It's that time of year....

It's that time of year when you never know WHO is going to walk into the store. Here is a picture from a recent visitor:



Mardi Gras Costume Shop is just next to the plaza where Comic Zone is located, so I suspect we will see even more in the days to come.

This weekend is Halloween weekend. We have Stephen Jung, a local artist, coming into the store. He is known for Dark Fantasy art. You can find out more about him at http://www.jungarts.com.

Anyone who does come into the store on Saturday and/or Sunday dressed in a costume will receive a free comic or two or three.

And there will be sales..... Stay posted for more details.

Obama Nation

We have a new product in the store. It's a card game called Obama Nation. (You can find out more about the game here: http://www.obamanationcardgame.com/).



My understanding is that it is simple to play but it has twisted rules. Being a supporter of Obama, I'm not really sure how I will like this game. But, if I set my political leanings aside, it looks like it could be a hoot.

We are planning to have a team in on a Saturday in November to show folks how to play. In fact, we just may make it a gaming day.... so stay tuned. I'll let you know more as I do.

Wow!

I walked into the store today and boy, was I surprised!

Over the months since we have been open, although our comics are always neat and well-organized, the counter behind the register has been capturing lots of miscellaneous piles of stuff. Our storage area has been a mish-mosh of this and that, and it was becoming harder and harder to get to some of the stuff as we needed it. We have had a running backlog of items that needed to be tagged and filed in the back issues bins. That was how things were when I left the store last night.

I walked in today, and the back issues box was empty - in fact, gone - and all of the comics had been tagged and filed. The counter is neat and organized and everything is labeled, and the storage room is suddenly bright and easy to navigate, and seems three times bigger than it did yesterday. The floors are vacuumed. The gaming area is neat and orderly. All of the little things that had been bugging me have been fixed.

Turns out that Sean and his friends came in after hours last night and worked all night to bring this about.

Wow! I am SO impressed!

Progress...

Avery has been working diligently to upload many images to our point of sale system, which in turn will be feeding our webstore. I am amazed at the progress he has made. He has discovered a great new tool called Image Grabber. It doesn't always grab the right image, but more than 90% of them are spot on.

As an aside, even without the images, the webstore IS fully functional, and if there is something you would like to order from the comfort of your own home, we even discount EVERY product on our webstore by 20%... so buy away!

http://stores.intuitwebsites.com/comiczoneaz/StoreFront.bok

Trivia Game

This Saturday, Sept. 12th, at 2:00 PM, Comic Zone is hosting a Trivia Game based on comic book information.

The format will be similar to Jeopardy, and it should be a real blast. There is no admission to be a part of the game, so come on by to see how well you know your comics.

There will be first, second, and third prizes awarded, based upon total points earned. The prizes will be store credit in varying amounts, although exact amounts are still to be determined.

If you absolutely want to be a part of this, come early on Saturday and claim your spot.

The Next Generation

The other day, four young men from Jr. High stopped by the store on their way home from school. They hung out for an hour or so, looking at comics and asking questions. They didn't buy anything, but they were obviously excited about finding a comic book store in the neighborhood, and said they would be back.

They HAVE been back, just about every day after school gets out.

The oldest one of the group is actually an avid comic book fan, and asked us if we were going to be getting in any more of two different series. I told him about pull boxes, and he asked me lots of questions about how they work, including how much they cost. I told him they don't cost anything. He said he'd think about it, and went back to looking through some back issues.

While he was looking, someone else came in and asked for the stuff in his pull box, which I promptly gave him and rang up for him. He thanked me and left.

A few moments later, the aforementioned young man came up and said that yes, he wanted a pull box, so I set it up for him.

He came in yesterday and asked if there was anything in his pull box, as though he had been doing it forever.

Warms my heart.

Back to School Sale

This weekend we are having a Back to School Sale at the Comic Zone. We are offering 15% off of EVERYTHING in the store.

We want to encourage our young readers so we are also implementing a new policy where we give a $1.00 in store credit for every A they earn on their report card in the current marking period.

We made one young man very happy with that news. He told me he got all A's last semester.

I don't know of any other comic book store that does something like this. I am proud of us for taking a stand for education!

Here is our press release about our stand on education: http://www.prlog.org/10317908-comic-zone-cares-about-education.html