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START // 11.14.02 ONE
DOOR CLOSES, ANOTHER DOOR SLAMS Let's start with the facts: As of just over two weeks ago, toy manufacturer Hasbro informed Diamond Comics Distribution and through them Dreamwave that the TRANSFORMERS comics could not be distributed anywhere outside North America, and likewise the GI JOE license currently held by Devil's Due. Hasbro gets to do this because they hold the trademark on Transformers and GI Joe, and have licensed production of the comic books based on their properties to companies in various regions of the world. Anyone who's already whining about servicing of trademarks, nostalgia comics or what the industry really needs can get out, right now. This is about something bigger and something which the last fortnight has taught me is apparently incredibly unfashionable. Getting comics into the hands of my customers. When this story first surfaced, it was on an internet gossip column on the 21st of October. I read it, took the obligatory pinch of salt but nonetheless emailed Dreamwave for clarification. I mentioned the story to them, explained that I was an English retailer and obviously concerned and asked for any clarification they could give me. Whilst I was on their site, I had a look around to see whether there was mention of it. There wasn't. The next day, a customer came in and asked us what we were going to do about getting the TRANSFORMERS comics in now they weren't allowed out of North America. He said he'd seen this on the Diamond website. The balloon, as they say, had gone up. We did the logical thing at this point; we called Diamond. Specifically, Diamond UK whose call talkers are amongst the nicest, most hard working people I've ever met. Once again, they came through and told us that yes it was true, no they had no idea what was happening but discussions were underway and as soon as they knew, they'd let us know. That afternoon, I checked the news sites, thinking this would be headline news. After all, one of the biggest sellers of the year suddenly finding it's market cut massively back was bound to be headline news. Nothing. Aside from a confirmation and more details from the other gossip column. I also checked my email to see whether Dreamwave had replied. Nothing. In all fairness, I was working through the email address on their website but, whilst I was there, I took the time to check whether there was any mention of the story. After all, it was public domain now surely, and with Diamond confirming the problem some kind of response was bound to have been made. Nothing. When I checked the press release archive the site threw the one announcing their acquisition of the licence at me. A couple of days passed and we found ourselves still pretty much in the dark. None of the websites were covering the story, Diamond didn't know anything new and the only thing we could tell our customers was: "When we know, you'll know." During this period, I sent Dreamwave a second email, this time explaining that I also did online journalism. I asked them whether anyone there was prepared to talk about the situation and along with that repeated my own plea for information as a retailer. Nothing. By the 24th, two things happened. Along with the comic delivery for the week, Diamond sent word that the collections of the Dreamwave material would be published in the UK by Titan. Which was about as close to good news as we were going to get, considering they already publish the reprint volumes from the Marvel Comics TRANSFORMERS series of the 1980s. They're solid, well produced books too so at least half the licence was definitely coming back and through a safe pair of hands to boot. Secondly, I went onto the Comic Book Industry Alliance Forum on Delphi, explained the situation and asked for some help. I was mystified as to the news blackout on the story and equally mystified by Dreamwave's lack of response. I asked for alternative contact detail and was kindly provided with them. I emailed Dreamwave a third time, reiterating my request for information. This time, after a while, I got a reply. That reply led me to an email address at Hasbro, which I mailed over a week ago. Same deal: a courteous, basic letter explaining that I was looking for clarification on the issue. At time of writing this column in the second week of November, I've heard nothing back. The effect that this situation has had is immediate. We order fifty five copies of the central TRANSFORMERS title and around that for the satellite titles. Around ninety seven percent of that number sells, and before anyone starts whining again, I don't feel the slightest guilt about that. Half this job is promoting new and interesting books and the other half is making sure that the books people want are the books they get. There's no personal feeling involved, no artistic discomfort to feel. It's my job to sell people the comics they want, not sneer at them because the comics they want have giant robots in them. The bottom line is though, that that's fifty five customers who suddenly aren't getting their comics any more. Now, some of them will happily move onto other things or already have but the vast majority of them will simply leave. If we can't get them what they want or any information as to WHEN we'll be able to get them what they want then we're useless to them. They leave and don't come back. Back to the numbers. We're the smallest store in our chain, with the others ordering over and above that fifty five. Bottom line is, we're responsible for a couple of hundred of Dreamwave's UK orders and in turn make up a measurable percentage of their total UK orders. In an industry where the figures show that readers are dropping almost every year, we're the retail outlet directly responsible for keeping a couple of hundred of them reading comics. If we can't get the comics then that's bad enough but when everyone outside North America, who make up a LOT more than our small percentage of orders can't get them then that should register on someone's radar. It took a while, but this situation did finally surface in the comics press. At time of writing, both NEWSARAMA and PULSE have carried stories doing an excellent job of explaining the situation. They are, by any reasonable standard, a little late in the day but the bottom line is that they've done their job. These sites have informed and explained and are to be applauded for that. Everywhere else on the Internet? Nothing's happened. And it gets better. Viz Manga have now announced that they can't ship books outside North America because their licence doesn't cover it. For one company to do this is is understandable but two is frankly, astonishing. And, just in case you're unclear on what Viz Manga produce: RANMA
1/2 Amongst others, and that's even before the singles they put out. I counted how many graphic novels we're going to be out of stock until this is sorted out. Sixteen. Sixteen lines of books and one comic are now not available to me and my customers. Some of them will be available in some form at some point but others? POKEMON was never picked up for reprints over here and at one point, that was shifting numbers that made TRANSFORMERS look like LAB RATS. In the meantime, I and every other retailer in Europe are just twisting in the wind. Bottom line, this situation will hurt shops financially, hurt them enough to close in some cases. And if they close, the market shrinks. And if the market shrinks, profits drop and when profits drop, comics start to go away. But as far as the comic press that I've seen is concerned, this isn't news. I actually checked one site today to see whether they'd mentioned it yet. I found it had put up an interview with Dreamwave, dated days after this story went public. There's no mention of it anywhere, all involved are too busy pushing the company's new projects. So obviously I'm reading the news wrong. Obviously another comic being optioned for TV or cinema, with an actual chance of being made in the low single figure percentiles, is far more important than comics not shipping to stores that need them. Jemm, son of Saturn's first appearance is far more important than the international market being cut off for a promising comic company's biggest moneyspinner and a primary supplier of manga. And obviously a retailer trying to find out information that he needs to do his job right is far less important than giving a publicity interview. I'm not sure when our priorities got so far out of whack, but this is something that HAS to change. People perceive comics as a ghetto medium, in part because the business end of things allow major screw ups like this to happen, and when they do there's all this arsing around instead of a) fixing the problem and b) informing people about the problem so that customers and retailers don't feel like they're being screwed. It's
good to feel loved, isn't it?
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