The comics industry continues to evolve!
Last week, social media exploded when word came out that Diamond Comic Distributors had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. That’s not the end of the company, just their working to reorganize so they can move forward.
Granted, many of us were not at all surprised. For years, and that includes the time prior to the pandemic, I had heard from many local comics shop owners that Diamond was famous (or infamous, depending on who you spoke with) for the ways they dealt with creators, local shop owners, and fans alike. So many times, entire boxes of books would arrive at stores in terrible shape, if they arrived at all. It would take weeks if not months to get replacements. Now, they have apparently begun to handle a lot of the comics fans wanted (or needed) in a good fashion. But when a week’s entire shipment has to be returned because they arrive in a condition that prevents them from being sold, well, that’s serious when it comes to a local business without limitless resources.
Of course, that wasn’t the only problem the Diamond “monopoly” created. I personally was involved with an Indie comic that was submitted to them for distribution. They sent a letter back saying that they refused to include that book for sales to local shops. They said that if we could just find a company that was larger than the one we were working with, they would distribute it.
In essence, they said they were the gatekeepers for the comics industry. THEY determined what was worthy of being offered to stores, nobody else. That’s the problem a monopoly presents—if they decide they don’t want your product, tough beans!
The best part was that, in a few months, our book was picked up by a publisher and became popular with a number of comics fans. This was the very same book, no changes! The only difference was that a publisher THEY liked offered it to them—nothing else.
Of course, that’s only the tip of the iceberg! I could spend literally weeks talking about the problems and concerns people have had with Diamond. Yes, for a time, they seemed to BE the comics industry.
The pandemic offered a golden opportunity for DC and other companies to jump ship, so Lunar and Penguin and others rose up. From what I hear, Diamond made little to no changes in their organization after they lost huge clients. Only recently did they close down one of their warehouses, and chaos largely ensued. It took weeks for things to get back to what was considered “normal.”
So, when the news broke about bankruptcy, I wasn’t at all surprised. Disappointed? Sure! But just mention the word “Diamond” in certain LCS’s, and you would get a loud and long response telling you just why that has been a dirty word for them!
There are still a number of comics shop owners and employees who consider Diamond THE entire industry. “It’s too hard to order product from several organizations,” I’ve been told. But when you are dealing with show BUSINESS, profit is an important part of it. If it requires a little more work to make it happen, you buckle down and work with several organizations.
It’s been a slow process, but many of the shop owners I know have made the shift from “Diamond and Diamond only” to working with Lunar and Penguin and even certain comics companies who make it easy and profitable to deal directly with them.
So, things continue to change, and in my personal opinion, this is a good thing. Many store owners now deal with Diamond only on an occasional or limited basis, and they say that Lunar and others are improving the quality of the product and the timing they get the stuff they need.
Are they perfect? No, and I don’t think anyone really expects perfection. But are these organizations motivated to improve things? Yes! Much more so than a monopoly is or has been!
I’m more optimistic about the future of the industry as a result. Are there huge challenges to overcome? Absolutely! But I think fans will continue to see improved service and delivery of books as a result.
If Diamond had worked to improve how they did business with stores, creators, and even fans, I would regret that they have had to make the recent filing. I don’t want Diamond to fail—unless that’s what needs to happen to improve the industry.
Should Diamond examine how they do things, then implement changes that would help the industry move forward rather than trying to keep them locked into a deficit position, then they just might once again become the biggest and best distributor around. If they don’t, well, sadly they will have to deal with the consequences.
It’s not like the industry is so very huge we can handle all these problems including the recent pandemic and sad behavior by certain creators that has come to light. As one friend of mine likes to put it, “the fight is so fierce because the stakes are so low.” I guess if we were so huge that Diamond was only a drop in the bucket, things wouldn’t be so dire.
But we need to get the “plane to fly straight,” as another friend of mine says. We have to keep the industry alive or, like Diamond could be, comics may just become a thing of the past, something we find only in a museum. And not many of us want that to happen!
Again, I wish I was such an expert that I could instantly and obviously prescribe what the comics industry needs to do in order for it to thrive. Sadly, all I can do as a fan is say what I hope is the result of all our support.
What is that? My hope is that we as fans will get great stories well told in the comics format in a constant and predictable manner that makes it possible for shops to get them and for us to go and buy them so we can read and enjoy them. I don’t think that’s out of the range of what can and should happen.
Until then, all we can do is support the people we think are good for the industry as we move forward including our local comics shop and creators we believe in. I think we should do that as much as possible!
What do you think? Are there things the industry should be doing to help it move ahead? What else can fans do besides support the stores we frequent and the books we enjoy? Will the industry evolve in a good way? Whatever your opinion, feel free to share it in the space below!
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Wayne Hall creates the Wayne's Comics Podcast. He’s interviewed Scott Snyder, Greg Capullo, John Layman, Kyle Higgins, Phil Hester, Jimmy Palmiotti & Justin Gray, David Petersen, Christos Gage, Mike Grell, and Matt Kindt. On this site each week, he writes his "Comics Portal" column (general comics comments and previews) and reviews comics.