Category: Uncategorized

Hey, Folks!

 

Well, here we are with the holidays right in our sights and the end of the year so close you could almost touch it. Regular readers know that I am not much for the holidays. I mean, sure, I like it for the store’s sake, but personally I really don’t do too much with it. There’s a lot of reasons for that, but mostly I am a person who likes their routine and anything that upsets that routine is meant to be viewed with suspicion and disdain. Since taking over the business I have more or less established new habits and routines, but things  are in flux again and I am currently trying to get into the new groove.

 

For example, the whole marriage thing. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t like…I LOVE…being married. Honestly, it came as a huge surprise to me how much I like being in this institution. I knew I loved Hillman, if I didn’t I wouldn’t have asked, but my actual new role as “husband” has been absolutely amazing. Always having someone to eat dinner with or someone to bitch at about work crap or having someone who is pretty much always on your side, but still able to call you on your bull$#!*…I love it. I can no longer remember why I was so resistant to it in the past, except that anyone who I was tempted to propose to in the past would clearly not be a suitable match. Right now Hillman and I are trying to sort out the post-marriage living arrangements. He needs to keep his apartment in play because of his work from home schedule and I, of course, own my home and am not in a position to move anywhere permanently. I do kind of love having two basic residences though and we are exploring our options. It’s been fun!

 

I’ve also been working on a regular work schedule for myself as well and that has been pretty tricky. I think I have it finally worked out though and have been trying to enjoy having Saturdays completely off while spending at least a few hours at the store on all other days. Brian has done a pretty solid job of managing things on Fridays and Saturdays so I feel pretty confident taking the time off. I’ve been closed on Mondays since taking over the store as I needed a day to take care of personal things as well as basic clerical duties at the store, like paying bills and stuff. I have, however, been toying with the idea of reopening on Mondays with the same hours as I usually have on Sundays (12-5:30). I mean, I’m already here for most of the day futzing around with stuff it seems silly not to unlock the door. Plus, it will give Brian a potential new shift to work if I need coverage. I don’t know…let me know what you think if you catch me in the store.

 

Just to let everyone know we are keeping our regular holiday hours the same this year as they have been for the last 30 years. For the cheap seats, however, here’s the official Monarch Comics Holiday Hours:

 

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 24^TH, CHRISTMAS EVE: 11AM-5PM

 

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 25^TH, CHRISTMAS DAY: CLOSED

 

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 31^ST, NEW YEAR’S EVE: 11AM-5PM

 

SUNDAY, JANUARY 1^ST, NEW YEAR’S DAY: CLOSED

 

TUESDAY, JANUARY 3^RD: THE BEGINNING OF THE 2023 POST-HOLIDAY SALE!

 

Despite my basic Scrooge-like nature, I hope that everyone is enjoying this holiday season!

 

Have a great weekend!

 

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

We are getting closer and closer to the end of the year which means that Monarch Comics will soon be once again running the big Post-Holiday Sale that we do in January and February! I’ve already begun running my pitifully rudimentary ads on Facebook to remind you of the sale and Brian and I are currently working on getting in some more back issue and hard cover/trade paperback material in stock before it begins. The sale will, of course, mirror the recent Black Friday sale, but will continue for the entire months of January and February.

I will be out of the office this weekend as Hill and I are going to be attending the Holiday with Heart Gayla at the Toledo Club on Sunday. Yes, once again we will be among the glitterati of Toledo celebrating the holidays as well as raising money for local LGBTQ+ charities. Monarch Comics is one of the backers for the event and I am looking forward to an evening of wining and dining and also getting a chance to wear my fancy suit that I bought for last year’s ball. I do believe that I will try wearing it in the store at some point this month just to get a little more use out of it…lol. Honestly, I meant to wear it at some point earlier this year, but I only just got it to the dry cleaners after last year’s Holiday Gayla. Maybe I need to get formal wear for Brian so that we can really stun everyone!

This week was a pretty dinky ship week, but next week everything snaps back to the usual tsunami of books and titles. I have a feeling that next year I am going to have to clear off the rack that is next to the New Release rack in the back of the store and expand the new release items on to it. I’ve been kicking the idea around for a couple of months now and I think it  is soon going to be time. Of course, just as soon as I am about ready to mentally commit to it we get a week like this one where I can’t even fill the New Release rack much less the rack next to it, but since this kind of thing rarely happens I’m thinking I’ll have to do it anyway. UGH…I’m becoming more like Steve every week with my crappy memory and true hatred for change.

That’s it for me this week, Folks! Time to get back to work, get my D.C. and Marvel FOC orders done, and start sorting through the subscription form orders for the week. Brian will, of course, be here on Friday through Sunday this week so try not to give him too hard of a time. I’ll see everyone after the ball!

 

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

 

I’m technically off today and am getting ready to head over to my bestie’s place for Thanksgiving dinner, but I wanted to take a quick moment and get this shipping list and subscription form up and running for you to peruse! Many of you know that I have switched to a healthier vegetarian lifestyle about two months ago, but I have decided to cheat a bit today because, well, I’ve had turkey as a part of every Thanksgiving for the last 50 years and I don’t want to end my record. Plus, I really like turkey!

 

So, I hope everyone has a great holiday and has plenty of turkey this year! Brian and I will both be in the store tomorrow for the big Black Friday Sale and we will be looking forward to seeing many of you then!

 

Have a wonderful holiday weekend!

 

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

 

Okay, now, don’t laugh at me, but I was honestly stunned to be reminded on Tuesday that Thanksgiving is next week. How exactly did THAT happen!?! I mean, here I am just getting over the fact that Halloween is behind us and I look up in shock to see that Thanksgiving is looming over me like a zombie turkey with a hungry look in its eyes. I used to make fun of “old” people (mostly Steve) constantly going on about how much faster time goes by when you get older. Now I see the truth and it is truly horrifying. Is there a “slow down” button anywhere that I am not seeing?

 

Anyway, so Thanksgiving is coming which naturally means that Black Friday is on its way as well. Back in the Old Days Steve never liked having sales and I never really considered Black Friday as much of a draw for us, mostly because we are located so far from all of the in person shopping hubs in the Toledo area. I figured the stores in the Franklin Park mall area would be the ones who would most benefit from a big Black Friday sale. At some point, however, I decided that it would be worth trying. I don’t even remember why now, although it was probably around the time that I stopped hosting big Thanksgiving dinners at my house and therefore had no good reason not to be in the store on the day after Thanksgiving. In any case, Steve and I started running Black Friday Sales and they were very well attended and turned into one of the biggest grossing store days in November. In retrospect, it was a no brainer and we should have instituted it years before then. Now it is a very solid tradition and Brian and I will be bringing it to you again next week! So, without further blathering, I give you the 2022 Monarch Comics Black Friday Sale…

 

50% OFF BACK ISSUE BOXES

 

15% OFF SHOWCASE BOOKS

 

25% OFF HARD COVERS/TRADE PAPERBACKS (including items already marked down!)

 

15% OFF LUNCH BOXES/TIN TOTES

 

$3 OFF FUNKO POP VINYL FIGURES

 

$3 OFF ART SHORT COMIC STORAGE BOXES

 

That’s it for me this week, Folks! Please don’t ask me about the whole Taylor Swift ticket thing, it is simply too depressing to discuss. If you have any old gypsy curses to throw around, however, I would be quite happy for Ticketmaster to be its recipient. Have a great week and I hope to see you in the stoer next week for the big sale…😊

 

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

 

Another week, another comic shipment as we creep ever so much closer to the end of the year! I don’t have much to report this week although I did want to mention that Monarch Comics will be holding our annual Black Friday Sale this year on Friday, November 25^th! As per usual it will be mainly a preview to our annual post-holiday sale, but there may be some extra stuff on sale. I’ll have an official announcement next week…

 

I want to also take a moment to heartily recommend Batman & Joker The Deadly Duo #1 on sale this week. It’s written and drawn by Marc Silverstri and it was a true pleasure to read. The art is, of course, spectacular and the story is also on point. The best thing I can say about it is that returns to what I consider a “pure” super hero story and what I mean is that the good guys are good guys and the bad guys are bad guys…lol. It has also boiled away all of the psychodrama that has infested a lot of the Bat books for the last 10 years or so. And did I mention how truly gorgeous the art is? I’m honestly not sure if this tale fits into any current continuity, but honestly it didn’t even matter to me. The story involves a mysterious new (?) villain who has kidnapped Harley Quinn to lure in the Joker, some sudden appearances by some sort of monstrous Joker clones (?), and, of course, Joker roping Batman into a “team-up” in order to figure things out. If you are a fan of “basic” Batman stories and miss the days of, you know, simply fighting bad guys and solving mysteries rather than endless navel gazing and fretting over dead parents and stuff then this is the book for you!

 

Oh! One more thing! Please make sure that you put your name into the “NAME” field on the subscription form. I somehow missed activating the button that stops folks from sending in the order without adding a name and Brian and I got two orders from last week’s sub form with no names so we couldn’t pull the books.

 

I hope everyone has a great weekend and gets a chance to enjoy the mild weather before winter begins to bear down us!

 

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

 

I cannot believe how quickly October has swept by this year! I mean, yes, I know there is still 11 days left in the month, but it appears to me that the days are rocketing by me. This feeling is partially caused by the fact that Diamond Distributors has moved up their date for initial orders a whole week which is still baking my noodle. I mean, I’m on top of it unlike last month when I blew the deadline, but it is still screwing up my schedule…lol. I just got the last of my consumer Previews order forms in yesterday and I have to futz around tog e the information into my spread sheets, but at least I got them before the due date for my orders. I need to get back into my groove so that my weekly Diamond initial order entry doesn’t look like Scarlet fleeing Atlanta!

 

Can I just say how great it is to be married? Those of you who have known me for years can truly realize what an incredible thing that is to hear from me. I mean, I spent years saying that I would never get married and that the married life was not for me. How wrong I was! Even though our marriage plans were fast forwarded somewhat due to everything happening politically in this country, I still can’t believe how happy Hillman makes me and how much I love being part of a larger whole. I can honestly say that I can’t wait for the future and am very muchly looking forward to spending the rest of my life with him. By the way, we have picked out a venue for our Big Wedding next year and also have also chosen the official date as 9/9/23! More information as it becomes available…😊

 

Just a couple of notes for the week…don’t forget that we are still running our Spooky Halloween Hard Cover/Trade Paperback sale through the end of the month. We have many scary books on the sale rack and they are all discounted at 25% off cover price! Also, please remember that we will be participating in the Boos & Bikes trunk or treat event in the Colonial Village parking lot on Saturday! The event will take place between 5-7pm and will include not only plenty of candy giveaways, but also comic book giveaways and an appearance by the Monarch Avengers cosplayers for photos! Please stop by with the kids and say “hi” while they get their fill of super heroes and candy!

 

I hope that everyone has a great weekend and enjoys what may be our last foray into 70 degree temperatures! Both Hillman and I will be joining Brian here on Saturday afternoon so I hope to you then!

 

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

 

Just a short note this week as I am coming to an end of a 13 day straight work jag and I really want to get my usual Thursday stuff done quickly today. Thursday is the day that I (obviously) get the shipping list and subscription form ready and posted as well as processing the first 40-50 orders that come through the system. I also complete my weekly Final Order Cut-Off orders for Lunar (D.C. Comics) and Penguin Random House (Marvel Comics) and that usually takes four or five hors to get completed. It is a relatively simple process, but it does tend to eat up time. Anyway, the quicker I start the quicker I can get to the beginning of my weekend.

 

I don’t know if you’ve seen the Facebook post or not, but D.C. Comics and Image Comics have the project of the year, the upcoming Batman Spawn #1. It will be a 48 page one shot written by Todd McFarlane and drawn by Greg Capullo and it will be due out December 13^th. There will be 12 open order variant covers featuring the art of Greg Capullo, Gabrielle Del Otto, Sean Murphy, Francesco Mattina, J Scott Campbell, Jim Lee, Jason Fabok, Todd McFarlane, and Jorge Jimenez. Naturally, we will have a selection of the covers available for sale off of the New Release rack, but in order to get an idea of exactly how many copies I am going to need I am offering a deal on any preorders for the a set of 12 open order variants. The regular retail price for the 12 open order variants is $85.88 (plus tax) and we will be offering the sets for $60.00 (plus tax). If you are indeed interested in this great deal then please let me or Brian know and we will make sure you have them the week they come out. Of course, if you are simply interested in one (or two or whatever) specific covers then we can also take orders for those as well at regular cover price. Below is a list of all 12 open order variants included in the deal and you can check out our Facebook page for the images of all of the covers that are currently available for us to display. We will need to get these preorders in by 10/23/22. There will also be several incentive variants available as well, but I won’t be able to give prices for these limited edition covers until closer to their release.

 

BATMAN SPAWN #1 (ONE SHOT) CVR A GREG CAPULLO BATMAN

BATMAN SPAWN #1 (ONE SHOT) CVR B GREG CAPULLO SPAWN VAR

BATMAN SPAWN #1 (ONE SHOT) CVR C GABRIELE DELL OTTO VAR

BATMAN SPAWN #1 (ONE SHOT) CVR D SEAN MURPHY VAR

BATMAN SPAWN #1 (ONE SHOT) CVR E FRANCESCO MATTINA VAR

BATMAN SPAWN #1 (ONE SHOT) CVR F J SCOTT CAMPBELL VAR

BATMAN SPAWN #1 (ONE SHOT) CVR G JIM LEE VAR

BATMAN SPAWN #1 (ONE SHOT) CVR H JASON FABOK VAR

BATMAN SPAWN #1 (ONE SHOT) CVR I BLANK VAR

BATMAN SPAWN #1 (ONE SHOT) CVR J GREG CAPULLO & TODD MCFARLANE GLOW IN THE DARK VAR

BATMAN SPAWN #1 (ONE SHOT) CVR S JORGE JIMENEZ ACETATE VAR

BATMAN SPAWN #1 (ONE SHOT) CVR T TODD MCFARLANE VAR

 

Please remember that on Saturday, October 22^nd, Libertarians MC and Shawn’s Irish Pub will be sponsoring a Boos and Bikes trunk or treat event in the parking lot here at the Colonial Village Shopping Center from 5-7pm. Monarch Comics will be participating in the event and you can expect to find plenty of comic book giveaways for the trick or treaters as well as a very special appearance by the Monarch Avengers cosplayers who will be available for photos! It will be fun for the whole family so make plans to swing by for some free candy and comics all in the spirit of the season!

 

The Monarch Comics Halloween Horror Comic Sale is still going on and we are constantly updating and adding more titles to the sale rack. All horror related graphic novels on the rack are available for 25% off cover price and that will continue through the end of the month. Stop by for some spooky thrills!

 

That’s it for me. Seriously, it is already 11:30 and I have got to get started before the business starts rolling in…lol. Have a great weekend and I hope to see everyone in the next week or so!

 

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

 

I am now officially on my own this week! Brian has taken off into the wild blue yonder for some well deserved vacation time and I am left to my own devices here in the store! I mean, it really isn’t that big of a deal considering it is essentially the schedule I worked for some 30 years, but I must admit that I got pretty used to having most of Friday and all of Saturday off. Oh, well…time to pull up my big boy pants and get some work done.

 

We have once again designated one of the trade paperback racks in the store as our official Halloween rack and are going to offer a wide range of horror titles at 25% off cover price! If there is a horror title that we missed putting on the rack or if we don’t have it in stock, no problem, just mention it to me or Brian at the counter and we will offer the discount on the item! This impromptu Halloween sale will last until Sunday, October 30^th!

 

Speaking of Halloween, Shawn’s Irish Tavern and the Libertarians MC will be hosting a Bikes and Boos trunk or treat event in the parking lot here at the Colonial Village Shopping Center on Saturday, October 22^nd, from 5-7PM. Monarch Comics will be participating in the event as well with a bunch of giveaway comics as well as a spooky appearance by members of the Monarch Avengers! Stop on out and get some free candy and comics and get a picture snapped with your favorite Monarch Avengers cosplayer!

 

That’s it for me today! Plenty of stuff to do even considering I will be here more than usual this week…lol. Looking forward to seeing the folks that I haven’t laid eyes on in a minute…😊

 

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

 

Well, everything is more or less back to “normal” around here…whatever that means…and I have caught up on all of my behind the scenes work! Brian and I’s schedule will be returning to the norm as well with me being here Tuesday (11-7), Wednesday (8-2), Thursday (11-7), Friday (11-1), Saturday (OFF), and Sunday (12-5:30) and Brian being here Tuesday (11-7), Wednesday (11-7), Thursday (OFF), Friday (11-7), Saturday (11-7), and Sunday (OFF). So if you need one of us for something you now know when you can basically catch us in the store. Brian is taking some time off in October and I will be here for an entire week, but that’s the exception not the rule…lol. I can’t tell you how nice it is to being the boss and getting to decide what days I come into the store and what days I can loll about with the new husband. I had no idea how much fun it was to be charge of the schedule!

 

I do have a million things to get done between today and tomorrow, so I’m signing off to get to work. PRH must have paid A LOT of overtime this week as I have already received the Marvel stuff for next week that they crammed out the door to avoid Hurricane/Tropical Storm Ian related problems. I mean, I just accepted 21 BOXES from UPS…lol…and all of those boxes have to be sorted through before my weekend can begin. Along with getting my weekly FOC stuff done as well as dealing with the Subscription Form orders, well, my day is booked!

 

I hope everyone has a great weekend and I hope to see you in the store!

 

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

 

Hillman and I have returned from our magical honeymoon adventure! I know I had promised many of you exclusive access to photos and video from the vacation, but internet reliability was sketchy during our time at the resort. I mean, the day we arrived we didn’t have any internet access at all until the next day. We didn’t really get an explanation for it or indication that this was a regular thing for the island or the resort and it wasn’t until day 3 or 4 that we found it that it was apparently careless construction crews that caused the outage. (The island has ONE main road and there were crews working to repave it that knocked something down or something.) In any case, I do have some pics and video that has made it to my personal Facebook page and I am planning on sharing the over to the Monarch page, but I have some serious work to catch up on before I mess around with Facebook much.

 

In any case, I can’t stress how enjoyable my honeymoon turned out. It was a real dream vacation and I wish that I hadn’t had to wake up from it. Hillman and I spent a week in paradise and despite the costs and waits and the seemingly ENDLESS plane rides I wouldn’t’ trade one moment for all of the 9.8 comics in the world. From the resort service to the swimming with pigs excursion to the absolute wonder of being in the sea every day it was pure magic and there is no one I would have wanted to spend that time with as my new husband. Thanks to everyone with congratulations for our somewhat rushed nuptials…Hillman and I were very moved and thankful to hear all of them.

 

Getting back into the swing of the store has been…interesting…lol. I worked very hard to make sure that everything was caught up and set up to make things as easy as possible for Brian to cover things while I was out of the country. Brian did an amazing job of keeping things on an even keel and I am very thankful for his help and professionalism. There are A LOT of things that need to be caught up now that I am back and the biggest issue is getting my Diamond initial order ready to upload. I thought I would have a week to do it, but it is actually due 5am Friday morning and I haven’t even started it yet! Normally this would throw me into a serious tizzy, but I am not really worried about it. I’ll get those orders in and won’t have any problem getting my orders filled. It will just be a little more work…😊

 

Indeed I have basically decided to keep everything going according to my usual weekly schedule, hence focusing on the ship list and sub form first and everything else in descending order of importance. I’m also planning on knuckling down and spending more time in the store this week in order to get as caught u as I ever get in this weekly industry. So if I’m talking to you at the counter and my back is to you or I am furiously banging away at my keyboard it is NOT personal…I’m just desperately trying to catch up…lol.

 

There were some problems with shortages and damages this week and Brian is handling these replacement copies. If you have any questions about a title that you were apparently shorted in your pull and if there is a book that was released and you wanted a copy, but don’t see it on the rack please do not hesitate to ask about it! Brian will happily help and I will do my best if I am here by myself to figure out the problem. Also, while I am thinking about it, please make sure that if there is a magazine or one of those stupid oversized comics that you have ordered is not in your pull to ask us about them. We have a ton of stuff behind the counter with posty notes attached to them for special order customers and when things start hopping in the store and we have a line of folks at the register it is very easy for us to forget that we are holding something for you that is a weird size.

 

Okily dolkily…that’s about it for me this week. I keep feeling like these was something else I wanted to mention, but now I am drawing a blank and I really do have to get back to work. Once again, thanks for all of the congratulations and well-wishes and I hope to see everyone this week now that I am back behind the steering wheel!

 

Eddie