Even before the "hiccup" of what we call the !pandemic" I was writing about problems with Diamond and its comic distribution. In fact, if you go back to 2016 I noted that people working for Diamond in the UK were reporting things were not great.
Much as the comic book drama queens jump onto anything comic related -whether scandals such as Alan Moore, Warren Ellis, Nil Gaiman or comic book creators/podcasters who in the latter case, before anything was officially processed, piled in on the man and caused him to commit suicide...before all jumping in and accusing "comic fandom" of driving the said creator to suicide: this is jumped on.
"The death of the comic industry!". "This is THE END!" and so on and so forth. It needs to be pointed out to these view whores for You Tube money that there ARE other distributors and this is just them taking part in the whole"the internet must scare or frighten people daily".
The comic book companies will continue. Other distributors will take over. Oh, but this is THE American comic industry. Schmucks.
This is the most straight forward online piece I could find from The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2025/1/14/24343544/diamond-comics-bankruptcy
"Diamond Comics Distributors, one of the biggest companies involved in getting graphic novels into physical retailers for purchase, is filing for bankruptcy and scaling its business back as the industry braces itself for a new wave of economic challenges.
In a letter sent to comics retailers and publishers today, Diamond president Chuck Parker announced that the company has filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy and plans to sell off its Alliance Game Distributors arm to Universal in order to “protect the most vital aspects of our business.”
“This decision was not made lightly, and I understand that this news may be as difficult to hear as it is for me to share,” Parker explained. “The Diamond leadership team and I have worked tirelessly to avoid this outcome but the financial challenges we face have left us with no other viable option.”
Founded in 1982 by Stephen A. Geppi (who still serves as CEO), Diamond became a heavyweight in the comics business by securing a number of exclusive distribution agreements with various publishing houses like DC, Marvel, and Image. For decades, Diamond — which also publishes its Previews magazine showcasing upcoming titles — was instrumental in bringing comics to market and played a huge role in determining a book’s success because of how Previews influenced retailer orders.
News about Diamond’s bankruptcy comes weeks after the company suddenly shuttered its flagship fulfillment center in Plattsburgh, NY, which the company’s VP of retailer services Chris Powell described as a necessary step to address longstanding operational issues that made its distribution process unsustainable.
“Ideally, changes would have been planned and tested while we continued to operate as we had been at Plattsburgh,” Powell said. “With that no longer an option, we must make changes and test them with live data and shipments while trying to minimize the impact on retailers.”
In recent years, many of Diamond’s bigger name publishing partners have dropped them as the company failed to meet expected delivery deadlines to retailers, which left stores struggling to meet customer demand. Given the tough time Diamond has been having as of late, the announcement that it’s filing for bankruptcy isn’t entirely surprising. It sounds like the company’s leadership very much wants to stay in the comics game as long as possible, but as it stands now, it seems like all Diamond can really do is to staunch the bleeding as much as it can.
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