Diamond Has Been Sold. Now What?

Features

Brigid Alverson | June 16, 2025

It’s been a rocky transition for Diamond Comic Distributors, which was officially sold to the entity known as Sparkle Pop on May 15, and for the publishers and retailers who do business with them. While Sparkle Pop has not announced what its plans are for the future, they have moved quickly to reduce staff and services.

As you may recall from our last episode, after Alliance Entertainment withdrew its bid for the company, Diamond was divided up and sold to two buyers. A Canadian company, Universal Distribution, bought Diamond’s game distribution arm, and Ad Populum, the parent company of NECA and WizKids, got the rest. Ad Populum has created a new entity, Sparkle Pop, for its Diamond properties. While rumors continue to run rampant that Universal plans to expand its comics distribution to the U.S., they have yet to make any announcement.

Shortly after the sale closed, Sparkle Pop/Ad Populum sent an email to retailers, basically saying they are working on next steps and reassuring retailers that “Our order processing and fulfillment operations remain active, and fulfilling your orders reliably remains a top priority.”

However, Sparkle Pop moved quickly on a number of fronts. Immediately after the sale, they closed down Diamond Select Toys, laid off a number of Diamond employees, and shut down tech support for the point-of-sale system ComicSuite and the customer subscription system Pullbox.

Sparkle Pop also sent a memo to publishers saying they will not pay for product sold before May 15 but that anything after that date will be processed and paid as usual.

Furthermore, TCJ has learned that as of June 11, the company has stopped processing new NCRs, the mechanism publishers use to get their stock back from the warehouse. FairSquare publisher Fabrice Sapolsky posted the email from Diamond on Facebook and commented: “So now, we have 7500 copies of our graphic novels stuck at the Olive Branch MS warehouse and we need it back ASAP. So, after not fulfilling their contractual obligation to pay us for the books they sell/sold, Diamond is going to hold our stock hostage?”

Retailers, who have been contending with late shipments and inaccurate invoices since before the bankruptcy, got another curve ball on June 10, when, according to Bleeding Cool, Diamond announced it was ending COD, or cash on delivery, as of June 16. Retailers must now pay on Wednesdays, via ACH or credit card, for all invoices generated the previous week, with the final bill arriving on Tuesdays.

On top of all these changes, on May 21, Penguin Random House Publisher Services, which distributes Marvel, IDW, BOOM! Studios, and Dark Horse, among others, told its clients that it will no longer sub-distribute via Diamond, meaning that comics from those publishers will no longer be listed in the Previews catalog and cannot be ordered through Diamond.

The latest legal twist in the story came on June 9, when Sparkle Pop sued Alliance Entertainment, the losing bidder in the bankruptcy auction, accusing them of poaching critical employees.

panel from Orochi by Kazuo Umezz

Drama on the Docket

Let’s start with the litigation. On June 9, Sparkle Pop sued Alliance Entertainment, alleging that Alliance posed as a bona fide bidder in the bankruptcy auction and then “concocted pretextual reasons to refuse closing the transaction.” This contrasts sharply with the account set out in Alliance’s lawsuit, which claimed that Diamond concealed the fact that they had lost an important account until the last minute and then refused to negotiate the price.

Sparkle Pop’s complaint states that once the sale was complete:

Alliance pulled the rug out from under both seller and buyer, engaging in a sudden and coordinated raid to poach seven key Diamond Comic sales and marketing employees, effectively hobbling the business. Alliance also exploited its inside knowledge of Diamond’s confidential information to usurp key distribution relationships with vendors and customers, further undermining the business.

In fact, the complaint alleges that one departing employee told their Amazon rep that Alliance wanted to expand its collectibles program and that going forward, Amazon should buy from Alliance rather than Diamond.

According to the complaint, Alliance signed agreements that barred them from soliciting or hiring any Diamond employee they had contact with during the bidding process until October 2026. “Alliance has violated these strictures openly,” the complaint continues, “effectively daring its counterparties and victims to sue if they want any hope of redress. This lawsuit responds to that challenge.”

Alliance did indeed hire seven people from Diamond; to be fair, though, if you look at LinkedIn right now, many Diamond staff who have not already been laid off have “open to work” banners on their profile pics.

panel from Vampirella, art by Mike Royer

Losing these employees diminished the value of Diamond to Sparkle Pop, the complaint alleges. In addition, on May 15, Sparkle Pop executed a Transition Services Agreement with Diamond, requiring Diamond to “keep business and processes running "as is during the transition period.” Although Sparkle Pop laid off a number of key personnel on day one, they contend that the exodus of other staff to Alliance made it difficult to fulfill the transition agreement. Sparkle Pop is asking for compensatory and punitive damages as well as a temporary restraining order to prevent Alliance from reaching out to current Diamond employees or continuing to employ former Diamond staffers; soliciting or entering into any agreements with Amazon or other parties regarding Diamond assets; and retaining or using any confidential information. Alliance has not filed a response as of this writing.

Publishers: Where’s the Money?

On May 27, Sparkle Pop sent out an email to publishers saying they will not be responsible for sales dated on or before May 15. “These obligations were incurred during the Chapter 11 proceedings and pertain to consignment inventory held in our warehouse,” the email said. “We understand the estate is reviewing these outstanding amounts; however, no payment timeline has been provided to us at this time.” Sales after May 16 are being processed and paid under “normal operating procedures.”

“Diamond, now operating under the ownership of Ad Populum, is a new entity and the new organization, responsible for all obligations from May 16 onward. Our focus is on moving forward with a clean slate and restoring stability for our partners,” the email said.

“Our goal is to rebuild trust through action and consistency moving forward,” the unsigned email added.

That’s not sitting well with publishers. Dynamite, the largest publisher still left at Diamond, filed a motion on May 27 asking for $509,114.21 in unpaid invoices for goods that were delivered after Jan. 14, with the most recent invoice dated May 11. Sparkle Pop has filed an objection to this motion, saying they are still reconciling the books and do not necessarily agree with the amount of the debt. Furthermore, they state in the objection, “Dynamite has not demonstrated that it will suffer any hardship should it not receive immediate payment.”

Tomasz Kacynski, CEO and Publisher of Uncivilized Books says he hasn’t been paid since December. “We were told the first invoice (from December 2024) was tied up in the Chapter 11 litigation,” he said. “We were assured that we'd be paid for the subsequent invoice (the product was delivered before the sale, but the invoice was due after the sale), but that payment has also not been made, and no reason was given to us. Nor is there a timeline.” When Diamond contacted him to ask him for new solicitations, Kaczynski replied that he would be happy to solicit more titles if they were paid up front for the deliveries. “I asked if our agreement could be amended to that effect, and if there's a timeline for the previously unpaid invoices,” he said. “I haven't heard back on either front.”

Uncivilized also distributes via Lunar and Ingram, so their distribution is not significantly affected; the burden falls harder on the publishers who were exclusive to Diamond. “But, for a small publisher like us, the money owed by Diamond and their new owners is a significant hole that’s difficult to fill,” Kaczynski said.

Living the Line, a small Diamond-exclusive publisher, had a different experience. “During the restructuring period, we were paid reliably — net 15 even — as a show of good faith and stability,” said owner Sean Michael Robinson. “We were reassured by multiple staff members, both on the comics and bookstore sides, that it was business as usual. We were encouraged to continue soliciting as normal, and we did, in good faith.”

“Everything changed the moment Ad Populum took over,” he said. “Payments stopped immediately. In our case, the money owed is primarily for books that were solicited and delivered entirely during the reorganization period.”

“I understand that pre-filing debt may now be unrecoverable beyond a fractional payout,” Robinson said. “But the invoices from the reorganization period qualify as administrative debt, legally prioritized for repayment from the proceeds of the sale of the ‘estate.’ And anything post-May 16 should fall squarely on the new owners. These are not ambiguous obligations. I raised this directly with Diamond's legal team. They offered no contradiction, only silence.”

Fabrice Sapolsky summed up the situation on Facebook: “Statements come weekly. Payments don’t. #WTF?”

Retailers: Where are the Comics?

Even before the bankruptcy filing, retailers were having issues with Diamond, starting around the time Diamond closed its Plattsburgh, N.Y., distribution center in November 2024. “I have had one on-time shipment from Diamond since October,” said Rob Kaylin, owner and general manager of Comic Logic in Ashburn, Va. “I haven’t had a complete or on-time order from Diamond since they closed the distribution center in Plattsburgh.”

Those delays make keeping track of invoices a headache as well. “The hardest part for us is that we are not receiving merchandise regularly,” said Shannon Live, co-owner of Bat City Comics Professionals in Bradenton, Fla. “Some items are coming in a box with titles that were released a week to a month prior, some are coming in fully with their release date weeks. This is making tracking product arrivals and sales even harder because we may not receive all of an order for three weeks or more. The invoices themselves don't always match up to what was sent and are requiring additional legwork to piece it all together.”

“Right now, Diamond invoicing is … not what it once was,” said Joe Murray, president of the retailers’ association ComicsPRO and owner of Captain Blue Hen Comics in Newark, Del. Murray also says the problem began when the Plattsburgh warehouse closed. “Now the invoices that you get aren’t necessarily what's coming this week,” he said. “Sometimes you'll get an invoice on the regular day that says zero, then you get another invoice that's a credit, but then you get your other invoice. So it's trickier to keep track of all of that stuff now.”

Complicating the situation is the fact that Diamond has stopped supporting its point-of-sale system, ComicSuite. Live was using ComicSuite to track subscriptions and orders, but she has been locked out of the system for weeks. “Since December, we have been having an ongoing issue with our database where ComicSuite will request its system update and then will be unable to complete the update, locking us out of the system entirely,” she said. Before the acquisition, she could contact tech support and they would resolve the problem, but those staffers were laid off. “I don't have anyone directly that can override the system,” she said, “so we have been running off of downloaded copies of our subscription database and tracking updates via Excel while we wait for our switch to a new program.”

For many retailers, including Kaylin, Live, and Murray, the impact of Diamond’s woes has been blunted by the fact that they are able to order comics from most of the larger publishers via the two other distributors that serve the direct market, Lunar Distribution and Pengin Random House Publisher Services.

Small publishers who were only carried by Diamond are another matter. “This is a big one for us as we are an indie and small press heavy store,” Live said. “Publishers like Mad Cave, Dark Horse, IDW, Ahoy, etc. have all been with either Lunar or PRH for a while now, so we've been getting those from those distributors. But for those Diamond-exclusive or really small presses that you can only find in the back of the Previews catalog, losing easy access to a lot of those titles and inconsistent arrival dates have honestly been one of the biggest impacts for us.”

Another problem that looms large for Murray is the degradation of metadata, information such as titles, series and cover images that retailers and customers rely on. It’s the sort of insider-baseball thing that’s boring to outsiders but absolutely essential to the business. “All the tools we have so our customers can know ‘I want to order this cover’ or ‘This is the next issue’ is disappearing,” he said. For over 20 years, Diamond was the central source of that information. Even after publishers decamped for Lunar and PRH, much of it was still available through Diamond because of its sub-distribution service. Whether or not Sparkle Pop will continue to provide that information is a major question, and even if it does, it will only cover part of the industry because so many publishers have left Diamond. ComicsPRO has been working on developing standards for comics metadata, but that project still in progress, and at the moment, the data that retailers need is often inconsistent and sometimes hard to find.

The Future Looks Hazy — For Now

Sparkle Pop has given no indication of its plans for the future, leaving publishers and retailers alike wondering what will happen next. The answer may come as soon as a few days from now, when the “as is” transition period ends.

For Murray, the uncertainty is the worst part. “If Diamond is over, fine,” he said. “We can work with that. If Diamond continues as it is and tries to rebuild itself, we’re fine. The problem is not knowing.”

“From private conversations, I can say many Diamond staffers are equally in the dark,” Robinson said. “Some have had no contact with the new ownership. It's like watching a machine continue running long after its operators have departed. It reminds me of the Philip K. Dick story ‘Autofac’—where two automated factories, following long-abandoned instructions, outlive their creators and continue grinding forward, heedless of the consequences.”

Live is optimistic that regardless of what Sparkle Pop does, comics will continue. “Seeing so many publishers come together to find solutions that work for them, the POS management system teams working round the clock to make sure they can onboard stores leaving ComicSuite, the distributors working to adapt their warehouse space and ordering systems week after week to incorporate someone else, it gives the hope that our industry wants to succeed, that it will do what it needs to, and that we're going to do it together,” she said.

Robinson is less sanguine. “If Ad Populum makes good on its obligations now, or, say, next Monday — then we chalk this up to chaos, miscommunication, whatever,” he said. “We move on. But if they continue to ignore publishers, there will be legal consequences. And worse, moral ones. Because what’s happening here is not just a breach of contract. It’s a betrayal of the entire independent comics ecosystem.”