"Don't think that just because you've known an establishment your entire life and that's how it's always been means that's the way it's supposed to be. Sometimes long running establishments are broken and need to change." Funny how well that applies to so many things right now.
The man who, I feel, never got his due...creator of Ra's Al Ghul, Arkham Asylum and Bane, redefiner of Batman, Green Arrow and The Question and the most interesting storyteller this side of Stan Lee. Peak O'Neill to me was his Question series in the 1980s, which is worth hunting down.
I'm glad that somebody pointed out diamond distribution being a monopoly!let's run across a lot of channels that are talking bad about DC pulling out with them, but nobody seems to want to bring up the fact that Diamond sucks. No one wanted to ask if it was seriously a good thing that one company was in sole control of distributing all comic books in the f****** country. Even after the moment they couldn't work the entire industry basically shut down for a few weeks, people were more concerned about diamond then, oh I don't know, the creators of the books that won't be paid after all their hard work
I am glad dc comics dropped diamond comics because my god there system has been broken beyond repair and frankly I am hoping this new comic distribution system turns out good.
Yet the stores been crying for years about Diamond. If I were DC I'd say oh you don't want to carry our books cool we will partner with Comixology exclusively and have the books half price. Then watch how they change their tune.
@@rell127 that would be really actually hilarious if dc comics does do that and people who hate diamond like those stores would changing there tune just like that.
@@TevyaSmolka DC doesn't make most of their money from comic sales neither does Marvel. DC should just fuck the stores and go digital. It will hurt their sales for a year or 2 but people need their Batman books.
Jerel Boza it’s not that simple you cut yourself on one Avenue than you cut yourself financially On that play you literal asking DC to do business suicide
Let's be honest the diamond distribution model really only focuses on single issues most people don't buy single issues they buy trades or digital books from comixology. Not to mention DC has multiple publishing lines diamonds not responsible for look at the Walmart books and their young adult line. DC has set themselves up for this for a long time. Every time I go to Walmart the comics were sold out. The young adult graphic novel line that DC created have been best sellers on Amazon. DC doesn't need Diamond. I think this will just lead to more people being able be exposed to comics and grow the industry beyond specialty stores.
Walmart killing smaller shops hasn't been great for other industries and I doubt it will be great for comics. Without comic shops the censorship of the comics code authority would have thrived much longer. Without specialty shop being able to bring in whatever the customer wants the quality of comics will decline and that won't be good for the industry. Those shops lose enough sales and go out of business then independent comics will suddenly have to Bend to walmart's will to to get their comics in stores, shipping costs will suddenly put a financial burden on fans like me that want their books each month, or people will be forced to digital. Personally, I spend enough time staring at a screen and do not want to have to read comics on my damn phone. Independent comics have it hard enough without being at the mercy of Walmart managers that don't give a shit or know about comics to order good ones.
You got my 👍 as soon as the Diamond is Terrible text popped on my screen. Diamond’s monopoly for the past 30+ years hasn’t helped the comics industry in any way.
In the late 80’s early 90’s Diamond shot down pretty much every plan I had to expand from a small press publisher to a indy publisher. Once I was rejected when proposing an anthology full of industry known artists. Diamond said they would only add an anthology if its from a publisher putting out other regular series books already. Uh, what? Amazing Heroes magazine got word of this and on page one of #170 1989 issue, Kim Thompson spent a full page (no images on the page) all about how Diamond had no right to police what comics are allowed to come out, etc. I also was around where they kept upping the minimum orders to weed out the indy publishers. I always wondered how they got away with being a monopoly. Thanks for this video. Glad to see the monopoly crumbling.
I love the way this video was put together .... especially how it segs to a panel with the answer with white script on a blue background while playing 1950's background / elevator music. Well Done !
Thanks also for explaining how unreliable Diamond is/was. My dad saw me interested in comics so once started a pull list for all #1 issues. Some popular #1’s were announced and sure enough, not in his pull folder. So he cancelled it. At the time we just figured the store thought no, we can hold those to charge more later. Don’t give them to the loyal customers. Instead its more likely the store did not get their orders from Diamond. (No, the store never explained one way or the other).
5:50 ahhh, the ol' Vince McMahon grow-your-business-by-buying-out-your-competition model. Pop quiz folks - how did that strategy work out for him and the industry his business was part of in the long run? If you said anything other than "stagnation of his business due to complacency from lack of competition, while the industry as a whole slowly died around him as his monopoly fueled a massive contraction in the consumer base" then you know jack all about business.
"Just because you've known an establishment your entire life means that's the way it's supposed to be. Sometimes long-running establishments are broken and it needs to change" Anarchist Thorgi activated. (i love it)
Holy crap batman! This is one of the most entertaining videos on what I imagine would be a tough subject to make a video out of. I am anxious to see how this whole thing plays out. I just hope it doesn’t mean the end of Comics.
That bit about stores ordering something, you preordering something, and it still doesn't show up. I can confirm as a customer that it's happened to me. I've had way too many books with water damage. It's ridiculous.
I'm glad you mentioned the BLM movement at the end, and honestly I found a lot of the way you were talking about the comics industy rising up and oposing a broken system really paralells exactly what is happening in the world right now "If the thing you've been living with for decades now isn't working and never worked then you might need to change things up"
It's very commendable to not charge those people and to suggest that they instead put that money towards such an important cause. I've said it before, I freaking love you Thorgi.
Back before he blew his credibility to hell, Frank Miller used to preach about the distribution end of comics. His mistake was taking aim at his old employer Marvel for the debacle that was Heroes World. Diamond never landed on his radar so far as I know. Oh and... 12:49 I find that statement hilarious, given the large number of graphic fantasies they let slide. Rod Serling had a similar censorship story he once shared with Mike Wallace concerning PUPPIES being born. Guess anything life-affirming is kryptonite to creeps like this.
I heard the new distributor ship their order with bubble wrap..... What a novelty concept. Honestly, I don't collect physical comic anymore. It is nearly impossible when living in apartment. So now I just go digital.
Thanks for a great Diamond takedown. I've hated them for decades. When DC said they were doing another distributor I cheered, I don't care who that distributor is. Competition should make the entire industry better (unless all those companies involve decide to team up. Looking at you airlines). The problem now becomes that these distributors might become like Netflicks and Hulu. You can only get DC from this distributor and Marvel from that. So if you want DC you have to just suck it up and deal with whatever Midtown's BS is and if you want Marvel you have to suck it up and deal with Diamond. Just like these streaming services don't feel the need to give more user experiences because their the only place you can get their specific content. I hope new distributors will make everyone better. That other distributors will make changes to increase quality. That's the goal and I'm excited for the future, not scared.
my lcbs in Singapore has announced to their customers that they have another distributor for DC comics so we should not feel a disruption. (Except for what was caused by Diamond. Am kinda liking getting my books by package mail too, so am kinda hoping that continues I don't mind paying the shipping.)
Hey that was really cool, you not charging people. You said something and did something. More than most people are doing right now...(for what its worth) I respect that.
From a fellow funny book slinger, Thank you for this video! The entire industry, from top to bottom needs to make changes. Publishers to distribution. ALL OF IT!!!
A lot of the arguments I've seen from people defending Diamond largely seem to break down to "in the 90s it was chaotic and a lot of distributors were bad, and Diamond brought some stability as the last one standing". So basically, it wasn't that Diamond was good (I've heard plenty of complaints about them, and about constant damage to books), but that they were the least bad during a crappy era, and so people got complacent and used to dealing with them when they were the only option for so long. This is exactly the problem with monopolies in business; they can slowly erode the quality of their business model if there's no one else around that they have to beat. Will the new distributors be better? Maybe not yet. Maybe not even ever. But that's not a reason to let Diamond be the only game in town in perpetuity. The government absolutely dropped the ball when investigating them originally; they should have forced them to split up into multiple entities, or for the comic publishers to make use of existing book publishers as alternate distribution vectors in case Diamond got too complacent.
As Percy Shelley's poem Ozymandias reminds us, NOTHING is forever, however grand. If you haven't already, check out the poem being epically read by Bryan Cranston for Breaking Bad to see what I'm talking about.
It wasn't even that. The reason why Diamond become the biggest distribuitor was because the exclusive with DC Comics. At the time Marvel founded their own distribution company and the other distribuitors lost one of the their biggest client. When DC go exclusive with Diamond, all the others companies found suddenly with only like 20% or less or their original market. That is the reason why all of them fold.
I agree completely, having heard multiple complaints about Diamond from multiple shop owners and employees. Do you suppose this means that certain out-of-print trade paperback collections from DC might come back into circulation?
Hey Thorgi, what did Diamond do in the cases you described, not getting a 100+ comics of a titles and such. Did Diamond give your store credit for the books that weren't delivered or what? Would really like to know.
Diamond sucking doesn't mean these new guys won't be terrible too or even worse. My local comic shop guy, here in Canada, is left with a lot of unanswered questions including ones about whether the new distributors even thought about international markets before signing the deal. A monopoly is bad but a monopoly on DC books controlled by the direct competition could be fatal for a lot of local comic shops. Then you have to wonder what the industry will look like when the retail end of things is also dominated by one big company. It isn't like the monopoly was broken up so there's competition. Diamond isn't able to carry DC books anymore so now we have two smaller monopolies on different parts of the market and one of them is also a retailer which is potentially much worse. Costs will have to be passed onto the customer by the smaller shops and it will give big retailers, like Walmart that has dipped its toes in comics, a chance to run a loss, kill their competition, and then control the market. I really hope I'm wrong and the new distributors do what is best for the industry but I'm not optimistic
A brilliant video that gives the facts and balanced opinion to the entire saga (even with the tangents and rants). Thanks, Aaron and I hope you're all keeping safe and doing well.
I think the "not a monopoly" ruling was due to the fact that Diamond was small in terms of book publishing as a whole compared to people like Penguin Random House
@@TubezThe1 Yup. Since they don't primarily distribute comics and are small in terms of publishing as a whole, they are good in the eyes of DOJ. Geppi explained it in an interview recently I think.
Here’s a video idea suggestion; a video where you come up with new else words, if dc was too ever bring it up. Like, you come up with new concepts for elseworlds
Diamond put 99% of comics shops in Australia out of business by not shipping on time, making them order stupid amount because it's international and not worth diamonds time unless you keep over stocking, just not sending issues.... at all. Diamond ruined the industry.
The guy who runs my comic shop is pretty upset about DC breaking up with Diamond. He has no idea how the chips will fall. I think if the Justice Department broke-up Diamond back in '97 than odds are the entire comic industry would be in a much healthier place than running on life-support like it is now.
I stopped getting physical copies of comics years ago, but yeah, I remember how horrible Diamond was from my (then) local comic shop employees and owner.
I'm hearing a bunch of local comic shops will be protesting DC and dropping their titles compeltey. I think we're all for new and additional distributors but if they're gonna try and offer a subscription service through Midtown at a higher discount than even comic shops get or can give, than slowly but surely it will spell the end of the LCS.. :( Midtown is basically the Amazon of the comic world now. Ughh.
Good riddance. DC blazing their own path here. They finally got the balls to stand up to Diamond, and they’re moving forward. “Adapt or perish. That is evolution.” - Triple H
My new to your channel your videos are awesome dude and sometime Laughable but I still a fan i hope you do another amalgam comics video sometime that one my favorite.
Thorgi, I seriously think you missed a great opportunity to use clips from that South Park episode where you guys from the cable company rub their man-nipples wile going "awww that's too bad" to customer complaints just watch the fist half of this to give you an idea ruclips.net/video/vbHqUNl8YFk/видео.html
Diamond also makes stores buy a bunch of variants and etc in order to get deals and even certain products. So they are also shady in the product they sell. Its BS and any competition for Diamond is a great thing!
Down with Diamond!! The comicbook industry has badly been in need of reinvention and revitalization for decades!! Digital distribution is the future and as painful as it is to say, LCBS are going to have to either close or expand to become general hobby shops.
Other than monopolies being the worst, I'm pretty tired of Diamond, and getting brand new, 9.4 or worse comics. We as collectors deserve a better chance of preserving them at the highest quality.
I’ve had a pull list for a little over 2 years now. I can’t remember having any issues with Diamond’s shipping quality. I’ve heard other people complain that their comics are in bad shape because of Diamond and I believe them. Diamond sucks big butt
-raises hand- does this mean we won't get that crappy quality poster paper that god forbid you have a lick of sweat on your finger- it's creased forever? I'd like the new books to be better quality when it's $4.99 a book
Ok so as a comic fan and other comic fans like me I would like to ask something: When NASA reported a parallel universe to our own...who Immediately thought of Crisis on Infinite Earths?
I understand your concerns but please don't give up on Comics just yet there are so many good stories there but if that's what you feel like then you can always enjoy the movies based off these characters
First - this is a regular occurrence when it comes to Diamond. Second - there is a WORLDWIDE PANDEMIC going on, just in case you’ve been under a rock. Everything is delayed. Mail is moving at a pace I’ve never seen (things are getting lost or show up a bloody week after the scheduled delivery date). Websites are all advertising there are delays to orders. My point. Don’t you think you’re decision is rather rash? Are you going to stop eating at a favorite restaurant because they’re serving a limited menu in this time? Just relax and give your shop a chance.
@@SSJFutureGohan62093 You don't know my life. I'm disabled, and this shake up has been fairly traumatic as going out with my sister on Wednesdays was one of my few times to get out and go places. There was zero attempt to re-order, or get the missing issues. I was already on a low ebb of giving crap about comics -- this is was just the last straw. So take you assumption and realize that people respond to things differently, and if I choose to drop my comics - that is my call, it is the RIGHT call for me, and I have zero obligation to continue collecting this medium. I'm sick of it
Thanks for this discussion, Aaron! Also, thanks for the racial Justice shout out at the end. I live in SK, Canada, where we have a 15% Indigenous population, but they represent 80% of our prison population. Everyone, please tap into your heroic natures & interests and support these movements!
While people don't like diamond they also fear a future without Diamond how will books ship..... Amazon, UPS, Fed Ex it's the evil you know Vs. the unknown
I've been waiting for someone to make this video. Diamond is an awful distribution company. This is going to be one of the many positive affects of the virus.
This is good information... but are we still assuming Disney will become a monopoly, especially with what's been happening? So they bought another film studio... that legally put itself up for sale. AND one of Disney's rivals forced them to up their initial bid by around 40%. Plus many suspect that move was entirely just to force Disney to spend more to purchase Fox. So Disney is so close to being a monopoly that their rivals can still jerk them around? That's kid of the opposite of one. Note this is NOT me saying Disney isn't doing anything wrong. Just mislabeling what they are doing as a monopoly hurts the arguments against the bad things they are actually doing.
I do. I also remember Frank Miller directing his verbal fire in that direction, saying it was declaring war on the free market. As it happens, he was aiming at the wrong target.
"Don't think that just because you've known an establishment your entire life and that's how it's always been means that's the way it's supposed to be. Sometimes long running establishments are broken and need to change."
Funny how well that applies to so many things right now.
I was going to make the exact same comment.
Same. Glad to see I wasn't the only one to notice the extremely relevant parallels from those two sentences.
who knew monopolies are a bad thing... weird.
Who knew meddling with the government is a bad thing.
Teddy Roosevelt knew!
Yeah Sony..
Movies/video game systems
RIP Denny O'Neil, the father of the Bronze Age and all ages afterward.
The man who, I feel, never got his due...creator of Ra's Al Ghul, Arkham Asylum and Bane, redefiner of Batman, Green Arrow and The Question and the most interesting storyteller this side of Stan Lee. Peak O'Neill to me was his Question series in the 1980s, which is worth hunting down.
I'm glad that somebody pointed out diamond distribution being a monopoly!let's run across a lot of channels that are talking bad about DC pulling out with them, but nobody seems to want to bring up the fact that Diamond sucks.
No one wanted to ask if it was seriously a good thing that one company was in sole control of distributing all comic books in the f****** country. Even after the moment they couldn't work the entire industry basically shut down for a few weeks, people were more concerned about diamond then, oh I don't know, the creators of the books that won't be paid after all their hard work
Monopolies are inherently bad no matter how good the individual company is.
That's the thing, Diamond is not good. They deliver damaged comics, a lot.
I thought the very same thing concerning Diamond's history, practices and reputation. 100% in agreement.
I am glad dc comics dropped diamond comics because my god there system has been broken beyond repair and frankly I am hoping this new comic distribution system turns out good.
Yet the stores been crying for years about Diamond. If I were DC I'd say oh you don't want to carry our books cool we will partner with Comixology exclusively and have the books half price. Then watch how they change their tune.
@@rell127 that would be really actually hilarious if dc comics does do that and people who hate diamond like those stores would changing there tune just like that.
@@TevyaSmolka DC doesn't make most of their money from comic sales neither does Marvel. DC should just fuck the stores and go digital. It will hurt their sales for a year or 2 but people need their Batman books.
Jerel Boza it’s not that simple you cut yourself on one Avenue than you cut yourself financially
On that play you literal asking DC to do business suicide
@@mcpics4448 Staying with the stores will eventually kill the entire industry.
All it took was global pandemic to break this relationship
Trauma to the system...this pandemic has done an excellent job in making existing problems impossible to ignore.
Let's be honest the diamond distribution model really only focuses on single issues most people don't buy single issues they buy trades or digital books from comixology. Not to mention DC has multiple publishing lines diamonds not responsible for look at the Walmart books and their young adult line. DC has set themselves up for this for a long time. Every time I go to Walmart the comics were sold out. The young adult graphic novel line that DC created have been best sellers on Amazon.
DC doesn't need Diamond. I think this will just lead to more people being able be exposed to comics and grow the industry beyond specialty stores.
Walmart killing smaller shops hasn't been great for other industries and I doubt it will be great for comics. Without comic shops the censorship of the comics code authority would have thrived much longer. Without specialty shop being able to bring in whatever the customer wants the quality of comics will decline and that won't be good for the industry. Those shops lose enough sales and go out of business then independent comics will suddenly have to Bend to walmart's will to to get their comics in stores, shipping costs will suddenly put a financial burden on fans like me that want their books each month, or people will be forced to digital.
Personally, I spend enough time staring at a screen and do not want to have to read comics on my damn phone. Independent comics have it hard enough without being at the mercy of Walmart managers that don't give a shit or know about comics to order good ones.
You got my 👍 as soon as the Diamond is Terrible text popped on my screen. Diamond’s monopoly for the past 30+ years hasn’t helped the comics industry in any way.
In the late 80’s early 90’s Diamond shot down pretty much every plan I had to expand from a small press publisher to a indy publisher. Once I was rejected when proposing an anthology full of industry known artists. Diamond said they would only add an anthology if its from a publisher putting out other regular series books already. Uh, what? Amazing Heroes magazine got word of this and on page one of #170 1989 issue, Kim Thompson spent a full page (no images on the page) all about how Diamond had no right to police what comics are allowed to come out, etc. I also was around where they kept upping the minimum orders to weed out the indy publishers. I always wondered how they got away with being a monopoly. Thanks for this video. Glad to see the monopoly crumbling.
I love the way this video was put together .... especially how it segs to a panel with the answer with white script on a blue background while playing 1950's background / elevator music. Well Done !
Thanks also for explaining how unreliable Diamond is/was. My dad saw me interested in comics so once started a pull list for all #1 issues. Some popular #1’s were announced and sure enough, not in his pull folder. So he cancelled it. At the time we just figured the store thought no, we can hold those to charge more later. Don’t give them to the loyal customers. Instead its more likely the store did not get their orders from Diamond. (No, the store never explained one way or the other).
5:50 ahhh, the ol' Vince McMahon grow-your-business-by-buying-out-your-competition model. Pop quiz folks - how did that strategy work out for him and the industry his business was part of in the long run?
If you said anything other than "stagnation of his business due to complacency from lack of competition, while the industry as a whole slowly died around him as his monopoly fueled a massive contraction in the consumer base" then you know jack all about business.
And your aware that wwe just had it's most profitable year in history right?
John Spencer
Unfortunately yes.
I think the only reason they're worrying about Diamond is that they're worried that if they don't worry, Diamond will stop shipping to them.
And that is fair... Until you realize they already aren't shipping to them 😂
And I'm back today when it was announced that Marvel has ended its relationship from Diamond.
"Just because you've known an establishment your entire life means that's the way it's supposed to be. Sometimes long-running establishments are broken and it needs to change"
Anarchist Thorgi activated. (i love it)
Love the videos, Diamond had been a menace for decades and btw thanks for the support #blacklivesmatter
Holy crap batman! This is one of the most entertaining videos on what I imagine would be a tough subject to make a video out of. I am anxious to see how this whole thing plays out. I just hope it doesn’t mean the end of Comics.
Oh, Christ, STOP, man! Comics as we've known them our whole lives WILL change. But the end? Not even.
That bit about stores ordering something, you preordering something, and it still doesn't show up. I can confirm as a customer that it's happened to me.
I've had way too many books with water damage. It's ridiculous.
I'm glad you mentioned the BLM movement at the end, and honestly I found a lot of the way you were talking about the comics industy rising up and oposing a broken system really paralells exactly what is happening in the world right now
"If the thing you've been living with for decades now isn't working and never worked then you might need to change things up"
It's very commendable to not charge those people and to suggest that they instead put that money towards such an important cause. I've said it before, I freaking love you Thorgi.
Rip Denny O’Neil.
The guy who should have gotten the credit on Batman that Miller gobbled up with two four-issue stories.
Back before he blew his credibility to hell, Frank Miller used to preach about the distribution end of comics. His mistake was taking aim at his old employer Marvel for the debacle that was Heroes World. Diamond never landed on his radar so far as I know. Oh and...
12:49 I find that statement hilarious, given the large number of graphic fantasies they let slide. Rod Serling had a similar censorship story he once shared with Mike Wallace concerning PUPPIES being born. Guess anything life-affirming is kryptonite to creeps like this.
Im brazilian, so im not sure how this will affect us.
I heard the new distributor ship their order with bubble wrap..... What a novelty concept. Honestly, I don't collect physical comic anymore. It is nearly impossible when living in apartment. So now I just go digital.
Thanks for a great Diamond takedown. I've hated them for decades. When DC said they were doing another distributor I cheered, I don't care who that distributor is. Competition should make the entire industry better (unless all those companies involve decide to team up. Looking at you airlines). The problem now becomes that these distributors might become like Netflicks and Hulu. You can only get DC from this distributor and Marvel from that. So if you want DC you have to just suck it up and deal with whatever Midtown's BS is and if you want Marvel you have to suck it up and deal with Diamond. Just like these streaming services don't feel the need to give more user experiences because their the only place you can get their specific content.
I hope new distributors will make everyone better. That other distributors will make changes to increase quality. That's the goal and I'm excited for the future, not scared.
Yo what comic is this at 6:02?? The art looks great!
my lcbs in Singapore has announced to their customers that they have another distributor for DC comics so we should not feel a disruption. (Except for what was caused by Diamond. Am kinda liking getting my books by package mail too, so am kinda hoping that continues I don't mind paying the shipping.)
Hey that was really cool, you not charging people. You said something and did something. More than most people are doing right now...(for what its worth) I respect that.
From a fellow funny book slinger, Thank you for this video! The entire industry, from top to bottom needs to make changes. Publishers to distribution. ALL OF IT!!!
A timely reminder on the history and impact of Diamod during this time of understandable stress and storm. Thanks Thorgi.
Chuck Parker...wow
A lot of the arguments I've seen from people defending Diamond largely seem to break down to "in the 90s it was chaotic and a lot of distributors were bad, and Diamond brought some stability as the last one standing". So basically, it wasn't that Diamond was good (I've heard plenty of complaints about them, and about constant damage to books), but that they were the least bad during a crappy era, and so people got complacent and used to dealing with them when they were the only option for so long. This is exactly the problem with monopolies in business; they can slowly erode the quality of their business model if there's no one else around that they have to beat. Will the new distributors be better? Maybe not yet. Maybe not even ever. But that's not a reason to let Diamond be the only game in town in perpetuity. The government absolutely dropped the ball when investigating them originally; they should have forced them to split up into multiple entities, or for the comic publishers to make use of existing book publishers as alternate distribution vectors in case Diamond got too complacent.
As Percy Shelley's poem Ozymandias reminds us, NOTHING is forever, however grand. If you haven't already, check out the poem being epically read by Bryan Cranston for Breaking Bad to see what I'm talking about.
It wasn't even that. The reason why Diamond become the biggest distribuitor was because the exclusive with DC Comics. At the time Marvel founded their own distribution company and the other distribuitors lost one of the their biggest client. When DC go exclusive with Diamond, all the others companies found suddenly with only like 20% or less or their original market. That is the reason why all of them fold.
I agree completely, having heard multiple complaints about Diamond from multiple shop owners and employees.
Do you suppose this means that certain out-of-print trade paperback collections from DC might come back into circulation?
Very curious to hear your thoughts on this because I've heard some retailers being hurt since they now lose out on shipping discounts.
7:40 dont forget that years latter diamond actually got a "book" division just 7 years after that investigation.
Hey Thorgi, what did Diamond do in the cases you described, not getting a 100+ comics of a titles and such. Did Diamond give your store credit for the books that weren't delivered or what? Would really like to know.
Diamond sucking doesn't mean these new guys won't be terrible too or even worse. My local comic shop guy, here in Canada, is left with a lot of unanswered questions including ones about whether the new distributors even thought about international markets before signing the deal.
A monopoly is bad but a monopoly on DC books controlled by the direct competition could be fatal for a lot of local comic shops. Then you have to wonder what the industry will look like when the retail end of things is also dominated by one big company.
It isn't like the monopoly was broken up so there's competition. Diamond isn't able to carry DC books anymore so now we have two smaller monopolies on different parts of the market and one of them is also a retailer which is potentially much worse. Costs will have to be passed onto the customer by the smaller shops and it will give big retailers, like Walmart that has dipped its toes in comics, a chance to run a loss, kill their competition, and then control the market.
I really hope I'm wrong and the new distributors do what is best for the industry but I'm not optimistic
A brilliant video that gives the facts and balanced opinion to the entire saga (even with the tangents and rants). Thanks, Aaron and I hope you're all keeping safe and doing well.
I think the "not a monopoly" ruling was due to the fact that Diamond was small in terms of book publishing as a whole compared to people like Penguin Random House
And they have ridden that for decades
@@TubezThe1 Yup. Since they don't primarily distribute comics and are small in terms of publishing as a whole, they are good in the eyes of DOJ. Geppi explained it in an interview recently I think.
Here’s a video idea suggestion; a video where you come up with new else words, if dc was too ever bring it up. Like, you come up with new concepts for elseworlds
Diamond put 99% of comics shops in Australia out of business by not shipping on time, making them order stupid amount because it's international and not worth diamonds time unless you keep over stocking, just not sending issues.... at all. Diamond ruined the industry.
The guy who runs my comic shop is pretty upset about DC breaking up with Diamond. He has no idea how the chips will fall. I think if the Justice Department broke-up Diamond back in '97 than odds are the entire comic industry would be in a much healthier place than running on life-support like it is now.
"Maybes are only for the loser." --Matt Wagner. So let's be better than that and figure what we're gonna do on THIS timeline, yeah?
I stopped getting physical copies of comics years ago, but yeah, I remember how horrible Diamond was from my (then) local comic shop employees and owner.
I was just thinking about when you would be talking about this.
Exactly, folk. Internet sure changed up quick. Nah, keep that same energy! Growing pays come with any change. The system was broken and untenable.
Need to add a new part to this at the beginning clarifying that Diamond UK will continue to distribute ALL NEW DC COMICS through December 2020
I'm hearing a bunch of local comic shops will be protesting DC and dropping their titles compeltey. I think we're all for new and additional distributors but if they're gonna try and offer a subscription service through Midtown at a higher discount than even comic shops get or can give, than slowly but surely it will spell the end of the LCS.. :( Midtown is basically the Amazon of the comic world now. Ughh.
You got a better solution, now's the time to bring it up. Speak now or forever hold your peace, as they say at weddings.
And lose all customers that read DC comics ? That sound pretty dumb to me.
6:59 THAT would be a nightmare
amazing video
(sigh) guys get the heavy bolters and flamer. we march on diamond at dawn.
wtf this is madness!! thanks for the insight
Good riddance. DC blazing their own path here. They finally got the balls to stand up to Diamond, and they’re moving forward. “Adapt or perish. That is evolution.” - Triple H
"Perish" is too clinical for me. I prefer the version spoken of in the film version of Hanna: "adapt or die." Much starker.
I'm not sure how this all works, but why can't indy publishers go to magazine printers and distributors? They're basically doing the same thing.
Money.
Love ur videos man!
Are the two new distributors competing against each other? Or are they West Coast monopoly and East Coast monopoly?
7:06 "I'm the Government. I'm the Government. I'm the reason nothing works!"
Good stuff. kudos all around.
My new to your channel your videos are awesome dude and sometime Laughable but I still a fan i hope you do another amalgam comics video sometime that one my favorite.
In this case, Diamond is breakable.
Typically, increased completion doesn't cause prices to go up. It causes prices to go down.
Thorgi, I seriously think you missed a great opportunity to use clips from that South Park episode where you guys from the cable company rub their man-nipples wile going "awww that's too bad" to customer complaints
just watch the fist half of this to give you an idea
ruclips.net/video/vbHqUNl8YFk/видео.html
Diamond also makes stores buy a bunch of variants and etc in order to get deals and even certain products. So they are also shady in the product they sell. Its BS and any competition for Diamond is a great thing!
Well, let's see what happens next.
Down with Diamond!! The comicbook industry has badly been in need of reinvention and revitalization for decades!! Digital distribution is the future and as painful as it is to say, LCBS are going to have to either close or expand to become general hobby shops.
Thats eerily similar to what goes on into the music industry
Well dc might need to work on a plan, I might get back into dc comic books again an I read midtown Manhattan comic book stores way back in the day.
excellent video
Dc are the top comics publisher atm, they are making moves, boom! is second
Other than monopolies being the worst, I'm pretty tired of Diamond, and getting brand new, 9.4 or worse comics. We as collectors deserve a better chance of preserving them at the highest quality.
I’ve had a pull list for a little over 2 years now. I can’t remember having any issues with Diamond’s shipping quality. I’ve heard other people complain that their comics are in bad shape because of Diamond and I believe them. Diamond sucks big butt
-raises hand- does this mean we won't get that crappy quality poster paper that god forbid you have a lick of sweat on your finger- it's creased forever?
I'd like the new books to be better quality when it's $4.99 a book
Ok so as a comic fan and other comic fans like me I would like to ask something: When NASA reported a parallel universe to our own...who Immediately thought of Crisis on Infinite Earths?
I totally agree
Cant focus on the topic with that Silent Hill shirt in frame
They are using comic book shops as distributors , forcing other shops to but from them.
Bullshit
Now Marvel needs to do the same.
I work for ups and have delivered diamond packages, and let me tell you their packaging is the worse.
Diamond are always aweful 🙏🍕
I’m just done with comics. They had missing issues first time I stepped back in reopened comic store. Just sick of it all
I understand your concerns but please don't give up on Comics just yet there are so many good stories there but if that's what you feel like then you can always enjoy the movies based off these characters
Man comics don't even come to my country and I still love them
I stick with trade paperbacks for a reason these days when possible.
First - this is a regular occurrence when it comes to Diamond.
Second - there is a WORLDWIDE PANDEMIC going on, just in case you’ve been under a rock. Everything is delayed. Mail is moving at a pace I’ve never seen (things are getting lost or show up a bloody week after the scheduled delivery date). Websites are all advertising there are delays to orders.
My point. Don’t you think you’re decision is rather rash? Are you going to stop eating at a favorite restaurant because they’re serving a limited menu in this time? Just relax and give your shop a chance.
@@SSJFutureGohan62093 You don't know my life. I'm disabled, and this shake up has been fairly traumatic as going out with my sister on Wednesdays was one of my few times to get out and go places. There was zero attempt to re-order, or get the missing issues. I was already on a low ebb of giving crap about comics -- this is was just the last straw. So take you assumption and realize that people respond to things differently, and if I choose to drop my comics - that is my call, it is the RIGHT call for me, and I have zero obligation to continue collecting this medium. I'm sick of it
Diamond bought up the (weakened) competition and absorbed them or shut them down? That.....actually describes Marvel and DC just as well.
Thanks for this discussion, Aaron! Also, thanks for the racial Justice shout out at the end. I live in SK, Canada, where we have a 15% Indigenous population, but they represent 80% of our prison population. Everyone, please tap into your heroic natures & interests and support these movements!
its the best thing, diamond needed to go for years.
While people don't like diamond they also fear a future without Diamond how will books ship..... Amazon, UPS, Fed Ex it's the evil you know Vs. the unknown
I hope Marvel change their mind with the whole censorship thing next year.
OH my god, I was thinking the whole first 3 minutes, but Diamond is bad...this is a good thing right?
I've been waiting for someone to make this video. Diamond is an awful distribution company. This is going to be one of the many positive affects of the virus.
"Sometimes long time establishments are broken and need to change" :coughCongresscough:
But Tuesday bad so they've done the wrong thing
Have you seen Image's Eric Stephenson's statement about this issue? 😂😂😂
What a goofball that man is.
Comics seemed pretty overpriced already to me.
Trump has the economy running,
No having money is on you.
So, this is a "problem" apparently. I can still get my books when they come out. I just chalk it up to COVID.
Diamond is a terrible company. They have no respect for anyone or their merchandise. They are as big of a pain as when the Code Authority was formed.
how are thy broke if they were a monopoly
Ok screw diamond comics and all monopolies
So maybe other comics companies will decide on doing DC's example and leaving diamond because well they are terrible
This is good information... but are we still assuming Disney will become a monopoly, especially with what's been happening?
So they bought another film studio... that legally put itself up for sale. AND one of Disney's rivals forced them to up their initial bid by around 40%. Plus many suspect that move was entirely just to force Disney to spend more to purchase Fox. So Disney is so close to being a monopoly that their rivals can still jerk them around? That's kid of the opposite of one.
Note this is NOT me saying Disney isn't doing anything wrong. Just mislabeling what they are doing as a monopoly hurts the arguments against the bad things they are actually doing.
Especially when you consider AT&T(Warner) or Comcast (Universal) Disney doesn't provide you with access to the Internet.
@@vassily-labroslabrakos2263 Yeah, Disney is just a more visible target. As a major Hollywood studio, it may well be one of the last of its breed.
ah monopoly. The dream of every capitalists
A false vision that always ends in tears, a modern-day El Dorado.
Well it's better then communism that kills progression and creativity
@@IzayaLee1725 Just another delusion that ends in the same tears. Capitalism is simply the flipside of that coin.
@@IzayaLee1725 ook ook?
Marvel, remember Heroes World?
I do. I also remember Frank Miller directing his verbal fire in that direction, saying it was declaring war on the free market. As it happens, he was aiming at the wrong target.
I mean who am I to the comic industry? I'm just a white late 30 something male nerd... not like we read comics or anything.