It was on this day in 2025, that Diamond formally declared chapter 11 and entered reorganization. A year later, that chapter 11 process was a failure with the company officially entering chapter 7 at the end of December 2025.
We’re now up to over 200 articles over the year on the topic, about 17 a month. And that was focusing on what I thought were important aspects at the time. There’s a lot I didn’t cover that didn’t seem like it was interesting or newsworthy. Some I was right about, some I was wrong. But, there’s been over 1,100 documents filed at this point, a lot has been gone through over the year.
Since then, Diamond Comic Distributors and Diamond Select were sold off to Sparkle Pop who seems to have burned it all down to the ground. They closed Diamond Select and publishers bolted to different distributors if they could. Many are left still with an unknown future.
Alliance Distribution was sold off to Universal Distribution who looks like they’ll be expanding their operations in the US in 2026 as well as manage Free Comic Book Day. With a track record of game and comic distribution in Canada, this might be the glimmer of good that comes out of all of the bad.
Publishers have almost completely abandoned Diamond 2.0 and it is a shell of what the company once was, the brand is shredded. Still, distribution exclusives for publishers remain, not putting all their eggs in one basket is not a lesson that was learned.
There’s numerous lawsuits that have spun out of the chapter 11, charges of stealing proprietary secrets, claims of fraud, and so much more. It’s worthy of a television drama series. We’ll of course be covering it all with not even a guess as to how it’ll all turn out.
Publishers are still in the air as to what they’ll receive as far as stock still held by old Diamond and creditors have to wait and see what, if anything, they’ll get back that’s owed.
From the ashes of Diamond there are new distributors and new attempts in how to do things, but it’ll take years for that to settle out. Some will succeed. Some will fail. Maybe something will click and chart a new direction and break the current mold of distribution. But, there’s no debate about it, damage has been done across the board.
Small publishers are still scrambling to find distribution some have gone silent. There’s still no master list of every release coming out like Previews used to provide. It’s a fractured, more confusing, more complicated environment that increases time and cost of managing it all for retailers, publishers, and consumers.
The chapter 7 process has barely begun and it’ll likely be months before it’s settled. We can take a bet as to whether it’ll be before or after San Diego Comic-Con 2026. Lawsuits are still active with no end in sight.
We’ve see what happens when “too big to fail” is left to fail.
The lessons learned… I’m still trying to figure that out myself. What I thought would be lessons might not be. We’ve still yet to see all of the fallout from this debacle.
No matter, the comic industry has a chance to build back better. It can take a good survey as to what happened that got to this point. The industry can be honest with itself in a warts and all discussion. It can take lessons and chart a new path forward that lifts everyone. Will that happen? In an industry that’s so resistant to change, modernization, and event reflecting on lessons, that can’t pivot on a dime, that’s unlikely beyond a few talking heads. The true reverberations won’t likely be seen for years to come and by then lessons may be too late.
