Month: February 2024

Hey, Folks!

 

It’s a little late to talk about it now, but today is the last day of Monarch Comics Annual Post-Holiday Sale! Yes, for all of January and February we had a good deal of the store on sale and it has worked out very nicely. I mean, the whole point of the sale is to sell a bunch of trades and back issues in order to flush out the inventory and make room for some exciting new stock coming in the store in the next couple of months. I am nearly finished with the Jersey collection and Brian is working feverishly to get the rest of the BG material sorted as well. In fact, keep your eyes on the Facebook page to see the next round of Silver Age goodness coming out of that particular collection. We have also begun purchasing a new collection from the family of local Toledo fandom legend and while we are only at the beginning of evaluating the collection it is promising to have some very interesting material. So thanks to everyone who has contributed to Monarch’s success into our forays into the back issue market and please keep checking in to see what we will be carrying next!

 

Has everybody given the new Avatar live action Netflix show a try yet? I admit that I had never read the comic or watched the cartoon or even glanced at the reportedly awful M Knight Shamalamadingdong movie and I had no real idea of what I was getting into, but Hillman wanted to watch it and considering some of the crap I’ve subjected him to I couldn’t very well tell him to watch it by himself…lol. Well, I didn’t just like it…I LOVED it! Again, no idea how good or bad the adaptation from the source material, but I think it is charming, action packed, and a lot of fun. The actors do a great job and the CGI is right on target. I think I had a somewhat easier time of watching it with someone who is a big fan of the cartoon and Hill was helpful in explaining the parts I didn’t get. We have only watched up through episode 5 or so, but it is well worth your attention on some evening when you are scrolling through a half a dozen streaming services for something to watch!

 

I screwed up and left my bag of comics here at the store on Tuesday night much to my dismay. As a result I have read about two comics from this week. It is also the week that Diamond initial orders are due and I have been working on it like crazy along with all of the other weekly stuff. I will get back to the comic book reading next week though. I will succeed in reading everything!

 

I will be in the store on Saturday AND Sunday this week to try and be a support for Brian in order for him to get stuff done in the backroom while I watch the counter. My support has been lax for the last several weeks and some Brian’s maintenance work in regards to filing back stock and organizing incoming collections in the back room has fallen to the wayside. Also, the back issue boxes have been plundered pretty good over the last two months and they will need some restocking. I’d also like to get more of the comics on the counter filtered into he back issue boxes so that I can put new stock on the counter for those of you who like hunting through them. I’ll probably be in for the next couple of Saturdays tog et this stuff done, but don’t count on it because my innate laziness could trigger a whole weekend off at any time…lol.

 

Okily dokily…time to get back to work. I mean, technically, this IS work, but I enjoy communicating too much with you folks too much to consider it truly working. Plus, everything else that I have to do today I can do while talking to someone right in front of me. SO have a great week and I will be looking for you this weekend. Keep an eye on the Facebook page because I do believe there will be new Silver Age backstock posted to go sale tomorrow!

 

See ya soon!

 

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

 

Nothing says “Thursday” more than grey, lifeless skies married to a sleet storm. I’m trying to cheer things up here in the store today with some Beatles music (starting with Let it Be), but, hoo-boy…I am already ready to go home…lol. But none of that crazy talk! It’s time to get to work and get all my Thursday stuff done so that I can justify taking a day off tomorrow!

 

Did I mention that I set my face on fire last weekend? I went out to the old pasture to use the burn barrel and get rid of all of the paper cartons, Prime shipping containers, old mail, and such that tends to gather rather quickly at the apartment. Thank goodness we live in the country so that we have the option of burning it rather than having to throw it all away. Well, Hill has often times told me that I need to check the wind before heading out to get it done as it could be dangerous to fart around with it otherwise. Well, I DID check the wind…I looked right at the big flag we have over the pond and there was absolutely no movement whatsoever. Of course, I freely admit that I didn’t look at the little metal windmill that sits next to the pond and it was apparently spinning like a frigging top. I started the fire in the barrel easily enough and, while it was sputtering away at low range, a powerful gust of wind came by and caused a huge spout of flame to explode from the burn barrel and then blew the whole thing into my face. And before some smarty pants asks why I was standing so close to it I should say that I was a good 12” from the damn thing. I coughed a bit and jumped back letting loose with a hearty “Well, THAT was rude.” before continuing my burning mission. I completed my task and headed back inside where I immediately started to get ready to take a shower and change my clothes. Whenever you do burn barrel duties you always have to clean up afterward because you become infused with the stink of smoke. I really can’t stand smelling like smoke especially since I stopped smoking. Well, that was when I got the strong scent of burning hairs and my eyes opened wide in panic as I made a dash for the bathroom. I immediately started brushing my beard out and looked down to find the sink full of ashes. It was at this point I noticed that my hair was scorched as well, although not as badly as my beard. I realized that it was quite lucky I had no beard or hair product in that day because I would have ended up looking like Ghost Rider running around the pasture with my head on fire! That would have spooked the horses for sure!

 

Luckily, Hill already had an appointment for the next day with our barber to get his hair did, do I tagged along and he was able to fix everything up. He soothed me by telling me it was only “surface damage”, but I lost a good inch off of the beard that I have been working on for two years, but it does grow back pretty quickly so I wasn’t too concerned. I mean, I didn’t, like, cry or anything. Much. Stupid fire…

 

I have decided that I simply do not read enough new comics anymore. I read plenty of old comics and I tend to have as storyline or two that I keep on from the new titles (mostly X-Stuff), but everything else had been falling by the wayside. I’m sure you’ve heard me go on about stuff like this in the past, but I must say that after reading comics on a weekly basis since around 1983-1984 I hit these moments where I am completely over reading the bulk of comics period. Part of it has to do with the sheer volume of material out every week/month, but a lot of it has to do with time and a certain amount of, shall we say, story duplication as the years wind on. Anyway, I decided to do something about it.

 

So I grabbed one of every comic that was on the rack this week and took them home Tuesday night and attempted to read them. ALL of them. I’m afraid that I was only partially successful and managed to get through about half of them. I didn’t bother to bring home extra issues or anything. I just basically started reading the series where I found them and figuring that I have read enough comics to figure what was going on or if I didn’t figure out what was going on then I could always scare up the issues I missed to catch up on the story.

 

Most of the comics I read were perfectly fine, if average, stories. I must admit that I particularly liked Jason Aaron’s Action Comics and his current Bizarro story arc, although I generally prefer Bizarro stories that contain a little more Silver Age style fun in them. I also liked James Tynion’s Deviant comic over at Image. I had skimmed a few issues before this because the covers looked intriguing, but sitting down and reading a whole issue made me want to go back and read the whole thing. I also enjoyed the hell out of the current X-Titles wrapped up in the Fall of X storyline, particularly the new issue of Fall of the House of X where we get to see Polaris hit the Orchis satellite with a bunch of Brood…lol.

 

I won’t get into he couple of books that I didn’t care for at all, mostly because I have to wrap this up so that I can get the Subscription Form up and running, but I was pleasantly surprised at how many I did end up enjoying. I will try to keep y’all updated as I continue this trek and we will see how long it takes me to actually get to the point where I ca read them all every week!

 

I’m trying desperately to get through more of the Jersey collection as I have been discussing for the last two weeks and hopefully I will get to it later this afternoon. Last week I just got behind on all of my FOC work and didn’t get it to it. Keep your eyes peeled. I’m also going to be making another offer on more of the BG books soon and there will be more of the juicy Silver Age as well as a couple of Golden Age books up for sale soon. Stay tuned!

 

Thanks for tuning in and I hope everyone has a great weekend!

 

Eddie

 

 

Hey, Folks!

 

Well, nothing much to report this week. It looks like, judging by next week, that the recent extremely small shipping weeks are finally over with for the time being as next week’s ship list is ALMOST back to average. Oh, its still a little bit light, but not as bad as the last two weeks have been. Also, what ever the hell is going on over at Lunar is apparently corrected for the naught and I have diligently gone over the next couple of weeks of coming titles to make sure that all of my orders have been logged. There were two titles that I have not been able to order from Lunar, Fire & Ice #6 and Red Hood #0. I put Biran on the case and he has tracked down enough copies to cover everyone who ordered them and we will hopefully see them by the beginning of next week. So if you ordered any copies of these titles then rest assured we will have copies of them for you ASAP.

 

Marvel’s latest big crossover story has been announced and it sounds like a doozy! Blood Hunt will see the Marvel universe’s vampire problems which have been percolating in the background of Avengers and the Blade series will explode come May and the heroes of the Marvel Universe will be hard pressed to take care of the problem. The event will be featured in one of Marvel’s FCBD titles this year and will have a free special coming out in a couple of weeks as well as a really cool set of fake vampire fangs that we will also have for the promotion. The first issue is scheduled for May 1^st and it will be coming in both regular and “Red Band” versions. To quote Marvel, “THERE WILL BE (MORE) BLOOD! EXPANDED AND UNEXPURGATED – AND POLYBAGGED FOR YOUR PROTECTION – THE RED BAND EDITION OF BLOOD HUNT #1 CONTAINS ADDITIONAL PAGES OF UNEXPURGATED MATERIAL THAT ARE TOO EXPLICIT FOR THE REGULAR EDITION!” The regular edition will retail for $5.99 and the Red Band version will retail for $6.99. There will also be 7 open order variants available to order. I don’t actually have to order the first issue for another month or so and, at this point, I’m not sure how I am going to be splitting orders on the book so if there is something specific you are looking for then please let me or Brian know so that we can make a note of it. Frankly, I am suspecting that this story may look a lot like the recent DC hit, DC VS Vampires, and that was so much fun that I am hoping the Marvel version of the story will follow suit.

 

Ultimate Black Panther #1 blew out the doors this week and, of course, Marvel didn’t print enough of them to cover demand. I assure you, they are ALL sold out at the distributor level. Ours were pretty much gone before we even opened on Wednesday. Marvel has already solicited a 2^nd printing which won’t be of much interest to the crowd looking to get it to sell on the secondary market but will be good for those of you interested in reading the title. That 2^nd printing will be due out 3/13/24 the same date as #2 for your convenience. I will have a number on order, but please let us know if you would like a copy and we will make sure to hold it for you.

 

The Post-Holiday Sale will still be running through the end of the month, so make sure you take a deep dive into the back issues! All of our back issue boxes on the floor are currently at 50% off and believe when I say it is the perfect time for you to shop for the low cost “filler” issues. Over the last year we have been restocking stuff continuously and I really need to clear a few boxes out before I begin rearranging the floor into a slightly new display configuration. Also, I am officially opening the floodgates for picking up new comic collections so if you have material to sell feel free to bring them into the store for inspection. The best days for such things would be Mondays and Fridays, although if you call us up we can schedule other times as well.

 

Okily dokily…time to tackle the Thursday work! I still have to input special orders into the system and then post all of the sub list stuff. Of course, it is FOC time as well and I have a bunch of Jersey collection material to get bagged, priced, and posted as well. You can look forward to a bunch of 80’s Alpha Flight, 60’s & 70’s Brave and the Bolds, and DC Comics Presents!

 

Ciao for now!

 

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

 

First off, I want to deeply apologize for not getting an Afternoon Delight produced this week. It was partly how dinky the comic book line up was this week and partly how Brian and I had a couple of customers in the store who needed our personal attention, but it was mostly that I had a splitting headache and wanted nothing more than to get the pulls done and head home for a nap. I guarantee that Iew ill have an Afternoon Delight att he regular time next Tuesday…promise…😊

 

I was wondering what the delay was all about, but I had that special yearly visitor this week with the promo poster, hand outs, and FREE tickets for the Sunday edition of Fantasticon on March 10^th! I will be handing them out on a first come, first serve basis until they are gone. So if I don’t remember to offer them please feel free to ask about them when you are in the store.

 

Monarch Comics had a small problem with Lunar Distribution again this week and the DC product coming out next week. I’m not going to get into it because I have been working hard to keep my blood pressure down. Anyway, the following titles may be in time for the Wednesday release or they may be running a day behind. In any case, I do believe that I should have everyone’s orders covered and Brian and I will pull and hold them until you can come in for them.

 

BATMAN & SCOOBY DOO MYSTERIES (2024) #2

BIRDS OF PREY #6

POISON IVY #19

RED HOOD THE HILL #0

SCOOBY DOO WHERE ARE YOU #126

SHAZAM #8

SUPERMAN 78 THE METAL CURTAIN #4

YOUNG ROMANCE #125 FACSIMILE EDITION

 

Okily dokily…that’s it for me this week. I feel like there was something else I wanted to mention, but I am drawing a blank and I still have to get this stuff posted and finish off my FOC orders for the week! SO I hope everyone enjoys the sunny weather and I will talks at ya next week!

 

Eddie