Diamond Distributors files for "chapter 11" bankruptcy

January 2025

Bad News in Comic Book Distribution

Diamond Distributors files for "chapter 11" bankruptcy – Finance Yahoo

Chapter 11 is used by businesses to restructure their debts and continue operations.

At one time, Diamond owned almost the entire distribution business for the comic book industry and the peripheral stuff that goes with it (books, cards, toys, etc). Thirty years ago they were virtually the only game in operation for anyone trying to do something beyond small press comics or mail order, but by the time the pandemic of 2020 came along, the old-fashioned way of doing things, a complaint long thrown at Diamond by people in the industry frustrated by their outmoded computer systems, was catching up with Diamond fast, and they suddenly lost their distribution deals for Marvel and DC.

In much older times, the distribution business for any kind of print was a tough field and competing distribution businesses would literally use violence to attack and disrupt competitors in order to expand their own market, this being at a time well before the internet when comics sold million-upon-millions of copies and the magazine trade in general was lucrative and constantly changing as many titles came out on a weekly basis to meet the demand for timely entertainment and news.

As that kind of new stand distribution withered, Diamond came along and pulled all the pieces together for comic book shops who were inheriting the print runs on new DC and Marvel comics as the traditional new stands stopped carrying Batman, Spider-Man, etc. "Direct sales" was a funny little mom-and-pop business in the 70s, but in the 1980s it put on muscle and expanded all around the country, and from the 90s until now it was Diamond that kept it organized, though other smaller distribution outfits came along trying to outperform against Diamond.

But the complaints about Diamond have kept mounting, and now the financial situation is showing teeth.

Below: We asked ChatGPT to create an image of a "anxious and worried superhero woman "

Would you like to own a large comics distribution business? Here's your chance – The Baltimore Banner

Diamond Comic Distributors’ bankruptcy filing last week could mean layoffs and the closure of its Hunt Valley headquarters if it doesn’t find a buyer by April 1. If its sale efforts don’t succeed, Diamond would cease operations, close its main office and lay off as many as 168 employees, the company said this week in a federally mandated notification to the Maryland Department of Labor...."

The Diamond Distributors crisis impacting an already troubled comic book industry – IGN MSN

Who gets blamed for Diamond Distributors bankruptcy? DC Comics! – Cosmicbook – Article describes a "dire" landscape for small comics publishers who are facing a situation in which there is no organized outlet to get their product to the individual comic book stores. But the reason DC Comics is to blame for this isn't enunciated clearly in the article.

Reactions to the news about Diamond's bankruptcy – Bleedingcool

Steve Geppi founded Diamond Comic Distributors in February 1982 with one warehouse, seventeen customers and many competing distributors. Across forty years, it beat all the competition and became the dominant monopoly in the comic book direct market – though not according to the courts. But after it closed down temporarily during the pandemic, publishers were free from their contracts to seek alternative deals, and now Image and DC are with Lunar, Marvel, IDW and Dark Horse are with Penguin Random House, and Boom Studios is joining them..."

Vault Comics announces a plan to sell comics directly to retailers without a middleman distributor – Comicsbeat

Companies are scrambling to deal with a testy situation after Diamond Distributors files Chapter Eleven bankruptcy.

... It’s a plan that had been in the works for a while – and Vault is correctly distributed by Lunar and Simon & Schuster – but it will be interesting to see if more small publishers come up with their own plans as where and how stores get their comics begins to fracture even more..."

What's going to happen with Diamond? – MSN Screenrant

Diamond has a loan lined up from Chase and a Stalking Horse Bid in place from an affiliate of Universal Distribution for Alliance Game Distributors. A stalking horse bid is an initial bid, made by a potential suitor for a bankrupt company, that serves as the starting bid for any future bankruptcy proceedings. The bid places the starting value of Diamond's assets at $39 million..."

Original page January 28, 2025