Comic retailers shoot themselves in foot....

....after bouncing around -- ouch! ouch! ouch! -- on one foot, comic retailers pick up gun...and shoot other foot.

After being given a range of options from terrible to O.K. to horrible to meh...comic retailers reliably, dependably, predictably pick.....the absolute worst option.

I'm so proud of us.



The way the system works now: We get our comics on Wednesday and scramble to put them out as quickly as possible.

The rest of the world gets their stuff on Tuesdays; music, movies, books, etc. etc.

Our distributor, Diamond Comics, ran a poll asking retailers whether they would like comics delivered a day early, for sale; or delivered a day early but usual Wednesday put out.

To my utter amazement, a hefty percentage of comic retailers want to stick to Wednesday release date; so it's looking, as of now, like we'll get our comics on Tuesday but won't be able to put them out until Wednesday.

Not only do we miss the extra day, but we run into a problem with the national release date that everyone else has.

As it is now, we get most of our graphic novels on Wednesday, but the mass market doesn't get theirs until the following Tuesday. What this new system will do is allow the mass market to get the shipment on the same day as us, but they will put their comics out A DAY EARLIER!

To me, this is the worst case scenario. I really, really want to put my comics out on Tuesday, even if it means putting them out on the same day as they arrive. The benefits of taking shipment a day earlier is a small one, as far as I'm concerned, especially since I don't really want to stay a couple hours after work to put away comics, and will probably put comics away on the day they're for sale anyway.

We'll see, I guess. But right now, it looks like the retailers have managed to paint themselves into a corner.

Why? As far as I can tell, it's because it's simply change -- from Wednesday to Tuesday -- and that apparently has freaked out a majority of comic retailers.

Ninnies.