Comic book retailers unite in frustration and anger over DC split with Diamond

Digital,

Stalled on its own accord. High barrier to entry, not satisfying for many people.

trades (remember when Hibbs led a bunch of LCS owners in demanding that trades be delayed by 6 months and not be continued past a certain volume?)

Many modern shops make more profit on trade sales than floppy sales. I know of several shops that have gone sub only on issues and only stock trades.

What you're arguing with is the reality that many current superhero stories simply aren't good and memorable enough to bother collecting. A middling Marvel or DC series, when collected, doesn't sell.

What this ties into is a point earlier in that statement - more self-contained issues. A full narrative for $3.99 instead of a mid-point that a new reader can't pick up.

getting comics into places like Walmart where they might actually find new readers

Actually, retailers were fine with that, except that they weren't offered the Giants. Bringing in new readers is great, but why not offer local shops the option to sell them as well? They were promoted, in fact, as offering special content that wouldn't ever show up at a LCS - actively drawing people away.

literally everything that could move the medium forward or grow it in some way seems to send these people into hysterics.

Everything you're complaining about is effectively "destroy comic shops" (via digital or Wal-Mart or etc.) to "move the medium forward." That is, in fact, exactly what DC would like, except they don't care about the medium either. They'd just prefer to not deal with the direct market.

But here's the reality - the direct market has repeatedly saved comic books. If it wasn't for passionate comic shop owners and employees, the big two would have been dead decades ago - just seeing a comic chewed up on a newsstand doesn't start a new reader, and there aren't enough newsstands in existence to keep a company like DC afloat.

Comic shops are why you have the Walking Dead (would never be carried in Wal-Mart) and Saga (needed salesmanship initially, also would never be carried in Wal-Mart) and Hellboy and Criminal and Sandman and Umbrella Academy and etc..

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