This is a weedy article about comic book distribution and our plans during the “stay at home” regulations of our state. If you’re interested, or bored, feel free to read. Otherwise have a great day!
Diamond Comics distributes all new direct market comics to the United States. Until last week they were the only distributor available to comic book shops. Diamond is currently not stocking or shipping new books with a release date of April 1 or later. They have slimmed down their workforce, have a bunch of people working at home and only have a skeleton crew at their warehouses for orders of supplies, back issues and other things the few comic shops that are open and running need.
In short, Diamond Comics is taking the COVID-19 virus seriously and listening to the advice and ordinances of the many states that want us to stay at home as much as possible. Their current plans are to start shipping sometime in mid to late May, but that is subject to change depending on what is going on.
DC Comics has partnered with a new distribution company to ship a handful of their books staring in just a few weeks. The books they will ship will still be available through Diamond, they will just arrive later. It is likely that a few more companies – maybe even Marvel – will offer books to be shipped through this distribution company in the upcoming weeks.
Rubber Mallet Comics is not currently in a position to start accepting new books from a new distributor. In truth, it is going to be hard enough when Diamond starts shipping again! The way our computer system works, the way we are trying to act responsibly during this time – it just doesn’t make sense to use this new distributor.
To our customers, I apologize that this means your books will take longer to arrive than it would through this new channel. If you choose to buy those issues from another venue because you prefer not to wait please let us know – and it’s fine. We’ll survive.
To the distribution company that sprung this on comic shops on a Friday afternoon and are asking for our orders to be all ready on Monday … sorry but you’re asking for a bit too much trust from us and I’m not putting my customers books in jeopardy because these are scary and uncertain times and you saw an opportunity.
