Posted in: Comics, Current News | Tagged: dcbs, DSTLRY, lunar

DCBS Told Readers That Dstlry Cancelled Comics When They Left Lunar

DCBS Told Readers That Dstlry Cancelled Their Comics When They Left Lunar Disribution for Diamond Comic Distributors

One of the comic book industry gossips I heard spinning out of San Diego Comic-Con regarded the new boutique comics publisher with shared creator ownership, Dstlry. Which has recently left Lunar Distribution to consolidate its orders through Diamond Comic Distributors. But it seems there was some kerfuffle between the different parties at San Diego Comic-Con, but I couldn't find out what it was all about.

Now, however, I can. It seems that DCBS, the sister online comic book retailer from which Lunar was formed and is also owned by the Merkler husband-and-wife team, Christina and Cameron Merkler, told anyone who had ordered Dsltry titles through DCBS that, when Dtsrly switched from Lunar to Diamond, their orders had been cancelled.

Now, this is what Lunar told their retailers. But DCBS also gets its comics from Diamond, Penguin Random House, and others. Every other shop just switched the order for their customers from Lunar to Diamond. But DCBS… didn't. They didn't even tell customers that the books could be reordered, just that they were cancelled, and that this had come from the publisher. Bleeding Cool readers have shown us the e-mails in question, and here is an example.

I have had other examples from other readers on similar lines.

So at San Diego Comic-Con, Dstlry representatives were met by irate customers, complaining that Dstlry were selling comics at the show, which they had been told by DCBS that they had cancelled. Even though they hadn't, quite visibly, cancelled the comic. And it has led people to ask just how much of a wall there can be between DCBS and Lunar, if a decision in one, affects the decision of another in such a way. This may have led to this tweet from Dstlry to their customers who managed not to name names.

"Friends, It has come to our attention that in our transition from Lunar and Diamond to just Diamond that some online sites have canceled orders for our fans. If you have received a notice that any of our books have been "canceled by the publisher" or any language of the like, please contact your online retailer to reinstate your orders as we have not canceled any books."

So, if you are a DCBS customer, and your Dstlry comic was cancelled, you can just order it again from DCBS, or you should be able to soon, and that's fine. But it's a proactive measure that DCBS customers have to undertake rather than other stores, online or physical, that are more than happy to switch customers across.

UPDATE: We gave the Merklers over 24 hours to respond, without hearing anything. After publication, Christine Merkler got in touch to state that she wasn't going to explain what happened behind the scenes, but that the speculation was "completely wrong". No other explanation was, however, offered.

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