I’ve been racking my brain all morning about what to write about this week, but, frankly, there’s not much new going in the store this week. I mean, I could talk about how Hillman finally has his voice back after the throat surgery he went through last week because that was the most exciting event in my life. Hillman went for his post-op doctor’s visit yesterday morning and we were both relieved that the humongous mass that was clogging his vocal cords was not cancer and was a run of the mill papilloma, albeit a huge one. There is the concern that it will grow back at some point and he’ll have to repeat the procedure, but it looks like clear sailing once he completely heals and attends some speech therapy sessions. The speech therapy is apparently meant to essentially teach his vocal cords the proper way to work after nearly a decade of being held open by the papilloma.
“But what’s his voice sound like now, Ed?” I can hear you enquiring. (Yes, telepathic abilities are part of the skill set for comic book retailers.) Well, I was kinda hoping for a James Earl Jones baritone, but I certainly wasn’t disappointed in the end result. Hillman’s voice essentially, well, closely resembles his old vice, but without the sound of strain of trying to force the sounds through a massive lump of flesh. It was silky smooth and it was a joy to hear after a week of enforced silence while the healed from the surgery. I’m trying to talk him into doing a Facebook Live video as soon as he recovers a bit more so that everyone can hear what the new Hillman sounds like. I’ll keep you posted…
Meanwhile, back at the store, we have a whole new bunch of Funko POP figures that have been solicited to our market this week. I’m never really sure anymore when or where these things get released anymore, but I always want to make sure you are aware of them so I can take any preorders. This new round of POP figures include POP Marvel First Appearance Black Widow, POP Marvel First Appearance Scarlet Witch, POP Specialty Ser Marvel 80th 1st Appearance Kingpin, and POP Specialty Ser Marvel Fantastic Four Human Torch Vinyl Figures. I don’t believe any of these are exclusives to comic stores, but they are available for preorder with an FOC of 10/21. The estimated release dates are Black Widow (12/18), Scarlet Witch (1/29), Kingpin (1/8), and Human Torch (1/15). Let me know ASAP if you are interested in any of these figures and I will make sure we have one for you when they are released!
We will be receiving a ton of new POP figures next week that I solicited orders for months ago. The new figures include POP Heroes DC Batwoman PX (just in time for her new CW show!), POP Marvel 80th First Appearance Angel and Cyclops, POP Marvel 80th First Appearance Namor, POP Marvel Holiday Groot and Thanos, POP Movie Moment Batman 80th Light Up Bat Signal, and POP Marvel Into the Spider-Verse Casual Miles Morales PX! All of the POPs retail for $10.99 except for the POP Miles which is $12.99 and the POP Bat Signal which is $34.99. Additionally, those of you who preorder sets of the Original X-Men figures will get their POPs for $10 each. I am going to try and send out reminders to everyone who preordered these figures and we will hold them for two weeks unless you contact us and make other arrangements. Hopefully, the remaining original X-Men POPs will materialize before the end of the month! I have limited supplies of all of thee figures for the shelf, so make sure you stop by next week if you are interested in any of them.
That’s it for me, Folks! I better get cracking on posting the new shipping list and subscription form before the day gets much older. There are a few Marvel variant covers on the sub list this week that I have EXTREMELY limited quantities on, so order them quickly before they sell out and disappear from the list.
Well, it’s been a busy week for me and it is not going to get any easier as I cruise into the weekend! As some of you have already heard, boyfriend extraordinaire, Hillman Crawford, had to have a bit of throat surgery on Tuesday morning and we are knee deep in the recovery. My dear Hillman essentially lost his voice nearly a decade ago and has recently discovered a big glob was resting neatly between his vocal cords thereby blocking him from speaking properly. It was really bizarre looking and when viewed through a scope looked suspiciously like an Alien face hugger…lol. In any case, the icky blockage has been removed and we are all anxiously awaiting what he will sound like once he is allowed to use his voice again next week. Hillman, meanwhile, is resting comfortably at home and being driven slowly mad by his inability to speak for a week. No worries…I’m sure he’ll be fine!
Hillman recovering nicely after surgery.SPAWN #301 CVR H PARODY MCFARLANE
Unfortunately comic distribution is not an exact science and you have long heard me opine in the store about the various damages, shortages, and snafus that I have to deal with on a weekly basis with new comic shipment. Oftentimes these little challenges are invisible to the general public, but this week I’m afraid we had a shortage that is taking a little time to straighten out. Spawn #301 came out this week and, as per issue #300, had a whopping 17 different covers! I know this because I had at least one customer who wanted one of each cover…lol. The warehouse, however, screwed up and shorted us all of our copies of the cover H MacFarlane Parody variant and that just happened to be the cover that I chose to put on the rack. I reported the shortage immediately on Tuesday afternoon when we realized they were missing, but I didn’t hear back from my customer service rep until late in the day Wednesday about the status of the shortage. I assumed that there would be no problem getting them replaced as I had reported them early and it was a large enough number of copies that I qualified for an emergency shipment which ideally should have gotten them to us by Friday. Well, my customer service rep sent me an e-mail telling me that they were going to back order and I was essentially s#!t out of luck. I’ll admit that I lost my temper and hit the roof! I contacted Kat Salazar, director of PR & Marketing of Image Comics, to see if there was anything she can do about the situation and she said she’d look into it. Strangely enough, less than an hour later I received another e-mail from my customer service rep informing me that she had made a mistake and not only were my missing copies available, but they would be emergency shipped to me immediately. As of this writing I’m not sure if I will be seeing the shortages on Friday or Monday, but I will be getting them. So if you ordered a copy of Spawn #301 on the subscription form last week then you should have it by next week at the latest. Let’s hear it for the squeaky wheel getting the grease!
It’s an interesting new comic slate for DC Comics next week. One of the biggest question marks for me is how well the new Superman Smashes The Clan series by writer Gene Luen Yang and artist Gurihiru. Based on “Clan of the Fiery Cross”, a Superman radio serial from the 40’s, Yang presents his personal retelling of the Lee family as they team up with Superman to smash the Klan’s activities in a golden age Metropolis. The format is a kind of quasi-digest size with a cover price of $7.99 and manga inspired artwork. The project sounds interesting and rather different from the other Superman stories on the racks, but I’m just not sure how much demand there will be for it. I’ve ordered conservatively, but I’m living in a world of hope that DC will have extra copies on hand in case it turns into a break out hit. In any case, any fans of the golden age or of Superman should definitely check it out next week.
Another interesting project from DC next week is the first in their new series of one shots, Tales from the Dark Multiverse. What we are essentially getting is DC’s version of that old Marvel chestnut “What If?”. The Dark Multiverse is, of course, the roiling mass of alternate realities that seethes and boils underneath the regular multiverse. It is home to broken universe…universes where things have gone wrong that form and pop like soap bubbles before submerging back into the quantum foam from which they arise. In this first installment we find out the answer to the question, “What if Batman hadn’t taken the mantle of the bat away from Jean Paul Valley?” This might not be the first What If question I’d ask, but it certainly is an intriguing concept. I loved the old Marvel What If’s and I can honestly say that I am looking forward to this one immensely. It’s written by Scott Snyder and Kyle Higgins, a great writing team if ever there was one, with art by Javi Fernandez. Coming up in the next couple of months we have Dark Multiverse stories based on “Death of Superman”, “Blackest Night”, “Infinite Crisis”, and “The Judas Contract”. I’m excited to see where DC goes with this line and I hope it successful enough to warrant more one shots like this in the future.
Jonathon Hickman wrapped up his big start to his X-Men run this week with Powers of X #6! It is a fascinating issue, one that answers a lot of questions that have popped up and also creates more questions. Moira McTaggert has plans for mutantkind and with Xavier and Magneto working with her we will see if she has the know how and power to avert not one, but two, disastrous futures for mutants and the Earth. Of course, anyone who was expecting any kind of definitive ending to House and Powers of X are going to be sorely disappointed. This is the start, after all, to Hickman’s ambitious 2-3 year story line…the comic book equivalent to dumping all of the pieces of the puzzle onto the table. The upcoming slate of X-Titles, including X-Men, New Mutants, Excalibur, X-Force, Fallen Angels, and Marauders, will be where Hickman and his collaborators start putting the larger picture together. I, for one, can’t wait to see where all of this is going!
X-Men #1, written by Jonathon Hickman with art by Francis Yu, will be shipping in next week, so we don’t have a long wait to get right into the thick of things. I know I have been warning you about how I am going to be moving away from Marvel’s endless surfeit of variant covers, but I will be making an exception with the first issues of the new X-Titles, all of which have as many variants offered as the House and Power of X miniseries that just concluded. I had to split my orders between 5 different open order covers and all of them are on the subscription form this week. Just to explain, I keep these variant covers on the form until I get close to a sellout and then I remove them from your consideration. So if you have heart set on a specific variant then please check out the sub list ASAP so you don’t miss it. Additionally, if you don’t see the cover you are looking for then please contact me and I’ll see if there are any left for reorder.
I will be out of the store on Sunday, October 13th, to make a last-minute trip to Cedar Point. Hillman LOVES Cedar Point and we had this trip planned before his surgery was scheduled for this week and while he won’t be able to scream like a little girl on the rides I’m hoping he will still have a good time. For my part, I am not that big of a Cedar Point guy. I mean, the rides are okay, but the lines don’t thrill me and I went to the park enough as a kid that it just doesn’t have the mystique to me that it has for others. I have never experienced the “Halloweekends”, however, so I’m thinking I might get some mileage out of the haunted houses and scares. In any case, I won’t be here on Sunday, but Steve will be here to hold down the fort and I will check in to take care of any questions or requests on Monday morning at the latest. Actually, I’ll probably come home late on Sunday and throw together a reorder for any of you who place special orders on the subscription form. That’s the true example of my dedication to you!
Okily dokily, time to get his missive posted along with the shipping list and the subscription form! I can’t believe how long it takes me to update Facebook and the website every week! Oh, well, at least I have some episodes of the Great British Baking Show to watch (with my headphones on) while I putter around with it.
Have a great weekend, Folks, and I’ll see you next week!
I must admit that, generally speaking, the only comics I can keep up with on a monthly basis are the surfeit of D.C. and Marvel comics that come crashing in like a wave every week. It takes a lot of energy to follow the monthly adventures of Batman and Superman and Spider-Man and the JLA and the Avengers AND the X-Men. It’s just non-stop. As a result, I tend to miss out on the more off-brand titles from Image, Dark Horse, BOOM! Studios, and IDW, as well as the smaller publishers. I always swear that I will catch up when the trade paperbacks come out and yet I never seem to get around to them.
Well, I am going to try and turn a new leaf this month. I’m going to make a concerted effort to read more of the small press stuff. From what I’ve read online and what I’ve heard from customers I am missing out on a lot of good comics and, as I’m sure you can imagine, it is somewhat difficult to sell a book that you haven’t read and those of you who have been trapped at the counter while I expound on this comic or another know I like to hand sell stuff.
Keeping with this new initiative, I’d like to introduce you to a new comic on the stands this week from ABLAZE Comics, a relatively new small press label. It’s called Vampire State Building and it is written by Ange & Patrick Renault and penciled by Charlie Adlard (late of Walking Dead) and it is a doozy. Taking place at famed Empire State Building we are gradually introduced to a varied cast of characters including an intriguing mix of tourists, business people who work in the building, and security guards. It’s established early on that there’s some renovations going on in the building and there’s been a strange hidden room discovered…one with curiously primitive scribbling on the wall. Trust me when I say it doesn’t bode well for our intrepid cast. Something has come to awareness in the Empire State Building and it has put out a call summoning a mob of monsters. Once they arrive they take control of the building and start to hunt those stuck inside. Unfortunately, the police think they are terrorists, not aware of how truly awful things are about to get…
This is a great comic! Maybe I’m being influenced by the Halloween season which is bearing down upon us, but I love a good horror comic and this one is executed perfectly with just the right amount of suspense balanced with the gore. I didn’t carry it initially, but after I read about it online (as well as getting more than a few special orders for it) I decided to get some for the rack. So look for it when you come in for your stash this week if you’re looking for something a little different and a lot scary!
Speaking of small press titles, Kieron Gillen’s magnum opus, Wicked & Divine, has reached its end and the final trade paper back is on sale this week. I haven’t read it yet, but I am very much looking forward to the exciting conclusion. For those not in the know, Wicked & Divine follows the adventures of 12 gods, incarnated in human form every 90 years, who have two years to explore their divine power before, well, dying. Mostly illustrated by Jamie McKelvie, Wicked is an amazing piece of work with a twisty plot that moves and slithers and turns back on itself to deliver an exciting narrative and timeless mystery that jumps back and forth through the whole of human history. I have recommended this title to many people and not once has the reader been disappointed. If you’re looking for something a bit off the beaten track with intriguing writing and incredible art then look no further. And it’s complete now so you don’t even have to wait to get to the end!
So D.C. is having some fun with their new Dollar Comics line of books that are designed to compete with Marvel’s True Believer reprint titles. I’ve approved of the books they’ve reprinted so far (Detective Comics #854, Batman #608, Crisis on Infinite Earths #1), but I don’t understand why they are changing the covers! Joker #1, originally published in 1975, came out under the Dollar Comics banner and they’ve given it a new and updated cover despite the fact that the original was perfectly fine! I mean, okay, using the Alex Ross/George Perez are for the Crisis #1 Dollar Comic was somewhat understandable, but changing Joker #1? I don’t get it. I hope in the future they will stick to reprinting the original covers on the books. I’ve posted both covers below…which one do you prefer?
To my continual surprise, the art covered short comic boxes continue to be a roaring success! This week we received two new designs for your edification. We’ve got the DC Superman 80th Anniversary box, featuring Jim Lee art from the cover of Action Comics #1000, as well as the Marvel Panther Nation, featuring art by Brian Stelfreeze. Both boxes are gorgeous and retail for $12.95 each!
Just got word from Diamond this week that Funko has a plethora of new POP vinyl figured coming out devoted the first family of comics…The Fantastic Four! Featured characters this time around include Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, The Thing, Human Torch, Super Skrull, Galactus, Silver Surfer, Mole Man, Doctor Doom, and, of course, Herbie! They all stand about 3 ¾” high and retail for $10.99 each. The final order cut-off date is October 14th with an estimated release date of January 22nd! I will be carrying a selection of these figures on the rack, but please let me know if you’d like me special order any of the figures ahead of time!
Okily dokily…that’s about it for the week. I’ve really got to get the Shipping List and Subscription Form posted! I hope everyone enjoys the seasonal cool down and has a great weekend!
It’s gonna be a short EDitorial this week as the end of the month is creeping up on me like a hungry symbiote waiting to pounce! I’ve got so much to do in the next two days and not a lot of time to get it done, so bear with me this week.
One of my big projects today is getting my September initial orders finalized and uploaded. It usually takes me at least 3 hours to complete the task, but sometimes can run longer if I get distracted by other things (like writing a blog post or updating the website…lol.) I’m not quite sure why, after 30 years, I always insist on waiting until the last moment to get this thing done every month. There was a time that I would force myself to do it at least a week early just in case of unforeseen problems, but since I have never actually had any “unforeseen problems” I’m afraid that I have gotten lazy and now do it on the last day. Of course, then I am figuratively running around like Scarlett O’Hara fleeing Atlanta trying to get everything completed before the little red buzzer goes off. I guess I must be some sort of adrenaline junkie or something.
Anywho…if there’s any lingering special order requests out there then now is the time to place them with me. I will literally be at my desk all afternoon, so contact me via phone, e-mail, or messenger if you have your eyes on any particular books, toys, or variant covers. Remember…I am here to serve you!
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #30
Speaking of serving you, I am afraid I have to report a major snafu that occurred this week. In a sudden wave of customer frenzy, we blew out of all of our copies of Amazing Spider-Man #30. I still don’t quite understand what happened there and the quick sell-out was akin to being run over by a truck. Seriously, what the heck was THAT all about!?! I mean, I know it was the first Absolute Carnage crossover, but I put in my final orders I assumed that everyone reading Absolute Carnage was already reading Amazing Spider-Man. Apparently I was wrong…REALLY wrong. Anyway, the title is currently going to back order in Diamond’s system, but there is still the slight possibility that it may pop back in to stock after all of the damages and shortages are filled. I am closely monitoring the situation. And by “closely monitoring” I mean that I am checking availability every half an hour or so. Marvel has yet to solicit a second printing for the issue, but if they do then I will get some copies for the store. I can only apologize at this point and promise I will attempt to anticipate your needs better in the future…😊
There is some good news in that we have finally managed to get Boys Omnibus Trade Paperback v.1 back in stock! This collects the first 14 issues of The Boys comic series and is an excellent companion to the hit TV show. Trust me when I say that while the TV show is good, the comic is even better, especially the way it excoriates comic book conventions. It’s a little more violent than the TV show and certainly even racier, but well worth the read. Check it out!
SOMETHING IS KILLING THE CHILDREN #1 4TH PRINTING
ONCE & FUTURE #1 FINAL PRINTING
Please pay special attention to the “Back in Stock” section of the Shipping List for next week. There are quite a few items that have finally filled from back orders, in particular two titles from Boom! Studios that have been making a few waves online since their debuts. Both of Once and Future #1 and Something is Killing the Children #1 are in their final printings and I have a few of each issue shipping in. I haven’t read Once and Future yet, but many of my customers have and they are reporting how good the title is. I have read Something is Killing by writer James Tynion and I can personally report that it is a great first issue and well worth trying out. Tynion’s story about a monster stalking the woods eating children and the monster hunter who shows up to try and take it out is a thrilling and suspenseful beginning to what I hope will be a terrific narrative. This your last chance to sample the individual issues although you can be sure that I will be carrying the collections of both series when they ship.
POP HEROES DC BATWOMAN PX VIN FIG
POP MARVEL ENDGAME CAP A W/ BROKEN SHIELD & MJOLNIR VIN FIG
POP MARVEL ENDGAME CAPTAIN MARVEL W/ NEW HAIR VIN FIG
POP MARVEL ENDGAME THANOS IN THE GARDEN VIN FIG
POP MARVEL ENDGAME HULK W/ TACO VIN FIG
POP MARVEL ENDGAME IRON SPIDER W/ NANO GAUNTLET VIN FIG
POP MARVEL ENDGAME KORG W/ HEADPHONES VIN FIG
POP MARVEL ENDGAME THOR W/ PIZZA VIN FIG
One final thing and then I’ll get back on the job. Diamond and Funko our putting out final solicitations for a whole slew of new POP figures. I have no idea if these particular POP figures are already available in other markets, but I will be carrying small amounts of all of them for the rack. If any of them strike your fancy in particular then please let me know and I will make sure you get one when they ship. The release date for the POP Batwoman figure is 10/30 and the Marvel POP figures are all scheduled for a 1/22 release date.
That’s it for me this week! I’m putting my head down to the grindstone and knocking this order form out! Have a great weekend, Folks!
I’m really rushing this morning to get this EDitorial completed because I have SO much to get done today! I mean, besides my normal duties of getting the Shipping List and Subscription Form up and running-no mean feat in and of itself-I also have to get cracking on my first draft September orders which are due to be turned in next Thursday. The inventory spreadsheet needs to get updated and, of course, I have to do the most important job…taking care of my beloved customers! To add to the excitement, Steve is taking the day off so I will be handling it all solo!
On top of all of that I am soooo tired! Hillman and I went to go see Rob Zombie’s latest exploitation magnum opus, “3 From Hell”, last night. I was excited to catch this picture as I really enjoyed “The Devil’s Rejects”. So imagine my surprise and delight to find out that last night’s special Fathom Events spectacle was a DOUBLE FEATURE…first showing “The Devil’s Rejects” and then plunging right into the raw horror and violence of “3 From Hell”. “3 From Hell” was a glorious evocation of the exploitation films from my youth and seeing at paired with the film it is a sequel of was amazing. I really got the feel of what it must have been like to go to the seedy theaters of the 70’s to experience the outer limits of human excess. The only downside was the 4 hour running time and how late the film let out…lol. I guess at my age I’m not really prepared to sit in a dark theater for that long and then get to bed so late.
Before I go any further, I wanted to inform you of some last minute POP vinyl figure solicitations. The POP Heroes Batman 80th Batmite First Appearance 1959 Vinyl Figure and the POP Heroes Batman 80th Red Son Batman 2003 Vinyl Figure are both on FOC this week which leaves me scant time to properly gather any preorders, but I wanted to put them out there anyway. I will be carrying limited quantities of these cool POP figures on the shelf, but if you know you want one then let me know by the end of the weekend and I can guarantee that we will have one for you!
It was a great week for comics if I do say so myself. Tom King’s Batman had been rather floundering for a few issues, but has picked up tremendously during the current “City of Bane” story line. This week’s issue #79 concluded a two-part interlude story giving us a glimpse of how Catwoman has pulled Batman back together for a combined assault against Bane and his reign over Gotham. Apparently it involved a lot of sexy bikini shots and about a gallon of ginger ale, but both characters are back to fighting shape and ready to take on Bane for a Gotham City cage match. This issue also featured, albeit briefly, the Batman villain Magpie, a character I remember fondly from my youth and one we don’t see very often. Great art by Clay Mann makes this a solid issue and if you’ve been avoiding Batman it is certainly a good time to jump back on board.
Jonathon Hickman’s House of X continues to intrigue me. Hickman has been doing his usual level best on this quasi-reimagination of the X-Universe, throwing out his big science fiction ideas while gently folding and combining them with X-mythology. The recent two-issue story of the X-Men staging a somewhat disastrous assault on a Sentinel manufacturing base was startling and the solution to the problem of dead mutants was inspired. It is the kind of idea that makes you wonder why no one ever thought of it before now. The use of Sinister and Apocalypse, two X-Villains that have been overused to the point of nauseum, is inspired and I can’t wait to see what this status quo change will lead to in the upcoming regular X-series, as well as to the franchise as a whole. The shape of Hickman’s run is slowly revealing itself and I can’t wait for him to start putting the pieces together.
No one is more surprised than I at how much I am enjoying the new Vampirella series from Dynamite. Christopher Priest, one of my all-time favorite comic writers, has applied his deft touch to Vampy and has crafted an incredibly entertaining book. My problem with Vampy has always been a matter of not being able to follow the plot. She’s one of those iconic characters who gets completely changed with each new creative team. (Kind of like Venom, but even more confusing…lol) You know what I’m talking about. She’s one of those characters where every new creative team trumpets that EVERYTHING YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW WAS A LIE and then proceeds to give their own take on the origin, history, etc. It makes my head hurt trying to connect the dots. Priest has deftly side stepped this particular trope and instead has given us three issues of Vampirella on the extremely sardonic psychiatrist’s couch as she tries to work out in her head just exactly who she is and what she stands for. I love the psychiatrist and wish he got a book of his own (Therapist to the Super Heroes!) The art is pretty good and there is the expected amount of demon and vampire slaying that comes with a Vampy story, but it’s the conversations that really make this one of the most entertaining reads on the stands today. Also, Priest’s psychiatric scenes are waaaaay more enteraining than Tom King’s recent super therapy work in Heroes in Crisis.
My favorite book on the rack this week manages to tick all the boxes on why I love comics. Superman #15 has the conclusion to the excellent, if a bit long running, story line featuring the entire Superman family out in space investigating and seeking justice for the destruction of Krypton. It also reintroduces the Legion of Super-Heroes, heroes of the 31st century and one of my all-time favorite super groups. This comic is teeming with great moments of drama and humor and instead of giving us more grim and sad tales (yes, I’m looking at you, Batman) we instead get hope and a display of super heroics that I find have been curiously lacking as of late. All of the scenes, from the Legion dealing with the inexact nature of time travel to Superboy wrestling with what to do with the Legion’s invite to Superman accepting the judgement against his father for his crime are all terrific and handled with Bendis’ typical skilled touch. Superman’s discussion with Adam Strange was particularly good. If you haven’t been reading Superman since Bendis joined the team then I implore you to check it out now. It is truly an excellent comic.
I will be out of the office on Saturday this week as Hill and I are making the journey to the Michigan Renaissance Festival up in Holly, MI. Hill mentioned wanting to check it out and Monarch Avenger Nichole Smith was looking for friends to join her, so now we are heading back to the 16th century for a few hours. Steve, of course, will be here to hold down the fort and I will be back on Sunday to answer any questions or concerns that might pop up while I am away from the store. I’ll make sure I get a pic of myself on the Iron Throne to show off next week…lol.
Have a great weekend and I will talks at ya again next week!
Another week has gone by which means it is time for yet another rant from your favorite comic book retailer! Them problem, however, is that I really don’t have much to rant about this week. In fact, comic book-wise, everything has gone fairly smoothly for this cycle and since it is still a couple of weeks before I have to dive into the September orders I find myself with a little bit of extra time this week. HAH! Just kidding…I’m still trying to catch up from last week’s work!
I’m happy to say that reception for the new website has been uniformly positive and I am glad to see that more of you are discovering it every day and getting some use out of it. I have pretty much mastered the behind the scenes aspects of the site and I am now trying to institute a system of regular updates to the different departments. I will continue to update the Editorial. Shipping List, and Subscription Form on Thursdays and the Facebook Live video that I record on Tuesday nights will now be shared to the website as soon as I complete it. Please let me know if there’s any sort of store information that you would like to see on the website and I will work hard to make it happen.
Batman #78 came out this week and I am sorry to say that we are already sold out of the issue. Unfortunately, Diamond is also already sold out of the issue as well. I tried to order more after the last issue blew out, but those orders weren’t filled. Well, there is some good news for those of you who may have missed this issue as DC has announced a second printing of the title which is due out 10/2. We will be carrying the second printing, but please let me know if you’d like me to hold a copy for you.
Speaking of second printings, another surprise sell-out this week is Venom #18. I’m not quite sure what the deal is with this comic, but our monthly sales on the book veer wildly back and forth so that some issues we sell right out while others I have 10 or more copies sitting on the rack…and that’s with ordering the same numbers…lol. Well, there is a second printing of this title coming out as well and due out 10/16. There will be TWO different covers available for the second printing, a Coello Variant and an Immortal Wraparound Var. I will be carrying a small amount of the Coello second printing, but if anyone is interested in either cover then please let me know ASAP and I will set you up with one.
DC very helpfully supplied me with a pdf file of the first issue of a new Batman miniseries coming out in October called Batman Grave. It is 12-issues and is produced by the super star team of Warren Ellis and Bryan Hitch. I know there’s been a surfeit of Batman stories hitting the shelf lately, but I have to admit that the first issue was about as good of a Batman story as any I have read in the last few years. It’s a murder mystery and the first issue has Batman trying to get into the head of the victim in order to figure out the motivations of his killer. It’s excellent stuff for those of you into crime and procedurals and the art is as sharp as you expect from Hitch. It’s due out 10/9 and will come with a regular cover as well as a special card stock variant edition.
Looking ahead to next week’s shipment, we have the debut of four very different comic series. First up is DC’s Flash Forward #1, a semi-sequel to the hit Heroes in Crisis miniseries. Many of you know that while enjoyed aspects of Heroes in Crisis, I wasn’t a big fan of the series’ central mystery or the revelation of Wally West’s involvement in the climax. Flash Forward, written by Scott Lobdell with art by Brett Booth and Norm Rapmund, promises to address the thorny problem of Wally’s guilt and redemption. I’ve read the pdf of the first issue and the book looks great. I’m still a little peeved at Wally’s downfall, but this is a step in the right direction at fixing the character and giving a new position in the DCU.
Spider-Man #1, a five-issue miniseries by J.J. Abrams, Henry Abrams, and Sara Pichelli, debuts next week as well. There’s not much information to pass on about this one outside of the sparse description from the catalog, but Abrams is a great writer, so my hopes are up for this one! The series has, of course, many different covers, both ratio and open order, but I will only have the main Coipel cover on the rack. It also comes with a Chipp Kid Die Cut and Jason Polan variant. Both of these open order variants are still available for order at the time of this writing, so if you’d prefer one of these covers to the main then let me know and I will order them in for you!
Archie is not a company that I discuss a lot in my Editorials, mostly because I don’t see a lot of demand for their comics in the store. Next week, however, features the debut of the 5-issue miniseries, Archie 1955 by Mark Waid, Brian Augustyn, and Tom Grummett and I wanted to take a moment and mention it because it is a thematic sequel to last year’s Archie 1941 miniseries which actually did pretty well for us. Once again, we get an Archie story set in the past, but this time instead of WWII we have Archie on the ground floor for the birth of rock and roll! It sounds like a fun conceit, “Archie as Elvis”, and I am curious to see if the creative team can continue their meticulous attention to period detail in this latest opus.
Finally, we have another attempt by Marvel to give us another Black Panther regular series. Black Panther and the Agents of Wakanda #1, by Jim Zubb and Lan Medina, builds on the back up team established in Jason Aaron’s current Avengers title. This book is marrying two of my favorite comic book genres, spies and super heroes, and throw in some more juicy Black Panther intrigue to boot. I’ve actually read the pdf of the first issue and it is exactly what I was looking for…a fun exploration of some pretty oddball Marvel characters, action packed spy stuff, and a surprise appearance on the last page by a Marvel character who we haven’t seen in a minute…one who inspires equal parts love and revulsion by the fanbase. Definitely a title to check out!
Okily dokily…that’s all I’ve got this week, my friends. I will be in the store all weekend this week, so if you have any questions or last minute orders I will be here to take them. Have a great weekend!
I hope that your week has been a good one and that you enjoyed a safe and fun holiday weekend! For myself, it was certainly a mixed bag as on one hand I got the pleasure of enduring a root canal last Friday (along with the absolutely delightful $2000 charge), but, on the other hand, I got to attend a great wedding for some dear friends on Saturday, so I’ll take that as a win!
I also finished up the first season of Doom Patrol (from the DC Universe app) and I will go out on a limb and declare it as quite possibly the best TV adaptation of comic book material I’ve ever seen. Of course, I still enjoy the old Linda Carter Wonder Woman show (also on the DC Universe app), so what do I know? Seriously, Doom Patrol is an amazing journey through the dregs of super hero-dom with some amazing performances by Diane Guerro, April Bowlby, Matt Bomer, and Brendan Fraser. Well, Brendan Fraser’s voice anyways. Mr. Fraser creates comic gold from lead with his seemingly endless tonal variations of “@#$%” which, coming out of a robot mouth, continues to inexplicably hilarious. While the show occasionally goes flying off course with its bizarreness (much like the Grant Morrison run that much of the series is adapted from) it also manages to create an atmosphere of humor and pathos that is rare in a super hero show. This show will go from laugh out loud funny to tears tumbling down your cheek from one scene to the next. I can’t tell you what a refreshing experience it was to watch the adaptation of comic book material that was so influential to my love of the medium get such a great translation to the little screen. I can’t recommend the Doom Patrol highly enough. If you don’t like it at least you will never be bored watching it!
It was a big week for comics this week and I am still catching my breath from the flow of customers who converged on the store yesterday. Spawn #300 and Legion of Super Heroes Millennnium #1 are coming up as the big winners, so big, in fact, that I am already sold out of Legion and have only a handful of Spawns left on the rack. Add to that Doomsday Clock (finally!), House of X (this one is a big shocker!), Immortal Hulk, Justice League, and Batman VS Ras Al Ghul and you have the makings of a titanic week! Well, for those of you who didn’t get a copy of the new Legion book I am currently trying to secure more copies. They are currently going to backorder in Diamond’s system, but I am monitoring the situation in the off chance that more copies materialize. Since DC hasn’t announced a second printing of the title then I assume that there will be more copies available by the end of the weekend. Let’s keep our fingers crossed! (This JUST in! I have 7 more copies of Legion of Super Heroes Millennium #1 coming in next week! The first 7 people who contact me by Messenger or phone or smoke signals get the copies!)
On the Spawn #300 front, there are still copies of the first printing of various covers still in stock and I am going to attempt to order some more this afternoon. There will also be a second printing due out on 10/2 with a slightly revised version of cover A. Please let me know if any completists out there would like a copy of the 2nd printing. I won’t be ordering any unless I can see a demand for them.
We are also officially sold out of Marvel Comics #1000 which ended up being a much bigger hit then I was expecting. There is another printing solicited by Marvel featuring the art of Mark Buckingham and including Marvelman/Miracleman on the cover. I will be ordering a restock of these, but please let me know if you’d like me to hold on for you as supplies may be limited. Marvel Comics #1000 2nd printing is also due out 10/2.
I will be feverishly working towards getting a list together of all of the DC/Marvel open order variants listed in the September Previews for a November release. I am a little behind on my “behind the scenes” grunt work after taking Friday (root canal) and Saturday (wedding) off, but I hopefully today and tomorrow will catch me up nicely. My ultimate goal is to set up a Google form for preorder variants with a similar format to the Weekly Subscription Form, but it could be difficult as many of the variant cover images are not available before initial orders are due. Heck…there’s some cover images that aren’t available the week the comic comes out! In any case, I’m working out how best to serve you and you collecting needs, so please let me know if there are any potentially available covers that you are interested in.
Speaking of getting to work, I’d better get to work! I hope everyone enjoys the mild weather this weekend and I look forward to seeing all of your smiling faces this week!
Another week and another Editorial! This will be a short note as I don’t have much to add and I am dealing with an abscessed tooth as well as an upcoming root canal! I can’t tell you how much I enjoy extensive dental work. The root canal, coupled with the wedding I am attending on Saturday morning, means that I may be out of the office for at least part of Friday and I will definitely not be here on Saturday. Plan accordingly if you just have to have your fix of “Ed-Time” this week…lol.
There was a rather large shipment this week which translated to a plethora of excellent titles! There were so many good books out this week that I’ve only managed to read a handful so far, but among the top spot is the delayed issue of Superman! I don’t think it is much of a spoiler at this point to mention that the All-New Legion of Super-Heroes debuts in Superman this week!
I’m incredibly excited by this new reveal as I have been a huge Legion fan for over 20 years now and it has been a minute since they have been around the DCU. I started reading Legion back in the 80’s when it was still Paul Levitz’s baby and I will admit that at first it was nothing more than another superhero title on the rack. Of course, back then it was much easier to read the whole DC line because there were far fewer titles than there are now. In any case, I started the “baxter” Legion title around issue #20 and read it through the end of the Levitz era which culminated in the excellent Mystic Wars storyline.
The Legion debuted a couple of months later, this time under the helm of long time Legion artist/co-plotter Keith Giffen, with an exciting new direction. Giffen (along with co-conspirators, Tom and Mary Bierbaum) set the Legion five more years in the future. The United Planets was slowly returning to prominence after nearly falling apart during the “Mystic Wars” storyline, Earth had been infiltrated by the evil Dominators, and the Legion had disbanded and its varied membership had scattered across the galaxy. Giffen gave us a new look at the Legion, one where they had all moved on from their teenage superhero experiences and were now adults in a new and sometimes hostile galaxy. It was a far cry from what I had initially liked about the Legion, but I couldn’t deny the brilliance of the story and the way he handled the characters. It really made me dig in and strive to follow the rich history of the Legion so that I could understand everything that was going on. That was when I really fell in love with the world and its history.
Of course, the Legion has been uprooted and rebooted several times since that historic run and while I haven’t always liked the direction the book has taken, I’ve never lost my love for the world or its characters. So it is with great pleasure that I read this week’s Superman and saw the interesting way Brian Bendis has returned the Legion to the DCU. It is ever-so-slightly different than the original narrative, but still managed to give nods to the Legion’s Silver Age greatness! Seriously looking forward to the upcoming Legion miniseries followed by the new monthly book.
The new Batman Superman title was also a good read. It picks up from the ending of the recent Batman Who Laughs miniseries with a new creative team and a threat so large and ominous that it takes both Batman and Superman to tackle it. The Batman Who Laughs, an evil, Jokerized, alternate universe Batman, has continued hid campaign against Batman by threatening to poison various Batman allies and turn them into the same sort of monster that he is. Batman brings Superman into the loop, hoping that the two of them can trust one another long enough to figure out who are the BWL’s targets and without being changed themselves. There’s also the problem of a certain police commissioner who may have been compromised at the end of the last miniseries…
Along with those gems we also have the continuing mutant epic of House of X where we finally get to see some X-Men action as a team is drawn up to combat the growing Sentinel threat. In my humble opinion, one of the best miniseries of the year wraps in Spider-Man Life Story #5 as we see Peter Parker enter the 2010 decade with both triumph and tragedy. Absolute Carnage continues as well for those of you into the whole symbiote thing and we also have the continuation of Sean Murphy’s popular White Knight miniseries. All that, PLUS the new issues of Amazing Spider-Man, Avengers, Batgirl, Detective Comics, Justice League, and Marvel Comics #1000!
So swing on by the store and take a gander at our new release rack this week! Also remember that my August initial Previews orders are due today, so if you have any special requests to make now is the time to speak up. Remember I will not be here on Saturday, but I will endeavor to follow up on any Messenger messages or questions on Sunday morning. Monarch will also be closed on Monday, September 1st, for the observance of Labor Day!
Welcome to another thrilling installment of the Editorial! This is a particularly special “episode” as it is set to be the first one set to be written and go live on the new website the same day as it hits our Facebook page! Yes, I do believe I am ready to push the button and go live with the new and improved site! From now on you can either continue to go to our popular Facebook page or you can find most of the same material parked on the website. Please be patient with me as I am still acclimating myself to working the new controls and figuring out the best way to present new content every week, but the initial form of the website should be pretty easy to figure out.
The website is divided up between three sections: New Comics, Blog, and News. “New Comics” will be the department where you can find the Shipping List as well as the link which will take you to the Weekly Subscription Form. “Blog” is pretty self-explanatory as it is the place where you will find my weekly ramblings like the one you are reading now. “News” will be the catch all department where I will post information like the Shipping and Product Updates as well as information regarding preorders for comics and merchandise. I will also be experimenting with cross posting various news items that are of significance to the modern comic fan. You will also be able to find the Tuesday evening Facebook Live video where I give you a glimpse of the New Release rack.
It’s going to take me a minute to truly explore everything that I can get accomplished on the website now that I am free from the limitations of Facebook posting. I am currently looking for a viable method of passing along information regarding our Final Order Cut-Off dates for comics and merchandise and I really want to explore setting up the sight to handle internet orders and sales, but first I have to get used to the system and make sure I can handle the load before diving into the deep end.
So, please, if you are reading this on Facebook then take the time to check out the new site this weekend. It’s at www.monarchcomics.net and it will hopefully be online and available by the end of the day! I would love to hear any comments or suggestions, but, please, be gentle with me…lol.
I love the comic industry and one of the things I love best is also the thing that frustrates me to no end. It seems that every week there is some comic that has an explosion of popularity that few could predict. Sometimes it has to do with a new creator with an amazing new insight into the characters or fictional world. Sometimes there’s an event that despite an internet rife with spoilers and conjecture still manages to catch everyone by surprise. Sometimes it as simple as a low print run and a sudden burst of interest that seems to come from nowhere. I love how spontaneous this industry can be and how it is still possible to surprise and delight readers after 80 years of existence.
It can be frustrating, however, to deal with this roiling sea of periodical publications when one is a retailer. Because of the publication and distribution system that is currently in place, one that was originally devised some 40-odd years ago, it is difficult to perform any last minute course corrections in a meaningful way. The Powers That Be have worked hard over the last 20 years to work with retailers to shorten the window for our orders and increase our ability to receive product in a timely manner, but things tend to fall through the cracks anyway. No matter how meticulously I work at tracking inventory or how hard I push preorders or simplify the manner of requesting comics there always has been and always will be books that will unexpectedly sell out, always be that one title that everyone wants and only a few will get.
I think it is partly a function of the collectible spectrum of the hobby, that mysterious alchemy of supply and demand that drives fans to complete their collections at sometimes outrageous costs. There will always be that ONE book that you need to complete a beloved run of comics or a creator whose work is so special that you must have every piece of it despite how marginal it is. The thrill of the hunt is part of the fun collecting comics!
I think the biggest part of the equation, however, is the distribution system itself. I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately, particularly when I spend a month carefully planning a promotion for a comic series, calculating the amount of copies I need to preorder, double checking said orders at the FOC, and then still, after all of that work, getting the number wrong and selling out when there are still customers crying out for more. I believe at the heart of this issue is that by the time most companies are just putting their publicity machines for titles in high gear it is already too late for us to change our orders. In the case of last week’s new book, “Once and Future” from Boom! Studios, I was aware of the title beforehand, but hadn’t heard any buzz about it until the week before publication. I had ordered some for the rack with knowledge that the writer, Kieron Gillen, had a certain following, but I certainly wasn’t prepared for the avalanche of requests for the title. Judging by the fact that three printings of the #1 issue sold out before its official release date tells me there were tons of retailers in exactly the same boat….that of having a high demand new title and no supplies of it available on the day of its release. With the sheer amount of comic publishers and the variety and number of titles published on any given week it is pretty much impossible to carry everything and it can be tricky indeed predicting what will or will not fly on any given week and I think the fact that we have to commit to orders a minimum of four weeks before they are printed and shipped is the thing that hobbles comic retailers the most as oftentimes everything is set before we have even an inkling of demand for a specific book.
I’m taking the long way around in this conversation to get to my central point. I love comics and I love my customers. I want to do everything I can to make sure you have the best experience at Monarch Comics and you are able to find everything you need for your reading and collecting pleasure. This is why I spend hours every week making up shipping list and subscription forms and preorder information available. We carry Diamond’s Previews catalog and put as much information at your disposal as possible in order to service you as completely as possible. I’ve always figured that the more information my customers had at their finger tips the easier it would be for everyone to get what they want. To that end I listen to what you talk about in the store, track comments and comic stories online, read all of the publishers’ various e-mails and Facebook postings and track and collate all the sales information. Thanks to everyone who understands what I am trying to achieve and who have enthusiastically embraced all of my lists and forms and incessant requests for preorders and requests. You have all made my job that much easier as well as fun and I hope that those of you who have not tried the sub form will give it a whirl to see just how easy it is to use. Always know that I am constantly working on new ways to improve on the system and am always happy to take preorders for titles and I am currently working on a way to present you with our weekly Final Order Cut-Off information as well.
BATMAN #77
This week’s Comic Title Designed To Frustrate The System is DC’s Batman #77. On the surface of the issue it is nothing special, per se, merely the third chapter in Tom King’s big Bane story finale. I ordered it a little more heavily than the issue before as #75 and #76 had a sales upswing from the previous few issues. All of this ended up for naught as there is an event in the issue that couldn’t be mentioned in the solicits because the spoiler-y nature of it, an event that naturally leaked out early in the week as copies of the book made their way through distribution and shipping channels. I won’t divulge the event here as I’m sure you have either heard or can find such information fairly easily on any of the big comic news websites, but your takeaway can be that the book has sold out. Not only have we sold out, but Diamond Distributors have sold out of the issue as well. The good news is that there is already a second printing of the issue locked and loaded and ready for release on 9/11. I think I got most of the customer base covered with the copies I had in stock yesterday, but for those of you who missed the issue I am very sorry and hope I can make it up to you in the future. I will have copies on hand on the 11th, but please let me know if you would like me to hold one for you. Oh, also, read Batman! This week certainly shows there is still some life in the old boy!
BATMAN SUPERMAN BATMAN COVER #1
BATMAN SUPERMAN #1 SUPERMAN COVER
BATMAN SUPERMAN #1 VAR ED
Speaking of Batman, next week sees the debut of the new Batman Superman title! This blockbuster series is a thematic sequel to the sinister and entertaining Batman Who Laughs miniseries that wrapped up this month. The Batman Who Laughs is targeting other heroes in the DCU with the serum that made him, well, batty and Batman and Superman are in a race against time to find out who are victims of this latest mad plot. Writer Joshua Willamson and artist David Marquez are picking up the baton of Scott Snyder and taking the odyssey of Batman and his evil doppelganger on to the next level! Available with three different covers (pictured above) order it today on the Subscription Form!
HOUSE OF X #1 3RD PRINTING
House of X and Powers of X, Jonathon Hickman’s reinvention of the X-Universe, is continuing apace with yet another stunning chapter of the opening salvo dropping onto the New Release rack this week! I’m happy to report that my inventory numbers for both miniseries are finally caught up to demand and I should have plenty of copies of all of the various issues to cover the demand for the rest of the miniseries. I currently have House of X #2 and Powers of X #1-3 in stock and House of X #1 will be back in stock on 9/4 for those of you who may be late to the party. If you haven’t yet given in to the temptation to see what the hubbub is all about I can’t recommend this fascinating and exciting new direction enough!
MARVEL COMICS #1000 ALLRED 60S VAR
MARVEL COMICS #1000 ANDREWS DECADE VAR
MARVEL COMICS #1000 BAGLEY 00S VAR
MARVEL COMICS #1000 BROOKS 40S VAR
MARVEL COMICS #1000 GARCIN COLLAGE VAR
MARVEL COMICS #1000 HILDEBRANDT VAR
MARVEL COMICS #1000 LIM 90S VAR
MARVEL COMICS #1000 MCGUINNESS VAR
MARVEL COMICS #1000 SMALLWOOD 70S VAR
MARVEL COMICS #1000 TEDESCO 80S VAR
MARVEL COMICS #1000 YOUNG VAR
MARVEL COMICS #1000 ROSS VAR
Also shipping next week is Marvel Comics #1000 and its attendant million different covers. I kid as there are only 12 different covers that we will be carrying on the rack. I hate to spotlight the cover images over story content, but the sheer amount of different amazing cover images coupled with the $9.99 cover price means that I had to be careful in the amount of copies I ordered for the rack. I tried to get a few copies of each of the open order variants in order to anticipate demand, but I knew even as I was putting in those initial orders that it was going to be a crapshoot. Of course, the whole process was needlessly complicated by Marvel not having most of the cover images available for presale, but there’s little to be done about that. When last I checked all of the open order variants were still available for reorder and I will do my best to cover all of the demand. Please use the Subscription Form or contact me at the store if there’s a over or two that catches your eye!
POP MARVEL INTO SPIDERVERSE CASUAL MILES MORALES PX VIN FIG
There’s a new Previews exclusive Funko POP figure available for preorder this week! POP MARVEL INTO SPIDERVERSE CASUAL MILES MORALES PX VINYL FIGURE is the latest entry into Marvel and Funko’s family of popular vinyl figures! Marvel’s teenage super hero swings into action in the Oscar award-winning movie Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, and now you can collect Miles in his casual outfit with this PREVIEWS exclusive Pop! figure! Dressed in his signature hoodie and sneakers over his costume, Miles is ready to swing through the city with style! This Exclusive MilesMorales Pop! Figure measures about 3 3/4″ tall and comes in a window box for display. This figure will retail for $12.99 and be tentatively available on 11/27! We will be accepting preorders until 9/16, so preorder yours today!
Thursday, August 29th, is the due date for our initial orders this month so please let me know if you have special orders you’d like to place from the August Previews. I will be feverishly working on orders through next week and am always ready to answer any question you may have about product availability or to take any orders you may have!
Thanks for reading along as I blathered away this week! Have a great weekend and I hope to see everyone in the store this week…😊
Well, its been another fun-filled week living the dream in the comic book industry. I try my hardest to keep abreast of all of the latest news and controversies, but it is not an easy thing to do. Even when I literally sit in front of the computer all afternoon with all of the comic newsites and Facebook going at full blast I still manage to miss little tidbits. I find myself nostalgic for the days when the best source of comic book news were fanzines like Amazing Heroes and news magazines like The Comics Journal and the biggest controversy was whether or not DC was going to put “Mature Readers” tags on its horror-themed books. This overwhelming nostalgia for the Good Ol’ Days must be a function of my advancing age…lol. I think I’ll continue to think of it as a feature rather than a defect.
SUPERMAN #14 (REGULAR AND VARIANT ED) AND SUPERGIRL #33 (REGULAR AND VARIANT ED)
Speaking of controversy, the big one this week was DC’s decision to recall all the printed copies of Superman #14 and Supergirl #33. There was a mistake that was made during production that wasn’t caught until after the books were printed and shipped to Diamond for distribution. The mistake seems innocuous enough as they inadvertently printed a “Year of the Villain” banner across the covers of both regular covers and neither issue had a thing to do with the summer story line. Considering the “Year of the Villain” tie-ins have had, at this point, little to do with advancing the main story I have to admit that I don’t really see the big deal either way. Of course, I’m old enough to remember when DC was under fire for their “Red Sky” Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover shenanigans so maybe they were just doing due diligence to stop from another charge of middling “crossover” issues.
In any case, I didn’t really consider it much to think about at the time. I mean, so Superman and Supergirl run a couple of weeks late…so what? Doomsday Clock is months behind schedule…lol. Of course I should have known it was going to feed some sort of speculator’s frenzy and, of course, it did. I consider myself fortunate that the store didn’t receive any of the misprinted comics. I mean, Steve and I had already decided to destroy them as DC had requested, but it makes dealing with it easier when don’t have the books in question. Superman #14 will now be released on 8/28 and Supergirl #33 on 9/4 with the corrected covers. Naturally we will have plenty of them when they ship out.
TWIZTID HAUNTED HIGH ONS #5
HOPE #2
DEAD END KIDS #1
Every week I work extra hard to make sure that I make available to you the widest range of comic books possible on the Weekly Subscription Form. Unfortunately, as I have mentioned before, there are times when a title I offer on the list sells out before I can order any copies. This is particularly true of small press publishers. My unofficial policy is that if I offer a company’s titles and they end up selling out and unable to fill orders through Diamond multiple times then I remove said company’s wares from the Sub List. The last company to be removed was Antarctic Press as there were a couple of instances where I couldn’t fill orders after accepting them. I’ve actually been considering offering their titles again as I’ve noticed that they have generally been available for reorder, but I digress…
Source Point Press, publisher of local legend Dirk Manning’s Haunted High Ons and Hope series as well as other small press delights, I’m afraid will no longer have their individual issues offered through the Subscription List. I will still offer their trade paperbacks as those tend to stay in stock longer, but it seems that Diamond is no longer stocking their individual titles in great enough amounts to handle any last minute orders. There are four Source Point Press titles that are shipping next week that are already sold out from Diamond. Understand that I am not telling you this as a searing indictment of Diamond or Source Point or our antiquated distribution system…I just want you to understand why I’m not listing them anymore.
I do know that there are several of you that have become more interested in Source Point Press’ quality offerings of late and I want you to be aware that I am always taking preorders for their titles. If you are one of the handful of customers who are grooving on their publishing output then I implore you to let me know ASAP so I can make sure I order in the titles you want. I’m going to try and start making Source Point Press specific posts once a month to let you know what titles are currently available for preorders. Please don’t be shy in letting me know what you want…I live to serve is my motto!
HOUSE OF X #2 (OF 6) 2ND PTG LARRAZ VAR
I’m thrilled to announce that our order numbers on Marvel’s House of X and Powers of X are finally fixed! While it is true that we are almost out of Powers of X #2 this week, we have a bunch more copies that will be here next Wednesday. Ditto on House of X #2 which we sold out of last week. We have the second print copies also shipping in on Wednesday. We also will have PLENTY of copies of Powers of X #3 which will be new next Wednesday as well. Thank you for your patience in giving me the time to properly adjust my orders. I hope you are enjoying the story as much as I am.
I am currently on planning on going live with the new Monarch Comics website next Thursday. I do believe I have figured out how to post the things I want to post and have figured out how to manipulate it. I have to get into contact with my web designer (Hi, Jessica!) in the next couple of days to make sure she has made all of the requested updates, but it’s looking good. I’m excited to share it with you and I’m hoping it is a good alternative to those of you who aren’t the biggest Facebook fans in the world.
ONCE & FUTURE #1
Oh! One more thing…BOOM! Studios released their new hit comic book this week, Once and Future #1 by the superstar team of Kieron Gillen and Dan Mora. Well, I ordered a handful of copies and it turns out I underestimated its appeal to my customer base. Unfortunately, the title’s first, second, AND third printings were all sold out before the first printing was even released. No, I’ve been selling comics for 30 years and even I don’t quite understand how that works. We will be carrying the fourth printing of the #1 issue which is currently scheduled for release on 9/11. Please let me know if you’d like to check it out so I can adjust my orders to make sure I have enough to go around the second time around…lol. I will also be bumping up my orders on the second issue which will be due out on 9/18.
That’s it for me this week! Have a great weekend and I will talk to you again soon!
