Diamond Comics Distributors filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection today. They also announced that they were selling off pieces of their large company - Alliance Games and Diamond UK were two mentioned today with others likely to happen soon.
What does this mean for the comic book business? Hard to tell for sure. Diamond has been losing pieces of the distribution business for the last five years and right now they're a comparatively minor player in the game. However, when it comes to small press comics Diamond is one of the few viable nationwide distribution options.
Remember that a Chapter 11 filing indicates an intent for the business to continue after a reorganization.
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Yep, that's why he's blaming DC. He was really against their move to Lunar, for the reasons you mentioned.
thanks!
An interesting article with a long list of companies that Diamond owes money to.
One piece of Chapter 11 is "reorganizing debt."
Yikes.
Speaking of DC (as we were yesterday), when they pulled out of Diamond (2020 according to the stats Cap posted), at first they refused to publish a paper catalog and insisted that fans (not customers, which are comics shops, but readers) consult their online catalog. (I guess it never occurred to them that readers who still buy comics on paper might prefer to order them that way as well.) Okay, I played along. Then, after several months, readers could no longer access their online catalog for free, but had to subscribe. Fine. At that point I decided to go "old school" and play "catch as catch can" regarding DC releases, buying strictly from the shelf, eschewing pre-orders. They eventually began releasing a paper catalog (so readers at least knew what was coming in advance), but no order form.
I can see why some people assign much of the blame to DC Comics.
I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop, and hoping for some analysis from informed sources. Today I got both.
Image Comics No Longer Available To Diamond, Dstlry Remains Optimistic is from Bleeding Cool. The tl;dr is that Image says it will no longer allow Diamond to sub-distribute their comics once the Jan. 13 Final Order Cutoff (FOC) orders run out (sometime in March or April). Currently, Image has a non-exclusive contract with Lunar to distribute its books. The way that works is that Lunar is Image's distributor, and sub-distributors like Diamond take orders from their customers for Image books, buy the books from Lunar and then distribute through their own pipelines. (This is why publishers like Marvel and Image -- which are non-exclusive to Penguin Random House and Lunar, respectively -- appear in the Previews catalogue, but DC Comics -- which is exclusive to Lunar -- does not.) This means less scale for Diamond (as in "economies of scale"), and less revenue. The article also discusses DSTLRY, which made the mistake of signing exclusive with Diamond just a few months ago. Nothing important is said, although what is not said is that it puts DSTLRY in the same leaky boat with all the other tiny publishers at Diamond. There's also the question of Diamond UK, which is just about the only distributor of U.S. comics in Britain. That makes me ask: Will they no longer be able to distribute Image? Will they be sold off into their own company as part of Chapter 11? Are there other British distributors who can pick up the slack?
How Much Does Diamond Owe? Comic Book Folk React To Bankruptcy News is another Bleeding Cool article that covers much the same ground we've discussed, to whom Diamond owes the most money. (PRH leads the list.) But this one mentions something else I've been wondering about, the "intangibles" that might be lost if Diamond goes under -- or even if it doesn't. I think some are pretty tangible. For example, for decades Diamond provided one-stop shopping with Previews. Even after the top six jumped ship, you could still get a comprehensive look at a given month's books with Previews and the DC catalogue. If Previews goes away, I don't see anyone volunteering to provide that comprehensive information. (Which would have a pronounced effect on my weekly Comics List and Comics Guide offerings, BTW.) Also, Diamond is the instigator, sponsor and clearinghouse for Free Comic Book Day.
A FEW THOUGHTS ON THE DIAMOND BANKRUPTCY is analysis by ICv2.com columnist Rob Salkowitz. He also notes how losing Diamond, or having a diminished Diamond, will impact small publishers. And he muses about the difficulties this raises for retailers if toy distribution (Funko POPS, statues, games) collapses, which I don't see mentioned elsewhere.
Mind you, most of these articles just raise questions, as nobody knows what's going to happen. But they do make us aware of the stakes.
The next shoe dropping will likely be tarrifs on overseas printing. Here's analysis by Gina Gagliano at The Comics Journal: What will potential tariffs mean for comics publishers in 2025? &ls...
Well, that's depressing.
If Previews goes away, I don't see anyone volunteering to provide that comprehensive information.
I don't see anyone doing that either, but that is something that can change easily enough. Perhaps some small group will step up in Reddit or somewhere else.
Also, Diamond is the instigator, sponsor and clearinghouse for Free Comic Book Day.
I assume that FCBD will go all-digital, at least at first. It is a valuable venue to showcase new books and events with no obvious substitute. Odds are that it will survive in some form.
Of course, one will legitimaly ask what the point of having a specific FCBD is without distribution of physical comics. For that I have no answer.
Maybe instead there will be some effort at making assorted digital comics free on shorter intervals. But it is really dicey.
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