Diamond Comic Distributors did not have to close its doors

When I first heard Diamond Comic Distributors, the sole distributor for comic books in North America closed its doors, I didn’t think they had a choice. I was wrong. Even though the state of Maryland ordered all nonessential businesses to close because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it turned out Diamond didn’t have to close. Because of Maryland’s loosey-goosey rules about what is considered an essential business and what is not, book distribution centers are totally considered essential. How do I know this? Because Penguin Random House has a book distribution center in Winchester, Maryland and they are operating as normal.

If Penguin Random House can stay open during the Covidvirus apocalypse, then so can Diamond Comic Distributors.

Diamond Comic Distributors is closed because founder, owner, and CEO Steve Geppi chose to shut everything down. Why would he do that?

Not only is Diamond Comic Distributors not accepting comics from publishers, but they’re also not paying for comics they’ve already shipped to stores. This is having a negative effect on comic publishers. Some are reportedly informing comic book creators to stop working on books. It has its own hashtag on Twitter, #PencilsDown.

I have no idea why Steve Geppi chose to do what he did. I assume he knows what he’s doing. I hope he knows what he’s doing.

From where I’m sitting, it looks like he brought about the death of the comic book industry. Maybe I’m wrong. I’m wrong a lot sometimes. I hope this is one of those times.

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