Talk the Talk, Walk the Walk is a weekly column by Kendall Swafford of Up Up Away! in Cincinnati, Ohio.  This week, Kendall looks at Day Early Delivery and the Death of the Code.

Well, here we are, approaching our third week of day-early delivery.  I have to admit, it’s all gone incredibly smoothly, with only one missing title in two weeks.  I’ll join the choir in thanking Diamond, not for making it happen in the first place, but for making it all go so smoothly.

The fact is, this should have happened years ago.  I remember back in the day, new comics arrived on Monday.  The store I worked for was located five minutes from the airport, and so we made the decision to spend the money to have the books air freighted to us (thanks, Capital City!), and we suddenly had new comics every Friday, which was huge at the time.  There was no one saying "no, you can’t do that."  Thanks to this novel idea called competition (look it up!) between distributors, Capital City would do whatever it took to give its customers a competitive edge, and boy, did it work!

There was nothing stopping every other store in town from doing the same thing, though none of them ever did.  Yes, our proximity to the airport made it easier, but certainly no cheaper.  Much like we do with UPS now, we went to the terminal and picked up our shipment, fresh off the plane, and we were free to sell them as we saw fit.

Somewhere, somewhen, Diamond’s control of the comic book universe meant that, either deliberately or inadvertently, a street date was implied.  Wednesday (or Thursday, or...) simply BECAME new comic book day, and no amount of gumption on the part of the retailer could give him a competitive advantage.  Larger, multi-store retailers have had the option for several years now of receiving on Tuesday a consolidated shipment for all their stores.  But they were not allowed to sell them before Wednesday.

I’m not complaining about street dates, I think they’re a good thing for the industry.  I just wanted to point out what a different world it is we’re now living in.  Back then, the notion of a street date just didn’t exist.  Unfortunately, there are still WAY too many short-sighted retailers that are happy to break the street date, simply because they can.  The mystery shopper program is a terrific way to police things, and I had my first visit from a mystery shopper this past Tuesday.  This one was a little harder to spot, as he appeared to be one of us (you know, middle-aged white guy), he clumsily asked for the latest issue of "League of Something...," and left immediately after I told him, "It’s on sale tomorrow.  Would you like to reserve a copy?"

I think Diamond did a tremendous job of executing a massive change in how they function on a weekly basis.  From where I sit, they couldn’t have managed the change any better, and they deserve our gratitude.  Let’s not forget to thank DC, Marvel and every other publisher that had to make adjustments to their way of life, in ways both big and small.  It was a herculean effort on the part of a great number of people, so 'thank you' to all of them, as well.  I simply wish it could have come about much sooner.

Watching the business of selling comic books evolve is like watching the evolution of man; it’s taking FOREVER.  I present as further evidence, the death of the Comics Code Authority.  Which I suppose is the final nail in the coffin of McCarthyism? [An interesting (to me) sidenote; the infamous senate sub-committee hearings on juvenile delinquency that led to the formation of The CCA were based in part on work done by an organization known as the Cincinnati Committee on the Evaluation of Comic Books, which begun their little witch hunt way back in 1948!  Ah, Cincinnati.  You’ve given us so much.  Oppression, that is...]

I think every single one of us would agree that the Comics Code Authority outlived any usefulness it may have had decades ago.  Its elimination by both DC and Archie in the same week of 2011 further underlines how glacially slow change can occur in this business.  Having said that, DC is long overdue for a ratings system of some kind.  At my store, we have a separate section for the ten-and-under crowd, and we’ll direct parents with young children to appropriate material, but recently I had a father and son visit, and choose a few comics from our Batman section, located elsewhere in the store.  Most of his selections were fine, except for an issue of All Star Batman & Robin the Boy Wonder.  While he was pleased that I pointed out its inappropriate content for a ten-year-old, it also came as a bit of a surprise to him that there where Batman comics that weren't appropriate for a ten-year-old.  A decades-old problem, I know.  But some simple guidelines in the form of a ratings system would help the less-informed parent (or employee).  And while no one really ever notices Marvel’s ratings system, it’s there when we need it.

Rest in peace, Comics Code Authority.  Good riddance to bad rubbish!

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.