Seriously, that paper was really a bright green. Totally couldn’t miss it.
So we got our copies of Blackest Night #6 this week, since we agreed to Diamond Comic Distributor’s terms that we would hold sales on this comic until the street date of December 30th (which would be during the week Diamond is doing no shipping to retailers). Every retailer that received their copies of Blackest Night #6 had to do the same, and agree to hold sales on it ’til next week. In the box we received with these comics, there was a bright green piece of paper stating, in big bold black letters, that the comics packed within are absolutely not to be sold until December 30th.
At our shop, I was enough of a hardnose about it that not even the employees got copies. I only even had the comics out of the box long enough to count them during the order breakdown in the morning, and put ’em back in the box when I was done.
I then put a sign on the new arrivals shelf stating that Blackest Night #6 (as well as other 12/30 street date items, like a Fall of the Hulk variant and assorted Marvel freebies) will be available starting next Wednesday. Hopefully that, and the promise of some in-store sales and the kids with fistfuls of Christmas money, will help shore up the shop’s income during Diamond’s skip week.
Some cynics would say that there are folks out there who, despite entering a business agreement with Diamond regarding terms for the street date on these items, despite the repeated reminders about the street dates (on that bright green paper, and on the invoice itself), would put out Blackest Night #6 a week early anyway. And that some enterprising soul would already have scanned and posted said comic to the torrent sites. But those would be dick moves, and I can’t imagine anyone wanting to do that.
In other comic news:
Thanks to Chris Sims’ proselytizing for the storyline, and thanks to this interview with the comic’s writer, and thanks to a second printing of the first installment coming out the same week as the second installment, I am totally on board with the “Frankencastle” storyline in Punisher. So fantastic. It’s Hex for the 21st century, and I sincerely mean that in the best possible way.
The last reprint I expected from DC…well, after Sugar & Spike. And after Scribbly. And The Three Mouseketeers. And…er, anyway, the extremely-unlikely reprint I didn’t dare hope for is, believe it or not, the 1970s treasury edition Superman Vs. Muhammad Ali. It’ll be in two hardcover editions: a deluxe version with bonus features and a new cover by Neal Adams (but hopefully not colored/textured/whatevered by him), and another hardcover edition presenting the comic in its original tabloid size. This really is one of my all-time favorite Superman comics, with some fantastic art and a very silly but fun story, and dude, it costars Muhammad Ali. It’s hard to believe I first read this about thirty years ago, and I am very happy it’s being reissued. It is (dare I say) A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE. Well, a provisional miracle, anyway, depending on these things’ price points.
Read more about Superman Vs. Muhammad Ali via the nigh-essential Treasurycomics.com.
And I hope everyone has a happy and safe Christmas Eve, where applicable. EGGNOG SHOOTERS WOOO*