Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, Dark Horse Comics, IDW, Marvel Comics, Tokyopop | Tagged: diamond, lunar, Penguin Random House
Penguin Random House & Diamond Having Troubles With Orders Today
Penguin Random House, which exclusively distributes Marvel, Dark Horse, and IDW comics send a letter out to comic book retailers today,
Article Summary
- Penguin Random House & Diamond face order disruptions today.
- Technical issues extend FOC deadline for PRH to 7/2/2024.
- Diamond's downtime brief; Lunar Distributors unaffected.
- Marvel, Dark Horse, IDW, TokyoPop distribution by PRH.
Diamond Comic Distributor's ordering site went down for comic book retailers earlier today, but it was fixed relatively quickly, in a couple of hours. Diamond's Final Order Cut-Off date (FOC) is late Sundays, so it may not have had as big an impact—not like Penguin Random House, which exclusively distributes Marvel, Dark Horse, and IDW. They had to send out a missive to comic book retailers and everything, delaying FOC to the following day as a result of… problems.
"Attention, retailers! Please be aware that our PRH Self-Service Ordering site is currently experiencing technical issues that may result in longer loading times. We are working to resolve this problem as quickly as possible and apologize for any inconvenience. Due to the issues that we are experiencing, the FOC deadline will be extended to 7/2/2024. Orders for all titles on FOC this week will be due by 11:59 PM EST on July 2nd. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to us directly at ComicMarketUS@penguinrandomhouse.com. – The PRH US Comic Retail Team"
It seems a strange coincidence that both distributors have similar issues on the same day. Might someone be targeting the same category? Lunar Distributors, exclusive distributors of DC Comics, Oni, and Image, seem to have survived unscathed, however.
In 2021, Marvel Comics announced that they would no longer be distributing comic books to comic stores in North America via Diamond Comic Distributors. Instead, they will be exclusively distributed by Penguin Random House Publisher Services (PRHPS), a division of Penguin Random House, under an exclusive worldwide multi-year sales and distribution agreement for Marvel's newly published and backlist comic books, trade collections, and graphic novels to comics shops. PRH officially begins its distribution to Direct Market retailers for all Marvel titles starting October 1st 2021. They were joined by IDW in 2021, Dark Horse in 2022 and TokyoPop in 2024.