On February 13th, Udon Entertainment announced that it had entered a non-exclusive distribution agreement with Lunar Distribution for its direct market sales of comic products, shipping from May 2025 onwards. The two Free Comic Book Day titles from Udon in 2025 will now be distributed solely by Lunar Distribution, namely Street Fighter vs. Rival Schools #1 and Mega Man #0.
Udon communicated to retailers that orders for the two titles placed with Diamond Comic Distributors will be canceled and ordered retailers to make new orders for these books from Lunar Distribution.
Chief Operations Officer of Udon Entertainment Erik Ko commented on the decision:
It is a turbulent time for the comic industry as a whole. Diamond has been a huge supporter of UDON since we started publishing over 20 years ago, and we appreciate that support immensely. We are very much hoping that they can come back strong from Chapter 11 restructuring, but given the uncertainty ahead, it just makes sense for us to look at expanding our distribution options for everybody who carries our books and make our books available through additional partners, such as Lunar Distribution.
With the exception of the two Free Comic Book Day titles, Udon assured that nearly all orders made to Diamond will still be fulfilled. Udon specified Street Fighter Prime #0, Final Fight #4, and Street Fighter Masters: Guile #1 comics as products “shipping exclusively through Diamond before May 2025.”
This year’s Free Comic Book Day is set for May 3. Udon’s Core Free Comic Book Day titles will be Street Fighter vs. Rival Schools #1 and Mega Man #0, which will lead into new mini-series and other products for 2025.
Diamond is one of the major distributors of print comics in the U.S. on January 14, Diamond announced to have filed a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the District of Maryland. Companies filing under Chapter 11 can keep business assets (even licenses) in an attempt at reorganizing. Diamond mentioned that reduced consumer activity and rising operating costs were factors influencing the decision, in addition to declining sales in the comic book industry in the years after COVID-19.
Diamond will continue operating in the meantime. Orders continue as usual. Free Comic Book Day will go on as planned.
Diamond’s two largest unsecured creditors are Penguin Random House (a publishing company and a distributor for other publishers, including manga ones such as Dark Horse) and Bandai. Those two companies are owed US$9,202,181 and US$4,348,743, respectively. Diamond also owes money to companies like Viz Media, Square Enix, The Pokémon Company International, Hasbro, and many others. The bankruptcy filings stated that the company owes Udon Entertainment US$202,694.
