Diamond Retailer Summit Wrap Up

The Diamond Retailer Summit has wrapped up in Baltimore Maryland. What an incredible day. This is set up like any other conference with breakout session, giveaways, and lots of information coming at you from many different directions. It was a blast. We tried to post as much information as we could while it was happening but there was so much info coming at you that you could really miss if you turned for a second.
The sessions being more geared towards retailers with shops were informative but didn’t interest me much.
What was the highlight was the publisher exhibitions and all the freebies they were giving away. At 3 Pm the doors opened up and that is where the fun began.
One of the coolest things was Jim Lee was at the DC table with tons of DC toys behind him. I stepped up to take a picture with him and Scott Snyder.

The toys can be seen on display behind me. I asked Jim what they were doing with them and he asked me if I wanted one. Of course was my answer, so I walked home with this:

Scott Snyder, as stated, was there with Jeff Lemire, signing copies of their new book AD After Death.


Aftershock was a big draw and they were handing out Retailer Summit Exclusives of Animosity #1 and Black Eyed Kids #1

Eric Powell was on hand giving out and signing copies of the Retailer Summit Variant of Hillbilly #1


Kevin Eastman was also on hand signing and sketching on Teen Age Mutant Ninja Turtle books.

There were also Retailer Summit Variants of Action Labs new upcoming series Doll Face.

Zenescope was giving out an awesome variant for the show as well. (In much needed bags for carrying all the swag around plus water.)

Archie had a Retailer Summit variant as well.

As did Valiant :

Finally, after dinner and more presentations retailers were treated to Summit Exclusive books. The line was incredibly long and several arguments occurred among retailers.

All in all a very good day.
Thanks to Mel V., Beau, and Ray for an awesome pre-convention day. Also thanks to Action Labs artist Bill McKay for making sure I got a copy of Doll Face.

23 thoughts on “Diamond Retailer Summit Wrap Up”

  1. So do the retailers that attend get to order these Diamind Retailer Summit exclusives or something? How does that work? They’re so hard-to-find come by.

    1. Yes. All retailers in attendance get one of each essentially. Some were willing to let you take a few more bit for the most part it is limited to one per badge. Aftershock went down a list and checked off your name.

    1. Some of them will be sent to you if you registered for the event. We still had to pay $75 for the ticket to get in and then you get all the free stuff. Even if you don’t go, all the merch they send a retailer is worth way more than $75

        1. No. You do not have to be a brick and mortar store. In fact I was there with Ray of RJ’s comics and toys as well as Beau from Minty Fresh Comics and they are both online stores

  2. Oh man!!! Hou hit it BIG TIME!!! I love that B.E.K & Hillbilly covers. So jealous. Thanks for the report Anthony. I hope to make it next year.

      1. I was getting the itch to drive down Tomorrow w/ the family, but unfortunately it won’t happen 🙁 . Will definitely plan ahead for next year. Enjoy the Con.

  3. Had to pull the trigger on a signed hillbilly 1. Managed to scoop up animosity 1 1:10 and reg for 20$ shipped yesterday so I’ll have to be content with that. Which is fine by me. ?

  4. You know Tony, I know that you’re pressed for space to store all these books. So I will gladly take them off your hands. Feel free to send any of them my way when you get back home. 😉
    Well done! I looks like you guys had a lot of fun.

  5. I’m so jealous man. Meeting Jim Lee is on my bucket list.
    What were the retails arguing about in line? Some one cut the lunch line? lol
    Sounds like you had lots of fun and got lots of sweet swag.

    1. Ok so essentially you had to wait until the very end of the night to get the Marvel, Power Ranger, and a couple others (5 at the end of the post). There were three sets of doors people could go out but the line had already formed and snaked around the hallway. People who went out the door furthest from the table would feed into the line ahead of people who went out the door closest to the table. So they were not cutting off people it’s just there was no crowd control. People who had been waiting (and drinking throughout the presentation) got mouthy with others and in a couple of cases came close to becoming physical. In the end, everyone got their variants.

  6. Ok ok ok I am jealous too lol. Jim Lee is also on my list of people to meet. Thanks for sharing this awesome summit. And hope you have fun at the Con.

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