A Comics Miracle
Feb. 28th, 2012 09:32 pmTomorrow may mark the first time that the Direct Market New Comics Day has occurred 5 times in February.
The Direct Market came into existence in late 1972. When I started buying comics in the Direct Market in 1982, New Comics Day was Friday. It shifted to Thursday piecemeal between 1984 and 1990, and then to Wednesday sometime after 1991. I am not sure whether there really was a New Comics Day as early as 1980; if there was, it was probably Friday, in which case 1980 did have 5 NCD in February. So it might only have been 32 years:
Because the regular shipping calendar only covers four weeks, DC used to run special events during these "Fifth Weeks". That hasn't happened in a long time, but it seems like tomorrow would have been a natural for a revival.
The Direct Market came into existence in late 1972. When I started buying comics in the Direct Market in 1982, New Comics Day was Friday. It shifted to Thursday piecemeal between 1984 and 1990, and then to Wednesday sometime after 1991. I am not sure whether there really was a New Comics Day as early as 1980; if there was, it was probably Friday, in which case 1980 did have 5 NCD in February. So it might only have been 32 years:
| Year | Day of Week |
| 1976 | Sunday |
| 1980 | Friday* |
| 1984 | Wednesday |
| 1988 | Monday |
| 1992 | Saturday |
| 1996 | Thursday |
| 2000 | Tuesday |
| 2004 | Sunday |
| 2008 | Friday |
| 2012 | Wednesday* |
Because the regular shipping calendar only covers four weeks, DC used to run special events during these "Fifth Weeks". That hasn't happened in a long time, but it seems like tomorrow would have been a natural for a revival.