Direct Market comic book retailers polled by Newsarama are stunned by the sudden move by DC to sever ties with Diamond Comics Distributors, the company who distributes the vast majority of comic books to stores.

"As most retailers, I’m not going to cut off my nose to spite my face, I’ll order for my regulars, the minimum for racks, but [I’m] not putting any significant resources in their future projects.".

"The timing of this is terrible and shows a blatant disregard for concerns of comics sellers," said Benn Ray of Atomic Books in Baltimore.

"I just don’t have a respectful comment," said Bret Parks, owner of three Ssalefish Comics locations in Winston Salem, Greensboro, and Concord, N.C.

"They are handling this about as well as Captain Hook being a proctologist," said Ryan Seymore of Comic Town in Columbus, Ohio.

"Without the DC purchases through Diamond, my discount will be less, making my business no longer profitable or viable," said Charlie Harris of Charlie’s Comic Books in Tucson, Arizona. .

"I don't believe that it will be profitable or practical for most retailers to order low return-on-investment periodicals from a second distribution source," Hibbs wrote on Facebook?

"The extra shipping and handling involved is going to melt profit, while the endless extra hours trying to enter and massage data into point-of-sale systems that were not designed to quickly process mass data dumps from anyone other than Diamond is going to be nothing but waste for thousands of individual store fronts — when what they need from their suppliers is nothing but disheartening."?

"I am also being offered substantially worse payment terms from these new 'distributors,' (they are not, really, distributors; they are jumped-up retailers, and the direct competition for periodical comics for every independent comic store owner. They are Midtown and DCBS.), so my cash flow will be curtailed, just when I need cash flow the most," Hibbs explained. .

Not only was there barely any notice given to retailers — with some expecting to have delays on DC's comics in their store — but retailers we spoke to question if distributors can afford to continue operating long-term with the market split into different companies.

"My initial reactions were shock and disappointment, "Seymore said.

As of this moment that I am writing, Diamond still had DC comics listed on their Final Order Cutoff due on Monday, which leads me to believe that they are completely blindsided by this.

"Having to buy books from companies that already had been selling books to guests for nearly half off is not something that sits well with me at all.

"My disappointment boils down to … instead of enhancing and giving distribution options, we are forced to work with companies that have been distributing books to shops for less than two months," Seymore continued.

Some retailers said the move also feels like DC has given up on the direct market retail system, perhaps banking instead on digital readers and books by mail — which retailers said would be a mistake. .

"But it's going to require retailers to spend time unknotting a bunch of orders to make sure the transition is smooth, so readers don't miss any titles and retailers don't accidentally end up with like 100 copies of Metal Men (or any, really)."

"This creates unnecessary stress for retailers at a time when many are struggling just to survive," Ray said

How about, instead of creating chaos, DC Comics actually did something for the retailers who have been selling their books