Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Pocket Book Pain


This week LOTS of new titles shipped. All the big boys came in, and many of them were $3.99 each. OUCH! This kind of disaster hurts the retailer and the consumer in a BIG WAY. 5 Avengers books came out in the same week, I say again OUCH! I know how it goes, things come up, books get pushed back or moved around for one reason or another, but the big two (Marvel and DC) need to avoid this type of issue in the future. We all, again retailer and consumer, are trying to watch our pocket books carefully, and this kind of stunt makes it impossible to budget correctly. Just taking the Avengers books for example, there are currently four ongoing monthly titles: New Avengers, Mighty Avengers, Dark Avengers, and Avengers Initiative. Wouldn't it be swell if ONE Avengers book came out a week? Spreading the Avengers joy throughout the month rather than all in a stack. Granted Mighty Avengers did not come in this week, but the other three Avengers monthlies did along with the latest issue of Avengers/Invaders and the new Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-men Utopia Special.

On the plus side, this week's releases were stellar: Amazing Spiderman, Astonishing Xmen, Daredevil, Detective, Freddy Vs. Jason Vs. Ash, Gotham City Sirens, Green Lantern, Iron Fist, JLA, JSA, Madam Xanadu, Fables spin-off The Literals, Northlanders, Predator, Previews Magazine, Secret Warriors, Skarr, Superman, Teen Titans, Thor, Uncanny Xmen, Wizard Magazine, Wolverine Weapon X, Wonder Woman, X-factor, X-force, X-Men Forever, and many more. That list is just the tip of the iceberg waiting for you at your local A/F. Many, many good books are available NOW. So you will have plenty of good reading this week, you can sit back and relax in the nice cool air conditioning. Keep the curtains drawn and the air cranked, you WILL enjoy your comics for many hours this week.

There were SO many books this week, we ran out of "NEW" signs at the Frankfort store, and I'm betting that was the same at all the A/F's this week. LOTS of NEW comic book goodness out there right now! Makes me wonder what is left to ship NEXT week. We will find out for sure tomorrow when Diamond posts the OFFICIAL invoice for retailers. I've said it before and I'll say it again, just because comic publisher "X" says a book will be out a certain date, does not mean jack until it shows up on a Diamond invoice. For those of you that may be interested, we here at Amazing Fantasy post the OFFICIAL list of new releases with running commentary, courtesy of A/F Frankfort's own Jerkules at: www.myspace.com/afbookscomics. He normally posts the list every Friday or Saturday for the following week's books. Always an entertaining read. Check it out every week religiously, and Jerkules will be mightily pleased, and that is always a good thing. Making Jerkules angry is always a bad thing, the air turns blue, well not quite as blue if I were to get miffed about something, but still.

In summary, on the plus side LOTS of great books are waiting for you this week. On the down side: LOTS of great books are waiting for you this week. Thanks to the big two your wallet might cry a little.

6 comments:

  1. Might cry a little bit? Lori, I purchased JLA instead of JSA on accident. I mentioned to you before my love of Alan Scott. You cannot compare the two titles, considering I'm broke until next week, this is a big deal. I'm not even gonna bother reading the JLA issue I bought. The writing and art has been so bad in that series.

    I don't even have enough money for the sale this weekend. You better believe me when I say how bummed out I am. I was hoping to be able to purchase some Vertigo TPBs were they included in the sale, or some single issues. But hey! I'm screwed. :( Yay for 3.99.

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  2. Bring your JLA book back in and I will let you exchange it for the JSA book. This is a one time offer. Normally, we have a no return or exchange policy, but I understand the mix-up, so bring it back in in the same condition you bought it in and we will gladly exchange it for you. No hassle!
    Lori

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  3. You are a Goddess among humans, Lori.

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  4. Yeah, it is kind of tough when this happens. I couldn't believe the amount of new books out this week. Honestly, it probably prevented me from trying out a thing or two I might have otherwise took a chance on. If next week is a slow week, maybe I'll remember to pick up those books, but once they no longer have the "NEW" sign it is much easier to overlook them.

    I feel for you on the sale, Seraph. I am in the same boat, as I found out about some unexpected expenses yesterday evening and probably won't be able to check out the sale this weekend either. I mean, its not as if I don't have a stack of unread GNs already sitting at home, but I do hate to have to pass up a bargain.

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  5. I've read the graphic novels I own several times over, they're about the same comic too.

    Batman: The Long Halloween, Haunted Knight, and Dark Victory. Batman: Hush 1 & 2, and of course The Dark Knight Returns. Jesus, I want to read The Dark Knight Strikes Again. It sounds really good. :(

    I'd be spending my entire goddamn paycheck at A&F if I had a job still. Gotta love it when you lose your job to a store closing. ._.

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  6. The Dark Knight Strikes Again is great if you don't mind Frank Miller thumbing his nose at you for being a fan of DC Comics characters. All social relevance about political satire aside, Miller needed to be a bit more respectful and responsible with these treasured concepts.

    The man used to be so great. Now he's just such a caricature of himself it's sad and deplorable. I weep when I read old Daredevil issues, Dark Knight Returns or Batman: Year One. Where is the real Frank Miller and what have you done with him, you retarded skrull?

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