Hey, Folks!
I hope everyone is having a great week. Mine has been going pretty well, but I am putting the finishing touches on this year’s Free Comic Book Day and that always involves a bit of stress and a lot of money…lol. Of course there is the ordering of all of the free comics, which is FINALLY done, as well as setting things up like hiring the photography company which does the pictures for the event and setting things up with Shivers across the street for the free ice cream cone coupons. Also lining up all of the Monarch Avengers cosplayers and taking them out for an event planning dinner. It’s a lot to keep straight, but it is also always worth it. I’ve been running a FCBD event yearly for 22 years now and I just can’t imagine NOT doing it. Mark it down on your calendars, for those of you who still use such things, Saturday, May 4th, 2024 is the big day! (Apparently there is some sort of big celebration around an obscure old 70’s low budget science fiction movie on the same day.)
I keep meaning to mention it on the Afternoon Delights Tuesday afternoon show or on here, but Monarch Comics is officially buying new back issue material again. I had to put a hold on it for a few months because Brian and I were dealing with a bunch of stuff, including, of course, the Big and New Jersey collections. We have also started working on a new big collection, the Wilcoxen collection, but I am dealing with a big case of FOMO so I have green lit looking at back issues cold again. I did want to lay out exactly how it works for us now that I have had some serious experience with big collections. First of all the only days we will be looking at unsolicited stuff is Monday, Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday. Basically these are days that Brian is in the store and he’s my go to guy for evaluating collections and he is REALLY good at it. Next, please call before bringing your stuff into the store. If you have less than 50 comics then chances are we can easily fit you in on any of the days listed above, but if you have multiple boxes then we may have to schedule a time for you to drop them off and then to come back after we have gotten to them. We are only interested in looking at comics…no POP figures or trading/gaming cards or toys or anything of that nature. You may always choose to get your payments either in check form or store credit. If you have a collection of 1000 or more comics please understand that it may take a week or more for us to get to them, but in those situations we generally will have a good idea of how long it will take.
So I read a ton of new comics this week! I am trying to decide how to write about my “new” hobby without taking too much time (its already 1:30 and I still don’t have this finished to post.) or being boring. I will mention that my highlights this week included Blade #9, a comic that I have never read before and I found the penultimate issue of this series to be pretty exciting although a story so far page would have been helpful. Catwoman #63 was extremely entertaining and I am totally grooving on this current 9 lives story. Fantastic Four and Invincible Iron Man were both solid, especially FF, but then again they both have been excellent since the beginning of their current runs. I enjoyed AWA’s new title, Little Black Book, and I am looking forward to seeing where the first issue is leading. Spider-Woman has become one of my favorite Marvel comics and Titans is on its way to being one of my favorite DC Comics. Also, you can just assume that I absolutely love all the X-Books…this week’s X-Men Forever was a big step to clearing up a few lingering loose ends from the Immortal X-Men comic that wrapped up back in December. I can also tell you for sure that I am starting to really look forward to my Tuesday night comic reading session with Hill…😊
Okily dokily, that’s it for me this week! It looks like Spring might be returning again this weekend and sure do hope that everyone enjoys it. I have been trying to be more of a presence in the store on Fridays or Saturdays, but I have to take the weekend off because the water company has scheduled a time to come to my house to replace the meter. That means I have to spend some serious time cleaning up the hording mess in the basement so they can actually get to the old meter. Believe me, I’d rather be in the store! See you Folks next week…😊
Eddie