Robot 6 has a good interview with Peggy Burns, the very smart associate publisher at Drawn & Quarterly Press. The discussion mostly veers to the idea that the pamphlet comic book—the stapled, floppy roll-up-and-put-it-in-your-back-pocket variety that most people still think of when they think of comic books—is on the way out. The major comics distributor, Diamond, has increased the minimum sale numbers on the pamphlet comic book format to the point where many small publishers will have to stop producing them.

Do you see this new policy as being the final nail in the coffin for the alt-comic or was it already dead and this is just the death certificate?

No, I definitely do not see it as the final nail in the alt-comic. The pamphlet, maybe. But people said that with vinyl, and look at vinyl making a comeback. Perhaps we’ll see floppies come back in a few years. Bottom-line is, with this thing called the Internet, people will find a way to get their comics known.

The superhero pamphlet is still going strong, of course—well, as strong as it has over the last few years, which is to say, not very strong at all, but it's been consistently mining a very loyal fan base. I think the next ten years will see the demise of the majority of staple-bound comics. They'll be as rare as video tapes, soda fountains, and variety shows. The industry's been heading for the book format for a very long time, but the major publishers have been fighting it every step of the way. The smart ones are starting, finally, to switch to an all-publishing model.