Link: http://www.bleedingcool.com/2009/09/22/marvel-uk-less-this-week/

Last week it was reported by Bleeding Cool that certain Marvel comics would not be available in the UK due to some mix up with the distributors. The titles in question were: Avengers Initiative #28, Fantastic Four #571, Guardians Of The Galaxy #18, Halo Helljumper #3, New Avengers #57, Riftwar #4, Uncanny X-Men #515 and Wolverine Origins #40. Those are some pretty big books we're looking at there, the Avengers titles and X-Men books alone are some of Marvel's biggest selling titles and in the week that Halo 3: ODST was released I think it's pretty inexcuseable to miss out Halo: HellJumper #3 when interest is at it's peak.

The problem is with the direct market, don't get me wrong I love comic book shops, my local shop is my home from home but it's the way that comics are distributed to that direct market. Diamond Distributors are currently the only source for comic shop owners to get hold of their comic books, you could even say they have a monopoly. If there's a problem with Diamond then everyone feels it, if Diamond lose your order; tough shit, you have nobody other than Diamond to complain to. You can't take your business elsewhere, there is literally nowhere to go. I feel that this lack of competition has made Diamond inexplicably complacent, lazy and far too powerful. You only have to look at the effect on the market Diamond had by raising the amount of pre-orders a book had to generate to even be listed in their direct market monthly Previews catalogue.

In a world where everything is so immediate and you can literally download (illegal as it may be) the entire weeks collection of comics in under an hour you'd think that comic book distribution would look to improve the service they offer. What is wrong with the publishers that they are allowing their books to be treated in such a disrespectful and harming manner? They've tried their own distribution before and it didn't work, now Diamond have all the business and it doesn't work, it's time for something new, something different. And it maybe that this is the problem, the comic book indistry is currently in a state of flux and it's possible nobody wants to move first just in case that is the wrong move. Everyday there are movements made towards more digital content, motion comics, digital comics, web comics, it seems that paper could be on the way out effectively destroying the direct market.

So now after all my bitching I'm left with the possibility that maybe the direct market that I 'hate' so much may disappear before my eyes and I'm filled with dread. I don't want it to go anywhere, there should always be a place for good old fashoned, in your hand, paper and ink comic books, it just needs to be managed better. So if you think you can do a better job at distributing millions of comic books across the globe, week on week, year on year, please for the sake of my sanity get to it.

Link: http://www.comicsmonkey.com/blog/

Exciting news from KA-BLAM digital printing as they have now decided to enter the race to distribute independent publishers works with their new venture Comics Monkey. This follows the previously reported news that Haven (formerly Cold Cuts) are also looking to fill the void left by Diamond's expulsion from their Previews catalogue of independent comics that do not reach a new "$6,500" retail sales pre-order value.

Both systems seem to have their advantages and disadvantages but this new venture by KA-BLAM has one advantage over any other service in that they will be offering a print-on-order system with no up-front costs to the creator. I've personally seen the finished product provided by a KA-BLAM and I have to admit it's very professional and a comic printing service I would recommend. All you have to do is produce the original prints for your comic, upload them to the site and wait for the money to come rolling in. Well, it's not quite that simple, firstly the creator will only 'earn' 10% of the cover price, the rest of the money going to printing/distribution costs and retail discounts. Looks like you're gonna have to hit the $3.99 price-tag just to make 40 cents.

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