As a Silver Age superhero comic book reader, not a collector, I was so thrilled to have taken a tour of the Midwest's biggest comic book distributors, Capital City Distributors (Capital Comics). The company loved superheroes, and even published their own comics for awhile, like Nexus, Badger, and Whisper.
Below my video tour is a Wiki short summary of how 200 people lost their jobs when Marvel decided to distribute their own comics.
1995 saw a major restructuring of the direct market distribution system, caused by Marvel Comics's late-1994 purchase of third-ranked distributor Heroes World Distribution and decision to distribute its titles in-house.[7][8] Faced with the loss of one-third of its business (Marvel's market share) Diamond reacted by outbidding Capital City for exclusive deals with Marvel's main rival DC Comics; and despite intense efforts on the part of Davis and Griepp,[9] Dark Horse Comics and Image Comics as well.
Capital City reacted by suing Marvel for the loss of their business, resulting in a settlement allowing them to continue distributing Marvel product until October 1995[10] (for everyone else, Marvel went exclusive with Heroes World starting in July).[11] In addition, Capital City was able to sign exclusive deals with Kitchen Sink Press, TSR, and Viz Comics—as well as acquiring the Gary, Indiana-based distributor Friendly Frank's.[12] Nonetheless, by 1996 Capital faced the choice between bankruptcy and selling out.
In July 1996 Capital City was acquired by Diamond. At the time of sale, Capital had over $150 million in annual sales.[2] The purchase price was not disclosed, but the acquisition brought an estimated $50 million in sales revenue to Diamond,[13] and effectively awarded Diamond complete control of the comics distribution system.[7] Most of Capital City's 100 employees in Madison and another 100 in Sparta lost their jobs in the deal,[14] though a few key staff members, including co-founder John Davis, joined Diamond's staff.[15]
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