Next week Diamond UK will return to importing comics on a weekly basis, however due to the ongoing air freight issues, there is a possibility that on some weeks the deliveries to the stores will be a day late. We are told we will be advised during the preceding weekend if this will be the case for the coming week and we will pass on notifications of any delays via social media posts in a timely manner. Our physical store has not re-opened yet; we are working on a way to trade safely and will announce a date as soon as we are able: COVID-19 and re-opening safely Here are a few of the biggest titles out this week. COMIC BOOKS
A MAN AMONG YE #1 High adventure on the high seas in the waning days of piracy, when men were men, and the best pirates were... women? Writer STEPHANIE PHILLIPS (Butcher of Paris, Descendent) and artist CRAIG CERMAK (Red Team, Voltron) bring to life the tale of Anne Bonny and Mary Read as they hoist the skull and crossbones, draw cutlasses, and seek a treasure that will make them legends. In an era when sailing with women was thought to be bad luck, Anne and Mary might just be the only people capable of saving the pirate way of life. BATMAN THE SMILE KILLER #1 It wouldn't be a Joker story without a surprise... and right on cue, here's an unexpected one-shot epilogue to Joker: Killer Smile! Young Bruce Wayne grew up watching The Mr. Smiles Show - and the show might have been watching him back! And not only was young Bruce watching, he was listening... listening as Mr. Smiles spoke across the airwaves only to him... The Eisner Award-winning creative team of writer Jeff Lemire and artist Andrea Sorrentino land one last gut-punch - turning the mythos of the Batman on its head in the most devastating trick The Joker has ever devised! PRESTIGE FORMAT. THAT TEXAS BLOOD #1 Like Paris, Texas gut-punched by No Country for Old Men, this mature neo-Western crime series kicks off when the search for a casserole dish leads to a dark and tense confrontation on Sheriff Joe Bob Coates' 70th birthday. CRIMINAL colorist and first time solo artist JACOB PHILLIPS and writer CHRIS CONDON break onto the scene with a brand-new ongoing series! "CHRIS & JACOB pull off something remarkable here. A vivid and bright story that nails a thorough sense of foreboding and darkness. A shocking amount of talent for a duo so fresh to comics!" - CHIP ZDARSKY (SEX CRIMINALS, Daredevil)
SENSATIONAL SECOND ISSUES!$1 COMICS!PLEASE NOTE: it has come to our attention that several intervening issues of ongoing titles have not arrived since the start of the lockdown - mainly from DC. Examples include (but are not limited to): Flash #753, Green Lantern Season Two #3 and Hawkman #24. This is likely due to misallocations of the print runs by DC Comics to their two new US suppliers during the US lockdowns, but this has yet to be confirmed. Diamond UK assure us all missing issues are on order and will arrive in the next few weeks. This matter is out of our hands and our normal Reservation Service terms and conditions will apply to all issues regardless of the order in which they are shipped. Also out this week:
GRAPHIC NOVELS & BOOKSDOOMSDAY CLOCK PART 02 HC WITH SLIPCASE The fate of the DC Universe is decided in a confrontation between Superman and Dr. Manhattan in this concluding hardcover collecting Doomsday Clock #7-12! With the Earth teetering on the brink of an international super-war, Black Adam and his followers make their move! And while our heroes are busy elsewhere, Dr. Manhattan has set his endgame into motion. The Doomsday Clock continues to tick toward midnight with the fate of the Multiverse hanging in the balance. Doomsday Clock Part 2 HC ships in a free slipcase with enough space for Doomsday Clock Part 1 HC - a comics shop exclusive! Also out this week:
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Due to the reduced cargo capacity on flights from the USA, Diamond UK will be importing comics on a fortnightly basis for the time being.
This situation will be reviewed by Diamond UK near the end of June. Our physical store will not be re-opening next week; we are working on a way to trade safely, starting near the end of June: COVID-19 and re-opening safely Here are a few of the biggest titles out this week. COMIC BOOKSBATMAN THE ADVENTURES CONTINUE #1 (OF 6) From the visionary producers of Batman: The Animated Series come all-new stories in this seminal animated world. In this opening chapter, Wayne Enterprises in Gotham City is attacked by a giant robot that steals an entire room from the laboratory. Who's controlling the robot? How will Batman stop the mechanized menace? And what does it all have to do with Lex Luthor's sudden appearance in Gotham? BATMAN #92 The greatest heist in history is underway in Gotham City, courtesy of the mysterious crimemaster known as the Designer! Batman knows what he needs to do, but in order to stop the plot, he must first escape the most ingenious death trap the Riddler has ever devised! JOKER 80TH ANNIVERSARY 100 PAGE SUPER SPECTACULAR #1 The Clown Prince of Crime celebrates 80 years of chaos! The Joker has been the greatest villain in comics since his debut and to celebrate we have a who's who of comics' finest talent giving the Harlequin of Hate the birthday roast he deserves. The stories feature a range of terror and anarchy, showing how the Joker has impacted Gotham City from the police to Arkham Asylum, from the local underworld to the Dark Knight and his allies! Make sure to RSVP to this birthday bash-you wouldn't want to wake up with a Joker Fish on your doorstep, would you?
SENSATIONAL SECOND ISSUES!Also out this week:
GRAPHIC NOVELS & BOOKS
Also out this week:
8/6/2020 COVID-19 and re-opening safelyAs you will no doubt be aware, the Government recently announced various new guidelines to reduce the lockdown – in particular stating that non-essential shops could re-open from Monday 15th June, subject to assessing and taking steps to manage the risks of COVID-19 in the workplace.
To this end, we have carefully reviewed the new guidance from the Government – in particular the document entitled “Working safely during coronavirus (COVID-19) in shops and branches” - as well as specific guidance from the Federation of Small Business and the British Toy & Hobby Association. In addition, we must be very clear that we are closely monitoring the scientific and medical advice, specifically the many warnings regarding re-opening too soon, and the likelihood of a second wave of this pandemic. We have identified several key challenges to our ability to resume trading as Osiris Games and Proud Lion Comics in the current situation. Primarily, the small size of either of our retail units will make it difficult to return to anything approximating our normal operations whilst maintaining social distancing. We will almost certainly have to continue to trade out of only one premises, as we did in the last week or so before lockdown. Yet we feel that we cannot create an environment where the general public can safely enter and move around the shop, whilst maintaining a distance of two metres apart - especially as we only have one point of access that can be used to enter and exit the premises, and we are required to limit customer handling of stock. It will also be challenging if not impractical to have queuing measures outside the shop. Whilst it was possible to facilitate a queue outside 8 St Georges Place during Free Comic Book Day in years gone by, this was a one-off annual occurrence made simpler by virtue of the gated private car park on our left being largely used by office workers, and thus having a reduced need for access on a Saturday during FCBD. Combined with the incredibly narrow pavements on our end of St Georges Place, the public car park entrance, access to Hanna Court opposite, and consideration for neighbouring residents and businesses – we feel that we cannot maintain much of a 2m apart queuing system at this time. With these key concerns in mind, alongside a myriad of additional challenges to address, we have decided to re-open as a Click & Collect point in the near future. This will be akin to a catalogue shop collection point like Argos for example. We will be relaunching our webstore as soon as possible, continuing to offer nationwide delivery and are in the process of negotiating for a new shipping contract that should allow us to offer faster dispatch times and hopefully lower postage costs. Alternatively, you will be able to purchase online (or via emailed invoice) for collection from the premises. We will be implementing an appointment system for collection slots, ensuring that we space out customer interaction for everyone's safety and leaving ample time to clean high-traffic surfaces between customer visits. Obviously, if you or someone you have been in recent contact with is displaying COVID-19 symptoms, feeling unwell or in a high-risk category, we must insist that you do not use the collection service out of respect for everyone's safety. Please continue to follow the medical guidance regarding self-isolating, and consider having your purchases shipped to you. We may re-implement the local delivery option we were poised to launch until lockdown nipped that in the bud, but that requires further risk assessments, so will not be an option in the foreseeable future. Whilst restaurants and fast food services have done a commendable job expanding their local delivery capabilities, we feel it contains too much of a risk for our volunteer drivers and our customers at this time. Our initial opening times for collections will be finalised soon, but we will not be re-opening the week commencing 15th June. We currently expect to be open Wednesday-Saturday towards the end of June (tbc). Further details regarding all of this will be made available before we re-open. We will of course have hand sanitiser available for customer use whilst at the premises. You can expect to see a greatly increased presence on social media as we highlight and promote exciting new releases, hot items tied to anticipated media events and new special offers. It would be immensely helpful if you could like and share as many of these posts as you feel comfortable with, as organic reach on social media is far superior to any sponsored posts (though you can expect to see a few of those too!). We obviously anticipate no in-store organised play for gaming any time soon, which is particularly heartbreaking, but we are continuing to explore remote play and play-at-home options for the short term. We want to thank everyone for their understanding and continued support, it means the world to us all. As things have unfolded you have adapted to our changing circumstances alongside the stress and disruption to your own routines – life has become a co-operative game again and you're all superheroes in our eyes. Our intention is to keep trading, but continue to prioritise everyone's collective health and safety above everything else. Otherwise all of the sacrifices over the past few months will have been in vain. If you can continue to stay at home, we encourage you to do so as hard as that is, and we will happily ship your purchases to you as often as you want! For our part, we will not be bringing anyone back off furlough until we need them or have no choice, and will be looking to work from home where possible for things like our marketing and administrative duties. If you or any of your friends and family have been directly affected by COVID-19 itself, you have our utmost compassion and sympathy. We hope the continued research by the international medical community and the hard work of the valiant medical care workers can turn the tide for good in due course. Much love to you all. Many of you will be already be aware that late Friday afternoon, news broke via Hollywood Reporter and other sources that DC would no longer be distributing their comic books, graphic novels and collectibles through Diamond Comic Distributors, ending a 25 year partnership. During the US and UK lockdowns, most publishers chose to put their comics schedule on hold, understanding that printers, logistics and comic shops would be affected by the lockdown. DC were the only publisher to decide to quickly resume regardless of the crisis, continuing to publish their comics digitally and announcing partnerships with two new "temporary" distributors. It wasn't initially disclosed - but was quickly discovered by canny US comic book retailers - that these new distributors were actually owned and operated by two of the largest online comic book retailers in the United States. As you may imagine, this didn't sit well with the mostly independent community of US comic book retailers, with a large majority preferring to not sign up for an untested service operated by deep-discounting competitors, rallying behind the social media hashtag, #WaitForDiamond. Here in the UK, we had no choice. Diamond UK had completely locked down too - quite rightly halting service halfway through a delivery consignment from the US - and neither of these two new distributors were offering shipping to the UK. Which makes sense, because of course, they were only temporary. And in fairness, we would have also preferred to #WaitForDiamond. Recently, Diamond started back up again, with a slow but steady trickle of new comic books. Most publishers have re-evaluated and spaced out their release schedules, ensuring that most beleaguered retailers and cash-strapped customers aren't suddenly overwhelmed by a flood of new purchases (though it is notable that DC's comics are coming through at a a pace not seen since the early days of the New 52, as Diamond struggled to catch up with the issues DC had published during the lockdown!). There was a great sense of re-ignition across the whole industry, with publishers and retailers triumphantly supporting Diamond's #BackTheComeback campaign, hints of a revised date for Free Comic Book Day, and even new publishing initiatives to help the Direct Market. Here at Proud Lion Comics, we have been considering our position come June 15th (and we will be releasing a statement in the next few days) and greatly appreciate the efforts being made to support our industry by the publishers, creators, fellow retailers, Diamond Comics themselves and of course, all of our wonderful customers. This news from DC is a kick in the teeth for almost everyone. Which is probably why they released the news on a Friday, when there'd be little time for scrutiny. UK comic book retailers didn't receive the email from DC that is spoken about in the Hollywood Reporter article as far as we know; it seems we all learned about it at the same time as many of yourselves, and Diamond UK who were understandably caught completely off-guard. If you're wondering what happens next, so are we. The final issues of any DC Comics we will receive through Diamond will arrive Wednesday 24th June:
There will be no DC titles released through any physical distribution channel on Wednesday 1st July; publications will then resume via the two new US distributors the week after.
Here's what we do know:
Ultimately, we don't know what's going to happen next, and anything more becomes speculation. We await an official statement from Diamond UK - once they've had chance to assess this sudden seismic shift - and at the moment we are trying to remain hopeful that a clearer vision of the path ahead will emerge in the next few days. We're not impressed with this decision, but we're not breaking out the Kryptonite and blowing up the Batcave just yet. We ask that you refrain from sending in any questions about this for now, because this is all we know at present. Many thanks. |
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