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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Here's something interesting. According to Bleeding Cool:
"Universal paid $49.6 million, plus or minus a few other factors and Ad Populum/Sparkle Pop only paid $7.5 million, though with certain provisos for payments owed to their own brands NECA and WizKids."
So Universal paid nearly $50M just for the game distributorship. While Ad Populum paid only $8M for everything else: Diamond Comic Distributors, Diamond Book Distributors, Diamond Select Toys & Collectibles, Collectible Grading Authority, and other related assets.
Is there really that great a disparity between the value of those properties? 'Tis a puzzlement.
But some things that might be lost that haven't been mentioned yet is this: Up until five years ago, Diamond was a one-stop-shopping source of information. If I wanted to know when Captain Phlegm #1 came out, or was going to come out, I'd Google "previewsworld.com captain phlegm #1" and get an answer. Now Diamond doesn't list all the books, and sometimes their information is just wrong. A couple of weeks ago, I Googled "previewsworld.com summer of superman special #1" and the answer was: April 30. But when I mentioned that mid-month Jeff reported that he already had the book in his hand. Because it had come out on April 2.
Further, every week I'd go to previewsworld.com and copy their list (which generally involved lots of formatting on my end, but nothing's perfect) for both the Comics List and the Comics Guide. And be done with the research part and be able to get on to the writing part.
Five years ago, when DC jumped ship, I started having to get DC at Lunar in addition to the Diamond list. Now I have to get the Diamond list (Marvel, indies, IDW, most manga), the Lunar list (all of it, as they are the only source for DC, Image, Mad Cave, Massive, some others) and compare them (both lists have Oni Press, Fantagraphics, Papercutz and others, but they don't always agree), viz.com (neither list has Viz Media, the No. 8 publisher) and darkhorse.com (because Diamond's list is shaky). I use secondary sources for Dynamite; Diamond still lists them, but sometimes they list books two weeks in a row, or don't list them at all. (Something weird is going on there. I wonder if Dynamite is having cash-flow problems and abruptly pulls books when they can't afford to publish them. Or maybe Diamond owes them a lot of money and there's weekly negotiations. Or maybe they're teetering on bankruptcy themselves. Anyway, a few weeks ago, Dynamite sent out a news-less press release saying "Everything's fine!" Even though nobody had asked, at least not publicly. Something is def going on BTS.) Anyway, my point is this: What was a 30-minute job for me five years ago now takes so long I generally spread it over two days.
And what about Previews catalog? It also used to be one-stop shopping, for both information and ordering. But even if it continues to come out from Ad Populum, it will be a shadow of its former self. I feel sorry for retailers, who now have to order from multiple distributors just to get the top five publishers. And you don't want to read what they have to say online about re-orders.
And what about Previews catalog?
I'll tell you one thing: it's riddled with mistakes. I have already filled out my May order, and no fewer than three items I plan to order from the catalog are not to be found on the actual order form.
I imagine they have a skeleton staff these days, and whoever was doing the catalog before the bankruptcy is long gone. Immediately after the bankruptcy, the "new releases" section of previewsworld.com I rely on was wonky. It's better now, but I know better than to consider it reliable.
So Universal paid nearly $50M just for the game distributorship. While Ad Populum paid only $8M for everything else: Diamond Comic Distributors, Diamond Book Distributors, Diamond Select Toys & Collectibles, Collectible Grading Authority, and other related assets.
So doing a little research, US comic book sales was $1.22 billlion 2024. Not sure what all the game stuff is, but my assumption is the board games and trading card games. TCG was $1 billion in the US in 2024 and board games $2.7 billion. The the questions to me are, "How much did Diamond get from all of those? How much do the non-comic books add to the kitty?"
As for ordering comics, I am getting series either through intertia, and I haven't cancled them. Or series, my LCS thinks I will like.
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