ComicsPRO Board Responds to Allocations

For Immediate Release

January 6, 2006

Contact: Joe Field

Joe@FlyingColorsComics.com

An Open Letter from the Board of Directors of ComicsPRO

Due to weather conditions the last two weeks, Direct Market retailers serviced from Diamond's Los Angeles warehouse have been severely allocated on high profile books (a 30% allocation on JUSTICE #9 and a13% allocation on CIVIL WAR #6 are the biggest recent examples). Retailers serviced by Diamond's other distribution facilities in Plattsburgh, NY and Memphis, TN have also experienced some allocations and title shortages.

While retailers understand and sympathize with the unpredictable nature of truck breakdowns, weather-related delays and "Acts of God", we strongly urge that better policies be implemented to handle these unfortunate circumstances, both on the distribution level and the communication level.

The ComicsPRO Board of Directors urges the following. In circumstances of allocated shipments of under 60% (sixty percent), when the expected release of the balance of the order is the next week, ALL ORDERS should be held until then, so that all product is distributed equally within the Direct Market.

Further, the Board recommends that in all circumstances when one warehouse fails to receive a product the other warehouses are able to distribute, then all nationwide direct-shipped reorders should be frozen to prevent any retailer from circumventing the system in an attempt to gain an unfair competitive advantage over other retailers.

Finally, the Board recommends the national shipping lists provided byDiamond should be updated and annotated with regional differences in product availability to help stem the considerable consumer confusion this generates. Releases to consumer-oriented comic book news sites arealso called for in these cases.

The ComicsPRO board believes these should be official policies, and not case-by-case determinations made without retailer input. The ComicsPROBoard also offers to consult with Diamond in regards to these policies.

ComicsPRO information and membership applications can be found at http://ComicsPRO.org

ComicsPRO is open to all storefront retailers willing to invest their money, time, skills, and industry experience. The goals of the organization are to:

• Promote the progress and development of comic book retailers
• Help develop better marketing and daily business practices for comic book retailers
• Improve the condition of the comic book industry by educating the general public
• Provide a voice of advocacy for independent comic book retailers.