Month: April 2022

Hey, Folks!

 

Just a quick note this week on the account that I have a million things to get done today. I have decided at this late date in my life that I am the absolute worse planner in the history of planning. I mean, I set up a plethora of non-work activities on a week where I not only have initial Diamond orders due (and this is only the second month that I have used my new initial order Diamond system which I am still working the bugs out of) and I have normal duties like this note and the subscription form and the shipping list to get done. Of course, I could (and will) lean on Brian a bit to get everything done, but he has a ton of work to get to as well what with all of the new back stock that is waiting to be processed, priced, and put out for sale along with several boxes of comics in the back room that still need to be gone over so that I can make an offer on them. Then THOSE comics need to be processed, priced, and put out for sale. Eek!

 

The good news is that I successfully completed my initial orders on Tuesday and the new system seems to be holding up fairly well. Also, Brian has done an incredible job of getting a big portion of the higher priced new comic acquisitions ready to go. I mean, we had an amazing Tuesday and Wednesday, business-wise, on a week where there was a very small shipment of new product, but plenty of “new” back issues that folks were clamoring for and I checked the showcase this morning and Brian did his usual great job of rearranging everything into an attractive mélange of great books. As a side note, I was particularly pleased that by getting things done a little extra early this week that I managed to completely avoid a Diamond website crash that apparently occurred last night when I was out to dinner with some dear old friends. Normally, I would have been at home tearing out my hair and waiting in vain for the website to get up and running again so that I could finish whatever I was working on.

 

Anyway, I will be out of the office early today (Thursday) in order to enjoy an evening out with my beloved fiancée as well as Ben and Michelle Sweetser up in Ann Arbor. We are going to see jazz great Joshua Redman in concert as well as eat out at the Blue Nile, an Ethiopian restaurant. I’ve never had Ethiopian before, but I thrill at every opportunity to go to a restaurant where I can eat with Hillman who, as everyone probably knows by now, is an avowed vegan. I am absolutely thrilled to be going to a concert again and am looking forward to a relaxing night out.

 

I was very here at the store later than usual for a Wednesday this week and may I say what a pleasure it was to see a bunch of customers whom I haven’t interacted with for a long time. It was such a pleasure that I may have to start scheduling myself a couple of late Wednesdays a month just stay caught up with everyone. I hope that the weather clears up this weekend and that everyone has a great day!

 

Ed

Hey, Folks!

 

Here we are…one step closer to 2022 Free Comic Book Day. You would think that after hosting FCBD for 21 years that I’d be used to it, but I’m afraid that isn’t the way it works. Despite having a staff now to help with the actual event and having the BEST team of cosplayers to make sure all of the visitors have a good time and hiring Card Advertising, the BEST advertising company in the world, I am still filled with anxiety and dread as we get closer to the big day. I will admit that my idea of working with Shivers to offer ice cream did take a lot of work out of the event for me personally as I no longer have to bake a quadrillion cookies and the hiring of the immensely talented photographer Kurt Nielson to handle the photography certainly helps out as well. It looks like the free comics will get here with none of the last minute headaches we had last August to make things more difficult so that’s a big plus as well. Here’s hoping everything stays on track and moves forward with no more problems.

 

We’ve got another relatively small shipment coming up next week. I’ve been joking about it for two weeks now that the 27^th (as well as May 4^th) are going to be huge ship weeks and I can now confirm that supposition. Diamond typically has a rough list of what is expected to ship out two weeks in advance and I took a good, long look at the 4/27 list yesterday. It is indeed a doozy and that is without me looking at Lunar’s website for the DC Comics list. So if there is any titles that you have been anticipating or think you may have missed…rest assured they are coming. Make sure you check out the tsunami of new merchandise that has been flowing in for the past couple of weeks. We have a ton of new POP figures, some of which I ordered nearly a year ago and are now finally showing up as well as some other fun stuff.

 

Thanks to everyone for all the kind words and compliments regarding the new Monarch Comics commercial that I debuted on the Facebook page Tuesday afternoon. I was personally delighted with the end result and once again send HUGE kudos to the staff of Card Advertising for producing such a fun and wonderful TV spot. Seriously, CARD ADVERTISING are an amazing team and you could not find a better company to handle your advertising needs in the Toledo area. Also, thanks again to the Monarch Avengers and their very special appearance in the commercial. We couldn’t have done it without you.

 

Well, I suppose I should get this posted along with the new Shipping List and Sub Form! I hope everyone has a great weekend and that we finally get some warmer weather with no more rain!

 

See ya in the Funny Papers!

 

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

 

Well, thanks to the good works of Card Advertising and the very special appearance of the Monarch Avengers we got a new commercial shot for the store! I thought it would be a whole lot more difficult to have a commercial filmed here in the store, but the crew brought in by Card made everything pretty simple and despite the fact that yours truly has a starring role in the spectacle I do believe it will turn out okay. I mean, it’s kind of hard for me to say as I was one of the ones being filmed, but the spectators all seemed sold on it. I should have the finished product ready to unveil in a few days and I am currently planning on having a Facebook Live video to show it everyone. I’m imagining something along the lines of the old MTV days when they would show a new video for the first time. I don’t know…maybe I am dating myself by using that particular analogy…lol.

 

Everything is currently a big GO for Free Comic Book Day. I mean, I’ve arranged for Kurt Nielson, photographer extraordinaire, to make an appearance with his mobile photo booth and we will once again be handing out coupons for free ice cream cones from Shivers. Obviously, the Monarch Avengers will once again be making an appearance with some new characters joining the fold this year. And, of course, there will be a ton of new comics including the big lead-ns for D.C. and Marvel Comics big summer storylines. Frankly, I couldn’t be any happier that the event is back to its first Saturday in May (May 7^th) time slot and I’m glad that it is paired up with the release of the new Doctor Strange movie! This comic book summer is certainly shaping up to be a good one!

 

You may have noticed that the new release rack has looked a little, well, anemic for the last couple of weeks. I wanted assure everyone that it isn’t a harbinger of problems in the comic industry or with Monarch, but rather I do believe it is a reaction to FCBD. I noticed that a couple of tent pole comic projects (including Amazing Spider-Man #1) have been pushed back for an April 27^th release which is the week before FCBD. In fact, I’m thinking that 4/27 and 5/4 are going to be come of the biggest ship weeks that we’ve seen in recent memory between comic books and collections. All the companies are going to want their biggest projects out and on display as comic shops around the country welcome tons of new people into their doors. It should be an interesting time trying to get it all out on display in our New Releases sections, but I didn’t take this job because I thought it would be easy.

 

One the changes I’ve made since taking over ownership of the store has been to increase the amount of back issue stock we carry. I mean, we really had no choice even before Steve retired as it took several months for the comic industry to get up and running after the shutdown of 2020. I started off by bringing a bunch of stuff in that was in storage, both comics as well as trades and hard covers, and when that material did so well then I started opening up to buying more stuff that came in the door. Of course, hiring Brian to work behind the counter crystallized my decision as he is really quite good at processing comic book collections as they come in and our working relationship on such matters has only gotten stronger. I’ve been trying to make posts on our Facebook page about any new back issue stock we get in both generally and specifically (usually in regards to higher priced items in the showcases). There is new back issue material being added to the boxes all the time so please feel free to ask about it when you swing by the store.

 

Okily dokily…that’ it for me this week. Brian is currently out of the store and off this whole weekend so I will be here all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday this week. Stop on  by and say, “Hi!”

 

Eddie