Tired of making it in late on Wednesday, only to find that your favorite book's already gone off the wall? There's a simple and cost effective way to deal with that - subscribe! If you're looking to start or update your subscription file, this is the place to do it. We'll also go over common questions you might have as well as our expectations for what it means to be a subscriber here at Phoenix.

Getting Started - Opening Your Subscription

Here's the bare minimum you need to know when opening up your subscription: we need your name, phone number, email, and a list of comic series that you want to subscribe to. 

Step One - Make an Account

To start, head up to the top right corner and click on the button to create an account or log into an existing account (which may already exist if you ever gave us your email for a receipt or made an online purchase).

Quick Disclaimer: by opening a subscription with us, you're agreeing to the terms of service as mentioned later in this article. Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with those rules before you proceed.

Step Two - Add comics to your pull list!

Once you’re logged in, head over to our subscription page and you should see a bunch of options to search up comics to add to your pull. You can use the search bar in this section to find specific titles (just don’t use the main store one - it won’t search the upcoming books catalog). Once you find a title you’d like to add, you have two options - you can preorder it or subscribe.

Subscribing to the series will put you down for all of the series beginning with the issue number you subscribed to (so if you subscribe to Amazing Spider-Man #7, you’ll start getting the series in your pull box beginning with issue 7, then 8, 9, 10, etc.). You can usually only subscribe to a book under its main or primary alternate cover. If you see a specific variant cover that you want, we recommend using the other option available - preorders.

Preording a book orders whatever specific issue you picked. It’s cover specific (meaning if you see something like “Artgerm Cardstock Variant” or something next to the title, that’s the specific cover you ordered). Once you’ve preordered the item, we’ll get a notification about it on our end for confirmation. Because of the nature of the comics industry, we don’t necessarily always get all of the variant covers offered by a comic publisher. If there’s a problem with a variant cover, we’ll reach out by email and talk with you about it before approving or cancelling the order.

One last thing to talk about - Final Order Cutoffs (or FOCs). FOCs represent the last chance for retailers (and consequently you) to modify our weekly comics orders. Once a comic is past its FOC date, it cannot be ordered online. If you see something past it’s FOC date and still want to order it, email us or visit us in-store and ask a team member about ordering it. We may still be able to pull a copy for you if we ordered any for the shelves, or place a late order for it (which may result in the book arriving a week or so late).

Step Three - Pick up your books

Pretty straightforward, right? You can swing by the store anytime after your books arrive to pick them up. Just come up to the counter, let us know you’re a subscriber and boom - done! We’ll pull your comics, ring them up and send you on your merry way.

Don’t have time to stop by? That’s okay! We offer a free local delivery service for any orders over $25, and we can always ship your books to you for a small shipping charge (usually between $10-25).

Subscriber Benefits

Being a subscriber has a lot of perks! While these perks are subject to occasional alteration, we will notify all subscribers with a month's worth of lead-time if we plan to alter them. Current perks include:

• No Charge and no minimum to open a subscription!

•   6% Discount on subscribed titles and preorders at 5-15 Monthly Titles

• 10% Discount on subscribed titles and preorders at 15-25 Monthly Titles

• 15% Discount on subscribed titles and preorders at 25+ Monthly Titles

• 5% Storewide discount on almost everything else in the store.*

• Free Local Delivery for orders over $25

These perks replaced the previous discount tiers and perks beginning April 1, 2025.

* - This discount does not apply to sealed boxes of TCGs or event entry fees.

Subscription Terms of Service

Here's what we're asking from you in exchange for the benefits and the subscription service itself.

• Please check in on your box once a month to purchase what's inside.

• Know your limits - make sure your box is routinely getting cleared out. Leaving a few books in there once in a while is fine, but please don't order more than you can pick up within a 1-2 month time period.

• Be proactive with your subscription management - tell us when we should add or remove books in a timely fashion so that we can adjust our orders in time.

• Keep your contact information up to date. If we reach out to you (see FAQ below) and your email bounces or phone number seems disconnected, we may close your file prematurely.

That's really about it! As long as you abide by these terms, we are happy to have you as a subscriber. Welcome aboard!

Subscriber FAQ

Here's a short list of some of our frequently asked questions.

Q: How long does it take for me to start getting comics once I sign up?

A: New comics are coming out all the time, so it could be as soon as the following week! Once we put the first comic in your box, we'll notify you by phone or email that your subscription has begun. Past that point, we expect you to stop by on your own schedule to check in on the box.

Q: How far out can I subscribe to things?

A: Typically the earliest you can sign up for a new series is about 2 months before its release date. The best way to check to see if a series is available to subscribe to is to check the Previews catalogue. If it's in there, you can subscribe to it!

Q: How close to release can I subscribe to things and still be guaranteed to get them?

A: For most large publishers, you can subscribe to stuff as late as three weeks ahead of its release date and still be confident that a copy will get set aside for you when we receive them. This is what we refer to as the final order cutoff (FOC) date. Once the FOC for an item has passed, we can still subscribe you to a book, but this will be pulling from our shelf copies. If we don't have enough shelf copies, we may not be able to get that issue for you at release.

Q: What happens if I miss coming in?

A: If we haven't seen you in more than a month, we'll reach out to you. The first time will be a short email reminder that you've got comics here, and the second time will be an email reminder and a phone call asking you to come in by the end of the current month. If you haven’t come in by that point, we'll close your file and re-shelve its contents.

Q: What if I need to go out of town for an extended period of time?

A: Just get in touch with us and let us know. We can add notes to your file to keep it open, or arrange for payment through our website.

Q: I want to subscribe to variant covers. How do I do that?

A: We don't offer subscriptions to specific covers at this time beyond the main cover and the “B” cover. However, you can put in requests for various covers, and we will do our best to fill them for you as they arrive. Please bear in mind that many variant covers must be ordered well ahead of time, and are often gated behind order minimums or ratios. The best practice here is to be as proactive as possible when requesting these.

Q: I want to preorder ratio variant covers. How do I do that?

A: Yes! Do bear in mind, however, that we will often mark up the prices of the higher ratio (1:25 and 1:50) variant covers by $5 to $10. If you do place a preorder for a comic that’s marked up, we’ll email you to confirm the price before we move forward with the preorder.

Q: A book got put in my pull box but I didn't want it. Why is that?

A: Sometimes we'll make a judgement call if the creative team is the same, or if we think this is relevant to your subscription interests (the easiest example of these recommendations are annuals). In these cases you are not obligated in any way to pick up the book.

Q: I want all of a certain comic book crossover. How do I do that?

A: We can do our level best to make that happen, but we do need you to be specific about which comics you want to pick up. Most crossovers will have a primary series, a few mini-series, and a host of “tie-in” comics. The best thing you can do in these cases is to find a checklist and run it down with one of our team members together.

Q: Can I subscribe to graphic novels?

A: Sure! They don't count towards your subscription discounts, and they typically come out at a much slower pace, but there's nothing stopping you from doing that.

Q: How do I adjust my subscription?

A: There are three ways: 1) Log into your subscription page here on the website; 2) Email us here at the shop; 3) Tell us what you want us to change when you come in.

Q: How many titles can I subscribe to?

A: As many as you can reasonably afford! Our suggestion is to start small, and realize that every monthly book on your pull list is around $4-5 a month. Set a budget for yourself.