William D. Schanes (born 1958) is an American publishing executive, active for many years in the comic book industry.
[2] Schanes joined Steve Geppi's Diamond Comic Distributors company in 1985, rising to the position of Vice President for Purchasing.
I’m extremely grateful to Bill for all of his contributions ....[3] In 1987, Puma Blues publisher Dave Sim fell into dispute with Diamond over Sim's decision not to use Diamond to distribute the Cerebus graphic novel High Society.
Puma Blues creators Stephen Murphy and Michael Zulli responded with an open letter titled "Not Fade Away," stating their intent to continue with or without Diamond's support.
[4][5] Later in 1988, Diamond backed down and agreed to distribute The Puma Blues,[6][7][8] but the incident was one of the primary factors leading to Sim's participation in developing the Creator's Bill of Rights.