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The Unholy Dragon

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Hibbs long ago entered "old man yelling at clouds" stage in terms of how much influence he has in the industry.

I don't think there's anyone in DC/Marvel retail who takes him seriously.

Comics Beat tried to replace him with Brian Schatz, a retailer from Edmonton, but Schatz got into a dozen flame wars in the comments section and rarely contributes now.

Edited by Southside Jim
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On 4/18/2020 at 1:10 PM, dogwelder said:

No, Diamond had announced that they were going to go back to shipping sometime in May.

Apparently DC's move blindsided almost everyone, including some DC staff.

I didn't know Diamond was planning to resume shipments, so thanks.  

Is the DC deal exclusive?  I mean, are they cutting out Diamond entirely?  The article mentioned that DC apparently didn't renew their agreement with Diamond.

My impression is that Diamond was struggling anyway, right?  And now, they have a month shutdown with no revenue and the loss of one of the biggest companies in the industry.  Can they stay in business without DC?

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 It sure how long ago this was, but there used to be a rumor that DC had an option to buy Diamond. This may have been back when (shudder) Heroes World was still around. 
 

this is another example of why I’m happy to be mostly digital these days, except for old back issues of obscure stuff.

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I'm not saying DC is doing the right thing, but it's funny to see people talking about Diamond saving the comics industry and being the lifeblood of if, etc etc, after the last twenty years of hearing every retailer I've ever met or read online bitch non-stop about Diamond being terrible.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 5 weeks later...

So DC announced today they're leaving Diamond.

 

This is huge with massive repercussions and a lot of unanswered questions. 

 

One big issue is shipping. It's been noted that Lunar/UCS have pricier shipping than Diamond. The UK/Europe are especially hosed though...neither distributor has plans to set up local shipping hubs, so the cost of comics+shipping is going to exceed cover price, doubling at least the cost of any DC Comics sold there.

 

Retaliation is also going to be a thing. On a small scale, I wonder if DST stops producing DC merch. Or further, if Diamond stops distributing toys and merch featuring DC Characters at all.

 

Moreover, will Diamond cancel its contracts with Midtown and DCBS to retaliate for the loss of DC income and likewise to encourage shops to purchase heavier amounts of Marvel/Image/Dark Horse/Etc. since the two biggest can't anymore.

 

On top of all that, Bleeding Cool is reporting that this is part of a AT&T purchase shakeup with the intent to phase out physical copy single issue comics in favour of digital serialization and a focus on graphic novels moving forward.

 

Lots of aspects to this one.

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I fucking hate Diamond but everyone I know in the store-level industry is foaming at the mouth and I don't fucking blame them.  This is absurd and kind of obscene, and they don't have 1994 Marvel's excuses of "we're being bled dry by a vulture capitalist who wants to sell us" and "nobody knows what happens next, it might be good for the industry".  

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In theory, multiple distributors is good. But the exclusivity deals are what really here in the 90s. 

Our store had accounts with heroes world, diamond, capital, cold cut and maybe some other small press group. Capital I think only had Kitchen Sink as an exclusive,so most shops didnt bother probably. 

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On 6/5/2020 at 4:55 PM, The Unholy Dragon said:

Bleeding Cool is reporting that this is part of a AT&T purchase shakeup with the intent to phase out physical copy single issue comics in favour of digital serialization and a focus on graphic novels moving forward.

when physical floppies die, so does my monetary investment.

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On 6/5/2020 at 5:55 PM, The Unholy Dragon said:

On top of all that, Bleeding Cool is reporting that this is part of a AT&T purchase shakeup with the intent to phase out physical copy single issue comics in favour of digital serialization and a focus on graphic novels moving forward.

As a consumer, I would prefer this.  I much prefer reading complete storylines so I trade-wait most books these days.   I kinda feel like the era of monthly comics is drawing to an end.

But.... if you switch to first-run tpb's that contain the content you would have put out in six monthly issues of Batman, I wonder if that doesn't kill the local comic shop industry.  If you only need to pick up one or maybe two trades a year to keep up with a Snyder Batman series, do you need to go to the comic shop all that often?  Probably not.  I kinda doubt you'd be getting a huge number of tpb's a week, so customers probably have a lot less reason to make regular trips to the lcs.  Some customers will always want to pick up new content as soon as it's released, but well, there are digital options.  I kinda think killing off monthlies kills a lot of shop's browse/impulse spending.

I also phasing out physical issues of single copies might result in customers spending less money.  Maybe you just switch the people who want a monthly fix to digital and retain your customer base that way.  Personally, it would result in me spending a lot less money.  I mostly trade-wait, but there are books I want to check out before I invest in a tpb, or don't want to wait 6-18 months for a trade.  I've been reading John's Shazam book monthly because the trade compilation of the first 12 issues isn't due to be released until December 2020.

But.... picking up monthly issues is usually a waste of money for me.  Occasionally, I decide to read an issue and don't continue with the book, but what usually happens is that I buy the monthlies to read then pick up the compilations for my collection.  This is what happened with Doomsday Clock.

I also usually regret picking up monthlies when the delays hit (Doomsday Clock), so it wouldn't be all bad if monthlies were discontinued.

Any way the DC move goes, it might be the demise of local comic shops.  That was probably inevitable anyway due to a shrinking customer base and the switch towards digital, but still... 

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In this decade Print (and as well TV) is going to decline further with some exceptions. Anyway more Earth One or Elseworld like graphic novels is good for newer readers who can't be bothered with messy mainline continuity or reading monthlies

Serial digitized ongoings is fine, but they better start suing to shut down those free comic sites.

They could carry on printing floppies but reducing the line, 20 or so monthlies would suffice. Removing all floppies does means less printing costs, less paying for paper and other reductions in spending.

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2 hours ago, D.Z said:

Serial digitized ongoings is fine, but they better start suing to shut down those free comic sites.

Does that work.?  I've never really had much interest in pirating media (or anything else), but it seems like large sites get shut down by copyright holders once in a while without really abating the problem.  I'm guessing it's not that hard to download a comic, album, or wrestling match?

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Brian Wood has had accusations made against him the past.

given the cult of personality around Ellis, especially by a subset of female fans, that also would not surprise me. 
 

I do wonder if Ellis has so many admirers, will he get the “Woody Allen treatment” 

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