Shipping This Week: February 10th

February 7th, 2010 | Author: Paula

Rick’s Writin’s

Superbowl Sunday!!! or “The Big Game” as advertisers have to call it if they don’t want to pay NFL licensing. This is number forty-four, amazing when given that originally the game was thought to almost be an exhibition for the NFL against an over matched, out of their league AFL. It wasn’t until the third game and Joe Namath that the Superbowl began to be taken seriously. The rest is history, and I’ve been there for all of it. We even had an Emerald City Comic-Con on one a few years ago. Hope you all have a great time for those into it and for you folks reading Buck Rogers instead or that got dragged to Dear John with your girl friend (probably not too many, given our clientèle) enjoy that too. I’m in the midst of a five day mini vacation, due to working nine days in row while Paula was in Virginia visiting her friend Jennifer last week. As a result, last week the newsletter didn’t get put out in a timely manner, and I want to thank all of you for the “incompetent boob”, and “Paula job security” comments we received. It’s nice to know you care. Rest assured it will not happen next time I have to put the newsletter out. And there will be a next time, as we are going to change things up a bit. You may see one of us occasionally on a day we aren’t normally in. Every now and again, on a Monday afternoon, we might be closed for a couple hours. A result of working nine days in a row due to Paula’s trip was that I realized I was more focused at work during that time. I’ve been doing this a long time. Paula too, for that matter. Staying sharp is required when dealing with people day in and day out. But you also need time for yourself to enable you to keep sharp. By working more days in a row, we can allow ourselves more time off in a row. I can’t remember the last time I had a Saturday off that I was at home. Replanted trees in my yard, re-arranged my living room and watched a Bogart movie I’d never seen before. It was a great day. Though I truly love my work, and am honored to have you folks as customers and friends, time is short and I need some for myself. And though she’s younger, Paula’s quite wimpier than I am and she needs time too. Besides, she has to deal with me, which is no piece of cake. Anyhow, to keep Spy Comics running like the well oiled machine you’ve come to rely on, we’re going to try this switch-up for a while and see how it works. Oh…Colts by a touchdown in a close game. The Saints will be able to run and score, but Manning will be too much for them. On to comics….

This week’s offerings are a bit on the light side, which I’ll talk about later, as it isn’t DC’s fault. First up is the new Human Target mini (#1 of 6) which has our hero Christopher Chance up against an international organized crime syndicate, trying to protect an inside informant. The new Fox TV program starring Mark Valley as Chance is based on this DC property, though it’s been tweeked for TV. I’ve watched them all and I like it. Good characters!! This new mini is written by Human Target creator Len Wein and as a bonus there’s a back-up story written by the TV show’s executive producer Peter Johnson. Blackest Night has two important pieces this week: Adventure Comics (#7) with Black Lantern Superboy. That’s all I have on that one as the solicitation was marked “Top Secret” Secret Six (#18) finishes it’s Blackest Night cross-over with the Suicide Squad BN one-shot, as the Black Lanterns have the Six and the Squad in deep doodoo. But, good ol’ nasty Amanda Waller ALWAYS has a trick up her sleeve, and this time she’s on the good guy’s side. We’ve also got re-orders on a few of the previous Blackest Night tie-ins coming, such as Phantom Stranger, Atom and Hawkman, Booster Gold, Superman/Batman and more. If you missed out on some these, now’s your chance to pick them up. Batman and Robin (#9) is arriving two weeks early, a switch to be sure, and continues the cleverly named “Blackest Knight” story with guest stars Batwoman, Knight and Squire. I won’t say much about Batgirl (#7) as I don’t want to risk a Tim Drake joke.

Back to the light comic week. I think we have a problem. Marvel currently has at least five big story arcs going at this moment: Siege, X Nation, Fall of the Hulks, Necrosha X and Realm of Kings, yet this week we don’t get even one piece or book for ANY of these big stories. Instead we get a bunch of piddly small stuff like Hit Monkey (#1) which substitutes for this week’s Deadpool, New Mutants (#10) which questions why the New Mutants even exist, and Dark X-Men (#4 of 5) a left over from the Dark Reign arc. The only note-worthy books from the House of Ideas is Amazing Spider-man (#620) where the Gauntlet story now features Mysterio, and X-Men: Pixie Strikes Back (#1 of 4) which has fan fave Pixie in high school with X-23, and a few other X- Girls (Women). This title written by Katheryn Immonen and drawn by Sara Pichelli, is one of Marvel’s Girl Comics line, featuring female writers and artists. Aside from a couple other small titles like Punishermax, that’s all you get from Marvel this week. And there’s the problem. Remember a couple weeks back when everything seemed to come out on the same day? How’d that work for your comic budget that week? Pretty tough, huh. And though it was a good week for us comic guys, it didn’t make up for the three lousy weeks previous, when little came out. Most comic shops want a steady flow of new books every week, so that there is a reason for you customers to come in. We don’t like when there’s no reason for you to come in because nothing came out. Yet, as much as we retailers bitch to Marvel, it seems to fall on deaf ears. They seem to be convinced that a huge week at the end of the month and one decent week in the middle is the right way to go, aiming for pay day weeks, it seems. Maybe I have it wrong, but from what I’ve heard from you folks, you want a more steady flow of books too. You want something to read every week, not all at once. That’s why I think you readers need to let Marvel know what you want. Maybe they’ll listen to you. Go to their web-site and comment on the weak list of offerings. They have so much story to offer, yet they lump it all into one or two weeks. Why? Maybe some of you will get a response. If so, please let us know what Marvel says and we’ll post it. I hope there is a response as I’m very curious as to what it would be.

Paula’s Picks

“Besides, she has to deal with me, which is no piece of cake.” – Rick, February 7, 2010.

I had a great time visiting my friend last week. I got to Virginia just in time to get snowed in for the weekend. We had a nice visit through. I hadn’t seen her in about 3 years.
I’m bummed because last week, almost every book that I read came out and this week, there’s not 1 book I’m bringing home. Maybe I should try out Spider-Man. It comes out often enough that I should have something every week to read. I did read one about a month back or so. It was cold and snowy and Spidey had on a hat, scarf and leg warmers over his costume for most of the issue. I thought that was really cute. I’m sure that “cute” is not the reason many people ready Spider-Man for, but I like it! I just worry a little that all of his years of history could get me confused.

Since I’ve got nothing else to write about, you guys go and enjoy the Super Bowl. I’m going to sit here. By myself. All day. Alone. Heavy sigh.

Shipping This Week 2-10-09
2000 AD PACK JAN 2010    $18.00
ACTION COMICS #886    $3.99
ADVENTURE COMICS #510 VAR ED    PI
ADVENTURE COMICS WITH BLACK LANTERN SUPERBOY #7    $3.99
ALL STAR SUPERMAN TP VOL 02    $12.99
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #620 DEADPOOL VAR    PI
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #620 GNTLT    $2.99
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN PRESENTS JACKPOT #2 (OF 3)    $3.99
ANGELUS #2 (OF 6)    $2.99
ANITA BLAKE LC EXECUTIONER #4 (OF 5) (MR)    $3.99
BATGIRL #7    $2.99
BATMAN AND ROBIN #8    $2.99
BATMAN AND ROBIN #8 VAR ED    PI
BOOSTER GOLD #29    $3.99
BPRD KING OF FEAR #2 (OF 5)    $2.99
COLT NOBLE AND MEGALORDS (ONE SHOT)    $5.99
DARK TOWER BATTLE OF JERICHO HILL #3 (OF 5)    $3.99
DARK TOWER BATTLE OF JERICHO HILL #3 (OF 5) ZIRCHE    PI
DARK X-MEN #4 (OF 5)    $3.99
DAYTRIPPER #3 (OF 10) (MR)    $2.99
DMZ #50 (MR) (NOTE PRICE)    $3.99
ENDERS GAME COMMAND SCHOOL #5 (OF 5)    $3.99
ESCAPE FROM WONDERLAND #4 (OF 6)    $2.99
FARSCAPE DARGOS QUEST #3 (OF 4)    $3.99
GEN 13 #34    $2.99
GREEN ARROW BLACK CANARY #29    $3.99
GROO HOGS OF HORDER #3 (OF 4)    $3.99
HAUNT #5    $2.99
HIT-MONKEY #1    $3.99
HULK TP VOL 03 HULK NO MORE    $15.99
HUMAN TARGET #1 (OF 6)    $2.99
HUMAN TARGET #1 (OF 6) VAR ED    PI
INU YASHA TP VOL 45     $9.99
INVINCIBLE IRON MAN #23 DEADPOOL VAR    PI
INVINCIBLE PRESENTS ATOM EVE & REX SPLODE #3 (OF 3    $2.99
JOHN SABLE FREELANCE ASHES OF EDEN #5    $3.99
JSA ALL STARS #3    $3.99
LEGENDARY TALESPINNERS #1 (OF 3)    $3.99
LITTLE NOTHINGS GN VOL 03 UNEASY HAPPINESS    $14.95
MADAME XANADU TP VOL 02 EXODUS NOIR (MR)    $12.99
MARVEL 1602 TP NEW PTG    $19.99
MARVEL ADVENTURES SUPER HEROES #20    $2.99
MARVEL BOY URANIAN #2 (OF 3)    $3.99
MISTER AMPERDUKE GN    $17.95
MUPPET KING ARTHUR #1     $2.99
MUPPET PETER PAN TP VOL 01     $9.99
MUPPET SHOW #2     $2.99
NEW MUTANTS #10    $2.99
NEW MUTANTS #10 DEADPOOL VAR    PI
PUNISHERMAX #4 (MR)    $3.99
QUEEN SONJA #4    $2.99
REALM OF KINGS IMPERIAL GUARD #4 (OF 5)    $3.99
REBELS #13    $2.99
ROBERT E HOWARD EL BORAK & OTHER DESERT ADV SC    $18.00
ROGER CORMAN PRESENTS BLACK SCORPION #3 (MR)    $3.99
SALEMS DAUGHTER #3 (RES)    $2.99
SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY ILLUSTRATED #1    $4.99
SCOOBY DOO #153    $2.50
SECRET SIX #18 (BLACKEST NIGHT)    $2.99
SHIELD #6    $3.99
SOLOMON KANE DEATHS BLACK RIDERS #2 (OF 4)    $3.50
SPIDER-MAN AND SECRET WARS #3 (OF 4)    $2.99
STAR WARS LEGACY TP VOL 08 TATOOINE    $17.99
STARSTRUCK #6    $3.99
STRANGE #4 (OF 4)    $3.99
SUPER FRIENDS #24    $2.50
SUPER HERO SQUAD #2    $2.99
SWORD #4 (MARVEL)    $2.99
TAILS OF PET AVENGERS #1    $3.99
THE GOOD THE BAD & THE UGLY #8    $3.99
TITANS #22    $2.99
TOYFARE #152 MATTEL DC UNIVERSE CLASSICS CVR     $4.99
TRACKER #3 (OF 5)    $3.99
ULTIMATE COMICS ARMOR WARS #4 (OF 4)    $3.99
ULTIMATE COMICS SPIDER-MAN #7    $3.99
UNCANNY X-MEN FIRST CLASS #8 (OF 8)    $2.99
UNWRITTEN #10 (MR)    $2.99
VENGEANCE OF MOON KNIGHT #5    $2.99
WALT DISNEYS COMICS & STORIES #703    $2.99
WIZARDS OF MICKEY SC VOL 01 MOUSE MAGIC     $9.99
WOLVERINE SAVAGE DEADPOOL VAR    $3.99
X-MEN FOREVER #17    $3.99
X-MEN PIXIE STRIKES BACK #1 (OF 4)    $3.99
YEN PLUS MAGAZINE VOL 3 #3 MAR 2010     $8.99

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Posted in New This Week | Tags: new this week

Customer #1:

February 7, 2010 at 9:15 pm

Excellent call on the super bowl Rick.(LOL) Who-Dat!!!!!

MoreFun101:

February 7, 2010 at 11:07 pm

Rick and his super bowl. And, yes, I did have a much better time reading volume 3 of the Buck Rogers comic strip collection. Thanks for asking.

To be fair, I never thought of you as an “incompetent boob”. That far too cruel a thing to thing. I was just suggesting that Ollie might be easier for Paula to train (and, for the record, you don’t need opposable thumbs to point and click with the mouse).

I can see the logic to Marvel wanting to have a majority of their books fall on payday weeks — when the money is still hot off the press and collecting dust in the bank account you’re more likely to spend more. Sure that doesn’t seem fair to all you poor comic shop owners, but you have to admit that someone in an ivory tower cares more about the reader’s spending habits than the comic shop owners viability to stay in business. Too many in Corporate America care only for the short term.

By the way, my budget for Marvel is pennies on the dollar compared to what I buy from DC so Marvel’s policies don’t really see much difference in my weekly spending.

I haven’t been buying Spiderman, but now that I know he’s wearing leg warmers I’ll be picking up that issue!!