Month: January 2024

Hey, Folks!

 

Here we are again…another Thursday morning and another time for me to try and get something down on “paper” before hurriedly throwing all of the shipping list and sub form stuff up so I can start collating next week’s orders. I really need to start carving out time to get these things written the day before so I can more easily hit the ground running as soon as I get into the office on Thursday. But I can’t describe to you the feeling of relief when I finally get my Wednesday work done before 7pm…or even 5pm! It was an even better feeling this week because between the holiday on Monday and Brian needing time off due to illness I was already feeling a bit squeezed for time. But everything is done now and ready to roll with the exception of this tender missive. Now let’s see if I can find the posty note that I made last week with a bunch of topics that I wanted to mention!

 

Please let Brian and I know what you think of the new shelves and the recent furniture moving we have done recently. Decades ago Steve and I ordered those “Star System” spinner racks and we loved them, but unfortunately time has taken it’s toll on the poor things and they were not faring well. Unfortunately, the company that produced them went out of business years ago, so they were not an option for replacement. I was going to add more slat wall to the back of the store with shelving, but I realized that I could actually fit more books into the WalMart special book shelves and that I had less fear of shelves breaking down due to the weight of the books. This is a work in progress and I have plans to add another back issue table as well as eliminating a couple of old racks and possibly adding a couple of additional black bookcases. After taking a year off of store improvements to work on my wedding, amongst other things, it feels good to start focusing on it them again.

 

I have begun the planning of this year’s Free Comic Book Celebration! This year’s date will be Saturday, May 4^th, which means it is also local comic historian and author Jim Beard’s birthday. (Apparently it also coincides with the anniversary of some obscure 70’s science fiction movie…Star something or other.) I haven’t ordered the DC material yet as it hasn’t appeared on Lunar FOC, but I have completed the orders from Diamond. Here’s an early list of the comics you can expect this year:

 

FCBD 2024 UNICORN CRUSH	ANDREWS MCMEEL
FCBD 2024 HELLBOY STRANGER THINGS	DARK HORSE
FCBD 2024 THE WORLDS OF JAMES TYNION IV	BOOM! STUDIOS
FCBD 2024 JONNY QUEST	DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT
FCBD 2024 TEENAGEMUTANT NINJA TURTLES	IDW
FCBD 2024 ENERGON UNIVERSE SPECIAL	IMAGE COMICS
FCBD 2024 ULTIMATE UNIVERSE SPIDER-MAN #1	MARVEL COMICS
FCBD 2024 BLOOD HUNT X-MEN #1	MARVEL COMICS
FCBD 2024 DISNEY’S ENCANTO & TURNING RED	PAPERCUTZ
FCBD 2024 WITCHES OF BROOKLYN EXC #1	RANDOM HOUSE CHILDRENS BOOKS
FCBD 2024 POKEMON ADV RUBY ALPHA SAPPHIRE & SPLATTOON 3	VIZ MEDIA
FCBD 2024 GANNIBAL	ABLAZE
FCBD 2024 THE VALIANTS	ALIEN BOOKS
FCBD 2024 CURSED BLIGHTED DAWN #1	AMERICAN MYTHOLOGY PRODUCTIONS
FCBD 2024 SNOOPY BEAGLE SCOUT ADVENTURES	ANDREWS MCMEEL
FCBD 2024 ULTRADUCK SAMPLER	ARCANA STUDIO
FCBD 2024 ARCHIE HORROR PRESENTS CURSED LIBRARY PRELUDE	ARCHIE COMICS
FCBD 2024 BOOM BOX 10TH ANNIVERSARY EXTRAVAGANZA	BOOM! STUDIOS
FCBD 2024 STAR WARS PLANTS VS ZOMBIES	DARK HORSE COMICS
FCBD 2024 MALEFICENT #1	DYNAMITE ENTERTAINMENT
FCBD 2024 MARVEL & FANTAGRAPHICS PRSNT ATLAS COMICS LIBRARY	FANTAGRAPHICS
FCBD 2024 INVESTIGATORS CLASS ACTION SNEEK PEAK	FIRST SECOND BOOKS
FCBD 2024 ROMEO VS JULIET KILL SHAKESPEARE ADV	GEMSTONE
FCBD 2024 OVERSTREET GUIDE TO COLLECTING COMICS	GEMSTONE
FCBD 2024 UNICO AWAKENING	GRAPHIX
FCBD 2024 MONSTER HIGH	IDW
FCBD 2024 INITIAL D & KAINA OF GREAT SNOW	KODANSHA COMICS
FCBD 2024 GATCHAMAN #0	MAD CAVE STUDIOS
FCBD 2024 FLASH GORDON #0	MAD CAVE STUDIOS
FCBD 2024 MARVELS VOICES 31	MARVEL COMICS
FCBD 2024 SPIDEY HIS AMAZING FRIENDS #1	MARVEL COMICS
FCBD 2024 STAR WARS #1	MARVEL COMICS
FCBD 2024 EYE LIE POPEYE #1	MASSIVE
FCBD 2024 ASTERIX OLYMPICS SPECIAL	PAPERCUTZ
FCBD 2024 LOUD HOUSE SPECIAL	PAPERCUTZ
FCBD 2024 NIGHT LIBRARIAN	PENGUIN YOUNG READERS
FCBD 2024 KATIE CATSITTER MAX MEOW MASH UP #1	RANDOM HOUSE CHILDRENS BOOKS
FCBD 2024 TONS OF STRANGE	10 TON PRESS
FCBD 2024 CONAN BARBARIAN BATTLE BLACK STONE	TITAN COMICS
FCBD 2024 DOCTOR WHO FIFTEENTH DOCTOR	TITAN COMICS
FCBD 2024 FAR CRY THE HERD #1	TOKYOPOP
FCBD 2024 STREET FIGHTER VS FINAL FIGHT #1	UDON ENTERTAINMENT
FCBD 2024 DYING INSIDE	VAULT COMICS
FCBD 2024 ONE PIECE ACES STORY & STATUS ROYALE	VIZ MEDIA

 

There will also be some FCBD merchandise like a new Deadpool fleece blanket and a fun Harley Quinn Heroclix figure and some former art comic book boxes. I’ve got a meeting today with our advertising partners at Card Advertising so another piece of the puzzle should be snapping into place soon!

 

Another short ship next week due to the 5 week month of January. That’s kind of nice as it makes it easier for y’all to take advantage of the big sale! Please remember that the new books that I am posting from the BG collection are NOT part of the sale and that the Jersey comics are part of the sale at the 20% off tier. I will start mentioning which side of the line upcoming posted back issues are on from this point on.

 

That’s it for me this week…have a great weekend!

 

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

 

I actually planned on going on and on about a couple of different topics this week, but I got so behind today with business stuff that I just don’t have the time. I mean, I will get to it next week, including bits about how Brian is doing a terrific job moving the furniture around in the store again and the current FCBD news and some other fun little tidbits, but today I will limit myself down to just one little thing.

 

I know that between the Jersey collection and the BG collection that there is a lot of new back issue material that I am posting about on the Facebook page, buy I want to stress that we do NOT do any mail order service. The biggest reason is that we aren’t a mail order store, meaning that the whole point of Monarch Comics is that most of this stuff you can find online, but we are selling the Comic Shop Experience and that is something that cannot be done with mail order. I’m also worried that if we started with the mail order we would be arguing until the cows come home over the condition or the price we charged for it. It’s just a bunch of situations that I want nothing to do with at this point. So, please bear that in mind when you see the stuff going up for sale on Facebook. Also, please be patient when you send us messages VIA Facebook about the books being displayed. Keep in mind that we receive a dozen messages about such things per day and we don’t always have time to check the messages right away.

 

Okily dokily…time to get this sub form up and running! I hope y’all have a great week and keep your eyes peeled for new back issue stuff on the Facebook page…😊

 

Eddie

Hey, Folks!

 

Welcome to the first EDitorial of the year!

 

Of course, I really don’t have much to say this week. After achieving the BEST MONTH EVER in December and adding everything up for the year and discovering that Brian and I achieved the BEST YEAR EVER I will admit that I have been taking it easy. I have also been living in mortal fear of what my 4^th quarter estimated tax payout is going to be since the we did so well at the end of the year. If you hear a blood curdling scream tomorrow afternoon it will be finding out how much money will be shoveled into the gaping maw of small business taxes.

 

But let’s focus on the good times…lol. I have been working very hard for the last 3 years in our transition to a “back issue” store and I finally feel like all of the hard work Brian and I put into the new stock in the last year is paying off. We have, in recent weeks, put many of the juiciest comics from the BG Collection out for sale and the response that we have received for them has been, in short, amazing. I honestly had no idea that we had quite so many customers looking for these kind of comics, even in the sometimes extremely low grades. It has been occasionally stunning, but I’m glad that we were able to place them in the hands of folks who will love them. The BG Collection has many more treasures yet to be unveiled and I will be doing some wheeling dealing today in order to secure some more stuff to be posted before the end of the week. None of these books will be part of the Post-Holiday Sale, however, and will be boxed separately and be behind the counter. Always feel free to ask me or Brian to let ya take a look at the current books we have ready to go.

 

Additionally, I am working hard at getting the rest of the Jersey Collection sorted, priced, and on display. Unlike the BG Collection, the Jersey Collection will be available under the terms of the Post-Holiday Sale, although the newest material will be boxed on the counter and will be going for the 20% off discount. This will change as the month goes on if I am as quick to sort through them as I was at the beginning of this adventure as I will run out of room on the counter and the books will naturally migrate to the 50% off boxes. Stay tuned!

 

Okay…back to work for me. I’ve got a million things to do today including helping Brian rearrange the store a bit, finish my Lunar FOC, head over to the storage unit to get some more Jersey boxes, and so on.

 

Have a great weekend and I will see ya next week!

 

Eddie