Carol and John’s and Information on DC’s New 52!

A FEW WORDS FROM JOHN D:

Well, nest week begins a whole new era for DC Comics as they restart there entire Universe with 52 new #1 titles.  This is the beginning of a brand new era for not only DC, but for the Comics Industry as well as this movement is the beginning of the digitalization age of comics. All DC titles will be available for download on the same day they are released in comic book shops.  What does this have to do with us? Hopefully nothing.  Digital download sales count for less than 5% of all comic book sales but as we are a store with 20 years in and looking at 20 years more we have to say that now more than ever is the time to support your local comic shop! (That is am us) Just do an internet search on what happened to Atomic Comics in Arizona this week.  While we may not be the best, we feel we always have an eye on the future, and that will keep us around for years to come.  As Carol has said “our current store is her favorite of the 3 we’ve had.”  I can also honestly say that we’re financially stronger and having more fun than ever before.  While the re-launch of DC’s titles is bittersweet we have to, as a comic shop, support it.  The main idea is that the DC Universe has only been around for 5 years and that a lot of old continuity has been thrown away.  For someone whose favorite comic of all time is Starman and who loves the modern versions of Golden Age characters this is a tough pill to take.  However, no one can ever come and take those stories out of my mind; nor can they change how they’ve influenced me.  And it is time for something new.  (What really sucks is that all of that old trivia in your head will mean nothing to the new reader!) But at least you will have a new reader to talk to about comics! And let’s face it, some of these new titles look pretty good! While we support DC’s new initiative, you will never hear any employee blindly supporting it.  What do I mean?  Well, once the titles come out we will give you our true opinion on them, and we want to hear yours! So far we are at 125% of are normal preorders for DC titles.  Good job DC, but you better keep up the quality.

THE EARLY RELEASE EVENT:

On August 31st only 2 DC titles are coming out, Flashpoint #5 and Justice League #1.  These titles represent the last of the old and the first of the new.  We’ll be having an early release event at 12:01am to 1:00am on that day for anyone who wants to get the title early.  We’ll have plenty of both.  During this one hour you can also get 50% of DC Action Figures, 50% off DC Back Issues, and 20% off DC graphic novels! Otherwise we’ll be open for business as usually from 12pm to 8pm.

OUR DEAL ON THE NEW #1’S:

To support this event we have come up with the following promotion.  For the first four weeks 13 new #1’s come out each week (well, 12 during one week, but let’s not worry about that).  For each week if you buy 11 of the 13 new #1’s in a given week we will give you a gift certificate for $20 dollars in back issues.  That means you can actually do this four times if you want, once each week.  The offer is only good for the week that those new titles come out.  You must also purchase all of the books for that week at one time during the week they come out.  We picked the number 11 so you have a little flexibility in what you pick and in case we sell out of a couple titles you can still reach that number of 11.  We have ordered strategically and do not expect that to happen, but just in case.

EXAMPLE:

On 9-7-2011 the following DC titles come out:
Action Comics #1
Animal Man #1
Batgirl #1
Batwing #1
Detective Comics #1
Green Arrow #1
Hawk and Dove #1
Justice League International #1
Men of War #1
O.M.A.C.  #1
Static Shock #1
Stormwatch #1
Swamp Thing #1

If you buy 11 of these 13 titles all at once from 9-7 to 9-13 we will give you a $20 gift certificate good for Back Issues.  If 11 titles don’t at all interest you, you can do it with 13 different titles the next week.  Or you can do it for all 4 weeks!

Our goal here is simple, to reward people for trying new titles, to encourage them to come in weekly, and to help new readers towards our back issue inventory.  Those stories are not dead!  A perfect example of what we’re trying to do would be a customer who’s already getting 7 titles in a week deciding to try 4 more to get a $20 gift certificate.  Everybody wins.  The math, (11x$2.99= $32.89) plus you get a $20 gift certificate.

FOR FILE CUSTOMERS:

You will of course get your 10% of your new comic purchase so the deal is even better.  (reading this and don’t have a file? Ask at the shop how to start one! It’s free and you save money) The same rules as above apply and we encourage everyone to try new titles.  That said, if you do decide that you don’t want a title anymore that you have on your file please tell us right away to remove it.  Just waiting till the next issue comes out than putting it back on the table becomes a financial burden when enough people do it.  (And it happens a lot)  We hope everyone stays with each title for at least the first 3 issues to get a feel for it.  Yeah, of course we do.  🙂

That’s it! Please email us back is any of this is not clear and of course we’ll be around to answer any and all questions at the shop! Here we go! (And hopefully Green Arrow will grow his beard back sometime soon so Carol can stop complaining.)