TERRITORY RESTRICTED COMICS / INTERNATIONAL RESTRICTIONS

Territory-Restricted Comics

Publishers sometimes only hold licenses to sell certain franchise comics (like Disney, Ben10, Dark Horse' Star Wars, ThunderCats, and Gargoyles) in specific regions, which exclude New Zealand. Strict enforcement means MK1 can no longer get these titles through normal channels. 

We have teamed up with a USA comic shop to source these titles for our existing subscribers but preorder deadlines are earlier than advertised and delivery time to NZ much later.  If you are an existing Mk1 subscriber with an established, reliable preorder history (a great track record of prompt payments and no cancellations) please read through the details below and contact MK1 if you would like be considered for Territory Restricted Comic Preordering.

Recently, an increasing number of comic titles have become unavailable to New Zealand through the standard distribution channels. This happens when publishers—such as Dark Horse (all-ages Star Wars) and Dynamite (Disney titles, including Gargoyles)—only hold sales rights for properties/characters for North America or other specific regions.

While territory restrictions aren't new, distributors are now enforcing them much more strictly.

The Good News: We have found an alternative way to source these titles! The Catch: Sourcing them requires a much stricter preorder timeline, a delay for delivery here.  We can offer these comics to existing Mk1 subscribers with good preorder/payment history   - please see the criteria below.

Important Changes to Ordering & Deadlines

  • Earlier Deadlines: Our new sourcing method only works for orders placed through the current Preorder catalogue. We can no longer use the standard "Final Orders Due" date. Orders for restricted titles must be placed by the Catalogue End-of-Month deadline (two months prior to shipping).

  • Preorder Only (No Shelf Stock): MK1 will not be ordering any territory-restricted titles for general shelf or website sales. We will only order the exact number of copies needed to fulfill preorders placed before the monthly catalogue deadline.  

  • Delayed Batch Shipping: These titles will ship separately from our regular deliveries and will arrive in a single batch every 6 to 8 weeks. (For example: All titles releasing in April  will arrive in a single shipment in mid-to-late June).

How This Works in "Manage Comics"

Currently, the data files provided by publishers do not flag territory restrictions, which means we cannot automatically filter them out of the MANAGE COMICS listings in our Preorder section.

If you place an order for a territory-restricted title , our team will reach out to advise you. We will link you to this page for reference and let you know the likelihood of us successfully securing your copy. 

A Note on Sourcing These Titles: Because importing these specific comics involves significantly higher costs for us, we are currently only offering this service to customers with an established, reliable preorder history (a great track record of prompt payments and no cancellations).

Additionally, because of the added complications plus higher shipping costs the final landed cost of these imports can sometimes be noticeably higher than our standard retail prices. We will always do our best to keep the price down, but we do ask that you are comfortable with some price flexibility if you choose to use this service.

If you are happy with these factors and would still like us to consider your account for ordering of  these titles, please reach out to us.  (Contact form is below - please make sure you include a mobile number so we can follow up).

Below is a list of the current territory-restricted titles: