As many folks have learned and asked questions about, DC comics has left Diamond Comic Distributors after 25 years of exclusivity. This has led to a shake up in the way we place our orders. In the past, we have been able to use a single catalog to order all of our comics, graphic novels and many novelties. Along with the initial order from this catalog, we have been able to use a single website to make reorders and order adjustments. Our subscription tracking software is directly connected to Diamond, which does mean that at this time, since the split there has not been a way to add new DC subscriptions on titles that had not previously been available through Diamond
What has now happened, DC comics has chosen to distribute through 2 other companies in the US but exclude Diamond as an option. We have since set up an account with one of these companies. There were some growing pains for them entering the distribution business causing delays and high shipping costs. Luckily, one of our top gaming distributors in Canada has since stepped up to act as a more centralized contact for Canadian retailers by partnering with this new distributor. This will save us on shipping fees.
While there may still be delays on shipments, we are happy that we are able to still fulfill the comic needs of our DC Comics fans. New Comic Book Day at Heroes’ Beacon will remain Wednesdays, with our DC Comics being added to the shelf at the earliest time possible upon receiving them.
Now the most important part of this post, what does this mean for our customers? As long as comic orders are placed before the Final Order Cutoff (FOC), we should be able to guarantee that each customer receives the books they desire. This is applicable for DC with the new distribution as well as most other publishers through Diamond. I am currently working on details of ordering back stock of DC products, so we sincerely encourage customers to make sure to subscribe ahead of time to make sure not to miss out. If you subscribe to an ongoing title, we will automatically order it, if you are looking for individual books, we will place the orders as needed, either through Previews or through the FOC as appropriate.
To make things easy on our customers until DC adds a customer facing Final Order Cutoff listing, I will be posting a weekly list of DC set to be ordered that week on Tuesday, with orders due to the store by Friday of the same week. For all comics except DC, they can be found at https://previewsworld.com/FinalOrdersDue with orders due from this by Monday.
