Month: July 2022

Hey Folks!

 

Well, Jack Cochran was in the house and has just walked out. I promised to give him a shout out so here it is!

 

The EDitorial is a little late this week because I have been spending an extremely productive morning training Brian how to construct and post the shipping list and sub form. It’s been an interesting day of tutorials because this is the first time that I have actually had to explain the process to another person. I mean, I’ve been doing it so long that much of the process is just automatic for me. I don’t even think about it. In fact, I did manage to forget a big part of the process during my tutorial and had to go back and explain it. I letting everyone know about this training session because Brian will be handling the entire process next week. So please…if you have any problems understanding or accessing the shipping list or sub form then give the store a call or send us a Facebook message and Brian will try to help.

 

Where will I be? Well, as many of you have already heard, Hillman and I are journeying to the great city of Chicago to attend a Lunar Distribution retailer event on Thursday and then to make a quick visit to C2E2 on Friday. I am not a huge fan of going to comic conventions. I did it years ago and frankly I am over the experience. Being a retailer there is rarely anything for me to shop for and the heady allure of meeting celebrities or comic professionals lost its luster a long time ago. Hillman, however, has never been to a comic book convention and is interested in the experience so here we go! My reservations about comic conventions do not apply to gaming conventions and I have discovered that GenCon is next weekend as well. We may just have to swing by Indianapolis on our way home to check that out…lol.

 

I’ve made a new executive decision this week regarding how I order comics. Lunar Distribution got its start distributing D.C. Comics once they pulled out of Diamond, Lunar has, however, started distributing a handful of small press companies including Scout Comics and Vault Comics. I order very few copies of these small press books as a general rule of thumb, but I have recently done the math and realized tta I could get a better discount as well as lower shipping costs by going through Lunar for these small press titles. The only drawback is that there is a bit longer lag time between receiving these titles from Lunar VS Diamond. It’s a similar issue with IDW who are now being distributed by Penguin Random House as well As Diamond, but with a better discount and NO shipping.

 

So from this point on I will be ordering these titles from Lunar and PRH instead of Diamond. It shouldn’t affect any of you who order from these companies for initial or FOC orders, but if you order one of these titles from us on the subscription form then chances are it won’t get here until the following week. That isn’t written in stone, of course, but is basically the way it will work. I apologize for the delay, but in some cases it is literally the difference between making money and losing money on a title.

 

Okily dokily…enough blathering from me this week! I really need to get this stuff posted so that I can do other important work like PRH and Lunar FOC and Diamond July initial orders. I hope that everyone has a great weekend and I will talks at ya next week!

 

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

 

Is it just me or is this week moving REALLY fast? I mean, I looked at my calendar and was stunned to realize that I have already made it to Thursday on what has been a very busy week. Between Dad stuff and end of the month stuff and the big sale this weekend (along with getting ready for Hill and I’s Chicago trip for C2E2 and unboxing and figuring out how to play a new board game that I’ve had sitting around for a year) it has been a full itinerary for me. I finally paid off our upcoming Bahamas vacation as well and there are some “last minute” things I need to pick up to get ready as well. Maybe it seems like time is moving faster just because I want to get to my vacation quicker…lol.

 

I suppose I should mention once again that Monarch Comics will be putting on our very first Christmas in July Sale this weekend (July 22^nd-24^th). This sale was at the behest of Brian who informed me that with all of the purchasing that I’ve done for back issues in the last couple of months that the back issue boxes are getting a bit tight so I decided to see what kind of reception a summer months sale would garner for us. I mean, when Steve was the owner we didn’t tend to do much sales-wise save for our annual Post-Holiday Sale, so having sales sprinkled throughout the year is kind of an alien concept for me. I am, however, willing to be convinced. So if this sale is popular enough then I will begin instituting a program for more sales dotted throughout the year. For this weekend we will be putting all of our hard covers/trade paperbacks on sale for 25% off cover price (or marked down price), the back issue boxes (located on the back left hand side of the store) will be 25% off price marked, the showcase comics (including the small comic box on the counter) will be 15% off price marked, and the POP vinyl figures will be $2 off price marked! Additionally, I will be here for longer hours on Friday and will be here for at least the first half of Saturday as well just for coverage. Even if this sale WAS Brian’s idea it seemed dirty pool for me to announce a sale and then drop it in his lap. If this sale turns out to be a hit then the next sale will probably be during the week that Hill and I are out of the country. That should be a fun time for Brian!

 

Brian and I (well, mostly Brian) are currently working on purchasing a couple of new collections right now so make sure you keep an eye peeled to the Monarch Facebook page over the next couple of weeks for some exciting new keys. I would tease them, but that doesn’t seem fair as I haven’t purchased some of the books yet…lol. Hopefully after this weekend there will be plenty of room in the back issue boxes and the showcase to place these new titles.

 

That’s it for me this week…although I did want to mention that we are getting in many new art comic storage boxes over the next week or two so make sure you take a look around the store when you make your weekly visit so that you don’t miss any of them! I hope everyone is enjoying our current heat wave and I look forward to seeing you at the sale this weekend!

 

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

 

I hope everyone is having a great summer! Not much to impart this week although I want to apologize for STILL not having the DC Connect for the month of July in the tore. I’m not sure what the issue is at this point, but I’m hoping to see them next week. You know, about the time we get August’s DC Connect. I’d also like to remind everyone that our “Christmas in July” sale will be happening next weekend, July 22^nd-24^th. Details on the sale are currently spreading over Facebook like wildfire. Also, if anyone has some old comics they would like to bring before Brian then I should let you know that we are nearly caught up with the backlog of collections and you can approach us as to a good time to bring your stuff in for an evaluation for either check or trade!

 

Okily dokily…time for me to get to work on my weekly FOC stuff! Take it easy and hope to see you soon!

 

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

 

Well, Brian has passed the test! I took a WHOLE weekend off…the first since he started working for me…and he got all the way through it with no problems. YES! I am very proud of him and glad to see that I am apparently getting the hang of this whole “Boss” thing. Now we go to the next level of training where I set him up to handle a whole week without me here in preparation for Hill and I’s Bahama getaway in September. That will be a little trickier, but I have faith in him. By the way, does anyone know where I can download a template for an employee guide?

 

As many of you already know there was a problem with DC and their DC Connect monthly catalog for July. Apparently, they were planning a Flash variant cover featuring Ezra Miller and, due to his recent mental health problems and the attendant bad publicity, they decided to nix it. Unfortunately, they didn’t make this decision before including the image in the catalog. Instead of just telling people “Sorry, it’s cancelled” they pulped the entire printing of the catalog and then delayed its release two weeks in order to reprint it sans cover image. It wasn’t really that big a deal for me because I generally don’t get much in the way of D.C. special orders to process every month. Well, the damn thing is supposedly shipping next week, but I got my shipment for next week in yesterday and they were not in the box! I double checked my orders and I had a record of ordering them, but when I checked it against the order history on Lunar’s site my order had disappeared. I mean, it literally shows me ordering all of the DC Connect’s EXCEPT the July issue. Understand that I can’t call Lunar to talk to someone about it and the only way to communicate is through e-mail. Instead of going down THAT rabbit hole, I simply went onto their site and ordered some more copies of the damn thing. As a result, I won’t have them for start of business on Wednesday, but they should be here by the end of the day. In any case, I will simply pull one of them for all of the subscription service customers and leave the rest out on the counter for folks coming through for their new comics. I apologize for whatever happened and hope that this is the end of D.C.’s catalog problems for a while.

 

So Brian has been at me for a while about having some kind of semi-regular sale in the store. It is kind of a foreign concept for me as up until this point I always figured having the big post-holiday sale for two months every year was more than enough “sales time”, but I am willing to be convinced otherwise. As a result, we are going to have Monarch Comics’ first Christmas In July Sale starting on Friday, July 23^rd, and continuing through Sunday, July 25^th! For this weekend, and this weekend only, ALL HARD COVERS/TRADE PAPERBACKS will be 25% OFF cover price or price marked, the BACK ISSUE BOXES will be 25% OFF, and the SHOWCASE BOOKS will be 15% OFF! I am told this will be for the best as with all of my purchasing lately the back issue boxes are getting to be a bit tight and we need space for more new product. SO make your list and check it twice and we will see you then!

 

I have talked a bit on here and in the store about trying to up Monarch’s merchandise game a bit since I took over ownership. It has had its ups and downs, but I have generally been happy about it. Unfortunately, due to rising costs behind the scenes, including the product itself as well as the crazy amount of shipping I’m being charged by Diamond, I’m sad to announce that we will not be ordering any Funko POP figures from this point forward. I recently did the math and it is to the point that I am making little to no profit on carrying the Funko material and the problem has been compounded by Diamond’s packing process which has resulted in receiving lots of damaged product which further cuts down the profitability. Understand that there is already months of Funko stuff already ordered and I fully expect to see a ton of it ship in over the next six-twelve months, but from this point forward I will bot be ordering anything new offered. I am still willing to special order Funko material for those who inquire, but understand that any orders I put in may take months and months to fill. I recently received POP merchandise that I ordered LAST summer as an example. I am going to look into possibly going direct with Funko and I am always looking for a new distributor for other types of comic related merchandise. I will be sure to keep y’all updated as I have more information.

 

That’s it for me this week! I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend and I look forward to seeing you in the store this week. I know my schedule has been a bit weird lately, but there are things going on behind the scenes that I am hoping will make everything a little more regular…at least until Hill and I escape to the Bahamas!

 

Have a great week! 😊