DC Dumps Diamond
Before launching into "DC Dumps Diamond" in detail, I'll cover a few key points for the majority of our readers who, above all, want to be sure they can still get DC comics from us. The answer to that question is yes, we will continue to offer DC titles, both comics and trades, now and until such time as DC returns to the only comic distributor capable of large scale comic distribution.
(No part of this column may be quoted without first receiving written authorization from me.)
The following are my thoughts on DC's treatment of Steve Geppi and Diamond Comic Distributors.
Our bone of contention isn't with the DC editors, creators, and publishing staff, good people with a demonstrated love for the medium. DC gives us its share of great comics thanks to these folks. Rather, our beef is with those higher up the corporate chain responsible for this move who, like cockroaches, are falling into a stew they don't understand, and in consequence ruining it for everyone.
Let's begin with a bit of history, starting with why this issue matters so much to me.
I began reading comics in 1961, and soon became a comic book retailer, selling out of by bedroom while still in junior high, then growing my business over the years until Buddy Saunders/Lone Star Comics/MyComicShop became the largest comic book retailer in the world. Comics have been a part of my life, my heart and my soul for sixty years. As much as anyone flesh-and-blood, the ink and paper heroes of DC--Green Lantern, Flash, Adam Strange--helped shape my character. So did Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's pre-hero big monster books, and then Spider-Man, Captain America, Thor and all the Marvel pantheon. But closest to my heart have always been the DC comics of those early years.
Decade to decade, DC Comics has been fan and retailer friendly. Paul Levitz, Jenette Kahn, Bob Wayne, they and countless others at DC over the years, were always there for us, loving the comic book medium as we do, and working with us shoulder-to-shoulder to make it easier for new readers to discover what we already know--once comic books get into your blood, you are a fan forever.
A visionary now long departed, Phil Seuling, was the first Direct Market comic book distributor. At first, he enjoyed a monopoly, but the Schuster brothers broke that monopoly with a lawsuit, making their New Media/Irjax the second direct market distributor. More distributors jumped in, all small, among them Steve Geppi's Diamond Comics Distributors.
Some comic book distributors were better at the distribution game than others. As the years passed, one after another closed until none were left but Steve Geppi's Diamond Comics. Diamond became a "monopoly" comic distributor by simple default. That's just what happens when all your competition goes under. I know Steve Geppi. He became the last man standing honorably, doing nothing whatever to push any competitor into the grave.
I have known Steve Geppi since 1980 when--ironically given the current state of affairs--DC Comics flew Steve and me to a DC brainstorming session on the tip of Long Island in the dead of winter. I got to know Steve during our ride to Montauk and the weekend he and I spent answering DC's questions. DC's main question, the question DC is still asking today, is what can we do to beat Marvel?
DC Comics has had--still has--no better friend than Steve Geppi. What is being done to Diamond Comics can't be laid at the foot of DC's comic book-grounded management. Rather, the decision to dump Diamond was forced down the corporate pecking order from higher ups at Time-Warner and AT&T, the latter being Time-Warner's new owner. As Chuck Rozanski of Mile High Comics points out, AT&T, in acquiring Time-Warner, took on tremendous debt, and then came COVID-19. A lot of people in these and other very big corporations are not happy campers right now.
The people at AT&T and Time-Warner are likely bright people with business degrees to prove it. But they have no understanding of the comic book industry. Given that what DC did to Diamond is so absolutely irrational, and so destructive to industry stability, let alone growth, it follows that DC's new goal runs counter to the best interests of fans, retailers and the other publishers. My take is that DC means the comic world no good except as it serves the interests of a DC out to crush competitors.
In its two newly-hatched distributors, DC imagines it has a viable alternative to Diamond. DC also knows that no other publisher has an alternative should Diamond fail. Seeing Diamond already weakened by the impact of the COVID-19 shutdowns, the temptation may well be to nudge Dimond toward collapse.
But whatever the case--an intentional plan or not--DC has shot itself in the foot with a machine gun.
Here's why:
Diamond will not fail. Diamond has seen this game plan before. In 1995, Marvel left Diamond to become its own distributor, buying one of the smaller distributors, Heroes World. Marvel, always bigger than DC, took with them in 1995 a larger market share than DC is taking from Diamond now. And what happened? Diamond prospered. Heroes World collapsed, and swimming out of a sea of red ink, Marvel returned hat-in-hand to Diamond.
DC's two new distributors--owned by Discount Comic Book Service and Midtown Comics--were created overnight, yet they are now expected to immediately service as many as 1,500 store accounts each. My wife, Judy, runs our personnel and accounting departments. Jokingly, I asked her what she thought about taking financial applications from over a thousand comic stores. After the look of horror passed from her face, she couldn't stop laughing. It won't take long before the managers of these new distributorships recognize their folly.
My fellow retailers, you'll soon see Diamond's service as perfect compared to what you'll get from these new creatures of Time-Warner. Diamond was forgiving of slow pays, working with them to keep their doors open, but will the new guys be as considerate? Will damage replacements be quick to come or come at all? Will shortage replacements come? Will reorders come promptly or come at all? Will DCBS and Midtown get restocking priority, leaving you in the cold and your customers switching to them for short supply hot titles?
Imagine one publisher able to get their comics to readers. And the rest, from Marvel on down to the smallest publisher, with no distributor. That may be an exciting prospect for corporate bean counters, but killing the competition is not what fans, retailers, and publishers want.
In this time of COVID-19, a time when all comicdom should be pulling together, DC has strayed, and strayed badly. When their self-made disaster collapses and they return to Diamond, Steve Geppi, being the gentleman he is, will welcome them back.
But until that happens, no retailer, MyComicShop included, will make much if any profit on DC titles after covering extra shipping charges and added accounting and processing costs.