Like many, my initial response to the announced delays of Civil War and related titles was one of anger and frustration, but if I've learned anything after twenty-two years in this business, it's perspective.  While the delays are annoying and will potentially cost us all some revenue in the short term, there are still plenty of other books for us to sell in the meantime.  During the last few weeks, with invoices that are smaller than usual and a lack of high profile new issues on the shelves, we have taken the opportunity to push the thousands of other products we already have in stock and have seen our sales of trade paperbacks, toys and back issues climb to a level that more than makes up for a few missing 'hot' books.  In fact, we are currently on pace to set an all-time sales record this month.

Marvel's recent second quarter report stated that publishing revenue was up due mainly to Civil War.  I wonder what (if anything) will happen if a significant drop is reported in the third quarter with Civil War MIA?  Judging from the outcry pouring out across the Internet, it would seem that this was the straw that broke the camel's back with regard to late books, but it remains to be seen if there will be much, if any, effect on sales.  Customers often do the opposite of what they say, and I will be surprised if we see more than a very minor drop in Civil War sales on the final few issues.

The more bothersome issue for me is the effect this will have across the rest of Marvel's line, delaying bread-and-butter books like Amazing Spider-Man and New Avengers.  If anyone is waiting for Marvel to somehow make this up to us though, I think they'll be in for a long wait.  Again and again, every level in this industry has shown that their bottom line comes first and the only person watching out for my bottom line is me.  If there are stores whose business will be significantly hurt by these delays then I would strongly recommend re-examining your product mix and customer base to see if there's a way to move away from having too much reliance on one supplier.

Late books have been an issue for as long as I have been selling comics and being at the bottom of the supply chain, there isn't much we can do about it.  But how our stores are impacted by such things is completely in our control.