Earlier today DC Entertainment announced that after three weeks of no new comics they’ve set a date for when they will ship new issues to stores. The publisher will begin bringing product back to retailers in the later part of the month for a sale date on Tuesday, April 28. This distribution announcement comes as Diamond Comics Distributors, the primary distributor of almost all comics in the US, remains closed, with DC using alternative distribution to work around their temporary shutdown. In the wake of that announcement, Diamond has released their own statement about DC’s intentions, confirming that they still intend to resume distribution in May and to still work with DC at that time.
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“We value our partnership with DC and will continue to support them as a distributor,” Diamond’s statement reads. “Our focus is squarely on getting our industries’ entertainment products in the hands of fans as quickly and as safely as possible. As we shared this morning with our vendors and retailers, we are currently building our restart plans and targeting mid- to late-May to being shipping new weekly product. If we see signs that it is safe to resume shipping earlier, we certainly will. However, with the limited number of retailers open and most customers on stay-at-home orders, our focus is on supporting our industry and the health and safety of our stakeholders.”
As far as their new releases, DC making changes to their publishing schedule and offering a smaller number of titles at first in the hopes of helping retailers to ease back into ordering and getting a sense for what their business can handle. The deadline for guaranteed delivery on April 28 will be April 21 with Lunar Distribution and UCS Comic Distributors working to bring the new DC product to stores. DC’s new distribution plans only include comics for the time being, with collectibles set to have their own announcement once those plans come together.
The first three weeks of new comics that will distribute starting at the end of April include:
New Comics available for sale on Tuesday 4/28
Batman #89 (3rd Printing)
Batman Giant #4
Daphne Byrne #4 (of 6)
The Dreaming #20
Nightwing #70 (2nd Printing)
New Comics available for sale on Tuesday 5/5
Batman and the Outsiders #12
DC Super Stars Facsimile Edition #17
The Flash #753
Green Lantern Season 2 #3
Hawkman #23
House of Whispers #20
Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity #4 (of 9)
New Comics available for sale on Tuesday 5/12
Harley Quinn #72
Justice League #44
Justice League Odyssey #20
Lois Lane #10 (of 12)
Metal Men #6 (of 12)
