Talk the Talk, Walk the Walk is a new weekly column by Kendall Swafford of Up Up Away! in Cincinnati, Ohio.  This week, Kendall looks at the question of comic street dates.

While we’ve been apart, news broke of the possibility that maybe Diamond is kinda sorta thinking about maybe moving new comics release day to Tuesday.  I guess this in and of itself isn’t news.  I think the real interesting thing to me is that this news was/is reported by such consumer-centric sights as Newsarama and ComicBookResources.com.  I find this unfortunate, because this is not a conversation that should be had in a public forum.  The Diamond Retailer Summit is for retailers.  The business of selling comic books sometimes has to be discussed amongst a large group, as it should be.  The machinations that go into a decision like this don’t need to be exposed to public scrutiny.  It’s not that these things should be clandestine, it’s just a shame that Diamond can’t have a thought, or an idea, or a discussion with retailers without it being made public knowledge.  Once a decision is made, that’s something different.  Does that make sense?

Beyond all that, I’m still undecided on whether the change to Tuesday is a good one or not.  Some would argue that we have a better shot at discretionary entertainment dollars on Tuesday, since they’re already out buying DVDs and video games (Does anyone still buy physical CDs?).  On the other hand, some would argue that “buying fatigue” sets in on Tuesday, as one thinks about the amount of money they’ve spent that day, and we’d inevitably wind up with the short end of the buying stick.  Joe Field of Flying Colors Comics is right in that a Monday delivery for Tuesday on-sale date would be much harder to maintain consistently with so many US & Canadian Monday holidays, and I’d rather have it arrive consistently fifty-two weeks a year.

For me, the on-sale date is far less important than receiving the products the day before the on-sale date, week in and week out.  Seriously, this industry needs to grow up.  I cannot think of another industry that receives the sheer number of new items we do, every seven days!  As many as 200 new-to-the-system SKUs, and we have mere hours to get it done.  And why?  Because we can’t be trusted.  Because we can’t be responsible enough to put the products out for sale on the on-sale date.  And why is that?  Because we as an industry need to grow up.

Just last month Diamond and DC confirmed the “Green Christmas” experiment (Blackest Night #6) was a resounding success, with only one retailer known to have broken the street date of December 30th.  I don’t recall the exact number of participating retailers, only that they numbered in the hundreds, and only one guy screwed it up.  Can’t we just kick that guy outta the club!?  “Sorry dude, you’re too stupid and short-sighted to hang out here with us.  Go back to the flea market you crawled out of.”  Time to grow up or get out.

Now, the data is obviously skewed, as it was a voluntary experiment, and the overwhelming majority of retailers clearly opted in with the intention of honoring DC’s street date, and virtually everyone did.  But it’s really not asking too much for 100% compliance, 100% of the time.  And I know I’m preaching to the converted; if you’re reading this, you’re already (or should be) on board.  Paying a small fee to help fund a “secret shopper” program seems easy enough to implement, and maybe it could be discontinued in a couple of years if compliance remains consistently high.

Receiving inventory prior to it’s on-sale date is the norm in every other industry that sells products at retail.  I for one am really tired of this industry riding the short bus to school.  Why do we have to settle for less? Because we can’t be trusted.  I think collectively we can, and we can weed out the ones who can’t.  It starts by holding ourselves to a higher standard, and then holding each other to a higher standard.  It starts at your front door, and for many of us, it’s about time.  This has to happen, and soon.  I don’t know about all of you, but come new comic book day, I’d like to sweat a little less, and have time to sell a little more.

Tune in next week, and we’ll talk about Free Comic Book Day 2010!

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