Category: Comic Publishers

DC Comics drops Diamond as they shift completely to Lunar, UCS

After 25 years, DC will distribute their comics to shops without the help of the industry’s traditional distributor.

DC Comics is cutting ties with Diamond Comics Distributors and will use the two new distributors that came into existence during the coronavirus pandemic to deliver comics to retailers.

Lunar Distribution and UCS Comic Distributors, the distributors with ties to comics retailers Discount Comic Book Service and Midtown Comics, will distribute periodicals to stores. Retailers can also order books through Penguin Random House, who handle DC’s trades and graphic novels for the book trade.

“After 25 years, DC and Diamond Comic Distributors are ending their long-standing relationship,” a spokesperson from DC told The Hollywood Reporter. “Moving forward, comic book retailers can obtain their DC books from Penguin Random House, or their books and periodicals through Lunar or UCS comic book distributors. DC continues to be committed to providing the Direct Market with best in class service and the fans with the world’s greatest comic books.”

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Mail Call | DC announces a new monthly digital catalog

Plus: Criminal’s ‘Cruel Summer,’ Green Lantern, a ‘Wynd’ trailer and more.

Mail Call is a roundup of the announcements we received from publishers in our mailboxes recently. Hit the links for more information.

Now that they’re using multiple distributors, it makes sense that DC Comics would launch a new means for communicating distribution information vs. just limiting it to Diamond’s Previews. That seems to be DC Connect, a new, downloadable catalog they announced this week. It contains information on upcoming comics and graphic novels, with plans to expand it to include “talent interviews, preview pages from upcoming stories, behind-the-scenes looks at projects in development, multimedia content and more.”

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Mad Cave announces four new titles for this fall

New titles from Christopher Sebela, David Stoll, Matthew Erman, Shelby Criswell and more will arrive from the publisher in October and November.

During The Mad Cave Showcase this past weekend, the publisher announced four new titles during the virtual event, by creators like Christopher Sebela, David Stoll, Matthew Erman, Shelby Criswell and more.

They also announced a new talent search, which will run from June 1 through Sept. 1. Three artists and three writers will be chosen to take part in an upcoming horror anthology from the publisher. Details can be found on their website.

Here’s a rundown of the four titles that were announced:

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Drawn + Quarterly announce their 2021 winter catalog

New works by Aminder Dhaliwal, Darryl Cunningham, Michael DeForge and more are coming next year.

Drawn and Quarterly’s winter 2021 catalog, which they shared last week, includes new work by Aminder Dhaliwal, Darryl Cunningham and Michael DeForge, and new manga collections by Shigeru Mizuki and Yoshiharu Tsuge. They’ll all be released between January and April of next year.

Take a look at them below:

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Mail Call | Clownhunter joins the ‘Joker Wars’

Plus: X of Swords, Star Wars manga, free Scooby comics and more.

Mail Call is a roundup of the announcements we received from publishers in our mailboxes recently. Hit the links for more information.

Marvel is hyping up their next X-Men event with some new promo art for X-Men: X of Swords, which was announced right before the pandemic at C2E2. Jonathan Hickman, Tini Howard and Pepe Larraz bring you X-Men: X of Swords: Creation #1 in September.

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Marvel plans to release new comics on May 27

Marvel will stagger the release of new comics and collections, as they release their shipping plans through mid-July.

While DC teamed with two new distributors to get their comics back into stores as fast as possible, Marvel has taken a more conservative approach during the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent shutdown of Diamond Comics Distributor. This week the company announced that it will begin releasing new comics again starting May 27, with five single issues, a week after Diamond plans to restore distribution.

As they previously announced, Marvel will release a slow trickle of comics into stores, alternating the first few weeks between single issues and collections. Here’s what their release schedule will look like through July 8:

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Diamond targets May to restart comics distribution, as DC makes their own plans

DC will work with two new distributors with ties to comic retailers to deliver comics in late April and the first half of May.

It’s been a crazy day on the comics distribution front. Since Diamond Comics Distributors announced in March plans to temporarily halt comics distribution because of the coronavirus, the question has been when we’ll see new comics start to hit direct market shelves again. Now Diamond has provided an answer, as one of their biggest customers has given a different one.

Let’s start with the Diamond news, which you can find on Newsarama. That article quotes from a letter sent to retailers and publishers, saying that “While there are many steps and conversations that need to happen between today and resuming distribution of new weekly product, we are currently targeting mid- to late-May with the hope that, as an industry, we can all work toward that timeframe.”

The way that’s worded is interesting, as it was not long after that DC put out a press release of their own, saying they planned to have a limited number of comics in shops on Tuesday, April 28, as well as on May 5 and May 12. “After surveying more than 2,000 stores across the U.S. and Canada, it became clear that many comic book store owners are finding new and creative ways to get books to the fans who want them,” the press release reads. They’ve also set up a comic shop tracker on their site so you can see who will have their comics on April 28.

So what exactly is DC doing to get comics out to shops?

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Can Wait for Wednesday: DC, Marvel delay many of this week’s digital comics

Just a handful of digital releases will arrive on comiXology this week.

Although it seemed to take them longer to make a decision than most of the other publishers, both DC and Marvel have indicated that many of the single-issue comics they had planned to release this week digitally have been pushed out.

The news comes after Diamond Comic Distributors announced they would halt physical comics distribution to comic shops due to the coronavirus, starting with the comics originally scheduled for this Wednesday, April 1.

Many comics publishers announced fairly quickly after the news broke that they planned to hold off on releasing their comics digitally until their print releases were rescheduled.

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Oni Press launches a pop-up shop in lieu of ECCC

Get deals on convention-exclusive items.

Due to growing concerns about COVID-19, a.k.a. the coronavirus, the Emerald City Comic Con made the decision last week to postpone their convention, which was originally scheduled for next weekend. Many publishers and creators who were planning to attend have been left with extra inventory — comics, graphic novels and other items they were planning to sell at the con.

One of those publishers is Oni Press, who had made the decision not to attend even before ECCC was officially cancelled. They have launched a pop-up store on their website, offering the comics, trades and merch they would have had at ECCC at a discount, with free shipping.

“While the decision not to attend was difficult for many reasons, one of our first considerations was supporting the creators and books we had planned to promote there,” said Oni Press publisher James Lucas Jones in a press release. “We realize many of our creators depend on convention income, and want to do our part to help where we can through sales of their books and merchandise. Additionally, we want to bring as much of the convention experience to fans as possible, despite our lack of a presence on the show floor.”

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Dan Didio is out as DC publisher

Didio exits the company after serving as co-publisher for 10 years.

Multiple outlets, including ComicBook.com and the Hollywood Reporter, are reporting that Dan Didio is no longer employed at DC Comics after almost 20 years with the company.

No reason has been given as to what happened or why he was released, and DC has not released a statement yet on Didio or their future plans. Didio has been co-publisher of DC alongside Jim Lee since 2010.

Didio joined DC in 2002 and was promoted to vice president and executive editor in 2004. During his tenure, he oversaw the maxi-series 52, the line-wide relaunch The New 52 in 2011, the subsequent reboot DC Universe Rebirth in 2016, the launch of Black Label and the shuttering of the Vertigo imprint. He has also written several comics for DC over the years, including Superboy, Phantom Stranger, OMAC and the current Metal Men miniseries, among others.

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Devil’s Due launches Ballot Box Comics

New imprint is ‘dedicated to progressive politics and populist movements that challenge both the right and the center-left.’

Looking for a palate-cleanser after the chaos of Iowa and the mendacity of the State of the Union Address? Indy comics publisher Devil’s Due has announced a new spinoff label, Ballot Box, which is “dedicated to progressive politics and populist movements that challenge both the right and the center-left.”

The company, founded by Josh Blaylock in 2000, published Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the Freshman Force: New Party Who Dis? last year and is currently running a Kickstarter for a Ballot Box collection featuring work by Blaylock, Tim Seeley, Jill Thompson, Robert Sikoryak, Dean Haspiel, Marguerite Dabaie and many others.

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Mail Call | Archaia to adapt Roxane Gay story

Plus: a new Shonen Jump series, Skybound’s ‘Fire Power’ plans and a new ‘Clone Wars’ series at IDW.

BOOM! Studios announced a new graphic novel, The Sacrifice of Darkness, based on Gay’s short story “The Sacrifice of Darkness.” In addition to Gay, the creative team includes writer Tracy Lynne Oliver, artist Rebecca Kirby, and colorist James Fenner, and the pub date is October 2020.

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