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Gold Card Talk Member
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I spoke to my local comic shop, and he told me that Diamond is releasing new comics to stores on Weds, May 20, including Image Comics and several other smaller publishers, like Boom (which has been doing Buffy comics since early 2019) but that new DC Comics are not coming until May 27.
 
Posts: 3999 | Location: NY | Registered: August 03, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Gold Card Talk Member
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More shakeup in the comics industry ?

DC Comics leaves Diamond, which apparently makes up 30 % of the comics the latter distributes. Will this mean the end of Diamond ? See below

https://www.comicsbeat.com/dc-diamond-split/
 
Posts: 3999 | Location: NY | Registered: August 03, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Gold Card Talk Member
Picture of mykdude
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Bad timing for sure. They could have given stores some recovery time before pulling this.

I don't know if this is good or bad. Can't say I have cared much for the sterile comic distribution that has been going on over the past couple decades anyway.

Would like to see comics spinning on racks at convenience stores again but doubt I ever will. Wink

____________________
Just because it's rare doesn't mean it's valuable.
 
Posts: 4849 | Location: Tennessee | Registered: March 09, 2002Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Gold Card Talk Member
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This likely means that comic stores will have to deal with 2 distributors to get their comics

And what if it becomes too complicated or expensive to do so ? Then I guess that means MORE stores out of business

I read an article where stores in Canada said it would cost them too much, and they'd have to charge customers above and beyond the cover price for comics !
 
Posts: 3999 | Location: NY | Registered: August 03, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Diamond Card Talk Member
Picture of Raven
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Sometimes you have a monopoly because its easier and cheaper for the rest of the food chain. If for no other reason, retailers are going to have to place two orders, pay for the shipping of 2 orders, and perhaps lose bigger order discounts because the number of comics ordered will be less than the number ordered previously from Diamond.

DC is owned by Warner Brothers and Warner Brothers is owned by AT&T. They care about solidifying their products under their roof. They want to hold exclusive rights. That's what all corporations want to do, have their own monopoly of their own products.

Some comic book store owners may not have liked having no option besides Diamond. If Diamond goes out of business, they are going to like it even less. At least Diamond has an interest in keeping comic stores healthy. ATT&T and Warner Brothers can do without them if they are too much trouble for too little profit.
 
Posts: 10383 | Location: New York | Registered: November 20, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Gold Card Talk Member
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I think alot of big companies have realized over the years that comic books themselves do not sell well enough to make a profit.

For example, aside from a few short periods of time in the 2000s, Disney comics have been published continuously since 1940, at least, by several different companies.

In 1986, Gladstone starting publishing them. Around 1990, Disney itself took away the license and started self-publishing, selling them at Disney World and other places. By 1993, Disney found out that comics did not sell well at Disney World, and they gave the license back to Gladstone that same year (1993).
 
Posts: 3999 | Location: NY | Registered: August 03, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Contest Czar
Picture of barobehere
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quote:
Originally posted by Raven:
Some comic book store owners may not have liked having no option besides Diamond. If Diamond goes out of business, they are going to like it even less. At least Diamond has an interest in keeping comic stores healthy. ATT&T and Warner Brothers can do without them if they are too much trouble for too little profit.


As a former comic book shop owner who still talks with other comic book shop owners. You are incorrect in thinking that Diamond cared about any shop other then the major few. Every small shop was bullied, neglected and treated as serfs who owed their business to Diamond and if you said otherwise you might get your books late or find that instead of getting your order of 100 different books you get 15 books and "accidentally" 85 copies of Captain America 573. Most small shops felt that Diamond was an enemy they had to ally with not a business partner.
 
Posts: 5776 | Location: Meridian, Mississippi | Registered: November 23, 2001Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Gold Card Talk Member
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There is also some talk as to whether Diamond can survive if they lose DC Comics, which is 30 % of what they ship, in terms of comics

DC said in the one article that they found out that Diamond is in shaky financial condition, so that was one of the reasons why they pulled out
 
Posts: 3999 | Location: NY | Registered: August 03, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Diamond Card Talk Member
Picture of Raven
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by barobehere:
quote:
Originally posted by Raven:
Some comic book store owners may not have liked having no option besides Diamond. If Diamond goes out of business, they are going to like it even less. At least Diamond has an interest in keeping comic stores healthy. ATT&T and Warner Brothers can do without them if they are too much trouble for too little profit.


As a former comic book shop owner who still talks with other comic book shop owners. You are incorrect in thinking that Diamond cared about any shop other then the major few. Every small shop was bullied, neglected and treated as serfs who owed their business to Diamond and if you said otherwise you might get your books late or find that instead of getting your order of 100 different books you get 15 books and "accidentally" 85 copies of Captain America 573. Most small shops felt that Diamond was an enemy they had to ally with not a business partner.


Unfortunately what you are calling bullying and neglect has been woven into normal business practices and the cost of doing that business. Since we are discussing comic book or hobby stores I'll stick to that, but "requesting" that dogs be purchased in order to get the hot item is not confined to hobby products.

Diamond absolutely cares about the food chain that its distribution runs through. No, not directly the little guy or last one in line, but the upper levels or what you refer to as the major few. That it demands a certain number or amount in the order or that specific titles be bought from the little guy is standard practice.

For his part the little guy wants all the hot items that he/she knows can be sold easily and the rest of it, that they know will sit in the basement until they go into fifty cent blowout boxes or be given away at Free Comic Book day, those they don't want.

Every manufacturer wants to sell their entire product line, not just let middlemen cherry pick only the good ones so that they make the profits while the maker drowns in their mistake items. It's true in comics, it's true in trading cards, its true in toys. Diamond is not the manufacturer, its the distributor, but its the sole distributor so its close to the same.

Do you really think that DC won't operate the same way? They would be foolish not too, only they are the maker and they can revise their distribution any way they want to. They don't even need small comic book stores if they can get large retail instead.

Diamond is the Devil everyone knows. Be careful what you ask for. Wink
 
Posts: 10383 | Location: New York | Registered: November 20, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Gold Card Talk Member
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I saw something the other day on line which epitomizes the craziness of the comic industry

2-3 years ago, Diamond had an incentive on some second-tier Marvel Comic, I forget which.

To get this super variant cover, you had to order (no joke) 4,999 copies of the regular comic

Apparently only about 12 people in the U.S. ordered it at this level

Several people then sold this variant on ebay in the $ 3,000-4,000 range

Crazy stuff
 
Posts: 3999 | Location: NY | Registered: August 03, 2010Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Contest Czar
Picture of barobehere
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by Raven:
quote:
Originally posted by barobehere:
quote:
Originally posted by Raven:
Some comic book store owners may not have liked having no option besides Diamond. If Diamond goes out of business, they are going to like it even less. At least Diamond has an interest in keeping comic stores healthy. ATT&T and Warner Brothers can do without them if they are too much trouble for too little profit.


As a former comic book shop owner who still talks with other comic book shop owners. You are incorrect in thinking that Diamond cared about any shop other then the major few. Every small shop was bullied, neglected and treated as serfs who owed their business to Diamond and if you said otherwise you might get your books late or find that instead of getting your order of 100 different books you get 15 books and "accidentally" 85 copies of Captain America 573. Most small shops felt that Diamond was an enemy they had to ally with not a business partner.


Unfortunately what you are calling bullying and neglect has been woven into normal business practices and the cost of doing that business. Since we are discussing comic book or hobby stores I'll stick to that, but "requesting" that dogs be purchased in order to get the hot item is not confined to hobby products.

Diamond absolutely cares about the food chain that its distribution runs through. No, not directly the little guy or last one in line, but the upper levels or what you refer to as the major few. That it demands a certain number or amount in the order or that specific titles be bought from the little guy is standard practice.

For his part the little guy wants all the hot items that he/she knows can be sold easily and the rest of it, that they know will sit in the basement until they go into fifty cent blowout boxes or be given away at Free Comic Book day, those they don't want.

Every manufacturer wants to sell their entire product line, not just let middlemen cherry pick only the good ones so that they make the profits while the maker drowns in their mistake items. It's true in comics, it's true in trading cards, its true in toys. Diamond is not the manufacturer, its the distributor, but its the sole distributor so its close to the same.

Do you really think that DC won't operate the same way? They would be foolish not too, only they are the maker and they can revise their distribution any way they want to. They don't even need small comic book stores if they can get large retail instead.

Diamond is the Devil everyone knows. Be careful what you ask for. Wink


Hahaha. The great and power Raven has spoken. You have no idea what my dealing with diamond was like....unless was I dealing with you as my Diamond rep.???
Sure Nuff, Southern Fried, Gun Dog, VanKep's Comics, Crossfire Comics, Heroes and Dreams, All great shops among many more that have closed and one of the factors was Diamond's behavior. You may think that the bullying and Neglect "Has been woven into normal business practices". It is not been the norm for any of us that still talk to each other since moving on to other buisness careers. Being a thug might be acceptable to you in your business and Diamonds but most business owners are more civilized.
 
Posts: 5776 | Location: Meridian, Mississippi | Registered: November 23, 2001Reply With QuoteReport This Post



Diamond Card Talk Member
Picture of Raven
posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by barobehere:
Being a thug might be acceptable to you in your business and Diamonds but most business owners are more civilized.


That's what you got from my post, which was in response to your saying I was incorrect in my thinking about Diamond. As if either one of our opinions mean anything more than a conversation on a hobby forum.

I wrote what I believe to be true from my experience with the hobby and my own unrelated profession. Some small businesses are small for a reason. Some businesses go out of business for a reason. Blame Diamond if you want to. DC will follow the same practices because that's how the business works. The Devil you know is better than the one you don't know.

Sorry you feel the need to throw stones at me for some reason. I will not.
 
Posts: 10383 | Location: New York | Registered: November 20, 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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