Dirty Laundry

I'm not usually one for airing my dirty laundry in public, but since this is a blog about comics, and this particular issue affects Comics Comics, I thought I'd write a bit about it. It could also be instructive for other publishers and artists.

As you may know, I recently published a comic book called Cold Heat by Ben Jones and Frank Santoro, so I went ahead and submitted it, along with my other recent publications, to Diamond Comics, the largest and essentially only, comic book store distributor. The package included Paper Rad, BJ and da Dogs by Ben Jones/Paper Rad, Me a Mound by Trenton Doyle Hancock and Incanto by Frank Santoro. I should note that Paper Rad has exhibited work in museums and galleries internationally, including the Tate, Britain, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, and Pace Wildenstein, New York. Hancock, meanwhile, was featured in two Whitney Biennials as well as the documentary Art: 21, and his work was recently featured at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. He's one of the most important young artists in North America. Santoro is the creator of Storeyville, generally considered as one of the five best comic books of the 1990s, and a well-regarded painter himself. PictureBox, meanwhile, won a Grammy last year for our package design of Wilco's A Ghost is Born. Oh, and both myself and company have recently been profiled in LA Weekly and The Washington Post. All of this is not to puff up my chest, but to note that it's not exactly amateur night over here. Anyhow, our other books are distributed to museums and stores worldwide by the most prestigious art book distributor in the country, DAP. Just not to comic book stores.

Yesterday I received a slim envelope from Diamond containing form letters detailing their reasons for rejecting each and every one of my titles: Cold Heat, which is a standard comic book, was rejected because "The format you have chosen for your title is unpopular with collectors and retailers." Let me repeat that: Cold Heat is a standard sized comic book. Huh.

Paper Rad BJ and da Dogs was rejected because, again, the format, and also "The writing is not up to comic industry standards". Fascinating.

Me a Mound was rejected for the same reasons.

And Incanto was rejected because the "artwork is too rough." Incanto is the work of a master cartoonist at the top of his game. I shudder to think what they would've made of George Herriman in the 1920s.

Now, I'm aware that every company has a bottom line, and perhaps Diamond's just doesn't allow it to take chances on new titles. But on the other hand, as the holder of a virtual monopoloy on the market, it would be nice (though in true biz terms, not necessary) if Diamond also considered itself responsible not just for the economic, but also the artistic health of the market. I'm aware that the books I'm releasing are not for everyone, but I can safely argue as both a publisher and a historian, that they are working to advance the medium. By denying the marketplace access to these books, Diamond is stunting the growth of the medium. And that's just a shame. Now, needless to say I can get some of these into comic book stores through other means--I already have--but tons of stores don't want to deal that way, and it's a huge amount of work for a one-man operation to undertake.

So, that's the story. Comics is a such a funny business. It is, of course, always a business before it's an art, and this is a prime example. But, honestly, I have to wonder: if it's good enough for MoMA, why not for Diamond?

UPDATE: Here.