John Davis, co-founder of Capital City Distribution, has started a new company, Davis Marketing Services, to represent products directly from the manufacturer to retailers.  Davis told ICv2, 'In today's highly competitive marketplace, retailers need all the margin they can get -- it doesn't make sense for all retailers to buy direct, but many of the most successful dealers have been doing it for a long time.'

Davis, who until recently was Director of Special Products for Diamond Comic Distributors, also wants to provide independent pop culture retailers with items that are not commonly available from other sources.  Davis's first offering include the Satoshi Urushirara Portfolio of manga nudes, the long out-of-print Benedikt Taschen monograph on the erotic comics of Eric Stanton, and two volumes of beautifully presented dojinshi art, one devoted to hentai (erotic) works, and the other to fantasy art.  All four products are available to retailers at substantial discounts.  Davis is planning on adding other lines including the 1000 Editions series of anime and manga posters.

In addition to working with direct market retailers, Davis also plans to rep products from comic market-oriented companies to other retail channels.  Currently he is working with Graphitti Designs and offering Graphitti's Clerks In Action Series 2: Mallrats Figures to dealers outside the direct market.  Davis Marketing Services can be reached at (608-221-1436).