distribution delimnas

[rodney-selfhelpbikeco@juno.com]

>My friendly suggestion is that our friends in Gemstone should learn >from our
>friends in Egmont.

A fine idea, except you're not considering that (A) Gemstone does not do their own distribution.  Those books (and nearly all, if not *all* comic books in the USA) are distributed by Diamond.  To my knowledge, there are no other distribution houses that handle comic books in the USA.  Therefore, there's no real reason to improve their service, as they have no competition in the distribution game.  And (B) the idea of finding Disney comics in every local supermarket and on every newsstand is wonderful, except, most people simply don't read comic books, let alone Disney comic books in this country.  In a country with over 290,000,000 citizens, Gladstone was selling 6,000-7,000 copies of WDCS and US during their last print run.  You can debate the reasons for that from now until doomsday, but the ultimate reality is that gaining new (especially young) readers in the USA is an uphill battle, and it's going to be tough to convince the local supermarket that they ought to carry you
 r books.  That's simply the way it is.