Date: Mon, 20 Feb 1995 13:06:29 -0500 From: [g--l--n] at [falcon.bgsu.edu] (Metroplex) Subject: FTP 523 ==== FIT TO PRINT by cathrine yronwode for the week of February 20, 1995 THIS IS FIT TO PRINT NUMBER 523: I don't think i have been so frustrated in years-here i am sitting on some amazing industry news stories, but the realities of the printing schedule at CBG mean that even if i write 'em up, chances are they will no longer be hot be the time you read them. Well, what the heck. Let's give it a try, anyway. THE MARVEL PARTY: Due to the mass firings at Marvel, their corporate party this year was a little on the odd side. Rumour has it that one of the people laid off was responsible for sending out the invitations and this individual decided to get a littlexcreative with the invites. Rumour aside, the fact is that instead of the 400 people expected, there were about 1,000 guests present, including, i am told, Fabulous Flo Steinberg, who hasn't been invited to a Marvel party since half of this paper's readers were in diapers. (The half who were not in diapers will fondly recall Flo as Stan Lee's "Girl Friday." Boy, was that a long time ago!) But there is more that this party memorable. It seems that the disgruntled husband of a newly unemployed worker in the sales department took personal umbrage at the way his wife had been treated by a company she had served faithfully for many years, so he walked on over to her former chief and popped him one in the snoot. This was no minor snoot popping, either; the aggressor had to be hauled off and restrained from inflicting the kind of all out mayhem that super hero fans pay good money to see. The victim's face looked about like Frank Miller's Daredevil did the first time he tangled with Bullseye, but he's healing nicely. A dozen witnesses saw the incident, but no one knows if charges were filed. THE IADD MEETING: Hard on the heels of that excitement came the annual meeting of the International Association of Direct Distributors. These IADD meetings are traditionally a low key business get together where publishers make presentations about forthcoming products. Speaking as someone who has been to my share of IADD meetings, they are, frankly, ho-hum affairs for those of us who care more about content than market share. Not this year, though. By all accounts, the mood ranged from manic to panic, due to Marvel's recent acquisition of Heroes' World Distribution and the solid news that, yes indeed, as reported here, one of the two BIG distribution com-panies is for sale and is entertaining offers from buyers. In short, folks were waiting for the other shoe to drop. Would DC counter Marvel's take-over of HWD with their own take-over of a big outfit? Would stodgy Warner execs let them? Or would Marvel, having eaten the small fish, now attempt to swallow the big one as well? If Marvel bought nearly half the the direct distribution system, who would be allowed to distribute Marvel product? Would Marvel go exclusive with its own distribution system? Would the remaining large publishers pick the other big distribution company and go exclusive with it? Where would that leave the dozen or so smaller distributors? Where would that leave the retailers? Thus did the thoughts of participants run at the IADD meeting. Nervous stomachs were not soothed by the form that DC's presentation took. Instead of rolling out a new product line or hyping his current titles, Bob Wayne simply introduced himself, his new assistant, and a DC corporate lawyer and told people he would talk to them privately. In the halls. End of presentation. A lawyer? What the @%$#&??? DC's presentation did not calm the milling masses, i can tell you. Visions of antitrust suits danced in the heads of the litigious, while the naive asked,"What the heck has happened to the hobby?" Well, i've got news for you, Bunkie -- "the hobby" we all know and love has just entered The Danger Room. Look out! Next: A Voice Crying in the Wilderness! ==== Fit to Print appears in print each week in Comics Buyers Guide and is available via e-mail. Tell your friends! To subscribe to Fit to Print via e-mail send a request with the words "Subscribe FtP" in the subject header and your address in the body of the message to [g--l--n] at [bgnet.bgsu.edu.] You will be added to the list and receive the next available issue. Backissues are available. FTP to cerebus.acusd.edu and look in the Comics/About Comics/Comics News/Fit to Print directory. Responses are welcome and should be directed to [g--l--n] at [bgnet.bgsu.edu.] Fit to Print is Copyright 1994 Cathrine Yronwode. All rights reserved.