Marc Bowker of Alter Ego Comics in Lima, Ohio comments on Dave Luebke's frustration with publishers not providing sufficient advance solicitation information (see "David Luebke of Dave's Comics on Advance Solicitation Copy").

 

The reason that publishers (primarily Marvel & DC) list items as "Classified" or "Top Secret" is because retailers are ordering out of an end consumer catalog.  A retailer-only Previews has been talked about for years, and would be a tremendous benefit to the industry, allowing retailers to be treated as partners and giving us the tools to do our jobs to the best of our abilities.

 

As an industry, we've shown that Day Early Delivery can work.  With a few exceptions, we've seen that asking retailers to hold product with a later on-sale date can happen.  We've shown that we can comply with what is asked of us.

 

I believe that it's time to open up a dialogue with Diamond, DC, Marvel and other publishers about making a retailer-only Previews happen.