Unlike most of the releases in the ashcan program, the Dominion: Conflict 1 ashcan also previews two other manga series, Kenji Tsuruta's Spirit of Wonder-- Miss China's Ring (debuting in April) and Hiroaki Samura's Blade of the Immortal (starting in June). Like the preview of Shirow's Dominion: Conflict 1, the other two previews will be followed by a sign-up form that retailers can use to encourage customers to reserve their copies. Usually, each mini-preview contains a single customer reservation form on its inside back cover. Retailers would display the book at the cash register, using the form to gather consumer commitments. This information would then be put to use before initial ordering deadlines.
"We're giving retailers the tools to increase orders without increasing their risk," said Lou Bank, vice president of sales and marketing. "The manga ashcan is really three tools in one -- like a marketer's Swiss-army knife."
One copy of the manga ashcan will be sent through Diamond to each of the top 2,000 retail performers in the manga category. Retailers are encouraged to display it to their customers through their April ordering deadline for June products. The manga ashcan contains sixteen black-and-white, 5-1/2" x 8-1/2" pages, between stiff, color covers. Its "flip-book" format has two front covers, one depicting Dominion: Conflict 1 #1, and the other featuring Blade of the Immortal #1. 2,000 Concrete: Think Like a Mountain ashcans will be distributed similarly, though not necessarily to exactly the same set of 2,000 retailers. The retailers selected to receive the January ashcan mini-previews will not be contacted in advance. Their copies will simply be forwarded by Diamond in early January.