Coronavirus knocks out direct market - Diamond stops deliveries

[captchuck]

I'm happy to see that there's good news. It is probably best that they start things out slowly.

[Chcknman69]

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/comi...ion-punchline/
I'm thinking most Comic Shops will wait for Diamond to open and not sidestep the usual process.
I know mine is waiting....More to Follow I'm sure!

[DragonPiece]

Batman 92 won't come out till June

Death Metal is also delayed to June

Seems like DC's best selling titles will be waiting till more comic shops open, they may delay even further if things don't get better in May.

[Vordan]

Batman 92 won't come out till June

Death Metal is also delayed to June

Seems like DC's best selling titles will be waiting till more comic shops open, they may delay even further if things don't get better in May.

Not surprised. Snyder keeps talking about how Death Metal has kept getting bigger, I wonder if that means they’ll be extending the event’s length?

[Artemisfanboy]

Batman 92 won't come out till June

Death Metal is also delayed to June

Seems like DC's best selling titles will be waiting till more comic shops open, they may delay even further if things don't get better in May.

I think it's less "best selling" and more "Event centered". So they're deliberately delaying Punchline's full debut, Joker War and it's tie-ins, Death Metal, and Generations.

They've already scheduled Justice League for May 12th and that was DC's second highest selling ongoing title after Batman as of the most recent sales data I could find from February.

[Kevin Street]

Some good news!

If the comics are in the shop I'll buy 'em, doesn't matter to me what kind of distribution is going on, or if the comic shop is only doing "curbside service." It just means calling ahead and being more prepared than usual.

[Ascended]

It looks like a decent enough stop-gap measure. I'm not sure how many shops are open (or even can open, depending on their state/city stay-at-home orders) or how beneficial this limited release will be, but something is better than nothing and I hope this helps the shops.

I don't know if these new distributors will stick around or if DC will go back to Diamond....far as I'm concerned we're still in "wait and see" mode.

[Dr. Ellingham]

Interesting discussion about the distribution of comics. I think there is an underlying assumption that as readers/buyers of floppies we tend to forget:

People may love superheroes and fantasy, but that doesn't mean they want to explore the source material. Especially when there are TV, film and video adaptations. Tens of millions of people bought Lord of the Rings books in the last 20 years. But hundreds of millions saw the films. For most of them, that was enough - no need to dig deeper.

Sales of comics began declining in the 1960s because of television. In 1960 the main Superman book sold one million comics per month. By 1970, less than half that. Same distribution method, too. And the 70s were even worse. DC/Marvel didn't walk away from newsstands - the newsstands told them to get lost. They had to find another distribution method.

Yet in the 80s, the X-Men were selling 400,000 copies per month; the hottest thing going. By the mid-90s? 100,000 copies per month. That's because there were already animated series, video games, merchandise.

We live in a media-rich world. Comics are a niche, may always be a niche. Expecting them to be a dominant pop culture force, or even what they were 20 years ago, is just not realistic. I'm sure DC/Marvel will continue to create comic content, and survive - for the purpose of generating multi-media content. And that the model will change over the coming decade - but the purpose is being served. Meaning nothing is actually broken. Far from it, really - basically 40,000 people are willing to pay $4 to read one chapter of a potential Batman film treatment.

[9th.]

Interesting discussion about the distribution of comics. I think there is an underlying assumption that as readers/buyers of floppies we tend to forget:

People may love superheroes and fantasy, but that doesn't mean they want to explore the source material. Especially when there are TV, film and video adaptations. Tens of millions of people bought Lord of the Rings books in the last 20 years. But hundreds of millions saw the films. For most of them, that was enough - no need to dig deeper.

Sales of comics began declining in the 1960s because of television. In 1960 the main Superman book sold one million comics per month. By 1970, less than half that. Same distribution method, too. And the 70s were even worse. DC/Marvel didn't walk away from newsstands - the newsstands told them to get lost. They had to find another distribution method.

Yet in the 80s, the X-Men were selling 400,000 copies per month; the hottest thing going. By the mid-90s? 100,000 copies per month. That's because there were already animated series, video games, merchandise.

We live in a media-rich world. Comics are a niche, may always be a niche. Expecting them to be a dominant pop culture force, or even what they were 20 years ago, is just not realistic. I'm sure DC/Marvel will continue to create comic content, and survive - for the purpose of generating multi-media content. And that the model will change over the coming decade - but the purpose is being served. Meaning nothing is actually broken. Far from it, really - basically 40,000 people are willing to pay $4 to read one chapter of a potential Batman film treatment.

I wonder if handing out a digital code for a free comic at the premieres would help any. I remember they gave out Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon cards when I was little whenever their movies hit theaters.

[kjn]

When I look at DC's new distribution strategy I'm of two minds (but then I often am).

First, I like that DC is trying to get their stories out, and that they and their partners are setting out to challenge Diamond's monopoly on distribution to the direct market. I also like that they try to get some form of the revenue going to the comic stores (for all that I think the entire direct market is in desperate need of either reform or revolution).

But when I look at what they will distribute, I wonder if they are taking the right tack. Half a dozen titles where most are midlist won't do much to drive revenue to the LCS's, and the staffing costs of keeping the stores open might easily overwhelm the revenue they do get. To not speak of that keeping the store open might put the owner in a worse situation in order to negotiate rent reduction or other financial support.

But there are really no good options for DC or LCSs here.

[Vampire Savior]

I wonder if handing out a digital code for a free comic at the premieres would help any. I remember they gave out Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon cards when I was little whenever their movies hit theaters.

It could if there were clear yet concise enough instructions for how people could continue getting comic content, and if it would be easy for them to obtain. The free comic would also need to inspire people to want to receive more content, meaning that it shouldn't be some rinky-dink affair. Also, I would recommend giving people at least 40 pages of content and having it all be in a single story, not some kind of anthology thing. Giving that away for free might sound absurd to some, but it's about hooking people and getting new fans, which, if successful, would more than make up for that.

[Kevin Street]

I spoke to my local comic shop owner about this, and he was less excited than I was. In particular he wasn't interested in the alternate distribution, because he said he'd already put in his orders to Diamond for those comics (the April ones I assume) and didn't want to order them through an alternate distributor then get duplicate copies when Diamond starts up. Apparently Diamond is completely closed, you can't get them on the phone or anything so there's no cancelling orders already in the pipeline.

He was slightly skeptical about Diamond starting again at the end of May, because it isn't clear how many comic shops will be open at that point. His shop is open right now for "curbside pickup," but most of them are closed and will probably remain so until the virus is under control.

Our conversation sobered me a bit, but despite the problems I'm still excited for comics to come back. Hopefully things will be better for everyone at the end of next month.

[Artemisfanboy]

I spoke to my local comic shop owner about this, and he was less excited than I was. In particular he wasn't interested in the alternate distribution, because he said he'd already put in his orders to Diamond for those comics (the April ones I assume) and didn't want to order them through an alternate distributor then get duplicate copies when Diamond starts up. Apparently Diamond is completely closed, you can't get them on the phone or anything so there's no cancelling orders already in the pipeline.

That should not be a problem as according to this article on the details https://www.newsarama.com/49873-insi...-involved.html

DC have canceled all orders for titles solicited for April 1 - 15 release, with retailers told to re-submit your orders for upcoming DC titles through Diamond, Lunar, or UCS.

So Diamond should have to take new orders for DC's books for whenever they do restart operations.

I believe DC will also be honoring their previously announced returnability for April-June, if Diamond doesn't for some reason.

And if Diamond does manage to begin in May wouldn't be surprised if DC giving an incentive by breaking their monopoly and providing them competition to get the books out has something to do with it.

[9th.]

It could if there were clear yet concise enough instructions for how people could continue getting comic content, and if it would be easy for them to obtain. The free comic would also need to inspire people to want to receive more content, meaning that it shouldn't be some rinky-dink affair. Also, I would recommend giving people at least 40 pages of content and having it all be in a single story, not some kind of anthology thing. Giving that away for free might sound absurd to some, but it's about hooking people and getting new fans, which, if successful, would more than make up for that.

I'd imagine the instructions would be as clear as the Ultraviolet codes they include in Blu-rays. I was also mainly thinking of giving them #1 issue of the character of whatever movie they were seeing, at first I thought about including a trade but that might too much for a company to part with. When you say 40 pages do you mean original content or something that already exists?

[Vampire Savior]

I'd imagine the instructions would be as clear as the Ultraviolet codes they include in Blu-rays. I was also mainly thinking of giving them #1 issue of the character of whatever movie they were seeing, at first I thought about including a trade but that might too much for a company to part with. When you say 40 pages do you mean original content or something that already exists?

Well, it depends. It would need to be something that reflects the movie generally well, meaning that characters that appear in the film should appear in the comic and they shouldn't be unrecognizable to film goers. If the company already has content prepared that does that (oftentimes they don't, in my view), then it can be previously published content. Honestly, though, I think it would be better to have a concerted effort with the comic and the film, which sounds like it would be impossible, but if these companies want to grow their audiences, that's the type of thing they need to do. They also are going to need to be willing to give some if they want more eye balls. I mean, I give comics away for free, and I haven't exploded into nothing yet. It's not going to destroy these companies with multibillion dollar companies backing them to "give" 40 pages away.

You have to think like someone who is not already reading comics. For them, 20 pages isn't a very satisfying amount of content, and the goal would be to hook them so they continue reading. You have to give them something to sink into for a bit of time, and it also needs to reflect what they know of the characters and have already come to like.