Last week’s news that DC Comics was ending its relationship with Diamond left many retailers and industry-watchers with a lot of open questions. Among those is how international customers will receive their DC Comics, as new DC distributors Lunar and UCS are still working on setting up their international distribution. Today retailers in the UK received some relief, as Diamond and DC have announced an agreement for Diamond to continue distributing new and backlist products to UK retailers through the end of 2020.
Along with UK distribution, Diamond will continue to accept and fill reorders for some single-issues and graphic novels in the US. Reorders for DC single issues that are currently in-stock at Diamond will be filled until July 31st, while reorders for DC graphic novels and collections with an FOC date of June 1st or prior will be filled through December 22nd.
After the abrupt nature of DC’s announcement last week, the new deal announced today signals less of a hard stop in the relationship between DC and Diamond. As Diamond CEO Steve Geppi describes it in a statement, “we are happy to work on a smooth transition” with DC.
It’s interesting that the international part of this deal only covers UK accounts. International distribution is one of the more glaring issues still to be resolved for DC’s new distributors, and hopefully one they can figure out soon – they only have a few more days before their first FOC date as DC’s exclusive distributors, and if they don’t come up with a solution soon it could mean there’ll be a week or two (or more) where international shops don’t receive new DC books.
Check out the full text of the statement from Diamond on the new deal below:
Diamond, DC Reach Agreement on In-stock Reorders and Distribution from Diamond UK
Diamond Comic Distributors and DC Comics are pleased to announce that we have reached an agreement to extend some aspects of Diamond’s distribution of comics and collected editions.
In the US, Diamond and DC have extended the agreement to fulfill reorders of in-stock comic periodicals previously offered for sale, fulfilling reorders through July 31. Graphic novels and collections previously offered for sale on Final Order Cut-off June 1 or prior will be available for replenishment reorders through December 16 and Direct Ship reorders through December 22.
For our Diamond UK shops, we will continue to distribute new and backlist DC Comics products through December 31 and will be working with DC Comics to offer products with an FOC date of June 15 to retailer customers as usual.
“The recovery of our retailer partners is of utmost importance to Diamond and DC as stores reopen amid many challenges,” said Steve Geppi, Founder of Diamond Comic Distributors and Chairman & CEO of Geppi Family Enterprises. “With respect for our long partnership with DC Comics, we are happy to work on a smooth transition.
This reminds me of DC’s genesis of The New 52. A kind-of-in-the-works but also last-minute plan where they really didn’t bother to think through any of the details or ramifications. “What about X?” “Oh, we’ll figure that out later.”
Letting Diamond fill re-orders implies the stock isn’t worth the freight to move elsewhere. Or if it is, the new “distributors” don’t want anything to do with it.
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