Diamond changes hit Seven Seas

For those who thought the Diamond changes were someone else’s problem, here’s some news: Adam Arnold of Seven Seas tells me that vol. 3 of Hayate X Blade and vol. 5 of Tetragrammaton Labyrinth didn’t make the new order minimums and weren’t listed in the March Previews. That means they will be hard to find in comics stores (although some will get them from other suppliers). However, Adam writes,

The books are still scheduled for release in May and fans will be able to find the books in bookstores and online.

Future volumes of Hayate X Blade and Tetragrammaton Labyrinth, as well as Venus Versus Virus and Inukami!, are also likely to be affected and will no longer be available through Diamond.

Shaenon Garrity looks at science fiction and yaoi manga in her latest column at comiXology.

News from Japan: Shogakukan is launching a new magazine, Monthly Shonen Sunday, on Wednesday.

Reviews

Connie on vol. 1 of Astral Project (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 10 of Basara (Slightly Biased Manga)
Chris Mautner on Black Jack (Panels and Pixels)
Connie on vol. 4 of B.O.D.Y. (Slightly Biased Manga)
Connie on vol. 8 of Elemental Gelade (Slightly Biased Manga)
Danielle Leigh on vol. 2 of Higurashi: When They Cry (Comics Should Be Good!)
Eva Volin on vol. 1 of Honey Hunt (ICv2)
Snow Wildsmith on vols. 1 and 2 of Magic Lover’s Tower (Manga Jouhou)
David Goodwin on vol. 2 of Me and the Devil Blues (Eastern Standard)
Tangognat on vol. 1 of Peace Maker Kurogane (Tangognat)
Connie on vol. 11 of Reborn (Slightly Biased Manga)

Did you enjoy this article? Consider supporting us.

Comments

  1. Seven Seas are still alive!! Wonders never cease.

    Have to admit i found “Monthly Shonen Sunday, on Wednesday”

    Shouldn’t it be called Monthly Shonen Wednesday :D

  2. I’m not at all surprised. Even for graphic novel-priced books, the minimums are very high. I think we’ll be seeing few and fewer manga available through Diamond, as the average manga fan honestly doesn’t get the whole ordering 3 months ahead of time thing. And with the explosion of manga at chain bookstores, and the disappearance of the “local comic store” most young manga fans never even considered going to a comic store to get a catalog they’ve never heard of to preorder something they think they ought to be able to find in the mall.

    The system is way beyond broken. I can tell you that a few folks, myself included, are seeking to fix it.

    Cheers,

    Erica

    ALC Publishing – “where the girl always gets the girl.”
    http://www.anilesbocon.org/shop/alcp.html

  3. You shouldn’t have linked to Garrity’s essay on Ouku…now I’m dying a little more inside by NOT HAVING OUKU IN MY HANDS NOW WHAT THE HELL ARGH.

  4. I go to a comic store somewhat frequently, but the fact that my comic store charges for the previews magazine means that these days theres no way at all I’m going to buy one just to place an order when I can use that money to buy books instead.
    On top of that, my LCS has a history of utterly failing at getting ahold of (my) orders, and is more expensive than ordering online anyway.

  5. Sidenote, your link to the Astral Project review actually links to the BODY review ;)
    I think this is the one you need: http://slightlybiasedmanga.com/2009/02/27/astral-project-1/

  6. Thanks, Ephidel! I was kind of distracted yesterday.

    Regarding comics stores, there are a few that go out of their way to do a good job with manga, like The Beguiling in Toronto and Comicopia here in Boston, and I hope they go the extra mile and get these books from another distributor, because the lower-selling manga are often hard to find in chain bookstores.

    In fact, this is the part of the Diamond minimums that seems backwards to me. You go to a specialty store to find the obscure items you can’t find in the big chains, but the new rules mean that your extra effort may be unsuccessful anyway.

Trackbacks

  1. […] Brigid Alverson reports that several Seven Seas manga titles didn’t reach Diamond’s ordering minimums, and will thus not be offered to Direct Market retailers. This is where I note missing the fact that a similar fate befell several Icarus Publishing titles last month. […]

  2. […] Brigid Alverson reports that two titles from manga publisher Seven Seas didn’t mean Diamond’s new order […]