[johnraygun]

Ralph DiBernardo, publisher of Johnny Raygun here..
There won't be a Free Comic Book Day offering from Jetpack
Press this year. I can't get a straight answer from anyone at Diamond but
the bottom line is that we were not invited to participate.

For whatever reason, we did not meet the criteria for it, even though we
sold about 15,000 copies 2 years ago and 20,000 last year.

Between that and Diamonds new policy for small press it makes it hard to
imagine this industry ever moving forward again.

Best wishes and enjoy your time away,
Ralph DiBernardo

[revtomfury]

i weep for the kid for the was in for a real treat

[Al Nickerson]

This totally sucks pipe. Diamond is becoming a major problem for small publishers. Sadly, they're also the only real distributor around.

I e-mailed a bunch of folks in the comic book press about this. I would suggest that the Johnny staff do the same thing. Getting the word out when someone in comics does something stupid is a great way to make sure that it doesn’t happen again. Put pressure on Diamond. Some bad press might make them see the light.

[Matt Robot]

Yes, and it will also ensure that they never distribute any Jetpack Press products again!

[Al Nickerson]

Matt Robot, on Jan 17 2006, 09:59 AM, said:

Yes, and it will also ensure that they never distribute any Jetpack Press products again!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

WHAT!?! Really? Is that happening, too???

[Al Nickerson]

I contacted a few of my comic book pals about all this. Colleen Doran made a mention at her blog. She's also asking for more details.

Spread the word!

[Matt Robot]

Al Nickerson, on Jan 17 2006, 10:52 AM, said:

WHAT!?! Really? Is that happening, too???

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No, it's not happening now, I just mean that us railing out against Diamond probably isn't going to help our standings with them.

I mean, Diamond's been really good to us, especially considering that Johnny sells like crap and they certainly don't have to carry it. And really, we don't know WHY this FCBD stuff is going on. I don't even know if other books haven't been invited.

I dunno, I'd just rather not drag Diamond's name around in the mud, especially when we don't know exactly what's going on. Diamond's been nothing but great with us for the three years they've been distributing our stuff.

[WhtstrCaptain]

Yeah, I can see your logic there. Especially since they are really the only game in town, as frustrating as it is, you do need to maintain a professional relationship with them.

It does suck that there won't be any free Johnny for me to push on folks at the store. And now what am I going to get when I take Nathaniel in for his free comic? Man!

-Chris

[Al Nickerson]

Heidi MacDonald's The Beat mentions the Diamond situation. Heidi also says that Jennie Breeden's DEVIL'S PANTIES is affected by Diamond's policy.

Hopefully, things will work out fine for JOHNNY and Diamond. I love Free Comic Book Day, and a FCBD without JOHNNY RAYGUN would be quite sad.

[Mike Storniolo]

That's beat. Just hearing stuff like this, on top of all the other Diamond stuff from before just makes me more and more inclined to have the "industry" go to hell, keep on self publishing and doing my own thing.

I just don't understand the whole "Invite Only" thing. I mean, how much money would Diamond really lose for shipping out the extra books? And not even that, because there has been a decent amount of not so great books on FCBD, but Raygun's one of the top quality ones, and a high mover at FCBD at that.

If there's anything you guys need from SBC (www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com) drop me a line and I'll take care of it for you.

[bnolan]

So, the Pulse now has a follow-up about this. Seems like a little bit of miscommunication... still very unfortunate.

- Bill

[Al Nickerson]

Link to the Pulse.

[Jay Smooth]

I let a small distributor put Hero Corps in their catalog. They ordered a few copies I sent them and never got paid. I've emailed the a couple of times but they seem to be gone. I think they were called FM. It only cost be 12 bucks and 6 copies of my book though.

People should HAVE to pay for something as great as JR anyway. By that I mean every man woman and child in the free world should be forced to buy and read it at gunpoint and if they don't....

[Matt Robot]

It's all cool. We had a good discussion with Diamond and all is well.

[Al Nickerson]

So, what's the final verdict? Will we be seeing a JOHNNY Free Comic Book Day comic?