Polite Dissent

On the inside front cover of Medics Code 3 Special, there is a brief editorial from the Shanda Fantasy Arts publishers decrying the recent change in Diamond policy setting a higher minimum order that comics need to reach before they will be distributed.

This is going to change the face of comics for everyone. To be sure, part of this is due to higher gas prices being paid by shippers, printers and distributors. But the publishers are feeling it first. Several independent comics have announced that they are preparing to shut down, such as STRANGERS IN PARADISE and FINDER.

While I sympathize with the small comic book publisher and wish there were a way to allow them to publish everything that they desired, this paragraph is disingenuous. Neither of the comics mentioned as examples decided to stop publishing because of Diamond’s change in policy.

First, according to ICv2.com, Strangers in Paradise has been routinely seling 8500-9000 copies per issue, well above the cut off for the new Diamond policy. It’s ending because its creator Terry Moore has decided that he has no more Francine and Katchoo stories to tell.

Second, Carla Speed McNeil, the creator of Finder, denies any connection between the policy and her decision to stop publishing the comic. As reported in Heidi MacDonald’s The Beat from September 26, 2005:

She [McNeil] stressed that the decision had nothing to do with the recent announcement that Diamond would be tightening up order minimums on books it carries. (Finder had been held up numerous times as an example of a quality book which hovered at the edges of Diamond’s benchmark.) Diamond has always been very supportive, she said, and the very week the announcement was made, she received a large Diamond order for the trades.

Both Strangers in Paradise and Finder make a large portion of their earnings from their trade collections. The same cannot be said for Shanda, which offers few — if any — trades.

Again, I sympathize with small publishers like Shanda and wish they had a better option for getting their books distributed, but there’s no need to distort the facts when it’s already such an unfortunate situation.