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So I know I was going to start my 2024 prediction review today, but some stuff has turned up that takes some precedence, I think.
First off, Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In short, that’s allowing Diamond to reorganize and sell off assets to stabilize its business. Those assets include Alliance, the gaming distribution company, and Diamond UK.
And, as noted in the press release quoted at that link, their “main comic, toy, and collectible distribution lines” are also up for sale. Which sounds a whole lot like the company trying to keep things going until they can sell off everything and close its doors.
Or maybe they’ll get their act together and go back to business as usual. I have no idea.
Now, when there was a major collapse of comic distributors in the 1980s, a number of publishers were left being owed payments by said distributors. I imagine if Diamond goes away, the same may happen now, hurting especially the smaller publishers and possibly taking them down with them. Which is the main reason I’m hoping Diamond pulls through, not leaving those vendors holding the bag.
According to Diamond, business will continue as usual while they’re going through this process, including the weekly shipments, reorders, damage replacements, etc. Amusingly they emphasized the fact that yes, retailers with Diamond accounts are expected to keep paying their invoices, in case anyone thought they didn’t need to keep exchanging money for goods from a company in Chapter 11.
Diamond also informed retailers that they’re still supporting Free Comic Book Day for the year, at least as far as things look now. That leaves me to wondering, of course, who would take over the FCBD event should Diamond eschew the responsibility.
And that leads me to wondering just how Diamond can survive, and what may rise up in its place. I’m picturing a much pared down Diamond, carrying only comics, supplies, and maybe some comic related merchandise. No nudie books, no Japanese schoolgirl statues, no tchotchkes that have nothing to do with comics. Catalogs are 32 pages long, shipments all come from a single warehouse. It all depends on whatever comic publishers are left over, and if they get enough orders to keep Diamond’s doors open even at this minimal level. I feel like Dynamite and its multiple covers for everything would be doing the heavy lifting here.
If the comic distribution end does get sold to another company, then I guess I’d have to apply for an account there if the old accounts simply don’t transfer over. Would there be a gap in shipments caused by this? Possibly. The most convenient solution would be for one of the other existing distributors to the Direct Market (Lunar or Penguin Random House) were to take over the comics end of Diamond.
Otherwise, if Diamond just closes up shop, leaving publishers high and dry, then…well, I’m picturing the ’80s again, with a half-dozen distributors all carrying their own selection of items. Which is fine, if increasing the “paperwork” (or computer work, rather) at my end.
The very small press books are the ones that’ll be hardest hit, as a weird one-off book that’s easy for me to say “yes” to as a line item with everything else in the Diamond catalog, may get missed or overlooked entirely if they’re only available from some tiny distributor with not enough for me to bother opening an account.
Ideally, whatever happens my customers don’t see any problems from their end, that the comics continue coming out, regardless from where I get them. We’ll see how things shake out over the next few month.
Now, I’ve long ago transferred as much of my business as I could away from Diamond to other distributors. Diamond had just too many problems over the years…poor packing resulting in damaged comics, items being shorted entirely and not having the stock to replace them, getting a single copy of Comic Shop News instead of the full bundle (the most baffling shipping error). Getting alternative distributors was an outright relief, where (aside from a disastrous damage-ridden initial shipment from Penguin Random House) my shipments have been relatively damage-and-shortage free.
Since the advent of distribution competition, Diamond actually fixed most of these problems. Too little too late, I’m afraid. The vast bulk of my orders come from the other two distributors, with Diamond’s shipments being only a fraction of the size they used to be. The weekly payments to Diamond are so much smaller now than before, and I’d wonder “if everyone’s invoices shrunk this much, I wonder how Diamond is able to survive?” And, well…I guess I have that answer.
This is just a smattering of thoughts I’ve had on the topic. I’m sure I’ll throw more at you when I’ve had more time to process the situation, and as we experince the continuing ramifications.
• • •
The other big news of the week is
this article (may be paywalled, but you can find other articles covering its contents) with its in-depth look at the sexual assault claims against Neil Gaiman. WARNING: the descriptions therein are very explicit and upsetting, so you may be better off finding someone else’s summary.
This situation is very disappointing and disillusioning, to hear that such a talented force admired by so many is an alleged creep credibly accused by multiple victims. And it doesn’t help that Gaiman’s own statement, posted on his official site just yesterday, smacks of the same meaningless platitudes that Warren Ellis threw out there when he was outed as a sex pest.
“Innocent until proven guilty,” I know, and Gaiman claims his relationships with all these women were consensual. But…man, this doesn’t look good for him. Even Scott McCloud, who had a longtime friendly relationship with the man, is like “hoo boy.”
I’ve written before about the possible impact on the comics publishing end, which now seems like an inevitability. DC’s challenge is divorcing the Sandman franchise from its creator, and Marvel’s challenge of wrapping up Miracleman, while on a much smaller and less impactful scale, is still one they have to face.
But like I said then, this is the least of the issues at stake here. It’s an ugly situation, leaving some very hurt women in its wake, and one hopes some justice may be found here.
Okay, I do plan on getting back to the whole intercompany crossover business we were talking about last time. What I was going to talk about today was the fact that I finally got prescription glasses (my eyes finally being stable enough for them, but still prone to occasional bleeds) and have started to try to read the enormous backlog of comics I’ve got waiting for me at home. I’m literally a year behind on some titles.
But something needs to be said about comics writer Warren Ellis and writer/artist Cameron Stewart, both of whom are facing allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior. You can read about what’s going on with Ellis here, and Stewart here. No word that I’ve seen from Ellis, but I saw Stewart locked down some of his social media presence.
Now…okay, I don’t really know anything about Stewart, aside from seeing his name on some comics here and there (and I know I enjoyed the Batgirl run he worked on) but I am quite familiar with Ellis, as I suspect most of the folks reading a comics blog like this would be as well. I think it’s safe to say that Ellis had cultivated a persona of being someone who did not suffer fools, was encouraging of new work by independent creators, supportive of the rights of women and the LGBTQ community. So of course it’s greatly disappointing to hear these reports coming out about him. I mean, it’s disappointing to hear them come out about anybody, but Ellis, in particular…you can’t help but think “but surely he was smarter than that?”
I have no idea how this is going to shake out…while I’m all for “innocent until proven guilty,” I’m also for “believe women,” and there is a lot of stuff just kinda pouring out right now. I am curious as to what Ellis, and Stewart too I suppose, are going to have to say in response, whether they’re apologies of varying levels of sincerity, or just a flurry of self-defensive libel suits, I don’t know.
But I do know that I hate seeing these stories come out of the comics industry, a business primarily built on telling stories about good conquering evil, in which evil is continually inflicted on good people and so often goes unpunished. Or worse, unmentioned.
Reader Hooper left a comment on my last post regarding these recent events. You should read the whole post, but I did want to respond to one part of it. Hooper says
“…I feel guilty for contributing to their careers by seeking out their work and purchasing their art.”
Well…you really shouldn’t. How could you have known? It’s not your fault. I mean, you have to go through life and make your decisions based on the idea that folks whose work you’re supporting are operating in good faith. You can’t buy a CD thinking while you hand over the money “I sure hope this guy isn’t a child molester!” You’d drive yourself crazy second-guessing yourself like that. Don’t feel bad that you supported someone who turned out to not be a good person. Don’t even feel bad that you enjoyed the work in the past. Just think “I know better now” and stop supporting that creator. Maybe that creator will make amends, work to better himself, do proper penance, and someday be worthy of support again. Or maybe not. But it’s all on the person who did wrong. It’s certainly not on you, the consumer who didn’t know.
Sigh. Sorry, I don’t have a funny or pithy wrap-up to this post. These are just ugly situations, and I hate that these things happen. I really do.
So…it still feels weird to be writing about comics right now. Things continue to be in a huge state of upheaval, folks are remaining angry (and rightfully so) and even as changes to the system are appearing to be slowly progressing, the pushback is still hurting folks and costing lives. If you wish to contribute to resources helping out Black people, this list is a good place to start (which also includes support for the gay and transgendered). There may be organizations local to you that could use help as well. I know wallets are pretty much emptied after months of state shutdowns, and you might not be able to donate. At the very least, promote resources like those linked above, and be vocal in your support of those in need of it.
• • •
So the comic news that’s kinda hard to ignore even with everything else going on is the fact that DC Comics
is bailing entirely on Diamond Comics as a distributor of its product.
Okay, when DC decided to start distributing their items through a couple of other sources during Diamond’s shutdown, I figured things were going to change for the industry. Mostly I thought we’d see a lot more publishers, mostly indie types, deciding to either split from Diamond themselves, or at least wholesale their items directly to retailers in addition to offering them through the usual system. Mostly, I anticipated having to go through a half-dozen catalogues and cut separate checks to everyone every week, like The Good Ol’ Days. However, I didn’t anticipate DC leaving Diamond entirely. That came as bit of a shock.
Still not sure what the ultimate impact of this will be to the industry as a whole, or to me personally. I mean, aside from not knowing when the new DCs will arrive each week. Hard to meet DC’s new Tuesday on-sale time when I don’t get the books ’til a few hours before closing that day. The actual process of ordering from this other distributor is fairly easy, and I noticed they changed the user interface to make things more organized and convenient. Items don’t always get listed in alphabetical order, which I would prefer, but they weren’t at Diamond either so I’ll live. [EDIT: Oh wait, now that I look at the new distributor’s website with newly cleared vision, following the most recent eyeball procedure, I can see there are teeny tiny buttons that let me change the ordering of the lists. NEVER MIND]
Plus, I’ve yet to experience a single damage or shortage on DC product from this other distributor, so that’s a nice change. I am curious about backlist titles, as so far the only older items the new distributor has is whatever they had come in since they started shipping out DC books to retailers in April. I presume eventually more books (and older comics) will move over there, but far as I can tell I can still order that product from Diamond. Wonder how long that’ll last? Will DC buy it all back from Diamond to move to their other outlets, or is Diamond going to be stuck trying to sell those Gilgamesh II graphic novels ’til the end of time?
Also of concern is the financial impact on Diamond. With the loss of one of its two biggest vendors, that’s gotta cause the ol’ pursestrings to be tightened a little. I presume that means fewer employees manning phones and packing/shipping product, but there’s also less product to be packed/shipping, so maybe it’ll all balance out? I suspect we’ll see soon enough. I know Diamond told retailers directly that losing one vendor, even a large one like DC, is something they could ride out, and I can believe it. So long as Marvel doesn’t Heroes World-it again and also depart, I suspect we’ll still have Diamond to kick around a while longer.
On the personal side of things, my business has been doing…okay so far now that I’ve been able to reopen. Most days have been having normal business, though my Wednesdays have been pretty short of what they once were. Almost by necessity, since new comic shipments are only a fraction of what they once were, and Marvel’s only shipping a handful of titles every other week. As my former boss Ralph once told me, decades ago, “as Marvel goes, so goes the industry,” and it certainly feels like it’s Marvel that drives the folks in the door each week for their fix. Anything else can wait ’til it’s convenient to show up, but the new Avengers and Amazing Spider-Man must be bought right away.
The big question coming up is Batman #92, which prior to the COVID-19 shutdowns was The Big In-Demand Comic, what with that issue’s focus on the new villain Punchline. I’d actually ordered quite a bit on that, expecting a rush, plus having to meet the demands of advance requests for multiple copies, etc. Now I’m wondering it that same demand has maintained itself over our extended break? I’m curious to see. I’ve also noticed a decrease in Random Hot Books, where there’s one comic nobody expected, or ordered a lot of, that suddenly everyone wants so they can flip it on eBay or whatever. Last week was the first example of this in a while (the “B” cover for most recent installment of Blackwood, selling for around $30 online the day of release). Oh, this crazy business.
• • •
In other news,
Fake AP Stylebook has come back for the nonce, in our time of greatest need. Yes, I’m writing for it again. Probably not getting
another book deal out of this comeback, but that’s okay, we’re doing it out of love. And bitterness. And just pure, unadulterated sarcasm. Anyway, no one stopped us, so it’s back. We regret nothing.
§ June 1st, 2020 § Filed under real world stuff Comments Off on Added a “real world stuff” category to the site just for this post.
Think I’m going to pass on talking about comics today.
Pay attention to what’s happening right now, and don’t depend on network or cable news for information, as that’s all just “looters looters looters.” Look to reports and videos from ground level reporting on social media to see what people are fighting for, and what they’re up against.
Yes, I know that’s “being political,” and some people don’t like that getting mixed with their entertainment. Tough shit. The two are rarely, if ever, separated. Racism sucks, Black people getting slaughtered in the streets sucks, innocent people getting injured and permanently maimed (or blinded) by rubber bullets sucks, agitators discrediting movements with violence and vandalism suck. Sorry if I’ve offended anyone who’s actually okay with any of that…well, no, I’m not sorry, come to think of it.
Look, I know the regular readers of this site won’t have a problem with me saying any of this. I figure after doing ProgRuin for the better part of two decades, you gotta know what I’m about by now, right? I’m not aiming any of that at you. But there’s always those drive-by comenters who pops in to say something stupid whenever I take a controversial stand like, to use a recent example, when I decided to follow actual health regulations to maintain my business.
On top of that…I had to get this off my chest. It felt wrong just to ignore what was happening and continue on my site, business as usual. Look, I’m just a slightly-past-middle-aged white dude who sells comics, writes about comics, and writes about selling comics. I’m not pretending to have any special insight on any of this. Like most of us, I want to see a better world, and that better world is worth fighting for.
Thanks for putting up with this today, and I’ll see if I can’t get back to the usual content later in the week. In the meantime, stay safe out there, friends.
