Penguin Random House has sent out a notification that all Penguin Random House sales into the US Direct Market for comics will be handled by their in-house sales team. That means comic stores will no longer be able to order product from Diamond Comic Distributors from publishers that are currently exclusively serviced by Penguin Random House. That might make it difficult for stores to order comics from Marvel, BOOM! Studios, Dark Horse, IDW Publishing, and more.

In court filings in April, it was revealed that Diamond Comic Distributors owed Penguin Random House $9,171,798.97. Who knows how that’s changed in the month since that revelation. Between that and continued unease about the direction of the distributor, Penguin Random House decided a change was needed.

The transition plan mentioned by Penguin Random House is basically just final dates for order product from Diamond and a last on sale date. That’s it. Those who have accounts through Penguin Random House can order comics from those publishers and those that don’t better hustle and open one if you want to continue carrying them as you have about a week to get things in order and a month to continue getting those comics through Diamond.

Since COVID, there’s been a splintering of distribution for the comic book direct market with multiple new distributors taking over accounts that had been held by Diamond Comic Distributors, often with exclusive deals. This has increased costs for stores in hours having to juggle multiple distributors but also shipping costs for some. Now there’s a minimum of at least 3 distributors stores would need to deal with to carry most of the market. DC Comics and Image Comics are exclusive with Lunar Distribution, and Marvel, Dark Horse and IDW are exclusive with Penguin Random House. If you want them and the other publishers/comics Diamond handles, that’s at least three distributors.

With Diamond’s Chapter 11 filing this year and its subsequent purchase by Ad Populum, and the losing of accounts, further questions have been raised about an “authority” for stores and customers to know what’s coming out each week.

In 2024, Penguin Random House bought BOOM! Studios and recently it was announced BOOM! Studios’ digital comics would no longer be available on the Comics Plus digital app that is used by libraries.

Remember when a judge blocked the sale of Simon & Schuster to Penguin Random House? Maybe that was a really good thing and exclusives and consolidation are a bad thing for the comic industry…

Penguin Random House would like to thank Diamond for their partnership and for their contributions to the marketplace.

Going forward, all Penguin Random House sales into the US Direct Market will be handled by our in-house sales team. We are announcing the following transition plan for US Direct Market retailers serviced by Diamond Comics:

• Diamond’s last FOC for all Penguin Random House product to US retailers will be May 26th.
• The last on sale date for new product shipping through Diamond to US retailers will be June 25th.

Retailers with questions about an existing Diamond order should reach out to Diamond directly. Existing accounts can continue to order directly from Penguin Random House. Retailers interested in opening a new account can contact us at ComicMarketUS@penguinrandomhouse.com.

Best,
– Your PRH Direct Market Sales Team