Posted in: Comics, DC Comics | Tagged: dc comics, diamond, tuesday, wednesday

Will DC Comics Push Diamond Into New Comic Book Tuesday?

Published Tue, 28 Apr 2020 15:59:32 -0500

Once upon a time, American comic book stores got their comic books on Wednesdays every week and sold them on that day. Us British folk got our American comic books on the Thursday, just one day later. Which is pretty good. A decade ago, things changed, and Diamond started to make sure comic books were delivered to stores on on the Tuesday or earlier, with Wednesday as the street date. Bob Wayne, anglophile then-DC Comics VP of Sales also arranged for British comic book stores to get the comics on the Tuesday, so they could sell them on the Wednesday as well. In fact, because the UK was five-to-eight hours ahead of the USA, Brits got to read them before US comic stores even opened. It was quite a thing.

Will DC Comics Push Diamond Into New Comic Book Tuesday? Photo: Tuesday text on wooden blocks on white background by Marco Verch under Creative Commons 2.0

Of late that has come crashing up against Tuesday, which is the day when generally new books go on sale in US bookstores. So some weeks graphic novels and collections go on sale in bookstores before comic book stores. Or in others, they appear in bookstores almost a week after comic book stores.

In recent years, street date has been pulled back for launches, with stores running Midnight Launch parties for specific comics, with the street date for everything that week put back to midnight in participating stores. As the shutdowns began to hit in March, Diamond just told stores to sell whatever, whenever, to let stores get whatever moneys they could after lockdown and shutdowns hit state after state.

Now, when DC Comics launched two new distributors in UCS and Lunar, a change was made. Emphasising the departure, or rather the competition with Diamond, DC decided that their comics would be sold on the Tuesday. As Diamond returns to distribution in May, they are sticking with Wednesdays. Could it be a one-day advantage for comic stores getting DC Comics from UCS and Lunar as well as everything else from Diamond, and to justify multiple distributors for comic stores? Or will Diamond move to Tuesday sales with Monday delivery? If so, the UK will not be able to join in, as the Sunday would get in the way of international delivery in a way that Monday does not. I wonder if Steve Geppi will comment in half an hour?

DC Comics is also underlining the Tuesday difference. They have just mailed to retailers the following statement "Today is new comic Tuesday, with new titles from DC available at open and operating comics shops across the U.S. and Canada."

With the following titles lined up for following Tuesdays.

Titles on sale Tuesday, May 19:

Comic Books:
DCeased: Unkillables #3 (of 3)
The Dollhouse Family #6 (of 6)
The Flash Giant #4
Plunge #3 (of 6)
Superman's Pal Jimmy Olsen #10 (of 12)
Red Hood: Outlaw #45
Wonder Woman #755
Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen #3 3rd Printing

Collected Editions:
Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy HC
Nightwing: The Grayson Legacy TP
Stargirl by Geoff Johns TP
The Flash by Mark Waid Book Seven TP

Titles on sale Tuesday, May 26:

Comic Books:
Aquaman #59
Basketful of Heads #7 (of 7)
Batman Beyond #43
Books of Magic #19
The Flash #754
He-Man and the Masters of the Mulitverse #6 (of 6)
Justice League #45
The Low, Low Woods #5
MAD Magazine #13
Our Fighting Forces Giant #1
Suicide Squad #5
Teen Titans #41
The Terrifics #27
Wonder Woman Giant #4

Collected Editions:
Batman: The Caped Crusader Vol. 4 TP
New Teen Titans Vol. 11 TP
Superman Vol. 3: The Truth Revealed HC

You can catch up with our coverage of the effect of the current global situation on the comic book industry with this bookmarkable tag as well as the latest moves in the New Distributor Wars of 2020.

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