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Last weekend was wild, with a line stretching halfway around the shopping center to meet Ray Park! He signed for over three hours straight before he got to everyone, and the response was excellent. I promise your welcoming & enthusiastic reception will lead to even more signing opportunities in the future, probably even sooner than you think! If you missed out on Ray, we have a handful of signed Darth Maul Funko Pops and comics available for sale at all three Ssalefishes.

As a reminder, for our holiday hours, we will be open Saturday, December 24th from 11 AM to 2 PM for Christmas Eve and we’ll be CLOSED on Sunday, December 25th for Christmas Day! That’s it, no changes for New Year’s, and not even a skip week of new releases next week like there has been in the past. In fact, I think there are even more new titles than on your average week. Fittingly as we prepare to flip the calendar, there’s dozen final issues and a dozen number ones, out with the old, in with the new!

I still can’t believe we’re less than 48 hours away from hosting Ray Park, Darth Maul himself, right here in Greensboro in our very own store! There have been a lot of frequently asked questions surrounding the event, so I will answer what I can now!

While you’re in, please have fun as we end the year on a high note, take part in our holiday cheer, be conscientious to the staff and your fellow fans, and do some last minute shopping as we have something perfect for everyone in your life, from stocking stuffers to once-in-a-lifetime gifts they’ll never forget!

Man, I haven’t really been asleep for about 36 hours as of this writing, knee deep in the hardest ComicHub wrangling of my career. I think of myself as Ralphie’s dad in A Christmas Story going down in the basement to do war with the furnace, and Jay & Mike & Austin are Ralphie & Randy & Mom just watching smoke and obscenities drift over from the computer! Along those lines, A Christmas Story Christmas on HBO Max actually wasn’t too bad, definitely better than Hocus Pocus 2 or Disenchanted for nostalgic sequels from this year.

There were definitely some pick-me-ups in the long fight through the night, mainly Carly as always, and the gorgeous Lois ornament that Concord customer Artist DAK surprised us with! Now to rest up before the Reindeer Romp & Running of the Balls 5Ks tomorrow!

Back in business with a normal full week of new releases on Wednesday, headlined by Dark Web #1, the kickoff for the Amazing Spider-Man & X-Men crossover that will carry over into 2023, Miles Morales Spider-Man #1, building excitement for next year’s Into the Spider-Verse sequel, and the Thanos Death Notes one-shot that calls back to Donny Cates’s run on Thor!

That said, it’s been a while since I’ve done any personal recommendations, so I’ll say with all sincerity that I can’t recommend The Menu, in theaters now, enough! As someone with a store whose bread & butter is franchises and blockbuster buzz, I should be more excited about Thor Love & Thunder or Black Adam, but as someone’s that’s gone to the theater about 18 times this year thanks to the Regal Unlimited pass, this, Everything Everywhere All at Once, and B.J. Novak (Ryan from The Office)’s theatrical directorial debut Vengeance were the best things I’ve seen. I guess it goes to the sentiment that I hear from a lot of you guys that are enjoying original ideas from Fantagraphics, Image, Boom, Aftershock, etc. more than the Big Two!

Next week is the dreaded “Fifth Week” of new releases, so between the holiday and an extra Wednesday in the month, publishers and distributors will be taking it easy. That means some of your extra funds are freed up to up to use in the Holiday Sale, continuing tomorrow Friday, November 25th at 11 AM and Small Business Saturday on the 26th, still Buy 2 Get 1 FREE on everything in the store except posters, comic supplies, and recent unbagged comics and 30% OFF standard back issues!

And we’re so thankful that actor Ray Park reached out to us to do an in-store signing on Saturday, December 17th at noon! This is another one of those moments that if I went back and told the 14 year old me that stayed home from the 8th grade year-end field trip to Washington D.C. to go see the premiere of Phantom Menace instead that one day Darth Maul would be coming to him, he’d never believe it. I’m getting his copy of the Phantom Menace novelization with the Maul cover signed for him.

Last week I was wrong, Local Comic Shop Day is actually Wednesday, November 23rd beginning at 8 AM, but we’re still going to run our Holiday Sale from Saturday, November 19th - Saturday, November 26th, so stay tuned to social media for the details on the deals!

For LCSD, we’ll have limited quantities available first come, first served of exclusive variants for Amazing Spider-Man #13, Batman & Joker Deadly Duo #1, Behold Behemoth #1, Eight Billion Genies #1, Grim #1, Once Upon a Time at the End of the World #1, and Spider-Man #2!

A couple cool events taking place in the Ssalefish Family over the next two weekends!

First there’s the final Warehouse Sale of 2022 taking place tomorrow, Friday, November 11th from 4 PM - 7 PM and Saturday, November 12th from 11 AM - 4 PM! For the first time, we’ll be offering a Fill-A-Long-Box deal at $150. Figuring a long box holds about 300 books, that’s a 50% off savings on our usual $1 comics, and even better than that if you really pack them in there. We’ve got a deal in place to sell off our entire dollar stock on Sunday, so if you haven’t made it out or wanted the chance to come back for something at a previous sale, this is your last shot, cause everything will be completely new in 2023!

Then next Saturday, November 19th is Local Comic Shop Day, and all three Ssalefish locations will have exclusive variants available for sale beginning at 11 AM! We’ve got a few surprises in store for the big day, too, so stay tuned!

Back down to Disney, and though I didn’t realize it’s the weekend of the Wine & Dine Half Marathon, I definitely would have entered if I knew about it! Instead we hit EPCOT first thing yesterday and rode Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure for the first time, then snagged a spot in the 5th boarding group for Guardians of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind (didn’t have a chance to read the comic adaptation of the story before i hit the road on Tuesday)! Then this morning we knocked out Rise of the Resistance & Millennium Falcom Smuggler’s Run and I loaded up on some new Star Wars merch you’ll catch be wearing around the shop shortly!

This Saturday, October 29th stop by and see us for Trick-or-Read, Penguin Random House’s replacement for the discontinued Diamond Halloween Comic Fest, and pick up some scary-good FREE reprints including Godzilla Monsters & Protectors, Star Wars Doctor Aphra, Amazing Spider-Man, and Strange Academy and a brand-new Spidey & His Amazing Friends special! We’ll also have FREE candy!

And our last Warehouse Sale of 2022 will be Friday, November 11th from 4 PM - 7 PM and Saturday, November 12th from 11 AM - 4 PM, and for the first time we’ll be offering long boxes to fill for a flat price of $150, or about $0.50 per book, even cheaper if you really cram them in there! After the last customer is out the door, we’re liquidating the stock and starting over for 2023, so if you’ve been meaning to come by or left something behind at one of previous sales, this is your last chance.