Marvel To Distribute Direct Via Penguin Random House 0

[jcjames]

Good to see! Diamond monopoly needed to be seriously challenged by the big hitters. 

https://comicbook.com/marvel/news/marvel-penguin-random-house-direct-market-diamond/

"Marvel has announced that it will be using Penguin Random House as its new distributor to thousands of comic book stores across the nation. Marvel and Penguin Random House Publisher Services has announced an exclusive worldwide multi-year sales and distribution agreement for Marvel's newly published and backlist comic books, trade collections, and graphic novels to Direct Market retailers. The new agreement will go into effect starting on October 1st. ..."

Edited March 25, 2021 by jcjames

[THE_BEYONDER]

Times are indeed changing....

[kav]

34 minutes ago, THE_BEYONDER said:

Times are indeed changing....

 

[THE_BEYONDER]

1 minute ago, kav said:

 

Great song and great montage

[shadroch]

Interesting times.

[sfcityduck]

So Marvel is no longer Diamond, but exclusive to Random House?  So retailers must now order from one more distributor than previously?  Seems a bit of a hassle for retailers.  

[greggy]

2 hours ago, kav said:

 

That's what she said. 

[kav]

2 minutes ago, greggy said:

That's what she said. 

[jcjames]

5 hours ago, sfcityduck said:

So Marvel is no longer Diamond, but exclusive to Random House?  So retailers must now order from one more distributor than previously?  Seems a bit of a hassle for retailers.  

True. There are pros and cons. My LCS was always having problems with Diamond, so he stopped new titles altogether a couple years ago and did all back-issues only. I don't know his status at this point with regards to new titles now, I haven't been to an LCS in over a year.

 

Edited March 26, 2021 by jcjames

[Matches_Malone]

PRH offers free shipping, but so many times the product arrives damaged.  PRH actually shipping comics is scary because they have no idea how to ship trades properly. 

[Mercury Man]

When I talk to any shop owner, none have anything good to say about Diamond.  Maybe a change is needed after all. 

[Prince Namor]

Surely someone here was around the last time Marvel attempted something like this...

It was not a good thing. Diamond’s days are numbered. 

[Larryw7]

Didn't DC also quit using Diamond?

 

[Prince Namor]

Yes. 

[MatterEaterLad]

8 hours ago, Prince Namor said:

Surely someone here was around the last time Marvel attempted something like this...

It was not a good thing. Diamond’s days are numbered. 

Random House is Thor. Diamond is Ambush Bug. 

RH has a 1.1 million square foot distribution center and it's only part of their operations. I've been to their old facility outside of Baltimore, which was half that size and it was incredible. Plus, if RH falters one of the other major publishers (RH is one of The Big 5) could make a play for that business, so there's actual competition. 

[kaculler]

PRH is also in the process of trying to purchase Simon and Schuster which would make them even larger and have them distributing trades for Boom and Oni as well as manga for Viz if the sale goes through.

[Nic8612]

Diamond after treating everyone around them like garbage for decades: "What are they gonna do, choose another distributor?"

 

Marvel and DC: chooses another distributor

 

Diamond:

[Prince Namor]

2 hours ago, MatterEaterLad said:

Random House is Thor. Diamond is Ambush Bug. 

RH has a 1.1 million square foot distribution center and it's only part of their operations. I've been to their old facility outside of Baltimore, which was half that size and it was incredible. Plus, if RH falters one of the other major publishers (RH is one of The Big 5) could make a play for that business, so there's actual competition. 

New Comic Book buyers don't really care where the product comes from, just that it's there on time and in good condition. Which is NOT what large book publishers are necessarily good at. And floppies are NOT books.

Random House is going to suddenly have to deal with a number of issues they don't normally have to address.

Believe what you like, we've been down this road before and the last time it eliminated nearly 1/3 of the comic book shops in the country. 

Diamond isn't a BOOK distribution company, they are a COMIC BOOK distribution company and with that it includes a whole host of problems and demands that book publishers aren't used to. Shorting some Borders a discounted novel from their weekly shipment goes by unnoticed - short a comic book store in Podunk, New Jersey the latest X-Men and all hell will break loose. Those phone calls and problems add up really quick.

This will end the days of small comic book shops. Smaller Independent publishers will pretty much go exclusively online, small mailings and digital. Diamond will either go primarily toys, specialty items, and a smattering of other publishers, or they will disappear. This is all just one step closer to direct digital.

[Prince Namor]

Corporate consolidation isn't a guarantee of better service, in fact its usually just the opposite. These deals aren't made to better YOUR life.

Commerce will destroy art.

[Prince Namor]

Case in point:

When Marvel bought out Heroes World Distribution in 1994 to distribute their comics (what a mess that was - late books, damages, money held up - it was a mess), Diamond followed that up by buying the other Comic Book Distributor, Capital City Comics in 1996. After the Heroes World collapse, that left just Diamond as the only real distributor of comics. 

Didn't work out for the best. We were stuck with that for 25 years.

Be careful what you wish for.