Hey, Folks!
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!
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.
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!
Eddie