COMICS PORTAL: What I Would Like to See Now!

Things are slowly taking shape as to the future of the comics industry, so I had a few suggestions in mind!

Today, Monday, April 7, is a very important day when it comes to Alliance owning most of Diamond. When this article posts, they may have already finalized the sale. Both organizations have been busily finalizing necessary documentation for this to be completed. Interestingly enough, Diamond UK issues will be sorted out separately.

I found an interesting quote online from Robert Gorin, Diamond Chief Restructuring Officer: “We continue to work diligently with our legal and financial advisors to pursue the best path forward for the company and are pleased with the strong interest in Diamond’s assets throughout this process. Our priority as we confirm a buyer remains minimizing disruption to publishers, retailers, our employees, and comic and games fans everywhere.”

So, what I expect will happen is that we won’t see earth-shattering proclamations from Alliance, but we will encounter changes as the process moves forward. For instance, I’ve been reading up on Alliance’s moves when they have acquired other companies. Usually, the name doesn’t change although the ownership has. It’s not likely that “Diamond” will be renamed to something closer to “Alliance.” At least, that’s how it seems at this point. But things can change!

That sentence about “minimizing disruption to publishers, retailers, our employees, and comics and games fans everywhere” was somewhat reassuring. However, there are some things that I definitely would like to see change in the coming weeks and months.

The fact that Alliance is keeping the Diamond staff has both good and bad aspects to it. One of the biggest concerns with Diamond has been their customer service, particularly with local comic shops.

Many of the people I know who run LCS’s often complain bitterly about how their product has arrived in poor condition, and replacements are so very difficult to obtain (if at all). If the people providing this level of service continue on, well, there needs to be some changes! There needs to be better communication between the distributor and their clients, to put it mildly.

I know this sounds kind of rudimentary, but this was a big part of the problems Diamond has been a part of for years. THIS MUST IMPROVE!

There is a lot of discussion online (and I’m sure in public) about the possibility that the release date will shift from Wednesday to Thursday. Perhaps that’s a bigger day for gamers and the like, but it honestly doesn’t make sense to me.

The industry has gone through a LOT of changes in this regard, including shifting from Friday to Wednesday, then Lunar moving the release date to Tuesday to coincide with the release of full books, and now back again to Wednesday for everyone. If there is a change, please make it fast and stick to it. As I often point out, retailers need to place their orders about two months ahead of delivery. Fans and other buyers need to know when to go to their LCS in order to pick up what they’ve ordered.

Personally, I’ve always favored a Friday release date because a lot of us get paid on that day. We can cash our checks (or receive the money digitally) before heading to our LCS. I used to love to read my new comics over the weekend when I often have had more time to enjoy them. I do realize that a lot of us have more fluid schedules these days, so this may not be as cut and dried as it used to be.

Just find what works best for everyone involved, then stick to it!

Another subject that has people rattled is the speculation (or rumor, if you prefer) that Alliance doesn’t want to get involved in selling “floppies” or monthly issues of comics. Truthfully, the income from individual books is much smaller than a trade paperback, so the idea is that they will simply stop floppies and focus on collected editions or trade paperbacks.

A lot of industry execs point to how this is handled in Europe. Over there, they stick almost exclusively with collected editions. You go into a local comics shop over there, and you will have a tough time finding a floppy. It’s mostly trades, trades, trades as far as they eye can see!

Granted, there is a significant portion of fandom here in the U.S. that is already focused on trades. They go to the store a lot less frequently, usually coming by when those collected editions arrive. However, many of us still look forward to being “Wednesday Warriors” who come in to not only pick up what we ordered, but often to talk comics with the employees or other customers.

I know that floppies alone aren’t what we need moving forward, but some of us still enjoy the weekly issues. It’s like what’s going on with streaming companies. Some of them release the entire season at one time while others put out an episode a week until they have finished with the current season (or series). I’ve watched both, and I am okay with either approach. The same comes to comics… I love me a long, collected edition that I can dive headlong into for a period of time, but I also like reading chapters in a saga or a short story. Whatever tells the story best!

There are other issues that we all are talking about both online and with other friends, so we may delve into these subjects again in future columns!

What do you think? What changes would you like to see Alliance implement? Or what would you like to see continue? What other concerns do you have for the future of the industry? Feel free to share your opinions below!

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