“If comics shops are to stop being the place to get all the comics and simply become, say, the best place to get comics, there’s a ton of work to do in that direction. If they are just another place to get comics, there’s work to be done to prepare for the greater competition they have today. If they are the place to get a certain kind of comics, they need to be ready for the implications of that stance, too. I don’t see the Big Picture gain. I don’t see a Big Picture.
“In 1997 Diamond could make decisions and know that it was doing so in an insulated world where there only fall-out was contained within that system. In 2009, there exists no such insulation.”
So, seriously? I haven’t got much of a follow-up, I think Tom Spurgeon’s excellent essay really says it all, a marvelous and passionate defence of comic books and an excoriation of Diamond’s decision, while offering lots of tenable solutions designed to strengthen the direct market.
I did want to address two comments from my last post on the subject though:
“Is the market failing because of Diamond’s actions, or is Diamond acting like this because the market has already started to fail? Are massive price rises and a drastic cutback in the product line signs that the market is already collapsing of its own accord, and that Diamond can’t think of anything to reverse it?”
– Paul O’Brien
Both, and no. Firstly, the market is changing, but I don’t think the market is failing anymore or less because of “changing market conditions” or “the economic crisis,” and the fact that Diamond is also a bookstore distributor sort of points to them seeing a change in the system coming. Diamond’s difficulties in serving the direct market are well-known, and no one has made any compelling argument that the nature of the direct market–a specialty retail market like any one of hundreds in North America–is specifically doomed by anything other than reductive actions like these. As for the latter question, you’re not right, but you’re almost there: This order minimum is a massive failure of imagination, and I have no problem pinning that award to their chests. See Spurgeon’s post for ideas.
As to Franklin Harris’ comments, Dirk Deppey refuted them excellently last week, and I don’t think much more needs to be said other than “Oh come on.”
– Christopher