Allegiance Arts and Entertainment comic books are being placed in the book departments of 3,384 Walmart stores, about 70% of the chain.The displays will hang on the side of an endcap. Allegiance Arts and Entertainment will launch with four original titles - Red Rooster, Bass Reeves, Futurists, Norah's Saga, priced at $4.98 for 24 all-story pages on 70-pound paper. The comics will also be available on Walmart.com.
The Dork Review: I saw an article about these four titles and decided I wanted to check 'em out. I went to the Allegiance Arts and Entertainment website thinking I'd be able to buy the books from them directly, but found out you can only buy them on-line thru the Walmart website OR buy them at a Walmart store.
I was hesitate to buy them directly from Walmart, because of quality control & shipping. But I was interested enough to I rolled the dice and ordered all four books. Unfortunately, my concern was warranted, because the books came in a flimsy plastic envelop and were banged up pretty badly in the mail. I contacted Allegiance Arts about it...
"Hi,I was curious about your books they looked good and as a comic collector I'm always on the look out for indie books. I was also curious, because they were being sold exclusively thru Walmart and I was wondering how Walmart would handle them in the mail.Well, not surprisingly they were handled in a way most comic book collectors would find unacceptable. I ordered all four books and they were all pretty banged up when they arrived. I'm not telling you this with any intent for compensation or replacement, but as a friendly suggestion that you might want to offer your books thru your site (as well) so OCD people like me can get them in good condition and will continue ordering them. A nick & bent comic book to me is like nails on a chalk board. Well, I still look forward to reading them! I just hate seeing all that effort & time in a book get disrespected in the mail. Its why I no longer order TPBs thru Amazon and solely order thru DCBS or pick up books at my local shop. If I do like 'em after I read 'em though I'll still post a favorable review."Here was Allegiance Arts response,
"Thank you for reaching out to share your experience. We've had mixed reports about the online shipping, with some books arriving pristine and others arriving in rough shape. Fortunately, customers have a couple of options for replacement. If you want to try again, you should be able to return the books to Walmart within 30 days for replacements (Walmart should cover the cost). Obviously, there's a chance that the shipper will handle them carelessly, but they may also arrive in better condition. You can also return the books online, and then order replacements to be shipped to a nearby Walmart. This way, the shipping process is at least cutting out the local courier (fewer hands in the overall exchange of goods mitigates some chance of damage). Otherwise, we ARE bringing these concerns up with our distributor, as there are other aspects of the execution that are unacceptable from a collector's perspective (such as putting price stickers on the shelf copies, which won't happen going forward). Regardless, we're sorry that your initial experience was soured by the poor handling of the books, but we're grateful for your support and we hope you enjoy the books."Allegiance Arts and Entertainment are trying something new; which is great! For me - anything that gets comics out into the world more - the better - so I applaud them for it! But with all new things there can be problems. The good news is that they seem to be on top of it and are trying to correct the issue. So two thumbs up for them!
As for the books (Red Rooster, Bass Reeves, Futurists, Norah's Saga) I read all four of them and liked 'em! They were all well written and drawn! Red Rooster was my favorite out of the four.
I recommended you check 'em out - even if they're little bit banged up when ya get 'em!
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