FAQs

Welcome to the Page 45 FAQs! You’ll find them divided into four sections:
You can click below to go straight to a particular section on the page.

The Website
Page 45
Comics
Other

We’ve tried to think ahead and anticipate what you might need to know, whilst recalling questions we’ve been presented with in the past. Unlike other websites however, we are but an email or phone call away, so if you have anything you think needs clarifying, then please let us know and we’ll answer your questions and, if necessary, blog about it and update this very page.

The Website

Q: When using your search engine do I have to type the exact title or full creator names?

A: No, you can just use surnames or bits of titles – not even whole words – but you will need to spell in English rather than American because we figured that most of our customers would do so instinctively. For example: neighbourhood with a u, armour with a u and palaeolithic with two a’s.

Q: How do I know which creators are the writers and which are the artists?

A: An ampersand (&) separates the writers first from the artists second. If there’s no ampersand then it indicates that the creator did the whole lot his- or herself, or it may be an art or prose book.

Q: I’m local, I’m reading one of your reviews, I love the sound of the book and I want to buy it now. Much easier than trying to remember it when I’m in the shop, but I don’t want to pay postage to have it sent to me. 

A: Please select “pick up in store” as the shipping method. It’s then already yours and postage-free for when you want to come in and collect it!

Q: If I can’t spot something on your website, can I still order it from you?

A: Absolutely, so long as it’s in print – we’ll certainly do our best. Please drop us a line or pick up the phone. That applies both to books we don’t have room for or older issues of a series you might have missed. There’s no extra charge.

Q: If a book is designated in stock when I order it from your website how soon will it be dispatched?

A: Almost always within 24 hours give or take a Sunday (open11am to 4pm except Easter Sunday) or a Bank Holiday (closed) when we have no access to the Post Office.

Q: When am I charged?

A: Only when the comics are dispatched! Whether you are ordering something currently in stock, due back in stock or not yet published and only due in a month’s time YOU WILL ONLY BE CHARGED WHEN THE MATERIAL IS DISPATCHED. Hurrah!

Q: What if five people order the same book within a few minutes and you only have four copies in stock?

A: Every single purchase is immediately registered by our store so that in this unlikely event the fifth person will see that the book is temporarily out of stock. Don’t worry, we reorder weekly and may even start to do so daily if traffic demands it, although we have a good understanding of our sales patterns and can keep an extremely high percentage of the books in stock at any one time. And, in the unlikely event described above we typically have restocks of most books in less than a week for the unfortunate fifth person!

Q: I notice the HELLBLAZER books aren’t numbered.

A: No, but in that instance we have ordered them on the website correctly, and you will find useful reading orders scattered around several sections like Geoff Johns’ GREEN LANTERN and SPIDER-MAN post-ONE MORE DAY. Please let us know if you want more! (Incidentally John Constantine was created by Alan Moore for SWAMP THING, so if you want to go right back to the beginning, you’re heartily encouraged to pick up SWAMP THING vols 3, 4 and 5, whilst Rick Veitch’s run on the book included a couple of key appearances in SWAMP THING vols 7 & 8, one of which was a direct crossover with HELLBLAZER itself.

Q: There was one thing about the reviews’ scroll bar that foxed me slightly as I stood stroking my iPhone with the one finger. This usually works but nothing was happening. 

A: iOS devices such as iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch don’t display scroll bars because scrolling is achieved with the swipe of a finger. On a website that has a box or frame containing scrolling text, iOS users have to swipe with two fingers – a little known trick! Here’s a link to a support page about it: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1484 (Thank you, Richard Hanks.)

Q: Do you plan to put more merchandise on the website?

A: Not a great deal. We have the SCOTT PILGRIM posters (both exclusive to us) and the CEREBUS UK TOUR ’93 posters (because we organised it) but on the whole we’re not about the plastic at Page 45. We love comics. 

Q: I see you are now posting reviews on a weekly basis. When do they go up? 

A: Ideally they’re blogged in the Page 45 News Reviews early on each Wednesday evening. So far so good!

Q: Where are your gift vouchers?

A: In the Merchandise, Gift & Supplies section here. You can buy both physical gift vouchers to use in-store and virtual vouchers for our website.

Q: Why are some titles in the reviews in capitals, others in lower case?

A: Page 45’s review house style is to render the titles of comics and graphic novels in capitals (along with their associated art books etc.), and other titles (song, prose, chapters of graphic novels etc.) in lower case. Apologies for any unedited inconsistences.

Q: Can I quote from Page 45 reviews?

A: We’re delighted to be quoted on anything by anyone at any time – and thank you for even asking – so long as the individual reviewer and Page 45 are both credited. It should be noted, however, that every Page 45 review, blog and resource remains the intellectual property of Page 45, so if another shop started running even parts of our reviews as their own without mentioning Page 45 then that regrettably is what lawyers are for and why plagiarism is a crime.

[Smiles benignly.]

Q: I’ve just noticed: there are no advertisements on your site.

A: It’s all about trust. The reason Page 45 is lucky enough to have so much repeat custom is that we only recommend what we wholeheartedly believe in, hence taking the time to read and review so many of these graphic novels. Similarly, in spite of the enormous financial benefits involved, we never for one second considered allowing outside advertisers onto our site. Besides, they make those websites so ugly, whereas we want you to be able to relax as you browse, not get poked in the eye every five seconds. This is a visual medium, after all!

Page 45

Q: Why are you called Page 45?

A: Precisely so that you’d ask us that question. If you’re asking yourself that question then you’ve already remembered our name.

Q: Seriously?

A: Seriously! Over 500 customers asked us that very question during our first month of trading, and it remains the most frequently asked question here. Additionally we wanted to hint at what we sold (“Page”), what we sell being comics (see speech balloon in our logo), without once mentioning comics in our name for fear of putting off those who don’t yet read comics. If someone strolling by who doesn’t read comics sees that we’re a comic shop then they may well think, “I don’t read comics, therefore I don’t need to go in.” We want to convert those potential readers using their natural curiosity by luring them in then keeping them comfortable and treating them like gold.

Scott McCloud of UNDERSTANDING COMICS fame called our name “style positive, content neutral”. And since the wider truth is that we were planning to use a phrase on page 45 of UNDERSTANDING COMICS as our opening publicity campaign, we’ll take that compliment and run. It was the most important book about comics to have emerged to that date and remains vital to anyone studying the medium or communication in general. Brilliantly it’s a graphic novel itself, and therefore self-demonstrative.

There’s a wee bit more behind the name, but that’s for those of you who get us drunk!

Q: Do you plan to open up more Page 45s?

A: Unlikely. Page 45 is all about the individual, be they the customer or creator, and we relish giving a personalised service putting one into contact with the other. To that end we’d rather keep it simple, honest and direct. We’ve done everything in our power to make visiting this website as close as possible to walking into Page 45 itself, and help other shops open up using the same model instead. Truly, we do not need the ulcers involved in overseeing another outlet to make sure it matches our standards of service. We need to see brilliant comics reach beautiful people. That’d be you, by the way.

Q: What do you mean by the term “Real Mainstream”?

A: The average person on the street. Those who would love comics and graphic novels if only other comic shops would cater for them with the diversity of material clearly on offer as demonstrated on our shelves and by our website. However enjoyable some of them most certainly are, superheroes are not and never have been “mainstream” as their corporate spin-doctors claim, otherwise the percentage of people reading comics in the US and UK would be ever so slightly larger than 0.5%. It’d be more like the 50% in Europe where the superhero is but a minor aberration or 100% in Japan where they even have comics about golf! Please see our interviews in Fun & Resources for more.

Q: Do you value comics?

A: Very highly indeed. That’s why we opened.

Q: No, I mean can you tell me how much my comics are worth?

A: I’m afraid not. Value is a relative concept: whatever they mean in your heart is what they are worth to you. Hopefully that’s a lot. We throw all our time and energy at Page 45 into promoting glorious graphic novels to magnificent people. This is an entertainment medium, not a stock exchange.

Q: Why hasn’t Stephen been sacked yet?

A: That, on the other hand, is a very good question.

Q: Do you sell colanders?

A: We have honestly been asked that question.

Comics

Q: When do new comics arrive in the UK?

A: New comics and graphic novels from all publishers now appear on Wednesdays, even after Bank Holidays! Restocks materialise almost daily despending on our sources.

Q: What do I even call comics these days? Graphic novels…?

A: Call them whatever you want, we’ll know what you mean. Page 45 isn’t remotely embarrassed about the word “comics”. Instead we’re doing our level best to dispel the stigmatic preconceptions associated with the term, thereby reeducating the public about what comics are.

We stock comics and collected editions: graphic novels, trade paperbacks, softcovers, hardcovers. Call ‘em what you like, we all love the contents.

Q: Superhero comics used to have a month listed next to the issue number, but they always appeared on the shelves two months earlier. Why?

A: It’s been an almost universal misconception that the month in question was the release date, when actually it was the off-sale date when newsagents could return unsold copies to the publishers.

Q: How do I create my own comics and sell them to you?

A: Please see Other Fun & Resources. But go on and do it! Creativity is cool.

Other

Q: Where’s Forbidden Planet?

A: Turn right out of our door and then walk towards the… hold on!

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