Posted in: Boom, Comics, Comics Publishers, DC Comics, Image, Marvel Comics | Tagged: comic store, diamond

Comic Store In Your Future Asks: What If Diamond Was Still A Monopoly?

Comic Store In Your Future Asks "What If... Diamond Was Still A Monopoly?" How would the last few weeks have gone down?

We are now into 2025, and Diamond still seems to be having issues with shipping comics. They have even announced they have declared bankruptcy. On a previous week, I had on three different days checked in comics in the same week, along with doing pulls for our pull customers; two of the shipments were from Diamond. Another week's delivery showed up on Friday, while this week's showed up on Wednesday. Ideally, doing it all at once is the most time-effective, and not trying to do inventory in front of customers is best. Makes me less than thrilled that Diamond has yet to get back to "normal". Then I thought, what if Diamond was still the only show in town for American comics, and this went down?

Some stores order their Marvel through only Diamond, so they are in less than an ideal spot when Diamond does not show up on time. I order through Penguin and Diamond in case something goes wrong so that I still hopefully have something for customers. My thought process is that if one fails to ship me a title, then hopefully, the other will send it, and I have some on hand until the replacements make it in. Why do I do this? To keep customers and if I fail to get a title and another store has it, they may very well buy it there.

Imagine if all the stores nationwide were still only able to order through Diamond for comics, and this weird diamond shipping went down. No DC, no image, no Marvel, and nothing for new comics. Diamond was the only distributor of American comics for over twenty years. During that time, the truck for Diamond would have issues, and that would delay shipments. I often wondered, heaven forbid, what if a fire broke out at their warehouse? What could that mean? No comics at all for many comic stores?

I was quoted as saying that sales were down for my store in November and December, so 2024 sales would be less than the previous sales for the same two months in 2023. It's hard to sell what doesn't arrive. Why did I not order all the Marvel titles through Penguin instead of Diamond? I had no idea this would happen. I can only imagine Diamond's inability to ship on time, which has driven many stores that were with just Diamond to use Penguin. This is all very confusing for everyone involved. I have had customers who have lost faith in me as if I have lost the ability to order correctly. I try to explain that comic stores order months in advance, and it could have been Penguin having issues for some reason instead of Diamond. I am not able to predict the future, but that is another thing that hurts, when customers think that I should have been able to avoid this.

Imagine a comic store where people come in week after week, and there are no new comics for that week if there were only Diamond Comics for a comic distributor. How badly would sales have suffered? Would this lead to not being able to pay the rent for the store? Tough luck, try explaining Diamond's current situation to a landlord. How well would that go over?

I remember years ago when I was trying to up my terms with Diamond so I could get another week before paying the Diamond invoice, being told they wanted my books in the store. I was like, why? I have never missed a payment. Shouldn't I see your books, thanks to you being the only comic distributor? Years later, COVID would hit. Diamond would have trouble, and there were tough questions such as will there be a comic market in the future? Now, Diamond is hoping to save itself through Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

A scary what if  Thankfully, there is now more than one comic distributor, and hopefully, it will still be in the future.

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