On Mon, 1 Jan 1996, Dov Sherman wrote:

> This is probably old news to many of you but Viz signed an exclusive deal
>  with Diamond Distributors a while back.  I didn't think much of it at the
>  time but now it's becoming a problem.

I think you mean Capital City...Diamond is the the distributor that 
carries DC, Image, Dark Horse, and the other big movers. Capital City 
wound up with the smaller publishers.

> My local comic book shop never works with Diamond because Diamond doesn't
>  carry anything worth buying.  They don't have Marvel, DC, Image or any
>  of the other big movers.  They do carry Kitchen Sink but how often does
>  Kitchen Sink put out anything that sells?

They did release The Crow. Then again, how often does Marvel Comics put 
out anything that's worth reading? ^_^

Blame Marvel Comics for all this exclusive distributor mess. They got 
themselves into a creative rut that puts most Shonen Jump titles to 
shame, so they attempted to maintain market share by  other means (like 
buying a distributor).

> Toshi, there was something else about this deal that I haven't been able
>  to confirm but maybe you could: Did Viz agree to end mail subscription
>  of Viz comics in order to get this deal?

I don't think Viz ever offered mail subscriptions, even during the days 
when they were affiliated with Eclipse Comics.

______________________________________________________________________________
                                John Chennavasin
                            chennav@haas.berkeley.edu
                        http://haas.berkeley.edu/~chennav