Hey, Folks!
Is the holiday season more exhausting than usual this year or is it just me? Those of you who know me know that I am not all that into holidays to begin with and I usually do all that I can to minimize it within my personal life. I do, however, try to capitulate a bit for those of you who are holiday-mad, but it is difficult. And this year it feels like everything has been crammed into too short of a time!
For instance, I do love holiday baking and every year I put out a tray of cookie experiments for customers to feast on when they visit the store. I always put the tray out on the Wednesday before the holiday since that is the last time I will see many of you before the actual holiday arrives. This year, however, the holiday is on a Wednesday which means I have to get my cookies done a week earlier than usual. Unfortunately, there is only so much pre-prep you can do in cookie making and I also have holiday parties and the like to attend. As a result, I will be attempting to motor through and baking up a crazy amount of cookies on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. I’m planning on my old standbys, such as the iced pumpkin cookies and the jam-filled shortbread thumbprint cookies and I always have to do a batch of (very) basic chocolate chip cookies for Steve. This year I will be attempting gingerbread men as well as sugar cookies to see if I can master even a basic level of decorating which I traditionally suck at completing. Hopefully Hillman will be able to give me a hand int hat department. And why do I do it? Because I love you guys and I’ve found over the years that my customers are the best when it comes to test subjects with my baked goods…lol. So look for the big tray of cookies on the 18th!
Speaking of the 18th, can we talk about the insane amount of titles shipping in next week!?! I finished the shipping list for next week and counted something along the lines of 107 titles that have to displayed on a rack that is built for 70 face out titles. I completed the subscription list yesterday afternoon and ended up with just over 200 options on the sub form! It’s goofy how many books are being published! Of course, it IS the final shipping week of the year considering there will only be a handful of titles coming out the week of Christmas, so I suppose we should have expected some sort of deluge.
On the plus side, there is a whole host of big books due in! The final chapter of Geoff Johns and Gary Frank’s magnum opus, Doomsday Clock, will FINALLY be arriving! Tune in to see the final big grudge match between Superman and Doctor Manhattan! Tom King’s conclusion to the long running “City of Bane” storyline in Batman #85 will be landing to many accolades and Scott Snyder will be wrapping up his long running Year of the Super Villain story in Justice League #38 just in time for the final battle between Apex Lex and the Legion of Doom and the Batman Who Laughs’ twisted Secret Six in the miniseries “Year of the Villain Hell Arisen” by James Tynion IV and Steve Epting. DC’s hit Black Label imprint will also have both Harleen and Joker Killer Smile returning to the new release rack and a new title, Wonder Woman Dead Earth, will also be here!
Not to be outdone, Marvel Comics will be ending the year on s strong note with the grand finale of their 2099 event with 2099 Omega. Avengers #28 by Jason Aaron will be continuing the current Avengers in space storyline with poor Thor apparently turned into a Brood warrior. The final issues of the hit Guardians of the Galaxy book will be in as well as the final issue of Jason Aaron’s swansong of his Thor run, King Thor. Amazing Spider-Man and Daredevil and Tony Stark Iron Man and the latest round of X-books will also be gracing the new release rack on Wednesday. It is a literal bounty of amazing comics and coming out right before the big holiday weekend!
There will also be a few Funko POP figures making their appearances this week just in time for holiday gift buying! The 80th Anniversary Wolverine 1st appearance, Endgame Cap with broken shield and Mjolnir, Endgame Korg w/headphones, and the Thanos Snap 6” PX figure! All of these great POP figures will retail for the standard $10.99 except for the larger and more impressive Thanos figure which will be retailing for $28.99! We will have limited quantities available for all of these figures on Wednesday and those of you who preordered their figures will have them held behind the counter. Check out the other POP super hero figures we have in stock while you’re here.
Frank Miller’s latest entry into the world of Dark Knight Returns dropped this week right on the heels of the completion of his Black Label Superman Year One series. Dark Knight Returns The Golden Child is written by Miller and drawn by the absolutely amazing Rafael Grampa. Seriously, whatever you may think of Miller’s storytelling skills, this is a gorgeous book. Well, at least as gorgeous as any book can be that deals with that flattening of Gotham City by Darkseid and the aftermath of destruction that these things tend to cause. I haven’t been a huge fan of Miller’s writing as of late, but I did enjoy my read through of this one shot. It features Carrie Kelly as Batwoman as well as the brother sister team of Lara and Jonathon, erstwhile children of Superman and Wonder Woman. It’s great stuff and worth a perusal at the rack this week.
Just in case you missed the announcement in last week’s EDitorial, our holiday hours for this year are as follows:
Tuesday, December 24th, Christmas Eve: 11am-5pm
Wednesday, December 25th, Christmas: CLOSED
Thursday, December 26th: 11am-7pm
Tuesday, December 31st, New Year’s Eve: 11am-5pm
Wednesday, January 1st, New Year’s Day: 12pm-4pm
Thursday, January 2nd: 11am-7pm
I’ve really got to figure out how to post these on the website…
I also wanted to say a few words about the subscription form orders this week as well. Since the launch of the new website, I have more people than ever taking advantage of the Subscription Form and I couldn’t be any more thrilled! I do want to let new users know that at this point there is no mechanism available to accommodate orders for multiple copies of individual comic titles. If you are looking to buy more than one copy of any book then please message me through the store’s Facebook Messenger account and if I can spare the copies then I will take care of you. Additionally, I put a lot of comics up on the subscription form, particularly small press titles. Unfortunately, occasionally these titles sell out before I can cover any orders for them. This has been happening with disturbing regularity with BOOM! Studio and IDW titles, with BOOM! apparently selling out of the first two printings before the first has even been published, although I’m not sure exactly how that work.
I’ve been trying to figure out how to deal with these kinds of situations in regards to the subscription form. In the past, I have simply stopped offering titles from publishers who have problems publishing enough copies to fill orders. This system, however, is haphazard and stops me from giving you the opportunity to get a hold of the comics you want. So I’m going to try something new. From now on I will include a checkbox at the top of the subscription form that you may opt in to if I try to order a comic that is sold out, but there is a 2nd (or 3rd, or 4th) printing available for order. If you ordered, say “Red Mother #1”, and all the first printings are sold out and you’ve checked off the box then I can automatically put you down for whatever printing is available. If you aren’t interested in anything but the first printing then you can leave the box unchecked and I will take the title off of your order. It’s not a perfect solution, but it’s all I can think of unless I can find a better platform for the subscription form. Also always remember that I love special orders and if there are any titles that you are worried I either won’t be carrying please let me know before FOC and I will make sure I have those books ordered for you.
Okily dokily…that’s it for me this week! I want everyone to know that I will be out of the office on Saturday to attend a Christmas party that I will be supplying some of the food for (slow roasted pulled pork and a dessert to-be-determined later) and I need to take the day off. Also, It will be nice to actually get a chance to sleep in with Hillman on a weekend morning without worrying about opening the store on time. I will be back on Sunday, so if you have any pressing questions please message me on Messenger and I will get back to you as soon as possible!
Have a great week, Folks, and I’ll see you next week!
Eddie