(UPDATE: Laura Gjovaag’s reporting on Corner Comics may now be found at this page.)
When she and Alan David Doane aren’t busy bringing out the absolute worst in each other, Laura “Tegan” Gjovaag is a fine comicsblogger, and she’s broken what may turn out to be the story of the year. The IRS has issued an ultimatum to Washington state comics retailer Corner Comics: pay $14,000 on your backstock, or physically destroy it by December 31st. According to the shop’s owner, this bizarre and vindictive order is based neither on applicable tax law (the law they’re citing specifically does not apply to a business this size) nor on an even remotely accurate appraisal of the value of the store’s backstock. As things stand now, the best-case scenario is that Corner Comics is put out of business by IRS agents who are either woefully uninformed or maliciously indifferent. The worst-case scenario, of course, is that this policy is applied to retailers nationwide, thus destroying the Direct Market in the proverbial one fell swoop.
Dirk Deppey has issued a call to arms on this story, asking everyone with a cyber-soapbox to get up on it and spread the word. Please, follow his advice and do so–on blogs, on messboards, on listservs, on news sites. And if you live in Washington, contact your local government representatives. This is some scary stuff going on here, and woe to the comics industry and medium if we can’t put a stop to it.