Johnny Raygun, other comics affected by Diamond policies

On the Outcast Studios message board, Jetpack Press publisher Ralph DiBernardo announced that their signature title Johnny Raygun, which participated in Free Comic Book Day in 2004 and 2005, was not invited to participate in 2006:

There won't be a Free Comic Book Day offering from Jetpack Press this year. I can't get a straight answer from anyone at Diamond but the bottom line is that we were not invited to participate.

For whatever reason, we did not meet the criteria for it, even though we sold about 15,000 copies 2 years ago and 20,000 last year.

Between that and Diamonds new policy for small press it makes it hard to imagine this industry ever moving forward again.

In addition, The Beat reports that webcomic Devil's Panties is having trouble meeting minimum orders with Diamond for their book collection:

Jennie Breeden's popular strip The Devil's Panties has a print comic book in the works from publisher Silent Devil. And she's facing the $2,500 minimum order requirement that distributor Diamond requires to carry a book.

If she doesn't reach the $2500 minimum none of the orders placed through Diamond are filled, and they won't carry her book. As of this writing, there are about $900 in pre-orders.

Over on comixpedia.com, webcomic creator Anthony Furtado had an interesting take on the situation:

This is something that has become an ugly reality for the "little guy/girl." I have to look at it in a glass is half full kind of way. This is more proof of the realism of Digital Publishing. In the beginning stages this won't have much affect on making comic shop owners look our way as another means to get their books. If you look further down the road though, and with enough indy creators ditching the current, hostile direct market, Digital Publishing will break through the wall and become a viable alternative. The comic shop is becoming a dying breed here. Maybe it’s karma.