Diamond Might Not Distribute Comics Until August

We’ve now been without new comics for two weeks and should things stay the course, it could be months until new comics are available at your local comic shop. Last month, Diamond Comic Distributors — the lone such business in the world of comics, mind you — announced it wouldn’t be accepting any new books from publishers for distribution. ComicBook.com has now learnedDiamond is letting publishers resolicit some previous material for the August catalog.

The root cause for the August timeline has been a new policy Diamond has handed down that allows publishers to delay any books that had previously been solicited for release in July. Some have taken this to mean that they’re able to push those solicitations back to August — or another time that fits best with the publisher’s schedule — while others suggest it’s still completely unclear when Diamond will be back open for business. The one crystal clear thing in this scenario is the fact things are still very fluid and will likely remain that way for weeks to come.

Days after Diamond announced it would stop accepting new products to distribute, news also broke the distributor would temporarily be withholding payments to said publishers as cash flow issues had started to surface.

“Besides the industry’s most immediate needs, we have been and will continue looking toward the future, when we see stores reopening, bringing staff back onboard, and getting customers in the door,” Diamond’s Steve Geppi said in a statement last month. “We are looking at issues like debt accrued due to this crisis, what reduced ordering means for your discount tiers, and the availability of credit to help stores through and after this difficult time. We don’t have all those answers today, but we understand the many issues you are facing and look forward to addressing them as partners who all have an interest in the long-term health of the industry we love so much.”

Cover photo by Brittany Murray/MediaNews Group/Long Beach Press-Telegram via Getty Images