Saturday, April 30, 2005
You Sold Out! You Sold Out!
Geez! Last week, I finished the comic book orders for June and man, for the first time ever it made me tired. The "war" between DC and Marvel goes full blast in June as Marvel unleashes "The House of M" upon a very suspecting public while DC offers up the road to "Infinite Crisis," along with 2 more entries into the 30 issue "Seven Soldiers" mini-series. Oh, and let's not forget "DC Special: The Return of Donna Troy, after that I STILL had to spend within the budget to order the monthly comics, trades, toys and other assorted comics fare.
Am I complaining? A bit. If done right, we stand to make money. It's just that the stakes seem so much higher lately. June's House of M isn't generating the buzz you'd expect from something so huge and since April's offering of X-Men: Age of Apocalypse 2 tanked in my store, I'm not particularly inclined to bet on "The House."
On the DC end of things, I'm more than a little concerned with their recent spate of "sell-outs."
OMAC Project #1, Day of Vengeance #1, Villains United #1, all "SOLD OUT" at the publisher. Good for the publisher, bad for me, the retailer. I have to ask myself all the time now, "Was what I ordered nearly two months ago, good enough?" With the "sell-outs" happening with more frequency, the ability to tweak my numbers has sort of been taken out of my hands due to the wants of others. Don't these people know that the wants and the needs of my customers ALWAYS come first? Are other retailers all in such a rush to watch extra copies sell slowly on their shelves or sit in their backrooms to yellow while I could be brilliantly selling them? (I'm being wacky again!)
Last Wednesday, I was told that the latest Flash, Batman and Wonder Woman were all sold out. GRRRRR! Did I mention May's Flash and Wonder Woman have ALREADY sold out a month before their "release?"
(groan)
June.
Am I complaining? A bit. If done right, we stand to make money. It's just that the stakes seem so much higher lately. June's House of M isn't generating the buzz you'd expect from something so huge and since April's offering of X-Men: Age of Apocalypse 2 tanked in my store, I'm not particularly inclined to bet on "The House."
On the DC end of things, I'm more than a little concerned with their recent spate of "sell-outs."
OMAC Project #1, Day of Vengeance #1, Villains United #1, all "SOLD OUT" at the publisher. Good for the publisher, bad for me, the retailer. I have to ask myself all the time now, "Was what I ordered nearly two months ago, good enough?" With the "sell-outs" happening with more frequency, the ability to tweak my numbers has sort of been taken out of my hands due to the wants of others. Don't these people know that the wants and the needs of my customers ALWAYS come first? Are other retailers all in such a rush to watch extra copies sell slowly on their shelves or sit in their backrooms to yellow while I could be brilliantly selling them? (I'm being wacky again!)
Last Wednesday, I was told that the latest Flash, Batman and Wonder Woman were all sold out. GRRRRR! Did I mention May's Flash and Wonder Woman have ALREADY sold out a month before their "release?"
(groan)
June.
