Posted in : cartoon strip , Comics Publishers , Current News| Tagged : chuck rozanski , diamond
When Chuck Rozanski of Mile High Comics met with the Department Of Justice about Diamond Comic Distributors get a monopoly
Article Summary
While we proceed to dive into the paperwork around theChapter 11 failure of Diamond Comic Distributors , Mile High ComicsbossChuck Rozanskirecalls the prison term when Diamond was investigate of being a monopoly by the US government . And revealing his previously unknown involvement in that probe . He writes on societal media ;
" Despite my long - abide friendship withSteve Geppi , I viewed his ascension to monopoly force as a potential menace to my own business , so I arranged to conform to with the investigators at the United States Department of Justice who had already opened a Indian file on Diamond ’s possible monopolistic activeness . I met in their Washington , DC headquarters with the head of the Federal Anti - Trust Division ( and her associates ) , and we had a forthright two - 60 minutes discussion of the branching of Geppi ’s new monopoly upon both risible book retailers , and ( more broadly ) upon mirthful book readers . At the end of those discussions , I was asked to right away report any crying harm that Geppi ’s new monopoly was causing . This never became necessary , as I drove immediately after my coming together with DOJ to Timonium , Maryland to meet with Steve Geppi . I want to let him know personally that I had been tasked by DOJ to keep a wary eye on Diamond ’s future actions . He assured me that no impairment would ever occur , and for the most part , he was correct . Or , at the very least , Diamond ’s monopoly at last make a cracking many positive result for comics publishers and retail merchant , which for a long time helped to offset the negative . "
At the time , Diamond Comic Distributors alone distributed Marvel , DC , Image , Dark Horse , IDW , Acclaim and more . In 1997 , this saw Diamond become the subject of an investigation by the U.S. Justice Department for potential antimonopoly infringement , and the Justice Department launched an antimonopoly investigation into the comics industry and the say monopoly of Diamond Comics . The investigation was closed in 2000 , with no further action mechanism deemed necessary as , although Diamond enjoyed a monopoly in the North American funny book direct market distribution , they did not enjoy a monopoly on script distribution . Chuck continue ;
" Further striking by me with those anti - trust investigators never became necessary , as Steve really did a remarkably right job of keeping his ambition in check after his ascending to full control of distribution in the comical book world . Truth be told , he really did reign as quite a kindly despot , with Diamond becoming the " lender of last resort " that provided darn near unlimited recognition to comics retailers ( and also some smaller publishing house ) that they view as of critical grandness . I was a unmediated beneficiary of this financial support on several occasions , with Steve intervening in person with his reference section to keep Mile High Comics in business organisation during some of our very dark-skinned 60 minutes . Without the slightest smidge of doubt , Mile High Comics would not survive today without Steve Geppi having helped us in the removed yesteryear . "
Who watched the watchmen ? twist out Chuck Rozanski did . But he did see certain problems come .
" That having been allege , the economics of the young comic rule book business became more difficult beginning about twenty long time ago , with rising cover price greatly increasing the risk ( and negative moment ) of unsold copy . We also began to stand under a plethora of unexampled costs and fees from Diamond , including the infliction of very in high spirits freightage charges , and a gut - wrick 18 % yearly pastime pace ( compounded weekly ) on all backdebt . Those hugely in high spirits toll impose by Diamond were ( regrettably ) among the ingredient that darn near break us . I responded to these novel hazard and truly debilitate operating monetary value by gradually ( over a distich of more than a decade ) reducing our sale of newfangled comedian by a staggering 90 % . This backing away tardily from my dependance upon my five million dollar mark a year in novel comics taxation ( and thus , my entanglements with Diamond Distributing ) saved my company , as we were eventually able to entirely pay off all of our backdebt with Diamond , while replacing much of our voluntarily - relinquished raw comics sales event volume with secondary mart / collectibles revenues that prove to be vastly less risky . I was still buy some comics and comic record book supplies through Diamond as late as last week , but only at a petite fraction of our intensity of twenty geezerhood ago . "
He concluded by saying ,
" Diamond Comic Distributors was by no means a perfect ( or overtly eleemosynary ) corporation , but the verity is that under Steve Geppi ’s guidance , a second Golden Age of strip publishing was nurtured and encourage to fly high . Whether you cheer the news of Diamond ’s demise , or moult a tear , please do understand that I personally very much doubt that our wonderful world of comical books will ever again be so blessed as we were during the decades when Steve Geppi ascertain so much of our collective destinies . That is why I honour him today , and thank him for all that he accomplished for us . All of us who love cartoon strip and consecutive story - tattle been truly blessed to have had Steve Geppi take on such a critical role in our living . "
There ’s a lot more current issues to dig into , but having a linear perspective on what came before is a very worthful thing .
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