Heroes…Inked

Isotope Comics posted an extremely well written response to the West Coast Civil War #6 shipping issue this week. I completely agree with this idea:

Personally, I don’t think Diamond should distribute any book that has over 50% allocations to my coast if they have the option of waiting a week and filling our complete order the very next week. And for a book as popular as Civil War I feel they should have made our East Coast friends wait as well, if possible.

The Comic Book Publishers may be the “brains” of the “being” that keeps comic book collecting as a hobby alive. The Distributors of those comics may be the “heart” that pumps the books out for consumption. But it’s the retailers who are the “backbone” of Comic Book Collecting. The retailers risk their far more limited capital, sweat, plan and toil to stock the shelves everyday and keep the comic book collector (the lifeblood of comics?) happy and coming back for more. Without those retailers Diamond would be nothing. The publishers? Nothing.

I know Diamond doesn’t want to “sit” on inventory for a week. I know it costs them money for storage, care, etc. But by passing costs and headaches on to the small comic book retailers, forcing the retailer to make decisions in which none of their customers really wins (by the way, I am one of the fan’s who will have to wait– not that you will shed a tear ) and to cause these retailers to lose sales when their excited “Civil War fanboys” turn elsewhere is just wrong. A better method of notification at the very least or a better contingency plan needs to be come up with.

I think Isotope made some very valid points in their post and hope the “brains” and “heart” of our awesome hobby listen to their “backbone” to solve these problems in a better way next time.

Soapbox off!