In a recent article on a Marvel press conference (see 'Marvel's Jemas to Retailers:  'Don't Worry About What I Say, Worry About What I Do'') we mis-identified Charles Brownstein, author of numerous articles about Book Expo America that appeared on the Comicon Splash page, as an employee of the LPC Group, a book distributor that represents a number of graphic novel publishers to the book trade, and Marvel's former book distributor (see 'Diamond Moves into Bookstore Distribution'). Brownstein was actually attending the show as a consultant for Image Comics and working the LPC booth (wearing an LPC badge -- the source of our confusion) on their behalf.  We corrected the error as soon as it was pointed out to us.  We also heard from Robert Boyd of LPC on the topic, and while the error was fixed by the time Mr. Boyd read the article (see below),  we are publishing Boyd's e-mail, which in addition to clarifying the situation gives some insight into the progress Marvel is making with its trade book program. 

'I think the article you wrote about Bill Jemas' press conference was very good and didn't contain any errors that I saw, but I did want to emphasize that Charles Brownstein is not and has never been an LPC employee.  I think that your article was quite clear about that, and yet some people apparently came away with that impression.  Brownstein's opinions are his own and in no way reflect the beliefs of the LPC group.

'LPC Group was sorry to lose Marvel, because as Bill Jemas stated, their business doubled for us between similar periods in 2000 and 2001.  We hate to let that go, of course!  Marvel's trade program has made a big turnaround since Jemas came on board.  The turnaround is still in progress, because you can't change a big trade program on a dime.  It takes time.  But Marvel has been very aggressive in reprinting backlist as well as speeding the production of frontlist.  And in other ways their trade program has improved, including better trade dress (look at the redesigned Essentials series, for example).  And there's no doubt that the talent revamp that is ongoing has resulted and will continue to result in better books.  I saw Marvel's Matt Ragone at BEA, where he was meeting with key buyers, and I personally have no doubt that Marvel's trade program will continue to grow if they carry on the publishing policies that they've put into place in the last few months.  This is a statement from a soon-to-be competitor, so I hope it carries some weight.

Robert Boyd