When I was looking at the comic shipping list for Wednesday July 22nd 2009 I noticed an item solicited as 2000 AD Pack #1 June 2009, with the following information:

Due to being ridiculously busy, and having lots of family problems at the time, I wasn’t able to get to the comic store until 1st of August, in order to find out what this was all about. I then meant to talk about this as part of this week’s Thrill-Power Thursday, but my sleepy brain had other plans…

So, many North American 2000 AD fans have had issues with Diamond Distribution’s treatment of 2000 AD in the past. Many stores will not order the progs in because Diamond treat it as a special order, and retailers had to make a separate advance order for every weekly prog. I have heard reports from some buyers that Diamond would skip an issue every few weeks, and they would have to go online and download the missing prog in order to keep up with the story. I have never experienced this, but I have noticed oddities such as the fact that some weeks one issue will arrive at the store, then there won’t be any issues for several weeks… then I will receive six or seven issues in one huge lump, which will end up costing me an arm and a leg!

However, this has all changed now, thanks to the fact that Diamond have recognized the fact that they cannot ship a weekly international comic with any sort of regular schedule, so they have decided not to even bother trying. Now, Diamond have decided to ship the progs on a monthly schedule, so if you subscribe to the title through your local comic store you will now receive a nice large plastic baggie containing all four weekly progs that were released in the previous month in the UK. For example, the pack that I received on July 22nd was the June ’09 pack, and contained Progs #1638, #1639, #1640, and #1641; all which were released in the UK in June 2009.

This new shipping method means that North Americans will have to wait a little bit longer for their regular thrill-power fix, but it at least means that said fix will actually be received at all! An added bonus with the new monthly schedule is that reading four progs in one sitting is like injecting pure thrill-power directly into your cerebellum!!

If you are not currently receiving 2000 AD from your North American retailer and wish to do so, then let them know about this new ordering system, and urge them to order the packs in for you! If they give you any crap about minimum order numbers, they are talking rubbish, so just tell them that you want it as a regular order to go in your pull-box. If your store will not do this for you, then find another store, because a comic store that will not order in titles that shoppers want to buy is not worthy of your patronage!

For your ordering convenience, I have included below the Diamond order codes for the next monthly 2000 AD packs, as well as the next two issues of Judge Dredd Megazine. Simply give these order numbers to your retailer and MAKE them order the issues in!

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