Posted in: Comics, Current News | Tagged: lunar, scout comics

Scout Comics Dropped By Lunar Over New Lateness Policy

Scout Comics is no longer being distributed by Lunar Distribution as a result of their new policy on the lateness of comic books.

Published Mon, 18 Nov 2024 16:57:07 -0600

by Rich Johnston

Last updated Mon, 18 Nov 2024 18:20:53 -0600

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Article Summary

Scout Comics dropped by Lunar Distribution due to new lateness policy affecting comic availability.
Lunar aims to ensure timely delivery to retailers, suspending publishers with unfilled products.
October 2024 Scout releases delayed, with several titles pushed to December 4, raising concerns.
Despite losing Lunar, Scout Comics stays with Diamond amidst issues and a challenging year.

Scout Comics is no longer being distributed by Lunar Distribution. The most recent Lunar catalogue for comic books published from February 2025 onwards no longer has Scout Comics listed, but they were present in January 2025's listings. I reached out to Scout Comics to comment without reply, but Christina Merkler of Lunar Distribution told me "Based on feedback from retailers, it is important for us to ensure they are receiving the titles they order in a timely manner. Lunar is trying to prevent the retailers from receiving products they can no longer sell. In order to best serve our retail accounts, Lunar recently instituted a policy in which we will be suspending any new solicits from publishers that have a majority of solicited and unfilled products that surpass the amount that is being delivered to Lunar."

Scout Comics Dropped By Lunar Over New Lateness Policy — Scout Comics and Lunar Distribution logos

Once upon a time, Diamond Comics Distributors used to make publishers re-solicit their comics if they were published three months late, which led to things like Todd McFarlane publishing Spawn out of order to reduce the number of cancellations his book would get. That all went away when publishers started doing exclusive deals with Diamond that gave the publisher more control over how Diamond distributed their comics. And comics started to get later and later again.

As for Scout… well, a quick check-in their October 2024 solicits sees Dark Untold Strange Detective #1, Final Interview #1, Greylock #4, Baby Barbarian #1, Cissy #3, Blackmarrow #1, Charm City #4, Catrina's Caravan: Confrontation #1, Cross Country #4, Kerpow #2, Mission Appleseed #3, Roman Ritual #4 and more delayed until December the 4th. Which is a lot for any publisher to put out all on one day. So something looks like it might have to give.

Scout Comics are still listed in Diamond Comic Distributors' listings, as far as I know, and if so, I will probably be able to run them this Friday. Scout Comics has had an embattled year, with many comic creators alleging poor behaviour and payment practices and bad press that followed, even as they found new finance and launched a new line, Dark Harbor. And now they have lost a distributor… for now, anyway.

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