IDW has entered into a strategic alliance with Alien Books, and Valiant. By the time you read or listen to this, someone has probably bought Diamond. Invincible Universe: Battle Beast sells 400,000 copies.
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Episode Transcript:
IDW to distribute Valiant books.
Someone has bought Diamond, Probably.
Battle Beast sells 400,000 copies.
This is Comic Book Club News for March 26, 2025.
IDW To Distribute Valiant Books:
In a surprise move, which makes a lot of sense when you think about it, IDW Publishing is teaming up with Alien Books, the publisher of the Valiant Universe, to distribute their books.
What does that mean? Per a press release provided to Comic Book Club, “Alien Books will reach new heights within the industry through IDW’s distribution, marketing pushes, sales analysis, and logistical support while retaining creative control of its ambitious editorial plans, including the upcoming relaunch of the iconic Valiant Universe in the Valiant Beyond initiative.”
What that more specifically means is that IDW will be taking over distribution of Alien Books’s entire slate, including Valiant and several OGNs, to both comic book stores and book stores. Alien will still operate as an independent entity, but IDW will see the benefit of the Valiant Universes’s superhero lineup, one area in which IDW is currently lacking.
IDW and Alien promise there will be more news on all of this, coming soon.
Someone Has Probably Bought Diamond Comics Distributors:
Here’s a little bit about how the sausage is made. I write the script for these episodes of Comic Book Club News in the morning, then record them to post on our Patreon as early as possible, followed by the public posting the next morning. This means that occasionally, by the time these news bulletins hit the public podcast feeds, they can be two days old.
This is all to say that as of this recording time, the Diamond Comic Distributors bankruptcy auction is entering its second day behind closed doors. But by the time you listen to this episode? It’s likely someone new owns the company. Or more specifically, will potentially own the companies.
Bids closed on March 19, the auction began on March 24, ran through March 25, with the resulting winning bids expected to go before the court for approval on March 27 at 10 am ET.
Diamond has 12 divisions up for auction, ranging from Diamond Comic Distributors itself to FreeComicBookDay.com, to Gentle Giant, and more. Whether one company will successfully bid for all the divisions, or they’ll be split into 12 parts? Well, that’s already happened. But we’ll know exactly who, how, and what’s next later this week.
Invincible Universe: Battle Beast Sells 400,000 Copies:
Invincible Universe: Battle Beast is the latest massive launch for the comic book industry, with a reported nearly 400,000 copies ordered by comic book stores.
Per Bleeding Cool, the first issue snagged the 400k before its final order cutoff date. That puts it on par with Batman #158, the first issue of H2SH, the storyline that reunites Jim Lee and Jeph Loeb, as well as the total number of copies Absolute Batman #1 sold last year.
Probably helping matters, beyond Invincible being a perennial bestseller in graphic novel form? A unique variant strategy that includes 1:1000 blind bags that may be Battle Beast variants, or may be something entirely different, secret and surprising. Meaning comic book stores needed to order 1000 regular copies to get one of these blind bags that could be, I don’t know, Robert Kirkman’s handwritten manifesto or something.
While these all pale in comparison to Bad Idea’s reported 668,000 copies of Planet Death #0 sold to stores, it looks like 400,000 is the new best-selling standard. Do we hear 500,000? 600?
For Comic Book Club News, I’m Alex Zalben. And okay, fine, I’ll admit it: I bought Diamond.
Got tips or stories you’d like us to cover? Email us at comicbookclublive@gmail.com.
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