People are trying to drag me into the middle of a dispute between Bulldog Comics and DC, and I’m not entirely sure why. I’ve gotten e-mails on it, and someone asked about it on this blog in a manner not only off-topic, but out of the clear blue.
Basically DC is saying Bulldog was violating DC’s trade terms and wasn’t going to sell comics to them. Bulldog doesn’t deny it but seems torqued because DC was turning a blind eye to it and now isn’t anymore. Apparently Bulldog was finding ways to undercut DC’s claims of selling out of various titles. I’m not sure how they were violating the trade terms, but if they were, and DC doesn’t want to let them anymore, that seems pretty much that to me.
In essence, Bulldog appears annoyed because DC isn’t being Mr. Nice Guy anymore. Guys, gals: In my opinion, you better get used to it. DC sat back and watched Marvel heap abuse on retailers, insulting their intelligence and introducing unpopular no-reorder, no-reprint policies. DC deplored Marvel’s activities and was the nice cop to Marvel’s tough cop. Result? Marvel, roundly criticized, neverthless got increased sales and DC, so accommodating they were taken for granted, watched their sales drop. What, did you think they were going to let that keep happening? What do you think all the DC press releases about sellouts are for? They’re sending a message: Don’t count on us to keep books available. We’re not being Mr. Nice Guy anymore, because we know where Nice Guys end up.
And if they’re now stepping on retailers to get things done, a la Marvel, well…they’re obviously prepared to do so. I’d been hearing rumors that DC was going to start drawing lines in the sand. Seems to be the case.
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