We have all been there, we saw a post by an artist on their social media, but waaaayyyy after they posted it and we want that cover they drew; but guess what it already came out and your comic store is out of it! Can they reorder it? Of course not, because now it’s the hot book of the week. Why is it always the hot book!?!?!
I’m going to explain the answer and how to avoid that as much as possible in the future.
One of the main reasons this happens is because not all art is turned in to publishers on time so that the public or retailers get to see it when it’s time to order it. Now while some artists are fantastic with having their cover art in on time (I’m looking at you Mark Brooks, you are a gentleman and a scholar!) others aren’t quite as consistent about it (not going to name anyone here). That means that comics shops have to order without seeing that cover art in some cases and naturally that means unless your name is one of about 5 cover artists it will be lower orders.
One of the other main reasons is how we order comics. We use a process called Final Order Cut Off. We usually call it FOC and it’s our last chance to submit our total numbers that we want to order approximately 3-4 weeks before the books are on sale. When comic stores order their comics (most of them anyways), they use this process and they order using a combination of helpful information like how many subscribers (you know people who want every issue like you and me!) they have in combination with how much they usually sell off the shelf of that character, or that style of variant, or that cover artist, or just how awesome the cover looks! The goal with some titles/covers is to not sell out, but the case in far more is to sell out. There will be a ton more new ones each week and space gets eaten up quickly if books don’t sell out (also that’s kind of how shops stay in business so you can keep shopping there!).
So, with that in mind, at Graham Crackers we are constantly striving to make ordering from us as easy as we can make it. We recently added a Final Order Cut Off page on our website. You can find it by going to our home page hovering over subscription at the top and boom, there it is! (or click here)
As you can see, you can actually filter it, so if you are a Marvel Zombie and don’t want to look at all the other books offered, just filter by group to look at Marvel only. We also have a search feature. This page defaults to the next upcoming FOC. This page will be updated each week (typically most images will be updated by Friday night). The important part is if you want to add something to your sub you can do it directly through this page with your login and it will be updated immediately so we can make sure to order it for you! This page changes at midnight on Sundays to the following week. Our orders have to be done early Monday, so we need your orders when we come in Monday to make sure nothing gets missed.
As a side note when you subscribe it has a little pop-up box that ask you how you want to subscribe and if you are simply trying to get additional covers or just that one cover because you love that artist, but don’t normally buy this title, you can select “Reserve this issue only” and that’s exactly what will happen. You are just getting that 1 cover. You can do that for multiples, and it is in addition to whatever you are already subscribed to. Example being if you already sub for Mark Spears Monsters but want the b “haircut variant” in addition to the main cover you always get, you would use “reserve this issue only” and you would get a main cover and this variant as well when they release.
Most cover art is not available outside of the main cover on many comics when they first get added to our site each month. So, this is where they will (mostly) be available for you to make sure you don’t miss out on the ones you really want.
If you love variants, or just like to make sure you aren’t missing out on anything, using this page will be super helpful! If you have more questions about FOC, this page, or just our ordering process in general, please touch base with your locations manager and I’m sure they will be happy to help you out. If you found this article helpful, just wait until you hear about our Events subscription options!
The best part is we have a nice little thing called “Last Call” at the bottom of each week’s newsletter and it links directly to this page on the website!