So shops who ordered Twilight: The Graphic Novel Vol 1 through Diamond received their copies on Tuesday/Wednesday this week, with a rushed through shipping date order to hold the books until the street sale date of next Tuesday.

And, just as with Blackest Night #6, most people did. Which is probably a massive act of restraint considering the sales bonanza some shops could garner if they released them early – and competitors did not. It’s co-operative game theory, played out across comic stores.

There are of course a few exceptions. A Utah branch of Borders. There have been reports of Borders selling the book already. The Comic Book Market based in New Jersey has confirmed they are selling copies.  eBay seller supermegabot is selling copies “in hand” with overnight delivery. There are possible reports of Nostalgic Comics in California  selling the book to pre-order customers a week early. And at The Beguiling, Canada’s most famous comic store, manager Chris Butcher was front-page blogging on Tuesday that the shop would be selling copies the following day, despite his lack of enthusiasm for the book. It may be he wasn’t aware of the Diamond notice at that point, and there’s no evidence that the shop did sell copies, but the notice hasn’t been changed yet and emails were not returned.

Nevertheless, even given worst case scenarios here, this is a very small leak indeed, probably within acceptable bounds, and probably from people who didn’t know they were breaking any street date. And it’s a sign that the comic industry, far from being a network of poorly organised mom’n'pop shops rushing for short term gain, is maturing into a responsible retail industry with an eye on the big picture.

Now isn’t that sparkly? I think I might buy a copy on Tuesday. Just to see what all the fuss is about.

Barnes & Noble have had some recent price promotions on certain Marvel hardcover backstock, such as Supreme Power, Volume 2 and Killraven but those have been interpreted as clearing out not-as-desirable stock. Dracula, Daredevil and Captain Britain Omnibuses for $10, that’s a different story.

I’ve no idea if Barnes & Noble will follow through. The stated $10.79  is a discount based on a full price of $14.99 – which indicates that something is wrong. And possibly connected with the Amazon glitch.

Nevertheless, it’s worth a punt, isn’t it?

UPDATE: More – Bloom County Vol 2, Ultimate Invincible Vol 4, Invincible Iron Man…

I wonder if this one will be fixed a little quicker? Guess I’ll find out in the morning. Night…

UPDATE UPDTE: A number of volumes mentioned are now selling out. At least that aspect of B&N is working. Sorry I didn’t get to this sooner, folks, life got in the way.

Hello,

We wanted to follow up on a recent message we sent about the cancellation of your recent order.

To recap: Due to a pricing error, we sold many more graphic novels than expected. In fact, we completely sold out — we don’t have any in stock right now, and we’re not sure when we’ll be able to get more.

We’re sorry for any frustration the issue may have caused, and have applied a $25 promotional certificate to your account.

You can use it the next time you order an item shipped and sold by Amazon.com. You’ll see your available promotional balance at checkout–this amount will be applied to your next order automatically without entering a claim code.

I hope this helps. We look forward to seeing you again soon.

Sincerely,

Customer Service
Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/

Of course there are still a reduced amount of graphic novels to even order on Amazon.com right now, but that should hopefully be fixed soon. And you should be able to use it on Amazon Marketplace which directly benefits a number of booksellers.Apparently not. Shame.

Still. All’s well that ends well? That’s pretty…

Marvel have begun a new video series called Marvel Reading Circle, in which staffers gather and between them dissect a recently published comic book of theirs, while eating their combined bodyweight in food.

This combination of procedural publishing analysis combined with picking pieces of cheese from their goatees can make for even more fascinating viewing, if you join in yourself.

So grab a Chicken Terayaki Sub, a copy of Amazing Spider-Man and make your own observations as if you were one of the table. And marvel at just how rude Charlie Beckerman is for interrupting you mid-flow… hey Charlie, I was speaking here!

There is just one nagging thing… the women round the table don’t say a word. I mean, CB Cebulski doesn’t say a thing either, which is very atypical, but it just struck me as odd.

This included books published by Marvel, Image, Dark Horse, IDW, Avatar and Dynamite.

Diamond sources inform me that they believe this is a precautionary measure on Amazon’s part, while they dealt with fallout issues over the glitch, rather than explained by any conspiratorial reasons.

This didn’t stop a number of publishers making their displeasure known to the distributor, but it seems to have come as much of a surprise to Diamond as it did to the publishers in question.

Anecdotally, Amazon Marketplace activity was way up. I have a few books listed on the site, and find I sell around one a month. In the last few days, I have sold five. Also, for new comic day, a number of retailers have told me they have received increased correspondence regarding the availability of newly published trade paperback and hardcover collections – though this is not a universal experience.

Diamond sources expect the “Buy Button” to return to Amazon pages soon however, and I expect to update this article when that happens.

In related news, I can confirm that, despite the large numbers of Omnibus-style $50+ volumes ordered through Amazon links on Bleeding Cool articles, Amazon have charged for very few of midnight last night. It is likely that supply dried up before the first article I wrote saw publication.

Ultimates Omnibus Ordered: 1121 Shipped: 0
Wolverine Omnibus,  Ordered: 741 Shipped: 0
The Complete Invincible Library,  Ordered: 668 Shipped: 0
Daredevil by  Bendis & Maleev Omnibus, Ordered: 571 Shipped: 2
Madman Gargantua Ordered: 504 Shipped:-
The Death of Captain America Omnibus Ordered: 477 Shipped: 0
Secret Wars Omnibus Ordered: 439 Shipped: 1
Iron Man Omnibus Ordered: 392 Shipped: 0
Golden Age Marvel Comics Omnibus Ordered: 277 Shipped: 1
Amazing Fantasy Omnibus Ordered: 197 Shipped: 0
Howard The Duck Omnibus Ordered: 185 Shipped: 0

With Eve’s fifth birthday coming up on Friday, I decided to let her open the parcel now, assisted by Alice, rather than let it be diluted by upcoming presents. And she discovered it was full of Superman beach towels and lunchboxes, Wonder Woman colouring-in Books, Raven dress-up kits and Batman goggles. Would this clear attempt to sway her objectivity be successful?

Not a bit of it. Enjoy.

I would like to confirm that by the end of the evening she was drawing Superman logos taken from the towel, wearing her Batgoggles and insisting on being read the Batman book… she is also insisting that the DC logo reads “DG” however.

We’re not exactly sure how She-Kato got into this opening with a bottom that large, but nevertheless, this is a first look at Stephen Segovia’s 1:4 variant cover to the second issue of Kevin Smith’s Green Hornet.

You know, was original-Kato ever depicted with breeches quite so tight?

Except because comic store distributor Diamond only make a weekly drop to most shops, and many only get them on Wednesday, in order to stay competitive, Diamond have shipped a number of volumes to stores a week early.

They sent out the following letter asking stores to abide by the street date.

***** TWILIGHT GN OFFICIAL SALE DATE: TUESDAY, MARCH 16

Dear Diamond Retailer:

Your copies of Yen Press’ TWILIGHT MANGA GN VOL. 01 (DEC098276) are scheduled to arrive in your Wednesday, March 10 shipment.

However, please remember that the GN is not to be placed on sale to consumers until Yen Press’ official national street date for the title: TUESDAY, MARCH 16.

Failure to adhere to this date could affect the timely availability of future TWILIGHT manga volumes to the Direct Market.

Diamond appreciates your cooperation in making this much-anticipated launch a success. If you have additional questions or concerns regarding this reminder, please contact your Diamond Customer Service Representative. Thank you.

DIAMOND COMIC DISTRIBUTORS

Now, most responsible comic stores will indeed abide by this ruling. But certain irresponsible stores may not. Especially when faced with this kind of thing.

I mean, what kind of retailer could resist such an onslaught of women who just have to have their next sparkly vampire thing…

Hold strong, retailers, hold strong. Check those locks, employ extra security if you need to. Because if Twilight taught you anything, it’s that sometimes you just have to… wait.

Here are the UK posters. But I saw the trailer for this last week and was just waiting for the Eric Idle song.

“Just remember that you’re standing on a planet that’s evolving and revolving at nine hundred miles an hour…”

Repo Men is out in the US on the 19th March and the UK on the 16th April.

In Swipe File we present two or more images that resemble each other to some degree. They may be homages, parodies, ironic appropriations, coincidences or works of the lightbox. We trust you, the reader, to make that judgment yourself.  If you are unable to do so, please return your eyes to their maker before any further damage is done. The Swipe File doesn’t judge, it’s interested more in the process of creation, how work influences other work, how new work comes from old, and sometimes how the same ideas emerge simultaneously, as if their time has just come. The Swipe File was named after the advertising industry habit where writers and artist collect images and lines they admire to inspire them in their work. It was swiped from the Comic Journal who originally ran this column, as well as the now defunct Swipe Of The Week website.

This indictment is linked to the arrest of seven other unnamed suspects, four men and three women, in Ireland – five in Waterford and two in Cork.

Colleen used the clever and not-at-all suspicious online name “JihadJane” and offered the fact that she looked and sounded like an average American woman, with blonde hair and green eyes, rather than any Islamic terrorist stereotype, to help in the attempt. She wrote about a planned trip to Sweden, “It is an honour & great pleasure to die or kill for. Only death will stop me here that I am so close to the target!”

Arrested last October, her detention has only been revealed today. Her Texan boyfriend of four years, Kurt Gorman, only discovered the details when reading the news, saying “She never talked about international events, about Muslims, anything. It’s very strange. I still can’t believe it. The whole thing is crazy.”

While JihadJane’s MySpace site has been removed, it still exists (for now) in Google’s cache…