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 24th. 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 26th. 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