Anonymous asked: I know predicting the future is hard, but in your informed opinion, is the current direct market model of comic distribution sustainable for the long term? As the recent ANAD leaks have shown, far too many comic retailers (but not all) are very poor business people. Isn't it inevitable that the likes of Disney/Warner Bros. will take up the opportunity digital offers to cut them out of the chain and go straight to consumers at some point?

brevoortformspring:

I don’t think so.

I don’t think you realize what an astonishing and special thing the Direct Market is. When Marvel was first bought by Disney, we had meetings with all sorts of other Disney departments and areas of business. And like clockwork, every time we would describe the Direct Market and how it works, their jaws would hit the floor. Because no other area has anything like it.

Publishing as a category is cratering in this country–magazines are on the ropes, book sales are down, newspapers are cratering–and yet the comic book industry just keeps on chugging along. Now, there may come a day when that is no longer true. But there may also come a day when an asteroid strikes the Earth wiping out the human race. So long as it’s working the best thing to do is everything that can reasonably be done to support it and help sustain and grow it.

This is *fascinating*

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