Image Comics announced a new fulfillment model for Image Direct, its print subscription service. The publisher will partner with Discount Comic Book Service (DCBS) for fulfillment of print subscriptions and merchandise orders from its website.  Image Direct has previously only offered subscriptions to Image publications; this will be the first time the service has also included retailing merch from the Image website.

“Retailers are the backbone to this industry, but unfortunately many of our fans do not live in areas close by a local comic shop. We hope through DCBS and Image Direct we can fix that and widen the audience for creator-owned comics and merchandise,” said Corey Murphy, Image Comics’ Director of Sales. “DCBS has long been one of our most supportive accounts and we’re so excited to be able to partner with them and expand the reach of Image Direct.”

DCBS is the largest online comic subscription service in the U.S. and is one of Diamond Comics Distributors’ largest accounts both domestically and abroad.

Image launched Image Direct in early 2015.  At the time, Image publisher Eric Stephenson said of offering subscriptions, “Given that there are fewer comic book stores than ever before, we’re hoping that Image Direct makes our titles available to fans who don’t have easy access to a local comic book store, or whose shop doesn’t carry the full range of Image titles.”