DC Cuts Ties with Diamond

[Digifiend]

Yeah, Comichron estimate the sales numbers, but the top 500 chart is from Diamond - and DC will no longer be on it.

[Electricmastro]

Comichron's figures, like icv2's, are based on Diamond publishing their top 500 comic & GNs's North American comic shop orders as a percentage of Batman's orders (presumably, they will now switch to Amazing Spider-Man or something). All they need to do from there is find out the actual orders (on the same basis - i.e., not non-North American sales, nor sales in rather than to comic shops) of *one* comic on the list - the higher the better, since there are more significant figures, but using multiple lower-selling books can compensate somewhat - to extrapolate everything else.

Without that list of percentages as a basis, the whole thing falls apart, and whatever surveys they can do for DC will be less accurate, especially since there won't be any small publishers on the list that they can quietly get their sales numbers from.


Short version? Everything becomes more expensive for shops at a time when they're short of cash from Covid, especially for non-US shops who will have to pay full retail-cost international shipping.

Long version? I made two long posts already:
https://community.cbr.com/showthread...36#post4999636
https://community.cbr.com/showthread...43#post4998743

Ah, thanks.

[Ascended]

Who buys trades from an LCS though? My shop doesnt even stock trades as they cant compete with amazon. Its singles and back issues only.

Mine keeps a pretty good stock. Not as good as what I can find at bookstores, but they keep a decent selection. With my LCS discount I pay about the same amount for a trade from them as I would at Books A Million. Close to the same price anyway, and I get to support my local shop instead of a larger book chain.

I can't speak for every store or anything, but I've been in shops all through New England and Florida and Georgia, and most of those shops carried at least *some* trades. Maybe it's not common anymore (I'm talking twenty+ years here, a lot changes in that time) or maybe it's not as common further west, but I assumed *most* shops had at least some trades to sell.

[married guy]

Well, as an Aussie I'm interested in what this means to my DC buying habits with my local store.
I am already paying $8 an issue - it's hard enough justifying that price let alone another price hike due to additional shipping costs.
And that's IF DC is distributed to Australia in the first place!

It will be VERY interesting to see how this plays out.

[iron chimp]

Comichron's figures, like icv2's, are based on Diamond publishing their top 500 comic & GNs's North American comic shop orders as a percentage of Batman's orders (presumably, they will now switch to Amazing Spider-Man or something). All they need to do from there is find out the actual orders (on the same basis - i.e., not non-North American sales, nor sales in rather than to comic shops) of *one* comic on the list - the higher the better, since there are more significant figures, but using multiple lower-selling books can compensate somewhat - to extrapolate everything else.

Without that list of percentages as a basis, the whole thing falls apart, and whatever surveys they can do for DC will be less accurate, especially since there won't be any small publishers on the list that they can quietly get their sales numbers from.


Short version? Everything becomes more expensive for shops at a time when they're short of cash from Covid, especially for non-US shops who will have to pay full retail-cost international shipping.

Long version? I made two long posts already:
https://community.cbr.com/showthread...36#post4999636
https://community.cbr.com/showthread...43#post4998743

Yes you are right - it really speeds process up to have the %s. Unless dcbs publish the same chart they are going to need sales figures from their sample shops for all dcs books. Its not impossible, probably just boring and time consuming.

Because they have no idea what midtown and dcbs sell mailorder (and it will be huge numbers) i think they just leave them out and its just their guesstimate of over the counter sales. I personally wouldnt be surprised if dcbs and midtown and the other mail order sellers didnt account for 30% of total sales which go unreported.

[CentralPower]

DC does not reliably distribute to Australia?

Mile High's reaction (the "DC Sucks" sale) is just...petty.

They are going to need to sell DC, no matter what happens.

Yeah, Comichron estimate the sales numbers, but the top 500 chart is from Diamond - and DC will no longer be on it.

DC only cares if their actual numbers slip.

[iron chimp]

Well, as an Aussie I'm interested in what this means to my DC buying habits with my local store.
I am already paying $8 an issue - it's hard enough justifying that price let alone another price hike due to additional shipping costs.
And that's IF DC is distributed to Australia in the first place!

It will be VERY interesting to see how this plays out.

Jesus $8 is brutal. I pay about $4 bagged and boarded and delivered in Uk and buy 5 then 6th is free.

There is no distro at all now outside usa. All international retailers are being told to order from midtown and dcbs.

https://www.comicsbeat.com/breaking-...-distribution/

"Which distributor should I use?

Retailers may choose from these three distributors as they like, but we suggest that U.S. and Canadian retailers on the west coast choose Lunar Distribution and those on the east coast choose UCS Comic Distributors to maximize shipping timelines. For retailers outside North America, please choose any of the three distributors."

[The no face guy]

Archie's digests are a bit different - they're thicker/more robust (and mostly reprints) than single comics, at a historically higher price (although the ludicrous inflation of single issue prices has largely closed the gap there over time). Last time Marvel sold actual single issues to the "newsstand market", they were a full dollar or more higher in price than the corresponding DM version for similar reasons
(Please note, DC's "100-Page Giants" are sold *IN* Wal-Mart, but not *BY* Wal-Mart. They're sold by a company that has concession space in WMs).

I’m still not sold on the idea that wholesalers are not stocking comics at grocery stores because they are flimsy and not made of sturdy stuff. The money that could be made by having comics at the front of grocery store check outs could be potentially quite lucrative,( or it could be a bad loss), but the exposure they would have for the children that would see them would be priceless. I would have never gotten into comics if my parents hadn’t started purchasing them for me at the grocery and convienance stores at a very young age, hence I would never have traveled to a comic book store when I got older.

Marvel's sales app was just a ComiXology storefront anyway, IIRC.
Easily the best official value proposition to read Marvel's comics is Marvel Unlimited ($10+tax per month to read virtually Marvel's entire line, minus a few licensed books, and a huge chunk of the back catalogue. Yes, there's a six-month delay, but that's no worse than waiting for the trade...), but it's never really been pushed hard by them.

Does that include current releases. If it does, send me the link and I will sign up today because that is a great deal! If it is just back issues, than I’m not interested.
I have always thought a Netflix model of paying a flat monthly fee to get access to a certain amount of titles digitally would be the optimal model. I don’t expect $10.00 for the entire catalogue, but if you could have different packages for different amounts $10.00 for 4 or 5, $15.00 for 7, $30.00 or $40.00 for unlimited amount per month that would be great, as it would allow me to balance out my Marvel and DC titles which is currently close to 50/50, just charge to my credit card every month and I'll hardly notice.

You're never going to see a link to Amazon (and, by extension, ComiXology) on a Netflix show, because Amazon Prime are Netflix's direct competitors.

No I realize that, but I would like to see DC comics themselves have a direct download link to the product on the Black Lightning show, because I simply think it would be a great way to increase exposure for the comic, and bring in new readers, and in this case, potentially strengthen the diversity of DC’s readership.

The bottom line is this, comic book shops are about as antiquated as record stores in the digital age, and although I think they will survive because they diversify by selling other products, their monopoly on comics has not been good for the comic industry, because it confines their exposure to the comic shop, which significantly narrows down your customer base. It drives me up the wall that the only place I can ever find a comic, is at a comic shop, which is usually located in some old low rent area of the suburbs.

If the comic industry wants their readership to grow in the digital age, they have to think of new and innovative ways to get their product visible and out there to as many retail, and online venues as possible.

[PlatinumThorns]

Wow, some shops are strait up not even going to sell DC comics anymore. Crazy

[Vakanai]

Wow, some shops are strait up not even going to sell DC comics anymore. Crazy

Their loss.

[Lonewolf36]

Wow, some shops are strait up not even going to sell DC comics anymore. Crazy

If it works for DC they will want to come back and if i was DC i was refuse service but they won't. I would at the very least not give them discounts that those that goes with DC from the start should get.

[shooshoomanjoe]

Right? About time though. I wonder what Marvel plans on doing.

[shooshoomanjoe]

Wow, some shops are strait up not even going to sell DC comics anymore. Crazy

Did they give a reason?

[SanityOrMadness]

Does that include current releases. If it does, send me the link and I will sign up today because that is a great deal! If it is just back issues, than I’m not interested.
I have always thought a Netflix model of paying a flat monthly fee to get access to a certain amount of titles digitally would be the optimal model. I don’t expect $10.00 for the entire catalogue, but if you could have different packages for different amounts $10.00 for 4 or 5, $15.00 for 7, $30.00 or $40.00 for unlimited amount per month that would be great, as it would allow me to balance out my Marvel and DC titles which is currently close to 50/50, just charge to my credit card every month and I'll hardly notice.

Define current vs back issues - like I said, there's a six month or so delay before comics get added. So it currently goes up to late 2019 books. There's a 7-day free trial anyway, then it's $10+tax a month or $69+tax a year,

https://www.marvel.com/comics/unlimited

[Lonewolf36]

Did they give a reason?

Just a guess but Diamond with holding payments was the last nail in the coffin.