Tracking A Rumor: Fantagraphics, DCD

Like a lot of people, I've put out e-mails seeking an answer to the rumor floated that Fantagraphics will go exclusive with Diamond in some capacity. Since I'm getting questions about it, I assume that someone out there has reported the rumor as news or news of a rumor or whatever.

My first reaction is that only on Planet Bizarro or after some catastrophic development would this be a bookstore distribution arrangement because of the fine deal FBI has with WW Norton. In fact, a major driving force with the recent format change on The Comics Journal was to give Norton a better shot at distributing their flagship magazine after years of pathetic returns from Diamond. So if true this would almost certainly be a DM-only deal.

My second reaction to that is that this would have an effect on almost nobody except Tony Shenton, which should give you an idea of the state of Diamond alternatives in this day and age. The wider rumor could be an extrapolation from FBI ending their relationship with Shenton, although that's a supposition on a rumor with about two too many leaps of logic to take seriously. What else...? The key, I think, would be how any such deal would have an impact on Fantagraphics' direct sales to retailers. I would also guess that if it could be leveraged into better re-order and inventory control through Diamond's services, it could be beneficial to the iconic alt-comix publisher. The symbolism of Fantagraphics, a company that avoided going exclusive with Diamond during the more than a decade ago distribution wars and that also declined to back a heaving and collapsing Capital out of both a real sense that not capitulating was important and that it was possible to see an upgrade in treatment merely by selling more books, might be the biggest reason people pay attention to such a story.
 
posted 7:55 am PST | Permalink
 

---

 
Daily Blog Archives
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
 
Full Archives