Keith Colvin of Keith's Comics in Dallas, Texas has been following the current Talk Back discussions regarding a Tuesday release day for the Direct Market and shares his thoughts.

I would like to throw some thoughts in about some recent Talk Back articles.  I am very pro Wednesday release.  I get that there’s some frustration when a special event comes along like Scott Pilgrim Vol. 6 where we are essentially "kicked under the bus" by a long time trading partner.  It’s not the first time and I'm under no illusions that it will be the last.

Let me sum up my feelings on Tuesday release.  Moving our business model to "match" other media release dates is short sighted.  Tuesday is in the other media's best interest because of shipping and handling of the product.  If there’s another strategic reason for Tuesday release, I would love to hear it.  Is it because people have more money on Tuesdays?  Is Tuesdays so devoid of any other entertainment that it is the de facto day of release?  Really, the only reason is shipping and handling... right now.

If we decide to move to Tuesday to "match" we will then have ceded our specialness to every Big Box player.  Additionally, I guarantee you, if they decide it is in their best interest to move their releases to Monday or Friday even, we are then back in the same boat and we have to listen to a chorus of, "lets move comic release to match!"  (Heck, Kung Fu Panda was released on a weekend!  If that experiment was wildly successful I guess we would be arguing about Saturday release!).  There will always be partners who will experiment or "award" their product to different channels.  Pillory me if you want and call me selfish, but by definition once you "share" your release date you don't own it anymore.

"Matching" isn't a reason to give up one of our competitive advantages (New Comic Wednesday).  I know, I know some of you don't agree Wednesday is a competitive advantage, but I do.  We've spent two decades making Wednesday special, creating community, and building business models.  Literally millions know "new comic day is Wednesday" via Big Bang Theory.  There are ads in Previews about the virtues of Wednesday.  Heck yeah, its our day!  And while we organically and perhaps accidentally settled on Wednesday over time, we own it now and that's a marketer's dream.  It's in the Direct Market’s best interest to have a special day.  I am open to the idea that it might be doable on Tuesday also... but I'm a long way from convinced.  But specifically, in this case, Oni Press made a decision to release its product through the mass-market system primarily.  There's a bigger question here that I think talking about Tuesday release doesn't cover.  Why did Oni choose Tuesday mass-market release?

When I looked in my recent shipment of Scott Pilgrim Vol. 1 I noticed it was a 13th printing.  I wondered how many Scott Pilgrims were sold through the mass-market prior to say, um, six months ago.  Luckily, the numbers are available via Brian Hibbs BookScan analysis for 2009.  The newest volume, number 5, shipped Feb 4, 2009 sold 8321 copies in 2009.  That's barely over one per location for most of an entire year!  For the full 2009: Vol. 1 -- 8091; Vol. 2 -- 6042; Vol. 3 -- 5465; and Vol. 4 -- 4889.

So the mass market essential sold 1 of each volume of the five available Scott Pilgrims in 2009 in the 7400 reporting venues... and yet they get the release date.

So if the mass market had sold mountains of previous Scott Pilgrims that could be why Oni decided to make its street date on a Tuesday.  In which case we need to understand that we were playing in the mass markets playground on this book.  One per selling venue seems anemic to me though.  So the question still stands... Why did Oni choose Tuesday mass-market release?  Why didn't our long time partner Oni think it important enough to preserve "New Comic Wednesday?"

It looks like, and I hope I'm wrong, that Direct Market stood behind Scott Pilgrim, pushed it, re-ordered it and championed it for six years and the publisher took it out of our hands and gave it to the mass market and I wonder why?

And additionally did Oni make mass-market Tuesday retailers take four copies of Lost at Sea as a condition of selling on Tuesday?  If not, why not?  Also, did Oni make the mass-market retailers buy into 20 copies to sell on Tuesday?  Again, if not, why not?

This is starting to look like the publisher decided that, even though the Direct Market had supported him six years and carries his other stuff, Tuesday release was in his best interest.  Therefore through his decision, tens of thousand of Scott Pilgrim fans think a bookstore is the best place to get comics.

Our problem therefore lies in our long time partners not supporting us, not believing in us, indifference, disrespect or unhappy with past performance; not "Tuesday release" per se.  I get that they want to sell as many as possible.  We all want it to be mega-popular, even on the New York Times bestseller list.  We get that it will be sold at every mass marketer.  I just haven't been told why the Direct Market was demoted.

Oni chose a Tuesday release date to make the mass market happy then put restrictions on the Direct Market if it wanted to play.  In Texas we have a sayin', "Dance with the one that brought ya."  Unless somehow it was out of Oni's hands to support/reward the Direct Market by honoring its release day.  Did they forget comic shops sell on Wednesday?  Were they enamored by having Scott Pilgrim end caps in mass-market stores?

People and businesses make decisions in their best interest all the time.  Some are to our benefit but some are not. Sometimes a party makes a short-term decision that is counter to its long-term strategy.  Sometimes a company makes a short time decision because it is unhappy with its current situation.

My thoughts are we need to determine which if any of these scenarios describe the Scott Pilgrim scenario not whether we should "match" Tuesday delivery.  So the end question is this: Is the direct market important to comic publishers or not?  Oni has let us know where they stand.

And finally, my last thought may potentially be hurtful but it must be said.  While I think Oni tying Lost at Sea to Scott Pilgrim and mandating a 20 copy buy-in shows poor judgment and a disrespect to the Direct Market, those were the rules.  The 4 copies of Lost at Sea you had to buy to participate ended up billing at 75% off or $11.95 total.  If your threshold to bail on the current zeitgeist is twelve bucks then the number of copies you expected to move is not worth getting worked up over.  Your total buy in to be part of the opening day was around $150.00.  Just sayin'...

The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.