Rich Biedrzycki of Dreamland Comics in Schaumburg, Illinois felt that Top Cow's sales of Battle of the Planets #1 (see 'Battle of the Planets #1 Sells Out') before he received it were 'a slap in the face':

 

I would really like to comment on publishers selling their books at conventions before they are released to stores.  This past weekend, at Wizardworld: Chicago, Top Cow was selling copies of Battle of The Planets #1 direct to consumers 6 days before Diamond released them to stores.  Selling 'Convention Exclusive' copies (that are marked like that) is one thing but selling regular copies of a comic before stores get them is a slap in the face to the retailers in the area that ordered that book.  My store (Dreamland) is in suburban Chicago and many of my customers went to that show and purchased copies from Top Cow leaving me holding a lot of copies I had expected to sell to them.  Diamond has agreed to let us return any unsold copies because of this but I think Top Cow doing this in the first place is insulting to retailers.  I hope other retailers let publishers know how they feel about this issue.  Also if any retailers in the midwest have unsold copies of BOTP #1 they should contact their Diamond rep about returning them.