Diamond’s “Comeback” to comic stores hit a small snag, as some of DC’s planned titles for the week of May 18 haven’t made it to the distributor’s warehouses in time for shipment.
“Due to a transportation issue from our printer to Diamond, the following books scheduled for May 19 on-sale were delayed in arrival at Diamond’s warehouse,” DC’s Marketing Services Specialist Albert Ching told retailers in a private Facebook group. “Fulfillment of orders from Diamond for these titles will be delayed one week. They will arrive in your stores with books scheduled for release May 26.”
The affected titles are: Batman & the Outsiders #12 (and variant), DC Super Stars #17 Facsimile Edition, Hawkman #23 (and variant), House of Whispers #20, Joker/Harley: Criminal Sanity #4 (and variant), The Flash #753 (and variant), The Green Lantern Season Two #3, Wonder Woman #755 (and variant), Year of the Villain: Hell Arisen #3 (third printing), and Flash Giant #4.
“We apologize in advance for the inconvenience,” Ching continued. “As a reminder, these books are fully returnable.”
All of the affected titles have one thing in common – they were originally, pre-COVID-19, scheduled to come out April 8. Some Direct Market retailers have expressed concern to Newsarama that these would’ve already been at Diamond’s warehouse prior to its March 23 suspension of operations, but according to a source at Diamond that is not the case.
“These books were not part of what was printed and delivered prior to the pause in distribution,” the source told us. “DC has moved things around on their publishing schedule, as have most publishers, using a mix of product that was already printed along with new printings.”
While Diamond (and its comic shop customers) won’t be getting these titles until May 26, comic shop owners (and digital platforms such as comiXology) put these titles (with the exception of Wonder Woman #755 and The Flash #753) on-sale May 5.
Wonder Woman #755 and The Flash #753 were scheduled to go on-sale May 19 simultaneously through Diamond, UCS, Lunar, and DC’s digital partners.
Newsarama has asked DC and those distributors if UCS and Lunar have received those titles in time to meet their May 19 on-sale date. The two titles remain listed on DCComics.com and comiXology for a May 19 on-sale date.