Lauren Becker of WARP 9 in Clawson/Auburn Hills, Michigan shares his displeasure with DC's recently concluded "Villains Month" event.
 
Hey DC, thanks for that awesome letter about your successful "Villains Month" venture!  Such warm and fuzzy feelings!  I haven't seen so much "back patting" since Barry Horowitz won his first pro wrestling match in the WWF (look it up on Google).
 
I'm glad YOU guys did well.  Fellow retailers I have talked to have had a slightly less than favorable experience.  And by slightly, I mean horrible.
 
Which is it DC?  Was it a longer lead time to produce the covers (I was told AND read that the books were ALREADY produced BEFORE we received the solicitations)?  Was it the production problems that caused an allocation ON THE ALREADY ALLOCATED? (which I do not understand, if the books were ALREADY PRODUCED, what kind of production problems could there be?)
 
Hey, how about this… If you need to produce a book two or more months in advance of the REGULAR solicitation date, then RETRO SOLICIT it.  I know you guys know how to do that.  You would have had an idea of how many to ACTUALLY produce (with extra copies for damages/missing/reorders), and any retailer complaints after that would be on the head of the retailer.
 
Instead of a letter touting the success of "Villains Month" on YOUR end, how about an apology to all the retailers who suffered because of the poor planning and absolute lack of information from this debacle of an "event month."   Yeah, it was an event all right… a freakin' DEBACLE of an event.
 
That congratulatory letter was a slap in the face to those who support your product both retail or AND consumer.  Pure and simple.
 
The opinions expressed in this Talk Back are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.