Capital City Distribution

Capital City Distribution was a Madison, Wisconsin–based comic book distributor which operated from 1980 to 1996 when they were acquired by rival Diamond Comic Distributors. Under the name Capital Comics, they also published comics from 1981 to 1984.

During most of its years of operation, Capital City introduced many supply chain innovations and controlled much of the American

Capital City also published over 400 pages of printed material a month, including Internal Correspondence, which provided sales figures to their clients; and Advance Comics,[2] their monthly catalog showcasing upcoming comic books, toys, and other pop-culture related items it distributed to comic book specialty shops.

Distributor

Origins

In the 1970s, Milton Griepp and John Davis were running a small Madison-based distributor called Wisconsin Independent News Distributors (WIND). Forced to sell their assets to Big Rapids Distribution, Griepp and Davis later turned the tables in 1980 when they took over much of Big Rapids' bankrupt business to form Capital City.^[2][3]

One of Capital City's first acts was to utilize the personnel of another former Big Rapids' acquisition,

In 1994, Capital created controversy by announcing penalties for publishers who didn't deliver their products within promised deadlines; this move followed an industry-wide push for 30-day returnability, a practice formerly in use when comics were primarily distributed in newsstands.[6]

By this point, Capital City's Canadian affiliate, STV, had warehouses in Toronto, Montreal, and Quebec City; and Capital City had another freight forwarder operating out of Seattle, Washington.^{[citation needed]}

Acquisition by Diamond

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

In July 1996 Capital City was acquired by Diamond.[13] 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, 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]

After selling Capital, Griepp became an industry consultant, and since early 2001, has operated

In 1981, Capital City decided to enter the comic book publishing field as well. Under the name Capital Comics, they launched a black-and-white comics title, Nexus, a futuristic superhero series by Mike Baron and Steve Rude, and distributed it through their own system.^[5]

• List of book distributors

Notes

References