Coronavirus knocks out direct market - Diamond stops deliveries

[Artemisfanboy]

We have books announced for the 19th and 26th of May now https://bleedingcool.com/comics/reta...dc-comics-ucs/

May 19th
DCEASED UNKILLABLES #3 (OF 3)
DCEASED UNKILLABLES #3 (OF 3) CARD STOCK F MATTINA VAR ED
DCEASED UNKILLABLES #3 (OF 3) CARD STOCK HORROR TASIA MS VAR ED
DOLLHOUSE FAMILY #6 (OF 6) (MR)
DOLLHOUSE FAMILY #6 (OF 6) JAY ANACLETO VAR ED (MR)
FLASH GIANT #4
PLUNGE #3 (OF 6) (MR)
PLUNGE #3 (OF 6) GARY FRANK VAR ED (MR)
RED HOOD OUTLAW #45
RED HOOD OUTLAW #45 PHILIP TAN VAR ED
SUPERMANS PAL JIMMY OLSEN #10 (OF 12)
SUPERMANS PAL JIMMY OLSEN #10 (OF 12) BEN OLIVER VAR ED
WONDER WOMAN #755
WONDER WOMAN #755 IAN MACDONALD VAR ED
YEAR OF THE VILLAIN HELL ARISEN #3 (OF 4) 3RD PTG

May 26th
AQUAMAN #59
AQUAMAN #59 TYLER KIRKHAM VAR ED
BASKETFUL OF HEADS #7 (OF 7) (MR)
BASKETFUL OF HEADS #7 (OF 7) GABRIEL RODRIGUEZ VAR ED (MR)
BATMAN BEYOND #43
BATMAN BEYOND #43 FRANCIS MANAPUL VAR ED
BOOKS OF MAGIC #19 (MR)
FLASH #754
FLASH #754 CARD STOCK RAFAEL GRAMPA VAR ED
HE MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE MULTIVERSE #6 (OF 6)
JUSTICE LEAGUE #45
JUSTICE LEAGUE #45 DAN MORA VAR ED
LOW LOW WOODS #5 (OF 6) (MR)
LOW LOW WOODS #5 (OF 6) JENNY FRISON VAR ED (MR)
MAD MAGAZINE #13
OUR FIGHTING FORCES GIANT #1
SUICIDE SQUAD #5
SUICIDE SQUAD #5 JEREMY ROBERTS VAR ED
TEEN TITANS #41
TEEN TITANS #41 KHARY RANDOLPH VAR ED
TERRIFICS #27
WONDER WOMAN GIANT #4

[sifighter]

I mean I would be pretty happy to get the last issue of Unkillables so I'm happy to hear about that if this is true.

[ohfellow]

Hmm, so DC has cancelled all the orders originally scheduled for April 1-15, and is telling retailers to resubmit using Diamond(?), Lunar, or UCS. The local shop owner definitely didn't know about that, and if I read about it I must have forgot because it's news to me too. That puts a wrinkle in things.

DC may end up getting the opposite of what they're intending here, and have the April books end up as "lost." Existing and published comics but with almost no stores ordering them through the alternate distributors.

Apparently: DC considers existing orders cancelled.
Apparently: Diamond considers existing orders valid.

Is that the latest set of twists?

Some LCS are leaving their orders with Diamond, and waiting... till... the lawsuits between DC and Diamond that I expect will be filed are resolved and those books are finally released from some injunction in 5 years?

Some LCS are placing orders from UCS/Lunar. What are they doing with their old Diamond orders? Can they cancel them? Or do they have to accept deliveries, then return them (since books through June, I believe, will be 100% returnable)?

Some customers may want to get these books in hand as soon as they are available. Do I have confidence the copies Diamond is holding will ever ship? They might. I hope they do. But I'd hate for my LCS to wait for those, and never be able to get them.

Anything can happen. DC could sue to get Diamond to return them to DC to distribute in some other way. And maybe DC would lose... but it takes time to lose. Meanwhile, are those books going to get shipped anywhere? Who knows. Any lawyers reading this?

But it's not so easy for a customer to get them from UCS/Lunar. Some LCS aren't even aware of this. Others are choosing to not participate. If you can't find a participating retailer, then:

You can't directly order from dcbs or Midtown, because these books had to be pre-ordered in Feb and March.

At dcbs, you can wait till they go on-sale and then see if they have any left over to order from stock.

At Midtown, maybe you can reserve some by adding them to a pull list. Will a brand new pull list be immediately honored? I didn't see any FAQ that said it wouldn't be. But you can't put a variant in a pull list, so if you want one you'd have to add it to the Wish List, wait for a notification that it's available, and then buy it.

Or, just accept whatever your favorite LCS chooses to do, and hope it works out eventually.

Maybe there are other solutions.

DC has turned this, overnight, into absurdity. If they wanted to nudge the distribution mechanism into changing, fine, but they should have done it in an orderly fashion that doesn't lead to retail chain chaos and inequitable outcomes.

Maybe a reader is very loyal to a particular LCS, but that LCS isn't participating, but the one down the street is. What is the reader to do? And it can work both ways - maybe a reader doesn't WANT a copy that their LCS buys from this alternate distribution chain, because they don't think the system is right. Either way - this can drive a wedge between a store and its customers.

[vasir12]

Apparently: DC considers existing orders cancelled.
Apparently: Diamond considers existing orders valid.

Is that the latest set of twists?

Some LCS are leaving their orders with Diamond, and waiting... till... the lawsuits between DC and Diamond that I expect will be filed are resolved and those books are finally released from some injunction in 5 years?

Some LCS are placing orders from UCS/Lunar. What are they doing with their old Diamond orders? Can they cancel them? Or do they have to accept deliveries, then return them (since books through June, I believe, will be 100% returnable)?

Some customers may want to get these books in hand as soon as they are available. Do I have confidence the copies Diamond is holding will ever ship? They might. I hope they do. But I'd hate for my LCS to wait for those, and never be able to get them.

Anything can happen. DC could sue to get Diamond to return them to DC to distribute in some other way. And maybe DC would lose... but it takes time to lose. Meanwhile, are those books going to get shipped anywhere? Who knows. Any lawyers reading this?

But it's not so easy for a customer to get them from UCS/Lunar. Some LCS aren't even aware of this. Others are choosing to not participate. If you can't find a participating retailer, then:

You can't directly order from dcbs or Midtown, because these books had to be pre-ordered in Feb and March.

At dcbs, you can wait till they go on-sale and then see if they have any left over to order from stock.

At Midtown, maybe you can reserve some by adding them to a pull list. Will a brand new pull list be immediately honored? I didn't see any FAQ that said it wouldn't be. But you can't put a variant in a pull list, so if you want one you'd have to add it to the Wish List, wait for a notification that it's available, and then buy it.

Or, just accept whatever your favorite LCS chooses to do, and hope it works out eventually.

Maybe there are other solutions.

DC has turned this, overnight, into absurdity. If they wanted to nudge the distribution mechanism into changing, fine, but they should have done it in an orderly fashion that doesn't lead to retail chain chaos and inequitable outcomes.

Maybe a reader is very loyal to a particular LCS, but that LCS isn't participating, but the one down the street is. What is the reader to do? And it can work both ways - maybe a reader doesn't WANT a copy that their LCS buys from this alternate distribution chain, because they don't think the system is right. Either way - this can drive a wedge between a store and its customers.

Why would the average reader care which delivery service shipped their book?

Also, there's no evidence that any lawsuits are happening. I'd question if diamond would have the money to even try.

A couple of loud retailers are bucking at this but DC sent out a survey of stores interested in alternative distribution and then went through with it. This can only make me believe that most retailers said yes while the loud minority complains.

In the end of the day, retailers can either stock their stores with new content or they don't.

[Dr. Ellingham]

Well, the New52 *did* put a lot of wind back in the direct market's sails.

Totally. I forgot about the New 52 - that was when I got off the train. But that makes sense - the reboot reset the threshold, and staved off the need to make distribution changes for an extended period. That sounds reasonable to me as well.

[skyvolt2000]

Maybe a reader is very loyal to a particular LCS, but that LCS isn't participating, but the one down the street is. What is the reader to do? And it can work both ways - maybe a reader doesn't WANT a copy that their LCS buys from this alternate distribution chain, because they don't think the system is right. Either way - this can drive a wedge between a store and its customers.

If a customer is that picky-that is on THEM. If you want that book you don't give a bleep where it comes from.

We have always had stores do stuff differently.

How is this different from Bad Idea's plan to limit their books to 100 stores? 2 stores in Dallas are selling them. Both located in 2 of the WORST areas for traffic if you don't live near them. One is where books like Bad Idea COLLECT DUST because no one buys them as Alterna, Scout, After Shock, Vault and Image books are doing.
If someone wants those books they have to go there.

A TRUE store owner is not going to get mad if a person goes to another store to buy something they don't have.

My stores dose not sell Savage Dragon. I get the trades from other places. Heck I have even showed them books I have bought from other places. Books that they later went out and got. Because as I have learned there are books listed by Diamond that do not appear on everybody's order forms.

[Digifiend]

Why would the average reader care which delivery service shipped their book?

Also, there's no evidence that any lawsuits are happening. I'd question if diamond would have the money to even try.

They definitely don't. The fact they didn't pay publishers on time or in full proves that. And there are reports that they didn't plan to return until August, until DC forced their hand. They do seem to have cashflow problems and surely can't afford to sue DC.

[Factor]

If it were me, and I'd have to do a lot more research and have a lot more data to make any kind of legit proposal, but right now knowing what I know I'd suggest something along similar lines.

I'd try a seasonal approach similar to tv's structure; Action Comics, season 1 (as an example). Each season would have a single creative team and set number of issues, with a mid-season break to help ensure no one falls behind on production as well as a break between seasons.

I'd have weekly digital releases with as much content as about 5 floppy pages, priced at about $1. Since the direct market isn't dead yet, we'll pool 4 digital issues into a single floppy and sell that to the LCS every month (same as DC did with their old digital first titles). Each season would be collected in two trades; season 1 part 1 and season 1 part 2. We'd include some subscription options and other ways to access the digital books of course as well.

The serialized nature of the narrative provides a big hurdle; how do you keep the story going while making it accessible for the potential readers who aren't already hooked? The answer to that is a thesis level essay but the TL;DR is to take characters roughly where they are now (Superman married, Dick as Nightwing, etc) and treat this as the baseline status quo and starting point. The continuity from before is a non-factor beyond the specific stories that got us to the "seasonal" starting point (Clark died, married Lois, had a kid, etc). Those "foundation" stories are listed in the books when this initiative launches so new readers know where to look if they're interested in the back story, but aren't really important to the current story. Nothing reverts to a state before this point (Superman never becomes single again, Dick is never de-aged, etc; NO REBOOTS!). Content is designed to be all-ages; not kid-focused like the Ink/Zoom stuff, not aimed at adults like Black Label, but accessible for anyone....like Into the Spider-Verse.



Should've been more precise in my wording, I meant the direct market. Thought that was clear, my bad.

I agree with a lot of your points. Especially the ones regarding how they should handle continuity.
I say they try to sort out that whole mess one and last time (hopefully Death Metal is effective at that) and have every new launch from that point on be as "continuity-free" as possible. Don't reference the past as much and focus on new stories. Write all the new arcs as if they were an introduction to the characters' worlds without having to restart everything all over again. Dick is Nightwing, Barbara is Oracle, Superman has a son etc and that's their status quo from now on.

The only point I kind of disagree is on the amount of content on each issue. I think DC should focus on making both the print floppies and the digital releases more attractive to their respective audiences.
Continuing to publish 20 page floppies will only appeal to current fans and 5 pages aren't enough to generate interest in digital. Those would be 3-4 minute reads and wouldn't feel like complete stories. If anything, I could see readers getting the impression that the stories would actually be longer now because they'd get such small doses each time.
That's why I think the combination of a print 100-page digest and weekly 20 page digital comics would be the best way to go.
It would be a big shift in the market, but I think could be beneficial not only to the digital market but also to print. We know new print readers prefer getting a more complete story at once. That's part of the reason OGNs are thriving.

[ohfellow]

If a customer is that picky-that is on THEM. If you want that book you don't give a bleep where it comes from.

What you and vasir12 have written should be true. I personally don't have objections to stores getting comics sooner via the new distributors, but mine decided not to. Not, I think, out of principle. They didn't know about it and I'm pretty sure didn't want to deal with it when they finally found out. Skeletal staff presently, over-worked, busy staying afloat, no one available to rush in orders this week when all of the Diamond orders were placed months ago.

Since I place orders with them by the Initial Order deadline, we have an agreement I'll buy those books, and I always do. If I do find a way to get these new books elsewhere -- I'm more likely to buy second copies later if they get them, than tell them I don't want them. Even though I know they will be fully returnable, how easy is it to return them? Again, I think my LCS isn't that interested in making the effort to process returns, nor do I want to impose it on them. Isn't it a lot of work for kind of low-margin products?

We have always had stores do stuff differently.

A TRUE store owner is not going to get mad if a person goes to another store to buy something they don't have.

Well, every store is going to have things you love and things you don't love. And it's complicated if they already HAVE ordered stuff specifically for you, and are just asking you to wait.

When they get shorted, or books are damaged, I wait 2 weeks for the replacements to arrive, rather than buying the books elsewhere. So I try to have that faith, and so far they have gotten the books. This is a unique situation.

[kjn]

That's why I think the combination of a print 100-page digest and weekly 20 page digital comics would be the best way to go.
It would be a big shift in the market, but I think could be beneficial not only to the digital market but also to print. We know new print readers prefer getting a more complete story at once. That's part of the reason OGNs are thriving.

20 page weekly comics would be an interesting creative and artistic challenge.

The floppies contain about 20-24 pages per month. A lot of the web comics I follow (or have followed) publish on a schedule of 3–5 pages per week, which gives about the same maximal monthly output, or a bit less. 20 page weekly comics would require four times as much content per day as DC currently manages per title. It would of course be possible using an anthology format, but then you're running several stories in parallel.

Rather, I think DC should look at successful and long-running webcomics, using a daily or semi-daily publication schedule, with single pages. That should be enough of a shift in format to shake editors and writers out of their habits of story structures adapted to the floppies.

[Vampire Savior]

I agree with a lot of your points. Especially the ones regarding how they should handle continuity.
I say they try to sort out that whole mess one and last time (hopefully Death Metal is effective at that) and have every new launch from that point on be as "continuity-free" as possible. Don't reference the past as much and focus on new stories. Write all the new arcs as if they were an introduction to the characters' worlds without having to restart everything all over again. Dick is Nightwing, Barbara is Oracle, Superman has a son etc and that's their status quo from now on.

The only point I kind of disagree is on the amount of content on each issue. I think DC should focus on making both the print floppies and the digital releases more attractive to their respective audiences.
Continuing to publish 20 page floppies will only appeal to current fans and 5 pages aren't enough to generate interest in digital. Those would be 3-4 minute reads and wouldn't feel like complete stories. If anything, I could see readers getting the impression that the stories would actually be longer now because they'd get such small doses each time.
That's why I think the combination of a print 100-page digest and weekly 20 page digital comics would be the best way to go.
It would be a big shift in the market, but I think could be beneficial not only to the digital market but also to print. We know new print readers prefer getting a more complete story at once. That's part of the reason OGNs are thriving.

If the company would do 20 pages a week for single books, it would likely need to cut down on a lot of the books it is producing, which might not be a bad thing. 20 pages a week of a full colored comic is nothing to scoff at. That's a major project and a lot to manage, and it would be virtually impossible without a relatively large creative team with numerous artists...either that, or by simplifying the art drastically, which I doubt readers would like.

[Factor]

I don't think I fully explained my idea in that last post. I had already mentioned it before, but the last one lacked context.
My idea for the digital comics is to publish each "season" of a series (4, 8 or 12 issues) in 20 page weekly releases. Once one season ends, another series fills its gap. In cases of popular characters like Batman and Superman, there'd be new content every week through different series that would alternate (Batman, Detective Comics, Batman & Robin etc).

DC in February published roughly 48 issues of ongoings or minis in their regular continuity. With this model, they'd keep creating the same amount of books per month, but would have to finish each arc in advance before publishing. This way instead of 4 monthly Batman books concurrently, they'd publish one of them at a time as weekly books.

Print would publish 4 issues of the digital releases as one 100-page digest every month.
The biggest changes would be the seasonal model and the end of 20 page floppies in favor of a more robust print content.

In my idea, all books would be part of 1 in 12 different lines of digital books, each line becoming its own 100-page floppy when printed.

[Vampire Savior]

I see. It would be a good idea for comics to go on breaks. It would help them a lot in terms of quality, which is an area that needs a lot of help. For instance, if they did that they likely would have much less need for fill-in artists, which are often jarring and sub-par, often due to not being as good as the main artists and also being rushed. The monthly grind is something that should end.

[AmiMizuno]

Do you guys think this could work? If so you think others will join?

[skyvolt2000]

Do you guys think this could work? If so you think others will join?

I would sell Factor's idea on the stance of QUANTITY & QUALITY control.

We don't need 50 batman books with large pile of unsold books in stores.

Take books like Batman Black & White and others and place them under one banner. Instead of tossing them all out at once. Rotate them out. At most in a month I would think 4 Batman lead books would be enough. With 4 active in digital only and 4 being in those print digests.

A book like Shazam. He should do 1 series a year.

For someone like Duke, Aqualad, Cass and Jaime-could this work? 1-2 stand alone stories and do a combined digest for all of those to save up space. Once you get enough martial for an individual trade-put that out.

In fact since there would be digests-cut out some of the trades. because those digests are good enough and you can ship them to Wal-mart & Target.

So everybody can get them. However I would make sure guys who do better outside the comic book store would hit Target & wal-Mart. Batman and his friends-I think it would benefit a combined digest for them. because I have seen too many of those Batman 100 pages unsold. While Teen Titans and Swamp Thing have sold.

I am sure some will complain over variants and price.

$3.99 for 20 page

Archie digest is $7.00 for 196. About the same price for an issue of GQ magazine.
The digest is more affordable.
Also Dc could offer subscriptions and discount all they like. 20 issues of Archie Digest is normally $139.00. Which they have discounted to $55.00.
New stuff comes out 5-6 weeks.
They also do starter digests for $40 (10 for a limited time).
As for variants-NOTHING is stopping DC from doing different covers. A newsstand version and a comic book store version.

The monthly grind is something that should end.

You know how you handle that? The way marvel & Archie use to do it. I think Archie still does it.

Build up a collection of reserve material and pay the artist/writers for it.
Tony Isabella was paid to do a bunch of Rocket Racer stories in the 90s. They end up appearing in various Spider-Man books. When I met Tony and showed him a marvel Tales issue with Rocket Racer-he told me.
Tom Defalco and others did that for Archie and were not credited in the 70s.

I would not use guys like Batman-I wouldn't want to spoil or contradict something in another book. So I use Cyborg, Dr Fate Jr, Doomed Jr, Crush, Jessica Cruz and others.