The Diamond saga seems to be grinding to a close with 13 more publishers reaching a settlement with the estate and Sparkle Pop for get their inventory back.
This settlement includes the publishers Aspen, Black Mask Studios, DSTLRY, Heavy Metal International, Magnetic Press, Massive Publishing, Oni-Lion Forge Publishing, Panini UK, Alien Books, Graphic Mundi, Titan Publishing Group, Vault Comics, and Dark Horse Comics – now known as the “Palik Consignment Group”.
While this settlement includes some similar goals to the previous settlement agreed to by 14 other publishers, it has some very key differences. Notably, Sparkle Pop, which controls the warehouse where the inventory was stored, was included in the negotiations, avoiding the kind of aggrieved objection they filed to the other settlement.
Some key provisions:
• Sparkle Pop will get either 4% of the inventory or 2% of the wholesale value of the inventory as payment for doing the Pik&Pak and palletizing of the inventory.
• Providing that all the settlements are approved, the escrow funds will go to Sparkle Pop:
the Trustee shall disburse $308,890.00 from the Court Registry Escrow (paid under the Ad Hoc Agreement) to Sparkle Pop AND shall assign the Estates’ rights to the Palik Consignment Group portion of the SP Escrow ($105,856.00) to Sparkle Pop. Trustee will pay $308,890 to Sparkle Pop with remaining funds going to the Trustee;
- Tarriff refunds will be split 50/50 between Sparkle Pop and the trustee.
- Once the settlements are approved, all adversary proceedings will be dropped, all claim on the inventory by the trustee and Sparkle Pop will be dropped and life will go on.
- Sparkle Pop will get the inventory from the default judgements against Digital Manga, Net Comics, Valiant, and remaining inventory covered in the Image Comics settlement.
In setting this out, trustee Morgan W. Fisher made a plea for it all to end:
Difficult as it has been, the Trustee has diligently focused on bringing the warring factions together in a global resolution of that has been described more than once as an intractable situation. This settlement is intended to work in tandem with the settlement between the Trustee and the Ad Hoc Consignment Group (the “Ad Hoc Agreement”), for which approval was sought on August 5, 2026, to effect a global resolution for the Trustee of the consignment-related disputes in these cases. Disputes remain between the Ad Hoc Consignment Group and Sparkle Pop. Taken together with the Ad Hoc Agreement, this Agreement will result in, among other things, the release of the Palik Consignment Group’s Consigned Inventory, the resolution of Sparkle Pop’s disputed claims for storage expenses and processing costs with the Trustee and Palik Consignment Group, mutual releases eliminating the adversary proceedings filed against the Palik Consignment Group and the pending appeal, and provide significant payments to the Estates.
Obviously this is a pretty great settlement for Sparkle Pop, but the Palik group seemed to throw in the towel because of Sparkle Pop controlling the physical inventory. Admittedly, it is a powerful bargaining chip, and all of the is dependent on the Ad Hoc Consignment Group’s settlement being accepted – Sparkle Pop has objected so that is NOT a done deal.
Still, this list of the inventory value gives some idea of why everyone needs to just settle this once and for all:
While these comics are nearly two years old now, they still are worth millions, and will not be liquidated by Sparkle Pop, which is something the publisher wanted to avoid.
All of this could have been avoided if a year ago all the parties (and the judge) had really sat down and thought about it. Something like this outcome was really the only way to solve it. As someone who has been following this for all this time, I do give Trustee Fisher points for actually getting people to sit down and make an agreement.
Brett Schenker, as always, has more analysis and details than I have the heart to write out at the moment.
STILL, the dispute between the Ad Hoc group and Sparkle Pop is still pending, and all the settlements much be approved by the court. That matter will be decided at a hearing on October 6. Mark your calendars.
Live look at the world when all this is settled:
And the court document for completists!
