Till 2020, Diamond Comedian Distributors held a near-monopoly on getting comedian books to retailers within the US. Publishers like Marvel, DC, Darkish Horse, Picture, Viz, Growth, and Udon all bought their comics solely by means of Diamond, although listening to retailers grumble about them—typically claiming books arrived broken, late, or by no means, particularly in small-town retailers—was widespread.
When Diamond introduced it might stop shipments in the course of the Covid-19 pandemic in March of 2020, DC took it as a chance to leap ship, switching to Lunar Distribution and UCS Comedian Distributors for its month-to-month releases and Penguin Random Home for book-sized releases. One after the other different publishers adopted, together with Marvel, till Diamond declared chapter in January of 2025.
Udon was one of many final publishers to stay with Diamond (alongside Dynamite, which might somewhat prefer to retrieve half one million {dollars} it claims Diamond owes), however now Udon has declared it is discovered an alternate as properly. Udon has halted all shipments to Diamond in favor of Lunar Distribution, with its Manga Classics imprint now being distributed by Simon & Schuster.
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“With the present state of uncertainty and lack of communication from the brand new house owners to each retailers in addition to many publishers, we now have to do what’s finest to serve our clients,” Udon chief of operations Erik Ko mentioned. “We notice it is a deep inconvenience for a lot of retailers, however we’re making an attempt to do our greatest to serve our companions and followers, whereas minimizing threat and shifting ahead in an unsure time.”
This has affected the primary concern of Udon’s new collection Mega Man Timelines, which has been pushed again a month to a June 25 launch. Udon’s future comics, manga, and artwork books will likely be distributed although Lunar, which presumably consists of any extra of the Capcom-licensed books it is well-known for—like Avenue Fighter, Darkstalkers, and Closing Struggle—in addition to its books primarily based on video games like Elden Ring and Persona.
