since 1997

Previews is a catalog published monthly by Diamond Comic Distributors, the largest distributor of comic books to speciality shops in North America. It can be purchased at most comics shops, who will usually let customers order particular items in it (sometimes requiring a deposit or pre-payment). Since no comics shop can afford to stock every item in the catalog, this helps customers get the products they really want.

But that 400+ page catalog can be a bit intimidating to wade through, and frankly, most of the stuff in it is... not very good. This set of pages (updated monthly) is an attempt to help sort through it and to pick out some of the real gems hidden in the "diamond" pile. But keep in mind that my tastes probably won't match perfectly with yours, and I only point out new series (not the latest issue of ongoing series, no matter how good they are), so you really need to peruse the catalog a bit yourself.

In the interest of fairness and healthier competition, I also want to direct retailers' attention to two other distributors serving the speciality shop market: Cold Cut and FM International. Due to some publishers' exclusive deals with Diamond, these folks don't carry a full line of books, but they offer services and terms (like easy reorders of back issues), and even many books that Diamond doesn't. Check them out to see if they might be helpful in better serving your customers.

On the other side of the coin, for publishers not carried by Diamond, if you have a new product coming out, let me know about it, and I'll consider mentioning it. Note: At this time I'm not listing online media unless it's in conjunction with material published and distributed in a physical format (such as paper).