This changes the game.
Diamond Distribution not only had--had--a monopoly on comic book distribution in the United States, but also dominated distribution of tabletop games. Especially now, it is common for comic shops to sell card and tabletop games on the side or vice-versa, especially if they also furnish space for play in-house- something very common for shops tied into doing tournament play for Magic: The Gathering, Warhammer 40,000 or something else that needs tablespace for in-person gameplay.
Having the Big Two, however moribund both comics companies are, defect away from Diamond in favor of Penguin is a big deal. It means that a relatively small monopoly got broken in favor of assimilating into a bigger one. This is nothing more than another wrinkle in OldPub eating itself as it collapses.
Penguin is one of the few remaining big New York publishing houses. That they would resort to declasse material as comic books is very telling as to the state of OldPub; you would never hear an old-time New York publisher even conceieve of comics being on par with publishing the classics of Western literature or the latest non-fiction work by some old college pal that's now working for the Tri-Lateral Commission between Federal Government postings.
Yes, that's an admittedly Anglo-centric thing--Continential Europe isn't exactly like that in attitude--but it is there and even now the Hugofag clique barely tolerates comics as literature; if Neil Gaiman and Alan Moore didn't exist, they wouldn't bother hiding their contempt- they certainly don't with Eastern comics or literature.
I am encouraged by this news, because Diamond going down will have knock-on effects in tabletop gaming that will likewise force the Death Cultists and Pop Cultists to cope and they are not prepared for this. Instead, they'll double-down on depending upon crowdfunding all the things and using Amazon and Drivethru nigh-exclusively; smarter heads will soon see their clarity come through for them.
It's not over yet, but you can see it on the horizon.
How do you think the shift in Diamond's fortunes is likely to impact the TTRPG industry, in comparison to Wizard Attic's collapse back in 2004?
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I expect the veterans to negotiate the change just fine. WOTC, Paizo, Palladium are fine. GW has their own retail network; they may expand due to this. It's the smaller companies that stand to suffer, and as many of them are insufferable Woke Death Cultists I welcome them being fed feet first to the woodchipper.
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