Devil’s Due Departs Diamond Distribution
Devil’s Due Publishing has pulled its distribution of comics and graphic novels from Diamond Comic and Diamond Book Distributors, effective today. The publisher will soon be announcing its new book store distribution partners, and will offer product direct to comic book retail outlets, as well as distribution through Haven Comic Distributors.
“For almost over a year Devil’s Due has been in an unwinnable situation wherein Diamond garnishes our revenues to pay back returns and fees it claims are owed from 2008 and 2009, making it impossible for us to keep up with payments to talent, printers, and other expenses while maintaining a stable business,” said Josh Blaylock, president of Devil’s Due, who was forced to wind down the company’s publishing rather than ramp up as it originally planned to do when hit with a rough economy in 2008. “We’ve exhausted every resource to get on track, with a primary focus on catching up with talent payments first and foremost, but when Diamond controls the money flow, that becomes impossible.”
The decision did not come lightly, adds Blaylock, “Of course this is the last thing a company wants to do in the Diamond dominated comic book industry, but it is necessary if we are going to be able to ever again be able to turn the money faucet back on. I am hopeful that we will be able to work something out with Diamond in the future. Until we verify a number of questions regarding sales from late 2008 through the present, DDP will be utilizing other avenues of distribution to move back stock, as well as limited releases of select new material.
To order direct, DDP encourages customers to contact the numbers and emails below.
Haven Distributors
1-877-HAVEN-50(1-877-428-3650)
http://www.havendistro.com/
Devil’s Due Direct Sales: j.blay@devilsdue.net
It also welcomes fans to purchase digital downloads on Graphic.ly, iVerse through the iTunes App store, and comiXology, the latter of which currently has over 100 comics available at https://comics.comixology.com/#/devils_due including the never-released-in-print Hack/Slash – Mercy Sparx: A Slice of Hell crossover special, as the sales from these companies are going in large part towards paying off moneys owed to licensors and talent.
Wow, I’m not sure what to make of this. I’m sorry it sounds like their hand was forced. I’ve enjoyed a few of DDP’s books and hope this isn’t a sign of decline to come. With any luck they may even be ahead of the curve for Diamond-less distributing depending on their future plans.
Hmmm. And a few months ago, Checker Publishing made a public display about how they were stopping doing business with Diamond Comic Distribution (I don’t reacall if Checker was distributed by Diamond for the book trade as well.) I’m not sure what to make of these developments with these smaller publishers, or if these two instances are enough to count as a trend or what…
Wow, I'm not sure what to make of this. I'm sorry it sounds like their hand was forced. I've enjoyed a few of DDP's books and hope this isn't a sign of decline to come. With any luck they may even be ahead of the curve for Diamond-less distributing depending on their future plans.
Hmmm. And a few months ago, Checker Publishing made a public display about how they were stopping doing business with Diamond Comic Distribution (I don't reacall if Checker was distributed by Diamond for the book trade as well.) I'm not sure what to make of these developments with these smaller publishers, or if these two instances are enough to count as a trend or what…
What titles does Devil’s Due publish anyway?
Ones i’ve never read, anyway.
Mostly GI Joe comics these days. A lot of them have been written by Chuck Dixon, though, so they’re high quality.
It doesn’t affect me at all, but not being carried by Diamond means you won’t be able to find DDP comics in my area and I do know some people who read their books.
Uh no. DDP no longer publishes “G.I. Joe”, (they lost the linence to comicmix’s publisher IDW who now is the publisher of “G.I. Joe” now of days).
They also published “Hack & Slash” and a re-imagined comic book version of “Voltron, Defender of the Universe” (which was quite good) for a while.
No need to get snippy, guy. I said I didn’t read their comics, and I knew they HAD published GI Joe.
What titles does Devil's Due publish anyway?
Ones i've never read, anyway.
Mostly GI Joe comics these days. A lot of them have been written by Chuck Dixon, though, so they're high quality.It doesn't affect me at all, but not being carried by Diamond means you won't be able to find DDP comics in my area and I do know some people who read their books.
Uh no. DDP no longer publishes "G.I. Joe", (they lost the linence to comicmix's publisher IDW who now is the publisher of "G.I. Joe" now of days). They also published "Hack & Slash" and a re-imagined comic book version of "Voltron, Defender of the Universe" (which was quite good) for a while.
No need to get snippy, guy. I said I didn't read their comics, and I knew they HAD published GI Joe.
I’d expected the number of smaller publishers to dwindle, due to Diamond’s minimum sales stipulations. But I’d also expected more of the small companies to agglomerate into some sort of cooperatives. I don’t mean to belittle Diamond – they’re fighting to survive in a tough economic climate. But I am sad that we have a system which is so close to a monopoly in distribution.
Just swinging back to the way it was in the Sixties and earlier.
I'd expected the number of smaller publishers to dwindle, due to Diamond's minimum sales stipulations. But I'd also expected more of the small companies to agglomerate into some sort of cooperatives. I don't mean to belittle Diamond – they're fighting to survive in a tough economic climate. But I am sad that we have a system which is so close to a monopoly in distribution.
Just swinging back to the way it was in the Sixties and earlier.
One comic I bought published by Devil’s Due was Mercy Sparx. It was alright; not the best but good enough to keep buying and trying. After the first mini series ended they promised a second one and even had a FCBD issue in 2009 but since then… nothing.
One comic I bought published by Devil's Due was Mercy Sparx. It was alright; not the best but good enough to keep buying and trying. After the first mini series ended they promised a second one and even had a FCBD issue in 2009 but since then… nothing.