A lot of people have chimed in on the new Diamond policies.
True to the name, The Comics Reporter has gone all out and scored interviews with several different publishers about the benchmark change, including Fantagraphics, PictureBox (whose very launch initially ran into a roadblock at Diamond until a grassroots online campaign turned the tide), King Hell Press, and D&Q (publisher of Yoshihiro Tatsumi).
The Beat also manages to get many great reactions, although not all of them ”on the record”. In addition she makes an observation about the adult comics industry that just breaks my heart, because in many respects, it’s true. There’s also a lot of frightening number-crunching here.
A discussion is now taking place at the TCJ forums.
Lying in the Gutters lectures about the history of the purchase benchmarks.
Mr. Philip Clark has some deep musings on the matter, not all of which I necessarily agree with, but the important thing is I think his opinions are going to be in the majority.
Newsarama has also picked up on the news, but the real action is in the comments section. Again, I don’t agree with some of the sentiments being espoused, but what’s important is that many self-publishers probably do feel that they are running out of choices, and the online option is looking more attractive than ever.
Similarly, the discussions at Robot 6 are pretty aggressive. People, please, please stop calling for a monopoly investigation. Diamond’s going to blame me for it. =p
Comics212 points out that the critically acclaimed and soon to be motion picture Scott Pilgrim would not have made the benchmark had the benchmark been instituted back when it was first released. (Once more, my sincerest apologies to Oni. I will be sure to use someone else’s book in any future benchmark comparisons.)
Lastly, to temper some of the very vocal voices against the change somewhat… a reminder that the economy is bad out there for everyone. You see, indies are the olive green prom dress of the comics world.
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There were some interesting things outside of the benchmark story, yes…
Blu Manga earns quite a favorable rating at MangaCast.
Well, that’s about it.
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