(If it's a time machine that will allow two trips, then let me go back and tell the publishers, in the 1940s, not to cling to the 10¢ price tag. Raise prices along with all the other magazines.)

I don’t think there was anything wrong with the DSM in theory. I had no problem with a kind of boutique side to the comics industry. The trouble began when the publishers began to listen to the retailers and respond to their complaints that newsstand and bookstore sales were “unfair competition” for them. Never mind that those venues were the entry level for new readers while comic shops were dedicated to already hardcore fans.

Another problem was that a lot of careers of high level folks in comics were tied to the early success of the DSM and they weren’t about to turn their back on the “miracle” that their reps were based on. And hiring former retailers to actually work at the comic companies simply cemented the policy in place.

It saddens me to look at old royalty statements and see how many copies I used to sell on the newsstand vs. the comic shops. So many times it was a 10-1 ratio. I could laugh all the way to the bank on books like Savage Sword of Conan which sold like crap at the comic shops but often cracked the 200K mark on the newsstand.

The DSM debacle may have gotten us to where we are. But the advent of Wizard and the star system mentality of publishers made sure we're parked in a handicapped space with four flat tires.

The insanity is palpable. But, hey, I've been singing this song for more than 25 years now.

We'll just have to agree to agree then.

I like your Hallmark analogy. It perfectly illustrates the situation. But it also illustrates what direct marketing could have been had it been kept as the boutique system it should have remained.

We COULD have had our cake and eaten it too.

When you talk about the direct market, you remember me that you Americans and we Italians lives in two different comics worlds.

I go at the newsstands and I find Spider-Man. His comic book contains 3 stories and it costs 2.50 € (around 3 $).
And you, if you want to read Spider-Man, must spend 3 $ for 22 pages and you can find the comics almost only in comics shops.

When an Italian comic book is sold only in comics shops, it's odd. I see more nearer to us the "American way to sell comics", and sometimes I think I'll never be used to it. Even if it will be inevitable, sooner or later. Superheroes aren't as popular as in the past, here.

A similar thing can be found over here in the UK, DC and Marvel have been putting out comics for the newsagents.  They contain 2 or 3 stories, reprinted from the original comics.

I would be interested to see what kind of numbers these reprints sell, as they are what I have spotted more kids reading, when compared to the original printing.

I think if I could change anything it would be how comics are distributed. The DSM was a great idea but the newstand market should not have been sacrificed for it. I wish I could go back in time and force someone to put as much energy into the newstand market as they did the direct market.

As an experiment I wish I could also have persuaded the guy who owned and ran Atlas comics back in 1975 to stop messing with his own products and give his own books a chance. If he had operated more wisely back then we may have had a different style of comic book industry today.