Comics America

Cyber Monday Scores!

2013-12-01T21:22:00.000-08:00

It's officially Cyber Monday. Take this opportunity to save big time on lots of great comics and magazines, as well as snagging FREE SHIPPING on many statues and collectibles! Sale lasts until Midnight Central Standard Time, so don't miss it!

And...they're off!

2013-11-28T22:28:00.000-08:00

Black Friday is officially here time-wise. On the site you'll find deep discounts on comics and magazines (as can be seen from some of the "weird" pricing that pops up below on the latest additions of the 1993 series of Catwoman).

Equally important, we have gone with FREE SHIPPING on over 200 different Sideshow and other highly collectible statues and other rarities! Look carefully for them, and enjoy the savings!

BLACK FRIDAY IS HERE THURSDAY!!

2013-11-27T20:09:00.001-08:00

We've got some FANTASTIC deals going for Black Friday, which begins on THANKSGIVING DAY at Noon central time!

YOU WILL FIND ALL KINDS OF BACK ISSUE AND CURRENT COMICS AT DEEP DISCOUNTS, AND TONS OF GREAT STATUES AND COLLECTIBLES WHERE WE OFFER FREE SHIPPING FOR THIS EVENT!

It all starts Thanksgiving Day at Noon central time and runs until 11:59 p.m.on Monday, December 2!

Don't miss it!!

Where oh where did January, 2014 go?

2013-11-27T20:05:00.003-08:00

Well, literally it hasn't happened and won't for another month yet.
In terms of pre-ordering, the geniuses that we are managed to trash all the Nov-Jan files and there worst part is we didn't even notice it amidst doing all the stuff we've been doing with mis-listing removal and DOS attacks and neat stuff like that! We are working feverishly to restore those lists for everyone, as well as the February pre-order lists and a whole mess of Sideshow pre-orders. Thanks for your understanding and patience!

So what are we, chopped liver?

2013-11-10T22:09:00.005-08:00

We've been focusing on a special in-store November 11 Remembrance Day/Veteran's Day event for the past week. We have to apologize for that because it's impacted our shipping from the website orders. We'll resume shipping and catch up on many things including the comic service this week, and we really appreciate your patience!

Some important updates

2013-10-23T01:06:00.000-07:00

If you're a member of the Comic Service and you've been wondering about what happened to the december releases, wonder no more. We had a significant delay because we could not get the graphics files to work properly. This has been corrected, but the downside is that we need your pre-orders asap for guarantee. Please submit them like immediately.
On a related note, we fixed the graphics for the "MAR11" codes finally, and they should be correct. If you see any other graphics that don't match their items, please let us know.
Did you also know that "Watchdog" has been disabled? We did this because we finally got a system in place to get the quantities correct on speculation items. In fact, we've introduced some limited bulk discounts for multiple copy orders on several very sporadic items and will be adding more from week to week. So if you wish to get multiples where possible and take advantage of multiple discounts, please do.
Lastly, speaking of discounts, we did find a glitch in the pre-order setup system that might cause the pricing to appear on your comic service order without the discount. Rest assured that your comic service invoice will have the proper discounts listed. If you're not a comic service member, join now to take advantage of significant savings!
Lastly, since the pre-order posting for December was so late, we took out the November releases, and will be installing the January 2014 listings in just a few days. The one thing to note in future is that we need to have the orders for guarantee in hand by the 20th of the month. For example, January 2014 release orders need to be here by November 20 for guarantee. This will carry on barring some other inconvenience like that mentioned above with the graphics.
More news to follow!

Don't fall over, we're actually posting something!

2013-10-10T13:26:00.003-07:00

We've been diligently filling orders like crazy this past few months!

The big news is that we have begun to introduce quantity discounts for those of you who wish to buy multiple copies of some books. Now, this is being phased in on some titles, not all, but we think it'll be an exciting upgrade tpo the experience on the site. It's especially good if you're needing more than just one or two copies of a given item in order to preserve a few for future use or to keep pristine.

Also, we'll have a lot of spot specials coming for the next several weeks heading into and through Thanksgiving (both) and on towards Chanukkah and Christmas, so look carefully!

We'd like to reiterate that when you place an order it will initially show "AWAITING PAYMENT", even if you've submitted your card. This is because cards are blocked for payment, but we don't capture payment until we have the product ready to go. Hence, no change in status until that happens.

We're still working through some mis-listed stuff and some minor location glitches on some products, but they're rapidly being taken care of so they don't reoccur.

There will be more news shortly (really!).

A Quick Update

2013-01-14T22:56:00.001-08:00

This is a quick note to mention a few things:
First, we have the March, 2013 releases up, and they were late this month. Apologies on that, as we do more and more orders, time is getting compressed. We're working out new regular schedules so this doesn't happen as much in the future.
Second, we combined this month of releases with the JULY, 2009 set of releases, most of which are in stock (obviously from almost four years ago). However, not all of these may be available. There may be some anomalies in terms of availability, and we will work through these. Similarly, there may be some pricing conflicts with previous listings, and we will work through these as well. Your understanding is appreciated.
Third, we are once again offering the entire set of FCBD books this year to any member of the Comic Service. Full details will be updated on the site shortly. In the meantime, we are going to be posting a new standing order list by the end of the month, since all the titles from Marvel and DC are completely changed around (and are still changing in fact, so we'll do our best to be current).
Fourth....we are currently upgrading anyone choosing non-priority ground shipping to non-priority air, which is one heck of a lot faster. We will have further information available on this later this week, and it may just involve some exciting news cost-wise. Stay tuned.
Fifth....the graphics on the home page are messed up, especially the big window which is still hawking Christmas stuff. Patience. We will have new graphics shortly, including the whole range of thsoe FCBD books.
Lastly, we will have new pre-order listings for Sideshow stuff in the next few days, along with a nice batch of older action figures from DC Direct.
What did we leave out here? probably lots of stuff, but we'll mention those things next time. meantime, read the entry a couple of entries ago about payments, shipping, and all that other good stuff. lots of folks have still missed that one, and it's worth the read.

Updating after the holidays

2012-12-29T09:15:00.003-08:00

We hope that everyone had a healthy and Merry Christmas and Happy Chanukah! This weekend we're moving all the "NOV12" codes from the Pre-Order status to the "in-between" stage as we await delivery of the items. The new month of Pre-Order items for March release will be posted soon, along with a makeup month from the last couple of years. More on that later. Then we start work on the updated publications list. More news on this in the next day or two. Meantime read the previous post to refresh yourself on some of the nuances of things here. And Happy New Year to all!

All Sorts of (Blog)Stuff In One Post

2012-11-22T15:59:00.000-08:00

Before we start, when you go back to the home page, please refresh your browser if you haven't already done so. We're going to change the graphics more often than before, and as this is written there is an important message which today's graphics cycle through.

Today we're going to write about lots of things, many of which are common to every on-line operation, but which many sites are reluctant to let their clients "in on" as it were. So you're going to get an insider's view on some things you may never have known about or even thought about.

So...first thing: We've been filling orders as quickly as possible. BUT.....we are not as fast as we used to be, and there are a few good reasons for this. Foremost is our expansion into a bigger space. We had to do this because of the number of SKUs we're trying to get onto the site and at the same time the sheer amount of material showing up to service orders. This has caused issues because the move has entailed packing and unpacking goods, which has caused some items to go astray. In fact more than we wanted and we're working diligently to reorganize as we keep things going. This means that for some orders we have been ssslowerrr than we have wanted to be fulfilling and shipping them.

Therefore patience is a virtue.
However....if you have a time-sensitive order for whatever reason (birthday, occasion, etc.), please use the "Order Comments" area during the checkout process to inform us. Then we can reply if there will be an issue. Otherwise we have no way of knowing that there was an urgency.

Incidentally, when we talk about SKUs, we have about 500,000 of them, of which currently the site comprises about 86,000. You might imagine what's involved in getting everything shipshape. This brings up the side issue of mis-listings or error listings, why they occur and what we're doing about them. Usually when we upload items to the site we do it in large batches. For example, the recent upload of pre-order items for February, 2013 also included the upload of items that theoretically started to ship in March, 2010 as well as some current Sideshow pre-order items. The total was somewhere north of 3600 items. When we do batch uploads the system often detects and eliminates duplicate items, except in cases where different SKUs are assigned to indicate relistings. When we manually come across these in the course of checking items for orders we take out as many as we can, but clients may see such multiples persist on some titles. If the item in question is shown as in stock on one listing and there are multiple listings, use the listing showing the stock to make the order. Sometimes because of this batch uploading, and item is shown as in stock when in fact it has sold out previously, but there is another SKU attached to it with a previously-current inventory figure. In such cases we will attempt to locate the item but if it is not possible, we respectfully apologize in advance for any inconvenience this may cause. Sometimes, similar items can get confused. Good examples are action figures or products which look similar (almost identical in some cases) but which have issued at different times. We try not to file one item as another in the system, but sometimes it can happen. Another issue that has been affecting listings is the concept of alternate choices. Since alternates are not automatically deleted from inventory as quickly as a primary order, it can create anomalies in the available quantity figures. In all of these cases we try to be on top of things and fix them as quickly as possible, but when a surprise shortage interferes with properly filling an order, we also keep track of items that may be needed but are not immediately available, and we start hunting them down to complete the order. We send an e-mail about this to keep you abreast of the issue in case you want to make changes to the order. If you have such a situation but have not received notification we'd appreciate it if you'd contact us. Most people will do so if it seems like an odd length of time for an order to be taking. But since we don't capture funds (see the section on money coming up) right away, this insulates clients from losing money if such things happen.

Which brings up the subject of Pre-orders and how they affect things:
With the exception of Sideshow items we usually give approximately a two-month window for pre-ordering items. Here is how it works: You'll see something in the pre-order area which has for example a code that reads "DEC12" (those were just put up this week). This means that the item is expected to ship anytime starting the following February. When we say "starting" we mean it, especially in the case of toys, statues, or merchandise, because there are a ton of different factors that can affect when an item arrives, including but not limited to the manufacturer's own issues in producing the item (like molds falling apart or parts not up to standard), shipping time (usually from China), domestic shipping delays (like port issues or incoming customs), to mention a few. Those DEC12 codes for example will be up for the rest of November, all of December, all of January, and perhaps a bit of February itself, until we have cycled into the two subsequent months and we start doing FEB13 codes for release in April, 2013 and beyond, at which time the DEC12 codes will go off pre-order and become regular items. In those listings, the items then remain "unavailable" until the products actually show up at the facility. Pre-orders are then filled first and any remaining inventory is "turned on" for regular purchase.
When ordering it's important to note the words in the listing: ***THIS IS CURRENTLY A PRE-ORDER ITEM***, because we have had some cases where a client orders a pre-order item and then subsequently writes or phones asking why it hasn't been shipped out. These items can also hold up a shipment where for example a client has asked for issues such and such of a title, the last item being something that's still a pre-order item, so be careful on that. It's best to keep pre-orders separate, unless again you have patience in waiting for an item to arrive to complete an order.
Sideshow stuff is a totally different animal because the shipments and arrivals can sometimes be a dog's breakfast and items can (and have) remained up past their closing times.

Next, on limited editions (or even some regular items) we can get apportioned. Apportionment:
It's a bad word, but when there is over-demand and under-supply on something it happens and we usually don't find out until the last minute. Worse, we can get a surprise if our order is totally wiped out because a manufacturer decides to go in sequence of receipt of the orders, and you don't know if someone else has ordered all 500 of a limited edition or if they did it the same day the solicitation went out in order to corner the market for example. Sometimes apportionment will cause shipments of a specific item to show up in sections at staggered times. We fill pre-orders for such items in the order they were made, and if there is an extremely long interval between the time of the order and the time of the arrival, we'll contact the client first to make sure that the order is still wanted. In those cases where we're been apportioned we'll try to turn off pre-orders on an item to avoid taking further orders that we can't honor and the subsequent disappointment that would cause for clients. If you have an order in and we find out that the item isn't going to show up, we'll notify you as soon as we know so that you can try to make other arrangements. Please take into account that we have absolutely no control over this.

This brings up the subject of how to use pre-orders if you want to speculate on something. Speculation: It's probably a more derisive word than apportionment, because for good or not-so-good it has played a certain part in the prolongation of the collecting hobby. This has dual effects. The good comes from the realization that there are items in this fabulous world of collecting that have true intrinsic value which transcends mere dollars and cents, rather leading to the true definition of Americana and Canadiana (remember, Superman has a very strong Canadian connection). The not-so-good comes from sudden imbalances in supply and demand for an item or items that causes "problems" in the field for legitimate collectors who are just seeking to complete their collections. Such problems can arise in the operation of sites. For example, an issue becomes "hot" for whatever reason and everyone is scrambling to get them which puts "stress" on some systems. In our particular case we have a thing we call "Watchdog". This is a procedure that can trigger for a variety of reasons in relation to a specific order, or specific item or items when unusual activity is detected. The ways to avoid this are to be considerate when ordering such "hot" items, or better to pre-order item(s) you think might be extremely desirable. Order these items in the case of regular comic books for example, in a quantity that you will be happy with since there are largely no limits on comic book pre-orders. This way you'll be assured that you'll receive the issue or issues you want before something might happen in the marketplace that causes unexpected fluctuations. We welcome these pre-orders, however we do make it known that when such an order is placed the risk of course lies with the client, so don't go too crazy to avoid making an error and costing you.

Which brings up a VERY IMPORTANT subject: MONEY, or how we take payments:
You may not know it, but when you submit a credit card, check card, or debit card, you are submitting an authorization of payment, not the actual payment itself. Because of this we have our system set up so that when your order goes through, you'll usually see it's status as "Awaiting Payment", even though you have submitted the authorization.
Here is something refreshing: WE DO NOT CAPTURE THE ACTUAL PAYMENT UNTIL YOUR ORDER IS READY TO SHIP. Not like other companies who take the money first and then you wait, and you're still liable to run into all the normal issues you'd run into if items are cancelled, delayed or whatever. (There are a couple of situations where this may not apply. On certain speculation orders we may require pre-payment in case something is extremely unusual, but we would advise you if that were the case.)
Doing things this way also allows orders to be adjusted in many different ways like adding or subtracting items so that you're only charged for what you actually get.
In the case of adjustments, some (but not all) banks show multiple entries for one payment, which can be confusing to you if you don't know the meaning of them. Here's an example: Your order is originally $25, but you write or call and ask that we add something else for another $10. The new total is $35 and we complete the order and take the payment and you see two entries for $25 and one for $35 and have a heart attack. Well, the first entry is the original authorization like we said above. The second entry is the reversal of the first one to wipe it out. Lastly the $35 entry is the actual charge that will be taken from your account or be entered to your credit card statement depending on the type of card you used. That's the only one you'll actually be paying for.

Taking payment that way also allows to adjust things for one of our favorite subjects which we'll cover again: Shipping. It's another word that can inspire dread in the hearts of men (not that we're melodramatic or anything like that).
The shipping rates were designed to cover the costs of comic books and many regular books because of their being able to fit into very specific weight categories. They are solid items and they take up as much space as their weight would indicate which is why for example we can make up a package of up to 10 comics and it's only a couple of pounds once packed. That's why we offer the ground rate for up to 10 comics, and often we'll allow folks to sneak through books or other stuff as long as they come in under the same weight limit, and of course the value limits we've posted on the Shipping and Returns terms linked at the top of the Home Page. Many people try to use that rate for larger orders or stuff that isn't comic books even though the rate states right there "NO OTHER PRODUCTS". Incidentally, ground is very slow, usually a two to three week delivery time frame.
That's also why USPS TV ads for "If it fits it ships" are misleading when they say the rate starts at $5.05. The box at the top of the ad they run is shot in such a way as to look large, but in fact it's tiny. We like to quip that you can literally fit a thimble into it. What they don't tell you is that the next size up is...surprise, surprise...$11.95 and up. Worse, for the purposes of the type of products we sell including comics, nothing really fits right in that container, so we use our own containers. Once that happens the gloves are off rate-wise.
The "no other products" thing is caught by us and anything that doesn't qualify has to go for the flat priority rate. Even that rate is still designed for comic books and standard (relatively) lightweight books or items. Of course we offer free shipping for many items under certain conditions which are detailed elsewhere on the site.
That's where the simplicity (this is simple?) of the shipping choices ends and of course that is where we can run into issues, because action figures, large-volume items and especially heavier items like statues go for exact shipping. So here is another of our periodic treatises about shipping:

Ninety-five percent of the items on the site have no worries about shipping adjustments. It's the other five percent that may be affected. Anything that's liable to be outsized or heavy has a "***PLEASE NOTE:" statement tacked onto the listing explaining about shipping adjustments and being charged exact shipping. If we've missed putting the statement into a specific item's listing, we have the same statement as a blanket item in our terms of service. When someone orders such an item they are agreeing to pay the shipping. If you think you may have an issue with adjusted shipping, we respectfully request that you not order the item. The reason for this whole deal is that we simply can't absorb shipping on such items. If there is an adjustment, we only pass along the EXACT shipping, no more and no less on such items which is why the adjusted rates are sometimes weird numbers (like $23.03 for example or something strange...we go to the penny). We just want to get the things to you, and we're right up front about it.
If the adjustment is just a few dollars we don't make a special issue of it. If there is a shipping adjustment, the client gets a revised invoice showing the change with a statement at the bottom advising of this. If the adjustment means a big difference, we do make a special issue of it. (Our favorite is the candy dishes which weigh something like 5 pounds but cost $63 and change to ship because volumetrically they take up enough space for 81 pounds! What's that you say!? It's true!) The revised invoice goes out as well as an e-mail requesting verification before we ship. These are courtesies offered so you're not wondering what you paid for. If you get the notice on a big difference and don't want to go ahead we understand and cancel the order.
Why all this fuss over adjusted shipping? For larger or unusual items shipping companies (USPS and Canada Post included) use a thing called cubing to determine what is called the volumetric weight of such objects. The idea is to make sure they are using truck or aircraft container space to its maximum efficiency. (Even so the USPS apparently lost a whopping $59 billion last year. But we digress.....). Thus, a package that weighs a few pounds but takes up two or three cubic feet will be treated entirely differently than one that weighs the same and is much smaller. We hope you have a better understanding of this now.

Which brings up the subject (not really but why not) of PICTURES and MULTIPLE COVERS:
When we upload listings to the site we use the stock pictures supplied by the publishers or manufacturers. We have no control control over what pictures they send us. This isn't usually a problem, except that these days many publishers drive everyone crazy by issuing a comic for example that has regular multiple covers for the same issue. The idea is that completists will want to buy all the covers, making the publisher that much more "successful" (i.e. more $$). We're not referring to "rare" or "chase" variants that are like one for every 200 copies of a book. The problem is that many books just seem to have multiple covers for the heck of having multiple covers (we guess?). Here are two scenarios that apply:
In the case of "rare" or "chase" variants we'll often get the listings for the regular issues and the variants at the same time but we'll have only one graphic for all the listings. Marvel is famous for this because the variant art isn't ready, isn't made available, or they want to keep it secret for whatever reason at the time of initial solicitation (sometimes the issue details are secret too and we get caught not having descriptions of the books until we discover it after the fact!). So we have multiple listings each showing the same graphic. Often when we get the books into inventory we still don't have the right cover, or we don't have the time resources to go and find it until we do periodic updates. Sorry for that. Be advised that if the issue is listed as available, it will indeed be the correct cover you get even if the graphic isn't.
In the case of regular comics that just issue with multiple covers, we'll get one of the graphics. This can be a problem because when we pick an order we have the stack of books and we just pick the next one in order. This has caused a couple of situations where different customers have inquired about why their order contained a copy with a different cover than the one shown in the listing. It's a legitimate question and one we take seriously, but the same principles apply. In the early days of the site we were able to show for example both covers of a book if there were two. Currently some books have 4 or more and in differing ratios so it can really drive everyone nuts, and it isn't possible to do all the graphics right away. We had one client for example who was absolutely convinced that the cover of a certain comic we sent was less valuable than the one shown in the listing even though the covers are printed in equal numbers, it's the same issue, and it's a first printing. See the item above regarding "speculation", because sometimes it's a related situation.
To ameliorate (this is your new word for the day...look it up) this type of problem in the future, we've come up with this: If there is a book with multiple regular covers which are not separately given their own listings on the site (what are sometimes called "main covers" these days) and you want a specific one in your order, please use the "Order Comments" area during checkout to specify which one(s) you prefer. If we are able to find them, we'll be happy to pick them, however there will be a charge of $3.00 per copy picked in this case. This will compensate us for the involvement in the search for and identification of the correct cover(s) (which sometimes is not as easy as you think because many artists do not sign their covers and many publishers do not provide a key to tell which cover is which...arrgh!) If the cover(s) you want are not available we'll advise you and you can make any changes to the order if necessary.

Lastly, we will be doing our first "Black Friday" event this year, which is an internet-only event. It will commence at or slightly before midnight Eastern Time on November 22, 2012 and last until or slightly after midnight Eastern Time on Friday, November 23, 2012. We will have placed attractive discounts on comic books, magazines, and books, as well as collectibles, which will be reflected in the prices you see when you look at items on the site. The only restriction we've put in place is that the event does not apply to pre-order items of any kind. Have fun with it and get your orders in as soon as you can.

To all a very Happy Thanksgiving and good wishes as we forge onwards into the Holiday Season!

Distracted descriptions

2012-08-11T01:40:00.000-07:00

So as you can see, we were late in uploading the October shipping pre-orders (AUG12 codes). Not only that, but in the process of processing the descriptions, we messed up some of them so they don't match the proper items. This will be fixed later today, so if some things look a bit screwy....it's because they are. Our apologies!

Of Variants and Shipping clarifications

2012-07-15T21:42:00.003-07:00

As of July 16, 2012 we are making some changes to the website to streamline things and hopefully make it less confusing, particularly in the navigation from the main panels. These changes will take effect over the next few days and we'll note then here each time a change is made.

Today we opened up the Variants category to everyone. We have one of the widest variety of variant covers anywhere, and decided to make them available. Now, before you go all sweaty with anticipation, please note: They are not necessarily all that inexpensive. In fact some of them are really expensive. These are offers for sale, and there is no obligation to take us up on any of them, but they are there for those who wish to do so. These are prices related to scarcity and quantity of existent variants, so if you think we're nuts on a few of them that's ok, but please don't bite our heads off because some of them may or may not look goofy to you. Having said that, there are some pricing goofs. We noted a couple which we corrected as soon as we saw them, but surely there are a few others, and we'll get them done as we catch them. So please be nice when dealing with this new category. If it can help you complete your collection or get a rare specialized book, that's the object of the exercise, and that's great.

Today we fixed up the special edition offerings and proceeded to mess up the pop-up window. We'll try to have it fixed in the next day or two.

Now to my favourite subject: the shipping option changes.

We got the new shipping options going and sure enough right away we got folks trying to use them for statues, action figures, books, and everything other than comic books. This being done even though they're specifically for comic books, and they say they're specifically for comic books, and probably because most folks don't read the Shipping and Returns page.
Please read the Shipping and Returns page. We appreciate it.

That's it for today. More news will surely follow in the week ahead. Enjoy the fantastic summer weather!

The DC and Marvel book and merchandise project

2012-07-09T12:03:00.002-07:00

It's been just a little while since the last post. We've been busy filling orders and working on getting the inventory more up to date. It's more than a full time job.

We're announcing our DC and Marvel book and merchandise project.

The biggest challenge we face every day is finding a way of listing everything we have available, especially in books (trades and hardcovers), but to some degree in other merchandise as well, and then keeping it current and accurate. Every so often this leads to snafus where inventory isn't were it should be or has some sort of issue, or isn't turned on when it should be. That last is the worst because you wouldn't have any idea of what's available if we don't turn it on. Compounding this is a small issue with updating involving the use of alternate choices on the free shipping program.

The biggest impediment to eliminating this challenge has been (up to now) having a fairly comprehensive listing of what's been put out over the last few years.

To solve this we have uploaded a list comprising about 4,000 items. The majority of items on the list have "MAR09" as a prefix to their item numbers. It's mostly DC and Marvel, but also includes Image and Dark Horse and a few independent publishers. We've set things up so that a) everything has been set as "unavailable", and b) most of the older material has either a DC or Marvel logo in place of the actual cover.

We're now going to go through and update those listings, and turn them on as we verify availability on each item.

In the meantime, if you see something which you are looking for on the site and it comes up as part of that list and "unavailable", please send a request to us, and we'll expedite searching for that item and get it going immediately.

We'll also be going along and removing duplicate listings as much as we can to save space and consolidate your searches for better convenience.

Welcome to insane fun....

2011-12-11T22:16:00.001-08:00

So the thing we've learned most about the holiday season is that word does indeed spread like wildfire across the internet, especially when folks discover that we have something that apparently nobody else has.

The fun ensues when either a.) everyone orders at the same time causing a stack of orders to show simultaneously, and then b.) we go looking for the inventory which we try to monitor carefully, rush like crazy to fill as quickly as possible to ship within a day or two and then c.) discover that some of it is moved from one location to another or worse, is missing at least temporarily. Oh, and let's not forget d.) the system wasn't updated in a timely fashion by someone rushing to fill an alternate choice on an order (alternate choices are updated manually), resulting in a shortage of one or two items. All of these result in baldness as we tear our hair out keeping up with stuff.

Then of course new arrivals show up and we're about a half-week behind in turning them on as you read this. Of course that doesn't include time spent answering inquiries and logging requests.

By the way, the one thing we do notice is that not a heck of a lot of folks are using the "Wish List" function on the site. If you have a want list, please enter it on the Wish List and we'll keep an eye on it. You can include items not already on the site because we have literally thousands of unlisted items, and as they turn on we'll advise you so you can get a good chance at them. (Case in point: Anyone looking for a complete run of Dick Tracy from 1946 right up?)

Programming progress is being made as we do a redesign on the login system to fix the apparent problem with logging in to existing accounts. Or so our intrepid programmers tell us.

All this in the name of making sure that you have a great shot at the goodies you want, especially if they're intended for gifts. Y'know what? We haven't had this much insane fun in ages, and we're happy to "suffer"! Keep those orders coming!

Isn't technology great?

2011-12-06T14:52:00.001-08:00

The answer to this question is sometimes, "no."

Like right now for example.

We were made aware of a few "anomalies" during the past couple of weeks which we have been fixing as quickly as possible. Some of you may have experienced them:

products sorting in a peculiar alphabetical order, outdated product listings magically reappearing, or our personal favorite:

Not being able to log back into your account with your password.

The first two issues have been worked on and (we think) are corrected as of late this afternoon when we actually took the system down in the middle of the day to install a correction.

The last one should be remedied by the 10th or sooner.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. We keep refining the system and adding to the listings on a daily basis, and hope that you're having fun going through the goodies!

Back to blogging

2011-11-24T22:23:00.001-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! There has been so much going on, both in and out of the comics world and more specifically in and out of Comics America, that it's been an age since this blog was updated. Let's ramble a bit about what's going on. The chief culprit in taking time away from the blog was Google. We've been working daily to improve our visibility on Google and provide as much information as possible to make your job of finding things on the site (and in fact finding the site period!) much easier. It's been very detail oriented and time consuming, and we're working at it every day. In addition, we've been adding and refining product listings to correct missed errors and try to get as many correct illustrations shown as possible. There are still odd bits and pieces that are needing work, but these are rapidly being caught and fixed. For example, you can use the site not only as a buying site, but soon as a reference site, especially if you're curious about what some of the covers of your favourite titles look like. The three that we've worked up so far are Action Comics, Detective Comics, and Superman. The last was just added in this evening. You'll also get a kick out of some of the pricing shown. read the description sections to see that these aren't really priced properly until we get the grading finished. But it is nice to see the covers if you haven't seen them before. Speaking of grading, some people have written asking why we usually show things at or near Guide near mint. It's easy: we try not to send out lower grade copies of books. So when you see a book advertised, you can expect nice condition. What does "nice" mean? It means we wouldn't put it in our collections unless it was suitable, and we won't give it to you either. Soon we will be introducing categorized grading on the site, with pricing to match each grade. For example, if we have an older book in varying conditions, you'll be able to see the individual conditions and prices that match and order accordingly. If we start to list some of the CGC graded books that are going to be available, you'll see separate listings for those books as separate items. For most of the products we sell, grading is not an issue because everything is pretty much "as new". That's the way it should be when you're trying to make your sets as nice as possible, and it applies to the Silver Age and Bronze Age material we have. You won't be disappointed. What else has happened? DC started its new series of books, and they have been extremely popular. But if you've noticed, there are some things that seem out of whack in more than just a reboot sense. It's almost as if we're seeing things that would happen in the Earth-3 Universe. And remember, at the end of Flashpoint there is still the matter of Thomas Wayne's note to Bruce, which still exists, but which has been conveniently ignored. Something tells me that there will be more to happen than most people think. If you've got an opinion, we'd love to start a dialogue, so please send in your thoughts and we'll monitor them every day. Europe appears to be going in the wrong direction which has affected the general economic outlooks in North America and has created a great deal of volatility on the stock markets. Despite this, collecting remains strong and collectors continue to seek out and acquire high quality material both for the enjoyment and investment purposes. One way of doing this if you are giving gifts for the holidays is to take advantage of our Gift Certificate system and send an electronic present to your favourite spouse, relative or friend. (Heck, you can even send one to your least favourite spouse if you want to! Just kidding....). The best part about these certificates is that they can be any denomination you want and they can be used on anything on the site. Speaking of finding things on the site, we've received several inquiries about searching. Near the top right of the home page you can see a link for "Search Tips". We strongly recommend that you use some of them to refine your searches to find things you want. We especially recommend the imaginative use of quotation marks. For example, if you use Superman without quotes as a search word, you're liable to get so many results that it would be daunting to get through them all. However if you try "Superman" and "1939" together both enclosed in quotations, you'll get mainly the first series of Superman. Other uses of quotations will cause the search to really narrow down and make your task easier. Some people have wondered why we don't set things up using individual titles within alphabetical categories. The main reason is that there are so many titles that it would be prohibitive to do if we were to maintain any kind of sanity with regards to categories. We've tried to keep the categories simple. Otherwise things get just too crazy. Speaking of crazy, our next focus will be the next set of pre-order items for February, 2012 release, catching up on all the Sideshow goodies we've been slow listing, adding another ton of back issue titles, and especially working on the hundreds of limited edition statues and collectibles we have available! If you don't find the title you want, or if you don't see the statue or collectibles you're searching for, please use the "Wish List" functionality of the site to let us know and we'll see if we can hunt up the goodies you need. There's more stuff to talk about, some of it not directly to do with comics, and we'll try to do a new entry every day or two. Until the next time, we wish you good health and good cheer!

Googling and gurgling.....

2011-10-21T22:02:00.000-07:00

You're wondering what the heck has been going on this last several weeks. Simply: Google changed a great many of their requirements for products participating in Google Product Search. because of this we have been completely absorbed with changing the data streams involved in running the site. This has been a pretty big nightmare, because there are lots of anomalies involved when dealing with our types of products, especially comic books. The main problem with comic books is that their UPC codes do not conform necessarily to expected UPC practices. Same thing for books. Without going into boring technical stuff, suffice it to say we've been working feverishly to get things correct, both on a literal level and at a programming level (identifying bugs in the system for example that didn't manifest before the changes but have come out since). That's why the December releases are late being shown. They are up now, and we appreciate your patience during the delay. We will now start to leave THREE months of pre-order stuff on the site, so this will allow you extra time to make those all-important pre-orders, especially when it comes to limited edition stuff. The JANUARY, 2012 pre-order stuff will be up towards the end of next week, which means that the OCTOBER, 2011 stuff will disappear at that time. If there are items in that set of pre-orders that you want to register for, please do it this coming week. We'll also catch up on the last several Sideshow solicitations. New Sideshow items are arriving shortly, and there are some doozies! If you have not yet ordered them, please let us know asap about which ones you want. Random and unrelated: Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez are in town. Maybe they'll drop by Saturday? William Shatner will be around town Tuesday. Maybe he'll drop by too?

More subscription titles for you!

2011-09-12T00:53:00.000-07:00

What do most people do at 3 in the morning? They sleep.

What do we do at 3 in the morning? We do multiple uploads of the new Comic Service Standing Order List until we finally get it right.

The new list is up and running now, and we have expanded it to not only feature all of the new DC 52 titles, but also a whole mess of other goodies, and we will probably make additional changes to it in the next few weeks or two as things settle down with the publishers for the rest of the fall season.

Now, a lot of members have wondered about how they can keep track of their subscription lists automatically. With this system it's simple. When you enter your Comic Service list using this standing order system, you'll be given an order confirmation. All you have to do to see what's on your list is to refer back to the order number when you log in, and the list will show up automatically. You can then Edit the Order (in effect editing the list), and when you save it we should receive an automatic e-mail notification that you have added or subtracted or changed quantities on something. Simple!

Pushing forward into the digital age

2011-08-31T21:55:00.000-07:00

UPDATE TUESDAY , SEPTEMBER 6, 2011: The storefront is operational once again. (There were a couple of changes in the code that didn't agree with our setup and we had to find them and make the necessary changes. Those have been done. Thanks for your patience.) Having said that then, We are proud to announce that our new digital storefront really is available for use. For viewing and downloading, the system works using Flash. Now, as you may know, if you're on a device that doesn't support Flash (or at least doesn't support it very well), you may have problems viewing stuff. There are particular quirks in using the storefront itself on iPhone and iPad, and there are some scrolling issues with Safari. We recommend that you use Firefox (Mozilla) as your browser for this particular nuance of our system. The important thing to remember is that no matter how you download a file, IT WILL WORK ON ALL DEVICES, PARTICULARLY iPAD AND iPHONE! (So there is a bit of irony there, don't you think?) For our international followers please note that at the current time only U.S. residents may use the service. We will keep everyone apprised if this changes in the future. We hope you'll enjoy it as much as we do in making it available to you!

This isn't a Sideshow, it's a MAIN EVENT!

2011-08-25T16:13:00.000-07:00

The BIG NEWS this week is that we're taking pre-orders for the Hot Toys Batman and Hot Toys Joker. These are the first DC products licensed to Hot Toys that are being offered by Sideshow, and they are SURE to sell out! So this is a hint: go directly to their listings and pre-order them right now! You know what happens when items like these sell out, so don't miss either one! How's that for subtlety?

Next up: The search dialogue. There is a search dialogue in the upper righthand side of the home page. There is also a link under it to a thing we call "Search Tips". These tips are to make it easier to do a search, especially since we do not have the site set up by title, but we DO have umpteen-cajillion items starting to be listed. Please take a minute to read the search tips. We are going to change the format of the search dialogue to make it more prominent and easier to use.

Thirdly: Although we are going just slightly crazy with the Amazing Spider-man #666, it is being received positively, and best of all folks are finding and getting things they need. Even better, the Free Shipping is very well received, and we'll be making an announcement about it before the end of August, so stay tuned.

More news and innovations are coming!

A unique opportunity for a unique item....

2011-07-27T23:21:00.000-07:00

Hi gang. Well, we went and did it:

We created one of the variant covers for Amazing Spider-Man #666. You can get this comic for FREE, with any order from the website of $50 or more of any products currently in stock. (That means NO PREORDERS...sorry!) If you're even more adventurous, you can go a bit further and follow the FREE SHIPPING link near the top of the home page to see how to get FREE SHIPPING too!

You can see a copy of the current ad that's running locally to announce this special event below.

Incidentally, we're also on Facebook, so if you're ever using it, please navigate to us and give us a "like". We'll appreciate it!

Anyway, be sure to hurry while supplies of this item last!

FREE SHIPPING!! (or what we're doing about a sucky economy!)

2011-07-19T22:35:00.000-07:00

We have done two things in the past week:

1.) Upgraded our system to allow for some new and surprising functionality you'll be able to experience in the coming weeks and months, and.....wait for it.....

2.) INTRODUCED FREE SHIPPING!! IT'S SIMPLE, IT'S LINKED ON THE HOME PAGE, AND IT'LL SAVE YOU A TON OF MONEY!

That pretty-much says it all.

More news and surprises are coming!

Lots of updates to report

2011-06-27T22:08:00.000-07:00

Just a couple of notes:

we're starting to get some fairly good "mass" of items on the site. Additions over the last few days include Mad Magazine, Mad Specials, Savage Sword Of Conan, Sandman, Detective Comics, and a bunch of smaller miscellaneous titles.

On the sandman front, we are currently missing a bunch of the cover scans. This will be fixed by the end of the week when we have time to upload them. Same goes for the fiufteen or so Mad scans missing right now. Also there will be a bunch of smaller Mad titles added as well.

Keep visiting to see the changes that we're making.

It's going to get more and more exciting each week!

Oh yes....the dreaded Facebook announcement: We're on Facebook. If you like the site, please find us on Facebook and "like" the Facebook page as well. We will be doing some fairly special stuff with Facebook and hopefully Tumblr soon as well!

Getting stuff guaranteed and worry-free!

2011-06-18T20:22:00.000-07:00

So the big thing that everyone is thinking about these days is what's happening to the comics industry from the standpoint of real you-can-hold-this-in-your-hands collectible comic books, not to mention everything else that's associated with them. With the changes in the DC Universe we took a look and thought this would be the perfect time to allow EVERYONE to make pre-orders from the site, not just Comic Service members.

That's why the PRE-ORDERS category is now visible to everyone on the site, and you are all welcome to see the products and read their descriptions well in advance of their actual appearance.

Sounds great, but if you're a Comic Service member you're wondering now what the difference is between you and anyone else. There are lots of them:

NUMERO UNO: Comic Service members get DISCOUNTS whereas everyone else does not. These discounts vary up to a whopping 27% (TWENTY-SEVEN PERCENT)!

TWO: Comic Service members DO NOT have to pre-pay their pre-orders. The books are accumulated and sent with regular shipments depending on when they arrive. Everyone else MUST PRE-PAY their order in the usual way with their credit cards, those payments are taken as the order is placed to confirm the order, and we won't register the order unless this is done. This includes a normal shipping charge on the order, which in this case is an ESTIMATE, but may not be the final actual shipping amount. The order will ship in its entirety when the products are all arrived (unless of course there is an extreme delay for an item or items in which case we will adjust things accordingly.)

THREE: Casual users still don't have access to some special items on the site which are highly desirable. My favourites are the rare variants.

These are the main ones, but there are others as well. By making this change, everyone will have a much better experience on the site, and more people will see that we offer the best range of pre-order products anywhere! That way we can welcome even more users to our family every day!

Now, just a note about the Comic Service Standing Order List: Because of the DC thing and for that matter because of the changes that Marvel is making with Uncanny X-Men, we will not revise the list for a while until we get a better handle on what will be coming out, what will be ongoing, and what will be reliable. The list is still good as it stands and we will enter subscriptions operating under the current titles quickly and efficiently so that any transitions necessary for your enjoyment are as smooth as possible!

Faster than a speeding bullet.....and faster than you thought!

2011-06-18T20:00:00.000-07:00

As we said earlier, here are major changes in store for the site. You were expecting the September release information next week? Here it is NOW instead. We did this for a couple of reasons:

1.) We were bloody slow in getting August up there last time.

2.) There is just so much.....stuff.....going on with DC and its reboot, re-imagining, re-working, call it what you will change to its entire line that we felt the best course of action was to give everyone two weeks' advance look at things even well before the hard copies of Previews ship on the 29th. (More about shipping in a second.)

3.) One of the big changes to the site is that we are allowing EVERYONE to do pre-orders. However, you will see that it will be much better for you if you are a Comic Service member when you do them, because there are definite rules for pre-orders, and some very big advantages for Comic Service members!

Now, shipping: For those of you worried about shipping, don't be. There was a small but annoying lockout on Thursday the 16th which did two things: a) stopped all the mail temporarily, and b) told the union to quit messing around with rotating stoppages or the government would force it back to work by law. That's exactly what's being done on Monday the 20th, so we took a look and thought it best to ride out a couple of days' delay instead of making a wholesale change in shipping method which would a) probably confuse a lot of people and b) not help anyone with a P.O. Box address anyhow. So we will watch carefully and keep you up to date here and in private e-mails. Thanks for your patience and understanding.

Now go check out the next entry which explains the Pre-orders more fully up above!