It's become clear that Diamond isn't exiting Chapter 11 bankruptcy in any kind of recognizable form. The company plans to have an auction that kicks off March 24th and closes April 10th that basically breaks everything down into parts that will (probably) be purchased for pennies on the dollar. All aspects from the main comic distribution to the rights to Free Comic Book Day, assorted toy distribution channels, comic protection supplies, and more are getting scrapped & sold. Clearly, Diamond couldn't find anyone to help with their monetary issues, and things quickly escalated. I'm not surprised as almost everyone who associated with Diamond got ready to jump ship if they could once the bankruptcy was announced.
Anyone who was solely distributed by Diamond has been scrambling, with one example being Black Panel Press launching a GoFundMe to survive, and Blood Moon Comics announcing they're going to shut up shop due to it looking like they aren't getting the money needed from Diamond anytime soon. I imagine some of these smaller indie publishers operate on razor-thin margins (you don't get into comics to get rich, after all), and having Diamond owe them thousands of dollars is a mortal wound they can't recover from. Diamond owes them less than a big publisher or distributor but those companies can weather a temporary financial hit, the little guy/gals quite likely can't. I know almost everybody quite disliked Diamond, but I imagine few expected if it did fold that such a thing would be this abrupt and brutal.
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