Wondering how the small publishers are doing in all this? Check out what American Mythology had to say. Guess they are not getting all that Mark Soears cover money.
If you missed the news - Diamond Comic Distributors - the outlet that supplies comic books to retail shops has filed for bankruptcy. They are not paying publishers for approximately 2 months’ worth of books. They shipped them in to stores and now that money is gone pending a bankruptcy evaluation. The best-case scenario is that some portion of the money will get paid back at some point in the future. Worst case is that it is just gone. Leaving a lot of publishers - American Mythology included - holding the bag for huge print bills and creative costs.
The truth is - we don’t know if we are going to survive this. Not only for the immediate expenses but for future distribution into comic shops if Diamond fully goes under. We’ve reached out to other distributors but no one is looking for small publishers to add to their distribution slates. We were exclusive with Diamond and now we are facing a world where we may not have access to comic shops in the future.
We are doing everything we can to survive this and to keep making your favorite horror comics. But only time will tell. Our first hurdle is with the immediate bills we have to pay with no incoming finances.
Some fans have asked how they can help. This means a lot to us. We know everyone has their own problems in life. And that you would consider trying to help us survive means everything. The best way to help is to tell a friend and fellow comic book or horror fan about our books and direct them to the webstore. Any orders that are placed directly are going to go right to paying the printer and creators we work with.
Thank you for your support and enthusiasm over our comics. We could not do it without you!
Meanwhile, Spears bitches about the pay he contractually agreed to for his AMP covers. And here they are facing extinction while he’s pump and dumping exclusives.
Honestly, sad to get confirmation that these small publishers are of no interest to Lunar/PRH. Assumed it but now we know.
There’s probably a more complex answer as to why this is, but most of these small publishers had trouble meeting dates. FoC and publish dates would get pushed, titles would get cancelled or move between publishers. I can see PRH and Lunar not wanting to deal with that.
I agree. Lunar/PRH probably have capacity issues as well. Lunar in particular given the growth they’ve already taken on and the resurgence of DC orders. I honestly think that’s why DSTLRY “went exclusive” with Diamond. A PR twist to be told GTFO with your changing FOC dates constantly.
This gives a very different perspective to that Mark Spears interview on why American Mythology took so long to pay him. Honestly makes him look like a bit of a heel.
I think it is fair to say Avatar is gone and the only money they are making is off Bleeding Cool and selling their warehouse full of old comics in packs.
Problem is the genie is out of the bottle. If people saw the original interview, which I did, and said they would not buy copies of the book because of that, which they said in the YouTube comments, and then did it see the subsequent statement that he is all good with them now, the sales of the book have been hurt. In fact, this is the first flat spec book from Mark Spears and I would guess that part of it is due to him saying he didn’t support the book.
He should have stuck to his guns. What they did was wrong, and they had probably done it to dozens of starting artists. One company that hopefully doesn’t survive the Diamond bankruptcy and in IMO karma working correctly.
Since ROTLD is probably their biggest ordered book, and they haven’t been paid for it yet, they probably didn’t have the money to pay Mark yet. I think cheering on the demise of a company is short sighted. The only money they have gotten for the book is from the copies they sold themselves on their site. And I am taking you also didn’t see where he said he is good with them now (which proves the point I was making earlier)
Bryan Mcclay who has Mark Spears on his channel as a regular mentioned on his show that Mark told him he has cleared it up with American Mythology. He will be signing copies. Easy to verify if what he says is correct, all we have to do is bring a copy of ROTLD to a convention Mark is at and sees if he will sign it.
I saw what you had said, and I stand by he should have stuck with his original statement and never signed a copy. The art was contracted for $125 and a bunch of comp copies (as far as I remember). He couldn’t get them to pay. He never got the comp copies (as far as I know). $125! I’ll bet you made more money than that selling Mark Spears covers in one day. If the $125 they owed for the art was the reason that American Mythology goes under then there was a series of bad business decisions and poor management before Mark Spears ever was approached.
I would bet if anyone did some digging you would find that this is common practice for them. They nickel and dime until its not worth the time it takes to get the money. The artist has no voice in the matter.
To me, the karma is real. I don’t mind standing alone in saying the industry doesn’t need publishers that behave that way.
I don’t want any comic book companies to go under because that indicates that the comic industry itself is not that healthy. I want everyone to succeed and the comic book market to continue to flourish. That’s not realistic, of course, many companies end up going out of business. But one can hope that everything works out…
I’m writing to you today about some very important developments on the distribution landscape and how they impact BOOM! Studios. While we had previously announced the departure by BOOM! Studios from Diamond Comic Distributors effective July 1st, in light of recent industry developments, we have made the decision to accelerate the timeline for the transition of our Direct Market distribution to Penguin Random House to be effective April 1st, 2025.
