Will Diamond Shut Down On April 1?, Good Omens Kickstarter Cuts Ties With Neil Gaiman, Lake Como Arts Festival Announces Guests | Comic Book Club News For January 31, 2025

comic book club news january 31 2025

Diamond Comics Distributors will shut down on April 1 if it doesn’t find a buyer. The Good Omens Kickstarter has officially cut ties with Neil Gaiman. Lake Como Arts Festival announces guests.

SUBSCRIBE ON RSS, APPLE, ANDROID, SPOTIFY, OR THE APP OF YOUR CHOICE. FOLLOW US ON TWITTER, INSTAGRAM, TIKTOK, AND FACEBOOK. SUPPORT OUR SHOWS ON PATREON.

Powered by RedCircle

Episode Transcript:

Will Diamond shut down on April 1?

Good Omens Kickstarter cuts ties with Neil Gaiman.

Lake Como Arts Festival announces guests.

This is Comic Book Club News for January 31, 2025.

Diamond Comics Distributor To Shut Down On April 1 If Not Bought:

No fooling: if Diamond Comics Distributors doesn’t find a buyer by April 1, the company will shut down.

This news was in the middle of several dire spin-off items from Diamond’s bankruptcy declaration detailed by The Beat, including smaller publishers like Antarctic press having to pare down operations, and hardship at shops.

But by far the most alarming revelation comes from The Baltimore Banner, which reports that due to a federally mandated disclosure, Diamond has told employees that, “Although we are hopeful to locate a buyer, if our efforts are unsuccessful, Diamond will unfortunately have to cease operations. While we continue to pursue a buyer, the Diamond business will continue as usual.”

This is clearly a worst case scenario, and the company is actively seeking buyers for its assets. But with two months to go until the deadline, time is running out.

Good Omens Kickstarter Cuts Ties With Neil Gaiman:

The Terry Pratchett Estate has announced they have cut financial ties with writer Neil Gaiman, at least for the Kickstarter for the Good Omens graphic novel.

The Good Omens graphic novel, adapted from the book by Pratchett and Gaiman by Colleen Doran, announced the news on their Kickstarter blog on January 30. The second most funded comic book project on Kickstarter of all time revealed that while refunds have been locked in mid-November, they “will no longer maintain this freeze in light of new articles and allegations. While we cannot speak further on the subject at present, we have chosen to reopen a short refund window for those who would no longer like to support the graphic novel, until Friday 7th February 2025.”

Continuing, the blog noted that, “It has also been agreed that Neil Gaiman will not receive any proceeds from the graphic novel Kickstarter. Given the project management, production and all communication has always been under the jurisdiction of the Estate on behalf of Good Omens at large, this will not fundamentally change the project itself, however we can confirm the Kickstarter and PledgeManager will now fully be an entity run by, and financially connected to, the Terry Pratchett Estate only.”

Previously, Gaiman has been accused of multiple counts of sexual assault and harassment, by multiple women, which was detailed in an expansive article in New York Magazine. As of this time, Prime Video still plans on releasing a Good Omens movie to finish off their TV series adaptation, and have yet to make a statement on Gaiman’s financial involvement.

Thanks for the tip on this one from writer Russ Burlingame.

Lake Como Arts Festival Announces Guests:

The Lake Como Arts Festival, an exclusive art-forward comic convention experience in Lake Como, Italy that seems to have lost my invitation in the mail has announced the guests for this year’s event.

Per AIPT, a small selection of the guest list includes Werther Dell’Edera, Liam Sharp, Zoe Thorogood, Mirka Andolfo, David Mack, Alex Maleev and more. In addition to the lineup, all VIP attendees will receive original art by either Alex Ross or Bill Sienkiewicz.

Unlike other cons, this select convention in Lake Como focuses on artists, and gives unique parties and experiences, as well as your requisite con floor for meeting the artists and getting/purchasing sketches and art. This year’s event will be held May 16 through 18, and tickets are on sale now at lccaf.com/tickets.

For Comic Book Club News, I’m Alex Zalben. And I’m going to check the mail one more time, I’m sure that invitation is on its way.

Got tips or stories you’d like us to cover? Email us at comicbookclublive@gmail.com.

For more comic book news, reviews, and interviews, check out comicbookclublive.com.

Listen early and ad-free on Patreon.com/comicbookclub.


Discover more from Comic Book Club

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Leave a Reply