Byrne Robotics: THE SHAPE OF THE FUTURE!

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Mike Bunge
Byrne Robotics Member
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Joined: 10 June 2004
Location: United States
Posts: 1335

Posted: 28 July 2006 at 3:35pm \| IP Logged \| 1

"The Direct Market is not evil, in and of itself, at all."

I'd agree there's nothing wrong with the Direct Market...in theory.

In practice, though, the DM seems to have been a major factor in just about every bad creative and economic decision that has beset comics in the last 26 years.

Mike

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Andrew W. Farago
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Joined: 19 July 2005
Location: United States
Posts: 4079

Posted: 28 July 2006 at 3:53pm \| IP Logged \| 2

I never said that there would be a change in
newsstand distribution that would have it so that
comic shops and newsstands received the product
on the same day. As it stands now, retailers going
through Direct Sales receive comics two weeks in
advance of the newsstand retailers. I'm not asking
for that part to change.

Now, as I stated previously, any comic shop retailers
that fear expanded newsstand distribution is just
being shortsighted, and is, frankly, stupid.

Maybe it's only a very vocal minority, but stupid or not,
most retailers seem to feel threatened by the sale of
any comic book that's not purchased as his store.
No one's saying that's a sensible attitude, but I'm
sure you've encountered enough retailers to know
that this thinking exists. Every time a new trade
paperback/graphic novel is released at a convention
or through bookstores before (or at the same time
as) comic shops can stock it, retailers cry bloody
murder.

Has anyone heard anything about the success (or
lack thereof) of Marvel's flip-book comics sold at
7-11s? I think that going that route, along with the
very reasonably priced digest reprint line ($8 for
about 200 pages of full-color content, with
nationwide bookstore distribution) is a step in the
right direction, as well as the aggressive trade
paperback production, which gets Marvel and DC
into libraries nationwide. Make the public aware that
comics are still being published, make sure that any
kid in America can go into anyplace that carries
books or magazines and come out with an all-ages
Batman or Spider-Man comic, and make sure they
can find a clean, well-maintained comic shop with
friendly and knowledgeable sales staff when they
want to try something a bit different (or make sure
they can find a good mail-order outlet or acquire a
subscription to any title they choose without
difficulty)...couldn't hurt, anyway, and it certainly
wouldn't lose any current readers.

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