Yesterday, DC announced that it will have all its comic books, novels, etc. distributed by two new companies this Summer. For over 25 years, Diamond Comic Distributors has been the sole solution if you buy your stuff from direct-sales stores like Rogues Gallery or Dragon’s Lair in Austin. For those of you who live elsewhere, tell me your faves!
What does this really mean and why should anybody care? Firstly, my initial guess is that DC got pissed at Diamond for shutting down during the tighter social distancing period which meant layoffs, no new books for two months and nobody getting paid. Given that DC is part of the huge debt AT&T’s shareholders are sweating over thanks to their poorly thought-out TimeWarner acquisition, any revenue stopping is bad. Secondly, I called my store (Rogues Gallery) to ask how it affected them and me. The short answer, nothing drastic other than fewer DC titles being ordered (cuts back impulse purchases) and some will have to be special requests.
I sure hope DC Comics knows what it’s doing. Their movies aren’t consistent. Their separate streaming channel was a weird decision and with it being part of HBO Max, it will probably shrivel up as a separate entity. They’ve been in Marvel’s wake since the Seventies, DC only makes up 30 percent of Diamond’s business so Marvel is obviously larger. Moving DC editorial to LA has yet to pay off in the books’ story quality. The silver lining DC can still cling to is their CW success and I have always felt their characters work better on the small screen. Trust me, Green Arrow as a movie would’ve tanked. Green Arrow as a TV show exceeded my expectations.