New Comics…Tuesday?!?!

§ April 27th, 2020 § Filed under does mike ever shut up, retailing § 4 Comments

So for the first time since the end of March, my store (and presumably many other stores across this nation and possibly elsewhere) will be receiving new comic book releases this week.

As noted previously, DC Comics opted not to wait on Diamond Comics to rev up their weekly shipments (still mid/late May, they’re saying) and decided to go through a couple of other distributors instead to get their books out.

These distributors are apparently connected to (or in fact are) large comic book subscription service houses, so I imagine they’ve got the whole “mailing comics out to customers” thing down. We’ll see, as my first order (through “Lunar Distribution”) is coming Monday via FexEx. Now I’m used to my usual UPS shipments, where they generally show up within the same two-hour window. I don’t have a whole lot of experience receiving packages from FedEx, aside from “always missing them on the first attempt,” so I plan to be at the shop good ‘n’ early to get those new funnybooks.

I especially want to be there since, from all appearances, aside from the pizza place handing out take-out orders at the other end of the strip, our whole retail area looks like a ghost town. I don’t want FedEx thinking I’m not there, either, especially with the signage in the window reading “CLOSED DUE TO THE PLAGUE” or words to that effect. So I’ll be there, all the lights on, the front door kicked open a bit, not enough to look like I’m open, but enough to look like “hey there’s a human being or at least a comics retailer in here, please stop.” We’ll see how it goes.

As noted in that past post linked above, I’m not really getting as whole lot of books this first week. It’s, what, a half-dozen titles, and two of them are reprints of recent sold out “hot” books? I ain’t gettin’ rich off this, but once the following week comes in with a few more titles people will want, I’ll be able to get the new comics mail order shipments going in relative force again. And at the very least, get me warmed up for the more extensive mailings I’ll have to do if/when Diamond starts their own shipping.

Another new twist is that DC is allowing their new comics to be sold on Tuesday, breaking away from the long-held New Comics Wednesday that had been the norm since we got away from New Comics Thursday and New Comics Friday before that. I wonder how much longer it will be before new comics day is pushed back even futher until it’s Friday again? Or hey, remember the separate “air shipments” of new comics shops could get aside from their regular shipments? …Okay, I digress. But I do wonder if either DC or Diamond will budge on when their new releases should be avialable for sale. I really hope everyone doesn’t decide to make it Tuesday, unless I get all my stuff on Monday to have it ready.

The other thing I’m thinking about in regards to this new distributor is damage/shortage reports. I suspect these new distributors would want to impress and make sure none of the shipments have any problems, so I’m not really expecting any issues. But, you never know, stuff happens. I’ve had better luck contacting this new distributor via email than by phone, so I wonder if emailing damage/shortage reports would be best. Guess I’ll find out when the time comes.

Also curious if these new distribution methods are here just until Diamond gets going again, or if they’re in for the duration. We’re already getting solicitations past the three weeks these alternative options were supposed to fill. Are we on our way to having permanent competitors to Diamond? The barrier to this happening before was that there was no money in a large-scale comics distribution service without at least one or two of the Big Guns, like Marvel or DC, in your roster. (How long did Capital City last after Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, and Image moved elsewhere?) Will everyone just keep their DC orders with the new guys? Will they switch ’em all back to Diamond once that’s a thing again? Will Diamond have to scale down their operations if these other distributors take away too much of their traffic?

I’m curious to see how this all shakes out. I’d be looking forward to the possibility of more distributors and what that could mean for the overall health of the market if I wasn’t also worried about how I was going to sell what they’ll be distributing. I mean, I’d love to get lots of new comics, but I’d also like to be able to open my doors and let people see what’s available. Mail order business is fine, but I still do (or did) plenty of business from folks who just browsed the racks and bought stuff on whims. Having to do it remotely is an extra barrier to getting that comic dollar.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed today’s “Mike’s Comic Retail Anxiety Therapy Session.” I’ll try to be back with some fun stuff next time.

4 Responses to “New Comics…Tuesday?!?!”