Coronavirus knocks out direct market - Diamond stops deliveries

[Godlike13]

Close...or close forever?

Till April 7th.

[justinslot]

Just to answer a question upthread: DCBS gets their comics from Diamond just like everybody else, so they won't be getting new stuff in either.

(DCBS must be Diamond's single largest client right? I don't think there's a larger mail-only preorder service.)

[9th.]

To be honest, I prefer digital. Everything is at my fingertips and easily accessible. Don't care about collecting (do care about kinda losing original artwork when things are put in digital later). And I'm at my PC all day, anyway. But also haven't been reading much lately, anyway, so it's not going to change my buying habits, since I wasn't buying anyway. Honestly, even back when I did monthly subscriptions, I'd wait for several to pile up before reading. I just can't keep an interest in a storyline playing out so slowly for more than three months or so. Makes me a poor comic fan, I guess.

I'm the exact same way, I don't a collection hogging up space.

[HandofPrometheus]

I would because that would ******* kill them. The creatives get paid based off of sales, if nothing is selling no one is getting paid. They will not stop putting out product, they simply can’t. What they should be doing is promoting Unlimited and Universe. DC’s dumbass decision to limit Universe to the USA is going to bite them in the ass now.

You would think DCU would be available worldwide by now. They can literally take advantage of this worldwide crisis right now. But they probably won't bother since it might get canned and folded into HBO Max later since DC managed it so terribly.

[kjn]

I always thought it was a terrible idea.
There is no real reason digital should be the same cost as print. Fair enough if there is NO print copy and it's solely digital, but the current system just struck me a blatant cash grab.

If we look at the book market, things have started to develop a bit there (at least for some publishers).

Basically, what you're paying for isn't the product, but for early access, and tied to the hardcover/paperback release cycle. You pay 80% or so of the price of the hardcover for an electronic copy on release day, and then when the paperback arrives a year later the e-book is price adjusted to the paperback cost.

But I'm not sure how a similar release model for comics would look like.

[Arnoldoaad]

This is sad
It personally doesnt affect me personally as I get all of my comics digitally but I do feel for you.
As you can see on the left, Im from Costa Rica. the situation here with Covid19 is not as extreme as it is in the US(only 150+ cases reported and only 2 dead here as of today) but we are also saying home for the time being, schools/churches/malls/etc everything is closed.
so to all of you who are no just going to miss your physical copies and may lose your favorite comic stores. which you the best of lucks.

[My Two Cents]

I gave up single issues 2 years ago
But not getting new released trades and omnibuses will hurt.

[Vampire Savior]

My personal unfiltered viewpoint on this is that collectors, people who gotta' have a book in their hands, variant cover hunters, and so on, should not be at the forefront dictating how this industry functions. Those things are niches within niches that got blown out of proportion to disastrous effects in the 1990s, which the industry is paying for now. Vintage video game collectors do not dictate the flow of the video game industry. They are a niche within a subculture and market. The video game industry...for the most part...operates based on common sense, while the comics industry is comparatively ass backwards. You look at it and say, "No wonder no one reads this stuff."

The comics need to sell themselves on--again--VERY strong stories with VERY strong artwork. With the experience I've had on comics, I've discovered the great secret behind making better comics than everyone. And...the big secret is...have a VERY good story with VERY good artwork. Not 40 variant covers of Black Cat. That's ridiculous. Relaunches and reboots up the ass. Dropped story lines that don't go anywhere because things have to be ready for the next relaunch. Not the next tired event stories that only a small niche will understand or be interested in. It's this collector driven direct market stuff that's to blame for nearly all the biggest problems "Big 2" comics face. If it takes this pandemic for comics to wisen up...well...I guess that's just how it goes...if wisen up. I always kinda' wondered how that would happen. I think the near future will be very painful for Marvel, DC, and the other publishers, but it's my hope that something better will come out of all this.

[Digifiend]

You would think DCU would be available worldwide by now. They can literally take advantage of this worldwide crisis right now. But they probably won't bother since it might get canned and folded into HBO Max later since DC managed it so terribly.

The reason they won't bother is the TV shows and movies, as the rights for most of those are with other streamers and TV channels outside the US. Marvel Unlimited can be available worldwide because it's JUST the comics. DC Universe isn't. So I say fold the shows into HBO Max and turn DC Universe into a comics only service.

[Flash Gordon]

My personal unfiltered viewpoint on this is that collectors, people who gotta' have a book in their hands, variant cover hunters, and so on, should not be at the forefront dictating how this industry functions. Those things are niches within niches that got blown out of proportion to disastrous effects in the 1990s, which the industry is paying for now. Vintage video game collectors do not dictate the flow of the video game industry. They are a niche within a subculture and market. The video game industry...for the most part...operates based on common sense, while the comics industry is comparatively ass backwards. You look at it and say, "No wonder no one reads this stuff."

The comics need to sell themselves on--again--VERY strong stories with VERY strong artwork. With the experience I've had on comics, I've discovered the great secret behind making better comics than everyone. And...the big secret is...have a VERY good story with VERY good artwork. Not 40 variant covers of Black Cat. That's ridiculous. Relaunches and reboots up the ass. Dropped story lines that don't go anywhere because things have to be ready for the next relaunch. Not the next tired event stories that only a small niche will understand or be interested in. It's this collector driven direct market stuff that's to blame for nearly all the biggest problems "Big 2" comics face. If it takes this pandemic for comics to wisen up...well...I guess that's just how it goes...if wisen up. I always kinda' wondered how that would happen. I think the near future will be very painful for Marvel, DC, and the other publishers, but it's my hope that something better will come out of all this.

I second all of this.

The kind of consumer that drives most comic shops, is not who the entire industry should be hinged upon.

[DragonPiece]

Hopefully DC/Marvel tell us if they'll just start doing digital first releases, maybe this is selfish, but as someone who just buys comics digitally anyways I'd still like to keep reading and supporting the creators.

[Clark_Kent]

Hopefully DC/Marvel tell us if they'll just start doing digital first releases, maybe this is selfish, but as someone who just buys comics digitally anyways I'd still like to keep reading and supporting the creators.

Same. I want to see where my favorite stories are going, and if digital-only for now keeps the writers & artists employed then I say all the better. Readers will adjust, the vast majority will make the switch if the alternative to digital is nothing at all. Nobody minded when they switched floppies from newsprint to glossy & matte paper, nobody minded when they rose from .75 to $4-$5 per floppy, and nobody will mind switching to a superior visual & perks like guided view. I'm speaking generally, of course, as some will absolutely mind...but they'll probably be the vocal minority on message boards.

It's the way of the future. There are still vinyl collectors, but most music fans made the switch to digital long ago. Film lovers as well. Comics can and should start to transition.

[Gaastra]

The day they stop making real trades and graphic novels is the day I stop buying comics other then older trades and go full manga. Like having trades on my shelf and reading comics in my hand not on a tiny phone.

Floppies have ton and tons out there now so plenty of back issues if I want them but tend to only buy pre 1990 floppies now. Won't pay more then $2 for a new floppy when the trade is cheaper then buying three floppies! Wait two months and the new issue is in the dollar bin anyways!

With that said I can see them going digital only for the floppies and then reprint them in a real trade later.

[Lightning Rider]

Whatever the industry has to do to survive I'm okay with, I just feel like local shops have value that can't be replaced. Mine seems popular enough to weather the storm thankfully.

Some sort of compromise, like digital floppies and hard copy trades, would work for me. I just don't ever see myself switching entirely to digital. I've done it here and there, it's just not my thing.

Also, I'm not well-read on this stuff, but how much does piracy eat into profits and subscriptions? I can literally google almost any comic book from the early 2000's on and read it in its entirety with no cost.

[Noodle]

My personal unfiltered viewpoint on this is that collectors, people who gotta' have a book in their hands, variant cover hunters, and so on, should not be at the forefront dictating how this industry functions. Those things are niches within niches that got blown out of proportion to disastrous effects in the 1990s, which the industry is paying for now. Vintage video game collectors do not dictate the flow of the video game industry. They are a niche within a subculture and market. The video game industry...for the most part...operates based on common sense, while the comics industry is comparatively ass backwards. You look at it and say, "No wonder no one reads this stuff."

This isn't a comparative argument. You would have to relate vintage video game collectors to vintage comic collectors, and we aren't talking about vintage comic collectors, we are talking about people that collect current issues being released. Last I checked, physical games are still being released. Both upcoming game consoles still have disc drives and physical games will be made for it.

Are games moving more and more to digital? Yes, but physical still makes up a large chunk of sales. Just like with comics. The market dictates where the future goes. If physical comics outsell digital, then physical comics aren't a "niche." The argument can be applied to standard Blu-Ray and 4K. Is 4K superior? Yes. But the market hasn't fully supported it based on sales, so the majority is still manufactured on non-4K or both.