Warmachine Rising

 I don't know why I am writing this here, but I want to see it in writing.

I own a lot of miniature games. And I do mean A LOT. I have rulebooks and models from a wide variety of things ranging from alternate Wild West and sword and sorcery fantasy stuff, to futuristic sci-fi and steampunk robots. Too many games. I have barely played any of them.

Apparently, one of the old games I used to play is coming out with a new edition. This happens sometimes. A company has an IP (intellectual property) and they want to maximize return on it, so they push a reset button to squeeze more life out of it. Sometimes this reset allows for old, previously released stuff to be used, and other times you have to or are encouraged to buy all new stuff for it.

The new announcement is for a game called Warmachine. They recently announced MKIV (or Mark 4) as a complete overhaul of their current product.

Years ago, the store I work at used to carry Warmachine. Throughout the years, interest in it had dwindled. The product line became too unwieldy, and a new player was typically turned-off the product due to shear bloat. It didn't help matters that supply for the product became more difficult to attain.

With the announcement of the new edition, it sparked an interest. I don't think my store will carry the new product line. The way the company is approaching how their product is sold just seems a little much. I understand where they are coming from, but I just think the price point is too much for someone casually interested. Those that are casually interested can become hardcore over time. Not everyone can drop hundreds of dollars at one time to become invested. Spend about $50 or so every once an a while, and you can slowly add up to a collection.

Still, the new announcement makes me want to dig out some of my old stuff. I have no desire to play the game. I don't even know what ruleset I would use. I just thought the story of the game's world was interesting and that the models were sometimes neat.

The last thing I need is to start another project.

Breaking the rust

 Should I use this more?

I have the itch to write something again. I lack the creativity for a story or anything like that. I mainly want to rant. Scream into the void.

Most of my entertainment lately is just people talking, usually on YouTube. I don't have the attention span for an actual podcast, and I usually need to have visual stimulation. 

I tried watching livestreams, but they are not for me. While Twitch is sometimes fun to catch someone playing a game I either like or am interested in, most of the time I tune in to see the streamer just mulling around or doing something... boring.

Who knows? This is something at least. A tense muscle needed some relaxation. I don't think I got a full workout, but at least I got up and did something. Right?

Stressed

 My life is stress. Everything annoys me. The people I deal with on a daily basis just seem to get dumber and dumber.

It is effecting my health. I am sore all over. I don't sleep well.

I don't look forward to things.

Mostly, I just want to be left alone.

Interests, Comics, and Problem

 I have a problem with my interests. I like some things that are in a continual and constant change. The problem is, that some people enjoy the same things, but they drop in and out of interest.

When it comes to comic books, I think people fail to realize that they don't really stop. Just because you stop reading Spider-Man doesn't mean he quit having adventures published about him. Being surprised that stories have progressed is a pet peeve of mine. I strongly dislike when someone claims to be a "fan" of something, but has no idea what is going on with that supposed "fandom".

I work in a comic book store. I have done so for far longer than I like to admit. Being around these things and the constant change in story, tone and character just makes everything blend together. I may remember that a thing happened, but can't explicitly point out exactly when it occurred. I just know that it did. Hell, it could be changed back to the original by the time of asking. Strike that reverse it.

This happens a lot when supposed bigger events occur. A story gets hyped up, so people want to jump on. Then the reader might feel a bit left out when they don't quite know what is going on in the book. While there may be a pay off for a long time reader, it just seems too many new readers are thrown in the deep end of the story pool. It is this disregard of the new reader that pushes too many away from the comic medium. Just saying that a reader should read a pile of comics to play catch up doesn't help. Most people want the story, but don't want to read years or decades worth of comic stories to have the full grasp of what is going on in a current story.

I guess the problem I have is that trying to enjoy something gets tougher every day. There is no real easy way to get into a thing. I used to tell people that the sign of a good comic is that any comic should be able to be someone's first. There should be enough in there to grab the attention of the reader.

Now, there is no easy introduction. All that leads to is lapsed "fans" who have a passing knowledge of what is going on. They tend to be stuck wherever they stopped though. I just dislike when they are surprised things progressed without them.

Stress Distribution

Just trying to get things out of my head.

A friend of mine asked what the new situation was with how comics, specifically DC Comics, are distributed to the retailers. I have been under a ton of stress and other problems, that I ignored giving an answer. I am writing this now to get some of it down. I will inevitably forget some aspect of it that grates my nerves.

When this global pandemic hit, it rocked all aspects of life. Literally everyone was effected by its spread. It forced people to stay home, not go to work, close schools, ban shopping and dining. Life was, and still is to a great degree, upended.

When it comes to comic books, this hit globally.

All comic book stores deal with Diamond Comics Distributors. Well, all of them do if they want to carry almost anything popular. Diamond has exclusivity deals with Marvel, Image, Dark Horse, IDW, BOOM, and probably many others. When the shutdowns started, all levels were impacted. Stores had to close their doors. Warehouses had to stop shipments because of both the stores closing and not being able to receive as well as for the sake of their employees too. Since the warehouses couldn't get new stock, that caused the printers to stop making things. When the printers stopped, the comic companies started to pull back on what they were producing. Everything was thrown into chaos. No new comics.

Diamond used to have DC Comics, but the pandemic hit. DC saw an opportunity.

Seeing how Diamond couldn't, nay wouldn't, distribute comics broke a contract of exclusivity. I think DC was looking for an out. DC wanted to get comics in the hands of readers and Diamond wasn't making that happen, so they had to go figure out alternative methods. DC hooked up with a couple smaller distribution companies (that just happen to be two of the bigger comic retailers online). Being a comic seller online doesn't effect how I thought of them as distributors. If someone was buying their stuff online, then they probably weren't coming in my store to get the same thing. So, DC was determined to get comics in stores regardless and especially if they were the only ones. It didn't matter that most stores couldn't open. They could still mail order and curbside pick up and a number of other new was of trying to make a living if you can't go inside a store.

At first, it was portrayed to me that DC was making efforts to get comics in stores. The best way to get the first release is to go with the new distributors. DC claimed at the time that they were working with Diamond to get those promised books to their stores too. They would just be delayed until Diamond started shipping. I didn't mind this because my store wasn't allowed to be open yet. Sure there were customers that wanted new comics, but the world already gave plenty of other distractions to worry about. There wasn't mush pressure to start with a new distributor if I could just stay with my current one-stop-shop for my comics. Who wants a new bill every month?

Turns out, this was a lot of smoke and mirrors. DC Comics and Diamond couldn't come to an agreement and DC pulled out. Now, DC exclusively goes through new distributors that are not Diamond. Also, all of their comics are scheduled to be put on sale on Tuesday. (Tuesday is the typical new on sale date for most books and other media.) Comic books on sale date has been Wednesday for a very long time. DC wants to be different. Oh, and DC doesn't want to produce a print catalog anymore of their upcoming products. They recently had a separate book that had just their stuff that was "free". (They only provided enough free copies to go along with the Diamond Previews catalog that contains all the other comics. Except Marvel, they have their own book too, but they give extras free of charge.)

Anyway, the stress now started with having to deal with a new distributor of a product that makes up a significant portion of our comic sales. I can't really sell new comics if one of them isn't Batman. There was about a two week window to set-up and get approved to be a client for the new distributor.

All in all, this has added a ton of new work for me. It doesn't help that it is just my boss and me as the sole people that work in the store for the moment. It more than doubled what I would normally do for ordering comics. That doesn't even account for the later changes that just keep happening with it as well.

For our account, it is shared between the two stores. This saves on shipping, which can quickly lead to loss of profit when shipping fees eat most of could be made from an order. I have to keep track of all the comics that are ordered. My book-keeping went up because instead of just keeping track of the comic inventory, I now have to keep track separately of what specific DC stuff I am getting. Add to this deciphering what stuff I ordered compared to the whole order. These are separate tasks that I have binders and folders full of paper to try and account for everything.

So, money is tight. I have to watch what I am ordering so as to not go overboard with extras, but still ride a line of taking care of customers. For most of the titles that come out, I am now getting either just for subscribers, subs plus one, or even a couple extra for the shelf if it is a bigger title, like Batman. When it is sold, it is effectively gone forever now. Supposedly, I can reorder stuff I sold out of from the new distributor. It would help if there was any overstock to order. It would be nice if reorders were sent with the weekly order to save on shipping. So, I just don't reorder. What we get in initially is about it.

The DC books come in earlier than the rest of the comics. The first week was right after July 4th, so they showed up on a Tuesday and it was a bit hectic. I didn't have to deal with the bulk of the problems that day, because I was at my day job. My boss and the other guy at the other store figured it out. The next week was fine and showed up on Monday when I could handle it. The third week had problems and showed more problems with the new distributor. We were missing entire titles. No issues of things were ordered. Usually, if it was Diamond, I could call or shoot off an email and the problem would have been resolved. Either the books would show up in a later shipment, or the account would get credited. Typically, the comics just show. There are supposed to be several copies of each title set aside for when things like this happen. The new distributor doesn't answer their phone. There is no real email to contact. I reported my problems to a strange contact screen. I don't think it actually worked.

Thankfully, all of our orders since have been fine. Some of the orders even show up on Friday to give me extra time to work on them. I just feel I have to do everything twice.

Oh, when we submit orders, I order week by week. Normally, I order all of the month's comics at once. A few weeks before they come out, I can do an FOC (Final Order Cutoff). This just allows me to make some changes if I need to, like adding issues to popular titles or removing some from poorer selling ones. DC is just done during FOC now. There really isn't an initial order to put in. This is upsetting, but not too much of a problem. The problem is that FOC is typically on Monday. DC is now on Sunday night, when I am not there. I don't even get an entire weekend of sales to judge how a title is performing. I also doesn't help that I have no real idea what I am ordering other than issue numbers and titles. It is all guess work and hope that I don't upset too many people.

And now it is constant event season for the comic industry. Companies are playing catch up and it is very difficult to guess what stuff people will buy. The speculators are on the rise too, which is its own headache.

I just want to like comics again.