Diamond‘s chapter 11 filing has been a mess of a drama. Part of that involves consignment inventory Diamond still has from publishers. Diamond claims it has the right to sell that inventory to pay back its debts while publishers want their stock returned. That matter went before the court. During a hearing, Diamond was given the option to sue publishers over the stock it held and it did so, 32 times, with the final complaint filed in October and the initial 31 filed in early September.

With the recent news that Diamond will be changing their chapter 11 to chapter 7, we decided to revisit to see where those cases were.

While 29 of them are just going through the process, mostly with extensions of time requested, a few of them stood out.

Digital Manga Inc., Netcomics, and Valiant all had judgement by default ordered against them on December 5, 2025. The three publishers didn’t respond to the court within the 30 days they are required to do so. That resulted in Diamond asking for the judgement in October. The three publishers could have numerous reasons to do so, such as the value of the inventory is less than what they’d need to pay a lawyer, something Diamond could have been counting on.

Diamond is now free to sell the inventory if they choose:

Subject to further order of the Court, the Debtor may sell or otherwise dispose of the Defendant Supplied Consigned Inventory pursuant to Bankruptcy Code section 363(b), without regard to the Agreement, free and clear of any liens, claims, encumbrances and interests in the Defendant Supplied Consigned Inventory held or asserted by the Defendant pursuant to Bankruptcy Code section 363(f).

The filings are all similar and you can see the October filing against Valiant below as well as the judgement against Netcomics.

There is a publisher who is not just responding but also fighting back. AfterShock Comics filed a counterclaim on December 5, 2025. AfterShock, interestingly enough, is going through its own chapter 11 and slowly moving out of it with a plan to pay back its creditors.

In their response, AfterShock does the usual agreeing and denials in this sort of response. Little stands out from there and AfterShock generally responds that Diamond fails to state its claim, it’s barred from relief, and Diamond breached its agreements.

Where it gets interesting is that AfterShock has filed counterclaims. AfterShock is fighting for the inventory with arguments we’ve heard before, the stock is theirs, Diamond and its creditors knew it was consigned, AfterShock paid taxes on it, and there were agreements to store, ship, and payment regarding the goods.

AfterShock lists multiple counts:

• Declaratory Judgment that the Stock is property of Aftershock – AfterShock wants a declaratory judgement that the stock is property of AfterShock and Diamond may not sell or dispose of the stock;
• Willful violation of the Automatic Stay pursuant to Section 362(k) – AfterShock is going through their own bankruptcy and there was an automatic stay. Diamond filed during AfterShock’s process violating the stay. Due to that violation, AfterShock “suffered damages, including incurring attorney’s fees.”

AfterShock is looking to be awarded damages, including attorneys’ fees, punitive damages, and other relief the Court deems “just and proper.”