And another book I was following switches to digital-only. The Beat| EXCLUSIVE: AHOY Comics takes CAPTAIN GINGER digital-only, reveals updated summer schedule While I already have the first two issues of the second Captain Ginger mini (or Season 2, as they call it), this is one I'll propably buy when it eventually comes to printed collection. And, to be honest, it makes me consider not buying new series of the publisher in single issues and just wait-for-trade.
Well, it finally happened. DC Comics Quits Diamond For Good, For UCS/Lunar - What About UK? | BleedingCool No word yet on who'll distribute DC's books in the UK, or the rest of Europe, mind you.
Whoa. Especially with the complications and price of shipping to Canada (and every one of the comic shops in my city not wanting to order from the competition), guess my DC reading days is coming to an end.
I kind of figured that was inevitable once they started working with UCS and Lunar. I wonder if anybody else will jump ship?
Sorry, in the previous post I missed mentioning that DC will still work with Penguin Random House for collected editions and graphic novels, so even if comic shops choose not to deal with UCS or Lunar because the competing comic shops that are behind them, they should be able to get new Hard- and Softcovers. Considering Penguin has its roots in the UK, and the company as a whole is owned by the German Bertelsmann conglomerate, maybe they'll end up doing the international distribution. If we're extra-lucky, @M'rk son of Mogh , they'll do the distribution for Canada, too. In any event, DC in their retailer email mentioned their goal as "intended to improve the health of, and strengthen, the Direct Market as well as grow the number of fans who read comics worldwide." While this is obvious PR speak, I can't imagine them just getting rid of the international market.
This must be a U.S. only thing though. In Canada, Diamond is the only distributor my LCB uses and it belongs to a larger group of stores. DC would essential be abandoning the world market.
The Beat has a collection of some interesting industry insiders' commentary on the DC/Diamond split, including former DC President Diane Nelson, retailers like Mile High's Chuck Rozanski, and creators like Peter David, Fabian Nicieza, or Ron Marz. This is a good collection, as it presents many different view points and gives a sense of what's going on. Most retailers seem to be pissed by DC's move. The way I see it at this moment is that breaking Diamond's monopoly was a necessary step. However, the timing with the current CoVID crisis already burdening retailers, as well as the decision to go with two big discount retailers as the new distributors, and a general failure in transparency on DC's part, makes the circumstances of the break appear quite bad. Maybe DC tried and failed to find distributors willing to distribute floppies for the Direct Market, at least on acceptable conditions. It's possible. The timing was nobody's fault, really. DC was in an exclusive contract with Diamond, which would have had to be renewed around this time, so it's actually not that DC just reacted to the Diamond shutdown. The plans apparently were there for a while, the timing was set through contracts, the total break with Diamond seems like a necessary step in order to build up the two new distributors. The miscommunication, though, and the lack of transparency, the failure to inform retailers well in advance, all that blame can only go to DC, and this appears to be a huge portion of the general anger of retailers towards this decision.
I didn't realize this was going to have a such a massive effect on the whole comics industry. Definitely sounds like this whole thing was handled very, very badly by DC.
I just read the response from my comics provider. Seems they got the email from DC just before closing time on Friday (which makes sense, time zones and all). They (Black Dog Comics in Berlin) are currently in contact with the two new cats and are optimistic that they'll be able to make the transition smooth enough for us customers not to be affected. Well, I guess this shows that somebody is going to do the international distribution. And certainly good news for me, almost all the floppies I buy are DC.
Sad day for comic book enthusiasts here in the Seattle Metro area. Corner Comics and Comics Dungeon are closing their doors after 40 and 30 years in the business, citing the prolonged closure due to COVID 19 and the switch in distribution from Diamond to the other, smaller distributors, the income needed to keep the storefronts operating was no longer there. It's really sad to see them go. I bought some of my first comics at Corner Comics and the owner was my high school math teacher. His whole classroom was decorated in comic book memorabilia. I would stay after class and talk shop with him. He retired and passed the store onto his employees who kept in going for another 20 years. Unfortunately, I think we're going to start seeing the demise of the independent comic book store.
Emerald City Comic Con postponed until March 2021. To that I say, 'Finally. What took you so long to realize that it just wasn't possible to hold an event of that magnitude without proper safety precautions in place'. Hopefully by the time March 2021 rolls around, they'll be able to have some social distancing guidelines in effect.
I'm shocked Fan Expo in Toronto still refuses to announce their event is cancelled. It's not like it's a big secret, and everybody really does understand what's going on this year.
The reason these conventions (and other events) are taking so long to either postpone or cancel is that they have to wait for the government (city, county, state, whatever) to tell them to do so. Otherwise, the insurance wouldn't pay up all that money that has to go back to ticket buyers, exhibitors, etc..
Free Comic Book Day 2020 will be held from July 15 to September 9. Two months long day. Guess they're taking their cue from the arctic circle.
DC's Walmart Giants to Be Replaced With Recent-Release Four-Packs Well, I'll miss the Giants, I really enjoyed the format. In other news, writer/artist Cameron Stewart, and writer Warren Ellis are currently in the process of being #metoo'ed.
Kind of defeats the purpose of a big celebration of (in my local area, at least) food, costume contents, games and a day of celebrating and "comic shop hopping". When something becomes common, it loses what makes it special.