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JD's Comic Book Thread

Quick update, while DC & Marvel won't release any new comics (aside from GNs and collections available through the book market) digitally, Diamond had to furlough all employees except for a skeleton crew working for the day they can start distribution again.
 
Even before Diamond's targeted restart of distribution, DC will start releasing new comics starting in two weeks.

Not sure if they will self-distribute, or they found a replacement distributor, or what's going on, but they have a list of participating shops*, so apparently not all shops will get the new titles, so you should check that list.

The titles will restart their digital release simultaneusly.

*I can hardly believe that the one German comic shop on that list is the one I get my books from.


Edit: Damn, this is a news-heavy day.

San Diego ComicCon and WonderCon have been officially cancelled this year!

Was to be expected, but now it's official. Here's the press release:

"For the first time in its 50-year history San Diego Comic Convention (SDCC), the organizers behind the annual pop culture celebration, announced today with deep regret, that there will be no Comic-Con in 2020. The event will instead return to the San Diego Convention Center from July 22-25, 2021.

Recognizing that countless attendees save and plan for its conventions each year, and how many exhibitors and stakeholders rely upon its events for a major portion of their livelihood, they had hoped to delay this decision in anticipation that COVID-19 concerns might lessen by summer. Continuous monitoring of health advisories and recent statements by the Governor of California have made it clear that it would not be safe to move forward with plans for this year.

Similarly, WonderCon Anaheim, which was to have been held April 10-12, 2020 will return to the Anaheim Convention Center from March 26-28, 2021.

In addition to their conventions, Comic-Con has been planning a major renovation of Balboa Park’s Federal Building to be completed for the grand opening of the Comic-Con Museum in the summer of 2021. However, the COVID-19 situation has had an effect on those efforts as well. As such, they will be rephasing the Museum’s initially planned major renovations, but will not scale back the experience to be offered to visitors upon the Museum’s grand opening. They anticipate releasing building plans illustrating the Museum’s transformation and sharing more information about those efforts in the coming months.

SDCC also announced that individuals who purchased badges for Comic-Con 2020 will have the option to request a refund or transfer their badges to Comic-Con 2021. All 2020 badge holders will receive an email within the next week with instructions on how to request a refund. Exhibitors for Comic-Con 2020 will also have the option to request a refund or transfer their payments to Comic-Con 2021 and will also receive an email within the next week with instructions on how to process their request.

In the next few days onPeak, Comic-Con’s official hotel affiliate, will be canceling all hotel reservations and refunding all deposits made through them. There is no need for anyone who booked through onPeak to take any action, including trying to cancel their reservations online or contacting the company via phone as the process will be handled automatically. Those who booked rooms through onPeak will be notified when refunds have been completed.

“Extraordinary times require extraordinary measures and while we are saddened to take this action, we know it is the right decision,” said David Glanzer, spokesperson for the organization. “We eagerly look forward to the time when we can all meet again and share in the community we all love and enjoy."
 
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I have to admit, I'm getting a little nervous with everybody seeming to be so eager to get everything back up and running. I know everyone is eager to get things back up again, but I was under the impression that we were still had a long way to go before things were really going to be safe again.
 
Presumably, the shops in question are not necessarily going to be as open as usual, but getting new comics for mail-order, curbside pick-up service, limited customer admittance, these might be ways to keep business running without too much risk to people's health, especially if people follow the six-feet distance rule, wear masks, etc.
I've even read about one L.A. based comic shop that apparently has a deal with a local pizza place that can remain open thanks to being deemed essential business, where you could place an order for comics and pick them up at the pizza place while also getting a discount on pizza if you bought comics.
 
Okay, there's now a bit more information on DC's plans. They are working with two new distributors, Lunar Distributions and UCS Comic Distributors.

Lunar is a sister company to Discount Comic Book Services, and UCS is a sister company to Midtown Comics, two retailers with a lot of experience in mail-order services.
It appears that Lunar and USC were only founded recently, and it might be possible they were founded as a direct reaction to Diamond's shutdown.
 
Even before Diamond's targeted restart of distribution, DC will start releasing new comics starting in two weeks.

Not sure if they will self-distribute, or they found a replacement distributor, or what's going on, but they have a list of participating shops*, so apparently not all shops will get the new titles, so you should check that list.

The titles will restart their digital release simultaneusly.

*I can hardly believe that the one German comic shop on that list is the one I get my books from.


Edit: Damn, this is a news-heavy day.

San Diego ComicCon and WonderCon have been officially cancelled this year!

Was to be expected, but now it's official. Here's the press release:

"For the first time in its 50-year history San Diego Comic Convention (SDCC), the organizers behind the annual pop culture celebration, announced today with deep regret, that there will be no Comic-Con in 2020. The event will instead return to the San Diego Convention Center from July 22-25, 2021.

Recognizing that countless attendees save and plan for its conventions each year, and how many exhibitors and stakeholders rely upon its events for a major portion of their livelihood, they had hoped to delay this decision in anticipation that COVID-19 concerns might lessen by summer. Continuous monitoring of health advisories and recent statements by the Governor of California have made it clear that it would not be safe to move forward with plans for this year.

Similarly, WonderCon Anaheim, which was to have been held April 10-12, 2020 will return to the Anaheim Convention Center from March 26-28, 2021.

In addition to their conventions, Comic-Con has been planning a major renovation of Balboa Park’s Federal Building to be completed for the grand opening of the Comic-Con Museum in the summer of 2021. However, the COVID-19 situation has had an effect on those efforts as well. As such, they will be rephasing the Museum’s initially planned major renovations, but will not scale back the experience to be offered to visitors upon the Museum’s grand opening. They anticipate releasing building plans illustrating the Museum’s transformation and sharing more information about those efforts in the coming months.

SDCC also announced that individuals who purchased badges for Comic-Con 2020 will have the option to request a refund or transfer their badges to Comic-Con 2021. All 2020 badge holders will receive an email within the next week with instructions on how to request a refund. Exhibitors for Comic-Con 2020 will also have the option to request a refund or transfer their payments to Comic-Con 2021 and will also receive an email within the next week with instructions on how to process their request.

In the next few days onPeak, Comic-Con’s official hotel affiliate, will be canceling all hotel reservations and refunding all deposits made through them. There is no need for anyone who booked through onPeak to take any action, including trying to cancel their reservations online or contacting the company via phone as the process will be handled automatically. Those who booked rooms through onPeak will be notified when refunds have been completed.

“Extraordinary times require extraordinary measures and while we are saddened to take this action, we know it is the right decision,” said David Glanzer, spokesperson for the organization. “We eagerly look forward to the time when we can all meet again and share in the community we all love and enjoy."
I'm really not surprised by this. There still have to be social distancing rules set up for events like these. What is surprising is that the Emerald City Comic-Con is still rescheduled for August. I wonder with today's announcement, organizers are going to start thinking about postponing until next year.
 
Presumably, the shops in question are not necessarily going to be as open as usual, but getting new comics for mail-order, curbside pick-up service, limited customer admittance, these might be ways to keep business running without too much risk to people's health, especially if people follow the six-feet distance rule, wear masks, etc.
I've even read about one L.A. based comic shop that apparently has a deal with a local pizza place that can remain open thanks to being deemed essential business, where you could place an order for comics and pick them up at the pizza place while also getting a discount on pizza if you bought comics.
Aren't places like comic shops completely shut down in most places now? Or are they still allowed to do limited contact stuff?
 
Aren't places like comic shops completely shut down in most places now? Or are they still allowed to do limited contact stuff?
Right now, yes. Mail-order is still allowed. Here in Germany, smaller shops will be allowed to open come Monday, dependent on following the social distancing guidelines. My guess is, curbside service is still allowed in some regions in the U.S., where customers phone in to order the books they want and then come to pick them up. Mail-order, obviously, isn't a problem at all.
 
This could get a little tricky for UK stores who will be closed when digital copies come out..
There is a UK store, the Fortress of Solitude in Newark, on DC's map of participating shops. Obviously not open for customers, but maybe mail-order? Is that still an option in the UK, or do they have to stay closed, as well?

Mind you, the map shows several countries not having any participating stores. None in all of Africa and South America, only two in all of Asia (Japan and Indonesia), and even Europe has no participating stores in France, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Iceland, Finland, Austria, Switzerland, or any European country east of Germany. Only one for all of Scandinavia. But somehow, one participating shop is in Rome.
 
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WTF?! Apparently, DC has told retailers their DIamond orders for titles originally solicited for April 1 to 15 have been canceled, which Diamond now had to refute.
 
So does that mean there will be three different companies distributing their comics then?
 
It's the big question whether DC will keep working with Lunar and UCS once Diamond is working again, or maybe they'll even stop working with Diamond. I've heard a lot of pros and cons about such a move. Even this step with Lunar and UCS is quite controversial. Which is to be expected, Diamond has had a monopoly for more than twenty years, and a lot of retailers are simply used to deal with them, while they don't know Lunar and UCS, yet. The fact that those are sister-companies of competing retailers is another factor that gives a lot of retailers pause.
 
For you digital readers out there, DC expands their Digital First line. Mostly stories that were originally done for the 100-page Giants (where they'll still be released, they'll just do the digital release first), as well as "DC Essential Reads", with free first issues of seminal stories and series like Watchmen or Crisis on Infinite Earths.
 
DC, Oni/Lion Forge, and BINC partner on a new benefit for comic shops, called Comic Book United Fund. The fund will include money raised through Jim Lee's 60-Days-60-Sketches auctions, DC's previously announced donation of $ 250,000, as well as the $ 100,000 from Lion Forge's prior benefit Forge Fund.

DC is getting a lot of PR out of the current situation. They certainly stay in the industry news a lot.
 
Marvel announced they won't release new comics next week.

Meanwhile, the legendary comics anthology magazine Heavy Metal is launching a new digital imprint for creator-owned comics in a direct response to the shutdown. The new imprint, appropriately named "Virus", is apparently going to be its own plattform, and will start on April 29, with new titles every week. See the announcement on Syfy Wire for more.
 
WTF?! Apparently, DC has told retailers their DIamond orders for titles originally solicited for April 1 to 15 have been canceled, which Diamond now had to refute.
Okay, I've heard a little more about this, though it's nothing official, so take this with a grain of salt. Supposedly, DC did cancel their titles for the time-frame in question with Diamond, and Diamond does not comply with that cancellation. Another rumor I've read about is that Diamond wanted to keep up the lockdown until August, and they only went for May because they got wind of DC's deal with Lunar and UCS.

There is something real happening, which makes Diamond appear rather petty. They have the "Gem of the Month" section at the first few pages where every bigger publisher can promote some special books to look out for. Before the lockdown, DC's Three Jokers was such a Gem of the Month. Now, all of a sudden, all DC books that where promoted as Gems have been taken out of that section. Considering what's been going on these past... week (really? Just a week since the announcement? Huh), it's not hard to guess that Diamond is trying to "punish" DC for going with other distributors.
 
Okay, I've heard a little more about this, though it's nothing official, so take this with a grain of salt. Supposedly, DC did cancel their titles for the time-frame in question with Diamond, and Diamond does not comply with that cancellation. Another rumor I've read about is that Diamond wanted to keep up the lockdown until August, and they only went for May because they got wind of DC's deal with Lunar and UCS.

Okay, not a rumor.
 
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