Executive decisions

We met with a counselor from the Small Business Association in Scottsdale on Thursday and he had some great ideas on things we can do to bring in more business and to serve the community in new ways. I am really excited about some of the possibilities we have ahead of us. So stay tuned for some new and innovative changes in the near future.

As a comic book store owner, however, sometimes you have to make some hard decisions. After a long hard effort to make our webstore successful, we finally had to admit defeat. We were using Intuit’s POS webstore – which interacted with our point of sale system and with our accounting system and paying a hefty $150/month for it. It’s been 15 months now, which means we have paid a total of $2250 in monthly fees, not to mention the initial set up fee of something like $200. That’s enough. A small, family-owned store like us just can’t compete with the Amazons and the folks selling private collections on e-Bay for 80% off cover price and free shipping.

In over a year, we have only had two orders through our webstore, and didn’t really make much of a profit on either one. Thus, the decision to discontinue it.

We are brainstorming ways that we can continue to have some sort of ordering system, even though we don’t have the fancy, integrated POS webstore any more. We do want people to be able to order from us. For now, all I can suggest is emailing us at info@comiczoneaz.com with your requests and we can let you know if we can get them for you, how much it will be, etc. We can always take a credit card payment through paypal or over the phone.

The best part of meeting with the counselor was finding out all of the things we are doing RIGHT as a small business. And there is more to come, so stay tuned….

Is the Sentry too powerful?

SPOILER WARNING!
This article will contain MAJOR spoilers for recent Marvel Comics titles. Specifically, SIEGE. Please do not read any further if you do not want the comics spoiled for you. You have been given very fair warning, by now. Continuing to read will give you spoilers galore. There’s an article contained within, but there are spoilers, too.

So. SIEGE #3 came out this week. And at the end, it was revealed that Norman Osborn has been controlling The Void by keeping him suppressed within Bob Reynolds, all along. This isn’t a huge surprise, as in the recent issues of DARK AVENGERS, there have been some quick interactions between “Stormin’ Norman” and the Sentry’s other half.

It has also recently been revealed that The Sentry has far more power than anybody ever expected – He has the ability to manipulate molecules in any way that he can imagine. This makes him one of the absolute most powerful superhumans in Marvel’s history. While Apocalypse has the ability to alter his own molecular structure in any way, he cannot affect the molecules of others. Say what you will about Thanos being evil, but at least when he was in control of the Infinity Gauntlet, he’s aware of the power he wields. And even The Molecule Man, who has the same abilities as The Sentry, just wants to be left alone. Molecule Man doesn’t really wish any harm on anybody that leaves him alone, anymore. And as the pre-SIEGE issues of DARK AVENGERS showed, he’s able to be reasoned with.

But The Sentry is a drug addict who is addicted to drugs that make him incomparably powerful. And he suffers from multiple personality disorder, with the distinct personalities of Bob Reynolds and The Sentry and The Void all running around in the same head, disagreeing all the time, all wanting different things. Add to that the fact that The Void is distinctively destructive, and I’m thinking that the heroes in the Marvel Universe really need to ask themselves if it wouldn’t be safer for everybody if they just destroyed Bob Reynolds and all of his multiple personalities, altogether.

Of course, at what point are Spider-Man, Iron Man, Thor, Captain America and friends allowed to decide when somebody allowed to live or die?

I’m very intrigued to see what happens in SIEGE #4, now that The Void is decidedly the last big obstacle before the dawning of the Heroic Age.

First Friday in March

Another great First Friday. Gosh, it’s so great to be hanging out downtown. We had some great folks come by our table, and as usual, the two of us had a blast intermingling! I know it’s the bohemian in me.

Here’s a picture of Avery at our table:

Avery at First Friday 3/10