Secret Wars #1 Sells Out
Seven Weeks Prior to Release

Howdy!

One of the primary reasons why I write our newsletter is to keep you informed about upcoming events. In most instances, those events revolve around our own Mile High Comics activities, such as our codeword sales (50% off 45YEARS! now in effect) and upcoming Jason St. auctions (March 28th). Occasionally, however, there are bits of advance information that I can pass on to you about the plans of the comics publishers. Today's newsletter will focus on one of those plans.

To begin, I want to alert you to the fact that Marvel Comics has unprecedented plans that are already in motion to use the upcoming SECRET WARS (2015) series as a springboard for massive changes in the Marvel Universe. What changes might those be? We have not the slightest idea. Never, ever, have we seen the staff at Marvel be so reticent about providing us with information about an upcoming event. As a case in point, we asked this morning if a couple of new Marvel series that will begin in May will be limited, or ongoing. Marvel's staff refused to tell us, stating only that they tied in with SECRET WARS. Seriously?!? How can we order copies of upcoming titles correctly for our back issue department if we have no idea about the longevity of those titles? In all honesty, this is the very first time in my memory that a publisher has played this close to the vest with advance information about an entire universe-wide storyline.


Secret Wars #1

A second clue as to the craziness that is about to ensue has to do with the Final Order Cut-Off date for SECRET WARS (2015) #1. To explain, the FOC date on a comic book is the last day that comics retailers can increase (or decrease) their original orders with any degree of assurance that they will receive additional copies. In most instances, the FOC date for a title is about 21 days before shipping, which is the time needed for the typical printing and shipping cycle. In the case of SECRET WARS (2015) #1, that FOC date was set for last Thursday, eight weeks (!) before release.

So why is was the FOC date on SECRET WARS #1 set so early? Our best guess is that Marvel is printing an enhanced cover for #1 offshore, and thus needed to set a firm print number well in advance. If that is the case, you can forget about additional copies of SECRET WARS (2015) #1 being released into the marketplace at some later date, as the lead times for offshore printing a simply too long. Whatever the case may be, the first printing of SECRET WARS (2015) #1 is already posted as being totally sold out on Diamond Distributing's website, seven weeks before release!


Secret Wars #0 FCBD

The conclusion that Will and I reached from all these bits of data is that all Marvel Comics fans should seek to immediately lock in copies of SECRET WARS (2015) #1 with their favorite comics retailer. Greg and Mario in our new comics subscription department do still have a couple dozen unallocated copies of the regular edition of SECRET WARS (2015) #1 available, but those will be committed very soon. We also recommend that you find a way to guarantee that you receive a copy of Marvel's Free Comic Book Day release of SECRET WARS (2015) #0, as that will be the actual first issue of the 2015 series (not a reprint!). FYI, because the publishers set their print runs for all FCBD editions months in advance, it is now also too late for retailers to up their orders on SECRET WARS (2015) #0. That having been said, finding unallocated copies of SECRET WARS (2015) #0 coultuned up being a problem for many fans on Free Comic Book Day (May 2nd).

On a closely related topic, advance orders for our Mile High Comics variant edition of SECRET WARS (2015) #1 set a three-day record since I first announced our publishing schedule last Wednesday. This is especially noteworthy because we do not yet even received a sketch of the cover from our SECRET WARS cover artist, Dale Keown. That having been said, our print run for our variant will remain limited to only 3,000 copies (Marvel's minimum allowable print order), even if that tiny print run results in our selling out soon after release. Simply put, I keep our print runs at the minimum to make certain that all the fans who order our Mile High Comics variants are protected from the market values of our variants ever declining. That is also why we do not wholesale our variants to other dealers, and limit all our clients to a maximum of three copies of any given variant.

If you would like to place an advance order for our Mile High Comics variant editions of SECRET WARS (2015) #1-#8, you can do so through Greg or Mario in our new comics subscription department. You can contact them by phone (weekdays 9-5) at 303-455-2659, or write to them at nice@milehighcomics.com. They can set you up with an advance order for a single issue, or a complete set the exclusive Mile High Comics SECRET WARS (2015) #1-#8 variants. We are currently charging $19.95 per variant, and once you lock in that price, your price holds through the entire set. Also, just so you know, you are not billed until each issue in the series releases actually from Marvel. This helps considerably in making our variants more affordable. Before I forget, we ordered 500 extra copies of SECRET WARS (2015) #0 to give away for free to the first 500 fans who sign up for our limited edition variant of SECRET WARS (2015) #1. Once those 500 copies of #0 are committed, however, this offer will need to end. Sadly, it now appears that we should have ordered at least 1,000 more copies of #0, just to give away with our variant edition of #1. Sigh...

Moving on to other news, we will be shooting our very first Mile High Comics video newsletter this afternoon. Our first topic will be "Secrets of the Mile High Comics Mega-Store!" I hope to have a YouTube link to the edited version of that video posted for you in Wednesday's e-mail newsletter. This is planned as an indefinite series of weekly filming, with our goal being to help you learn a great deal more about Mile High Comics. I promise you that there will be some real surprises that will result from our efforts, and that our videos will provide you with many insights about our company.

I will close today's newsletter by sincerely thanking those of you who sent me birthday greetings last week, and over this past weekend. I live each day to serve you, and it is genuinely nice to know that my efforts are appreciated.

Happy Collecting!

Chuck Rozanski,
President - Mile High Comics, Inc.
March 16, 2015


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