Is there a way to fix or get rid of the direct market system?

[lalalei2001]

I was reading a couple essays on what's been going wrong with Marvel as a comic company and one of the things that stuck out was that most of those problems stem directly from the direct market and Diamond, which has a monopoly on both major publishers and determines a comic's success based on pre-orders at least three months in advance.

My question is can anything be done about this situation? Is there a way to fix it or scrap it entirely? Outside of the comic book fandom it doesn't seem to be a widely known issue or even that it's a thing at all, which compounds things.

[The Whovian]

If you got rid of the direct market system, it would kill the industry.

[LordMikel]

I was reading a couple essays on what's been going wrong with Marvel as a comic company and one of the things that stuck out was that most of those problems stem directly from the direct market and Diamond, which has a monopoly on both major publishers and determines a comic's success based on pre-orders at least three months in advance.

My question is can anything be done about this situation? Is there a way to fix it or scrap it entirely? Outside of the comic book fandom it doesn't seem to be a widely known issue or even that it's a thing at all, which compounds things.

Not having read the articles, I need more information. Is the problem that comic stores must order three months in advance the issue they are citing?

[Goggindowner]

If you got rid of the direct market system, it would kill the industry.

I don't think it would kill the industry, it would just fundamentally change it forever. Marvel and DC would survive it, they both have massive entertainment conglomerates behind them with insane amounts of cash. I think Image could even survive the transition.

Comic companies would just need to adapt to the new environment. In a lot of ways, what came out the other side of the transition would likely be stronger and better than what we currently have. I just don't know exactly what that would look like.

[Goggindowner]

Actually, I think it would be pretty interesting to see comics transition into anthology magazines. So, for example, there would be an X-Men Magazine that featured an X-Men series, a young X-Men student based series, a few other related teams and a few solo titles maybe.

On the digital side, each of the series within the magazine could be offered as a bundle or separately, and then you could also offer collected versions of the stories once they complete story arcs or come to an end.

The magazine sized anthologies and the collected editions of the individual stories should present enough content to get distribution through the same channels that other magazines and publications distribute through, and the push would be to go digital as quickly as possible and eliminate the distribution issue as soon as possible.

That's just one off the cuff idea.

[rui no onna]

The reason DC and Marvel like the direct market so much is due to no returnability. Sure, comics used to sell 250,000+ per issue via newsstand but they were printing 500,000 copies so that's a lot of printing costs for returned copies eating up profits. Practically every floppy DC and Marvel puts out in the direct market is instantly profitable. They have also pushed comic pricing higher and higher testing the limits that comic fans/addicts will put up with. I highly doubt $4 per 20-page floppy is gonna fly with the general public.

In any case, Marvel already has the 6-month delayed Marvel Unlimited for direct distribution. That's most likely their backup plan if the direct market ever goes belly-up. Easy enough to remove the delay. Without the lead-in needed for printing and distribution, comics should actually be available quicker via Marvel Unlimited. Heck, Marvel accidentally posted some All-New Wolverine issues I think 2-3 weeks before the print is supposed to come out.

That said, profit margins are higher via direct market so it's in DC's and Marvel's best interest to keep that avenue going.

Mind, I do like the print magazine anthology idea. I used to subscribe to Hana to Yume and Sho-Comi but keeping up those subscriptions were impractical given my Japanese language skills were almost nonexistent. I still buy the weekly Shonen Jump (English, Viz digital). Just $0.99 per issue!

[Sharkerbob]

Burn it. It's what paper is good at.

[dancj]

I think Diamond's monopoly is a bigger problem than the direct market itself.

In time though, between TPBs and digital comics, their stranglehold on the industry is weakening. It'll take a while and they might never completely lose their grip on the floppies, but it will become less of a problem.