Diamond Comics Distributors filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection today. They also announced that they were selling off pieces of their large company - Alliance Games and Diamond UK were two mentioned today with others likely to happen soon.
What does this mean for the comic book business? Hard to tell for sure. Diamond has been losing pieces of the distribution business for the last five years and right now they're a comparatively minor player in the game. However, when it comes to small press comics Diamond is one of the few viable nationwide distribution options.
Remember that a Chapter 11 filing indicates an intent for the business to continue after a reorganization.
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I grew up with the understanding that Western-style comics (i.e. manga, as opposed to whatever came before) and baseball grew popular in Japan during the American occupation.
Neither of these is true. As I noted earlier, manga as we know it began in 1902. 30's anime and manga were influenced by US works to an extent - supposedly, the whole "big eyes" phenomenon goes back to Uncle Walt. Postwar, Blondie, of all things, was popular in Japan, apparently because Blondie and Dagwood lived the prosperous middle class life that the average Ichiro and Emiko aspired to. I note that Japan has long supported a wide range of genres in comics, of which "super-hero" comics play only a part. I'm not sure why that couldn't be possible in the US.
I seem to recall you once mentioning a professor who taught you that baseball was introduced to Japan after the war. Tain't so, McGee.
Baseball was introduced to Japan in 1859, the first school teams were established in 1872, and the first professional competitions began in the 1920's. I've read that Babe Ruth toured Japan during this period. The first professional league was established in 1936.
I have also read that towards the end of the Pacific War, when things were going badly for Japan, the Imperial government banned all sorts of public entertainments (i.e., movies, plays, sporting events), so that people could focus on the war effort. I don't doubt that D-Mac and the SCAP Bunch encouraged the resumption of baseball during the Occupation as part of their "democratization" program. Perhaps that's what your professor was thinking of.
This argument is specious (and incredibly condescending) because superhero comics didn’t push anything out and aren’t pushing anything else out.
Spounds like "Great Replacement theory" (which is also specious).
Superheroes aren’t a genre. They’re a medium.
No, "superheroes" is a genre; comic books is a medium.
The big publishers need to try new things and have the confidence to GIVE THEM A CHANCE. Cancelling new things before they can grow their audience is short-sighted and stupid. If all the decision-makers are doing is looking at numbers and saying “this number is bigger than that number” you could save money and pay a seven-year-old child to make the decisions.
There are a number of good examples in television where the smartest creators and their smart backers suffer low ratings for a season or two before taking off as a landmark cash cow.
What he said! Almost every big TV show I can think of started slowly. Seinfeld and The Office, for example.
The big publishers need to create incentives for the comic stores. If they think a new title has enough merit to publish, maybe they should consider making it returnable for a little while. If a store orders one or two, send them five. If there are no copies on the shelf, how are readers supposed to discover it?
This thread seems as good a place as any to discuss what Trump's tariffs will do to the comics industry, already in turmoil thanks to the Diamond bankruptcy. Two new data points:
You could tell me. Weekly Shōnen Jump has been running in Japan since 1968. 2000AD has been published in the UK since 1977. Is there something unique to American audiences that makes you think that an anthology comic couldn't succeed here?
To me it is simple cutural differences. Its the same reason American restaraunts don't have comics just there ready to read. Or why Japanese people don't like American desserts as much because they are too sweet.
Not much else to add to the thread maybe later. I just remember texting the owner of my LCS and asking how I was going to order comics from him and he texted back, "Good question."
A new wrinkle this morning. While the bankruptcy court awarded the sale of Diamond to Alliance Entertainment a couple of weeks ago, Diamond says they're going to sell to Universal Distribution and Ad Populum instead (for $3M less). God knows why. Alliance has filed suit to prevent this.
Here's a summary from ICv2.com:
"Diamond has filed to switch its determination of the winning bidder at the auction to Universal/Ad Populum, and submitted a proposed Asset Purchase Agreement signed by all the parties based on that determination. Alliance has filed to have its asset purchase agreement accepted, and sued to force the issue. A hearing on the motions is scheduled for Monday."
Court appears to have ruled for Alliance in Diamond bankruptcy hearing
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