The problem I see with Brian's analysis of kid's comics distribution is that it only takes into account the Direct Market.  As it has been pointed out by smarter retailers than I, the Archie line of digests sells in numbers that would make any other 'small' publisher weep, through the Newsstand Market.

I know that from our stand, we had never done very well with kids comics until we started ordering them from Direct and Newsstand channels.  Kids comics have always moved slowly for us, but they don't expire like, say, the newest issue of Black Panther giving us a larger window to sell them and less risk further down the line.  Having a returnable source with which to help us grow this line has made all the difference.