Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, DC Comics, Image | Tagged: diamond, lunar, todd mcfarlane

More On The Todd McFarlane Buying Diamond Comics Distributors Rumour

What happens if Todd McFarlane does buy Diamond Comic Distributors? Bleeding Cool digs down deep on the hottest rumour right now.

Yesterday Bleeding Cool posted the hot rumour, heard in previous weeks, that Todd McFarlane is an interested purchaser of Diamond Comic Distributors, currently going through Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. With today as the final day for parties to register their interest and bids on certain aspects of Diamond's operations. I posted the report on Bleeding Cool yesterday and also went on the Beyond Wednesdays podcast to discuss the story with the likes of Jesse James and Dennis Barger.

And I have been hearing it more and more. Ben Dunn at Antarctic Press went public that he had heard this as well. But what's behind this?

Well, Todd McFarlane and Steve Geppi have gotten along famously for decades. Todd feels that he owes Steve, for the successful launch of Image Comics, and Image's move away from Diamond Comic Distributors three years after DC Comics did was only done after a long and arduous process, as Nick Barrucci explained. If Todd can somehow save Diamond for Steve, might that be considered payback?

The main motivation to own what is left of Diamond Comic Distribution would be a very effective and efficient means of servicing a worldwide distribution network to pop culture stores, whether that be comic book stores, gaming stores, bookstores, libraries, comic conventions and online portals for his toys. But might as well do the comic books while he is at it. DC Comics' decision to sign a multi-year contract with Mattel led some to wonder how much DC toy business would leave Todd McFarlane. However, given that DC is locked into Lunar, it might make it easier for Todd to pull Image Comics from Lunar back to Diamond Comic Distribution and make sure that the changes that Image needed are executed this time.

But then it would also bring some much-needed stability back to the marketplace. Dynamite gets paid. Antarctic too. Business may return to a closer semblance of normality. And every comic shop can blame Todd McFarlane for when their comics are late. At least they expect that with him.

I have to say, I was expecting pushback from senior figures to have reached me if this rumour wasn't true, but I have received none. I am becoming increasingly confident that when the auction takes place next week, alongside Universal Distribution in Canada and who knows who else, Amazon, UCS, PRH, or more, there will be another lanky Canadian in his mid-sixties with a baseball cap and a baseball mitt shooting the breeze.

And if Todd McFarlane is indeed in the room where it happens, who wants to get in a crazy bidding war with a man who spent three million dollars on a baseball?

The auction of Diamond Comic Distributors, in the light of its declaration of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, will be held at the offices of Raymond James & Associates, Inc., 320 Park Avenue, 12th Floor, New York next week.

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