Humanoids files for Chapter 7 bankruptcy

The first substantial casualty of the Diamond Bankruptcy has been revealed: Humanoids, the Los Angeles based branch of the famed French publisher, has just filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy – the bankruptcy of no return. Chapter 7 means that the company’s assets will be liquidated and used to pay creditors. 

However, it doesn’t appear that there will be many assets. According to court filings, the company has less than $50,000 in assets and between $10-50 million in debts. 

The bankruptcy was filed in Maryland Bankruptcy Court (where have we heard that before) and lists HC Wind Down Corporation as the parent company, with Luxembourg-based  Humanoids Holding Sarl owning 79.5% of the stock and 20.5% owned by Primer Entertainment, LLC, an LA based entertainment company. Humanoids and Primer teamed up back in 2018 and at one point had an adaptation of The Incal directed by Taika Waititi in the pipeline. That project has been silent ever since. 

Humanoids was last heard from with a kickstarter to fund a new edition of Metal Hurlant last year. As we reported, it was a rival to a Heavy Metal-led crowdfunded relaunch of Heavy Metal magazine. In something of a space (fantasy comics) race, the Heavy Metal campaign raised $782,989, while the Humanoids project raised $759,111. 

The first issue came out in June, with work by Brian Michael Bendis, Matt Fraction, James Stokoe, Peach Momoko, Mark Waid and more, and a second issue followed. But if more work was ever commissioned or completed, it’s now lost to the vagaries of bankruptcy court. 

Humanoids began as a French publishing company founded by Mœbius and Philippe Druillet, with the fantasy anthology magazine Metal Hurlant its flagship. Metal Hurlant ran until 1987 in France, got a brief American revival in 2002, and enjoyed a successful French rebirth in 2021. 

Humanoids the company was purchased by then 23-year-old publisher Fabrice Giger in 1988 and relaunched into the US market in 1999. Since then it has been a semi-regular in the comics industry, due to controlling a number of stone cold comics classics like The Incal by Jodorowsky and Moebius and related titles. Its history of pacts and initiatives includes deals with DC, Image and Devil’s Due, and the H1 Line, yet another attempt to launch a line of periodical comic books, headed up by Mark Waid. 

The French arm of Humanoids, Les Humanoïdes Associés went into receivership back in July, which is a sort of French version of bankruptcy, although at the time Giger told Livres Hebdo that the company was looking to restructure. A subsidiary publisher, La Boite à Bulles, was said to be separate from the receivership, but the entire situation sounds pretty dire. French comics sales have been hugely impacted by the rise of manga and other market forces, so some are struggling. 

As for US Humanoids, they were severely impacted by the Diamond bankruptcy; however their troubles were already brewing, as they attempted to file for Chapter 11 back in January according to Yahoo Finance. Humanoids filed an objection to Diamond’s consignment sales plans in July, but they were not part of either group of publishers seeking a stay in that matter. (But see our next story for more on that.)

A complete list of creditors will be filed in a few weeks and a meeting of creditors will be held on November 7th. 

Just before New York Comic Con I was having dinner with a comics colleague and the subject of Humanoids came up…..neither of us had heard anything from them a while. It seems my Heidi-sense was tingling….and now we know why. In both French and English, Humanoids has a substantial and storied backlist, but as we know from publishing history, when a bankruptcy rears its ugly head years of legal wrangling ensues. Hold on to those old copies of The Incal.