HELP US HELP YOU (HELP US)!
We have one job-helping you get the comics you want. There are lots of branches on that tree, but if we start with the one main goal, we’ll all be moving in the right direction. We do (I swear!) make a concerted effort to know what books you like and don’t like so we can make sure you don’t miss something that is right up your alley. With hundreds of customers at each store, that can be a daunting task. We order books TWO MONTHS ahead of release. You may know that you’ll need toilet paper two months from now, but everything else is up for grabs. With work, family, extra curriculars, with, well, LIFE, knowing everything that’s happening in the comics world is much harder for comic readers than retailers. We know that too, and have a couple of friendly tools you can use to help stay caught up on the latest, the current, and …T H E F U T U R E.
First- We have a free comic subscription club. Free, mind you, costs nothing. Some of you who get our newsletter will know all about it. Some won’t, but might want to. Here are the basics- you give us a list of titles you want each month, we guarantee that you get those titles. Your books are automatically built into our ordering. They are, in fact, the ONLY books that are built into our ordering. If you come in on a Wednesday and find a title sold out, it is NOT sold out for club members who had their copies put aside. All of our stores offer this service, and love for you to use it. We want you to get the books you want and this helps make sure we have enough copies on hand to meet demand.
Second-Each month, when we get our new catalog, we’ll put together a four sided-pamphlet of Pre-Orders. If you’re a part of our comic club, you’ll get this with your books. It has a curated breakdown of Marvel, DC, and independent titles coming out two months from when you get the list. This is the window to the future, so you are not overtaken by FOMO (not to be confused with FOOM).
Second-B- The list is curated from Previews, the catalog for all of comics. Previews is available to you as well. It contains every Marvel, DC, independent title coming out, as well as posters, t-shirts, toys, graphic novels, card and games…literally everything we can order can be pre-ordered for you if we just know you want it. We just need 20% down on items over $50.00, and we can always structure a payment plan for larger items.
Third-Did you miss that two month window? Afraid you won’t get Giant Size X-Men: Magneto now? Good news everyone! We have a window to adjust our orders after the original two month window has closed. This is our Final Order Cutoff (FOCs, you know!)-roughly four weeks away from the release of a book, we’re given one last chance to increase our orders. That means we can still guarantee a title for you if you come to us late, but not TOO late. We even have hot links to titles in our email newsletter. Look down in what you’re reading right now…did you find them? You can email any store directly to let them know you want to add any of those titles with just the click of a button. ONE click! Surely, you have time to make one little click instead of being angry you didn’t get a book when it is released four weeks from now, right?
I know this all sounds too good to be true, but it isn’t. You might be asking “What’s the catch?” or “Where are my shoes?” There isn’t one, and you’re asking the wrong person (your slippers are by the fire place). You might be wondering “What can I do to help make this all work so you can stay open and still have comics for me? Don’t some customers not pick their books up, putting the whole comic retailing industry in peril? Can’t just a handful of customers at each store do significant financial harm by asking for items they never pick up and don’t respond to communication about?”
That’s an excellent question, and thanks for bringing it up. That does happen. People not picking up their subscriptions isn’t just a problem for us, it’s a problem industry wide (lots of terrifying articles are available at Bleeding Cool if you’re interested). In the blink of an eye, we can have thousands of dollars in product that people have asked for ,and that we’ve paid for, on hand with a customer or club member who is MIA. We’ll call, text, email, everything within our power to get in touch with someone. While we know you want the comics you’ve asked for, we also know that life has a way of getting in the way of life.
The easiest way to deal with that is to pick up your books at least once a month. We can even charge your books and you can pick them up, paid, at your convenience. Have something bad come up? Let us know, we’ll work with you in whatever way is best to either get you your books, or to stop paying for them to be here if you’re won’t be able to come back.
You want your books. We want you to get your books. We’d love to have you be a part of our Subscription Club to guarantee you get your books. Help us help you (help us).