Comic Book Resources

No one I have talked to can remember a time this has happened either.

I’m curious, though, whether it will make for heavier weeks before and after. December does tend to be a big month, but this December has five Wednesdays, so it might just mean the dstribution isn’t weird like so many other five week months.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

That’s not okay. That’s not okay at all. *scratches arm like a heroin addict*

Not cool, man, not cool.

It probably helps Diamond that December is a five week month this year and that they are skipping the fifth week.

I don’t think they’d try to do this if it was a four week month.

Try six weeks without new comics.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

I’m sure something like this happened back in the newsstand days, but I doubt it’s happened since the direct market rose to prominence.

Is this the beginning of the end of the print era of comics like everyone is always telling me? The first portent of doom? The harbinger of a dark and evil world?

I don’t know that I can deal with that. Some Christmas present…

Just ask your families for a bunch of TPBs for Christmas presents. That should tide you over until January.

I get my comics once every 5 weeks so this won’t affect me at all. January 15 is when I’ll be getting my comics that month.

cough… that’s actually wonderful news. (ducks) It is shaping up into a busy week already, between xmas and new year’s, so this is one less worry.

Sorry,

B

This will be the week I break down and buy all of the Scalped tpb’s at once. I can tell already. Or Northlanders. Or Rex Mundi. Or Scott Pilgrim. Or….

Your better comic shops will have sales–back issues, old trades, stuff found under the bed, something–to keep your weekly visit intact. Unless between now and then, someone comes up with a better way to capitalize on a week without the major players…

“Is this… the first portent of doom? The harbinger of a dark and evil world?”

Yes. I believe it is. God have mercy on us all. And pity the website that has to contend with agitated bored fanboys over that hellish stretch.

Ah… just kidding, you’re great.

Have a good day.
John Cage

DISASTER!

Well Boxing Day is on a Saturday, so the actual Stat holiday would be pushed back until Monday, the 28th, which would regularly delay the books a day, which means shipping on Thursday, New Years Eve, which most stores close early on, so really, in here Canada, we wouldn’t have gotten the books until the next week anyway.

Oh God, now I’ll have to talk to my family over the holidays. YOU BASTARDS!!!!!! Have you no souls?!?

Eh, I’ll get drunk and watch college bowl games.

Now that I think about it, I don’t think it has anything to do with UPS. I think it is just Diamond’s way of saving a few bucks by not having to pay their employees for a week. I think we need to remember that there weren’t any major problems getting the books out during the holiday season until Diamond needed to start pinching pennies.

So let’s not explain this away by saying “UPS”. Let’s point fingers at the real culprit –> Diamond. Suddenly, building that lame museum in a depressed area doesn’t seem so smart, does it?

Gadzooks! It’s months away and I’m having palpitations already.

Huh. I suppose if I synthesized a liquid form of Warren Ellis comics that I could inject into a variety of different orifices, I could possibly manage this

Should be getting ready with tinned rations and water in case there’s mass hysteria?

Several years ago, when UPS went on strike there were intermittent weeks when the shops in my area wouldn’t get books. I know that’s a different situation, but I do remember a time when you couldn’t be guaranteed new comics – worse it wasn’t scheduled, so you never knew when you might not get new books.

i was wondering how many posts it’d take before someone started wondering if this had anything to do with diamond’s financial situation.

“No one I have talked to can remember a time this has happened either. ”

It happened in 1998, the last time that Fridays and holidays fell in this same configuration.

And, thus, it will probably happen again in 2015

-B

Well, on my side of the pond/Atlantic, it makes not a blind bit of difference. That week between Christmas and New Year’s was always No Man’s Land anyway. Comics would arrive before Christmas, and sometimes there were two deliveries afterwards, though last year I think it was one larger delivery the first “proper” shiping week of 2009.

I wonder if publishers will adjust their schedules to reflect this?

I can’t believe this “sky is falling” hyperbole from some of you. It’s standard practice in UK publications to take a week or two off around Christmastime. Some fill the gap by putting out bumper-sized issues.

See it as an opportunity to spend more time with the Christmas presents… or to try some comics you’ve never looked at before.

Here’s a good idea: on the Wednesday you would’ve gone to the comics shop, read a webcomic you’ve never tried before! Why not take the world’s smallest risk to have the chance to discover something wonderful! Here’s a start, by Matt Kindt, of Super Spy and 3 Story: The Secret History of the Giant Man: http://www.supersecretspy.com/flash/treasure.swf

Not sure why they dont just ship it a day earlier instead. Those that cant make the cut off would just be pushed into the next week. Seems better than no comics at all and not that difficult with so much lead time.

I recall DC used to have an annual “skip week.” Don’t remember which week, but sometimes they would ship a book that week which was supposed to ship the week before. Something about using the week to straighten out thier schedule. I’m sure DC wasn’t the only one to do skip weeks, just not everyone on the same week.

Zor-El of Argo —

Decades ago, there were only 4 shipping weeks per month for most comic book companies. After the direct market became a force, some of the books from the 4th week were deliberately held back for the 5th week, so as to prevent the 5th week from being an empty week. Then came the Special Events that were put into the 5th week. Tangent Comics from DC was one. There were several others. Then Marvel and DC starting planning for regular books to ship the 5th week. The 5th week also became the week that some publishers used to help catch up to schedules.

I’m usually somewhere far away from comic shops at Christmas time anyway, so I’ll actually be a bit glad, not to miss it. Plus I spend enough at Cosmic Comics’ Christmas Day sale anyway, I can wait another week for the floppies.

Not even decades ago Alan, I remember that happening in the late 90s.

This actually won’t be the worst thing in the world for me. I tend to get a lot of back issues for Christmas from my wife, so this will give me time to read and then assimilate them into my collection without the distraction of new books…shiny new books…nice shiny new books…

Who I am I kidding? I’m going to miss my weekly trip to the LCS to see what goodness has been pulled and is waiting for me. I’ll probably just go and buy more back issues to make up for no new books, and once I finish reading those, the new books will be back on track and I’ll be buying those and the back issues will never get put into the collection and I’ll start to get stacks of books laying around because I’ll never have a chance to get the new or back issues bagged and inserted into their rightful spots in the boxes.

While it may be an issue for those that have a weekly addiction, I pick up my pull list once a month, so I won’t notice.