DC issued a letter to comic book retailers on Saturday night announcing plans to find a new, multi-distribuor model for delivering new content to readers going forward following Diamond Comic Distributions halting the release of new print comics, which, in turn, followed the news of DC’s printer shutting down, as well.
The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is affecting comic book retailers all over the country and DC has also announced a dramatic change to its return policy in the short-term, designed to help those stores who are now stuck with DC product on their shelves.
Click the button below to start this article in quick view.
Here is the full letter that DC sent to the retailers:
“To Direct Market Retailers:
First, the entire team here at DC hopes that you, your family and your employees are staying safe and healthy during this very tough and precarious time. We know that you have been waiting for DC to comment on the state-of-affairs and to address any measures we will take to help our community lighten the burden of the disruption to our business, and we’ve been working hard on a long-term, solution-focused plan. Here is how we will help:
Periodicals and books with in-store dates between March 18, 2020 and June 24, 2020 will be fully returnable. We’ll even provide credit for your separate return shipping of these items only.
Additionally, because we anticipate that continued disruption to business operations will create regional volatility, DC is exploring a multi-distributor model to provide us with the flexibility needed during this crisis to get new content to our readers on an ongoing basis. In the short-term, we continue to engage in active conversations with Diamond to help us solve the distribution issues that have arisen and hope to get new product to stores that want or need it as soon as possible. We will provide additional information about how we’ll make that happen in the coming days.
Thanks for your patience with us. DC will continue to monitor the situation, continue to speak with you directly, and continue to support you through the days ahead. You are the lifeblood of this industry.
All best,
The DC Team “
Diamond Comic Distributions has been the exclusive distributor of DC for over two decades, and is also the exclusive distributor of Marvel, Image, Dark Horse and many other comic book companies. A “multi-distributor” model would be a major change for DC.
The stores certainly will be happy about that dramatic temporary change to DC’s returnability program, with the company even covering the shipping costs.
DC has not yet announced whether it will be releasing new digital releases of the print comic book releases that were scheduled to be released on April 1st, but this “multi-distributor” model might involved digital as one of those models. After all, it is important to note that DC specifically said “content” rather than print comics.
However, it is clear that the company is also trying to find ways to get product to retail stores, as well. Comic stores in the United States are in very different situations right now, with many states forcing non-essential stores to close, while other states still allow comic book stores to remain open. DC mentions wanting to avoid “regional volatility,” so it will be interesting to see how the company can avoid that with whatever plan it ultimately unveils.
