Tag: BATMAN #77

Hey, Folks!

 

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.

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 11^th, 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!

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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 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!

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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!

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 Miles Morales 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 29^th, 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…😊

 

Eddie