Comic Book Distributor(s)
 

So I'm pretty new to inner workings of the comic book industry (though there seem to be a fair amount of similarities between the music scene, film, and other entertainment based industries), and I was wondering if anyone could enlighten me about the historical highlights regarding comic book distributors. It seems like years back there were several but now there is one, essentially monopolizing the distributions of comics: Diamond. Anyone have any insight of the progression to the current distributor situation?

These two links have great information about the history of comic distribution in the U.S...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_Comic_Distributors

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_market

Well, I was hoping someone could help summarize, but I'll take a look at the wiki articles when I get a chance :)