Comments on: What’s Not Out in Time for Christmas

By: James Schee

James Schee — Thu, 22 Dec 2005 04:22:35 +0000

Has there been any word on the American Flagg! books?

I’ve already prepaid for them and everything with DCBS and I’m considering asking them for a refund or at least credit if there doesn’t seem to be some word of them hitting stores soon.

By: Johanna

Johanna — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 12:27:09 +0000

I’ll see if I can fit a cross-Atlantic trip into my holiday shopping, then. :)

By: Rich Johnston

Rich Johnston — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 07:22:20 +0000

Shaun Of The Dead collection is out in the UK.

By: Ray Cornwall

Ray Cornwall — Wed, 21 Dec 2005 00:05:54 +0000

While it’s true that Dark Horse may not have intended to put out Sexy Chix (and the Harlequin romances, and the second Sin City oversized set), they certainly solicited these books during months where retailers were trying to figure out holiday budgets. I wonder if some retailers inadvertently ordered these hoping for holiday sales.

The great point of this article is that retailers have to guess which big-ticket items are coming in before Christmas. Unlike just about every other retail segment, there’s no help for the retailer at the holidays. Too many items ship late or WAY too close to Christmas for a retailer to sell at the holidays.

I think publishers would be wise to have big-ticket items available by Black Friday, so a retailer could hype them throughout the holiday season. Or would that make too much sense?

By: Johanna

Johanna — Tue, 20 Dec 2005 19:59:01 +0000

Sebastian, you’re so good at keeping me honest. Yes, like many Dark Horse collections/graphic novels, Sexy Chix was solicited in September with a December 21 due date. I’ve edited the original post to reflect that.

By: Sebastian

Sebastian — Tue, 20 Dec 2005 19:13:34 +0000

I think “Sexy Chix” was never intended for November but was solicited early… the Dark Horse site showed a street date of Dec. 21st since early in October. (They seem to do that a lot, at least in the past 6 months… and obviously it still isn’t enough to get the books done on time.)

The Harlequin manga have a Dec. 21st date right now, but I suppose that will change again, as they aren’t on Diamond’s list for this week.

BTW, when’s Girl Genius vol.4 due? Solicited in October, so it could (theoretically) have made it for Christmas.

~Sebastian