Posted in: Archie, Comics, Comics Publishers, Current News, Dynamite, Marvel Comics, Titan | Tagged: diamond, tariffs

Was This The Very Last Diamond Comics Previews Catalog ever?

Was This The Very Last Diamond Comics Previews Catalog Ever? It's a dark day for telephone books right now

Published Tue, 04 Mar 2025 08:58:08 -0600

Last updated Tue, 04 Mar 2025 09:44:13 -0600

Article Summary

Diamond Previews faces uncertainty amid company bankruptcy and publisher departures.
Transcontinental's unpaid debts threaten the Previews catalog's future viability.
Tariffs on Canadian imports add pressure as Previews printing costs rise.
Collectors eye the potential final edition featuring spotlighted comics and toys.

The most recent Diamond Comic Previews landed in comic book stores last week. But is this the last Previews catalogue to be published by Diamond Comics? There must be so much pressure on it right now. The massive tome that lists, advertises, and, well, previews every comic book and more comes from Diamond Comic Distributors. It has grown in size over the decades, even as Marvel, DC, Image, IDW and Dark Horse left it in recent years and somehow got even bigger. It has been criticised over the years, but looking back, it provides a wealth of historical and cultural context for the comic book industry over its thirty-plus years of publication. Copies even become collectable when someone decides that this counts as the first appearance of a character. But is this the last appearance for Diamond Previews?

: Diamond Previews

: Diamond Previews

It is being hit by four major things.

Diamond Previews is an expensive catalogue, in time and money, to assemble and publish, and relies on the work of many comic book publishers, a number of which don't want to have anything to do with Diamond anymore.
Much of that is down to the bankruptcy of its publisher and owner, Diamond Comic Distributors, which has entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
As part of that bankruptcy, the printers of Previews catalogue Transcontinental are owed a quarter of a million by Diamond, and it looks like they may well not get it back.
Transcontinental is based in Canada, and the US taxes and tariffs on companies importing from Canada have landed. And even though Transcontinental has promised to cover the tariffs for publishers for 90 days, they may not want to do that for someone who owes them so much and may not pay for any new printing.

So this may well be your collectable final edition of Diamond Previews. Which has on its front cover, "from Dark Ages Scotland to modern New York, a millennia of villainy is laid bare in Greg Weisman and Frank Paur's Gargoyles: Demona from Dynamite Entertainment. On its back cover "Delve into the many era of CAPCOM's Mega Man with five connected one-shots in Tavis Maiden and Kenny Ruiz&rsquo's Mega Man Timelines from UDON Entertainment." On its calaoguie spine, "for more stars of All Elite Wrestling are ready to unleash mayhem in your Minimates collection with Diamond Select Toys's AEM Minimates Series 4 Box Set". And on the order form cover, "Hunted and on the run, Dahlia Racer has to disappear before she's caught in Charles Ardai and Ace Continuado's Heat Seeker: Exposed from Titan Comics."

Is This The Last Diamond Comics Previews Catalog? — Diamond Previews

Gems of the month from the remaining Premier publishers:

Dynamite Entertainment's Disney Stitch: 'Ohana Means Family–Musings on Everyday Life HC and Gargoyles: Demona #1
Marvel Comics' Spider-Man & Wolverine #1
Titan Comics' Conan the Barbarian #21 and Heat Seeker: Exposed– A Gun Honey Series #1

And from their remaining Deluxe Publishers, Featured items