One of the biggest problems in writing a column like this is the time delay. I'm writing this on May 30th, for it to appear in the August issue of Comics Retailer.

What this means, of course, is that if I've got something timely to talk about, like this month, you won't be reading about it until it's become history. This is sometimes frustrating. Most times, I attempt to couch my statements in such a way to be universal and timeless, but every once in awhile it's imperative to discuss something that is, to you, the past.

The issue this month is one of missolicitation.

There are a lot of ways for a comic to be missolicited: different creative teams; erroneous catalog descriptions; format or price changes; incorrect shipping dates. But all of these things are covered clearly in the distributor's terms, and we, the retailers, are covered from publisher malfeasance, because missolicited items are fully returnable. However, as of late, we've discovered a new problem -- one that isn't specifically spelled out: sequence.

I don't think I'm alone in believing that sequence is as important an issue in sell-through as creative team, description, format, price, or ship dates. We don't want customers, particularly in today's glutted market, to be given any reason to drop a book, and material shipping out of the sequence it was solicited in, is as clear of an invitation for the customer to reconsider their purchase as anything else. Particularly because we're dealing with serial fiction, and habitual entertainment, where the regular steady fix is what the customer is looking for.

There were two recent attempts to subvert the sequence issue that leap immediately to my mind Continuity Comics' Valeria the She-Bat, which attempted to completely skip the two Spawn crossover issues; and Marvel's Starblast crossover, where a number of the crossover issues shipped long before the book they were meant to be crossing into. In both cases, these sequence-errors got rightly shut down by the distributors, and the affected titles were made fully returnable. At the time, I placed several calls to Diamond suggesting that they write into their trade terms a "sequence clause", so that these problems won't arise again, costing everyone more money (in phone calls and employee time, not only in indentifying the problem, but in packaging and shipping returns), avoiding "case by case determination". My reasoning was that if these things were clearly stated ahead of time, then the publishers might think twice before soliciting an item if there is any question of it arriving in proper sequence.

Of course, the distributors did not create such a policy, which brings us neatly to the item du jour: Spawn #21.

We're all aware at this point that Image has announced that Spawn #19 & 20 were running behind schedule enough that those issues would've been returnable under the distributors new 30-days policies. #21, however, was for some reason done, and ready to go, and could be shipped "on time" in the month it was solicited for. Rather than be responsible and either ship #19 & 20 late (having to take returns), renumber #21 to #19 (having to take returns) or resolicit the material (meaning there wouldn't be a Spawn on the market for 4 months), it was decided to ship #21 out of sequence, non-returnably, resoliciting the late issues #19 & 20 at some later date, sticking us with the ramifications of Todd McFarlane's inability to produce the material when he promised.

And the distributors went for it.

They went for it. Can you believe that?

Now, even ignoring the very very real possibility of customers dropping Spawn, losing us long-term dollars at a time where so few of us can afford that kind of loss, there is the inevitable and incessant phone calls we're all going to receive. When things have shipped out of sequence in the past, I generally receive two to three phone calls asking me to explain it as I have any expectation of selling of the items in question. Some customers will call every store in town looking for the "missing" issues, although it's been carefully explained to them several times that those titles weren't even produced yet - they seem to assume that the retailers are holding the comic back in their storerooms, although no one in town has every even received the book. I logged at least a dozen calls each on Starblast and Valeria, and I was selling less than 5 copies of those books. I can't even begin to guess how many calls I'm going to be fielding on a well-selling book like Spawn. Each and every phone call you take on these issues is costing you money, not only in time that could be better put towards keeping your store running efficiently, but also in potential loss of real customers who aren't going to be able to get through to you.

And we are going to lose some sales - it might only be one copy per store, but I know consumers: when faced with something confusing, a certain percentage will go away. And for us, that not only reduces our potential profit all the way down the line, but it leaves us with merchandise that we have no surety of selling, for at least the next three months, until we can adjust our orders again.

However, Todd, Image, and the Distributors are all protected with a non-returnable #21: they have no unsold inventory, and we're stuck paying for their decision – a decision that we not only had no say in, but no culpability for as well! And that's neither right nor fair.

Of course, I think we can all guess why Spawn is being allowed to get away this, while others are not: Spawn is one of the best-selling books in this industry. Doing the right thing will cost Image and the distributors many thousands of dollars. But who should bear that cost? McFarlane, who made the promise he was unable to keep? Image for allowing solicitation on an item they had no reasonable expectation of being able to ship on time? The distributors, who seem more concerned about their suppliers than their customers? Or the retailers, who ordered in good faith, playing by the rules, then told those rules no longer apply?

This is not only a financial crime, but a precedent setting one, as well. If the distributors allow Spawn to take blatant advantage of what is a loophole at best, then they have to allow other publishers and other titles to do the same.

By the time you read this, you've had Spawn #21 for at least 6 weeks. If you have unsold, and unsalable inventory on this issue, send it back.

That's right: send it back, and strike that amount from your next bill. That's the only way they'll learn they can't do this to us.

I am unwilling (and unable) to pay for Todd McFarlane and Image's negligence. I am unwilling to support a distributor who perpetuates this kind of crass manipulation of the marketplace. By remaining silent, by eating #21, you are, in fact, condoning this action -- "Political action" is your only recourse. Did I ever tell my story about the "Gold" Venom #1? You remember that, right? It showed up, outta the blue, with no orders placed for it, and some really expensive net price attached to it...$17.50 is what I think Diamond was asking for it. I recognized that this too was a dangerous precedent: you simply can't ship things that were unasked for, then expect us to pay for it! And they had the unmitigated gall to bill this as a "thank you" for supporting the first Venom mini-series! So I took the copy they sent me, neatly cut it in half with a pair of scissors, and sent it back with a note saying that I expected a credit to appear on my next bill, or I'd take it off myself. If you don't stand up for what you believe, for what's important, then you can't complain as they take your livelihood away, inch by inch.

So, I urge each and every one of you to return your unsold merchandise to your distributor, along with a polite note explaining why you are doing so. If you can include secondary information, like your cycles sheets, or the number (and length!) of the phone calls you received, that will make the point that much more clearly. I would also suggest you write a note to both Todd and Image, as well, expressing your displeasure with this action.

If we take this action together, they'll have no choice but to take the book back, and to learn they can't play these kind of numeric semantics with us again. We'll all stand together, or we'll fall separately. Do the right thing.