The Final Crisis? New Comic Book Shipments Suspended

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Riddick
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The Final Crisis? New Comic Book Shipments Suspended

Post by Riddick » 03-27-2020 01:02 PM

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The COVID-19 pandemic is increasingly being referred to as an “extinction-level event” for certain kinds of businesses and industries, and nowhere is that closer to the truth than the fragile network of small businesses that sell comics at retail. This direct market, thought to comprise roughly 2000 shops in North America and hundreds more worldwide, relies on a single distributor, Baltimore-based Diamond Comic Distributors.

On Monday, March 23, Diamond announced it would suspend shipments of new products “until further notice,” formalizing what already looks to be an existential crisis for an industry that generated roughly $1.1 billion in sales in 2019 and serves as a primary IP foundry for today’s movie, television, video game and licensing industries.

Reaction across the close-knit comics retail industry was generally understanding, despite the grim outlook that Diamond’s move portends. Comic shops have managed to survive market conditions that would have killed off practically any other businesses because of the passion of the shop owners and the unique bond the stores have with their customers.

Retailers are passing word of Diamond’s move along to customers in the spirit of community solidarity in the face of overwhelming crisis, asking for support and understanding they can reasonably expect to be forthcoming. Whether that is enough to sustain businesses hard-pressed to meet payroll, rent and other expenses in the absence of sales remains to be seen. Publishers, who likely expected this move sooner or later, will also need to step up to shore up the system with various changes to terms and discounts, along with other measures to support stores in danger of collapse.

The industry-wide fear is the COVID-19 epidemic and its aftermath will push the number of comic shops below a critical mass where the current distribution system makes economic sense. If there are too few stores, there simply aren’t enough dollars to support the ecosystem of publishing, printing, warehousing and distribution of physical products. And it’s unlikely that large mass market retailers could fill the gap.

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