Distribution of Graphic Novels: History and Practice

Definition

Distribution refers to how goods are moved from the producer to the consumer—in this case, the different channels in the comic book and graphic novel industry by which comics are moved from publishers to retailers and readers. Independent and direct distribution are two important categories of distribution in the comics industry.

Introduction

The method by which a product reaches consumers is generally considered to have little influence on consumers or the product itself. However, the various distribution systems used in the comics industry have had a powerful and lasting effect on comic books and graphic novels. How comics are distributed has been an integral part of the medium’s history, and a thorough understanding of the distribution systems used helps to reveal the causes of various changes in the industry, such as the increasing isolation of comics from the mass market that began during the 1970s. Each distribution system has created changes at several levels, producing dramatic effects on the industry's overall health and even altering the content produced to suit particular distribution systems.

The main distribution channels employed in North America beginning in the twentieth century include independent distribution, direct distribution to comic book stores, bookstore distribution, and digital distribution. None of these ever completely replaced the others, but some come close, much to the detriment of the industry. The influences of various distribution channels, and more specifically, what occurs when one of those channels comes to dominate the others, present an interesting demonstration of the problems of monopoly and the importance of diversity. No single distribution system can “save” comics, as has been shown repeatedly by previous rescue attempts such as direct distribution. Instead, the interaction of various distribution channels tends to provide the best growth opportunities.

Independent Distribution

In their original transition from strip to book, comics were treated as part of the magazine industry and sold alongside magazines in pharmacies, newsstands, and grocery stores. While this system, known as independent distribution, helped comics reach a wide audience and still exists in a much-reduced form, several problems eventually arose.

For readers, one of the main problems was the system’s unreliability; customers could not be sure when a comic they wished to buy would be available at a store, if it became available at all. Another difficulty was that these stores tended to sell random assortments of comics and had little interest in tailoring their selections to an audience. For the retailers, comics were a nuisance that produced only a small profit margin while taking shelf space from more valuable products.

For the publishers, the costliest problem was that retailers were reimbursed for unsold comics, sometimes without even having to prove that they had received them, a system that, at best, the incentive to sell the comics and, at worst, encouraged fraud. During the 1970s, Marvel Comics reported that as few as three of every ten comics sold to retailers went on to be sold to readers. With the comics market much smaller than in the Golden Age, this costly practice became impossible to maintain, leading to a financial crisis for the industry in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Direct Distribution

Comics fan and distributor Phil Seuling is generally credited with introducing the idea of direct distribution in 1973. He approached several major publishers to purchase comic books directly for retail without relying on the preexisting distributors. As part of the deal between the retailers and the publishers, direct-market distribution allows retailers to purchase comics at a larger discount than the independent distributors receive, stipulating that the retailers cannot return unsold copies of the comics they order.

In 1979 and 1980, there was a brief explosion in the number of distributors when Marvel Comics began selling to any direct distributor that could meet its minimum sales requirement of three thousand dollars. However, while the number of comic book stores continued to grow over the 1980s, competition greatly reduced the number of distributors to only a few by the early 1990s, the top three being Diamond Comic Distributors, Capital City Distribution, and Heroes World Distribution.

By 1993, there were about ten thousand comic book shops in the United States. By 1995, the number had dropped to between six and seven thousand. Comics collecting, encouraged by the establishment of comic book stores, created a speculator-driven bubble; when the bubble burst in 1994, many customers were driven away. In 1996, further problems arose when Marvel Comics signed a deal with Heroes World in an attempt to control the distribution of its product. This deal led to a “distributor war” that further decreased the number of retailers to approximately forty-five hundred. The “war” ended with one company, Diamond Comic Distributors, possessing a monopoly of the direct-distribution system.

The distribution system that saved the mainstream North American comics industry during the 1970s contributed to its near collapse during the 1990s and subsequent stagnation. Direct distribution had become a victim of its success. The system effectively served its already established audience, having virtually ended the independent distribution system that provided mainstream visibility. However, with comics locked away in specialty comic book stores out of sight of most audiences, comics have stopped attracting new readers and have struggled to reestablish an audience.

Comic Book Stores

Direct distribution led to the proliferation of comic book specialty stores for the first time during the 1970s. Over the decade, stores increased from approximately thirty to several thousand across the United States. These stores became the first venues to sell comics instead of treating them as an afterthought.

For comic book stores, direct distribution offers several advantages over independent distribution. Because the low cost of comics made them a low priority for independent distributors, publishers often delayed delivering them by at least a week. Meanwhile, direct distributors competed to provide comics to retailers as quickly as possible, giving comic book stores the clear advantage of being able to sell their products sooner. In addition, since most retailers entered the business because of their preexisting interest in comics, the inability to return unsold comics was mitigated for the retailers; they already knew what readers were interested in, so they could order exactly as many comics as they thought would sell. Also, retailers found maintaining a small stock of unsold issues desirable. Rather than being a financial liability, comics that remained unsold could be stored as back issues and sold for higher prices than they would have commanded when they were first published. These back issues also turned into collector’s items, which helped draw a new audience for comic books.

Bookstore Distribution

As part of the independent distribution system, bookstores predated direct distribution but had been largely eclipsed by it by the 1990s. However, in the first decade of the twenty-first century, bookstores became increasingly popular retailers of graphic novels. Bookstore distribution increased the availability and popularity of graphic novels since bookstores prefer to stock reading material that resembles what they have already sold instead of the serialized single issues popular in comic book stores. The availability of graphic novels in bookstores also increased mainstream media and academic interest in graphic novels, introducing the medium to a wider audience.

By providing graphic novels with the opportunity to appeal to a new audience outside the comic book store, bookstores have changed the medium in several significant ways. The success in bookstores of manga publishers VIZ Media and TOKYOPOP and independent publishers such as Top Shelf Comics, Fantagraphics Books, and Drawn and Quarterly has encouraged the comics industry to experiment with a more diverse range of works and genres. The growing market for graphic novels also led to changes in serialized comics; more stories are being written with the forethought of collecting them as hardcover or paperback books to be sold in bookstores and consequently feature plot arcs that last for the length of an average trade paperback.

Digital Distribution

The Internet led to a new form of distribution, typically called digital distribution, which relies on selling comics from publisher to reader as pure, digitized information. Previously, the distribution of comics using the Internet took several forms, ranging from the creation of Webcomics that are produced explicitly and entirely for reading on the Internet to the ability to order comics online from brick-and-mortar stores. However, only some comics were produced as print comics and simultaneously delivered digitally. However, the proliferation of tablets and e-book readers has led most mainstream publishers to make comics available for purchase via online applications such as comiXology, with major publishers opening their own application stores in 2010.

Digital distribution is expected to help comics reach mainstream audiences like bookstores helped graphic novels. Readers using digital distribution tend to buy a wide range of comics rather than restrict themselves to the superhero genre. At the same time, the instantaneous nature of the Internet experience encourages a greater interest in periodical pamphlets as opposed to graphic novels. Digital distribution has its own challenges, including digital piracy and ownership problems. However, with the Internet’s ability to reach a mass international audience, digital distribution may revitalize the comics industry.

Impact

Different distribution channels' role in shaping comics as a medium is difficult to overestimate; direct distribution alone has been credited with saving and destroying the comics industry in North America. Direct distribution allowed customers to reliably find all the comics they wanted in one place. Comic bookstores have provided a place to develop a “comics culture,” which particularly orients itself around the superhero genre. However, that culture can seem intimidating, keeping new readers out of comic book stores. Similarly, storylines that require multiple issues to resolve increased in popularity with direct distribution since readers could ensure that they acquired every issue. However, the increasingly complex storylines, combined with a focus on superhero comics at the expense of diversity in other genres, have also prevented new readers from finding an entry point into comics.

Distribution systems have also affected comics producers. For a period during the 1980s, direct distribution increased competition among comic book publishers when distributors such as Pacific Comics and Eclipse Comics began publishing their own comic books to have more products to distribute. This increased competition led publishers to compete for talented writers and artists, which led large publishers such as Marvel Comics and DC Comics to offer better deals to comic book creators and allow some creators to retain ownership of their characters and works.

How comics are perceived has also changed with distribution systems. When comics were sold exclusively through newsstands, they reached a broad audience but were generally treated as ephemeral products because of their association with magazines. The establishment of specialty stores serving a narrow audience of preestablished fans helped segregate comics from mainstream interests. It also led to expectations of a more “mature” product to suit its aging readers. The transition to the bookstore led to an increased interest in graphic novels with more diverse genres and a sense of increased literary legitimacy, and digital distribution seems to be changing who reads comics and why they read them.

From the 1990s through April 2020, Diamond Comic Distributors distributed nearly every comic from publishers to comic book stores. As Diamond shut down production amid the COVID-19 pandemic, DC Comics announced its partnership with Lunar Distribution and UCS Comic Distributors—extensions of North America's two largest online comic stores. In March 2021, Marvel Comics left Diamond to partner with Penguin Random House Publisher Services.

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