Posted in: Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, Valiant | Tagged: newlitg, Valiant Beyond

Valiant Beyond Launch Postpones Over Diamond Bankruptcy Concerns

Valiant has postponed their Valiant Beyond relaunch over concerns about Diamond Comic Distributors' decision to enter chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Valiant Comics has had quite the tempestuous publishing history. The current version of the Valiant Universe, published with Alien Books, has gone down well with fans of the four previous versions (Shooter, Acclaim., Dinesh, DMG), and they were heading to a new relaunch as Valiant Beyond. But that was before Diamond Comic Distributors decided to enter Chapter 11 bankruptcy and no publisher knew if they were getting paid. I got word that some creators at Valiant had been told to stop working on their comic books for now. So I reached out to find out more. I am told that Alien Books has chosen to postpone the launch of the Valiant Beyond initiative until they have more news about the future of Diamond, but they have not cancelled anything so far. They are also working on other distribution options, are advanced on the script, interior art, and covers for Valiant Beyond and have secured payments for artists, but the schedule has to be moved around. Matias Timarchi, Director of Alien Books, tells Bleeding Cool,

"Luckily, what happened with Diamond found us in the best worst-case scenario. We had already decided to publish fewer books during November, December, and January because we were working on relaunching the Valiant line with the Valiant Beyond initiative, which was scheduled for March of this year. We also have new licenses that we haven't announced yet, and we were planning to do around March/April. While the Distributor owes us money, as we haven't received payments since December, I believe we'll be able to reorganize and move forward. Even though the money owed to us is essential for our operations, we're working to ensure it won't become critical. This will require restructuring the company and reducing operational expenses to sustain this project. Clearly, this will come at a high cost for us, as we'll need to move some books around on the schedule until the market stabilizes. Meanwhile, we're focusing all our efforts on crowdfunding campaigns (we have a very successful one running right now: I DRAGON) and launching our own online store. Until we know exactly what will happen with Diamond in the coming weeks, we can't make too many business decisions. As a result, we'll move much more slowly, delay our publishing plan, reevaluate our cash flow, and so on. This will be a heavy blow for us, as it interrupts us during a growth phase, and we'll have to reinvent ourselves. However, I have faith that we'll be able to do it and continue on the path we started some time ago."

Bleeding Cool will continue to report from the frontlines on the impact that the Diamond Comic Distributor bankruptcy is having across the industry.

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