Posted in: Comics | Tagged: comic store in your future, street date

Comic Store In Your Future Is Selling Their Comics Early, What To Do?

Comic Store In Your Future: comic book stores are selling their comics early, what's an honest comic shop to do?

Published Sat, 06 Sep 2025 16:47:02 -0500

Article Summary

Early comic sales give stores a competitive edge but risk breaking vendor release day rules.
Collector demand drives some shops to release comics ahead of the official launch date.
Past secret shopper programs were ineffective and burdensome for small comic store owners.
Email reporting with receipt evidence is a simple solution for vendors to enforce street date compliance.

How can a comic store get an advantage over its competitors? By selling their comics early. Back when Lunar first started as a new comic vendor for DC Comics, it was perfectly fine; stores could sell Lunar shipments of DC Comics on Tuesdays. Marvel would sell on Wednesdays. I was told Rodman Comics was the only comic store in central Iowa that sold on Tuesdays. It was great. Instead of one big New Comics Wednesday sale, we had two big new comic sales days. People were coming in twice a week to get comics. It was so good. Even though we were closed for part of the year due to COVID, we could make a profit with the two big sales days. I was stunned. But change for many is tough, so Lunar moved new DC Comics releases to Wednesday. I wish they hadn't. Instead of people coming in twice a week, it was back to one. I know if I go to a supermarket or big chain store twice a week, they have no problem with it—twice the chance to sell.

Eventually, Rodman Comics was not the only store selling on Tuesdays in central Iowa, so things did slow down. We had people who never shopped with us because, after COVID caused new comics to stop, there was talk that maybe the comic market would not recover. They wanted their comics ASAP after waiting so long, and wouldn't wait a day. That is called the collector's mentality. Collectors and readers of comics often want their comics as soon as possible. Demand is good; it is what comic stores need to thrive.

Lunar ships comics to vendors in a unique way. Week to week, the new comic shipment may arrive any day. I wish Lunar would take the time to communicate with the comic stores they ship to and find out what day would work best for the store to receive the shipment. I am glad it is earlier than the day before the release day, as Diamond did. One bad weather day or shipping delay, and then there could be no new comics for Wednesday. The worst is when the other stores get their shipments on time, and on Wednesday, tracking shows that our shipment is in another state, and sales will take a hit for the week. Our Penguin shipment of Marvel Comics mostly arrives on Friday before New Comics Wednesday, which is great, so that we can plan around that.

Some stores may get their shipments a week early from Lunar. Bleeding Cool recently ran an article showing a store selling Batman #1 on Wednesday before it was supposed to sell on. If that store has comic stores nearby and they do not do the same, it gives the store a clear sales advantage.

: Photos from an anonymous source for Bleeding Cool

What are some options? Some have been saying that the return of the secret shopper program, which ended years ago, needs to happen. Not having the secret shopper is one of the few things that has been for the better that has happened for us over the years. The problem is that the secret shopper had the same script every year to follow. The same exact questions. They started off showing up on a Tuesday, requesting two comics that come out on a Wednesday. When I ask something basic like, Oh, do you like the current storyline, I would get a deer in the headlights look. Odds are, they had never even read a comic book; they were just hired to stop in and ask questions and report about the store. Why were they a problem? They were a distraction from actual customers who were there to buy something. In the strip mall, my fellow business owners thought it was funny that the person I bought the product (Diamond Comics at the time) from treated us that way. Other retailers in the strip mall do not deal with any secret shoppers. To top it off, stores would pay a few hundred dollars every year for the secret shopper "service". [Rich adds, "It was $60, Rod."]

That said, when dealing with people, there will always be those looking for shortcuts and willing to bend or break the rules. We could get really deep into this as well. Online, a lot of stores sell products before they come out or have the products in hand. If the seller simply waits until after the release date to send or release the product, does that make it all right to sell it even though money was taken for it before the release date?

What is another option for dealing with those who physically sell before the release date? My simple idea would be for Penguin and Lunar to have an email or contact for people to reach out to report stores that sell early. In this day and age, one could take a picture of a receipt and send it in, and the store would be told not to do that again.

Why a warning to start off with? Things do happen. Years ago, I came in, and an employee at the time said she sold early to a kid because he was soooo cute. I was like, "Why?" We have tons of comics to pick from. Life goes on. We did not start a new policy that if you are cute, we will sell to you early. On Tuesdays, we set up so that everything is ready to go I've run my ACwhen we open on Wednesday. In the past, I had a lady asking me about comics, and I told her we are not able to sell them to you today because they are for release on Wednesday, though we can hold them for you until tomorrow. She laughed and said "fine", didn't buy anything or put anything on hold, and left. She did leave us a review saying that we sell early. I was surprised. Was that her way of getting back at us for not selling early or what?

That said, if one walks into a comic store a week early and sees next week's comics on the shelf, that is a big red flag and a leg up on any stores that might be nearby. When Wizards of the Coast (the company behind Magic: The Gathering, the card game) let big chain stores like Walmart and Target sell early without repercussions, I know that hurt sales-wise. People walked in on the day a new set came out, and when we opened it, they already wanted to trade cards from the latest set. I would ask, "How did you get these already, and they would tell me that either Walmart or Target had them for sale days ago. Basically, the big chain stores make them too much money to say anything about breaking street date, while a small business was another story. Pokémon would get wise and let stores that had gaming for their product sell a week early to get around that issue, and then Wizards of the Coast would finally follow.

My vote would be to simply "send the receipt by email" to the vendors. If Lunar and Penguin were to announce something like this, I am sure it would be picked up by comic news outlets, and the word would spread. Is it perfect? No, neither was the secret shopper program. Paying for an ineffective program was not a good use of money. That said, doing nothing means that selling early in the store will continue.

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