Comic Book Resources

SDCC '09 | Middleman, a talent search, TV panels, toys and more

Comic-Con

The 2009 San Diego Comic-Con is less than a month away, with preview night kicking things off on Wednesday, July 22. If you are a publisher, creator, retailer or any other kind of exhibitor who would like to let folks know about any special plans you have for the show (panels, signing schedules, exclusives, debuts, etc.) drop me an email and I'll run it here.

Programming | Leading up to the con, ICv2 will host a comics and media conference on Wednesday, July 22 at the San Diego Marriott. This ticketed event will include speakers such as Mike Mignola, Jeph Loeb, Dynamite's Nick Barrucci, Top Cow's Matt Hawkins and many more. Registration is now open.

Television | Warner Bros. sent out a press release on their schedule for Comic-Con, which includes panels for Smallville, Supernatural, Chuck and Big Bang Theory, as well as new shows like Human Target and V. They'll be showing the pilot episodes of all their new shows.

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John Carbonaro passes away

T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents #1

John Carbonaro, the comics fan who became a publisher in 1981 when he bought the rights to T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, passed away on Feb. 25. He was 58.

Created in 1965 by Wally Wood, T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents was published by Tower Comics until the company went out of business in 1969. Carbonaro purchased the dormant property more than a decade later, but soon became entangled in a lengthy legal battle to prove ownership, in a dispute with business acquaintance David Singer, and to demonstrate T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents hadn't lapsed into the public domain. His friend Robert Sodaro recounts that history here.

Carbonaro published several T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents comics himself in the early '80s under the JC Comics banner, but also licensed the characters to other companies, such as Archie Comics and Penthouse.

Sodaro, Mark Evanier and Tom Spurgeon have more.

Food or Comics | A roundup of money-related items

Diamond Comic Distributors

• Bill Schanes, Diamond's vice president of purchasing, says the change in the distributor's order threshold may result in 20 to 30 of the distributor's 600 publishers being dropped outright. Others, he tells Newsarama, will be approached about cutting titles, "repackaging or reformatting," raising cover prices, or changing frequency of publication.

"Those who are creative can figure out how to continue to exist out there, at least through Diamond," Schanes says.

The new policy takes effect with Previews #3, which goes on sale Feb. 25.

• John Jackson Miller casts a spotlight on Schanes' comments about variant covers falling under the new threshold, and wonders how this could affect Diamond's Top 300.

• At Comic Book Resources, Steven Grant declares "game over" for the current distribution model, but adds, "That doesn't mean game over for comics, though."

• Moving away from the new Diamond threshold, Tor.com's Heather Massey points to rising cover prices and a migration of readers to trade paperbacks, and asks, "Are comics as we know them on a death march?" It's sort of an odd piece that ends with Massey wondering whether comics should just go digital, then release printed collections later.

• At Fleen.com, Gary Tyrrell sees signs that auction-based online-advertising network Project Wonderful is expanding its pool of advertisers.

New threshold 'probably means the end of independent serialized comics'

Diamond Comic Distributors

Reaction continues to what likely will be the big story for some time to come for small publishers and creators --  news that Diamond Comic Distributors is increasing its order minimums from $1,500 to $2,500:

• In a post ominously titled "Beginning of the End for the Direct Market," retailer Christopher Butcher says the increase in the order minimum "is going to hurt the DM worse than Marvel’s Heroes World Debacle did." He also points out that the first volume of Scott Pilgrim wouldn't have met the new marker, based on its original orders.

• Jennifer de Guzman, editor-in-chief of SLG Publishing, asserts the rising threshold "puts all smaller publishers in a difficult position, and probably means the end of independent serialized comics."

• Heidi MacDonald has a response from Oni Press Publisher Joe Nozemack, who stresses that the direct market isn't his company's only sales outlet. He also suggest that, in light of the higher minimums, Diamond reconsider its 3-percent reorder fee for non-Premier publishers.

• Rich Johnston looks back at the previous minimum-order increase, and considers what the new one means in the current marketplace: "Most well-selling indie books will remain. But entry to market will be severely restricted. You're going to see less of the kind of books that come from nowhere to suddenly take prominence, like Mouse Guard."

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Food or Comics | A roundup of money-related items

Comic Charge

• I'm not sure it's possible to overstate how big of an effect the increase in Diamond's minimum-order benchmark will have on small publishers. So, even though I only just posted an item on the subject, I'm leading off with it in this "Food or Comics" roundup. It's the biggest comics-related money story of the day, the week, the month, and well beyond. This signals a major change in the direct market, one that will force many publishers to rethink what they release and how they release it. That means it also affects creators, retailers and readers.

• I neglected to include in my initial post on the subject something SLG Publisher Dan Vado mentioned in his email to The Comics Reporter:  SLG Publishing plans next month to launch a website on which retailers can reorder the company's books. He'll now offer some publishers the opportunity to list their titles, "in essence trying to become a distributor myself." [The Comics Reporter]

• Citing a slump in the publishing industry, Japanese company Kadokawa Shoten is ceasing publication of its two-year-old Comic Charge manga magazine with its Feb. 3 issue. A new magazine may take its place. [Anime News Network]

• Paul Gravett has "Ten Tips for Thrifty Comics Consumers" [Paul Gravett]

• Meanwhile, the Bevery Hills, Calif., home of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles co-creator Kevin Eastman has been on the market since August. The price of the five-bedroom, six-bathroom 5,458-square-foot house has been slashed from $3,995,000 to $3,495,000. [SFGate]

Diamond raises order threshold for publishers [Update]

Diamond Comic Distributors

In a move that will have a significant, and negative, effect on small publishers, Diamond Comic Distributors is increasing its order minimums from $1,500 to $2,500.

The distributor also will eliminate its Previews adult supplement in printed form, but continue to offer it as a PDF to retailers.

Diamond brand managers began informing publishers of the changes last week; the news became public on Friday in a blog post by Simon Jones of Icarus Publishing.

I contacted Diamond for comment late Friday, but I haven't received a response. According to Newsarama, Diamond last changed the order minimum in September 2005.

The increase of the purchase-order threshold means each book needs to generate at least $2,500 of revenue to be listed in Previews. In an email sent over the weekend to The Comics Reporter, SLG Publishing's Dan Vado points out that figure means "a little over $6,000 in sales at retail based on the discount we give to Diamond."

That means the average $3 comic would have to sell more than 2,100 copies -- a rare feat for many small publishers. (The number of copies varies depending on the discount offered to Diamond.)

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