Author: monarchcomics@sbcglobal.net

Hey, Folks!

 

Another week, another EDitorial!

 

Honestly I wish I had more to report, but while things are in motion around the store and we are getting closer to Free Comic Book Day there isn’t much to say in a newsletter.

 

Most of the comics that Brian and I have picked over the last couple of months are ready to go out or have already been put out in the back issue boxes, but I’ve kind of discussed that to death. I haven’t stuck my nose in the couple of long boxes that Brian finished bagging and pricing this week, but I do believe that they contain a bunch of the Avengers material that needs to go out. I’m generally pretty happy with the amount of back issue sales that we have garnered over the last year. I mean, when Steve and I were running the show we sort of de-emphasized our back issue stock and mostly concentrated on the new comics and the trade paperbacks. I decided early on, especially after moving the back issue stock first to the back room and then to the back corner of the front room, that it had been a slight miscalculation not to focus on such sales more than the store had been. Hiring Brian really brought the oversight into sharp focus because, frankly, he is some kind of savant with his ability to evaluate collections that come in the door, process them remarkably efficiently, and the display them in the back issues boxes or the showcases. I’ve spent a couple of thousand dollars in the last year picking up back issues and while some mistakes were made in some of my offers (almost exclusively to offering too much, I might add), I do believe that Brian and I have a working system between the two of us that is both fair and profitable. Honestly, it is the biggest mark of my entry into “middle age”. I have often said that I will be an Overstreet Man until the day I die and one cannot successfully run a back issue stock in a comic book store without at least a basic grasp of all of the app-based comic book sales information out there on the internet. So while I am working hard to bring Brian up to speed on the nuts and bolts of running a comic book shop I am also pleased to realize that he is teaching me some important skills when it comes to buying comics. It’s pleasantly surprising to find out there are still new skills to be learned in your career after a lifetime of working it.

 

Monarch Comics, partnered with Card Advertising, will be filming a new television commercial for the store next week. Honestly, I would have preferred to use some sort of pre-produced television material created by one of the big publishers similar to the D.C. Comics NEW 52 commercial from a decade ago, but there just isn’t that kind of thing available to the comic market. This seems bizarre to me as more and more promotion has been moving to things like streaming services and the like, but I guess it isn’t worth it to the big companies to produce such things for a relatively small market. Luckily I have a great team of cosplayers to make very special appearances in the commercial for a bit of fun and color. I’ll be working today to get the rest of my art up on the walls for the filming and Brian and I will be focusing on a good clean up of the store next week. I was just at Walmart this morning picking up some more picture frames to hang up on the wall and I want to take this moment to thank everyone who contributed the wooden art pictures that will also be going up. I’ve decided that I will probably be waiting until next year to put in a new floor in the store, but there will be some more new displays and shelves going up. I was hoping to have some more changes initiated before FCBD, but it doesn’t look like the actual materials (new slat wall, shelves, brackets) will make it in before then because of <all together now> supply chain issues. In any case, the commercial will be filing next Thursday (3/31) between 1:30-3:30pm. I haven’t decided yet whether to actually lock up the store while we are filming, but I’m currently planning on having Brian here to handle crowd control so if you come by and Brian is at the door you might have to wait a minute or two before being let in. I’ve never done this sort of thing before so I am not quite sure what to expect, but Thursday afternoon between those times is usually pretty slow anyway, so I’m not too worried.

 

Apologies go out to all of our regular subscription/special order customers! If there are any mistakes with your pull and hold service it can mostly be traced back to my mistakes as I struggle to implement a major upgrade to my back end record keeping. I mean, I had a great system in place for 20 years until the table was upended by the industries sudden split from one distributor to three and I have been spending the last 12 months trying to figure out the best way to manage inventory and orders. I quickly ascertained that my old system was not going to work anymore. It was clunky and extremely labor intensive and things that I kinda sorta had the time for when I was the #2 Man quickly became untenable once I was the one running everything behind the scenes. I naively believed that a fully computerized POS system would be the answer to many of the problems I’ve always had behind the scenes, but I quicky realized that due to the quick fracturing of the distribution system that it was not the easy answer I was looking for and indeed might be even more complicated and time consuming than my old system. At this point, however, I do believe I have a handle on what kind of information that I need to properly track inventory and orders and things should smooth out considerably once the system has been put in place and has been running for 2 or 3 months. Next up will be an overhaul of the subscription list, but I don’t want to change too many things all at once…lol.

 

That’s everything for me this week. I am actually surprised I had this much to say, but it always a gamble getting me chatting as I don’t really have an “off” switch. I hope everyone is enjoying the coming of Spring! Have a great weekend!

 

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

Well, despite the fact that I left the store a little earlier than usual yesterday and actually was completely finished constructing the new shipping list and subscription form when I walked in the door this morning I find myself STILL way behind this afternoon in getting things up and running. I really need to work on my time management skills. While it is true that even after I left the store yesterday I was at home working feverishly on stuff (side note: my roommate needed to go to an afternoon doctor’s appointment and had to use my van to get there.) I still walked into work this morning with a truckload of reorder boxes from Diamond and Penguin awaiting my attention as well as next week’s books from Lunar. I was also getting seriously irritated by the amount of recyclable stuff piling up in the back room so I had to make a call to Steve Shufritz (Remember him? Lol) to swing by the store and make a run to the recycling bins. That involved getting all of the recycling stuff together for him to pick up. Then I had the usual Thursday morning business to deal with and several beloved customers whom I haven’t seen recently in which to have a nice chat. I just now finally realized that I have A LOT more stuff to get done before I get to go home and I had better knuckle down and get to work.

Usually Thursday are consumed pretty readily by the shipping list/subscription form as well as Penguin Random House FOC orders. It takes me a couple of hours to get the lists completed followed by a couple of hours tog et FOC done. This week, however, I have the further job of whipping my Diamond initial orders into shape for the month of March which will be due next Thursday. I suppose I could simply wait until next week to fart around with them, but I have learned the hard way that even though I don’t order nearly as much material from Diamond these days it still pays to get as much done as soon as possible so that you don’t find yourself in a time crunch the day the orders are actually do. There have been too many times over the years where my initial order preparation has resembled Scarlett O’Hare fleeing Atlanta with the entire Union army snapping at her heels.

I posted a bunch of new back issue material on the Facebook page yesterday and I was very happy with the almost instant response from customers. I have been picking up a couple of collections over the last couple of months and It has taken a minute for Brian and I to get them ready to go out for sale. In case you may have missed my comments about the material before there have been considerable additions to our back stock of Amazing Spider-man, Captain America, Incredible Hulk,  Iron Man, and the dollar box bins. Additionally, in the next week or two we will have some major additions to Avengers and Wolverine as well. I’ve been trying to photograph and post the additions to our showcase stock and will continue to do so as necessary so keep an eye on the Facebook page.

Thanks for tuning in again this week, my friends, and I hope everyone has a great St Patrick’s Day! Remember that Shawn’s Tavern (located here at the Colonial Village Shopping Center) are currently hip deep in their annual celebration and have a Jig’s Dinner that is available inside the restaurant as well as part of a drive up service!

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

 

Well, this is certainly shaping up to be an eventful week. The big news, on a very personal front, is the woman who was responsible for my best friend Wendy Cook’s death was sentenced to prison this morning. Wendy was killed in a drunk driving accident precipitated by this woman back in 2018 which now feels like a million years ago. The Apocalypse really drew out the court situation which is why this situation has been kind of hanging in space for so long. Wendy’s mom contacted me this morning to pass on the news. I can’t really bring myself to say “good news” because there was nothing “good” about this situation. The person responsible for her death did not just kill my friend, but also shattered the lives of everyone close to her, mine included, and it is the kind of damage that will never heal. It took me a long time to get past the burning rage I felt for this complete stranger and now all I am left with is the ashes of broken dreams and the loss of one of the most important people in my life. Even if this person had been dropped into a deep hole and was sentenced to 1,000 years it would not do one thing to make the situation any better. Wendy would still be dead and I will still never see her again. I suppose there is a certain amount of closure, but for me I will reliving that awful day for the rest of my life. It’s a wound that will never completely heal. Please, my friends, do not drive drunk…the damage you could potentially do extends far beyond a simple traffic accident.

 

Fantasticon is going on this weekend downtown at the Seagate Center on Saturday and Sunday. The show will be running from 11am-6pm on Saturday and 11am-5pm on Sunday. I’m sure there are probably still plenty of free tickets floating around out there, although we are currently out of them. The admission is $13.00 on Saturday and $10.00 on Sunday. Monarch won’t be set up at the show as I can’t justify the cost when the show is “right down the street”, but we will be open normal weekend hours so feel free to shuffle by after you’ve visited the show. It looks like it will be a lot of fun and while conventions are really not my thing anymore I know that many of my friends and customers have a good time. Bring your tickets stub into the store after visiting the convention for 10% off your total purchase!

 

I’ve been picking up some new back issue stock for the store recently and Brian has been doing a good job of getting it sorted, bagged, priced, and filed! Recently added titles to the back issue bins include Amazing Spider-Man, Darth Vader, and Incredible Hulk, along with a smattering of other titles. Definitely check them out and make sure you ask Brian as he has a better idea of what was in the comics we picked up as he is the one who has processed them all. I just picked up a pretty big Avengers collection as well as those will be filtered out over the next week or two. Also, make sure you take a good look at the showcases and the dollar boxes as many additions have been made to both places.

 

Hill and I will be visiting Hocking Hills this weekend and so I won’t be in the office on Friday or Saturday this week. I promised Brian that he could attend Fantasticon and so I will be back on Sunday to run the store. I considering reneging on my promise, but I thought that would be a @#$% move…lol. In any case, I hope everyone has a great weekend and I hope to see you next week!

 

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

 

Wow…no one informed me that planning a wedding would be quite so involving…lol. Now don’t get me wrong. I am absolutely thrilled that Mr. Crawford said “yes” and I am very much looking forward to the big party that we will be hosting after the big event. I am not even that worried about the cost although there will have to be an ample supply of smelling salts and possible a vanguard of EMT’s to stand by when I get a better idea of the costs involved in matrimonial bliss. The thing that is both surprising and irritating is the amount of nit picky details that we have to decide and submit before a whole host of information is unlocked. I mean, how am I supposed to have any idea of what date to set or how many people will be attending BEFORE I have an idea of how much a venue or catering costs!?! I don’t really understand these things very well, but I am determined to keep this as fun a process as possible. Please excuse me if I start ranting about it here at the store…lol.

 

Please remember that Sunday, February 28^th, will be the last day of Monarch Comics Post-Holiday Sale! It has been remarkably successful this year and I hope that everyone who has been putting off a purchase will tale the time to swing by the store this week and take advantage of the big savings. Just to reiterate, all hard covers/trade paperbacks are 25% off cover or price marked, back issue boxes are 50% off price marked, all the comics in the showcases are 25% off, and there are $2 off of POP figures and puzzles. This will be the weekend for the sale and it will not return until next January so advantage of it now!

 

Also, I should let everyone know that I have picked up a considerable amount of back issue material in the last month or so and much of that material will be hitting the back issue boxes soon. Back issues of Amazing Spider-Man, Captain America, Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, and much more will soon be available so make sure you check them out next week.

 

That’s it for me this week. I’ve got to get my initial Diamond orders whipped into shape and uploaded before the end of business today and I still have to handle the Penguin Random House FOC orders for the week as well. I hope everyone does well during the minor snow/ice storm forecasted for this evening. Have a great weekend!

 

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

 

I’ve got plenty of ground to cover today and I’m not quite sure where to start! I suppose I should take special care not to bury the lead this week as I often do on these things. I mean, I typically just sit here and start typing…adding things as I think of them. Sometimes I even have little bullet point lists of things to cover so that I don’t forget. Let’s see if I can get through this EDitorial without a list.

 

To start off with I have a very special announcement to make. If you follow the Facebook page regularly at all or if you have listened to me blathering on at all in the store over the last few weeks then you have already heard the happy news, but for those of you not in the know I’d like to announce that I am now officially engaged to Hillman Crawford. Yes, yes, those of you who have known me for years may be shocked as I have been rather vocal about my opposition to ever getting married, but what can I say? Hillman is very dear to me and while we have “only” been dating for a little under three years we have become quite close and I frankly can’t imagine not spending the rest of my life with him. I won’t deny that the cardiac event he experienced in December was a factor in my final decision to pop the question, but I was actually already gravitating towards it anyway. Hillman is one of the best men that I have ever known and his compassion, intelligence, sense of humor, and his ability to almost instinctually pick up the rules of any board game put in front of him makes him, in my eyes, a great match for me and I look forward to the good work of building a marriage and partnership that will last until the end. If you are out there reading this, Hillman, thank you for saying “yes” to my clumsy proposal and I hope I can be everything that you need.

 

There is an amusing story involving the circumstances of the proposal involving an absolutely horrid restaurant, my fumbling for the ring, a constant stream of babble, and the fact the I nearly burst into sobs while proposing, but I will save that for when I see you all in the store. Wedding details are being talked through at the moment, but please watch this space for the announcements. I can’t imagine going through with this without the bulk of my beloved customers witnessing it and I’m hoping that it can be arranged.

 

Man, what a crappy day it out there! I’m sitting at the front counter banging away at this tender missive and all I can see are slate grey skies and an endless tsunami of rain. According to the both local and national meteorologists we can expect a somewhat significant amount of ice, sleet, and snow before the end of the day. After the fiasco of the previous Snowmageddon I’m not sure I really have much faith in any of the current predictions, but I am keeping any eye on things and I am currently planning on being open normal hours tomorrow. If anything changes in regards to being open I will most certainly post it on the Facebook page and you are always more than welcome to call the store to make sure we are open.

 

You may have already caught the news online, but comic book charity The Hero Initiative has announced an extremely limited edition reprint of the seminal JLA/Avengers miniseries by Kurt Busiek and George Perez! This reprint is limited to 7000 copies and will extremely allocated. It is being released to commemorate the career of artist George Perez who recently revealed that he has terminal cancer. Perez was one of the founders of the Hero Initiative who’s mission statement is to give aid to comic book creators in financial or health distress. The new reprint will have a cover price of $29.99 and will include supplementary material previously found in the slipcased reprints of the series as well as a new afterword by writer Kurt Busiek. I have ordered a huge amount of copies, but, of course, there are only 7000 to go around which means that Monarch will most likely only get 1-3 copies of the title. As a result, I will NOT be taking any preorder/presales for the book which I think is smart considering I have no way of knowing how many copies I will actually have to sell. In any case, the book is scheduled to ship in March and once I know how many copies I will have then I will make a decision on the best way to sell it, although I am leaning towards some sort of drawing in the store. Stay tuned, True Believers!

 

I’ve been meaning to mention for the last couple of weeks that I’ve picked up a variety of comics recently and at least a box and a half of material has been added to our Dollar Boxes! Additionally, there will be some new issues hitting the back issue bins once the Post-Holiday Sale is over at the end of this month. New titles given a good boost include Amazing Spider-Man, Avengers, Captain America, Iron Man, and others. I have some other collections that are supposed to be making their way into the store and if I end up picking them up I will let you know.

 

Okily dokily…time to get this stuff up and posted! After a couple of relatively small shipping weeks we have an absolutely HUGE shipping list for next week. I can’t believe how long it took me to get the shipping list and subscription form whipped into shape this week.

 

Have a great weekend and I will talks at ya next week!

 

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

 

I’m beginning to think that there is something broken in me and my sense of humor. As many of you are already aware, I am NOT a fan of 99% of DC Comics film/cartoon output. My typical complaints include the overall darkness of the tone as well as the portrayal of some of my favorite comic book characters as amoral and murderously incompetent. I have been complaining about this ever since I went to see Snyder’s Man of Steel travesty. Pretty much every DCU movie effort that I have attempted to enjoy since then has been marred by the same issues for me. I mean I have rather gone on full rant mode at earsplitting levels of dissatisfaction for quite some time about it.

 

That is, until James Gunn’s Suicide Squad was released.

 

I’ll admit that I was going to just skip it, but one of my customers (the incomparable Mark McKee) told me to put on my big boy pants and watch it. He knew of my endearing love for John Ostrander’s 80’s Suicide Squad comic book series and thought that I would like the homage to it that Gunn had crafted. Well, Mr McKee was right. I DID love it and for pretty much the reason he thought I would. James Gunn managed to inject a level of screwball dark comedy into the film and, despite the crazed level of violence, it just plain worked for me. I could mention that I would have liked to see a little more of the soap opera drama that Ostrander used in his comic stories and the protracted Harley Quinn bits were not my cop of tea, but that is just quibbling. It was the first DCU film that I had honestly enjoyed in a long time.

 

Then I was bored one evening and I was doing tedious laundry chores and I decided to give the Harley Quinn animated series another shot. I had tried the first episode a few months before and I must admit that it appealed to the ten year old inside of me the way all of these long standing DC icons kept dropping F-bombs like they were getting paid for it. I’ll admit that every time Poison Ivy or Joker or Harley let loose with a string of expletives I giggled like a small child. I was not, however, prepared for the nearly operatic intensity that the cartoon’s soap opera shenanigans and increasingly filthy language that eventually spills forth. Three episodes after that constant use of the F-word would normally grow tiresome for me I found myself rivetted by the crisscrossing subplots and characters in this twisted and hilarious DC world. And, of course, when Doctor Psycho directs the ultimate curse word at Wonder Woman in the middle of a pitched battle causing birds to fall out of the sky and the world to stop spinning (also being drummed out of the Legion of Doom for a potty mouth and disrespect for woman), well, I was just as stunned as the cartoon wildlife. I finished the entire two season run in record time.

 

Bolstered by those two experiments, I decided to tune into the Peacemaker series that has been heavily pushed by HBO Max. I am around 5 episodes into it and I must admit that it is every bit as filthy and entertaining as the above two examples. James Gunn is back, writing and directing multiple episodes, as his use of characters on the fringe of the DCU (such as Judomaster and Vigilante) is a formula that works well for his particular talents. The storyline itself is as silly as the plot of Suicide Squad, but holds everything together admirably and gives each of the main characters moments to shine. There’s just enough drama involving Peacemaker’s back story as well as the POV character Laota (played by Danielle Brooks) and her marriage to keep things somewhat grounded, but the humor remains as raunchy and unapologetic as anything from the movie it is based on.

 

So why can I only seem to enjoy DCU projects when they are THIS outrageously hilarious and filthy? I’ve been thinking about this for a couple of weeks now. I mean, my main problems with the entire slate of Snderverse pictures is their unrelenting darkness of tone and color and their rejection of just about every Silver Age convention that I tend to hold dear when it comes to DC projects. So why do I give these projects a free pass? I think the answer is that they have a definite sense of humor that for me elevates the material and stops it from being such a drag. It is a juvenile sense of humor, no argument from me, and it is VERY dark indeed, but at least it is bringing a smile to my face rather than 3 ½ hours worth of depression. Despite how dark the humor gets it is still humor and keeps things from getting too sad. And I guess that I just prefer that tone versus the tone of the rest of the movies/cartoons. I’ll be interested to see how Peacemaker wraps up its storyline at the end of the season as well as if we will see a brand new dance routine for the credits of season two…

 

We still have a about two weeks left in Monarch Comics’ Annual Post-Holiday Sale so if you had your eye on a particular back issue or trade paperback currently in stock then take advantage of the big savings while you can. We just picked up some new comics recently and there will be a lot of new material going into the dollar boxes this week as well. If you are a fan of diving into he dollar boxes then definitely check them out this weekend! I’m also happy to announce that we have managed to restock the Ultra Pro current size comic bags this week and topped off supplies on some other items. Next week’s shipment is a little lighter than usual from the big companies so it will be a good time to catch up on other things in the store!

 

I also wanted to mention that there are several big projects coming out from D.C./Marvel in the next six months or so and big projects generally means multiple open order covers. Just a reminder that, for the most part, I don’t carry much in the way of open order variants on the rack so if you see something that you want then please let me know ASAP so that I can get the order in for you. I’m thinking mostly of the 124,365 variant covers for the new upcoming Amazing Spider-Man #1, but really it applies to anything else that has multiple variants. Of course, you can always ask after FOC, but my ability to guarantee it drops dramatically after that point.

 

OKily dokily…that’s it for me this week. I am feeling rather remarkable efficient this week as I have most of my paperwork caught up, my taxes effectively dealt with, and all of the bills caught up. Planning on spending this afternoon at the store chitchatting with customers and completing my weekly Penguin Random House FOC. If I’m feeling cute and have a spare moment I might unpack some stuff that comes out next week. Have a great weekend and hope to see you in the store soon!

 

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

 

Well, Snowmageddon 2022 certainly didn’t amount to much. I do believe the technical term is “Fart in a Bathtub”. I mean, don’t get me wrong. We did indeed get a bit of snow and while I haven’t heard any official numbers as of this writing I have been shoveling or driving in it since early this morning and my overall impression is that it was really no big deal, especially for those of us who grew up with this kind of weather. The way the media was going on about for the last three days I was expecting to at least face the threat of a heart attack while shoveling snow, but clearing off my house, my Dad’s place, and the store barely got my pulse rate going. I was actually a little worried that I would leave people waiting at the store because I was a little bit behind due to all of the shoveling and driving around, but I made it here on time and two hours in I have had exactly one person in the store. He let me know that I am apparently the only comic book store open today in Toledo and that there are plenty of other businesses that stayed shuttered today as well. I’m not quite sure why, but I must say that it did make all of the driving around I did earlier a lot easier without as much traffic middling around the streets.

 

I am at work now and I have plenty to keep me busy for the nonce so I plan on sticking it out for the next couple of hours. I did make a Facebook post when I first got here saying that I would stay until at least 5pm, but that is looking increasingly unlikely as long as I am sitting here by myself. I have a customer from Adrian who called and asked if I would be open and I told him that I would be here for him, but once he has come and gone, assuming no other eager consumers appear, then all bets are off. There is nothing that I am working on today that I can’t easily do at home and I still have to head over to Dad’s again at some point to clean up the snow. I don’t know. This is one of those things that I am now in charge of as owner of the business, but I really hate making these decisions. Now that I think about it, according to UPS tracking I have a shipment of 16 boxes worth of supplies that are out for delivery today as well. I suppose I should at least give UPS a chance to get here before heading back home.

 

I still have a few free tickets to hand out for Fantasticon which is taking place this year on March 12^th & 13^th at the Seagate Center downtown. We also have fliers on the counter although the most up to date information can be found at www.fantasticon.net. While Monarch does not set up at shows, mostly because the current owner is far too lazy for such a laborious undertaking, we do support local shows and I know that many of you are hungry for an honest to goodness comic show to attend. I know that they hand out a mountain of free passes at various businesses in town, but if you need a Sunday pass then ask Brian or I at the counter and we will pass one on to you.

 

It’s funny but both Lunar Distribution (D.C. Comics) and Penguin Random House (Marvel Comics) made a wonderful effort at getting our shipments for next week boxed up and shoved out the door before the snowstorm hit and now it looks like both shipments should be showing up tomorrow. I was kind of hoping to see them hit the store today so that I could have them unpacked while business was slow, but it looks like they got as far as Columbus and got stuck there because of the weather. Hopefully that won’t be a problem and cause a delay. In any case, both distributors get a big thanks and many kudos for making the effort at heading off any potential shipping problems. Let’s hope we see more forward thinking like that as things move forward.

 

Okily dokily…enough wool gathering for me. I’ll get this and the shipping list/subscription form up and running and then move on to another project. I hope everyone is enjoying their first (and probably last) Snow Day of the season. Please stay safe and remember…shoveling snow is a perfectly acceptable form of exercise…😊

 

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

 

Looks like another good week for doing a quick note and moving on to posting everything! I mean, I am getting better at getting on a regular schedule with the “keeping the store going” type stuff like the shipping list, but I still tend to fall a little behind schedule when we get to the end of the month. I mean, I’ve gotta do the regular Thursday jobs, like the sub form and the ship list and the Penguin FOC order, but I also have to deal with Diamond initial orders and end of month/beginning of month bills and stuff. (In fact, let me take a quick break here to write my monthly rent check. (It isn’t due until the first of the month, but I’ve had a friendly competition with Laura from the framing shop next door on who pays their rent earlier every month…lol) Anyway, I AM ahead this month and have the Diamond initial orders figured and collated…they just need to be physically entered into the system and I have updated my Excel spreadsheet with my PRH FOC information through the first week of March, so I should get everything done just fine and I probably won’t have to take anything home with me tonight. We shall see…

 

I do want to take a moment to apologize for the mistakes and omissions that have been made on the Subscription List orders this month. Whether I missed your whole order or just a single title, that is entirely on me and has nothing to do with anyone else. I honestly don’t even have a good excuse for it outside of a comic retailer’s post-apocalyptic whine about the changes in distributors or the industry or whatever, but I can’t even hide behind those excuses. I simply screwed up…but I do believe that I have identified the problems and I think I have things covered now. This is important to me because one of the selling points I am trying to push here at Monarch is our customer service and if I @#$% up the subscription orders, well, that is a bit counter intuitive to what I am striving for. Too many of you have to deal with a crapload of difficulties, many of them brought on by this pandemic, and I really want Monarch Comics to be an oasis of calm and certainty where you can come in and enjoy your hobby along with a bit of natter with your friendly neighborhood comic book retailers! As a side note, the time when I have to train Brian on how to handle subscription service orders in coming up fast and how can I properly train my beloved employee if I can’t totally figure it out myself?

 

My training regimen for Brian has to move on here soon because of my upcoming vacation! Well, maybe “upcoming” is a bit strong of a descriptor, but Hillman and I will be going on my dream vacation in September! I know that many of you have already had to sit through my breathless description of my upcoming trip, but you can’t imagine how truly excited I am for the experience. Hill and I will be spending 7 full days at the Sandals all-inclusive resort at Emerald Bay in Exhuma, Bahamas! So exciting to look forward to a total pampering as we opted in for a Beachfront Oversized Villa Suite with a butler and everything! There will also be an opportunity for me to FINALLY swim with the pigs! Of course, there are also 11 restaurants at the resort for me to eat my way through as well as all of the “top shelf” booze I want to drink. It almost makes me sad that I don’t really drink much alcohol anymore…lol. Of course, I am very muchly looking forward to putting on my best oversized moo-moo, a big floppy hat, and large sunglasses so that I can sit on the beach and sip expensive liquor out of a fancy glass and look at all of the attractive beach goers from my cabana with a pair of binoculars! As far as I am concerned September can’t come fast enough. I just hope that between the resort’s wifi and my cell service that I will be able to take plenty of pictures and video to share with y’all!

 

I will be ordering the Free Comic Book titles for this year soon as well. It looks like we might have some really good ones this year and I can’t tell you how thrilled I am that the big event is returning to its place on the first Saturday of May this year! So…mark it on the calendar, Folks, we’ve got FCBD on May 7^th, 2022! WOO HOO! I will be making a post on Facebook soon showing the titles we will be carrying at this year’s big celebration!

 

That’s it for me this week, Folks! Remember that our post-holiday sale will continue through the end of February. Also, always remember to take a look at the weekly FOC page located at Diamond’s PreviewWorlds website to make sure you aren’t missing any variant covers or 2^nd printings that you might be interested in. I know I go on and on about not carrying open order variants and the like, but all I mean is that I do not order them for the rack. If you know that you want a specific cover for an upcoming title then please ask about it and Brian or I can help get you set up with them. We just generally need to know at FOC rather than three days before the book is released. That’s not to say that we still might not be able to score you a copy just that it will be more or less confirmed if you order it at FOC.

 

Thanks for your support and I hope to see you in the store this week!

 

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

 

Well, here I am at yet another Thursday afternoon and staring at yet another blank “page” at the start of an EDitorial. I am now resigned to the fact that I am never going to get these things written and posted before noon ever again…lol. I have to admit that I had more time for stuff like this when Steve was in charge. It already feels like a lifetime ago that I would sit behind the counter at my little desk and bang out a subscription form, shipping list, and EDitorial in less time than it takes to tell about it. Even with my current Wednesday schedule it still ends up taking more time to get this stuff constructed than it did back in the old days. Oh, well…nothing to be done about it but forge forward and get it done when I can.

 

So I finally got caught up with the Book of Boba Fett show over the past weekend and I must admit that I am enjoying it. I mean, it isn’t as good as The Mandalorian and it is nowhere near the quality of Star Wars Rebels, but it is certainly stylish and has some interesting characters. I was commenting here in the store that the Boba Fett we have been introduced to in this series is nothing like the Boba Fett I remembered from when I was a kid. Of course, the Boba Fett then was “mysterious” (i.e. badly underwritten by Lucas) and as fans we really didn’t have much to go on. This Boba Fett also has an interesting amount of compassion as well as common sense…two traits one doesn’t necessarily see in a lot of folks, particularly bounty hunters, who would work for the Empire. Of course, Boba didn’t so much work for the Empire as for Jabba the Hutt, but the same basic idea applies. Of course, the flashbacks showing him cutting his way of the Sarlaac Pit and then getting brutalized and then adopted by the Tusken Raiders would most likely chill out anyone pretty thoroughly. That WAS a lot of damage he took in the first two episodes though and it makes me wonder how “pure” a clone of Jango Fett he actually was. He seemed curiously damage resistant…like, Wolverine level damage resistant…lol.

 

Well, that’s about it for this week. I wish that I had more to chat about, but things are pretty same old, same old in the realms of comic publishing right now. I can mention that Monarch is once again carrying printed masks although they are now at the much more affordable price point of $14.99. I thought the mask thing might be coming to an end soon which is why I didn’t restock the masks for the holiday season, but apparently masks will be a part of our lives for a bit longer. If you have to wear a mask then it should at least be fun and stylish. I also want to let everyone know that Monarch is now VERY well supplied with basic comic supplies including polypropelene/polyethelene modern and silver age bags, modern and silver age boards, and comic boxes, both large and small. I went all in when I noticed them pop back into stock a week or so ago and now we should be pretty well stocked through the Spring. Also, if you hadn’t heard the good news yet, Free Comic Book Day 2022 is on the schedule and returning to the first Saturday in May (May 7^th). Please remember that we are still in the middle of our big Post-Holiday Sale and it will continue through the end of February!

 

Have a great weekend, Folks, and I hope to catch you in the store soon!

 

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

 

Well, this is a weird week. I mean, here I am writing the new EDitorial with Tay Tay blaring on my new Bose speaker and I haven’t even finished the subscription form or the shipping list yet. This is mostly because I stupidly did not finish a few things last night at the dining room table and elected instead to put off the last bits until this morning so that I could play a game (or two) of Tapestry on BGA with Hillman. I should have known that it would be a mistake and I should begin anticipating something going wrong every day.

 

This week I honestly thought the worst of my difficulties were over with as half of my Diamond shipment showed up a day late due to, well, “Reasons”. I can’t tell you exactly why as there is no one to ask, but I was feeling pretty good about things once I got the boxes in yesterday afternoon. This morning I got to work a little early because my accountant contacted me yesterday for some additional information that she needs to finish up my first year of taxes and I wanted to get it together and sent to her ASAP. Well, I quickly finished that task and then turned my attention to finishing up the sub form/shipping list when I discovered that Diamond’s website was down….again. Honestly, I shouldn’t be surprised as it happens several times a month these days, especially since the cyber attack that crippled them back in the fall. I had to jump onto Facebook and check with the other comic retailers to make sure it was Diamond and not me, but there was no real surprise when it turned out to be Diamond. No explanation, as per usual, just the usual generic “We’re working on it”. Does anybody else have a vendor whose website goes down as much as Diamond? It is so frustrating and I would really like to know if I am being unreasonable expecting them to, at the very least, have a dependable website. It’s currently difficult for me to judge how outraged to be as I am still at a delicate stage in my current bid to stop smoking cigarettes. And by “delicate stage” I mean that I am basically a sociopath with no human empathy at all…lol.

 

Of course I am not perfect myself and should now take a moment while all of your sympathies are with me and mention a small problem that I became aware of yesterday. A few weeks ago I made a small error and totally missed an FOC date for Lunar Distributors. This means that all of the DC titles FOCed on 12/12/21 got ordered a day late. Now don’t get me wrong…Lunar’s staff (Thanks, Amber!) were extremely helpful and took my orders for the comics as well as the various variant covers and got them placed. Unfortunately, one of those titles will be getting to us a little late. Catwoman #39, featuring new writer Tini Howard’s debut, will be running about a week late for us because of my mistake. Technically, the comics are on backorder, but I have a feeling that the order will fill once Lunar is finished processing all of their damages and shortages for the week. So, I apologize for the mistake and solemnly swear not to miss a FOC deadline again! Pinky swear!

 

Well, I suppose I should get started on the Penguin FOC for this week. I have gotten quicker at it as it used to take me 3 or 4 hours to get it done, but now it only takes an hour or so. Maybe Diamond will be up and running by then. I better be careful…that almost sounded hopeful…lol. I think I will also turn on We Bare Bears as it tends to have a calming effect on me. Nothing like having a job where you can watch cartoons without anyone being all judge-y with you!

 

I hope everyone has a great weekend and please feel free to swing by the store now that the post-holiday sale is in full swing!

 

Eddie