Diamond Comics Distributors Bankruptcy
 

This popped up on my Facebook feed. End of an era.

[url]https://www.cbr.com/diamond-comics-bankruptcy-chapter-11-explained/[/url]

It’s kinda sad for anyone that has collected since the 90’s to see a name that has been imported to the hobby disappear but has taken longer than it should have for companies to realize distribution companies are no longer a necessity.

The trading card distributors like GTS were hit hard by fanatics’ decision to distribute in house. Panini and Pokemon are keeping them alive still but when Panini no longer has basketball and football we will see if they can survive on tcg alone.

[QUOTE=finfangfan;19777283]This popped up on my Facebook feed. End of an era.

[url]https://www.cbr.com/diamond-comics-bankruptcy-chapter-11-explained/[/url][/QUOTE]

Why? Says they plan to continue on.

[QUOTE=Comix Guy;19777474]Why? Says they plan to continue on.[/QUOTE]

As mentioned in the article (and alluded to by the previous poster) they have lost many of their exclusive distribution agreements and are a shell of their former self. They will “continue on” in scaled down form much like Big Lots is “continuing on” at half the size they were pre-bankruptcy.

Yeah, Diamond will restructure, but this is probably the end. They are selling off Alliance, Diamond UK, CGA (afa and all is subsidiaries) and Diamond Select Toys. They are left with 60-100m in debt, a distribution business that is wildly inefficient and recently closed 3 of it's 5 warehouses and the fact that Marvel and DC are not coming back. I don't really see any hope for them. It does suck for the smaller companies and comic stores this will screw over. They have been so bad at what they do for so long, that I really don't understand how they are still even in business.

[QUOTE=finfangfan;19777518]As mentioned in the article (and alluded to by the previous poster) they have lost many of their exclusive distribution agreements and are a shell of their former self. They will “continue on” in scaled down form much like Big Lots is “continuing on” at half the size they were pre-bankruptcy.[/QUOTE]

It's been almost 4 years since they lost the big guys.
They are selling of companies that people probably didn't know they had.
Retailers are saying Penguin has been better overall.

[QUOTE=Comix Guy;19779593]It's been almost 4 years since they lost the big guys.
They are selling of companies that people probably didn't know they had.
Retailers are saying Penguin has been better overall.[/QUOTE]

While Penguin has been better than Diamond, I hope Lunar gets the rest of the comic companies Diamond shipped.
Penguin still has too much arrive damaged in comparison to Lunar.

[QUOTE=AceGambit3;19796681]While Penguin has been better than Diamond, I hope Lunar gets the rest of the comic companies Diamond shipped.
Penguin still has too much arrive damaged in comparison to Lunar.[/QUOTE]

Do Penguin and Lunar both ship the same books, or do the different comic publishers have exclusive deals with one or the other?

If they do ship the same books, is it a regional thing like Penguin ships to the west of the Mississippi and Lunar to the east or is it just random?

[QUOTE=Jaysabz;19797774]Do Penguin and Lunar both ship the same books, or do the different comic publishers have exclusive deals with one or the other?

If they do ship the same books, is it a regional thing like Penguin ships to the west of the Mississippi and Lunar to the east or is it just random?[/QUOTE]

Here's who we order from:
Penguin is Dark Horse, Marvel and IDW (Boom will be added later this year)

Lunar is Image, Mad Cave, Vault, Magma Comix, and DC (DC is Exclusive to Lunar).

Diamond has Dynamite, Keenspot, Titan and until summer Boom!

Though Diamond was sharing a few of these with Penguin and Lunar (that is starting to change now with Diamonds Bankruptcy)

Each has other comic publishers but those above are the ones I know off hand due to what we order for the shop.

Both Penguin and Lunar ship nationwide as far as I know.

[QUOTE=AceGambit3;19797895]Here's who we order from:
Penguin is Dark Horse, Marvel and IDW (Boom will be added later this year)

Lunar is Image, Mad Cave, Vault, Magma Comix, and DC (DC is Exclusive to Lunar).

Diamond has Dynamite, Keenspot, Titan and until summer Boom!

Though Diamond was sharing a few of these with Penguin and Lunar (that is starting to change now with Diamonds Bankruptcy)

Each has other comic publishers but those above are the ones I know off hand due to what we order for the shop.

Both Penguin and Lunar ship nationwide as far as I know.[/QUOTE]

Thanks! So yeah, I can see how Penguin with Dark Horse, Marvel and IDW and Lunar with Image and DC would be the big dogs.

Do you know who is the parent for Alien Books? The new publishers of Valiant?

Always loved that universe - had a great run in the 90s, then a great second run in the 20-teens.

There were all kinds of issues with character rights and such I know, but I loved the future timeline of 4001 with Magnus and especially Rai, Timewalker, the Eternal Warrior who protected the Geomancer, Archer & Armstrong, X-O being abducted in the 400s and coming back to present day earth, Shadowman, and Harbinger. Also, Solar was sort of like their Dr. Manhattan which was cool - what could have been....

If they didn't try to kick off their cinematic universe using Bloodshot the most cliche character with a B actor like Vin Diesel and the movie was due out like two weeks after COVID hit.

The whole succession of Rai's from New Japan and "Father" who ran New Japan would have made for an awesome movie - but who knows - with the amount of TV they're green-lighting these days, maybe we'll see one of those properties as a show one day.

As of right now everything has been postponed due to the Diamond Bankruptcy since they were the distributor for Valiant.
They are looking for another distributor though as all signs are pointing to Diamond being down for the count.

[QUOTE=Comix Guy;19777474]Why? Says they plan to continue on.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, not gonna happen. Unless they're bought out - which would just make an expensive mountain for a new group to climb, Diamond is done.

I believe midtown is going to jump into distribution again.