up and running, but a good portion of their system is still not right. They have set up a third-party e-mail service to communicate with retailers as their e-mail system was compromised. We have been told that the problem is being dealt with and that the police have been notified. There doesn’t seem to be a real solid estimation of when the crisis will be successfully fixed although weeks seems to be a possibility. I can only imagine the panic that must have spread through Steve Geppi’s organization as Alliance Distribution (a game distributor) and Gerber (a comic supplies manufacturer) were also affected.

 

So how does this effect Monarch and, by extension, you? Well, I can assure you that the supply of D.C. and Marvel Comics is unimpeded. I’ve never been so glad that I have three different distributors for my main product line. That just leaves everything else. Diamond has sent assurances that next week’s books are being picked and packed as we speak, but without a clear idea of how their operations have been effected in regards to the shipping process we don’t know if arrival dates will be similarly hurt. Our shipment came in as usual this week, but I know other parts of the country had a more difficult time of it.  

I can tell you that reorders have been put on hold until at least Saturday. I usually put in a big reorder every Sunday afternoon for a Wednesday delivery. This reorder includes all of the special orders I take through the Subscription Form as well as restocking of things like trade paperbacks and supplies. I did put in a reorder on Sunday and I did receive an order confirmation number. Unfortunately it hasn’t been processed yet so those orders likely won’t reach the store until Wednesday or Thursday next week.

 

That’s another unfortunate side effect of this little technical drama. Diamond’s UPS tracking number system is also down. This means that I have no way of knowing if there are packages coming or when to expect them. I had a few tense moments waiting for the shipment to show up.

 

Which brings us neatly to the Shipping List and Subscription Form. There is a two-stage process to constructing both lists and one important resource that I rely on is data files listing all of the new releases. The other important resource is my invoice. The data files are available on Monday and are then update don Wednesday to include everything coming out as opposed to just the main publishers. My invoice is available on Wednesday morning and is usually the first thing I look at once I get in the door. Because of the attack all of the data files that I normally rely on are completely gone. The page where I could access them no longer exists. My invoice for next week did not appear until early this morning. This explains why I couldn’t get started on the shipping list process until this morning. Since I don’t have access to a complete list of titles coming out both the ship list and sub form are somewhat hobbled.

 

So if you know of a small press title that is coming out this week and it isn’t on the sub form then please don’t hesitate to contact the store. I will check on the item and order it in for you if it still available. I am still exploring some possible work arounds for this problem if this situation continues for longer than this week or the next. In the meantime, check out the ship list/sub form and let me know if there are any problems with it…lol.

 

Special thanks to everyone who stopped by the store today and distracted me from this morass. Sometimes one tends to get too deep into the nuts and bolts and it is just nice to stand there at the counter and talk about, you know, comics as opposed to the delivery mechanism. I’m signing off for now as I want nothing more than to sink into bed and get some serious shut eye before returning to the fray tomorrow.

 

Have a great weekend!

 

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

 

It seems impossible to me that it is already November and that I have been a small business owner for almost a year now. Honestly, the time just flew through my first year and now I’m facing my first holiday season. Between distributor adjustments and paper shortages and worries about book deliveries over the holidays and the constant scheduling adjustments to new releases and the exquisite discomfort of dealing with the end of year tax stuff, I must admit to feeling a bit dizzy. But I keep saying that “This too shall pass” and keep moving forward to see what the next day will bring in terms of knowledge and adventure!

 

So it turns out that I made a couple of small (HA!) ordering mistakes when I first started doing FOC with PRH and those particular chickens are coming home to roost. Understand that these ordering errors were entirely my fault due to my misunderstanding of how the new ordering system worked and the crucial mistake of not keeping closer track of the books I’d already ordered. I think the first FOC for PRH was back in late July while I was preparing for FCBD and for the first few weeks it only included some trade paperbacks and hard covers. Well, at this point I didn’t realize that there was no mechanism on PRH’s website to let me know if I had already FOC’ed a title and I ended up duplicating orders by accident once…or twice…lol. So I have a pile of a couple of trades that I screwed up on. Thank goodness I more or less have not only figured out the system, but have instituted a new spreadsheet to keep track of my PRH orders. After I weather this particular storm then everything should be good to go.

 

These extra copies have, however, galvanized me to create another holiday themed sale rack based on the upcoming holiday shopping. With Brian’s assistance, I have created a new “Holiday Sale” rack of trade paperbacks and hard covers. All of the books on this rack will be offered at 25% off cover price until December 24^th. It was kind of a challenge as Brian and I tried to pick out classic comic book story arcs as well as volume ones of different genre books that we judged would be nice holiday gifts. Of course, I also included all of the aforementioned Marvel titles that I duplicated orders on. The biggest problem was choosing items that would be easy to replace once they sold out. Of course, in the current climate, it is impossible to guess what books will still be available as the holiday shopping kicks into high gear and, as the various books begin to disappear from the rack, other titles will replace them if I can’t get more copies of the sold out item, Please take a look at the rack during the holidays and see if a potential gift (or even just something you’ve wanted to check out yourself!) has taken its possession for sale.

 

I should also mention at this point that Monarch Comics will be hosting our own Black Friday sale on November 26^th. We will be open our regular hours although I may stay a bit later if the crowds warrant it. In any case, the sale will be, as per usual, a one day jump to our post-holiday sale and we will be offering 25% off ALL hard covers/trade paperbacks, 50% off our back issue boxes, 25% off any books in the showcases, and $2 off our POP vinyl figures. This the current plan, although I might end up adding a couple of things for sale as we get closer to the sale date. Of course, also as per usual, Monarch Comics will be closed on Thanksgiving.

 

Marvel Comics released an “updated” list of new dates for upcoming comic releases that I posted to our Facebook page last weekend. I should stress that these dates are not set in stone and that they may be revised at any point in the near or distant future. In any case, I figured I’d repost it here in case any of you missed it. I suppose I should print it out so that Brian and I have better access to it for any questions folks might have. Here it is:

 

Alien #8 (November 10, was November 3)

Alien #9 (February 2, was January 5)

Amazing Spider-Man #78.BEY (November 17, was November 10)

Amazing Spider-Man #78 (November 10, was November 3)

Amazing Spider-Man #80 (December 1, was November 24)

Fantastic Four #38 (December 1, was November 17)

Avengers: Tech-On #4 (November 10, was November 3)

Avengers: Tech-On #6 (February 2, was January 5)

Avengers #50 (December 1, was November 24)

Black Panther #1 (November 24, was November 17)

Black Panther Legends #2 (November 17, was November 10)

Black Panther Legends #3 (February 2, was January 5)

Captain America/Iron Man #2 (December 22, was December 1)

Captain Marvel #34 (December 1, was November 17)

Daredevil #36 (December 1, was November 17)

Darkhawk #4 (December 1, was November 24)

Deadpool; Black, White, & Blood #4 (November 10, was November 3)

Death of Doctor Strange: Spider-Man #1 (December 1, was November 17)

Death of Doctor Strange: White Fox #1 (December 1, was November 24)

Hawkeye: Kate Bishop #1 (November 24, was November 17)

Death of Doctor Strange #3 (November 24, was November 17)

Eternals #7 (November 10, was November 3)

Excalibur #25 (November 10, was November 3)

Fantastic Four: Life Story #5 (December 8, was November 24)

Star Wars: Life Day #1 (November 24, was November 17)

Fantastic Four: Reckoning War Alpha #1 (February 2, was January 5)

Fantastic Four #40 (February 16, was January 19)

Fantastic Four Anniversary Tribute #1 (November 17, was November 10)

Hellions #17 (November 10, was November 3)

Hellions #18 (December 8, was December 1)

Hulk #1 (November 24, was November 10)

Hulk #2 (December 15, was December 1)

Iron Man #14 (November 24, was November 17)

Kang the Conqueror #4 (November 17, was November 10)

Ka-zar: Lord of the Savage Land #3 (November 17, was November 10

Ka-zar: Lord of the Savage Land #5 (February 2, was January 5)

Maestro: World War M #1 (February 9, was January 5)

Marauders #26 (December 1, was November 24)

Miles Morales: Spider-Man #32 (November 10, was November 3)

Miles Morales: SPider-Man #33 (December 8, was December 1)

Moon Knight #5 (November 17, was November 10)

New Mutants #23 (December 1, was November 17)

New Mutants #24 (January 10, was November 15)

New Mutants #25 (March 9, was January 12)

Phoenix Song: Echo #2 (December 1, was November 24)

Sabretooth #1 (February 2, was January 5)

Savage Avengers #26 (November 10, was November 3)

Shang-Chi #6 (November 17, was November 10)

Spider-Woman #17 (November 17, was November 10)

Star Wars: Bounty Hunters #18 (December 1, was November 24)

Star Wars: Crimson Reign #2 (February 2, was January 10)

Star Wars: Darth Vader #18 (December 1, was November 17)

Star Wars: Doctor Aphra #16 (November 17, was November 10)

Star Wars: The High Republic #11 (November 10, was November 3)

Star Wars #21 (February 16, was February 2)

Strange Academy #13 (November 10, was November 3)

SWORD #17 (November 17, was November 10)

Symbiote Spider-Man: Crossroads #5 (November 24, was November 17)

The Dark Ages #3 (November 17, was November 10)

The Darkhold: Black Bolt #1 (December 1, was November 24)

The Darkhold: Wasp #1 (November 17, was November 10)

The Thing #1 (November 10, was November 3)

Thor #19 (November 24, was November 17)

Venom #1 (November 10, was November 3)

Venom #2 (December 1, was November 24)

Warhammer 40,000: Sisters of Battle #4 (December 1, was November 17)

Wastelanders: Black Widow #1 (December 29, was December 15)

Wastelanders: Doom #1 (January 5, was December 29)

Wastelanders: Star-Lord #1 (December 29, was December 22)

Winter Guard #4 (December 1, was November 17)

Wolverine #18 (November 24, was November 17)

Wolverine #19 (December 15, was December 1)

X-Force #25 (November 17, was November 10)

X-Men: Trial of Magneto #4 (December 1, was November 17)

X-Men #5 (November 24, was November 17)

Atlantis Attacks: The Original Epic TPB (December 28, was December 21)

Avengers Tech-On TPB (April 5, was March 15)

Genis-Vell: Marvel Tales #1 (November 17, was November 10)

Ka-zar: Lord of the Savage Land TPB (April 5, was March

New Mutants by Vita Ayala Volume 2 (April 12, was February

Avengers #50 poster (November 10, was November 3)

Captain America/Iron Man #1 poster (November 10, was November 3)

Giant-Size Black Cat: Infinity Score #1 poster (November 10, was November 3)

Hulk #1 poster (November 10, was November 3

 

Okily dokily…I suppose I should get all of this stuff posted and get to work on this week’s PRH FOC. Oh! I wanted to cover one more item this week. I’m afraid I have a number of folks who ordered stuff either in person or via the subscription form who haven’t picked up their books in over two months or have items on hold who haven’t picked them up or out in any new orders in weeks. I’m afraid that it is the time of year that I have to start cleaning out my sub boxes and putting these items back out for sale. Understand that I have to pay taxes on any items still in the store as of the end of the year and I honestly can’t afford to hold on to them, especially if I can’t be sure the recipient is actually going to pick up the items. Please remember, My Beloved Customers, that if you can’t pick up whatever you’ve ordered please let us know so that we can put the stock back out for sale and please try to make it into the store at least once every four weeks to pick up what we have for you. Brian and I would really appreciate it.

Have a great week and I hope to see you in the store soon!

 

Eddie