Category: Uncategorized

Hey, Folks!

 

I do believe I have reached a state of complete serenity within the midst of unprecedented comic industry upheaval! Despite a litany of issues and problems that the industry is dealing with between pandemic-related backlogs and shortages to the tangle of distributors trying to adjust to the New Normal I have, at long last, decided that it is not in my best interests to lose my mind every time something goes pear-shaped. Nope…not gonna do it. I have read far too many comments from retailers and industry leaders crying out to the community that “The Sky is Falling” to be affected by it anymore. I simply don’t have the emotional bandwidth for it and I still see my primary job as creating a welcoming, inclusive, and friendly environment for all of you to enjoy your hobby pursuits. I realized that I am much more interested in talking comics or movies or family life or even…<GASP> Star Wars than I am in discussing how disheartening it is for me to deal with the current industry problems. I figure that all of you good folks are dealing with similar issues at your own jobs…why would you want to come here and have to listen to the same litany of problems, especially when the internet is full of people already going on and on about it? So no more complaining from Yours Truly…I am going to start just being grateful for having my own business in an industry I truly do love and being having my store populated by some of the best customers EVER!

 

That being said, there are a couple of situations I wanted to let you in on, not to bemoan them, but to keep you informed and assure you that they are being properly dealt with. For instance, I was shorted my entire shipment of Star Wars High Republic Trail of Shadows #1 this week from PRH. I want to assure you that they have been reported and I am currently awaiting a response from PRH on when I can expect to see my replacements shipped. Obviously PRH has had a few issues with the new distribution paradigm and I can only imagine how backed up their office team is dealing with what must be a surfeit of shipping difficulties so I’m patiently awaiting their response. In any case, I do have a complete listing of everyone who ordered a copy of the book on hand and I assure you that I will pull and hold all copies as soon as I receive them.

 

Another weird happening for the week is the announcement from Image Comics that several of their upcoming titles will be delayed a week or two until their printed catches up with orders. I don’t have the full list in front of me now, but for next week and the week after it looks like the primary titles affected that I actually carry in the store include Gunslinger Spawn and King Spawn. Gunslinger Spawn #1 (due out next week) had some slight allocations for my orders of Cover A and I have been told I will receive the balance for the week of October 27^th. King Spawn #3, also due out next week, will have covers A & B available, but covers C & D won’t be received until 10/27 as well. I have included King Spawn #3 A & B covers on this week’s shipping subscription form and I will put the other covers on the form for 10/27 when they arrive. Again, if you special ordered any of these covers your order is still good! There were a couple of other minor schedule changes for other Image books, but those consisted of special ordered items and I will inform you individually of their current statis as I see you.

 

Speaking if Gunslinger Spawn #1…it is indeed coming out next week! I have plenty of copies coming in and I want to let you know that in order to give the newest Spawn comic the push I think it deserves Monarch Comics will be offering the title for only $2.99…$3 off the $5.99 cover price! We did a similar promotion for King Spawn #1 and it went well, so I decided to try it again with Gunslinger Spawn #1. Make sure you take a good look at it next week when it hits the new release rack!

 

Also I’m pleased to announce that Monarch Comics will be participating in the second annual Bikes and Boos Halloween event on Sunday, October 31^st! Taking place in the parking lot of our Colonial Village Shopping Center from 2pm-5pm, Monarch Comics will have a selection of free comics that kids can chose from while they go about gathering candy from folks lined up in the lot. Come by for some spooky fun for everybody!

 

Thanks for tuning in again this week, my friends, and have a great weekend!

 

Eddie

(Special thanks to Alex Carew who called me to let me know I forgot to post everything on the website yesterday!)

Hey, Folks!

 

I can’t tell everyone how truly thrilling it is to be dealing with three separate distributors in order to get all of my regular stock. The last time I had to dance this dance was twenty years ago during the Distributor Wars of the late 90’s and I had apparently blocked out of my memory what a charming waltz it can end up being. Add to that the additional complication of a global pandemic on supply line dynamics as well as simple shipping and I suddenly find myself just waiting to see what fresh hell is going to pop up this week and how much work it is going to be to get around it. Honestly, it has added a level of anxiety and suspense that I didn’t know I needed in my life…as if taking over a business and trying to get basic remodeling and repurposing completed isn’t enough of a logistical challenge.

 

As you all know by now, this week’s main crisis came in the form of a shipment from Diamond being essentially 24 hours late. I first noticed it on Monday morning while I was camped out in my closed business waiting for my first Marvel shipment from PRH. It was strange…I was looking up my COD total for the week when I noticed that my Diamond boxes hadn’t left the warehouse yet. This was somewhat troubling as the books normally show up on Tuesday afternoon and I know we are in a “Two Day Ship Zone”. I hoped and prayed that it was a simple computer snafu and e-mailed Diamond to ask about the discrepancy. Turns out it wasn’t a mistake and that many accounts serviced from the Plattsburgh warehouse (where we get all of our initial orders) were in the same boat. Apparently, the Plattsburgh warehouse suffered through a Covid outbreak which sidelined much of the staff and necessitated a temporary closing of the warehouse for a deep clean. Although I truly hate having to deal with a late shipment and the unpack that follows there’s really nothing anyone can say at this point over covid complications. It’s simply the world that we are living in now. Hopefully we won’t see a similar problem next week.

 

Meanwhile, I’m sure you must have stumbled upon the controversary of Penguin Random House’s first week shipping Marvel periodicals. For those not in the know, PRH shipped everything out in boxes a little bigger than a football, but not quite as resilient. I mean, I caught a preview of what to expect from some retailer’s who got their product early and I’ll admit I was a little worried as to whether the boxes were going to show up split open with their precious paper cargo in shreds. Turns out that I either lucked out or else the problem isn’t going to be as bad as I feared. I mean, out of hundreds of Marvel comics we only had 10 damages and, for the most part, the reporting of damages is pretty easy. I know from what I’ve read that many retailers had bad experiences with their PRH shipment this week, but at this point it seems as if PRH is very interested in our opinions and will be working in the coming weeks to fix any problems with their shipping plans. Of course, many have argued that they had over six months to figure this out and that there was no excuse for a bad shipment, but I am ready to give them a chance to fix the problems before flying off the handle. While they have been the largest book distributor in the world for years, servicing the comic book market is a somewhat different animal and if tey can learn how to tame it properly then I think it will work out better for everyone. That being said, please feel free to ignore if I get a Marvel shipment in next week that is destroyed and I’m raging like a wounded beast about it next week.

 

I would like to formally announce here before I get around to making a Facebook ad about that Monarch Comics will be running a very special trade paperback sale for the remainder of October. Thanks to the Halloween holiday coming up, Monarch Comics will have a specially curated rack of spooky trade paperbacks and hard covers on sale for 25% off cover price! Keep an eye on the rack every week as other titles may be added to it as we sell off books that are either out of print and not currently available for reorder. Make your October a scary one with some horrific comic book stories!

I also want to mention that author Jim Beard will be appearing at Monarch Comics on Saturday, October 30^th, for a special book signing to promote his books featuring essays about the legendary Batman 66 TV show! Jim will be here from 12pm-4pm and he will have copies of his books for sale. Stop on by and check it out!

 

And that’s it for me this week, True Believers! I hope that each and everyone one of you has a great weekend and I look forward to seeing you in the shop!

 

Eddie

 

Hey, Folks!

Boy howdy, is it an exciting week here at Monarch Comics!

As many of you are already aware, next week will be the first week that Penguin Random House will be distributing Marvel Comics! It’s been a somewhat nerve racking couple of days trying to figure out how to use PRH’s back end retailer website in order to cull the information I used to get from Diamond in order to get the Shipping List and Subscription Form up and running. I mean, with Diamond my invoice for the following week is available Wednesday morning which gives me a little time in order to sort through special orders and get the titles (and images that go with them) ready to be added to the sub form. Unfortunately, PRH’s invoicing system is a lot different from Diamond (or even Lunar) and it looks like there will be learning curve to figuring out how it is going to work for me. I mean, I was poking the PRH website with a stick all day Tuesday and Wednesday in order to figure out the best and easiest way to get the information that I need to do a proper sub form. I eventually found the files I needed, but the “simple” part was eluding me. It was a nice surprise to find a temporary patch to the issue that PRH added to help comic retailers after the inevitable complaints started rolling in, but it’s not a perfect solution and I’m expecting more fixes to be implemented as we move forward and PRH gets a deeper understanding about the kind of service comic retailers need. My biggest issue now that I finally got the shipping/sub lists ready is when I am actually going to see my first shipment of Marvel books from PRH. As of this morning there was still no invoice generated and one of PRH “things” is that they don’t post invoices until the shipment is packed and ready to go. From everything I’ve read PRH is currently planning on getting our books out via UPS for a Monday delivery. I will feel a lot more confidant about the process after I receive my first shipment.

My Lunar shipments have been coming in pretty reliably since I switched from FedEx to UPS for delivery. Unfortunately, I just ran into another problem with Lunar this morning as only one of the two boxes of next week’s D.C. books made it to me. The other box is currently showing as not having left the warehouse yet. I’ve got an e-mail to them asking what happened to the second box, but I haven’t heard back yet. I can’t tell you how annoying it is that Lunar does not allow their customers to call up their offices for explanations about issues like this. I mean, I didn’t care as long as I didn’t have any major problems, but an entire box of missing items is pretty serious and having to wait for someone to answer an e-mail and then continue the game of “e-mail tag” until the issue gets resolved is incredibly time consuming and very irritating. Hopefully it is simply a computer snafu and the box will suddenly show up tomorrow, but until I get some kind of answer from Lunar it’s a mystery!

Okay…I now have to confess to a mistake of my own. D.C. Comics Justice League Infinity #4 is being published next week, but as I was constructing the sub form I realized that I somehow missed ordering the issue at FOC. Ling time readers will know that this is the second time this has happened in the last month with the first time being the Batman Superman Annual. Well, in the case of the Annual it was no biggie because Lunar still had copies easily available. With this Justice League Infinity title, however, any orders are currently going to backorder. Of course, I only sell a fraction of the copies of Justice League Infinity that I do of Batman Superman and I am pretty sure that the copies I currently have on order will ship out once Lunar finishes processing any damages or shortages that may pop up this week. So, those of you enjoying the title can be relatively certain that I will have it in stock although it will probably not have it in stock until 10/22 due to the turn around time with Lunar. Sorry about that…I will endeavor to be more careful during my Lunar FOC time!

It is also my great pleasure to announce that we finally have Monarch Comics logo shirts available for sale! It was quite surprising to have the requests for the t-shirts ever since I had some made for employees and cosplayers, but I have listened and the shirts were just delivered this afternoon by my beloved t-shirts guru, Nichole Smith! They are comfortable and soft white cotton t-shirts with the Monarch Comics logo emblazoned across the chest. There shirts are currently available for $19.99 in a variety of sizes…😊

Okily dokily…that’s it for me this week! While writing this little missive I was hit by a big business rush and now I have to do some interesting dance party moves in order to catch up! Hopefully the distributor trials and travails described above will be dealt with easily and there will be no problems with getting the shipment up and running on time next week, but rest assured I keep y’all up to date on any changes as soon as they become apparent to me.

Have a GREAT weekend!

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

 

To quote Samwise Gamgee from the end of Lord of the Rings, “Well, I’m back.”

 

My vacation was a good one that was filled with relaxation, food, friends, (LOTS of) fudge, and, of course, BEARS! It was one of the best times I can remember having on vacation and my only regret is that coming back means I have tons of work to catch up on. I’m not really complaining, but I do have to admit that this ownership thing has been a little more labor intensive and time consuming than I ever expected. I mean, I’ve been working on projects since I took over from Steve from the initial store cleanup to the renovations to the restock to FCBD and I have come to the realization that it is never going to be less work than it is now and that it is time to manage my expectations and work on training Brian to do more of the daily/weekly tasks that keep things moving forward as well as work on managing my personal time better.

 

I know this missive and the posting of the sub form is a bit behind this week and this is partly due to the fact that I had another comic book collection show up for sale this morning. It took me 2 hours or so to sort through it and make an offer which the gentleman ended up accepting. It looks like I have another project added to the list of 300 things that need to get done before the week is done. Hopefully, Brian and I will be able to get these books sorted, processed, and put out for sale before the end of the week. There are, of course, a bunch of books that will be going into the dollar boxes, but there are also interesting restocks of Spawn, Wolverine, Infinity Gauntlet, Hellblazer, Preacher, as well as some other various titles. There will be a bunch of 90’s era Vertigo titles going into the dollar boxes as well. Watch the Facebook page for pics once I get them sorted and priced and always feel free to ask when you come into the store what new back issues goodies we have to offer.

 

A few of you were asking this week about Batman The Adventures Continue Season Two #4 this week. Well, technically it DID indeed get released this week, however, due to a printer’s mishap we (as well as many other comic shops) did not receive our cover A’s for the issue. They are going to be coming in with next week’s books so I decided to hold the cover B’s and put both covers out for sale next week. It’s on the sub form this week if you are looking for a copy.

 

We also have a bunch of supplies getting restocked on Friday this week. These supply items include Ultra Pro Silver Age Bags, Ultra Pro Regular Comic Bags (which is a size between Silver and current), Ultra Pro Resealable Modern Bags, Ultra Pro Resealable Regular Bags, Ultra Pro Resealable Silver Age Bags, and, for the first time ever, Ultra Pro Resealable Golden Age Bags. It’s been an interesting challenge to keep a variety of comic supplies in stock since I took over, but I think that I am finally getting the hang of it. I mean, in the old days, Steve and I would keep relatively light stock of supplies in the store as it was never any problem getting a case or two of bags or boards within 2 days of ordering them. With all of the Apocalyptic Craziness going on this year, however, maintaining a healthy stock of supplies has not been an easy job. I’ve got literally thousands of bags coming this week and my current stock of boards and boxes is pretty strong although it looks like I may need to order more boxes next week to keep up with the demand.

 

Speaking of difficulties keeping things in stock in a post-apocalyptic world, it looks like we soon have a major windfall in regards to out of stock Marvel backlist items. As many of you already know, Penguin Random House will be taking over the position as primary distributor for Marvel Comics beginning the first of October. We’ve been promised that a huge amount of Marvel backstock has already been delivered to the distribution giant and that they will be released into PRH’s stock for order on October 1^st. I am currently working on an order of potentially thousands of dollars worth of trades for next month in order to get things nice and stocked up for the upcoming holidays. Unfortunately, I can’t really tease what might be coming back into stock because the whatever the titles will be have to been released to us. I have also begun the task of restocking a lot of older hard covers/trade paperbacks from material that I have had in deep storage for years. So over the next couple of months please take a moment and peruse the new book shelves as they magically fill up with a cornucopia of new “old” books!

 

Okily dokily…that’s it for my blathering this week. As I mentioned above I have a million tasks to get through today, including Diamond September initial orders. Now that I am ordering D.C. and Marvel titles on FOC only, the initial orders stage is a little simpler, but it is still rather time consuming and the weekly Marvel FOC is rather different from other FOC systems that I am used to operating within and it is taking a bit longer to get the hang of it. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

 

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

 

After last week’s seemingly endless EDitorial I just have a few quick notes before getting the whole schmoo posted and ready to go! The biggest note this week is that there will be no EDitorial next and that I will be out of the office from Thursday, September 16^th-Sunday, September 19^th for my now annual trip up North to see da bears at the Oswald Bear Ranch in Michigan’s UP. This will be a little different from my previous excursions as I have decided to leave the office behind and let Brian give it a go to run things next week. This means I will not have the computer with me and I may be out of communication at various points due to the weak cell coverage up there. I will make sure to get the shipping list and sub form up and running before leaving Thursday morning and here’s hoping there will be no problems with it. I’ve trained Brian on how to process the orders, but I am apologizing in advance in case there are any blips while I’m gone.

 

This week also marks the first time I will be ordering Marvel periodicals from Penguin Random House. It’s an interesting process and I am curious as to how well it will work…lol. Back in the old days, i.e. last month, when I was still getting the Marvel stuff from Diamond I would place Marvel initial orders into the system and then I would do a final order cut-off every week in order to adjust my orders up or down based on inventory records. Well, the system is not quite the same with PRH, especially in regards to “initial orders’ VS “FOC orders”. I could put in an initial order for Marvel product at the end of the month as I did with Diamond, but PRH does not offer the option of adjusting orders down, only up, with their FOC system. As a result, I have had to devise an entirely new system of ordering Marvel Comics in order to properly track and manage special orders and the like. I think I have it figured out and those of you who helpfully let me know what you want to purchase ahead of time should be covered with no problems. I’m not sure how well prepared PRH is for reorders of periodicals, both the packing and shipping, but I have been using the, to restock hard covers and trades for a couple of months now and they have pretty efficient with the way they handle it. So I have big hopes that this new arrangement will work out just fine, but I thought I should mention it now to let you know that there is a sea change going on behind the scenes and that there may be issues with it that haven’t presented themselves yet. I will, of course, keep all of you in the loop and let you know if some problem has popped up!

 

Brian and I have managed to get all of the new shelving units up and running on the slatwall, but we are still working on filling them up so that the store doesn’t look half empty. Who knew that a wall of face-out trade paperbacks would contract so much when reoriented sideways!?! We have been spreading the stock out a bit in order to fill things in and there are plans afoot to start moving around the books and refiling things. The big work will most likely begin when I get back as I don’t want to burden Brian with it while I am out of the store. I do believe that we will, at least at the outset, have one wall devoted to Marvel books and the other wall devoted to D.C. books although this may change at some point if I get a better idea. In any case, I ask for your patience while we move things around and my current goal is to have everything spread out well filed before our annual Black Friday sale in November!

 

We have also been feverishly working to finish the restock on the back issue bins as well as finishing up refilling the dollar boxes. If you haven’t checked out the back issue bins recently you might want to take another look as we have added hundreds of restocked back issues. The dollar boxes are flowing pretty well now too and there are hundreds of new selections for your perusal.

 

Okily dokily…that’s it for me this week. To reiterate, I will be here in the store next week on Tuesday and Wednesday as per usual, but will be gone and incommunicado for the rest of the week. Please direct all questions to Brian who will attempt to help as best as he can and will direct any questions to me once I return!

 

Have a great week, Folks, and I will talks at ya again in two weeks!

 

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

 

Well, the last couple of weeks have been pretty hectic here at Monarch Comics, but I do believe everything has finally calmed down to pre-FCBD levels of stress. Between FCBD, putting the final touches on Ed Year One store renovations, training Brian how to operate within a business system created (and only used by) myself, dealing with delivery issues with our D.C. Comics distributor, and sorting through literally thousands of new back issue purchases it has been a very long August!

 

The biggest issue over the last three weeks has been the sudden breakdown of service between Lunar Distribution and the local FedEx hub. I’ve gone over the story with many of you and was posting about it when it was actually happening, but I thought it would be a good idea to go over the general details one more time and hopefully set everyone at ease over our delivery issues. When Monarch Comics initially moved from UCS to Lunar for distribution of D.C. Comics I must admit that there were no problems for months. I initially chose Lunar’s principle shipping partner, FedEx, to deliver our weekly shipments. For the first 7+ months the honeymoon was on and I had little to no problems dealing with FedEx for our deliveries. I generally received my Lunar shipments days before their street date and it was relatively easy to deal with them. However, Lunar/D.C. decided to wait until the week before FCBD to ship us our titles and that is when the problems began.

 

To be honest, I wasn’t particularly surprised when I realized that there was going to be a problem with that week’s shipment. I was a bit panicked, sure, but not surprised. I mean, I usually get between 1-3 boxes a week from Lunar and because of the FCBD titles I ended up getting 13 boxes. If other stores had a similar amount of boxes coming to them it wasn’t a huge surprise that Lunar or FedEx might have a little problem processing and delivering them. When I hadn’t even received shipment tracking numbers, much less the shipment itself, by Friday morning I knew there was a serious problem and that I was going to have to spring into action in order to fix it. I e-mailed Lunar and after a little back and forth determined that it would be necessary for me to drive to New Haven, IN, to pick up the shipment. Understand that Lunar is only about an hour and a half away from Toledo and while it is not a trip I’d want to have to take every week I decided that it would be a good idea this time if only to ensure that my FCBD titles arrived before the event. I put Brian in charge of the store and Hill and I made our way to the Lunar warehouse and picked up the pallet. (I won’t go into how there were actually twice as many huge boxes then I was told via e-mail…)

 

So, problem solved, right? Wrong. The following week was another case of not having tracking numbers by Friday morning and this time I was told by Lunar that I wouldn’t see the shipment until Monday…which eventually turned into late Tuesday afternoon. This was annoying as by late Tuesday afternoon I generally have everything unpacked and I am preparing to pull the sub customers as well as record a new episode of Monarch Comics Afternoon Delight. Still, I got the books and did the job and chalked the whole thing up as a blip in the general scheme of things. After all, the first 7 months had no major problems, right? And the other retailer woes that I read about online involving shipments from FedEx were on the other side of the country and I figured it wouldn’t be a factor in our delivery problems at all.

 

How wrong I was. The third week was the worst one yet. Again, no tracking numbers by Saturday and Lunar couldn’t really give me much information about when we would see our shipment or what the problem was. It was a single large box as it was a small shipping week for D.C. and I tracked its progress in a way that could be charitably called “obsessive”. The lone box ended up being checked in as arriving at the Perrysburg FedEx hub at 1:17am Monday morning and the box didn’t actually make it to the store until after 4pm on Wednesday afternoon.

 

When a box shows up so late that I can’t put them on sale Wednesday morning then we have a serious problem. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get any real idea from anyone about what the actual hold up was, whether it was a problem with Lunar or FedEx. I remembered reading about other retailers on the West Coast having similar issues with FedEx and figured that must be at least a portion of the problem. I also learned that retailers working with Lunar had no obligation to use FedEx and that we could switch to UPS at any time, albeit with a hefty shipping charge increase to the tune of 4X FedEx’s rate. This mattered little to me at this point, however, because all of the money I could potentially save on shipping means nothing if I don’t have actual book to sell.

 

So everything in regards to getting my D.C. books shipped from Lunar on a timely basis has been fixed. Last week I got this week’s titles on Thursday and this week’s books are scheduled for a Friday afternoon arrival. All is right with the world…at least for the time being.

 

There are new changes on Monarch Comics’ horizon in regards to comic distribution. As many of you already know, starting with the week of October 6^th, we will begin receiving our Marvel books from new comic book distributor Penguin Random House. The industry has been preparing for the changeover since May of this year and it looks like everything is going to go smoothly. Once I realized that PRH had product in stock that I couldn’t get from either Diamond or Lunar I began putting regular reorders in with them just to see how they were at packing and shipping items. They aren’t perfect, but I’ve seen a lot worse in my time and I am cautiously optimistic about getting the Marvel periodicals shipped in good shape. Because PRH operates so many warehouses in the US it can be a kind of crapshoot as to how long it takes to get a reorder from them or in how many pieces it will show up, but I don’t think that will be an issue with the comic books as they will all be coming from one dedicated warehouse.

 

There is also the matter of navigating PRH’s retailer website. It’s certainly different from Diamond and Lunar’s respective websites and I think I have it figured out, but I’ve had to make some changes to how I process order behind the scenes. I won’t bore you will al the spreadsheet details, but a major change I’ll be making is switching to FOC orders for Marvel rather than the way I did it through Diamond with Initial Orders followed by FOC tweaks. This is mostly due to PRH’s initial orders system is a little clunky and they haven’t updated their systems to allow for reducing orders for product on FOC. This shouldn’t make a difference to the way you order and purchase Marvel Comics at all and I am hoping that the transition is functionally seamless, but I’ve also been around this industry long enough to know that there may be issues down the road that I can’t even predict at this point. I think that I’ve worked it all out on paper and got it figured out, but if there are issues then I will rectify them as quickly and hassle-free as possible.

 

The final stages of Ed Year One renovations are in their final stages. I finally received the bookshelves and brackets that I have been waiting on since early July and Brian and I have been working hard to get them all up on the walls. For those of you who haven’t been in yet this week, this portion of my renovations consists of taking the metal baskets that have been hanging on the slatwall since the beginning of time and replacing them with much more attractive bookshelves which will allow us to display more titles on the walls as well as keep those titles in better shape. The supplies have also been moved from their old metal shelf and onto these knew and sleek bookshelves. I’m actually pleasantly surprised by how well this project turned out and despite a few hiccups, including having to repaint a whole wall because the paint didn’t stick well, it has been pretty easy to swap everything around. Over the next couple of months I will be working to bring in a lot more trade paperback/hard cover backstock in order to get these shelves filled up as quickly as possible, hopefully in time for my first holiday season!

 

I’ve also recently picked up a great deal of backstock for the store and Brian and I have working tirelessly in order to get it all out in front of you as quickly as possible. This includes some major new key issues in the showcase as well as a major restock of more general back issues in the boxes and the creation of many new dollar boxes! I won’t claim that we have a comprehensive catalogue of back issues, but we have a lot more than in the past and if there are books you are looking for to complete runs then it is certainly worth your time to check out the back issue boxes and dollar bins! Also, keep an eye on our Facebook page as I will be posting pictures of all of the new keys that come in the door and end up in the showcases.

 

I will be out of the office tomorrow (Friday, September 3^rd) for a much needed day off. It surprised me when I realized that I haven’t had an actual day off in almost two months and decided to treat myself since Brian just got back from vacation and was ready to hit the ground running. I will effectively be offline until I get back into the store, but if you have any questions that need attending to immediately please don’t hesitate to give the store a call and talk to Brian. He needs more experience in helping folks with comic book issues and he can always take a message and kick any problems back to me. Additionally, I will be taking a small vacation from the store starting September 16^th and I won’t be back until the 21^st. Hill and I are joining two other couples and journeying once again up to Michigan’s UP in order to visit the bears at Oswald’s Bear Ranch…😊

 

Okily dokily…that’s it for me this week! Have a great weekend and I hope to see you in the store soon!

 

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

 

Well, here we are finally past Free Comic Book Day and moving boldly into the future!

 

Just kidding…I’m actually physically and emotionally exhausted and am desperately trying to catch my breath while looking longingly at the calendar while wistfully wishing for my vacation to get here sooner…

 

FCBD was a measured success this year. Attendance was way down compared to 2019, but I’m not sure what I really expected. Between the pandemic, other events going on in town, August vacations, and the fact that this was a lot of folks “last weekend of the summer” (with school starting up this week) I think there was a lot stacked against my quiet little celebration of comics. All that being said, however, I was still pretty optimistic about how things went. Everyone who attended was TERRIFIC and adding things like Kurt Nielson and his mobile photo booth and the free ice cream cone from Shivers only made things more fun. Hopefully FCBD will be able to return to the first Saturday in May next year and we can see some real fireworks. Of course, Monarch still has plenty of FCBD titles still available and we are going to leave the books on the counter through the end of this week so that anyone who wasn’t able to make it Saturday may come in and get their fill of freebies. There is plenty of most of the titles, so even if you did come by on Saturday and got your five titles feel free to stop by and get any that you may have had your eye on!

 

One of the things that Brian and I were working on in the weeks leading up to FCBD were the creation of massive amounts of new Dollar Box offerings. We ended up doing very well with them Saturday, but I want all of you who go crazy for new dollar boxes to know that there are still plenty in stock and more to come once Brian and I get done sorting through them. There will also be a lot of back issue stock going out over the next couple of weeks as well as some new higher demand books going into the showcase. As a matter of fact I’ll be posting about some of those books on Facebook later today.

 

I’ve been talking about the last few renovation projects I have in mind for the store this year and I thought I’d mention that the proposed new book shelves are currently still on backorder with my supplier. These are the book shelves that I have mentioned to many of you that I am going to use to turn the current slat walls int o proper book shelves. This will allow me to display a good deal more product once they are installed and I also think it will end up looking pretty sharp. I have a literal mountain of older and out of print trade paperbacks and hard covers at home that I am very much looking forward to putting in front of you. Hopefully I’ll get those shelves in soon so that I can start the project properly. Also, let’s hope they don’t show up while I am out of town next month.

 

I also want to mention that there may be small disruptions of store hours over the next three weeks. This is because my Dad, who regular customers know is suffering from dementia, is “on his own” while his caretaker takes a very deserved three week vacation. I am coordinating with my family to make sure he gets the care he needs during this time, but there maybe moments of emergency that I will have to leave the store to take care of. Hopefully, if this happens it will be on a day that Brian is in the store and I can come and go as I please, but let me apologize now if you roll up to the store and find it closed at an odd hour. Everything may run completely smoothly for the whole three weeks, but if it doesn’t I just want everyone to be aware of what the problem may be.

 

That’s it for me this week. I’m actually kinda proud that I got everything ready to go this early and that I can now spend the afternoon sorting through more back issues! The quicker I can get into the boxes the quicker we will have yet more Dollar Boxes as well as some really interesting back issues!

 

Have a great week, Folks!

 

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

 

I am frantically trying to get the set-up for Free Comic Book Day so I will be brief this week. Brian is holding up admirably to his half-insane boss and I do believe we will be ready for action Saturday morning. Just a few quick notes about FCBD and then I will post the subscription form/shipping list and then I will get right back to it.

 

• Monarch Comics FCBD 2021 is scheduled to run for our regular business hours of 11am-7pm. (Although if everything is locked and loaded I may open the doors a bit earlier.)
• All patrons for the day get their choice of up to 5 FCBD titles presented on the racks.
• Because of the Covid situation we will be admitting only 60 people at a time into the store. Intrepid employees Brian and Jake will be taking turns manning the front door and will allow folks into and out of the store. Monarch Comics will not be requiring the wearing of face masks during the event either in the store or outside of it, but you may make your own decisions regarding the situation. Monarch Comics staff will be wearing their masks while inside the building for the event for your safety.
• While supplies last, every patron will also receive a coupon for a small ice cream cone from our partners in the event, Shivers, located directly across the street from the store. This coupon is only good for the day of the event. Please practice caution when crossing the street to Shivers as we are expecting a pretty busy day.
• The Monarch Avengers will be making an appearance for the event. Because of the August heat and humidity (although the forecast is currently for a fairly cool day) the Monarch Avengers will be here between 11am-3pm. I have also contracted the services of a mobile photo booth operator who will also be in service between 11-3. He will be able to snap pictures of you and the cosplayer of your choice and then text/e-mail the photo to you with a custom digital Monarch Comics FCBD frame! Depending on the weather we may be cycling smaller groups of cosplayers into and out of the store in order to give them time to cool off a bit.
• Monarch Comics will have a small sidewalk sale during the event that will consist of brand new Dollar Boxes! These comics will be available for your perusal outside in front of the store’s window. After you make your choices you will be allowed back into the store to pay for your items.
• Monarch staff will be wearing their Monarch Comics logo t-shirts. Please feel free to ask them any questions you may have during the event. They are here to help!
• Monarch Comics will NOT have any public bathrooms available for use during the event. This is partly a Covid consideration and partly due to technical difficulties with the bathroom. We apologize for the inconvenience.

 

I think that’s just about it. Thanks in advance to everyone who takes time out of their day to visit the store and I hope that everyone has a fun time and enjoys their free comics!

 

Okay…back to my nervous breakdown…

 

Ed

Hey, Folks!

 

WOW…is it August already?

 

Honestly, I can’t believe how quickly the time is passing as we here at Monarch race towards a hopefully triumphant Free Comic Book Day! Plans and preparations have continued apace and I find myself filled with both excitement and dread. Hillman, boyfriend extraordinaire, and Brian, employee of the month, have both been amazingly helpful between hand holding and helping make all of my bizarre ideas come to fruition. I think that we are on the right track and that we can get most of the prep work done on time.

 

One of the things I’ve had Brian working on is a fleet of new dollar comic boxes. Between collections I have been slowly acquiring over the last couple of months as well as the resumption of bringing a bunch of my old comics I do believe we will have some extremely interesting dollar boxes for folks to peruse on the big day. These new dollar boxes will be making their debut on the sidewalk in front of the window of the store on FCBD. Since we will only be letting 60 people in the store at a time and I know how intensive and time consuming going through bargain boxes I’ve decided to display them outside so that you will have as much time as possible to check them out without slowing the line down for the free stuff! The details are still being worked out, but I believe we will have someone (either Brian or returning former employee, Jake) monitoring the bargain boxes. They will count up your books and place them in a bag with the price on them and you will simply have to pop back in the store to purchase them at the register. I’m still working on the details, but hopefully it will be as easy as that to handle.

 

We will see the return of the Monarch Avengers cosplaying team this year! A lot of favorites will be back as well as a few new super heroes! In addition, I have also taken the steps to hire a mobile photo booth to take pictures of you with your favorite heroes and those pics will be sent your phone or e-mail! It will also include a custom Monarch Comics photo booth frame! Since the booth is mobile you will be able to get your photo booth opportunity while you are waiting in line to get into the store!

 

While normally Monarch offers cookies and pizza on the Big Day, I decided this year it wouldn’t be a very good idea to have food sitting out in the open, both due to the heat of the day as well as the COVID situation. Instead we will be offering coupons for a free small ice cream cone at SHIVERS! Shivers is directly across the street from Monarch Comics and will be serving ice cream while supplies last! The coupon is only good for August 14^th, so make sure you exchange it after you leave with your free comics!

 

I’ve worked very hard this year in order to whip the store into shape with all of the renovations and updates and I hope to make this one of the most successful Free Comic Book Days ever. The August date does present some logistical problems, but hopefully everything will be ironed out by next Saturday. Monarch Comics will be giving out 5 free comics per customer who comes in the door and we will be open our normal business hours of 11am-7pm! So I hope all of you will swing by and join us for a day of comic celebrating fun!

 

Have a great weekend and please excuse me while I go have a nervous breakdown…lol.

 

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

 

REALLY quick note this week…like, blink and you missed it quick.

 

This is because my Diamond shipment was a day late and just happens to be the biggest shipment I’ve received since taking over the store. I am still struggling to catch up with everything after my whole schedule was thrown into disarray. Thank goodness that Brian was able to come in today and watch the counter while I sit in the backroom and try to get everything back on track.

 

Of course, it isn’t just the late shipment that is making things wacky. I also had a morning meeting and plans were finalized and contracts were signed to ensure that this year Monarch Comics will be featuring a mobile photo booth to work with the cosplayers so that everyone gets a picture with their favorite super hero! This is one of my new additions to the event along with coupons for a free small ice cream cone from Shivers. Exciting, right?

 

I have also made my first appointment for an eye exam. Yes, tomorrow your faithful comic book retailer will be taking his first step into joining the ol’ “Four Eyes” team. Hopefully I will get everything caught up so that I can get out of the store and over to Spring Meadows on time for the appointment.

 

Oh! And, of course, it is the end of the month and Previews initial orders are also due. I’m kinda sorta okay with this one as I worked on it a little bit last night and spent most of the day Tuesday poking it with a stick during the time that I am normally unpacking books and getting them ready. Once I get done posting all of this material then I will get right on it to finish the damn thing. It’s a little sad as this is the last time I will be ordering Marvel product from Diamond. Truly the end of an era.

 

Anyway, I will be in the store this weekend from 3-7 on Saturday and 12-5:30 on Sunday otherwise you will be dealing with my second-in-command. I hope everyone has a great weekend and hopefully the book shipment will be trouble free next week!

 

Eddie