Category: Uncategorized

Hey, Folks!

Well, we have arrived at one of the most important weeks of the year! The lead up to FREE COMIC BOOK DAY!

I have to admit that for me the thrill of the day is oftentimes subsumed by the amount of money and work that I poor into it every year. For me, FCBD planning starts off in January and involves many different decisions that often involve numerous people, materials, and, as I mentioned, a lot of money. But then the day comes and it has always been a smooth and enjoyable ride for me so I really don’t have much to complain about really. I get the question, especially post-stroke, “OMG! Are you really stressed out now!?!” and I’m always, like, “Well, no…not really. It’s all in the box now and I couldn’t change anything even if I wanted to so I will just try to go with the flow and enjoy it.” And to underscore the point, my blood pressure was 116/89 this morning…lol.

This year’s Free Comic Book Day will not be radically different from the last few years. There will be cosplayers (including THREE Spider-Men this year!), the photo booth will be here for fun snapshots, we will be delivering up ice Cream cones from Shivers, and, of course, there ill be plenty of free comic books to spare. As per usual we will be starting out the day limiting it to five selections per person. This is mostly for coverage and to make sure that everyone gets the main titles of their choice. I usually let up a bit n that once the main crowd has passed through the door, usually by 3pm. And please remember that if you can’t make it on Saturday afternoon, Brian and I will have the freebies on Display for at least a week afterwards and you can feel free to pick and choose as you wish. The name of the game is fun on FCBD and I hope that I can keep my energy up through the whole day…lol.

I mentioned during the Afternoon Delight episode this week that the DC VS MARVEL OMNIBUS and the DC MARVEL AMALGAM OMNIBUS are both heading for FOC in the month of May. I’ve been giving it some thought and I am so personally pleased that they are finally going back to print with his material that I have decided to offer discounts on any PREODERS placed for the books! If you preorder one of the titles you will receive a 15% discount off of the cover price and if you preorder both book then you will receive a 25% discount off of the cover price of both of them. They are both retailing for $150.00 each…so if you order one of them it will be $127.50 (plus tax) and if you order them both then it will total $225.00 (plus tax). There are two different covers available for both books, George Perez or Jim Lee for the DC VS Marvel and Dave Gibbons or Jim Lee for the Amalgam volume so please specify when you place your order Technically the FOC date is May 12^th, but if you commit to your preorders by the end of May then you may still claim your discount. Here’s the solicitation information for both books:

DC VERSUS MARVEL OMNIBUS HC

Written by Gerry Conway, Jim Shooter, Len Wein, Chris Claremont, Dennis O’Neil, J.M. DeMatteis, Ron Marz, John Byrne and Others Art by Ross Andru, John Buscema, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, Walter Simonson, Barry Kitson, John Byrne, and Others In 1976, the Big Two in comics made pop culture history by pitting their most popular heroes–Superman and the Amazing Spider-Man–against each other! The success of this one-shot comic paved the way for future collaborations between the House of Ideas and the Distinguished Competition, ushering in a new age of inter-company crossover events that boasted some of the industry’s biggest writers and artists. Now, for the first time in over 20 years, the comics that started it all will be collected in a brand-new omnibus edition featuring the classic DC Universe and Marvel team-up stories from Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man #1, Marvel Treasury Edition #28, DC Special Series #27, Marvel and DC Comics Presents Featuring the Uncanny X-Men and the New Teen Titans #1, Batman/Punisher: Lake of Fire #1, Punisher/Batman: Deadly Knights #1, Darkseid Vs. Galactus: The Hunger #1, Spider-Man and Batman #1, Green Lantern/Silver Surfer: Unholy Alliances #1, Silver Surfer/Superman #1, Batman & Captain America #1, Daredevil and Batman #1, Batman & Spider-Man #1, Superman/Fantastic Four #1, The Incredible Hulk vs. Superman #1, and Batman/Daredevil: King of New York #1. This volume also includes essays from the original creative team, an introduction from former DC Comics president Paul Levitz, afterwords by writer Ron Marz and Marvel executive editor Tom Brevoort, and more!

DC MARVEL THE AMALGAM AGE OMNIBUS HC

Written by Ron Marz, Peter David, Karl Kesel, and Others Art by Dan Jurgens, Claudio Castellini, and Others Pitting their world’s greatest superheroes against each other, only the winning universe will be allowed to live! And the loser…will cease to exist. Superman versus the Hulk! Batman versus Captain America! Wolverine versus Lobo! Fighting against the clock, Access, a new hero traversing both worlds, will attempt victory through another means: The combination of DC and Marvel into one universe! The Amalgam age of comics is born! Batman and Wolverine become Dark Claw! Captain America and Superman become Super Soldier! Wonder Woman and Storm become Amazon! But will the existence of Amalgam prolong the inevitable demise of DC or Marvel? Will the Amalgam Universe fight back when Access attempts to return the universes to their former glory? This once-in-a-lifetime event is finally collected in a once-in-a-lifetime Omnibus! Featuring DC Versus Marvel #1-4, the DC/Marvel: All-Access #1-4, Unlimited Access #1-4, Amazon #1, Assassins #1, Bat-Thing #1, Bruce Wayne: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #1, Bullets and Bracelets #1, Challengers of the Fantastic #1, Dark Claw Adventures #1, Doctor Strangefate #1, Exciting X-Patrol #1, Generation Hex #1, Iron Lantern #1, JLX Unleashed #1, Legend of the Dark Claw #1, Lobo the Duck #1, The Magnetic Men Featuring Magneto #1, Speed Demon #1, Spider-Boy #1, Spider-Boy Team-Up #1, Super Soldier #1, Super Soldier: Man of War #1, Thorion of the New Asgods #1, X-Patrol #1, and a story from Green Lantern #87. Includes introductions by Ron Marz and Karl Kesel, new afterwords by Mike Carlin and Tom Breevort, the trading cards, and a tome of never-before-seen material!

Oh! I did want to mention that Brian and I know how much many of you enjoy the dollar boxes that we regularly put together for your perusal. That is why for the second year in a row Brian has put his head down and pulled together 10 brand new and totally amazing dollar boxes that will be once again put out on the sidewalk in front of the store for your shopping pleasure! Take your time and luxuriate in the selection of old and relatively new material all of which will be available for a buck a piece! Also, please remember that you will NOT be required to go through the free comics line in order to purchase these books. Just let our door person know you are just purchasing dollar books and you will be admitted to do so. You still might have to wait in line at the cash register and youc an always get back in the line for the free comics once you’ve made your purchase.

Finally, I have to end this week’s EDitorial on a somber note. Dieter Kulicke, one of the best men it has been my privilege to meet in the course of my career, entered into mortality on March 27, 2024 at the age of 83. Dieter was an amazing comic book fan and his knowledge and passion for the art form encompassed decades of reading and collecting. Dieter emigrated to the states from Germany as a small child and learned how to read and speak English from comic books. He was always one of the brightest parts of many, many Wednesday afternoons at the store and I never got tired of chatting with him about comics or really anything. When you’ve been in this industry as long as I have it is a palpable loss when someone with whom you’ve had weekly interactions with for decades is suddenly just not there anymore and I will feel Dieter’s loss for some time to come. If you are somehow aware of this message, Dieter, know that I miss you terribly and thank you for your kindness and the wisdom that you imparted to this comic book fan for all of these years.

See everyone on Saturday!

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

So…what’s shaking?

I know, I know…it’s been a minute since you have had a proper EDitorial and I am sorry about that. I actually planned to do one last week, but I was so wiped by the after effects of the stroke that I couldn’t pull myself together enough to actually write much. They were certainly not kidding when they told me that I had to take it easy for at least two weeks after the event. I mean I kept trying to go into the store to do a shift and try to catch up on the mountain of work I left behind me, but it just wasn’t happening. I would either get so tired I could barely stand up or else the low level brain fog I have been suffering would completely overtake me and I couldn’t manage to think straight. (Not that thinking straight has ever been my particular skill…lol)

I finally got the message though and thanks to Brian I have been taking it easy indeed. This will hopefully be the final week of taking it easy as there is much to do in preparation for FCBD as well as the month end duties typical of the store. I have, however, taken note of mistakes and judgement calls that I have made in the past and hopefully I am on the way to rectifying them. For example, my beloved husband, Hill, is finally being trained on the store’s systems and basically how to do my behind-the scenes work. We both decided that since he is part-owner of a comic book store then he should be able to step in when I when I have stroke and be able to take the reins and keep the horse going. Because Hill’s job was recently eliminated at Dana you will probably see him behind the counter a bit more than before as he has a lot to learn. Please be gentle with him at first and then feel free to give him hell…lol.

I also can’t say enough good things about Brian as he was ready, willing, and able to step right into he role as the face of Monarch Comics. I am also uniquely situated to know exactly the amount of effort he put as I was in a very similar situation years wo when Steve was first diagnosed with cancer. Like myself, Brian handled everything pretty much perfectly and let me assure you that Brian handled his role perfectly and that any hiccups or out and out mistakes were completely due to me and not to him. He is my brother and I couldn’t have asked for more in his efforts to keep the store chugging along. If I had had any doubts about my decision to hire him they are now washed away. He’s part of the Monarch family now and will hopefully stay with us for times to come

Speaking of hiccups and mistakes I’m afraid there will be some more coming down the line for the next month or three. I literally stroked out in the middle of doing March Diamond initial orders. I finally completed my end of the work on these orders shortly after leaving the hospital, but it took days for Diamond’s “customer service staff” to respond to e-mail inquiries and to finally get the orders entered. I’d say that I am not expecting any snafus, but that would be too uncomfortably close to a lie. Between my stroke recovery status and Diamond’s “stroke-like” customer service there will probably be a mistake here or there. Please know that I will be do my best to rectify any errors as they occur. I do think that the FOC orders for Lunar and PRH material faired better, partly because of Brian’s last minute intervention. I can only beg your forgiveness at this point and assure you that steps are being instituted to make sure that it doesn’t get this bad again.

Just to touch a bit on come comic book-related stuff, I want everyone to know that have been listening to the chatter and, of course, to what you have been saying in the store and I want you to know that I have decided to “buy in” on the upcoming big stories that will be playing out at D.C. and Marvel. For D.C., the “House of Brainiac” story running through the Superman books and spear-headed by Jason Aaron’s Action Comics seems like a winner to me, based on his start on Acton Comics. As a result, I have preemptively bumped my numbers on the main titles in the story as well as the other titles popping into he story for an issue or two. Hopefully I have created enough of a buffer so I will have plenty to go around, especially if D.C. doesn’t bother to over print and there are quick sellouts at the distributor level.

As for Marvel, I must admit that I am very muchly looking forward to the upcoming Blood Hunt storyline (starting in the FCBD book!). I know, I know, there has already been much online discussion about thirty kabillion crossovers/tie-ins, but frankly, who doesn’t like a good vampire story? I will, of course, be ordering plenty of the main miniseries (including a goodly amount of variant covers) for you to peruse as well as a reasonable amount of the tie-in one shot and miniseries. Any of the main titles who have tie-ins (such as Amazing Spider-Man or Avengers) will also be bumped up as ell and I hope this will mean I have enough for coverage. I am truly expecting this to be a fun story, especially if they manage to catch half the energy of DC VS Vampires which you all know I love. All of this being said if there are any specific variant covers you are looking for don’t be shy about requesting them!

I also want to assure everyone that I am finally, after years, really looking after my health in a serious way. I would prefer not to deal with this kind of situation again. I am feeling much, much better and now that my sugar and blood pressure are under control I am ready to truly get started on yet another chapter of my life. I had previously thought that this chapter had begun when Hill and I got married, but I truly believe that this is the new beginning that I have been looking for. I have, in the space of two weeks, added year onto my life…years I can spend with my husband, and, of course, all of you as I try to continue to make Monarch Comics the best comic store in the tri-state area.

I hope that it finally stops raining and I hope that everyone has a great weekend! I will be back in the store next week and attempting to get back to my old schedule so stop on by to say hi!

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

I hope everyone is having a great week. Mine has been going pretty well, but I am putting the finishing touches on this year’s Free Comic Book Day and that always involves a bit of stress and a lot of money…lol. Of course there is the ordering of all of the free comics, which is FINALLY done, as well as setting things up like hiring the photography company which does the pictures for the event and setting things up with Shivers across the street for the free ice cream cone coupons. Also lining up all of the Monarch Avengers cosplayers and taking them out for an event planning dinner. It’s a lot to keep straight, but it is also always worth it. I’ve been running a FCBD event yearly for 22 years now and I just can’t imagine NOT doing it. Mark it down on your calendars, for those of you who still use such things, Saturday, May 4^th, 2024 is the big day! (Apparently there is some sort of big celebration around an obscure old 70’s low budget science fiction movie on the same day.)

I keep meaning to mention it on the Afternoon Delights Tuesday afternoon show or on here, but Monarch Comics is officially buying new back issue material again. I had to put a hold on it for a few months because Brian and I were dealing with a bunch of stuff, including, of course, the Big and New Jersey collections. We have also started working on a new big collection, the Wilcoxen collection, but I am dealing with a big case of FOMO so I have green lit looking at back issues cold again. I did want to lay out exactly how it works for us now that I have had some serious experience with big collections. First of all the only days we will be looking at unsolicited stuff is Monday, Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday. Basically these are days that Brian is in the store and he’s my go to guy for evaluating collections and he is REALLY good at it. Next, please call before bringing your stuff into the store. If you have less than 50 comics then chances are we can easily fit you in on any of the days listed above, but if you have multiple boxes then we may have to schedule a time for you to drop them off and then to come back after we have gotten to them. We are only interested in looking at comics…no POP figures or trading/gaming cards or toys or anything of that nature. You may always choose to get your payments either in check form or store credit. If you have a collection of 1000 or more comics please understand that it may take a week or more for us to get to them, but in those situations we generally will have a good idea of how long it will take.

So I read a ton of new comics this week! I am trying to decide how to write about my “new” hobby without taking too much time (its already 1:30 and I still don’t have this finished to post.) or being boring. I will mention that my highlights this week included Blade #9, a comic that I have never read before and I found the penultimate issue of this series to be pretty exciting although a story so far page would have been helpful. Catwoman #63 was extremely entertaining and I am totally grooving on this current 9 lives story. Fantastic Four and Invincible Iron Man were both solid, especially FF, but then again they both have been excellent since the beginning of their current runs. I enjoyed AWA’s new title, Little Black Book, and I am looking forward to seeing where the first issue is leading. Spider-Woman has become one of my favorite Marvel comics and Titans is on its way to being one of my favorite DC Comics. Also, you can just assume that I absolutely love all the X-Books…this week’s X-Men Forever was a big step to clearing up a few lingering loose ends from the Immortal X-Men comic that wrapped up back in December. I can also tell you for sure that I am starting to really look forward to my Tuesday night comic reading session with Hill…😊

Okily dokily, that’s it for me this week! It looks like Spring might be returning again this weekend and sure do hope that everyone enjoys it. I have been trying to be more of a presence in the store on Fridays or Saturdays, but I have to take the weekend off because the water company has scheduled a time to come to my house to replace the meter. That means I have to spend some serious time cleaning up the hording mess in the basement so they can actually get to the old meter. Believe me, I’d rather be in the store! See you Folks next week…😊

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

Well, kinda sorta back to normal here behind the scenes this week! It’s been kind of crazy here in the last two weeks and I have been working diligently to catch everything up. We have been lucky enough to be the new comics choice to a brand spanking new customers and while we love our new customers it does take a bit of scrambling to catch our orders up. I’ve been ordering new comics now for over 30 years and for nearly 40 years I’ve been behind the scenes at my local comic shop learning how to manage stock. It usually takes about a month-6 weeks to normalize inventory with a sudden influx of new customers and I am well on the way to sussing things out. So if you happen to miss a comic or two on the rack, please give me some patience and know that I know what the difficulty is and I am well on the way to correcting it. Subscription service users also know that if you are missing something in your pulls then check with me or Brian…chances are we just waiting for additional quantities to show up from the distributors. And to the new customers that I am speaking about like they aren’t in the room…welcome to the comic experience of Monarch Comics!

I should talk about the actual mechanics of the subscription form so that we are all on the same page. I have been doing this weekly subscription list for a while now and while it is intentionally set up to be the simplest and most comprehensive lists things don’t always work out perfectly…lol. The list is almost always up and ready to go before 1pm on Thursday afternoons. It does take some time to parse everything between three different distributors and the process always has some inaccuracies due to the distributor and how efficient their office staff is. For instance, Diamond Comics has a “master list” of books due out every week. This list, for reasons that remain unknown, is released in two parts: Monday has the list of “main’ Diamond publishers and the second list is released on Wednesday morning with the complete list of the week’s titles supplied by Diamond. Sounds simple, right? The problem is that Diamond’s service has been on a slow slide to oblivion for several years now and there are weeks when whoever is required to update these critical lists don’t bother or do it wrong. This has the effect of cutting down on the amount of small press titles featured on the subscription list or listing things on it that aren’t actually shipping. The incompetence is mind numbing. So if you think there is something coming out that you don’t see on the sub list please ask us about it. It will be often a case of merely not seeing the item on my weekly reference lists.

I also wanted to mention that getting your orders in early, either Thursday or Friday, is your best bet at getting everything you want for the week. I have “X” number of copies of a comic already pre-ordered and I keep track of the numbers ordered from the subscription form as they come in. SO, I might have ordered 50 copies of Fantastic Four #whatever, but by the time I process all of the orders there may only be 3 copies going up on the rack. That’s why it is imperative to get your orders in early to make sure that I can cover your order with the initial shipments.

Now if I run out before your order is processed you may have to wait a day or two for my reorder of the item to reach the shop. Lately anything ordered from Lunar Distribution is generally here by Tuesday or early Wednesday, so you may not even notice it, but Diamond and PRH tends to take a day or two longer. Also, I don’t actually carry everything for the rack that is on the Sub form. These have to be special ordered in and again may take a couple of extra days to appear depending on which distributor I use.

Which brings me to the final point about using the sub form. Occasionally I will run out of something that I have on the form and I will not be able to obscure any more copies. This used to happen all the time, but I now have a pretty good handle on it. I will always backorder any books that I receive orders. I apologize ahead of time, but I do try to do my best secure orders for things that I have out out for sale and the sad truth is that sometimes a publisher, big or small, will simply not print as many copies that they need. Oftentimes these days there will be a second print (or third or whatever) offered immediately but will still take up to 3-4 weeks to actually be printed and shipped. Depending on how many requests I get or how big the books is I will generally order at least a small amount of additional prints, but I will ALWAYS order copies if I get specific requests for them. So always ask if you are interested in the additional printings.

I’m sure that I am forgetting something about the service but I think those are the main points. I guess I should mention that any special orders you put in or orders for items that I don’t normally carry are all ordered on Sunday afternoon in my weekly reorder list. Any special orders I receive before 3pm on Sunday will be included in that week’s reorder. I f I receive any special orders after that point will be included in the following week’s reorder and thus won’t show up until the following week. With special order comics the best thing to do is hit me with it at FOC…but that’s a whole other story for a different time…lol

I had some ore stuff to talk about this week, like the best comics that I read (Immortal Thor, Batman Dylan Dog, Ultimate Black Panther) this week and the upcoming FCBD, but I have officially run out of time and need to get started posting stuff so I will this here. NEXT week I promise I will talk more about comics then babbling endlessly on about the mechanics of the industry!

Have a great weekend, Folks!

Eddiw

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