Dynamite, Fantagraphics, And Drawn & Quarterly Band Together To Block Diamond’s Inventory Sale

The fallout from the Diamond Comics Distributors bankruptcy continues.

Late on Friday, Dynamite Entertainment, Fantagraphics, and Drawn & Quarterly released a joint statement announcing a plan with other publishers to block the company now doing business as Diamond’s plan to sell inventory currently in its warehouses as part of an attempt to pay creditors. The stock is not necessarily Diamond’s to sell, much it is on consignment, thus the publishers are banding together to contest Diamond’s court motion to sell the inventory.

The statement reads as follows: “Notice to all publishers and vendors who distributed products through Diamond. Diamond or its successor entities have publicly moved to sell inventory currently in its warehouses without publishers’ consent. Several publishers are pooling their resources together to challenge these proposed sales procedures for this inventory. If you represent a company with inventory currently warehoused with Diamond or its successor entities and would like to learn more, please reach out to the following publishers who are helping to put together our group of vendors.”

Publishers include Nick Barrucci at Dynamite, Eric Reynolds at Fantagraphics, and Peggy Burns at Drawn & Quarterly. As mentioned in the statement above, representatives of publishers with stock warehoused at Diamond should reach out quickly as the consortium must file a response to the Maryland Bankruptcy Court by July 16th.

This is the latest in the ever-evolving — and frankly bizarre — Diamond story. From rejecting one potential buyer to the ultimate winner of the bankruptcy auction gutting the organization almost immediately, the fate of the distributor seems pretty much sealed with publishers and retailers doing their best to make alternate arrangements to get books delivered. Many are also working to get money Diamond owes them into their coffers before too long.

In the mythology of comics, Diamond was once the savior of the business as it emerged alongside the local comic book stores to replace the older newsstand model. But nothing lasts forever and Diamond’s fortunes (to say nothing of their de facto monopoly in the industry) cracked during the 2020 COVID lockdowns. Forced to end distribution during that time, publishers found alternatives and ended the company’s market dominance. But the true nature of that rupture was not clear until Diamond filed for bankruptcy late last year. Now, every impacted business adjusts to the new reality and what remains of Diamond continues to baffle watchers of the case.