Off Panel #322: Building and Building with Christina Merkler

By David Harper

September 27, 2021

In this week’s episode of Off Panel, Christina Merkler – the co-owner of Discount Comic Book Service and Lunar Distribution – joins me to chat about her world. Merkler discusses a typical day in her job, the evolution of DCBS, learning curves, the main appeal of DCBS, how their ordering works, the pandemic lift, brick and mortar shops versus DCBS, the origins of Lunar, the multi-distributor model, managing issues, perceptions of Lunar, its expansion, supply chain issues, where the direct market is headed, and more.

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Header art is Jorge Jimenez’s art for Batman’s Infinite Frontier teaser art. Off Panel’s theme music is an original track by custom music agency Upright T-Rex Music, written and performed specifically for the podcast. A huge thanks to Ross and Cody from Upright T-Rex Music for putting the track together!

Notable Replies

PerfectDru says:

October 5, 2021

This was a particularly good interview, David. It was quite informative. Even though I’ve been using Instocktrades for over a decade, I never knew much about the history of DCBS or the people who run it. I thought she was pretty diplomatic about how she didn’t view her company as competition to brick and mortar stores. I don’t know if that’s truly what she believes, or if she was just trying to be nice, but I can’t deny that the discounts on Instocktrades have definitely enticed me away from buying my trades and hardcovers from my local comic book stores. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, a region that’s absolutely rife with more quality comic book stores than most places. And I can’t say I’ve bought a full-price TPB/HC from any of them in over a decade because I know I can save money at Instock. I know I’m not the only one, too.

I don’t think the mere existence of DCBS and its associated sites is directly responsible for driving brick and mortar comic shops out of business, but it’s possible. There have been some stores around here over the years that have closed down, and I never heard their owners blame the proliferation of online stores stealing all their customers, but I never asked them directly about the impact of DCBS on their sales.
SKTCHD says:

October 5, 2021

My guess is their impact is greater than Christina says or believes and considerably less than a lot of retailers suggest. How far in one direction it goes is uncertain, but my bet - just what I would wager on - is it’s closer to Christina’s read than it is the most fatalistic of retailers. I sort of look at it like this. In Stock Trades reminds me of the sales they have on Black Friday at Best Buy or all the time on Apple Movies. Would I buy Memory: The Origins of Alien, a documentary about the making of Alien, at full price? Probably not. But for $4.99? Sure! (I definitely just did this)

That to me is the creation of sales more than a replacement of them. That’s probably not always the case. But it probably is enough that I’d weight it towards Christina’s view.
chrisburton says:

October 5, 2021

Yeah, if I want an omnibus, particularly a new release, I buy it from IST. The discount is just too good to pass up, particularly on a high dollar book like an omnibus. Also, IST does the best packing of a box I’ve ever seen with books. I’ve never received a book from them that had any damage, and that is definitely the exception rather than the norm when it comes to mail order.
IrishAlum says:

October 6, 2021

Good interview. Glad you sat back and let her talk rather than attack her and her company, which I’m sure some of the retailers who listen would have preferred.

I’m a DCBS customer for over a year now; I can’t justify spending $4-5 for a single periodical. Even $2 is a hard pill to swallow, but it’s a lot better than retail price. Twice a month shipping is not ideal, but it works…and the books arrive in pristine condition.

I’ll still shop at my LCS, especially for Bad Idea, but DCBS is my main source of comics. At least until I figure out Hoopla…
SKTCHD says:

October 11, 2021

IrishAlum:

Good interview. Glad you sat back and let her talk rather than attack her and her company, which I’m sure some of the retailers who listen would have preferred.

I see little value in attacking folks in interviews, because otherwise, what’s the point? Especially considering I don’t even really disagree with most of Christina’s points. I totally get why customers would go to DCBS, and I see the value in having more distribution options. They’re A-OK in my book.

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