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Massive Publishing Ends Exclusive Diamond Comics Deal Over Bankruptcy

Massive Publishing ends its exclusive distribution deal with Diamond Comic Distributors over its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing

Published Wed, 22 Jan 2025 08:57:08 -0600

by Rich Johnston

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Article Summary

Massive Publishing ends exclusive deal with Diamond Comics due to bankruptcy concerns.
Unpaid debts from Diamond's Chapter 11 filing prompt Massive's decision.
Future monthly comics through Diamond will no longer be exclusive.
Massive to offer trade paperbacks via other partners, expanding reach.

Massive Publishing, which incorporates WhatNot Comics, has stated that it is ending its exclusive distribution deal with Diamond Comic Distributors over its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. Last week, they posted the following, "Like many of you this morning, we learned that our distributor, Diamond Comics Distributors, have filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. In their statement to the press they have made it clear this is to restructure debt while they continue their core business of distributing to the direct market and sell assets. Massive will continue releasing our monthly titles via Diamond as scheduled during this period. " But after reaching out to Massive about their plans, Massive sent Bleeding Cool a missive, saying;

"As most of our fans know, our exclusive distributor recently put out a press statement informing us and others that it had filed chapter 11 bankruptcy in order to restructure its debts and sell assets. We were shocked to see the amount of unpaid debts that were part of the bankruptcy filings, including a significant amount owed to Massive for books shipped in Q4 of 2024. These books were sold to retailers with Diamond collecting those sales but never paying out Massive its portion of revenue for the product that we paid thousands of dollars to print and ship to Diamond (on consignment) as part of our exclusive partnership.

"Yes, we may one day receive money from Diamond once a debt restructuring plan is approved by the courts, but that process can take well over a year and we may only receive a fraction of the debt owed. With that in mind, and the advice of our legal counsel who have warned us that there is a huge risk in continuing to provide products to Diamond while they continue operating during the chapter 11 process, we have decided to end our exclusive distribution deal with Diamond.

"We still intend to solicit our monthly comics through Diamond on a non-exclusive basis, once we've established that payments begin again for product shipped after the chapter 11 filing. This will cause a delay in numerous release dates but we must ensure that our creative teams and partners are fairly paid for their hard work. New Trade paperback titles will no longer be offered through Diamond for the foreseeable future but will be available through our other distribution partners such as Simon & Schuster. Re-order TPB products for existing titles are still available through Diamond.

"Retailers, we have appreciated your support since we launched in 2022 and are committed to continue bringing you the best products possible. We will for the first time be making those products available through other distribution partners (announcement coming soon). This is an exciting opportunity for Massive to expand its reach in the direct market and reach new readers. We wish everyone the best outcome (including Diamond Comic Distributors and its staff!)"

Massive Publishing Ends Exclusive Diamond Comics Deal Over Bankruptcy

Massive Publishing is best known for titles such as Wesley Snipes' The Exiled, Quested, Zorro, Sean Gordon's Plot Holes and Zorro, Crashdown, Alpha Betas, Astrobots, Ninja Funk, Pinupocalypse, Eye Lie Pope, Ramgod, Vampiro and Detective Kaiju.

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