Disappointing trip to the LCS - re: Bloodshot 1 & Harbinger

[dbngaa]

Only 2 copies of Bloodshot ordered for the shelf, and no Harbinger 2's. Each issue they have ordered less and less. I'm covered (via DCBS), but a)I wanted to read both of these today and b)I want other comics readers in the area to discover and enjoy them. Oh well, I did read Bloodshot and loved it. May have to try a digital copy of Harby 2. What's everybody else finding?

[Dr. Solar]

I bought both at Comixology this morning, and it seemed like their racks were endlessly full with these issues.

[drmirage]

Paradise had a midnight release party for Walking Dead 100 and I tried to pick up Bloodshot and Harbinger at midnight, but I was told that I am unable to purchase a copy of them until Wednesday morning. Can you believe that. I was told its a policy that they cannot release the books earlier than Wednesday morning.

So I will be making another trip today. Sorry to hear that your LCS did not order any copies of Harbinger 2. You really cannot blame the LCS for being conservative on their orders. There's too many books on the shelves.

Btw, I did not even pick up the WD 100. I only buy WD trades. I was there for the Valiant books.

Needless to say, there needs to be a Valiant book midnight release party.

On a tangent, I did read reviews for online for WD 100 and from what I read, it was not really all that.

[dbngaa]

Paradise had a midnight release party for Walking Dead 100 and I tried to pick up Bloodshot and Harbinger at midnight, but I was told that I am unable to purchase a copy of them until Wednesday morning. Can you believe that. I was told its a policy that they cannot release the books earlier than Wednesday morning.

So I will be making another trip today. Sorry to hear that your LCS did not order any copies of Harbinger 2. You really cannot blame the LCS for being conservative on their orders. There's too many books on the shelves.

Btw, I did not even pick up the WD 100, I was there for the Valiant books.

There needs to be a Valiant book midnight release party.

Oh, I understand they are ordering only what will sell, and there are still 2 copies of Harby 1 and 1 copy of X-O 2 on their shelf (and they only had a few to begin with). Just disappointed because I think if they pushed a bit they could get people to try them.

Checked out the WD 100 covers...some great ones. Didn't pick up any because I just read the HCs.

[manga4life]

My LCS ordered 12 Blood Shot #1's and 9 Harbinger #2's, the shop a few towns over ordered 15 Blood Shot #1's and 10 Harbinger #2's. Luckily I have a great relationship with both stores and the owners devulge that kind of information to me, but all in all those orders aren't too shabby for a small LCS.

[Newton]

My LCS ordered way less of Bloodshot 1 and Harby 2 than I expected. I was able to get pullbox and regular covers for Bloodshot, but they did not order enough for the other 2 covers.

[ian_house]

The large forbidden planet over here only had a few of each, to be fair they do have a fair few #1s still sat on the shelf.

[paradise]

Paradise had a midnight release party for Walking Dead 100 and I tried to pick up Bloodshot and Harbinger at midnight, but I was told that I am unable to purchase a copy of them until Wednesday morning. Can you believe that. I was told its a policy that they cannot release the books earlier than Wednesday morning.

Sorry, bud, wish I could have done it. Honestly it's more for employee confidence than anything else. I can not be seen doing stuff like that because then they start bending rules behind my back. There is a rule in this industry, comics have to be released at the "prevailing business opening hours" for the area where you are located. The earliest we can release them is 9am pacific time. If we open earlier, we have to prove to diamond that we have a reason to be open on Wednesday earlier than those hours. And they send in "shoppers" to see if we sell any of the books early, and then every year we get a report about how we performed during those visits. We even pay for it, on every invoice we get from Diamond. This has to do with the changes that happened last year in our industry. Before last year, we got comics on Wed morning, had to unpack and sort them, pull all subs and open the store by 11 am. Nerve wrecking to say the least. Now we pick them up on Tuesdays, go through them and pull subs, and then put the books on the shelves on Wed morning and open the store. Much better and I am glad to pay for the ability to do that.

Sorry I missed you yesterday, I had to run the Pasadena store. Plus we had Kogi food truck there, which was fun and delicious.

As far as Valiant midnight release parties, that is a BAD idea Sorry, those type of events rely on a VERY VERY Large audience that is thoroughly addicted and have to come at night before it's sold everywhere in the morning. I don't think Valiant is ANYWHERE near those type of numbers yet. My biggest successes for these type of events have been (in order of success)

1. DC NEW 52
2. SCOTT PILGRIM Vol 6 GN <- yeah, who would have thought, right? HUGE event
3. AVENGERS VS X-MEN #1 release

Oh, may as well plug ourselves. If your shops suck, we do full mail order and many members of this site use our services. We stock EVERY Valiant book in stock and you can order all printings, variants and anything else through our service. I am sure some of our users can vouch for our services.

[caxiotis]

I have 3 LCS's in my area and the two I have been to ordered a lot of VALIANT.

One LCS ordered about 12 Bloodshots which was more than the harbinger #1 they rose last month (about 8 last month). This store only has a couple XO #2's left from previous issues.

The other ordered about forty of each harby #2 and Bloodshot#1 . They were Also selling two each of the 1:20 variants. Also still have a lot of harby#1's and XO #1 & 2.

[tchalla8]

My LCS usually orders about 10 of each. But today...the one time I don't show up at my LCS right when they open I find out a few hours later they actually ordered enough Bloodshot for an Aja cover, and it was already gone...sold to someone...for $7.99!!

[lorddunlow]

I have two LCS in my area. I only really go to one - the other has staff that know nothing and are very rude (from my few encounters), although I did get my X-O #1 2nd print there.

My regular LCS is always staffed by the owner - I think he must live there - and he's awesome. I raided his bargain boxes for Valiant when I first moved here and he seemed to remember me when I came back 2 years later for the relaunch. I think there must be a fair amount of demand in my area - when I stopped in on FCBD to pick up my X-O issue he said to the guy helping out "he's one of the X-O guys. Look behind the counter". He also sold out of his 2nd prints of X-O #1, but I didn't ask how many he got. He's everything you want in a comic store owner - knowledgeable (even the stuff he's not interested in - like Valiant), friendly, and recommends stuff that he thinks I would like.

I'm looking forward to picking my copies up this weekend.

[kevinbastos]

Mine had all 4 Bloodshot waiting for me. Took them all - plus the Harbinger variant, as well.

Unfortunately, he may have forgotten to get the third print on X-O. Thank goodness I ordered one from Paradise.

[tchalla8]

Mine had all 4 Bloodshot waiting for me. Took them all - plus the Harbinger variant, as well.

Unfortunately, he may have forgotten to get the third print on X-O. Thank goodness I ordered one from Paradise.

Third print is next week, so you still have a shot.

[IanAlexavier]

I bought both at Comixology this morning, and it seemed like their racks were endlessly full with these issues.

Bingo! Me too!

[zoso20]

today the closest LCS to me had a few Harby 2......and none of the Bloodshot he said he ordered were in the shipment.........

[SJS4]

My store had my comics so I was happy. I checked the shelf and they did have 2 more issues of Harbinger there so I was glad to see the store was giving it a shot outside of pull boxes. I didn't see any bloodshot issues on the shelf, but there was an empty spot in the "B" section so I am thinking he probably had an issue or two and it sold out. He didn't have any variants but I wasn't expecting him to so no worries (I ordered the set from Paradise anyway).

I was also pleasantly surprised to see issue #2 of "Man of God" in my pull box. For anyone who hasn't checked it out I would definitely recommend it. The art by Yvel Guichet looks great and the story is pretty good so far. For all you Shadowman fans there is a one page "backup story" in each issue drawn by Bob Hall. Only two pages to the story so far so can't really comment on it too much but it is pretty cool to see some of his work again. The cover by Dan Bereton was also pretty cool.

[manga4life]

I remember back in Crossgen's prime my LCS had a nice 4 foot wall dedicated to their titles, Marvel and DC had 12 feet each, Image had 4 feet, and Dark Horse was just mixed in with the independent section with other smaller press companies, it would be really cool if eventually my LCS gave Valiant it's own 4 foot wall someday. It could happen, the bigger of my 2 local comic stores said that he's close to giving Dynamite the 4 foot section since their output is getting bigger and bigger and some of their titles are really taking off. I don't know.....a part of me would rather see a 4 foot wall worth of Valiant books than Dynamite, even though I love Dynamite to death.

[vikingspawn]

Are the "pullbox" variants done with? And replaced with 1:20s?

I only saw 2 covers for Harbinger 2 today.

[StarBrand]

I have 3 LCS's in my area and the two I have been to ordered a lot of VALIANT.

One LCS ordered about 12 Bloodshots which was more than the harbinger #1 they rose last month (about 8 last month). This store only has a couple XO #2's left from previous issues.

The other ordered about forty of each harby #2 and Bloodshot#1 . They were Also selling two each of the 1:20 variants. Also still have a lot of harby#1's and XO #1 & 2.

Nice!

[tchalla8]

Are the "pullbox" variants done with? And replaced with 1:20s?

I only saw 2 covers for Harbinger 2 today.

Pullbox variants are primarily for 1st issues, although X-O #5 is an exception.

[Blood of Heroes]

Today sucked for me. I went to the lcs to pick up my books and they were closed. Sure it's Comic Con, but that's no excuse not to keep the store open so I can get my books!

I guess I'll have to pick them up tomorrow...

[tchalla8]

Today sucked for me. I went to the lcs to pick up my books and they were closed. Sure it's Comic Con, but that's no excuse not to keep the store open so I can get my books!

I guess I'll have to pick them up tomorrow...

On a release day? What kind place is this?

[bribri]

Had a great trip to my LCS! I bought all 4 Bloodshots and both Harbingers.

Bloodshot 1:50 = $20
Bloodshot 1:20 = $12
Bloodshot Pullbox = $3.99
Bloodshot Regular = $3.99
Harbinger 1:20 = $10
Harbinger Regular = $3.99
Tax = $4.25
Discount for spending more than $25 = -$5.40
Total = $52.82

[tchalla8]

Bloodshot 1:50 = $20

Thievery

[grendeljd]

I was pleasantly surprised to see a Harby #2 variant for only $10 at my lcs, so I grabbed it - especially after I had asked for it a few weeks ago and the manager had told me he wouldn't be able to get it...

I also got all but the 1:50 Bloodshot cover... again, lcs manager had said he wasn't ordering enough to get that 1:50, but when I picked up my 3 covers, I spotted a second 1:20 on the 'variant wall' and a suspicious blank spot beside where there could have been a 1:50... and for some reason the Bloodshot 1:20 was $25, as opposed to the $10 Harbinger 1:20...

Glad I got what I got, though - I love that Harbinger variant cover. The Mico is my favourite of the 3 Bloodshots I picked up.