A new video for retailers from Marvel Comics and its new exclusive comic book distributor, Penguin Random House, attempted to allay any fears retailers might have about their comic books being damaged in delivery by explaining how the company will be introducing special new shipping boxes for comic books.
Dan Buckley (President of Marvel Entertainment), Jeff Abraham (President of Penguin Random House Publisher Services), David Gabriel (Marvel's Vice President of Print and Digital Publishing), and Tyne Hunter (Associate Director, Comic Market Sales, Penguin Random House) were featured in the video for retailers.
The video (which was sent to retailers and also posted on Marvel.com) set out to address any concerns that retailers might have with the new distribution setup and one of the main areas where people have expressed some concern has been with the matter of shipping comic books.
Penguin Random House is a well-known distributor of books, but comic books are a lot different, as they are made out of flimsier material while having the double whammy of being more condition critical. Not that books are not something that people want in good condition, of course, but it's a much different setup than comic books, where a slightly chipped corner on a book might not even be noticed while the equivalent on a comic book would very much be noticed. So retailers are naturally cautious about a company built for shipping books transitioning to comic books.
Hunter, though, did her best to make retailers feel better, while stressing that Penguin Random House is a free shipping company (retailers will get a lower discount from Random House than Diamond, but for many stores, that discount will be more than made up with by the lack of shipping costs). She also noted that graphic novels and comic books will be shipping separately, so comics will not be shipped in the same boxes as graphic novels, which was a concern for retailers (the heavier graphic novels naturally often crush the more delicate comics when shipped together). The same goes for promotional material.
She ended by noting that Penguin Random House will also be using new packaging to cut down on damages as much as possible.
Source: Marvel.com