Klondike Big Inch Title

 We picked up these titles as part of a collection awhile back. The Klondike Big Inch Land Company deed gave the possessor "ownership" of one square inch of Klondike land. This was a promotion by Quaker Oats tied into its sponsorship of "Sargent Preston of the Yukon" in 1955. Anyone who sent in a box top from a Quaker Oats product would receive one of the above deeds. Unfortunately, the State Department determined that Quaker Oaks was engaging in the sale of foreign land without registering as an agent to do so. To avoid the registration process, the company started enclosing the deeds in packages of their products.

Since Quaker never registered the deeds, the recipients never took legal ownership of the inch of land and, when Quaker failed to keep up with property taxes on the land in the 1960s, the Canadian government repossessed the property in 1965 and the Big Inch Land Company dissolved in 1966. The land is now part of a Dawson City golf course. If you want to buy one of the ones we have in stock, here is the listing on eBay

Apiary

 We just got in Apiary, a resource management game from Connie Vogelman, the designer of Wingspan and Wyrmspan, so if you like her game designs, you will probably like this one. In the far future, sentient honeybees have taken over the planet and you must manage their resources and workers in order to build the strongest hive. $79.99.

Diamond Files Bankruptcy

 Diamond Comics, our supplier for our comics except for Image and DC, filed for bankruptcy today. The company's FAQ list should answer most of the questions you might have:

1. Why did Diamond Comic Distributors decide to file for Chapter 11?

The unexpected loss of certain exclusive publisher relationships, compounded by an overall contraction in consumer spending, increased inflation, and a loss of margin on key print product lines contributed to this decision. After exploring all available options, Diamond determined that filing for Chapter 11 is the best course of action to restructure its operations and secure the most favorable outcome for all stakeholders.

2. What were the contributing factors in the industry that led to this decision?

Post-pandemic, the comic book industry at large has seen a decrease in consumer activity paired with rising operating costs, and Diamond is no exception. Shrinking margins, growing expenses, and a decline in sales, as well as the desire to achieve the best possible outcome for the majority of our vendors, customers, and employees all contributed to this decision.

3. What is Chapter 11? Does this mean the company is closing?

A Chapter 11 filing is generally an action a company takes to protect its ongoing business from financial claims while it continues operations. During Chapter 11 proceedings, the company typically reorganizes financially and manages its operations to best meet the claims of those to whom it owes money. Diamond has received funding from its lender to enable it to meet post-filing obligations and continue to operate while it goes through this process.

4. Is there another company taking over?

As part of the restructuring process, the Company has received a stalking horse bid from Universal Distribution for Alliance Game Distributors and signed a letter of intent with the same company to buy Diamond UK. We are also actively pursuing offers for additional Diamond Comic Distributors assets and lines of business, including our comic, toy and collectible distribution, Diamond Book Distributors, Collectible Grading Authority, and Diamond Select Toys.

5. How will I be impacted as a customer?

Diamond Comic Distributors will continue to fill orders and operating business as usual during this process. We are currently in discussions with companies inside and outside of our industries to acquire parts of Diamond. Our goal is to minimize any potential impact on retailers and ensure the continued, uninterrupted flow of products.

According to our customary practice, we will continue to invoice once a product ships.

Product cannot be returned once it has been shipped except in the case of publisher return programs and our standard defective product replacement policy.

6. What happens to my pending orders? How can I confirm their status?

Pending orders will be processed as usual unless otherwise communicated. You can confirm the status of your pending orders by visiting the Reports section of the Retailer Services Website. This section will continue to provide up-to-date information on Orders, Shipments, and Invoices.

7. Will there be any changes to how credits or refunds will be handled?

Credits for returns will continue to be processed on the usual schedule. If you have prepay credit terms, orders for products that are canceled will be credited to your account. No cash refunds will be issued and all credits must be used toward future purchases.

8. Should I continue paying my outstanding invoices to Diamond?

Yes, all outstanding invoices, back debt payments, and payment plans remain due and payable under the usual terms and schedule and should be paid. For specific questions regarding your account, please open a support ticket on the Retailer Services Website.

9. Will my retailer discount tiers or terms (e.g., payment terms, credit limits) remain unchanged during this process?

At this time, all credit terms and retailer discount tiers remain unchanged.

10. Will Diamond still facilitate Free Comic Book Day this year? If not, are there contingency plans?

At this time, Diamond remains committed to supporting Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) as planned. We understand the importance of this event for retailers and fans alike and will be working closely with participating publishers to ensure the event proceeds as smoothly as possible.

However, as we navigate the restructuring process, there may be changes or adjustments. In the event Diamond is unable to fully facilitate FCBD, we will be actively exploring contingency plans to ensure that stores can still receive materials and participate in this critical event.

Updates will be provided as more details become available.

11. Are my Alliance Game Distributors orders impacted?

Alliance Game Distributors will continue operating as usual throughout this process. Your current and future orders with Alliance will not be impacted.

13. What will happen with ComicSuite and Pullbox?

Retailers using ComicSuite and / or Pullbox will receive further communication about these tools as more information becomes available.

14. What will happen with the PREVIEWS catalog?

As this process moves forward, we will announce any changes to PREVIEWS as more information is available.

Games Workshop New Releases 2/1

 Here are the new releases from Games Workshop for Feb 1.  If you want anything on the release date,

Let us know by 4 p.m. Feb 14

HORUS HERESY: ARVUS LIGHTER

SOLAR AUXILIA: VALDOR TANK DESTROYER

SOLAR AUXILIA: MALCADOR INFERNUS

DEREDEO DREADNOUGHT BOREAS CONFIGURATION

EMPIRE OF MAN: EMPIRE STATE TROOPS

EMPIRE OF MAN: STATE MISSILE TROOPS

EMPIRE OF MAN: FLAGELLANTS

EMPIRE OF MAN: GREATSWORDS

HELBLASTER VOLLEYGUN/HELSTORM BATTERY

EMPIRE OF MAN: ARCHERS

GROMBRINDAL: ANCESTOR'S BURDEN (HB)

THE DARK COIL: DAMNATION (PB)

Hours

 We expect to be open regular hours tomorrow, January 11 with the Yu Gi Oh can tournament at 1 p.m., pokemon at 1 p.m., Jr. Magic at 3 p.m. and D&D with Brandon at 5:30, assuming Brandon has recovered their health.

Magic Netflix Series

 Announced this past weekend at Magiccon is an upcoming Magic series on Netflix, featuring Chandra and Ajari, and co-starring Jace, who appears right at the corner of the promo shot for the series.

The series will be helmed by Terry Matalas, who was co-showrunner on Season 2 of Picard and sole showrunner on season 3.

Statement from Diamond Comics

 statement from Diamond Comics, who supplies most of our comics from Marvel, Boom, IDW, etc. regarding the delays in shipments over the past months:

DCD Customer Status Update for January 7 from Chris Powell, Chief Sales & Service Officer

I hope you've entered the new year safe and healthy, ready to tackle 2025. Over the holidays, our focus was on making as much improvement on the issue of timeliness as possible. Since there was no truly new information to share in that period, I was pleased to receive a status update from our Operations team yesterday and to learn of some forward momentum going into this new week.

This week, nearly all US retailers were scheduled to receive their product by Wednesday. That's particularly good news considering we lost a day each week due to the holidays. There are some pockets of disruption due to a winter storm, but the shipments leaving our warehouse were on a better pace than they had been in December.

This still does not meet our internal goals or retailers' expectations, but we continue to work with the Operations teams to identify changes that may allow us to ship products more consistently.

Our Distribution Process

Following the recent changes, many of you have had questions about why things haven't shipped from the distribution center as quickly as we or you need them to.

Periodicals that we don't receive directly from the various printers (periodicals from publishers who sell to us through other wholesalers) arrive to us over the weekend or as late as Monday for the following week's releases. We deal with a much wider selection of products, both print and non-print, than other distributors and that leads to delayed or misrouted deliveries that must be dealt with before the picking and packing of orders can begin.

Retailers who are furthest way from the center are picked first, then the next furthest, then the next, etc. As they are picked, they are packed and then handed off to trucking companies for delivery. Then the process begins again ...

This process is not working as it needs to, obviously, but modifying it takes time. Ideally, changes would have been planned and tested while we continued to operate as we had been at Plattsburgh. With that no longer an option, we must make changes and test them with live data and shipments while trying to minimize the impact on retailers.

We are considering many options, and they will almost certainly involve additional changes from the way we have operated in the past. I assure you, this is still the primary focus for our Operations, Purchasing, and Retailer Services teams and we will keep you in the loop as there are further developments.

Thank You

We appreciate how difficult these changes have been for our retailer partners, and wish very much that we did not have to go through this with you at the busiest time of year. Your patience and positive attitudes throughout this process are very much appreciated and I will continue to reach out as there are changes or progress to share with you.