Given the fact that world wide there is pretty much a solid postal system, I don't think that distribution is the actual problem.  It certainly doesn't help matters when you do narrow down your outlets for the occasional purchaser*, but with the super-duper highway, it is posssible to get comics if you want them.

But who wants them?

I know where to get comics from, and I no longer really want them anymore.  At least recent publications.  I buy trades of old comics I missed first time round.  I really miss the rush of getting a monthly stash of funny books to plough through, but I don't think they're good enough to warrant the money it costs.  I can buy a monthly magazine for about the same price and that will take me a lot more than five minutes to read.  And I actually might enjoy it.  I am a wannabe artist/writer and I shouldn't be reading comics and spending most of the time thinking of better ways to do them.  That makes me better than those involved.   And that is not right. 

So even if they were available on every street corner, do you think that the average joe would actually buy them?

It's been said before that this seems to be the age of the writer in regard to the superstars in comics, and that would be fine if those writers knew how to write comics, and more importantly wanted to write comics.  It seems that ever since Watchmen and DKR, people are trying to make comics a valid form of entertainment for adults, and have actually made them more juvenile.  Plus those that were at the right age to read them as fans are now producing but don't want to write comics.  They want to write what they percieve as comics with adult sensibilities so we get lots of broken up dialogue, 'thought panels' and other 'clever' bits and pieces because they're trying to be realistic. 

It's comics.  It's not supposed to be realistic.  Deal with it. 

If those involved don't want to be seen as comic writers, don't do it.  Stick to TV.  I don't know what the problem is, people who write childrens books don't have any problem saying so.  Why is it that we need to change what comics are, and what makes them great, in order to hold our heads up to talk to people about them? 

What is wrong with writing about the fantastic?

And paper is paper.  If what people read is good they will come back.  Even if the cost is not that great.

*I first started getting comics from local newsagents, starting with Transformers and Spider-Man and Zoids that were weekly issues containing reprinted and original material.  Mainly reprints.  There was also Secret Wars and Action Force (GI Joe) Secret Wars started with the LS then led into SW 2 which included all the crossover issues.  It was from this that I read my first JB comic.  The second part of the Hate-Monger story (FF #281).  Then when I found my LCS, and the original amercan format, I switched to that.  Newsagents also sold the occasinal american format, but it wasn't really consistent.  If my LCS sold out of a particular issue, the hunt was on.  I remember going to about ten shops before I found a particular issue of X-men I was after (#222)  From that point on I then started up a subcription service at the LCS.

In recent years the age of the reprint seems to have come back over here.  Specially Marvel - through Pannini.  Lots of newsagents and larger grocery stores now carry them.  I don't know what the sales are like though.  But I see that as a good sign.    

I've been in the IT industry for years and a recurring pattern that I have seen among IT service providers is that "less units but more money per unit is good".

In my field, there are many companies that seek to position themselves in niche markets where they can have a relatively small staff (say less than 200 people) but charge more for their services.

Likewise, many companies prefer to pursue 10-20 contracts a year for $1,000,000-$2,000,000 per contract rather than 75-100 contracts a year for $100,000 to $200,000 per contract. I would have thought that a larger client count is an indicator of market or industry diversification, but the powers that be seem to think otherwise.

Perhaps a similar mindset is at work here.