DC cuts off ties with Diamond Distribution

[tegeus-Cromis]

This is pretty big news in the (US, at least) comics world: DC Kills Decades-Long Deal with Diamond Comic Distributors
Diamond has for a long time basically held the monopoly on distributing to specialized comic book shops. On one hand, this may be a huge blow to Diamond. On the other, maybe the writing was on the wall anyway: more readers are getting their monthly comics digitally, and their (physical copies of) graphic novels from Amazon or brick-and-mortar general bookstores, so the days of the local comic book shop may be numbered.

Any thoughts? Would you mourn the demise of your LCBS? Would you care?

 

[Vince W]

I only purchase my comics through brick and mortar newsagents/shops unless I miss something I feel is important enough to order online. I've tried digital editions of a few things, but I much prefer the real thing. So yes, I would care very much if my local points of purchase were gone.

 

[tegeus-Cromis]

I largely stopped buying monthly comics maybe ten-fifteen years ago, when I realized how expensive they were getting (much more so, cumulatively, than the trade in which they'd ultimately be collected), and that, if I liked a comic, I'd want it in TPB anyway, so I ended up buying the same content twice. Plus, increasingly comics were being written "for the trade," as it were, so to get just a tiny chunk of story every month was getting frustrating. Now I find I don't miss the monthlies at all -- so, yeah. I think it's been several years since I visited my LCBS. I'm honestly not sure it's a sustainable business model in the current environment.

 

[Mark Turnbull]

I much prefer the real thing but because of money and space I recently signed up to Marvel Unlimited and I love it! I'm currently reading Infinity Gauntlet, X-Men Fatal Attractions, the Dark Reign storyline and a bunch of others - I can go back so easily to whatever issue I want. If there's a new character I come across I can immediately jump back to their run.

I really hope DC launches a similar service. I'm using Amazon unlimited but it's patchy in their coverage so I had to buy a few and miss a few.

The only drawback for me is that I love comic shops and really don't want them to be negatively impacted.